Sam Maloof

The other day the husband came home with the October issue of Fine Woodworking, the cover of which was dedicated to Sam Maloof, who died in May at the age of 93. Maloof was entirely self-taught and is considered one of the world's premier contemporary craftsmen. He was once quoted as saying that he had a desire "to work a piece of wood into an object that contributes something beautiful and useful to everyday life."

I'd say that he accomplished that, and then some.






Photos from Architonic

Sara Remington

I recently discovered the photographer Sara Remington, and I love her photos. Don't these photos make you want to run out and get a farm?

Wood box shelves

My entire life these days is consumed by saltillo tile. But in the back of my mind I'm still kicking around ideas for storage, especially for the master bathroom and my office/studio. I thought about using old wood boxes--my local antique mall has a ton of them--mounted on the wall, but I wasn't sure if that was too far out in left field to be practical.

And then I came across this photo and decided maybe I'm not that weird.



Photo by Sara Remington, found via Style Me Pretty.

Geninne's studio

Wowzers. I'm totally inspired by Geninne's art studio in Mexico. (And also inspired by the fact that she and her husband built their house and live 9,842 feet above sea level!)




Found via Apartment Therapy and Sophie Munns blog.
See Geninne's blog for more inspiration.

Paula Hayes terrariums

One of these days I'm going to have a life that doesn't involve paint or tile. Until then, I will continue to dream about making terrariums as spectacular as these beauties created by Paula Hayes.

Day 136

It's been an insane 2 weeks around here. My mom left this morning to go back to New Mexico after participating in a marathon tiling session. We completed the two original bedrooms and about 80% of the living room. I need to finish tiling, clean all the tile, grout all the tile, and seal all the grout. And then I'm done with tile. But for now I think I'm going to take a nap and sleep for about two days.

We started by sorting the tiles into four main color groups--dark solids, dark mottled, light mottled, and striped--to ensure an even distribution of colors.



We're using the brick pattern in the main area of the house (living room, entry way, and kitchen) mostly because I really like it but also because it will help camoflauge very significant problems that we've encountered in dealing with four different cement slabs from all the previous additions to the house.



We started at the front door, leaving room to step to the side of the tiles. Then we expanded out as far as we could while still leaving a walkway.

The tile can't be walked on for at least 12 hours after it is set. We only have one functional bathroom right now, so we had to leave out one tile and build a bridge so that we could still access the bathroom.



I performed a little balance beam routine on one trip across the bridge. It was so sad that the husband gave me a score of 1.5. I demand a recount.



Yesterday we made it to the back of the living room except for a thin walkway down the side so that my mom could still get to her bedroom. Today I'll clean the tile, and every night this week the husband and I will work on filling in the empty spaces so that we're ready to grout everything soon.



As usual, the supervisor spent most of her time sleeping on the job.



The other day I mentioned how happy I am to finally have real floors. It means I get to drag my Afghan carpets out of their plastic bins and mothballs. Here's a sneak peak at one of my favorite kilims.

Afghanistan artwork

We're taking a break from tiling to hang some of my art. In honor of the current elections in Afghanistan, here are two of my favorite items I brought back from my time there. They're just simple posters that I had framed, but they are among my favorite pieces because of what they show.

The Election Through Afghan Eyes poster is in English and Dari. This photography exhibit documented Afghanistan's first election after the Taliban were removed from power. I love that it shows a woman in her burqa having her finger marked to show that she voted in the election.



Life and Nothing Else... was an exhibition of work by young Afghan photographers. This poster says so much about the state of life for so many Afghans, then and now.

Sadie versus the Grinch

The Grinch lost.



And I know it was Sadie (and not her sister Lucy, who is visiting) because I caught her with a small green hand sticking out of her mouth...

Day 129

The stucco crew was back on Friday. They wrapped the house in foam insulation and chicken wire and applied the first layer of cement--the brown coat. In a week to 10 days, they'll come back to do the color coat. We won't get our new roof until next year, and I can already tell that I'm going to need to repaint the trim sooner than that. If I don't get rid of that red color soon, my head might explode.



My mom and I also finished tiling and grouting the back bedroom that used to be the master bedroom. We used a brick pattern and I love it so much that I might also use this pattern in the living room. Today we are moving the guest room/office in here so that we can start tiling that room.

Day 125

My mom is here from New Mexico again, and we're back to work on tiling the house. We're starting in our old bedroom, which will become the new guestroom. (Unless I decide I like the space so much that I take it over for my office and studio.)

We cleared out the closets and ripped up the last bit of original disgusting carpet.



Sadie's sister, Lucy, is here again, too. She helped by flicking fleas all over the place.



Last week I finally finished the tile in the main section of the new master bedroom and moved our bed over there.



Somewhere I have a gorgeous new duvet cover (that matches the dust ruffle) that is the inspiration for the blue wall in the bedroom. Unfortunately, it's packed safely away somewhere in our workshop and I have no idea where it is right now.



So in the meantime I pulled out one of my carpets from Afghanistan. I'm just so darn happy to have my carpets back in my life again. Someone once asked me how many carpets I bought over there. I'm embarassed to say that I don't remember. But it's a pretty obscenely high number of them. :) You'll get to meet them as we are reunited. The small mostly blue one on the side of the bed was bought at Nomad in Kabul from a very nice young guy named Rahim. His family escaped Afghanistan when the Russians came, and fled to Paris where they established a carpet shop. He later moved to New York City where he opened his own high-end carpet shop and supplied Afghan carpets to shops in Beverly Hills and Santa Fe. Around 2002/03 he went back to Kabul and opened his carpet shop, Nomad, and the best Indian and Chinese food restaurant called Anar. He drove around town in his convertible with his Afghan hounds. He was one cool cat! I bought several carpets from him.



The large runner was actually bought in Albuquerque at a liquidation auction of an Afghan carpet dealer! I snapped it up because it went so well with my smaller carpet.

Day 124

The house is getting naked in preparation for its new coat of stucco. We're both quite excited about it!

Jessica Hische illustrated letterpress goods

This birth announcement, designed and letterpress printed by Jessica Hische, is stunning. The small pink birds are too cute for words.



And her alphabet print, also designed and letterpress printed in three colors, is a true work of art! I'm in awe of the excellent registration she got with the three colors.

Zeke Leonard bed

I discovered Zeke Leonard over at Design Sponge.

I am infatuated with his work, which uses reclaimed wood objects and things he finds in dumpsters. This bed is one of my favorite pieces, although some of his benches and lighting fixtures are pretty spectacular, too.



The bed is made of reclaimed red oak that had been church pews, and the headboard is an oak branch found in the woods. The legs of the bed and the reading lamp are made from reclaimed oak from hand-hewn square beams that were made more than a century ago. Love it.

Paper art by Hellen Musselwhite

Hellen Musselwhite does the most amazing paper sculptures and collages. Love, love, love.











She lives in the UK, but I'm seriously thinking of commissioning her to do a paper sculpture of my old dog, Simon.

So glad to have found her via Thoughtful Day.

Sadie versus The Bag

While I was working at my desk earlier today, I heard a strange noise in the living room. I walked out to find the empty dog food bag, which I left by the front door, in the middle of the living room. And Sadie was saying, "Who, me?"



She tried to play it cool by having a staring contest with the bag.



This went on for about 5 minutes. Who knew that staring contests could be such hard work?



The bag must have won because she finally walked away and I went back to work. But a little while later I found her like this. And her crooked ear expression was telling me that she didn't know what I was talking about when I asked her what she was doing.



She tried to play it cool, like she was looking at that other bag over there.



Then she tried to play it even cooler, like she was looking at the other other bag over there.



But she couldn't resist.



It was just too tempting.



Too...



tempting...



No! Look away! And then she walked away again.



But she quickly returned and walked circles around it, sizing it up before she moved in for the kill.



Whatever flavor particles were left in there must have been mighty good, because she licked it and pushed it in circles for another 5 minutes or so. And then, just like magic, she managed to get her cute little snout inside the bag and lifted it up.



At last! It was hers!



To the victor go the spoils.