Design, Products
May 29, 2010
By Heather John
The Edison Bulb is the lighting equivalent of a 4-inch Christian Louboutin pump. A light is made for lighting. A shoe is made for walking. Neither the Edison nor Louboutin achieves its design function all that well. (Louboutin himself once told me that some of his shoes were made simply for wearing in bed.) However, both objects are brilliant at being beautiful. More on Louboutins another time, but let’s focus on how pretty these simple MIT Cage lights are from Schoolhouse Electric, in matte bronze and hanging from the pitched ceiling by a simple brown twisted cord. You can find the carbon-filament Edison bulbs at specialty lighting stores, where the clerk is likely to roll his or her eyes when you ask for them. But your eyes will thank you not only for the very soft, calming glow these bulbs cast but for their sheer beauty.
Balance, Design, Products
May 28, 2010
By Heather John
I love magazines, and I hold onto my favorites as if they were antiquarian books. I can always find inspiration leafing through a back issue of Vogue or Tatler, and I consult my library of back issues of Bon Appétit, Gourmet and Saveur almost daily for reference. I stocked up on these handsome Knuff magazine files at Ikea (two for $9.99) made of birch plywood. You can stain or paint them, but I love how they look untreated.
Balance, Design, Products
May 26, 2010
By Heather John
What was the most challenging aspect to the remodel? Hands down, the garage doors. We live in one of the most historically intact neighborhoods in the country, and so when selecting doors, it was crucial to preserve the visual integrity of our 1920s cottage (yes, 1920s qualifies as “historic” in Los Angeles). But try finding a good-looking carriage door that doesn’t cost the moon and stars for your garage. It’s harder than you think!
So our contractor, Billy Hartman, built it. He had a welder make a metal frame, which he then covered with wood. I ordered some cast-iron straps and pulls from House of Antique hardware. And for paint, the color idea came to me while I was sitting on our front steps getting ready to go for a long run to clear my head. Slate blue! The color is Benjamin Moore Affinity #495 Azores. The dreamy cream trim around the door is a custom color and we will be repainting all the wood trim on the house this gorgeous hue next month. Also, the dingy Navajo White currently on the exterior stucco will also be repainted next month in a heavenly warm gray. And so the love affair with paint continues…
Balance, Design, Products
May 21, 2010
By Heather John
Today the third coat of high-gloss Benjamin Moore “Poppy” paint goes up on the bookcase. (The gray on the face is primer.) With each coat, the color changes ever so slightly—the first coat looked like a gorgeous Brandywine heirloom tomato. With the second, we swung back to more of a coral. Between each coat, our painter, Jeff Lee, sands down the paint so that it looks smooth as glass. I’m hoping the third and final application will live up to the color’s name: poppy.
[Heather's garage transformation is almost complete. She got ahead of us while I was in New York for ICFF. So next week we should get close to seeing the completed office! Cerentha]
Design
April 7, 2010
By Heather John
What you’re looking at is beautiful chaos that is our garage floor. Today the demolition derby arrived armed with sledgehammers to tear up the concrete foundation in our garage, which, after nine decades of earthquakes and such, was ready to give up the good fight. Next up? At the end of the week we’re pouring a new concrete slab, which will double as the floor in my office conversion. According to our contractor, concrete will crack no matter what. And the best way to minimize catastrophic cracking is to cut grooves in the concrete to encourage the slab to crack in these control joints. Aesthetically I was resisting the idea—I had envisioned one smooth, seamless slab—until I stumbled upon these shots of Pierre Frey’s apartment in New York. How chic is this floor?
