Kitchen: Before

Here's some pictures of the kitchen from winter break. The before! I've done nothing to the space in these photos. The vintage 1940's linoleum floor was unfortunately too far gone to be saved. And actually, while currently the kitchen, this is actually going to become the office and the kitchen will be moved to a bigger more light filled room in the house.   This room is adorable, but so small for a kitchen!  Only 9 ft wide!  The other room has south facing windows for morning sun, and is much bigger, and at the heart of the house (not a tucked away little corner like it is now).  The sink is nice, but will be replaced with a 1930's mint green farmhouse sink.  The stove I have to think about...its PINK, which I LOVE, but I have to see if it goes with the kitchen colors in the end.  I have another 1950's stove competing for the spot, that is white but super cartoony with great sentimental value..

What are your thoughts on the wallpaper?  I'm not going to be keeping all of it, but I was thinking of keeping one wall, maybe as a kitschy accent.  I believe its from the 1940's...

After some initial ceiling scraping...don't worry, I wore a mask and sprayed everything to keep the dust down (lead paint).

And hidden behind the linoleum behind the linoleum behind the mastic is this early 20th c. wood floor!  And behind THIS is the original wide plank flooring!!

P.S. sorry for the bad pics- it was night and my camera was acting up..

Treat for Myself: Vintage Door Hardware!

Now that I'm graduating from the University of MD next week (woo!!), I must admit I've been taking full advantage of the whole "I just finished 4 years of college- I deserve a little somethin' somethin'!" thing. I think I know deep down this will only last another week or so before the guilt sets in.  After all, I have MANY more things that truly need the money.  But in true Nick-style, I've justified spending a little more than I normally would to get something I don't really "need", but really want!

And here they are....!!

 I don't really have a good picture of the front door, but its actually very nice, although hidden behind an awful modern screen door that HAS ta go! You can sort of see it in the pic below..  The hardware was replaced with really cheap home depot brass stuff, that totally kills the look of the door! Since its gonna be something I use every day, I decided to splurge and get more appropriate "house jewelry"! I am a detail freak, so I also will be getting vintage hinges to replace the modern ones, and the wonderful woman who sold me the set is provided vintage screws that match the patina of each side.
*note that you should use a historically correct slotted screw, NOT a modern phillips head screw on an antique doorplate, and always hand screw after pre-drilling).

Speaking of patina, that's one of the things that makes this set so special.  Because one side has been exposed to the elements for 100 years, they've aged very differently, and I love it!  I also love that the interior will be a glass knob, with very different almost black exterior hardware.

This isn't the best picture of the knobs, but interestingly the lavender knob (appears darker here) became that way due to sun exposure- it started clear.  That dates it between 1890 - 1914.  The other knob was manufactured by Sargent & Co. around 1905.  It's the pattern "bullis" from their Greek school of architecture patterns.  The door plates (pattern "quincy") were manufactured around 1905 by the Reading Hardware Co.   (p.s.- credit goes to Vicky at Historic Home Hardware for assembling this phenomenal set and knowing the history!)

Everything is complete and freshly cleaned and oiled, and works great with a skeleton key! 

Also, just to note, this isn't technically "era correct" to my house which is an 1865 Greek Revival, but my motto is if the original is long gone, then I'll go with something old that I like!

I'll keep you guys posted as the door project goes on...Its not quite as simple as it seems, since I have to fill in the larger whole left from the home depot hardware, get proper hinges, and make repairs to the door such as somehow removing a huge sheet of plywood that was bizarrely glued onto the back of the door (to better insulate it I presume?). 

So like everything in my life, its not simple, but thats what makes it fun!

...I think.

Incredible Vintage Iron Chairs!

I didn't think I could top myself with the recent sink, but these iron chairs are incredible!! I feel like I'm on a roll now that school is ending! Now I haven't actually bought them yet, but I've talked the seller down to a price I can afford, and am getting ready to send a deposit!  (I can't pick them up for a week or 2).  The seller doesn't know exactly how old they are, but he believes they may be from the 70's.  I'll have to try and judge the age when I see them in person...all I know is if they're half as good as they look in the pics, I think I'll be beyond thrilled....  I'm actually thinking I might end up using them as the breakfast area chairs in the kitchen...  I can't wait to start designing around them in the space!  I'll have to find a table thats worthy of them... It'll actually be an interesting challenge....normally chairs play somewhat the part of backup dancers in design, but lets face it, these girls are divas.  To be honest, I can't possibly imagine how they can be comfortable, but in the end, I think of a quote from one of my favorite movies, "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything"...

"Well pumpkins, it looks like it comes down to that age old decison.....Style..or Substance?

Hmmmm...."

Online Vintage Yard Sale!

I don't have time for a long post, but I figured I'd give everyone a heads up that I'm gonna be sellin' a bunch of stuff before I move this summer! I've already posted and sold a bunch of stuff on craigslist, but still have a lot up (and a lot more to come up). To get it all, type in "laurel bun bun roo" into the DC craigslist search bar.

Or copy and paste this:

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/search/?areaID=10&subAreaID=&query=laurel+bun+bun+roo&catAbb=sss

And don't worry, if you think something is too high priced, it will come down. I don't like things sitting, so if I'm not getting any bites I will relist and reprice until its gone! Also, feel free to make an offer on anything!

Sink of my Dreams

I can barely speak! This is easily one of my favorite finds... I just brought her home, and I'm now the proud owner of a gorgeous original mint green farmhouse sink! I didn't want to post anything until everything went through, but it did!




When I saw the photo of the sink and the description on craigslist, I knew instantly it was what I was looking for. I've been looking for an old farmhouse sink like this, and while I always dreamed of a colored one, there's so hard to find (and so expensive!), I figured I had no chance... Needless to say, I acted quickly.

I didn't have much hope at first...I had emailed the seller, and when she didn't get back to me the second time I assumed it was sold... For the heck of it, I emailed once more (pesky craigslister that I am) and she actually got back to me, saying she missed my previous emails! Long story short, I drove 2 1/2 hours up near Philly to pick the sink up and now here I am! I ended up getting her for $300, which is a lot for me, but pretty cheap when you look at what similar sinks go for!

And this is one of those great craigslist stories where its even better in person... The color was off in the pics on the ad, but when I got there my dreams were confirmed -it was that sick sweet soft mint green in pristine condition! Plus, it came with a faucet that wasn't mentioned in the ad! The faucet's a repro, but still good.

So, anyways, here she is in all her glory! She actually fits perfectly in the corner I need a sink in(speaking of which- my kitchen plans have changed since my last kitchen post- I'll have to update with a new post sometime)

Original craigslist photo:

Sneak Peak of other kitchen stuff: Mint green fridge to left, upper cabinets above! (part of a bigger set!).

Part 3 of Studio Project

Just thought I'd share where my studio project was going.... for the 3rd part of the project, we were given someone else's "artifact" (I did the radio thing in the last post), and we had to design an environment, or field, for the object to exist in... a reliquary of sorts..

To make a long story short, I decided to make a box that would very simply organized by a grid, with tiny little doors and delicate hinges that would open on every panel, even when it wouldn't make sense for all the doors to open on the same space, like at a corner. It took forever, especially with the miniature hinges (which were intended for doll house doors ha!). The point was that you would open up each door and get a different framed view of the object. (the object was about fragments). Each view would also be filtered or blocked in one of 3 ways. Sometimes you would get a literal brick wall, other times just parts of the brick wall that you could see through, and then in just the netting behind the bricks. (In the middle panel it was a clear tunnel to the center of the artifact, which was the most important part). Anyways, here's how it turned out!

Part 2 of Studio Project

For the second part of our project on transformations, we were told we had to make some sort of artifact that related to our video. It had to be small enough to fit in the palm of our hand, but other than that it was open for interpretation. The idea was to be abstract with the ideas from your video, so for mine, after talking with my critic, I wanted my object to reflect the idea of revealing mechanism behind a facade, rather than reflect the literal man/woman change in the video. Further, I wanted to explore the idea of revealing mechanism, to the point where I wanted an object that would reveal the mistaken or percieved mechanism behind the surface. Sort of like when you're a little kid, and you don't know how something really complicated like a car or radio work, so you invent some sort of way in your mind.

For me, the object was a small vintage transistor radio that had seen better days. It seemed obvious to me, that had I not known the guts behind what makes a radio work, that they would be operated by a family of miniature instrument-playing marshmellows.