the holidays
Last year I got all philosophical about Christmas decorations and I’m feeling the same way this year. But despite my lack of motivation (and more truthfully, a lack of time), I pulled out the plastic bin labeled “Christmas” and did my best.
For some reason I don’t take holiday decorations too seriously and I think that’s a good thing.
As per tradition, we got a small tree from the open air market near our house. For the last several years we’ve tried to get a least one new ornament each holiday season. I like to think of it as creating a timeline of our lives together and it’s a practice that will help ensure a magnificently eclectic tree down the road.
For this year’s ornament, we picked up the above (left) jewel from the gift shop at Taliesin.
My mom also sent me some of the overflow ornaments from my childhood. When my mom was pregnant with my sister in the early 80’s, she made a bunch of soft fabric ornaments and even though they look a bit dated, I love them. The ornament on the right is some of my early handiwork. (Do you remember those DIY kits with the cheap plywood ornaments and paint?)
Speaking of holiday decor challenges, last week we hosted Kyle’s office holiday party at our house. It was the first time since the major remodel that we had a formal dinner for ten!
During the design phase we strategized about ways to fit more people around the table for events such as these and I’m happy to report that it was a success! (Nevermind the mismatched chairs that clash with the red and green decor…at least we had 10 chairs!)
So how did we convert our regular table into a table for 10? Here’s a hint:
A few years ago (back when the living room was the dining room), we were hosting Thanksgiving at our place and needed more space at the table. So Kyle built this topper out of plywood and 2x’s that fit on top of a card table that we already owned. For this event, we simple rotated the wood table, added the extension leaf and then the card table. The LCW flipped to the other side of the living room which allowed the sectional to be pushed closer to the wall, giving just enough space for the larger table configuration.
Once you throw a tablecloth over the whole thing it’s hard to tell what’s going on. (By the way, the red tablecloth is a $20 piece of linen that I picked up from the fabric store.)
The next day, we simply put away the card table and topper, removed the extension leaf and rotated the table back to its original home. If we’ve learned one thing from living in a small home, it’s that flexibility is your friend.
Oh, and happiest of holidays to everyone!
phoenix, part two
The conference was held at the Arizona Biltmore, a fancy-shmancy hotel designed by Albert McArthur and built in 1929. McArthur was a protegé of Frank Lloyd Wright (who also served as a consulting architect for the job).
The place was huge – a sprawling complex composed of the main building and several cottages, “villas” and support buildings.
When we were there temperatures would dip into the 30’s at night, so each morning we’d see all of the flowers protected with plastic until mid-morning or so. Was it weird to see flowers in December in the first place? Yes.
Between conference sessions, we’d have a 15 minute “coffee break”, but we usually headed straight outdoors to the adjacent terrace to soak up some vitamin D and scheme about ways to become weekend snowbirds.
The lobby of the hotel, decorated for the holidays. There were also two restaurants on the premises – the upscale “Wright’s” and the more casual “Frank and Albert’s”. One night, Kyle even ordered a “Wright’s ‘Rita” (though for the life of me I can’t see FLW sipping margaritas, he’s always struck me as a straight scotch kind of guy).
If only all hotels milked the architect(s) as much as the Biltmore.
The conference ended on Friday but we weren’t flying back to Seattle till the next evening. So on Saturday we rented a car and drove over to Scottsdale to see Taliesin West.
Visiting FLW projects seems to be on every architect’s bucket list and we’ve checked quite a few off so far. I got an early start by growing up a few blocks away from the Price Tower and during architecture school we visited Falling Water, the Robie House and a few others while in Pittsburg and Chicago. A few years ago, Kyle toured Taliesin East as part of a window factory tour (we architects know how to have a good time!) and we even saw a few others on this trip in the neighborhood surrounding the Biltmore.
It’s always interesting to see his projects in person, not only because they’re crazy and weird and beautiful but also because they are far from perfect. Frank certainly experimented with building science in his time and many of his works reflect that. Taliesin West has certainly taken a beating over the years from the relentless southwest sun, but the ideas and techniques to deal with that big ball of fire and use of local materials remain strong. (The home was, in many aspects, “off the grid” the first ten or so years. They still get all of their water from a nearby aquifer.)
BLUE SKIES!
Also, that reflecting pool below is actually a tool to help cool the structures via evaporative cooling. Oh Frank, so ahead of your time.
Some of the wood beams have since been replaced with steel but we noticed some substantial deflection in other parts of the house. I’m not sure what the official policy is on restoring vs. leaving as is, but I’d be curious to know.
Archidork #1…
…and archidork #2. (Whatever, it is a pretty sweet gate.)
[For more TW photos, check out Morgan’s collection from her recent trip.]
We had grand plans to spend the rest of the day on a scenic driving tour, but we didn’t leave Taliesin until early afternoon so we decided to stick around the Phoenix area instead. All was not lost though. We found an In-N-Out for lunch and finally got to see what all the hype was about. It was good. Not amazing, but good.
Before heading back to the airport, we stopped by the main public library, designed by Will Bruder and built in 1995. Like most metropolitan libraries, it’s a large, iconic structure that experiments with different ways to both express and protect from harsh sunlight.
Being in a library like this always reminds me what an incredible public (and free!) resource they are to the surrounding community. Kyle was amazed that you could check out DVDs and music. Obviously we need to visit our own libraries more. =)
After leaving the library we still had a few hours to kill. We considered lounging in the sun in a nearby park, but truthfully we were tired and worn out and decided instead to take an earlier flight back to Seattle. It was a good trip, but we were glad to get back to the mossy northwest, taking comfort in the fact that the sun is only a 2 1/2 hour flight away.
phoenix, part one
Hellooooo there. I can’t believe Christmas is less than two weeks away! We just got our tree yesterday and I’ve barely made a dent in my shopping list. Every year I try to simplify and savor the holiday season but inevitably it sneaks up on me and then I’m rushing around with a million things to do. (First world problems, I know.)
But anyway. The last few weeks have been super busy (hence the less frequent posts) and included a short trip down to Phoenix for Reinvention 2011, a conference sponsored by Hanley Wood (who puts out Residential Architect among other publications). It was a great experience filled with inspiring speakers (Will Bruder! Rick Joy! Wendell Burnette! Jones Studio! Lake+Flato!) and good conversation with other residential architects. We packed a lot into four days and thought you guys might be interested in some of the things we saw. The first day of the conference included a bus tour of five modern homes in and around Phoenix. The climate and geography of Phoenix is nearly the polar opposite of Seattle so it was interesting to see first hand the different design challenges and materials used. Since this post is heavy on the photos, I’ll keep the text limited to the project name and architect, but feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions!
Dialogue House [Wendell Burnette Architects]
Xeros Residence [blankstudio architecture]
Cedar Street Residence [colab studio, llc]
Hill/Shepard Residence [Will Bruder + Partners, Ltd.]
Lacey Residence [Jones Studio]
We’ll be back later this week for more architectureness in “phoenix, part two”.
happy birthday mr. bails
Today our favorite golden turns 6! He’s getting a little white around the eyes, but is still very much a puppy.
You guys have no idea how much we love this dog.
[For lots more Bailey photos (including many from his puppy days), check out this post that we did for his 5th birthday.]
P.S. – A very happy birthday to my mom too! And thank you for giving in to our childhood begging – Ginger, our Golden-Pomeranian(?!) mix was my first dog and best friend for so many years.
LCW
Last week, my sister suggested that we were one chair away from needing to rename the blog “chezeames”. She might have a point.
Well, hello there.
This chair has been on our wish list for a few years and now that we’re focusing on finishing up the somewhat neglected living room, we decided to just go for it.
I wish I had some crazy story about how we found it on the side of the road or hidden behind some boxes at a garage sale…but no, we bought it. Our LCW (which stands for “lounge chair wood”) was purchased from Herman Miller through MBI Seattle. The only reason that we were able to eventually afford this chair is that Herman Miller has a very generous architect/designer discount (somewhere in the range of 50%). Even with the discount it’s still an expensive chair, but we rationalized that this is probably the only lounge chair that we would ever have mutual love for and that we would own it forever. Seriously, I want to see a walker parked next to this thing someday.
For now, the chair will live in the corner of the living room.
Look at her, she’s all like…come have a seat and let’s listen to some sweet records.
If you haven’t sat in one of these chairs, they’re remarkably comfortable. In fact, I think this is why the LCW resonates with so many designers – it looks good, is well-built and functional – the three goals that any product or project tries to achieve.
In addition to the chair acquisition, we also finally framed a few prints that my mom had given to me when I was in college. They were purchased nearly 70 years ago by my grandfather, who was a doctor stationed in Paris during WWII. Paris has always held a special place in my heart and even more I love the idea of my grandfather (who passed away before I was born) haggling with some street merchant at Sacre Coeur (I just made that part up, but I like to imagine that’s how it all happened). Anyhow, I’ve been unsure how to properly display them and finally settled on some simple white frames from IKEA. I wanted the prints to be protected and have a presence, but for the frames themselves to be visually de-emphasized. The prints are an awkward size and don’t fit a standard frame, so I instead chose to reverse-matte them (using a little double stick tape). The proportions seem better and I actually like seeing the slightly tattered edges.
I’m starting to really love this little corner of our house. The only thing missing now is a Kylemade media credenza, but that’s another post.
On a related note, last night Kyle and I saw Eames: The Architect and the Painter at the Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill. I thought it was done well and compared to the various things I’ve read on the Eames’, it seemed to be a fair and honest look at their lives and work. I’d highly recommend checking it out if it’s playing in your area.
