This house across the street from mine just went on the market. I’ve never seen the inside, but from the outside it is amazing. I love the mansard roof! I hope someone buys it soon and takes good care of it. (And yes, houses here really are that cheap.)

Offered At: $199,000 Historic Brick Victorian just a half block from Bay View Terrace & “The Bluff” - River Views down street. This 3-level beauty in Newburgh’s Historic District retains its single family integrity - existing mantels, parquet floors, 2 full baths, bi-level front porch w/view of river down street, slate Mansard roof, backyard w/AG pool. With a few of your personal touches, this will really be a wonderful home. Walk to train, waterfront & dining. Home Warranty Included.

We are making such good progress in the bathroom. It’s very exciting! Sure, the tub and sink are still out being reglazed (after 4 weeks…), but I can look past that and focus on the fact that the room is officially NO LONGER SCARY. I can actually imagine myself taking a bath in there (in a bathtub, of course).

Marble hexagon tiles.

All of our windows are original to the house. This is the first one I’ve repaired and painted.

Ceiling medallion and glass pendant.

Putting the new sash lock on the window felt like a real accomplishment. This is something people do when they’re close to being finished, right?

I have a another great friend, Adam, who also lives way too far from me—300 miles away, in Potsdam, New York. Adam and I have lived together, worked together, gone to see Siouxsie and Rufus together, laughed together and cried together…but we have never decorated a house together. And it’s about time we tried!

Four years ago, Adam bought a beautiful sandstone house in Potsdam. It was built 1812, and “wreckorated” 160 years later. The situation is dire—Adam is living with things like shag carpet-printed linoleum. (Did you even have any idea that such a thing existed?!) He’s constantly saying that he wants my help in figuring out what to do with his house, so I figured it would be fun to work on his house from a distance, through photos and a blog. Everything is going to be done on a very tight budget and with a whole lot of DIY!

Adam is going to be documenting progress on healing his home over at his new blog, Fixing Adam’s House. I’m going to be posting there as well, mostly with words of encouragement, ideas for decorating, and inspirational photos. Adam will be doing all of the hard work, but he’d love to get feedback as he moves forward.

I guarantee it’s going to be a massive and uplifting transformation, and I hope you’ll join us!

Last night I got to see my oldest (and prettiest!) friend, Nicole McConville, for the first time in far, far too long. We grew up together (I’ve spared both of us the embarrassment of including any pre-1992 photos in that collage), but now we live 700 miles apart. Despite that distance and despite gaps in contact over the years, our lives have taken very similar paths. I am so lucky to have known Nicole for all this time. She is so special to me; I am so proud of who she’s become.

We went to Blossom for dinner with our matching, geeky husbands. The main courses were really super-delicious, but the desserts and coffee…not so much. It was just a couple of hours of time together, but it was enough to remind me that I really need to make an effort to see this girl more often.

p.s. This is Nicole’s house. Yes, seriously!!

Now, my rational mind tells me that the Lulu chair from Urban Outfitters is really a pile of garbage, but my greedy, teardrop pattern-loving heart tells me to BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT!

I’m going to listen to the rational mind, though, and let this one go. $385? Really? I have added it to my every-growing Flickr set of teardrop patterns, though.

I wish I could just buy the fabric, and use it to reupholster the cushions for my two Danish chairs. Which, shamefully, are still “temporarily” wrapped in plain linen 9 months after bringing them home.

I keep forgetting to take photos of the new haircut! Which actually isn’t so new anymore, and has already grown in a little bit. Getting the bangs cut asymmetrically was a smart choice—it works with my cowlick! I feel so much better with my hair shorter. I don’t think I am a long-hair person, though I keep trying it out every few years.

The floors on the second story of my house are old, but they are not original to the house. They are narrow-plank oak, and were laid over the original wide-plank pine, most likely in the early 1900’s—a decade or so after the house was built. The pattern of the boards is quite nice, with the borders running perpendicular to the center pieces.

However, they are in pretty rough shape. The finish is completely worn off in some areas, and there’s a lot of deep staining and damage to them. There’s also an awful lot of paint tracked over them, thanks to a careless paint job done by a previous occupant. There are burn marks around the nails from too-aggressive refinishing once upon a time.

Yes, they could be sanded and refinished, but why? I don’t love the color of the oak, and the planks are very thin (only about 1/4″). So I think we will paint the floors on the second story. White! (Of course.)

Just as I don’t think it’s a mortal sin to paint wood trimwork, I don’t see any problem with painting a wood floor. It’s not even out of context with the house—painted floors were common in Victorian homes, particularly when the wood was not of premium quality. I’m not worried about regretting painting the floors, but I AM worried about regretting NOT painting them! I think living with those floors for two years has convinced me that they are worth making into something more beautiful.

See, like this:

Paul Massey photography

More inspirational photos this way…
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Amazing, right? It’s a patchwork beanbag sofa and a rug decorated with multi-colored duct tape, both by Dutch designer Bertjan Pot (visit his site to see more beautiful, inspriational things he has designed, including the wonderful Carbon Copy chair from Moooi). Love!

(via AT:NY)

Well, we’re still working on it. But look!

Yes, yes, there are walls now! The Plaster Fairy came to visit us, and he did an amazing job (that sheetrock panel on the left will be covered up after the Electric Fairy is done). The trimwork is almost finished, too—we just have to finish up one little strip under the top rail, and the shoe molding at the bottom.

(Would you believe there’s a FULLY TILED floor hiding under that kraft paper?! I can’t wait to finish painting so I can pull the paper up and admire it!)

Let’s have a look at a “before” photo, OK?

So yeah, it’s really getting somewhere!

complex geometries silk square collar dress

jeffrey campbell jaya gladiator sandals

rachel comey sneaky belt dress

There are peonies in the dressing room…

The sky was clear and blue—for a few hours…

The radiators look beautiful after being sandblasted and powdercoated…

And the pups are at least sitting near each other!

At present, Fritz has a bunch of missing teeth, a few wiggly teeth, and a couple of growing-in adult teeth. And an underbite. Invisalign for puppies, here we come!

(Click to see those choppers bigger!)

Sometimes the Goodwill amazes me—a while back, I got these great candleholders at the one in Vail’s Gate. This time, I found this cute Missoni pillow and two sweet little mid-century ceramic cups. Total cost for everything? $1.99!

I can’t enough of yellow! I’m addicted to this yellow patent-leather belt, and my gigantic new bag makes me smile every day. How great is that pattern? It makes me think of something Elisabeth would create.

My haircut is fresh and short (picture soon), and it made me go and buy new t-shirts this morning (including a gray one to wear with my yellow belt!). Summertime should mostly be spent with short hair and soft-soft-soft t-shirts. I can’t wait for the weekend. I have a good feeling.

Thank you so much for all of the really sweet comments about little Bruno and Fritz. It’s been an emotional couple of weeks, but I think we are (on the verge of) turning a corner. Even Fritz is making an effort—as you can see, he is spending less time on the sofa, and more time on a pillow on the floor. Just that little thing gives Bruno a bit more confidence.

It’s been incredibly hot in New York these last few days, but today has been perfectly sunny and breezy and amazing. This afternoon I had ice cream cones with friends, and tonight I’m getting another haircut—short, for the summer heat. I can’t wait to go home afterwards and hug my dogs. Both of them!

I haven’t posted much lately because all of my mental energies have been focused on the well-being of my little Bruno. He’s having such a hard time adjusting to life with Fritz, and it’s wearing on all of us. We had him examined and his blood screened to be sure his change in mood isn’t anything physical (it isn’t), so now we’re working together to let him know that he’s still the top dog, and that we’re still here to take care of him. He’s slowly, slowly getting better (and Fritz is learning his boundaries, too), but it’s difficult.

I love Bruno so, so much. He really is the most special dog in the world—infinitely sensitive, infinitely loving. My heart hurts knowing that he’s not feeling happy right now, but I know that things will eventually improve. (In the mean time, I don’t mind hand-feeding him boiled chicken.)

Evan and I spent three solid days (minus some well-timed thunderstorm downtime) working in the garden, and the results are really satisfying. It’s actually starting to look like something out there! Considering the garden looked like this (remember that dog pen, Adam?!) when we bought the house and like this just a couple of months ago, I’d say this is quite an improvement.

We made a gravel path!

First we painted some pressure-treated wood with special outdoor stain, then we made a rectangular frame with stakes on the bottom.

Then we dug and dug and dug for a really long time, and smacked the dirt down flat with my new favorite tool, a hand tamper. We took turns. Evan’s turns were longer than mine. I’m not very strong!

Landscape cloth went on top of the dirt, and then we poured in 5 of the 6 bags of gravel we dragged into the garden through our basement.

SO EXCITING! A path! Which goes nowhere! (Eventually we’ll put something at the end.)

We also planted lots of stuff, so the Japanese Maple isn’t lonely out there anymore. On the left (shady) side, there are three Rhododendrons, an Azalea, Baltic Ivy (which will eventually climb up and cover a good portion if the fence), and a bunch of Pachysandra that I’m hoping fills in nicely and gives up some good ground covering. On the right (sunny) side, there are two Black Lace Elderberries and three Big Daddy Hostas. Everything is still pretty small, but I’m sure a year from now it’ll be looking lush and full.

The next steps are the stone patio and the vegetable garden!

I came to the Habitat store via Wiksten, and immediately found several things I wouldn’t mind finding waiting for me in the closet tomorrow morning.

MK2K Two Pocket Dress (gray!)
Frye Cameron peep-toes (green!)
Initium Ten sunglasses (black! blue!)
Campers Right flats (yellow! gray!)

I love these colors together.