Guys, it's been BANANAS. So, yet again, I'm just gonna show you a little sneak peek of something at the Inn. Here's the breakfast nook in one of the Kitchenette rooms:
Steven, my in-house carpenter (when and how did that happen by the way...?!) built the table from barn wood and pre-made legs. He's also the master painter behind the art. We've had a good laugh several times about how he's making hotel art nowadays... Perhaps the classiest hotel art around!
It's been fabulous MADNESS over here getting everything ready. At some point I want to show all the steps in making our bar etc, but for now here's a quick sneak peek!
Steven + barn wood = brilliance!
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
I have been aching to paint the motel exterior since the day we bought this place and now, with the interior work practically done and warm weather, its finally TIME! The day before yesterday we bought a boatload (ok, a Subaru-load) of paint and taped everything off.
I worked section by section, rolling over the old red then using a brush to get in the ten thousand nooks and crannies. OH MY GOD THE TEDIUM of that second step. And I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit how physically taxing it was. I'm sore.
Meanwhile, Steven was hard at work acetone-ing then painting the north side of the motel where we're going to have a small patio area.
And guys, that ladder is REALLY TALL. After we finished, beers in hand checking out our handiwork, we both admitted how nervous we were about it. But look! So worth it!
Next up are the doors which will be a glossy version of the same blue and all the window trim in white. Plus the five million other things we have to do before opening...!
As tiring as all this painting was, it's crazy pleasing to have such an obvious, visible result of my labor. So much of the other work that goes in to opening this place happens in notebooks and computer documents (or in my brain at 2 in the morning). I'm looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning, looking out the window and seeing this progress.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
We got the beds delivered for the inn the other day so I immediately set up a room! Obviously I've been making décor plans/purchases throughout our renovation, but I've been reluctant to buy too much in bulk for all the rooms until I could see things together in person. Being able to actually fluff and drag and move things around is infinitely helpful.
It's kind of silly but having BEDS in the rooms has made it feel all the more real. Next step: guests! We've gotten our first batch of reservations so we're on our way. Book your room for July 1st on here. Or enter this Brooklyn Based giveway and win a two night stay AND other great stuff like a $25 bar tab and brunch at the Pheonicia Diner and free tubing!
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
As it finally warms up over here I'm no longer looking to cozy carpets and wood stoves but rather cool--in all senses of the word--tiles. I wish wish WISH we could cover the whole house, heck the whole Inn, with tiles but it ain't exactly sensible at the moment. Though this photo via Lonny is very much tempting me...
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
Now that it's fiiiiiiinally getting warm out, Steven and I have started to get our hands dirty tackling some projects like the Mini Barn aka No-More-Goats-Gazebo aka Goatzebo. See, the previous owners had lots and lots o' goats:
Fifty-two to be precise. And they used what was once a hotel bunk room as a pen to separate some of the more aggressive male goats. Steven and I are now de-goat-ing it to turn it into a gazebo of sorts for guests to hang out in.
First we removed the beat up windows and door, and the particle board that was nailed up over the back.
Then with our maul and crowbars, we took out parts of the pens. I say "parts" because we're leaving the walls for a booth-feel. And I say "we" even though this part was clearly all Steven.
Next we swept out all the cobwebs and hay and thought about how on earth we were gonna get rid of the goat-y smell from the particle board floor. I decided to look under the building itself to see if there was perhaps a better sub-floor beneath all the goat grime and there was! So with crowbars we painstakingly removed the rotted particle board floors to reveal a much more people-friendly wood floor.
We got about halfway done with the floor before we decided to call it a day. Sometimes it's best to quit when you're ahead!
Our next steps are to finish ripping up the rest of the floor, give the whole thing a hearty power-wash then paint the shit out of it. And while I'm a total sucker for whitewash, that seems like a bit of a dangerous choice for such an indoor-outdoor space so instead we're going for a "Notre Dame" grey.
Hopefully I'll have some more progress to report next week!
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
Like I said on Instagram, I call this one "Before and Almost-After":
New floors to go with our new windows and freshly painted white walls. You better believe I took my shoes off, padded around barefoot, laid down on it. And the verdict is I LOVE IT! Hopefully you will too when you come for a visit.
Things are coming along.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
I came across this photo today from SFGirlByBay and it re-awoke this weird love I have of plastic rugs:
I think it was when we were living in Mali that I first fell for them. People use them indoors and out, as often for a party as for prayers.
We bought a few when we were living at a radio station in the little town of Segou. (I know I know, it was a super crazy situation! Read the book I wrote about our travels and you'll know all about that and plenty of other weird stuff we put ourselves through...)
And we've held onto one through the years which is currently living in our kitchen:
Quite a distance that one has traveled. Who'da thunk.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
I've had a thing for swings for a while now.
So much so that back in Brooklyn I insisted on hanging a hammock inside.
Which was mostly a noble attempt to deflect my true desire: to have a yard with a swing.
So imagine my joy when yesterday reached an insanely balmy 60 degrees--
And Steven built me a swing!
Like just about everything we've had a hand in here, it's made from barn wood. (And some climbing rope threaded through two drilled holes.) Not to downplay Steven's fabulous craftsmanship but, boy was it easy!
As we develop the grounds for the Inn, I'm gonna be sure to have some swings for guests because we shouldn't be the only ones enjoying the view of Mt. West Kill like this.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
Dramatic natural light can make just about anything look 'design-worthy'. As we inch our way towards spring, I've noticed that the light is changing around here. All winter it's been hushed and cloudy or a sharp bright blue. But now, each afternoon, there are these fabulous, intensely dramatic rays that cuts across the valley:
And I can't get enough of it!
On top of it all, the other night we had the most Miami-like sunset I've seen since moving up here:
Keep it up sun. I like what you're doing.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
Yesterday afternoon Steven and I were feeling a little trapped and listless. It's been cold, cold, cold for months, months, months and while there's still lots to be done for the Inn and one can always work on a new book idea, we both found ourselves in a bit of a "hurry up and wait" place. We've learned that when our to-do lists have become too amorphous and intangible, it's good to get our hands dirty. Literally. So as the contractors packed up their gear for the day, we decided to take ours out and into the barn to MAKE something.
A few weeks ago Steven made a bench out of some old barnwood and 2x4s for our entranceway:
I've been trying to settle upon a design for benches in the Inn's rooms, and while I love this one, the top is one of a kind so we had to come up with something else.
When it comes to making stuff for the rooms-- for the house even-- the name of the game is "What can we cannibalize from our house/barn/yard?" aka "What's FREE?" We've made shelves out of barnwood and L brackets from the old laundry room for our bar--
We built our dining room table from barnwood and 2x4's--
Hell, we even dragged the barn door into the kitchen!
After sketching out different models involving all sorts of cuts and supports we decided upon something laughably simple: barn wood + two stumps + 4 screws. And presto!
The actual construction took maybe ten minutes, but sitting by our fire with our feet propped up on it and some beers in our hands, we felt like it was the real pride of the day's work.
There's something that's been driving me a little nuts recently: The perfectly crumpled dish towel.
I see them EVERYWHERE on social media. Granted I follow a lot of design-y folks but now that I've noticed I can't stop.
Of course it's not that dish towels in general drive me nuts. No. It's that they've come to symbolize to me what is both beguiling and completely irritating about lifestyle media: presenting oneself as perfectly imperfect.
I'm gonna go ahead and toss in perfectly unmade beds as well.
I am in no way the first person to voice concerns about what (misre)presenting oneself via blogs and such does to the self esteem of readers and our constantly stoked Fires of Jealousy etc. But I've been thinking a lot about how most popular blogs have moved verrrrrrry far away from being a platform to show folks a peek into someone's real life to instead, a place where there's a lot of filtered, glossy photos of a much more appealing version of that "real life".
Blogs and Instagram and all that were once touted as an editor-free platform for people to speak their truths. And now so many of us are self-censoring and recreating the kind of fairy tale worlds that used to be the stuff of magazines, runway shows, and movies and other things we all enjoyed but derided for not being "real".
I do it too. I'm on Instagram polluting the world with beautiful photos of a portion of my life. My most egregious example was probably this post three weeks ago:
The caption is "Saturday afternoon chores. #catskills". YES, we were sorting and chopping wood for our wood stove. And YES, that can be a real chore in that we have to do it even when we don't want to. But I just as easily could have posted a not-so-dappled-sunlight photo of the other chores I did that day, like say, cleaning the dog hair out of the drain after Waldo's bath. Except that would be disgusting and nobody wants to see that.
Or do they?
I've joked with friends about starting another Instagram account that's all the most mundane, entirely un-scenic, and annoying parts of my days. It might look a little something like this:
Yet somehow even that makes me chuckle. And if I created an account like that I'm sure I'd wind up trying to find the most appealingly mundane/terrible things and find myself back in the same kind of situation.
To wrap this up-- so I can get back to my 100% idyllic life-- I'd like to say that for the record I really do enjoy the beautifully curated photos and such of all of the design folks I follow. They're delicious and inspirational and are a lovely balance to all the heartbreak I read about every morning in the Times. But I am equally, if not MORE excited by those people who are in the spotlight and are using their platforms to occasionally discuss what they're worrying about while laying awake in those perfectly unmade beds. Design*Sponge and DesignLoveFest in particular have been inspirational in that way and I'm really looking forward to hearing what else they have to say--
And what they had for brunch at that cute new spot with amazing tiles and perfectly crumpled dish towels for napkins.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
I was going to say, "If only I had ten bathrooms so I could have ten different ones of these" and then I remembered that I DO have ten bathrooms. And then I remembered that $68 is an awful lot for a shower curtain. Still. How great are these?
I will warn you though: clicking through the whole selection will make you want to scream: Please, please, PLEASE people. LEAVE THE NEON AND THE TRIANGLES AND THE ARROWS AND THE ANTLERS AND THE CHEVRON AND THE EAMES CHAIRS AND THE INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES ALONE!
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
What's that you say? It's one of the worst winters on record up here? Oh, that's no problem for our crew because they are BAD ASS.
When they finished their (no heat, no running water) day yesterday, it was like this:
And today they are heartily welcomed with this:
Like I said: BAD ASS.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
Hire Steven that's how. This ENTIRE thing was his brainchild. Basically, our kitchen used to be the restaurant for the Schwarzenegger Sunshine Valley House, which in some ways is super cool (giant industrial stove, lots and lots of space, crazy big shop sink) and in other ways is super sucky (giant industrial stove that doesn't work very well, lots and lots of space that's uninsulated, crazy big shop sink with pipes that freeze). But we're working on it! And working on it includes getting a door that is more than a piece of fabric for its entrance.
Working on it has also included a shit ton of painting on my behalf, but I'll save those photos etc for next week.
The barn door was, well, in our barn. (Imagine that!) It divided the work space from the goat pens.
Removing it was relatively simple-- Steven unscrewed the rail with our power drill and some hand tools. The rail was going to be a bit too long to fit in our kitchen, so we snapped it off, which is actually not so hard to do when it's been well below freezing for a long time and the rail has become brittle.
Getting it to the house was a bit trickier. As incredibly strong as I am (!) we decided we should probably enlist the help of some more muscle. Our contractor, perhaps fearful for our safety once getting wind of our intentions, was kind of enough to take a moment from the motel and help us get the door out of the barn, onto our car, then into our living room.
Through the snow, of course. BECAUSE IT NEVER STOPS SNOWING HERE.
Anyway.
Unsurprisingly, the barn door smelled a bit like BARN. Having recently purchased some Nature's Miracle just in case Waldo decided to make himself feel very at home, we decided to give it a go.
And it worked! The next steps are not documented because I was manically painting the whole time, but essentially, Steven made our wall more secure with a combination of more barn wood, lots of drilling, and some 2 x 4s. Because otherwise we were gonna have to hang the door on some loosely stapled, ancient laminate which even we know is a TERRIBLE idea.
The two of us muscling it up onto the drilled in rails is not documented either, though I've got to say a video would have been quite amusing in retrospect. Lots of contorting and grunting and finally.... VOILA!
Since salvaging is the name of the game up here (or as we've been saying, "Rustic is our bitch"), we also made our bar shelves from barn wood and L's found in the old laundry room.
Yes, it's a rather odd collection of booze at the moment, but you're supposed to be looking at the fine craftsmanship of the shelves not wondering if we really drink Jager!
Here's the door from the other side which shows you a) our view from the living room b) a sneak peek of the rest of the kitchen and c) that empty saddle which we have yet to address.
Always something to be done out here...!
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
These posts might be named I Love Lamp, but I gotta tell you-- what I really love are PILLOWS. When we got back from Mali with several duffle bags worth of fabric I made PILLOWS.
When we got back from Bali with rolls of Ikat I made PILLOWS.
(Unsurprisingly, given all those bottles on the table, the only things not blurry in this photo are the pillows.)
And when I got back from Colombia two years ago with a bunch of ponchos I very much intended to make PILLOWS.
Because let's face it, ponchos aren't my best look.
Last week, on a snowy afternoon, I finally got around to making them! Or, well, three quarters of them. First I drew out a plan and did lots of careful measuring and cutting.
Which was harder than I'd anticipated since the ponchos have this necessary but very awkward hole in the middle of them that I had to work around. Then I pinned the pieces together. Unfortunately it was right side out instead of inside out. This is exactly 10 seconds before I realized my mistake.
Lucky for me the ponchos look nice both ways so the result is just a little more subdued than I'd planned on.
I say the job is only three quarters done because my bobbin ran out at the exact moment my patience did so only one pillow was sewn together. At least the rest of the pieces for the second one have been prepped. As you can see, the one on the left is merely posing as a completed pillow.
If anyone wants to come by and rethread my bobbin and or shame me into sucking it up and doing it, I'd be most grateful. I'll probably even make you a pillow of your own from any of the other yards upon yards of fabric we've got here.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
I'm a BIG fan of white wash. I think it looks fresh and clean in everything from Moroccan to Swedish interiors. (Remember our studio in Brooklyn?) Steven's studio gets great light but is darkened by this thick green behind the shelves. I figured I'd start there:
While it's not a lot of square footage OH MY GOD THE TIME SPENT TAPING!
And the precision needed to get in the grooves of that bead board without winding up with glops and drips running down... Let's just say it took some time and patience and contorting.
Let's also say that I'm THRILLED with the result!
I'll show you the real "After" picture as soon as we actually get some stuff up there.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
While Waldo is still a bit perturbed that we brought fire inside, Steven and I are SO HAPPY to have finally gotten our wood stove installed! The previous owners took theirs with them which left a rather obvious hole in the hearth of the living room. One that I tried, unsuccessfully, to fill with tables and books and christmas trees--
(Don't mind our matching vintage sweaters-- xmas gifts from my Mom...!)
And since it's winter it's wood stove season, so the place where we got it couldn't install it for nearly two, very cold months! To make matters more complicated we had to built a second internal chimney because our oil heat was connected to the brick chimney so we weren't legally allowed to just plug the wood stove into that chimney too.
Oh, home ownership.
It took the guys ALL day, measuring, sawing, crawling through the attic, clambering on the roof. And let me add that it as a -10 degrees day. Total champions!
Steven lit the first fire that night:
We really wanted to have a huge, raging one to heat up the place but they had specifically told us that you're supposed to have a few small ones first to temper the paint. They also warned us that a slightly black smoke will come off the stove during the first big burn and that that is normal. I FREAKED OUT anyway when our whole first floor filled with smoke and a terrible, acrid smell. To calm me down, Steven called them to triple check that what we were experiencing was normal. They swore up and down it was.
And now we're cooking. Literally! Last night we roasted sweet potatoes in foil in the grill portion of the stove and they were sooooo yummy. They reminded me of the ones that we used to get in the streets of Beijing after school.
And now I've got to runoff to the barn to build a wood storage contraption of sorts with Steven!
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
You didn't think I was gonna get a dog and not obsess over what dog bed to get him, did you? I mean, I've got to look at the thing Every. Dang. Day. Not to mention Waldo has to sleep on it.
The first night we got him we set him up with some European size pillows and two picnic blankets. A week later these seems to be doing him just fine.
But "just fine" ain't good enough in this house, so I've been on the hunt for something cozy and nice looking which is surprisingly hard to find. Guys, there is some SERIOUSLY UGLY dog stuff out there.
My current favorite is this Buffalo Plaid one I've seen in a couple spots (including Waggo):
But that might be because I got a Buffalo plaid jacket this year that I love:
And perhaps it's not the best idea to match the dog bed. Maybe something a bit more subdued like this one would do:
Until I buy myself some Engineer striped overalls, then I'm screwed all over again.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
Such a bright blue sky makes it easy to forget it's supposed to feel like minus 21 today.
UNTIL YOU STEP OUTSIDE.
And while it's not exactly the right blue, it still reminds me of Yves Klein and his faaaabulous blue: International Klein Blue.
I LOVE that blue. I love how strong it is, how flat it is, the performance art behind it.
And it reminds me of so many other things and places and people. Like the Tuaregs I've met in the Sahara on the Malian and Moroccan sides--
(Yes, that second guy is Steven.)
Or this hotel we stayed at in Crete last summer.
Or Chefchouen, the wonderfully sleepy Moroccan mountain town that's entirely covered in varying shades of blue.
Even all our dishes are Fiestaware's version of International Klein Blue!
More blue from today: despite the SERIOUSLY CRAZY cold I dared to go out to the fully winterized (aka unheated) motel strip with some blue tape. You see, arranging furniture and determining outlet placements just wasn't happening on paper. I had to see that shit life sized.
SO much better. Totally worth the brush with frostbite.
It's a shame blue gets such a bad rap being the symbolic color of sadness and all. I find it makes me feel quite the opposite.
(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)
(Yves Klein photo courtesy of Yves Klein Archives, all other photos mine.)