Buy Nothing Day

I've been holding my own private Day-After-Thanksgiving protest for years.  

It's good to know there are others who share my views.

File Cabinet

Okay, I need a file cabinet.  It needs to be lateral, two drawer.  I've decided that it should be steel probably--though wood is good enough for home use, our home can be a little intense.

the room is modern with oak trim.  I've never met an oak modern-style filing cabinet. Frankly, I'm more about the classic look.  Which in the case of a filing cabinet might be rather utilitarian.

Which is why, though it's wood, the Pottery Barn lateral filing cabinet looks so good.  They're marketing to my demographic.

Stairs notebook

My architect laughingly refers to all the open rail-less stairs in the shelter magazines as "stair porn."

Today I discovered there is an actual site by that name.  Rated PG, unless you're a city safety regulator.

http://www.stairporn.org/

from there I found this site:

http://www.eestairs.com/

Earlier this week I got to visit the studio at West Edge Metals, who make some pretty amazing stairs and other architectural metal pieces locally.  I'd love to work with them.  I'm still not clear on what I'd like to do exactly, other than THE STAIRS MUST BE CHANGED.

http://www.westedgemetals.com/

Kitchen progress

Your mom may have pulled out the counters and backsplash, but it's still a great place to do homework.

Another backsplash idea: glass tile with subtle irridescent color

I'm a reader of Susan Serra's Kitchen Designer blog (see sidebar)  I enjoyed Susan Serra's post on this East Hampton kitchen.  Her comments on ventilation cracked me up--I'm a ventilation girl myself, but if you're going to do it inadequately, ventilating with an old-style wall fan would still get my vote.  Lovely in general--who can argue with those matched-grain flat-front cabinets, but more to the point for me, a good example of the kind of beachy glassy tile I admired in the store.

http://www.thekitchendesigner.org/journal/2010/11/20/an-east-hampton-kitchen.html

Just not sure it will look good in my purposely "artificial ingredients" easy-care modern kitchen: laminate cupboards, nickel trim handles, soon-to-be-installed white nougat caesarstone counters.

Replace front door hardware with Baldwin

The Baldwin entry hardware that the house came with has fallen apart.  Maybe it was scrapped up by using copy keys.  I don't know.  It was probably installed in 1979.

I want to replace it with the same thing.  Though maybe I'd switch from brass finish to nickel finish (on an oak door?  can I do that?)

Looks like what I've got now is the Baldwin New York series.  Thank you, internet.

I'd prefer a combo lock on the front door, but I haven't yet seen one I can stomach.  That's the problem with a lovely front porch--it makes me picky.

Shopping in Hayes Valley, San Francisco

After we found Kohler Karbon faucets at Bath + Beyond, my husband took me to Hayes Valley to Christopher Elbow for hot chocolate and lunch.  As we walked along the street, marrimekko in the window drew us into minimal where there were amazing wool felt pillows, and Finnish dishes, and cool table pieces, and Tivoli radios, which I love but hadn't known where to see and buy in person anymore.  I saw so many cool things I felt like I was back on my Stockholm anniversary vacation.

Then we went to Lotus Bleu where I discovered Madeline Weinrib rugs, though I went in to look at throw pillows.  Because, if I am ever am going to spend money, it's good to know there are things I could buy that I would want.

kitchen faucet hunt

Edited to add: the Kohler Karbon won.

Minta by Groh

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I like this square with rounded corners look.  Later I realized the faucet that came with the prep sink, which I really like, echoes this.

Hansgrohe Axor Uno2

Not crazy about the handle though.  But this is a good example of a large graceful modern gooseneck, which I seem to be drawn to but my husband seems to be averse to.

Talking about it tonight, I think it's all the gooseneck faucets in medical/hospital settings that put him off them.

KWC Eve

My friend loves her KWC faucet, so that line seemed very safe for quality.  Looking over what KWC has, I was drawn to this "Eve" tall gooseneck, which my husband think is boring and common.  I think it's elegant, but I'm not sure it's right for my kitchen.

Dornbracht Meta 2.0

In the Fixtures N Faucets showroom, this Dornbracht was on display away from the other faucets, in the front window.  It just looks great in person.  The sprayer amuses me because it's heavy.  The salesperson joked I could crack walnuts with the sprayer.

Dornbracht Lot

I brought the Dornbracht catalog home, just to have my husband hate the Meta 2.0 but love this demainding Lot.  I think this was the other Dornbracht in the window.  It impressed me as cool but a little bit scary.  All those squared-off edges are severe.  And, is the boxy-style stainless steel sink going to look sloppy next to it?

Kohler Karbon

Then, in another direction, the Kohler Karbon is fun.  I like how you can articulate it and it would stay there.  I like how it would reach different areas of the sink.  I like how I saw it on t.v. and they posed it as a dauchshund.  

The obvious drawback: kids posing this to spray someone across the room when it's turned on.

Brizio Venuto with Smart Touch

We like the idea of the Smart Touch faucet.  But we're not so excited about the look.  And I wonder about how well made it would be compared to say, a KWC.

The other Brizio Smart Touch faucets look even less appealing.

Now I discovered MGS, made in Italy.  Here's one in that shape 

pull out spout

Grohe "Essence"

What I like about this solution: the control on top makes it easier for the spout to be used by either right- or left-handed people.  And in this house, I think we're just about evenly divided among those camps, and I hadn't given it a thought, being in the right-hand camp.

Grohe Essence with sprayer pulled out.

What I don't like is, the pull out has to be pulled towards you, instead of down.  I think--I'm not really sure how the pull-out works on this one.

WhiteHaus "Deco Haus"

And then there's just being honest with myself: I do seem to be converging on the look of a pot filler.  Why not just put in a really great sculptural pot filler?   But, am I brazen enough to deal with it when an outsider comes into my kitchen and thinks "hm, that's a potfiller at her sink. That's weird."  I do hate how my new house tends to make me class conscious or something like that.

Kitchen under construction

Today my dishwasher was effectively unplugged from the garbage disposal and therefore would not run.  The counters were already stripped down to their old plywood base, which is a surface you can't really work on, or drip hand washed dishes onto.  It was my first flirt with having a kitchen unavailable during remodeling.

So, lots of no cooking going on at my house.  We had from-frozen chicken enchiladas Monday, leftovers of the same yesterday, and take-out cheeseburgers tonight.

Edited to add: another no cook, no mess: chef salad from Honey Baked Ham, and a tub of mashed potato and gravy.

It's the little things, like feeling you can't dirty a glass, which get to you.