Guest Writer p1 - Mr. Sabbe

I have the fortunate pleasure of being a "guest writer" for the next week and manning the ship at sabbespot.com, I hope to not disappoint.  My spin on design and architecture is nowhere near as astute as my lovely wife's, and I am not even in the same ballpark as her creativity and skills but I do have a few things I would like to share.  With that being said I think Stephanie has always wanted us to be the next Ray and Charles Eames and we came close when I was practicing Civil Engineering, but that dream drifted further away from becoming reality once I was accepted into medical school.  I think we can still do some great work, but I will definitely be riding on Stephanie's coattails.

Stephanie is becoming quite more and entranced with city life [and slowly so am I], but I still find myself drawn to the tranquility of water, mountains, and quiet.  Unfortunately this comes at the expense of not being able to walk to the grocery store, movies, parks, theater, work, etc.  Yet there are always compromises to be had and options which I think can appease us both [but more likely for me].  I found this house in Sweden which melds the inside and out in a seamless transition.  I guess it is the Boy Scout in me, but I have always wanted an outdoor fireplace and a glass wall to make me feel like I am outside at all times.  Doesn't look like there are too many neighbors around which is also a plus given the glass wall in front of the bedroom.  Enjoy.

My favorite

Boy Scout's Dream, ready made firewood

Coutrtesy of http://www.trendir.com/house-design/ranch-style-cabin-wrb.html

Therefore Go

I've been so busy that I forgot to mention that I'm going to Mexico this morning!

That's right! I'm going on a mission trip to Valladolid Mexico and I am so excited!

On a side note, I bought this headband yesterday at Old Navy. $6.50 and I love it.

I will be teaching women about discipleship.

We are going with a group of doctors. 

I'm so excited to be a part of a group that is helping people's physical AND spiritual needs.

Pray for me and pray for our team.

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age"

Matthew 28:16-20

By the way, I have someone very special lined up to blog for me while I am gone. 

Ya'll make sure to make them feel really welcome!

Visions

I have had visions of buying an old piece of furniture and having it re-upholstered for the past two weeks. We are in the market for a couple of new pieces and we've decided we are too old to make any more "until we have money" purchases. I also walk past a glass front upholstery shop everyday on the way to work. Which for me is like a candy store.

So in my mind we have three options...1. cough up the big bucks for a nice new sofa from a reputable retail store (while begging them to give me the deepest designer discount possible) 2. have something made in Hickory and have it shipped up here (in my opinion, the best quality guarantee) 3. buy something old (and solid) on ole' Craiger's list, strip it down to the frame, and put it back together.

Here are some CG finds that I see potential in, all under $50

And these are not so old, but really good deals if you are looking and are not creeped out by other people's upholstery. I kind of am, but I'm creeped out by a lot of things.

Crate and Barrel half price

Leather I think I might be able to do...seems more cleanable. This guy is only $275

And just to show you the range of my visions. I can imagine a room where this guy would rock...

Boston, did you know you can have your furniture upholstered at the prison?

Brooklyn Bomb

...as in This house is the bomb.

I spied this on Design*Sponge a couple of weeks ago and swooned. I wish I was this cool, this clean, and lucky enough to own such an awesome piece of real estate. Fitzhugh and Lindsey, I'll be in NYC for the ICFF if you would like to have me over for coffee. I promise not to drool.

photos by emily gilbert

And in case you didn't click, Fitzhugh makes furniture.

The bomb, right?

I'll Buy That

I'll buy that is a phrase my most recent neighboring co-worker would use when someone in the office designed something he really liked. Well, George Interior Design, I'll buy this...

I adore this kitchen. And the best part is, they take you through bits and pieces of their design process on their blog. Great blog, great firm, you should check them out. They are the real deal.

Marathon Monday

That's a HUGE Bag

I made a spring bag this weekend. It turned out a wee bit larger than I had anticipated.

I'm telling you, once you go messenger bag you will never go back. Hands free. Then you can hold your coffee in one hand and awkwardly hold the grab bar on the T, with your elbow in a stranger's face, with the other. And your bag will never slip off your shoulder. I have loved this one all winter. But I may have to give it another go with this one...

It's just SO big! And the sad truth is, I know I will eventually fill it up. But I'm not sure I'm ready to go there yet, especially since I do not change diapers or feed babies on a daily basis. I do tell myself that these three little pockets in the front will change my life. If you sew, you know what I mean.

Every bag I make has more options to be more organized. But it never takes. I just end up getting really annoyed trying to figure out which one I dropped my lipstick into.

Happy Patriots Day!...Who celebrates that holiday you ask? Boston! along with 10 other random holidays. It's like we're all bankers here and I love it. In about 30 minutes I am going to try to catch the winner of the 114th Boston marathon! I'm so excited.  I hope some of their drive rubs off on me. Come back to see photos.

02116

As we start to think more seriously about packing up and moving, I have been getting a little sentimental about leaving what I consider to be the best apartment location in Boston. We ended up here on a fluke, it was the last of 17 apartments we saw last year on a whirlwind real estate tour. It was the only South End apartment on our list, had a washer and dryer in unit, so we took it. Who wouldn't fall in love with this street?

Remember what it looked like four short months ago?

And have I ever mentioned that I share a zip code with this?

This is the view from the end of our street.

If you are not a Bostonian or an architecture buff, this is the John Hancock Tower designed by this cute man.

Hilda had some stories about  I.M. Pei. Apparently he was quite the bargain shopper. Hilda should write a blog, it would be way better than mine. The John Hancock tower has quite an interesting story on it's own. 

Boston is an infill city, meaning, we're all living on a bunch of dirt that was trucked in from Dorchester and Quincy. Boston used to be a much smaller city.

So our city is not very tall like NYC, because the ground underneath is not rock. It's dirt. Buildings would fall down. So the John Hancock is one of very few Boston skyscrapers. The shape and orientation of the building was designed so that when the sun hit it at a certain angle, a large shadow covers the city, making it's presence known. Architects are so modest aren't they? The mirrored glass was selected to reflect the city in all it's splendor and at sunset it casts a magnificent golden line across the Charles River. Anyway, so that's the history, here is the drama....the windows fell out, 2,472 windows to be exact.

I've been told that the engineer designed the frames too rigid and when the building swayed (which was also not good) the glass just popped right out or shattered. So to fix the glass they had to fix the sway. I hear that back in the day when you used the toilet in the upper floors, the water used to slosh all around in the bowl. That would probably make me too nervous to go. So to fix it (keep in mind I am an Interior Designer, explaining structural engineering, so this could be a bit off) they craned a huge beam to the roof of the building and sat it basically in a bed of oil, with springs on both ends. The whole roof contraption helped counterbalance the wind loads and fixed the swaying building and falling windows. They also added a bunch of steel to stiffen it up. And they no longer call it the largest plywood skyscraper.

Breakfast at DWR

A couple of weekends ago I was out and about with camera in hand and decided to swing by one of my faves. Some girls go to Tiffany's to drool over rings, I go to Design Within Reach and lust after these guys...

I have mentioned before that I am a huge fan of light fixtures that not only put off light, but create great shadows. So when I walked in and saw this, I was in love. Look at the ceiling! amazing

Still on a design high, we headed down to B&B Italia. Again, I drive a Honda and B&B is a Porsche, but a girl can dream right?

These wall sconces were ridiculously awesome. Someone needs these in their downtown loft asap.

Besides to drool, I also go into these stores to get project ideas...and sometimes craft ideas. Here are four that I think we can do. This first one might be the trickiest. Any crafsters out here know how they got the batting looking stuff so tight?

Thanks to Linds for letting me borrow her wood graining tool, my dining room table will eventually be looking something like this...

Anyone have a bunch of old cardboard boxes?

Gloss enamel spray paint and shirt boxes maybe?

Am I bad? I know people designed this stuff and I shouldn't want to craft my own version.Do you have the DIY curse? I can't help it. I see it. I love it. And then I want to figure out how to do it myself. I'm a real hands on type of designer. God bless the contractor who one day builds the Sabbe dream house.