Split Personalities in Design

I seem to have an ever-changing aesthetic - I think it's starting to feel kind of like a personality disorder in decor. In my last apartment, I did a lot with the red and white thing, with a few accents of black. It was really clean, sharp and no-frills.

Then I moved into this place and bought the girliest curtains I think I could find - extra long, draping, mustard-colored curtains with a white floral design. They set the tone for this one.

It's not much to write home about, but it's home - here are pictures of my current (and ever humble) abode!

the light usually comes in on my side in the evenings, but you'd be hard-pressed to sleep-in without a fight against that morning sunshine.

these are my three favorite pictures of my three favorites - my little sister in Tunisia, I think, my twin sister in NC as Marilyn, and Jane, the first day we met. The bedding is from EQ3 (and Target, I think) and is probably on it's last leg of the race..

basically standing at my bathroom door looking across the room (the desk would be just out of the frame on the left) - this window and these curtains really are my favorite part in the room, I think.

my 'vanity' - an art deco desk, in serious need of re-finishing, that my mom bought off of craigslist for $40. the details are great, and someday they'll shine :)

see what i mean about split personalities? one side of the bed has a matching nightstand. one side has an old coffee table that I rehab'd into an ottoman, that now serves as a 'desk' / nightstand. I need to make a decision.

craigslist dresser

If anyone lives close to Charlotte, I think this is a pretty cute little dresser for $60 - it's on craigslist here.

surprise!

I am just getting back to Dallas from another jaunt to Atlanta, but it wasn't all work and no play.

Although it was a work trip, we were graciously given 4th of July off (believe me, this is a BIG deal) so I decided I would surprise my family by driving up to our farmhouse where they were having a big bash (found out later this was on sat. not fri.) but still got my immediate fam visit in.

Rental car keys in hand, I do not recommend the Chevy Aveo, I drove to Charlotte that night and then on to the farmhouse for the day on the 4th then back to Atlanta early saturday morn to work.

The only one who was truly surprised (as I had o give up my plan to dad and the brothers in order to see them) was my mom and aunt. It was good. Here are a few pics of the newly and wonderfully renovated farmhouse.

back to reality.

After spending the weekend in Hilton Head, including all day Friday, I'm feeling a case of the Mondays. Taking Jane into the ocean was, by far, the highlight of our lives together so far :)



Coming back to work today was cushioned just a little bit by an office-outing for lunch. There's a new restaurant (newER...) called Press- I've steered away from it because their website looks slightly fancier, but inside it's kind of like Dean+Deluca. Yes, that can be fancier, but we're talking GOOD food- great sandwiches, salads, etc... I built my own salad, of course, but I would've eaten any of the sandwiches listed. Check it out if you're in CLT- it's pretty good... and their signage / branding is pretty nice, as well.

New Keys!

via jennski on etsy

Amidst the mayhem at work and the excitement of getting a new puppy, we're moving! This afternoon we get keys to our new place- home sweet home for the next 18 months+ -and this evening I'm going to start at it- taping / painting / whatever I can get done!

New Paint

Just wanted to share some good news: we just got an email from our soon-to-be landlord telling us that not only is he okay with the colors we'd like to paint throughout the place, but he's fine us leaving them up when we leave- in the world of renting, THAT IS GOLD!

That means that instead of painting for a year and a half and then having to re-paint the place back to white when we leave, we save ourselves half the hassle. I'm soooo excited! See colors below- mine is bedroom2, fyi :)

Moving this summer!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while- new project at work + house-hunting and I've been SWAMPED! Even though we're not moving until late May, we're picky and extremely anxious about this stuff- still used to apartment-hunting in a college town where the open units filled up faster than the classes, we've been looking for a new rental since about January.

We've looked at... at least a dozen townhomes and condos and started narrowing in on what we really wanted. We finally found something, negotiated a lease agreement, and we'll be signing within the next week!

Although I love where we live now, moving + a new home can be fun... especially in that immediately after we move and get settled in i'll be bringing home THE PUPPY!!!!! (due to be born april 4).

Christmas lights on our "house"

Even though we live in an apartment complex, which is actually a set of four mixed-use buildings, they know how to deck the halls just as I'm sure I would if I were lighting my house :)

These are a couple (poor) images I took on our balcony tonight- love it... can't wait to take a drive around Charlotte and find some good ones.

Design*Sponge : Guide to Charlotte!

I don't know how I missed this, but apparently the city-guide on Charlotte is a couple days old at design*sponge. Fortunately, a coworker of mine in Colorado forwarded the link to us here in Charlotte to check-out. SO glad I did! Having just moved to Charlotte not too long ago, I'm right on the border between feeling like a visitor and calling it home- enough to where I can use all of the guidance I can get in this city, but where I still associate with it when it's recognized elsewhere.

It was wonderful to read through the city-guide... I highly recommend it if you're in Charlotte or will have the opportunity to travel this way anytime soon. They highlight the neighborhoods- NoDa, Plaza Midwood (hey hey, erin!), Dilworth, Southend and Pineville- although they don't say too much about Pineville, which i'm kind of curious to learn about since they seem to think it's got a lot to offer... and all I've found there is the mall. Typical.

Some of the places they listed that I've been to were The Penguin restaurant (mmm... fried pickles!), Dish (shrimp + grits!), Pike's Soda Shop (try the celery dressing!), & Mr. K's Soft Ice Cream (I currently work right next door!). To prove that I have actually been to places BESIDES restaurants (although don't forget what my priorities clearly are..), I loved hearing what they had to say about Century Vintage and Fifteen Ten Antiques in the Plaza Midwood neighborhood- been to both, and bought (too many) little accents at each one!

It was wonderful to hear another person's perspective on the city, and to rack-up a few ideas for places to go and things to see here!

Nascar Hall of Fame

Being a midwesterner (in disguise) down here, I have yet to make the leap over to being a Nascar enthusiast. I understand that it's a sport, and while I don't have that much appreciation for watching it or for the culture usually associated with it, I do have a lot of respect for the science behind understanding how to drive a car that fast on different types of track. I get it.

Good thing I understand it because there certainly is a lot of hype stirring up about the new Nascar Hall of Fame, designed and planned to open up in the first quarter of 2010. I think it was I.M.Pei's firm that has designed this HUGE structure, and (I think) Little is the architect-on-record here. None the less, I finally bit the bullet and decided to pay a little bit of attention to this $154.5 million addition to Charlotte's city skyline.

I wish I appreciated the sport more, because it seems like this is going to be an awesome building. We're talking 130,000 s.f., retail (duh), a huge theatre, tons of interactive exhibits, and a "modern media center." ADDITIONALLY, a 19-story, 390,000 s.f. Plaza will accompany the Hall of Fame to house NASCAR enterprises, I think. Its a lot to try to understand when you still see it as a hyped-up car-race. We'll see!

transit art

Hey erin- don't know if you've heard about this from anyone here in Charlotte or not, but...if you drive along this new transit system down South Blvd. you'll see these huge up-right UFO's flanking the tracks. At first when I saw these, I thought they had something to do with the construction process- and while I like the industrial, function over form look just as much as the next guy, these are ugly.

Then, they stayed there... and I realized they are made of dirt. And my opinion of them dropped even further. If you keep driving not TWO SECONDS LATER do you see the railway stop- nothing too fancy, but nicely done in comparison to what it could've been. I'm not sure what the concept is / was behind these, but I decided to do a little bit of research- try and figure out what in the world they were thinking by allowing this "artwork" to become a part of Charlotte's "wave of the future" light-rail system.


I just found an article from the Observer about the art- here's some information I found, and this is where my cynicism comes out:

• Thomas Sayre is the artist who handpicked the dirt used (impressive?- do artists not USUALLY pick their medium?)
• These structures are made of dirt, concrete, and reinforced steel.
• They are apparently aligned with "sun and shadow" and are described as pieces that "bridge Charlotte's past and future." I didn't realize Charlotte had so recently grown out of the caves and into the newest city to host designs by I.M.Pei...
• "The sculptures are meant to recall the harrowing disks farmers hereabouts used to prepare the land for planting. Eighteen feet high, weighing 11 tons each, the giant circles also suggest wheels turning, the motion of whizzing cars and trains." And extra-terrestrial life...
• The total cost for the art is about $1.9 million. I'm not even going to start on that right now... but I will take this moment to register myself to vote in the city of Charlotte.

Maybe I'm being a closed-minded, stuck-up designer in thinking that these aren't exactly the best choice for abstract art to help bring Charlotte into the future while keeping their past close to heart. Thoughts?