Not Quite What It Seems

Winter officially arrived on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. this week. And this image certainly has a wintry appearance; yet, it was really taken in the blazing heat on a late summer afternoon at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in Washington. This is a newer piece, which I have unfortunately forgotten the name of. It is a life size tree trunk composed of metal (aluminum, perhaps?). I stood right next to the trunk to capture the midday sun beating down on the scene right off the National Mall. If I recall correctly, this was about the only way to take a photo of this piece without including lots of bystanders on that day. We get plenty of visitors in D.C. well into the early fall.

Bring Back the Draft

A recent article from Architect magazine has inspired me to lift a glass to the art of hand drafting. I believe it is widely assumed that very few architects and designers use this technique in their work anymore.

But that's simply not true. My firm, Muse Architects, uses both hand and computer drafting in their approach to design. All schematics start by hand. Much of the design development and later on the elevations are also produced on the traditional drawing board. Then if a project is deemed worthy of submission for awards, we produce presentation sets that are drawn and colored by hand.

Our firm's senior principal, Stephen Muse, prefers a woodless graphite pencil and trace for design development.

As office manager, it falls to me to order supplies for these drawings. I face a dwindling number of vendors that offer traditional supplies, especially the out-of-production plastic leads required to produce presentation drawings on mylar. (Pssst:  Got a source for E0, E1, E2, or E3 plastic leads? Contact me here!)

And don't get me started on lead pointers. What ever happened to these?

All I can find now are these things:

Ah, well, you get the point.

So to speak.

Year's End

Ah, yes. Scenes from earlier this year. Time to prepare for winter once again. Couldn't be as bad as it was in February, though, right?

Claire's Room Redo

As part of our end-of-year home renovation spectacular, we're doing some minor work on Claire's room. But since she reclaimed her bed this summer (it now resides in Baltimore), the room is bed-less. So this gives us the opportunity to rethink the decoration a bit.

I rediscovered this beautiful image from the dearly departed Southern Accents website. I think it's one of my all-time favorite bedroom scenes. It's also nearly identical to the design I've been thinking of for her room:  Iron bed (headboard only, in our case), white wing chair, sisal carpet with small oriental carpets on either side. 

We don't have an antique suzani for the bed, but we do have a beautiful, faded quilt given to Claire many years ago. It just needs some minor repair.

Making a List and Checking It Twice

If someone wanted to treat me this Christmas, they couldn't do any better than to choose from any of these RPD-certified items. I am sure that Miss Potter would approve of every one of them.

This warm stripy blanket from Ben Pentreath's shop. I love the soft heathered colors.

Now that the Beatles have come to iTunes, why not buy the whole catalog?  The Beatles Box Set includes all 13 LPs; Past Masters, Vols. I and II; the mini-documentaries; and 'Live at the Washington Coliseum'.

The Sutton Leather Bootie in Fossil Grey from J. Crew. The heel is just right for a long day at the office.

I have the other two Farrow & Ball books, and three of Ros Byam Shaw's other design books. F&B Living with Colour is next on my list.

Another Black Mantel

From this month's Elle Decor, another lovely black mantel. This vibrant living room was created by architect Gil Shafer, AIA, and interior designer Miles Redd. This example shows that the black mantel sets off saturated colors just as well as more neutral colors. And the Sultanabad rug is exquisite.

Museum Days at Dumbarton Oaks

We've been to Dumbarton Oaks on many occasions, at different times of the year. This was the first visit we've made in September.

Now, in the past couple of years, the grounds of this venerable Washington, D.C. estate founded by Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss had started to fall into gentle decay. It has been a bit heartbreaking to see the creeping neglect - the weeds, the murky pond scum, the abandoned gardening equipment - overcome the grounds as the recession must have obviously pruned the budget. But for the national Museum Days opening on September 25, the admission was free and the grounds were immaculate. Every blade of grass was trimmed, every weed pulled, every boxwood perfectly clipped. You'd have thought the Queen herself was expected to arrive at any moment.

The highlight, however, surely had to be sculptor Patrick Doughtery's ethereal windswept willow structures ringing the Ellipse. What did they look like? Hobbit houses in a tornado? Wooly mammoths on parade? You could enjoy them on many levels. Best of all, it was possible to walk inside of them, just like the lean-tos and makeshift shelters that my friends and I would make in the woods. Read more about Mr. Dougherty's work in the New York Times.

Another delight are the various small structures on the property. I especially love the three garden sheds in the Kitchen Garden, with their terracotta tiled roofs with lead flashing.

This is a place to return to time and again.