WEST – West Austin Studio Tour

Oliver was selected to participate in the first-ever West Austin Studio Tour (aka WEST). There has been a celebrated East Austin Studio tour for ten years (tons of artists have studios on Austin's east side), so it was exciting to find out artists working on the west side would get a little shine this year. Oliver was in the process of converting our garage into a studio when he learned about the tour, so the timing was perfect. He applied, he was accepted, he got to work to make some new art!

The "tours" are free and self-guided; the Friends of WEST published a beautiful catalog with all artists listed and created a handy website to make figuring out which studios to visit easy-peasy.

So, on May 19th and 20th, Oliver opened our recently converted garage-studio to the public! We had cold drinks on hand to entice visitors and keep them thirst-free:

We created seating for visitors, complete with maps: 

And let's not neglect the art!

Since there were lulls between visitors at times, Oliver left some works in progress out, so he could work on them during the slow times: 

A full-studio shot with visitor/friend/awesome musician, John:

And there you have it! I'll keep you posted on next year's art adventure! xoxo

Thanksgiving 2011

This was an epic Thanksgiving for me. Every year, since the beginning of time (or since the 1960s, when my mom moved to NYC), she has celebrated Thanksgiving with a long-time friend (and later, her family, which has always felt like an extension of my family). This year, our family friends had the opportunity to travel abroad over the holiday, so the tradition was put on hold. With that, my parents flew down to Austin for the long weekend. At first, I was planning to make reservations to go out. Oliver's and my jobs have been uber busy and the thought of spending hours in the kitchen over what was sure to be a lovely weekend didn't sound appealing. Then I remembered that I actually like cooking, and I especially love baking. It dawned on me that Thanksgiving for a small group could be less "maniacal party planning" and more "dinner for four;" simple, casual, relaxed and, most importantly, FUN. Let the planning begin!

Some favorite dishes came from Smitten Kitchen:
• Appetizer: Creamed Mushrooms with Chive Butter Toast
• Side: Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Goat Cheese

After spending the morning and afternoon with Oliver and my parents, hanging out and strolling around our neighborhood (it was 75º and sunny!), I got to cooking. Can you believe I was too wrapped up in cooking and enjoying myself to remember to take pictures of each dish? Thankfully, I'm not a food blogger because I would have failed, friends. I didn't even get a good shot of the Thanksgiving table, even though I wrote a Houzz article on eclectic holiday table settings earlier that week, and took some of my own advice! Here are a couple of detail shots:

I am pretty proud of this bouquet. It was fresh and bright, just like the day!


I just wanted to show off the cute little owl napkin rings I snagged in Mineola a while back. 

I did, however, snap some shots of dessert (you know, the most important food group): Mini pumpkin pies with fresh whipped cream!


They tasted delish after brunch and leftovers over the next few days, too!
You like those green rope-themed napkins? My mom made them years ago – aren't they great? 


The rest of the weekend was spent exploring Austin. We hit the Blanton Museum of Art, roamed around the UT campus, checked out the first-ever Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Market in Austin as well as the City-Wide Garage Sale, drove to Wimberley for wine tasting, where we picked up a cute bar cart for pennies (post forthcoming), had happy hour at Hotel San Jose and popped into the shops along South Congress, and ingested way too many good dinners and brunches. I hope you all had wonderful dinners with friends and/or family – whomever makes you feel loved and thankful!

Happy Birthday, Husband!

Ok, I have a lot to catch you guys up on, and who KNOWS how long it'll take me to do that, so let's just start with the most recent stuff: this weekend! Sunday was Oliver's birthday, so we decided to put aside most work-related things we knew we should do, and just enjoyed the weekend for the most part. As usual, we were exhausted on Friday night (these 60 hour work weeks make us tired!) so I don't have much to report there, but on Saturday we made a delectable brunch that included a special treat for Oliver: raisin scones and clotted cream (we are privy to The Devon Cream Company's English Clotted Cream). If you haven't slathered a scone with clotted cream and jam, you're missing out. I was introduced to it when I lived in England, and Oliver fell in love when we celebrated mother's day at Lady Mendl's Tea Salon a few years ago. Go have some; one little ounce will fulfill your daily requirement of saturated fat, so you don't have to worry about that! Whew!

Back in December, Oliver's parents gave us some old birdfeeders they weren't using any more and Oliver has been looking forward to refinishing or painting them ever since. This was the weekend! He decided to spruce up the yard with a bright red paint while I sat around in my bikini taking photos.

The birdcages:


Oliver does a light scuffing with sand paper blocks:


After laying out a plastic garbage bag, he got to spraying:


After letting them dry for about thirty minutes, he flipped them and painted the other sides:


We let them dry outside overnight, then filled them up with birdseed this morning before hanging them up:



After another yummy home-made brunch, we made our first visit to the Barton Springs Pool, a three-acre spring-fed pool in Zilker Park, framed by century-old pecan trees. A destination for Austinites and tourists alike, we decided we had to see for ourselves what the hubbub was about. We loved it! The water is clear and COLD (68 degrees year-round), which makes it incredibly refreshing, especially for 100-degree days like we've been having (which, by the way, we are LOVING. For real!). We set up camp near the diving board and watched some pretty impressive moves on breaks from our own dips into the water. We didn't take our own photos, but you can get a feel for it's inherent beauty from these photos:



Not bad, eh? After a couple of hours of sun, we headed home to get ready for a celebratory dinner at Austin's finest (and rare nationally recognized) restaurant, Uchi. We samples all kinds of delectable plates and were thoughtfully treated to a creative dessert in honor of Oliver's birthday. Here we are, feeling very satiated after dinner:

There's the birthday boy looking debonair in his no-socks-with-dress-shoes get up – very sartorialist – with newly-minted birdfeeder in the foreground:

The deck isn't looking all that debonair, but what can you do? We have a deck and that's good enough for us!

Thus ends one of our most luxurious and enjoyable weekends of late!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotted_cream

Lately

Hiya! Remember me?

Me, being wacky, 2.5 years ago

I suppose now is a good time to divulge what I've been up to lately. In moving to Austin, knowing very few people, I planned to find a job working under another designer, rather than continue as self-employed. Just before we moved, I was so busy wrapping up projects in New York, I really had no time for job hunting in Austin. So, against everything I stand for and am comfortable with, we hopped into a truck and drove to Texas without a well-mapped plan. Once here, I sent out some cold emails and attended a handful of horrifying networking events (where I met some terrific people, I might add...in the end, they weren't all that horrifying). In the first couple of months, I picked up some freelance and temporary work. Eventually, I landed the real deal: I recently accepted a full-time position with Cravotta Studios, owned by the illustrious and infinitely talented Mark Cravotta, who has an impeccable eye for high-end design and a thirst for finding the latest, greatest and most beautifully created furniture and accessories. A few favorites from his vast portfolio (note: I had nothing to do with these projects, although I wish I did!)




When Mark told me he'd been to the furniture fair in Paris and was thinking about going to Chicago's Merchandise Mart at some point, I made a passing recommendation that he someday check out New York's own International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF). I made this comment about two weeks before ICFF was to begin, assuming my suggestion would perhaps be taken into consideration for next year. Much to my surprise and excitement, a few days later I received a text reading, "We're going to ICFF!" WE? Yes, we. Lucky me!

So, last Saturday, May 14, we boarded a non-stop flight to New York, spent Sunday at ICFF and Monday jetting from one designer showroom to the next, squeezing in a stint downtown to hit the less mainstream boutiques. There has already been a lot written about ICFF (mostly about its shortcomings), but Mark and I returned to Austin with new contacts and inspiration, so, as far as we are concerned, it was a success – I'll leave the constructive criticism about how the show failed the greater design community to other bloggers. I pulled together some of my favorites from the show on houzz.com: check out Killy's Top Picks from ICFF!

Heritage Homes Tour

I cannot believe more than a week has already passed since I started to write this! Saturday, April 9th, the Heritage Society of Austin hosted it's nineteenth Heritage Homes Tour, cleverly named "The Bold and the Beautiful," featuring grand estates that rarely allow access to the unwashed masses. We were washed, FYI. I was even wearing a sun dress because it was 90-something degrees!

Me, outside Woodlawn/Pease Mansion


It was unclear as to whether or not photos were allowed, but we brought the camera, just in case. As it turned out, photos were generally not allowed, but some volunteers weren't aware of the rule, so Oliver got a handful of good shots before being kind of berated.

Insallah

The first house we visited was a bit of a let down. "Insahallah" (602 E. 43rd St) was built in 1920, but, sadly, has been remodeled so many times by people who clearly weren't interested in retaining any of the historical elements of the home, as it has been almost completely stripped of all original detail.

Nothing historic-looking about that! (Real estate listing photo)

Redeeming features included an awesome inlaid wood star, and Texas star theme in general that was repeated throughout the house, in addition to some lovely tile flooring.



Photos snapped covertly by Oliver

The library was the most historic room in the house, with it's original wood paneled shelves still in place:


The rambling home had a floorplan that made no sense (one room lead to another; some rooms had three doors for entering and exiting) and poor, "builder-grade" finished (faux wood treatments, cheap flooring, faux beams made to look old and "ranchy,") which made the whole place feel cheap. The home, which is for sale, is situated on beautifully landscaped grounds, so hopefully the right person will purchase it and restore it back to the condition in which it is meant to exist. Obviously, it wasn't all bad – if I had an extra $2,950,000 burning a hole in my pocket, I might buy the place for the pool alone!



Fun wagon artifact near the front of the house


Commodore Perry Estate

The disappointment of the first house set our expectations quite low, so we were a bit wary of the next place. We were simultaneously pleasantly surprised and blown away at house number two, the Commodore Perry Estate (710 E. 41st), which was chock-full of original details and sprawling estate-y charm. Since its completion in 1928, the home has not changed hands many times over the years, so most of the original elements remain. Dallas architect Hal Thomson designed the 23-room Renaissance-style house, which features a central mass flanked by two pavilions, a terracotta roof, a triumphal arched entry with Corinthian columns, a grand staircase and entry hall, oval walnut-paneled library, dark oak floors, Mexican tile and wrought iron details. A decorator show house was hosted in the home in the 1980s and a few remnants of the wild (and completely not historic) choices made remain, such as pseudo-trompe l'oeil wallpaper, over-the-top drapes and a pleated upholstered ceiling treatment, although none of that managed to detract from the beauty of the home.

Arched portico overlooking gardens – tile flooring from Mexico



Original marble flooring in entry with original iron door



Oval library paneled in walnut, which was cheaper and more widely available than mahogany at the time (not at all the case today)



Walnut paneled dining room (featuring heinous 1980s window treatments)



Gorgeous staircase leading from entry to upstairs bedrooms



All the bedrooms also had sleeping porches for toasty summer nights



Built-in vanity for the lady of the house. Don't overlook the lovely mouldings and intricate door details with inset mirrors!



Intercom in the servant's hall

Thankfully, a local investor has purchased the property and is working to restore and preserve the buildings and landscape further.

Sweetbrush (Swisher-Scott House)

Photo courtesy Heritage Society of Austin

Next we visited Sweetbrush (2408 Sweetbrush Ave), a Greek Revival built by celebrated and accomplished master builder Abner Cook in 1853. While the property has had a handful of different owners over the last 158 years, original details have not only been preserved, but celebrated, earning it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. The structure was relocated in the early 1900s to a plot of land overlooking the future Lake Austin. Measured drawings had previously been created by Samuel E. Gideon,an avid admirer of the home, and her was able to accurately reconstruct it. The home originally had three-foot-thick brick walls but such insulation was no longer necessary, so the extra bricks were used to create two additional wings flanking the center structure, in keeping with Greek Revival's adherence to symmetry. The current owner has been painstakingly restoring various parts of the home. Operable exterior shutters have been restored or replicated, as needed. Original floors, mantels and woodwork remain. Ionic columns at the front entrance have been sanded down to remove 16 layers of paint and reveal the wood grain, once again. Abner Cook's signature is an x-motif used on railings. An example remains on a second floor balcony.


While the owner has some amazing furnishings, rugs and accessories, which add to the richness and historic elegance of the home, the she would benefit from the expertise of an interior designer who specializes in historic preservation to help with things like rugs and window coverings. Greek Revival architecture looks quite ornate and detailed by our current building standards and often inspires designers to bring in fussy decor and textiles. In reality, the style is actually quite understated and pared down. Floofy window valances and crazy drapes are not historically accurate, and tend to compete with the architecture.

Lovely furniture, but the drapery is just too much for the time period. (Photo courtesy Heritage Society of Austin).

Woodlawn (Pease Mansion)

Photo courtesy Heritage Society of Austin

Woodlawn (1606 Niles Road) was our next stop. Also designed and built by Abner Cook in 1853, the home's exterior features six fluted columns and Mr. Cook's signature openwork diamond-pattern balustrade. In 1957 the owners at the time added rooms on the northside of the property. It passed through the hands of the University of Texas before being purchased by Jeff and Laura Sandefer in 2003. While upgrading the foundation, mechanical systems and adding 21st century standards to the home, the couple removed the additions to reflect the home's original (and intended) symmetrical configuration revered by the Greek Revival style. The home, a national, state and city landmark, is considered one of the finest examples of Green Revival architecture in Texas.

Entry

Photo courtesy Traditional Home

Mark Ashby, one of Austin's finest decorators, worked his magic on the interior, which looks fresh and contemporary, but is respectful of the home's historic elements. Ashby nailed it with the window covering (clearly my obsession here); they are stately and refined without being gaudy. He brought in a variety of textiles and textures that work beautifully with the case goods and flooring to create a modern yet classic style throughout the home.

Formal living room: Ashby created two seating arrangements using different furniture in each setting, yet it doesn't look cluttered or busy. The chandelier in the center ground the room without blocking views while the gently lacquered ceiling reflects light throughout the grand room.

Photo courtesy Mark Ashby Design

Parlor: I would be honored to wait for my hosts to greet me in this lovely room!


Photo courtesy Mark Ashby Design

Family room looking toward kitchen: A variety of textures result in a visually compelling room without being overwhelming

Photo courtesy Traditional Home

Neill-Cochran House

Photo courtesy Heritage Society of Austin

The final home on the tour was the Neill-Cochran House, yet another Abner Cook design. Built in 1855, the 18-inch thick walls are clad in local rubble-cut limestone with contrasting painted wood trim. After completion, the owners couldn't afford to live in the house, so from the beginning, the grand manor house was a rental. It changed hands twice (owned first by the Neills, the the Cochrans) before being purchased by The National Society of the Colonial Dames, who furnished it with 19th-century antiques and later turned it into a the Neill-Cochran House Museum. The Dames are still restoring the house, but it is open for tours and events. They are also in the process of acquiring more furniture and accessories from the Cochran family, as one of the Cochrans is still alive and visits frequently! Photographs were not permitted and there aren't any good interior shots floating around the interwebs. You'll just have to take my word for it; the house is beautiful and worth a visit on your next trip to Austin!

This was a wonderful collection of homes that we would never have had access to otherwise! I'm already looking forward to what we'll see next year! Of course, the tour left me inspired to come up with a snappy but stately name for our own (mini) estate. I'll have to run some ideas by you guys.