Modern House Numbers
Who decided that all house numbers need to be ugly? These Modern House Numbers carried by Chiasso offer a stunning alternative to the cheap home store numbers.
These numbers are created to replicate the art deco timeframe. Modern and durable, these would make a beautiful addition to an older home. Add a little detail to your home with some new house numbers.
Pendant Lights from mylamps.com
If you are tired of the same selection of pendant lighting that every big box retailer offers, you need to check out MyLamps.com.
This website has one of the best selection of pendant lighting that I have found on the web. From traditional styles to more modern – you will be able to find something that fits your style on here. I haven’t ordered from them yet, but I can see an order being placed soon.
Do you know of a website that offers a great selection of pendant lighting? Send us the link!
Cylinder Solar Light
Who said that solar panel lights had to be ugly or expensive? This beautiful outdoor light from Chiasso.com is both functional and modern.
The best part about installing a light like this one is there is no electricity to mess with and it works fully on solar power. It is made to resist rust and built to survive the elements outdoors. At $44.00 – it won’t break the bank!
You can get one here… once they come back into stock!
Top Left: TruStile Arts & Craft Collection | Top Right: Longhi Shadow System | Bottom: Bartels Interior Sliding System
So, after my recent rant about poor interior door choices, I thought it would be appropriate to provide some resources for better interior doors.
Here are some links to websites that offer extremely stylish doors:
If you’ve been following this blog so far, or if you’re friends with us, you probably already know our housing situation. If you haven’t been keeping up, then let me catch you up to speed.
Laura and I bought this old house that we’re living in about 8 months ago, in December. It’s pretty old, although there seems to be some conflicting answers about just how old it really is. The previous owner said it was built in 1918, and the tax assessor says it was built in 1923. Either way, it’s by far the oldest (and coolest) house that we’ve ever owned.
During the last 8 months, we’ve been working like slaves to make improvements to the house. We’ve painted about 50% of the interior, replaced numerous light and electrical fixtures, installed a sump pump and dehumidifier in the basement, completely re-landscaped the yard, and dealt with tons of other issues as they arose. Despite all of the time and energy that we’ve invested, we’re nowhere near finished. There’s still infinite projects that we can’t wait to tackle.
Just one of our many ugly doors. Very 1980-ish. It's too bad they replaced beautiful two-panel wood doors with these!
One such project, is replacing the interior doors. To be real honest, the interior doors in this house are downright atrocious. The house was remodeled sometime in the 1980’s, and whoever did the work replaced all of the old, beautiful 2-panel historic doors (except 2 of them,) with the cheapest 6-panel doors they could find.
If they hadn’t left behind the two original doors, it might not be as upsetting, but the original doors are VERY cool. If I could get my hands on the guy that stripped out all of the other old doors and replaced them with the cheap, ugly ones, I’d probably smash his testicles with a wooden mallet. (But this isn’t a blog about anger management issues!)
The point that I’m trying to get to here, is that people make really bad choices when it comes to interior doors.
If you walk through most any new construction, you’ll notice the same thing; the builders are using the cheapest doors they can get their hands on, with no regard to style. Whatever happened to beautiful interior doors?
If you walk through some historic homes from the 1800’s and early 1900’s, assuming some jackass hasn’t replaced them all, you’ll see some of the most beautiful interior doors that you’ve ever laid eyes on. You’ll also see find endless other interior / architectural details that made those old homes truly special.
At what point did Americans lose sight of what made a home better than average? At what point did we decide that we’d ditch the beautiful architectural details of old, in lieu of saving a few bucks? More importantly, why did we lose sight of the importance of architectural details? I mean seriously, we spend more time in our homes than most any other place that we go. Did we become “cheap” and decide that it wasn’t worth the money? Did we become lazy, and decide that it wasn’t worth the time to demand better materials and craftsmanship? Or is there another issue that I’m missing all together?
I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me and my home, we just won’t settle for mediocrity. There’s many other issues that are more pressing at the moment, but stay tuned … we will replace these ugly doors – eventually!
Last week I posted some pictures of a few cool lighting fixtures. As promised, I’m back this week with a few more. Hopefully I can do the same again next week.
As before, click on the image to visit the website where you can purchase the fixture online.
Enjoy!
Baybridge Multi-Light Pendant by LBL. Via LightingUniverse.com for $960.
Uptown Bath Light from Shades of Light. $59
Elk Lighting - Reflections 1-Light Pendant. Via Lighting Universe - $135
Quoizel - Downtown 3 Light Ceiling Pendant. $299 at 1800lighting.com
Van Dykes Restorers Medicine Cabinet
If you live in an older home, you may already know that space is somewhat limited in some of the rooms. In modern-day homes, rooms like bathrooms are huge. They almost are the same size as a bedroom. For old homes, this is not the case unless you have done a major remodel.
My home was built in the 1920’s and I will go on the record to say that our bathrooms are tiny. Luckily, one of the owners down the line was helpful and added medicine cabinets in two out of the three bathrooms in our house. Medicine cabinets were very popular at one time giving the homeowner extra storage in a small space. Granted, these cabinets don’t hold much. They do help to get clutter off your vanity and out of view so your bathroom seems bigger than it actually is.
I found www.vandykes.com and they offer a pretty good selection of refurbishing products and medicine cabinets with charm. They look nicely detailed and not just your run-of-the-mill Home Depot medicine cabinet.
You can shop the site by clicking here.
Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
We have all heard about the products with a million uses. Some of them are true, some of them are not. There is one product that has proven itself over and over again. Baking Soda is one of the most commonly used product that seems to “do-it-all.”
What does baking soda do? Besides the usual deodorizing the refrigerator and helping to make the perfect fluffy cake, this product is almost a phenomenon in itself.
Some things you may not have know about the power of baking soda include:
There are endless possibilities for this product. What is your favorite use for baking soda?
For a full list of what you can (and can’t) do with baking soda, please visit the Arm & Hammer Baking Soda FAQ’s page.
Are you tired of the same-old-same-old, boring shower enclosures? Given the way builders crank out spec homes (McMansions) these days, it’s no wonder that many home features become standardized from home to home. These mass produced homes seem to lose their identity and instead just blend in with their neighbors
I believe that it’s the details that can really take a house from workable to WOW! Fantastic trim-molding, great doors, and fabulous built-ins all add character to a home that make it truly special. However, how often do you see someone splurge on a bathroom by adding a really nice shower enclosure. (If you’re like me, probably not very often.)
Here’s a few resources that will take your shower enclosure from ordinary to extraordinary.
UltraGlas Shower Enclosure
Basco Shower Enclosure
Basco Shower Enclosures
UltraGlas
Here’s a few pictures of some hip light fixtures that I found. If you click on the image, it’ll take you to a website where you can purchase the light.
I’ll try to post some more in the coming weeks.
Enjoy!
Classic Cloth-cord Pendant w/Brass Canopy from Rejuvenation. Reatils for $159.
Metal & Wood Chandelier from West Elm. Retails for $169.
Sea Gull Modern 3-light Bathroom Fixture. Retails for $105.60.
Chase Ceiling Mount by Ballard. Retails for $159.