holidays 2012

The MCM gingerbread haus we made at Hornall Anderson during a creative team competition...

spooky tablescape

Halloween dinner party 2012

mountain fresh since 1878

A sign we couldn't pass up while antiquing in Winthrop, WA.

Our summer corn hole board project.

kickin it in the kitchen

back yard betterment

2nd annual summer soiree

it's a (front) yard

digits

Numbers are up! These were custom cast for us by WestOn Architectural Numbers. We really wanted to get the Neutra set from DWR, however they unfortunately don’t make 6” numbers. Given that we are so far back from the street, we had to go with the big guns for maximum visibility. In retrospect, I would have gone with a lighter weight and used their "Ribbon" typeface for the perfect 1:1 Neutra knock off.

   

farewell serif

Old house numbers, âpres-painting. We didn't bother to remount and as an interim solution, decided propping them up on the curb would do. According to the neighbor, both FedEx and UPS ran them over with their trucks.

That awkward typeface totally had it coming.

mcm at ces

I spend my days imagining and critiquing brand experiences so I am going to pass on the in-depth assessment here, but I do want to point out an interesting take on “home” from Griffin at this year’s CES. The overall booth experience appears pretty weak and cluttered however, mad bonus points for the mid-century modern treatment.

The post and beam system should have been fairly simple (and cost-effective) to produce and design. Nice to see something beyond ubiquitous, curved walls and tension fabric jungle gyms.

happy christmas

thanksgiving

snow week

studio redux

The studio redux project was finally completed last week with the addition of our new iMac. We actually started last Thanksgiving with the shelving and white paint in January. Three different accent colors later, we landed on the final shade which I fondly refer to as, "less cheeseburger, more orange peel."

Of note: The chair is one of my Eames rescues. It had one of the old vinyl covers epoxied to it. I peeled it back to discover flawless orange fiberglass underneath. It took some work (and brain cells) but I was able to remove the adhesive and restore it back to its full glory.

Lastly, his + hers artwork: 

color shift

Love. Love. Love. Totally digging the new paint job. We took some inspiration from the classic Eichler palette and ended up with a few good selects from Benjamin Moore.  Apparently the red we picked out was the same color used on the door in American Beauty. We worked with Built Square on the job. 

halloween

shades of gray

Scraping, sanding, tejano on a boom box….that’s the sound of home beautification. Painting kicked off this week, but not before extensive color tests and multiple trips to see our friends Sherwin and Benjamin. We have settled on “Gunmetal” and find it a fitting color and paint name for the Thiel household.

surprise inside

I have a rocky relationship with our dishwasher. I feel like all I do is empty the damn thing. Repeat. The other night while bitterly unloading it, I was admiring the fun color that used to be the exterior. Its 70s aura provides a smart little punch of color when you open them.

yard demo

We took out the prehistoric juniper bushes in the front yard. We coined the phrase "the Magnolia mangroves." It was a big job but we were thankfully able to do it all ourselves with sheer muscle power. I had envisioned the stone wall coming down and needing to rent a backhoe. We are letting the soil repair itself while we figure out what we want to do from a landscape design perspective.   

back from the top of the world

We've been in Iceland! Post and photos here. We just have to get over this cold from the dark ages we brought back as a souvenir.