Week 19.2: primer time

Before the paint, the primer.

Primed tails.

White out.

A white shadow creeps along the east side.

Week 19.1: White Dove

OC 17 (aka White Dove) to the left.

While the painters continued to caulk and seal, we met up with Will and Matthew to view the three whites in action on the west side of the house; and, after much debate and deliberation, we arrived at our choice—Benjamin Moore White Dove.

Actually, it was almost impossible to spot the difference between the White Dove and the two strips of white that surrounded it on the Hardie Board. So, after referring back to the swatch book, we thought that its (ever so) slightly warmer tone would nicely pair with some of the darker browns we’re (possibly) using on the deck and entry-piece.

Painting starts Monday… wrapping up (fingers crossed) by Thanksgiving Eve.

Rural Studio Tour: gimme shelter

Vaulted.

Just over a 15-minute drive from Newbern is Greensboro, Alabama (pop. 2,731) and site of the next stop on our Hale-oween Rural Studio tour (and Liane’s second favorite RS project)—The Hale County Animal Shelter.

The 2005–2006 thesis project of students Jeff Bazzell, Julieta Collart, Lana Farkas, Connely Farr, the “Dog Pound”, as it’s sometimes called, was conceived and constructed to help underfunded Hale County fulfill a state-mandated legal obligation calling for an animal shelter in each county.

The back.

Vault and the box.

With assistance from consulting structural engineer Joe Farruggia, the team of four (each, with no previous construction experience) utilized a lamella roof for the overarching, open-ended shelter structure. This large sweeping span sits slightly off-the-ground on steel legs rooted in concrete, and is constructed of conventional off-the-shelf 2x8s connected in a diamond pattern and sheathed in 1x4s and sheets of corrugated galvinized aluminum.

Galvinized perspective.

Diamond ribs.

Steel feet.

Galv-alum with Plexi band.

Three Plexiglas bands—at the top and either side—are carefully placed to keep furry tenants coolly shaded during the summer and comfortably warmed by direct sunlight during the winter.

Back of the box.

Underneath this shimmery arc, the kennel structure is a modernist box comprised of 16 open-air pens (with under-floor heating to warm the animals during the winter), bookended by two enclosed air-conditioned spaces for kennel workers and the treatment of ill or injured animals.

Lou looking for pups.

Looking back.

Dead end.

The late Sambo Mockbee once said: “Everybody wants the same thing, rich or poor… not only a warm, dry room, but a shelter for the soul.”

The “Dog Pound” is a shelter for the soul… an expression of compassion and respect for all living things… another shining example of the Rural Studio ethos.

[Ed. note: Just a week prior to our visit, the Animal Shelter was shortlisted and highly commended in the Civic Category at the inaugural World Architecture Festival in Barcelona.]

1133 | Rural Studio
Beneath the roses
Fire!
Outside the Red Barn

Real Good Barstool

Blu Dot's Real Good sit.

Hard to believe, but Minneapolis-based Blu Dot has been at it for more than a decade now… that’s ten years and then some to you and me.

Born in 1997 out of the goal to “bring good design to as many people as possible,” Blu Dot has managed to do just that, along the way creating “useful, desirable and affordable” future classics such as their award-winning Modulicious line.

Blu Dot’s latest, the Real Good Barstool (reviewed in the current issue of Dwell magazine), is, like their Real Good Chair, a single piece of laser-cut, powder-coated steel that ships flat and is, then, easily folded into the lovely piece of work pictured above. Sleek and sturdy (and comfortable!), it’s available in aqua, ivory, satin black or glossy red (an optional cushioned faux-leather seat pad is also available for $39). And, at $199, it’s easily the most affordable, durable, modern barstool that we’ve managed to find thus far (we’re planning to get three or four for the island in the kitchen).

Real Good height.

For more on the Real Good Barstool, check out the equally good Blu Dot site. And while you’re there, be sure to watch our good pal Bob Shea’s movie Eric’s Really Good Idea (featuring Andy Keep!). It’s one of four short films that comprise the Blu Dot Short Film Series—films that “celebrate and discover design in everyday life.”

Oh, and after that, be sure to hop on over and say “Hi” to Bob at his site.

[Ed. note: If you’re planning to be in the Chicago area this Thursday, November 20th, the founders of Blu Dot will be at I.D. (3337 North Halstead Street) at 7 pm to unveil their latest designs.]

Week 18: awaitin’ the paintin’

Brilliant White. Snowfall White. White Dove.

As the painting peeps started prepping 1133 for paint, we got together with Will and Matthew and one big Benjamin Moore swatchbook, and selected three whites: Brilliant White. Snowfall White. White Dove.

Which paint will we pick for the painters?

Stay tuned…

[Update—November 18: We’re goin’ with the White Dove!]

Spigotted

Kitchen (left) and Bathroom (right) from LaToscana's Elba Collection.

Last September, while Lou and I were in Atlanta on an IKEA–run, we visited EXPO Design Center, at Will and Matthew’s suggestion, to check out their plumbing fixture offerings.

“Prepare to see a lot of stuff you’ll really want… that’s way outside of your budget,” warned Will. He wasn’t kidding. EXPO “carries the most luxurious and innovative products picked from around the world,” most of it in displayed in “lifestyle vignettes” toward the back of the store.

After about an hour or so of marveling at Phillipe Starck-designed Axor fixtures by Hansgrohe and Duravit toilets and tubs (and reeling from their prices!), we headed back up front to browse the aisles of items the store had on hand.

Liane and I had really had our sights set on a spray faucet for the kitchen. So far, though, the long search for one able to satisfy our taste as well as our budget had proven fruitless (IKEA’s Hjuvik single lever faucet came close, but we weren’t all that keen on the separate faucet and sprayer functionality—and, although apparently manufactured by Moen, we were nervous about the Hjuvik’s durability)…

Until we spotted the one. Two aisles up from the Kohler Persuades that, er, persuaded us, there it was—LaToscana’s Elba Magnetic Spray Pull Out Kitchen Faucet in Chrome.

Elba Magnetic Spray Pull Out Kitchen Faucet and Elba Vessel Sink Faucet.

Simple, sleek, magnetic. We were instantly drawn to it (sorry ’bout the pun)… so much so, that, upon returning home, Liane scoured the interwebs in the hopes that there might be an Elba suite of fixtures that’d be more to our liking than the other options (Kohler, Delta, Price Pfister) we’d seen in our price range at EXPO…

…and, lo and behold, she found it here!

Week 17: ep-I-logue

I-beam (step on).

As promised, pics of the aforementioned I-beam (for what they’re worth… STILL need to read that C-Lux manual) that Will and Matthew put in during week 17.

The I-beam will project out from the interior east wall and serve as the main support for the staircase, thus freeing up the space underneath the stairs (no column). This means that the I-beam will be visible in the finished house… a design detail.

The I-beam under the stairs.

Under the beam.

Lou would like to leave it as it currently is, in all its steel-y glory. Depending on what we do with color on the inside of the house, though, I could see painting it a bright color… like International Orange… our nod to Ben Kelly. Or better yet, black and yellow diagonal warning stripes… sort of a Haçienda South… at least until we get the furniture in.

Can anyone convince New Order to get back together?

Rural Studio Tour: beneath the roses

Lou on Subrosa.

After seeing our first and favorite Rural Studio project during our Halloween visit to Hale County (Hale-oween!), Liane and I head next to the Rural Studio Office at Morrisette House so that we can check-in and get a map of the projects. There are so many (!)… and seeing as how it’s already past noon, Gayle Etheridge, the Rural Studio Office Manager, kindly helps us prioritize.

We’re quite anxious to experience Subrosa in person ever since seeing Timothy Hursley‘s brilliant (but tiny) photos on the Rural Studio site, so we go there first.

Located behind Chantilly House and the Bodark Amphitheater in Newbern, the elegiac Subrosa Pantheon was originally conceived by Rural Studio founder Samuel “Sambo” Mockbee as “a memorial to recently bereaved friends.”

A year after Sambo’s untimely death in 2002, his daughter Carol Mockbee arrived at the Rural Studio as an Outreach student. Despite having no previous building or architectural experience, Carol boldly undertook the design (adapted from her father’s notebooks) and creation of this noble concrete and steel structure.

Subrosa is a memorial. “A place to remember Sambo Mockbee and… a place to tell secrets as the Romans did, ‘sub rosa,’ underneath the roses.”

Kiva-like structure.

asor buS.

Over the tunnel.

Tunnel entrance.

Inside the tunnel.

Inside.

Sky opening.

Bench and turtle pond.

Turtle pond.

Beneath the roses.

Sky opening.

Samuel Mockbee.

Mockbee mobile shadow.

Bench and "secret-telling" apparatus.

Subrosa.

Super sub rosa.

Momento mori.

1133 | Rural Studio
Fire!
Outside the Red Barn

The Daily Show: a no “No-Spin (Chair) Zone”

"Actually Bill, that chair's been part of MoMA's permanent design collection since 1969."

Bill O’Reilly was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night.

During a thirteen-minute interview over Hot Cocoa (with marshmallows!), “Stewart” was able to learn a few new things about “Papa Bear.”

Apparently, Bill likes his seating like his news (sans-spin), is convinced that Jon would be “stoned to death” should he ever dare visit our fair state, and is a noted expert on, among other things, Pandas.

You can view the interview in its entirety here.

Now available at Costco!

In the meantime, I’m headed to Costco to pick up my Eames Aluminum Group Management Chair with translucent Cygnus Mesh in Black.

One can dream.

Leverage

Schlage S Series/Saturn

We’ve selected and ordered our door levers (woohoo!). For three of the entrance doors and all of the interior doors, we settled on the Schlage S–Series Saturn in Satin Chrome finish (or 626 Satin Chromium Plated for you Schlage-heads). For the front entrance we went with a Schlage S–200 Series Interconnected Entrance Lock also in Satin Chrome. Depending on the final design of the front door, this may change. For now, though, we’ve gotten the seal of approval from Will and Matthew.

S-Series (exploded!).