Design Public

 Who doesn’t love a firehouse? It seems they are truly en fuego right now as a trend.  Perhaps it started with this house, where the Ghostbusters had their headquarters:

Then there was The Real World: Boston, where a charming firehouse was renovated to house seven self-important, immature  strangers.  This was one cool renovation:

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A few weeks ago I was in a bad car accident in Cabbagetown. After I pulled over and was starting to sob, a couple of guys came running up to make sure everyone was alright. They had heard the wreck from a park about three blocks away. It calmed me down immediately and made me feel so much better.  These are the kind of folks that live in Cabbagetown.  In fact, one of them, Ziggy, was quoted in the paper talking about the neighborhood yesterday - I had been thinking of him this week, because this weekend, his neighborhood was ravaged by a tornado. It’s been wonderful to see how this tight-knit community is pulling together to help each other.

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I love slideshow-ing through eyewash designs’ photos over at flickr.  WARNING:  Do not go check out her flickr account unless you can afford to burn some serious time.  You will be spending a long time there once you are sucked in!  Anyway, here’s a recent favorite:

eyewash design is Alane Golden, a true renaissance woman who also has a fabulous blog right here.   Thanks Alane!

Remember when I asked you guys months and months ago for loft advice? Well, everything sure takes ten times longer when you are working on weekends and hangovers are involved. Reality made us scale back some of our hopes and dreams, like finding some big sliding industrial door somewhere, and covering one wall in stainless steel, but it’s really working, and it was important to brainstorm every idea we had without constraints! So far it’s involved movers, giving away a huge fish tank and cabinet, painting, cleaning, the granite crew, tiling, a carpenter for trim, electrical work, plumbing work, a new closet system and a ton more projects. The kitchen is the first part that is actually complete, oops, no wait, we are still waiting for a dishwasher to be delivered, but anyway, we are like proud parents. I thought I’d share. Here’s the kitchen before:

And here’s the kitchen with granite counters, an undermounted sink, new cabinet hardware, a fresh coat of paint on the cabinets, gorgeous tile that is not showing up so well in photos, new face plate (more…)

So I went through the entire upstairs labyrinth set-up of the however-many-square-foot-apartment areas of IKEA last night with my friend Alex. I am currently trying to stage Alex’s loft and we went to get ideas. The big idea we had was trying to live in all of them for a week each - perhaps start in the 1000 square foot apartment and work our way down to the 300 square foot apartment, or vice-versa. It was a From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler kind of idea. Why hasn’t IKEA tried this before? It could be hailed as performance art. They could put us behind glass and let people watch us try to live in each space. The drawbacks would be that the plumbing isn’t actually hooked up, and if the appliances were, it would always smell like eggs and bacon in there.

Even more exciting, we thought we saw Vern Yip in the fabric section. If it wasn’t actually him, it was his doppleganger. I was positive it was him, but now that I look at this picture I am really not so sure. Vern, if you are reading this, were you at the Atlantic Station IKEA yesterday? If not, do you have a twin brother? Were you shopping for Trading Spaces? Or do your high end customers use IKEA like everyone else? Their fabrics absolutely rock right now, so it’s anyone’s guess.

In loft renovation/staging news, we decided that the coolest runner we could possibly create is from four of the $9.99 circular rugs - off white, orange, off white, orange, all in a row like lily pads. A fun $40 IKEA move. It’s funny, I walk through that place in awe of how inexpensive it all is, but then at the end, I realize I’m paying in sweat, trying to find the furniture and waiting in the endless checkout line.

IKEA pictures from IKEA.com

Vern’s picture from Vern Yip’s Official Site.

I need help from you readers - obviously, you likely read a lot of blogs and design websites. I am helping my friend Alex do some light remodeling and staging for his amazing 900+ square foot corner loft in Atlanta (right between midtown and downtown), and I realized I don’t know of all that many loft-specific online sources. Do you have any favorite sources for looking specifically at lofts? I’ve collected a few books and have scads of magazines, but the online portion of my bibliography is sorely lacking. Which are your favorites?

A before shot:

As we go along, I’ll keep you updated on some of our D.I.Y. adventures. Our next stop is the Habitat for Humanity RESTORE and of course, IKEA. I’ll be sure to give you the full report on The Restore afterwards - google your city’s Habitat for Humanity and Restore for more information on what to donate, how you can volunteer, and what’s available for sale to the masses there.

Thanks!