Back in the Seventies, my mother’s friend went to one of those Poconos honeymoon resorts with her husband. They had a great time, yada, yada, returned the following year and caught themselves on an X rated video showing at the lodge.

This sounds like an urban legend, but I swear it was true, unless this woman was taking the piss out of my mom.

Anyway, it totally put me off the Poconos. Which is a shame because I would be all over that kitsch-n-tacky crap without the added expense of flying to Las Vegas.

Where else can you enjoy a champagne tower hot tub with your partner? Unless you put one in your house.

Hmm….

Anyway, Happy Valentine!

  posted @ 7:30 am Comments (5)

Our Beacon home is blessed with some gorgeous unpainted woodwork throughout. It’s one of the reasons we fell in love with the house and we always thought that one day we would restore it to it’s original splendor.

Well, that day is here. But now we don’t want to take forever with this job. That being said, it’s taking me forever to just research WTF to do!

Here’s the deal: Everything in the house is shellac. I know this because I did the denatured alcohol test. If it dissolves quickly, it’s shellac. To test for lacquer, use lacquer thinner. If neither of those dissolve it, it’s probably varnish or polyurethane.

Ok, so great! It’s supposedly easy to restore shellac. A new coat just melts away the previous coat. Well, that ain’t happening. Problem is that this is really old shellac and it has blisters, crazing and cracks. The alcohol doesn’t blend it unless I rub with steel wool, taking it down to the wood. New shellac melts bupkis.

So, I’ve been spending the last 3 days researching and testing areas and all I found out was that shellac is made from bug shit. Hence, it’s not even vegan!

Right now I’m tempted to take it down to the wood (it’s pretty easy) and redo the whole damn thing. But isn’t there an easier way? Help! Does anyone know??

Oh, PS: Shellac is totally glossy and I despise gloss!!

  posted @ 7:56 am Comments (9)

Yes, glowing wallpaper has been around since the 70′s, but can it illuminate a room? Well, the technology has arrived! Wallpaper can be used in place of lighting now.

Ok, so it may not be in every home until 2020, but it’s feasible.

I don’t want to get all sciencey on you (especially since this stuff is over my head) but the concept is based on the same technology  that is used in cell phones and flat screen televisions. OLEDs (organic light diodes) are too expensive and wasteful to use, so Swedish researchers, with the help of Americans, have developed an alternative based on organic light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs). The transparent electrode is made of the carbon material graphene.

Let’s cut to the chase. This stuff is fairly recyclable and can be liquefied and spread onto large flexible sheets from printing presses.

Giving us….glowing wallpaper! It’s soooo Jetson’s and soooo cool!

Via Mother Nature Network via Science Daily

  posted @ 8:18 am Comments (1)

Only in Hollywood is it romantic to restore an old house back to it’s former glory. The reality is it’s exhausting, stressful, expensive and then there’s no time left for sex.

So why are my husband and I so addicted to it?

Anyway, since that crummy Valentine’s holiday is coming up, here’s a list of films that make us all want to work on an old house. I feel like I’m missing a few though. Pacific Heights? The Duplex?

1. It’s a Wonderful Life. My top pick. Even though it’s a Christmas movie, I think about Jimmy Stewart every time I come down my stairs and grab my loose banister finial. I never want to fix it because of this movie.

2. The Money Pit. Hey, it’s a happy ending, right? There’s a scene with Tom Hanks hanging there between floors. Been there, done that. When I fell through the floor and was holding myself up on the banister above, my husband just looked over at me and calmly asked “Need help?”

3. Under the Tuscan Sun. Well, let’s just say I know where I want to go when I retire.

4. Gone with the Wind. So much going on in this movie, but isn’t Tara the main love interest? It’s the only thing that matters. The only thing that lasts.

5. The Notebook. Disclosure: I’ve only seen snippets of this on TV. The only thing I remember is the house.

  posted @ 7:52 am Comments (2)

A Walk Through Fort Greene – TRAILER from Diane Paragas on Vimeo.

A feature length documentary is about the black arts movement in Fort Greene from the mid 80′s-early 90′s is currently in production. The film, directed by Nelson George and Diane Paragas, features Lorna Simpson, Kevin Powell, Chris Rock and of course, Spike Lee among others.

Fun fact! My husband and I shared our very first apartment together (without the roommates) in Ft. Greene in 1988. To this day, it was the nicest apartment we ever lived in. A grand parlor floor of a brownstone on Adelphi Street. We lived there for 2 years, paying $825 and had the best landlord evah! In 1990/91 we moved to Park Slope because of the lack of amenities in the area. There wasn’t much going on for a couple of vegetarians back then.

But we’ll always love Ft. Greene.

  posted @ 8:12 am Comments (0)

Wow, some wonderful boro art openings this weekend! Unfortunately, I’ll be working on the Beacon house, so I can’t make it to any of them…but you should! And spread the love!

Tonight! Friday, February 5, 2010, starting at 8:00pm

Breukelen Coffee House,
764A Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn

Group show with my buddy Mike Sorgatz

Another group show at the Climate Gallery in Long Island City. “Putting It All Together” opens Saturday, February 6 from 6-9pm. My buddy Suprina Kenney is in this one. It’s her first group show!

Also opening Saturday (reception is 6-9pm) is a collaboration between another buddy, Liz Heskin Contemporary and Metropolitan Green (remember that video interview?). “Natural Reactions” features 13 artists demonstrating the intimate relationship between artist and environment.

The show takes place at 439 Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn. BTW, it’s really easy to get to LIC from there.

Ok, so I’m plugging my friends. Nothing wrong with that!

  posted @ 8:18 am Comments (0)

So, I was passing through High Falls yesterday and went into what I thought was The New York Store to buy some bread. The next thing I know, I’m walking out with a creepy baby sculpture.

The bad news is: The New York Store is no longer there. I have no idea when it closed. Plus, I didn’t get any bread.

The good news: The Last Bite is the cafe that took it’s place and it is suh-weet! They have vegetarian friendly (or meaty) sandwiches and pastries, yada, yada….

But the artwork and tschotskes in there! OMG, I could have bought everything, only there’s some stuff I would totally make myself, so why buy that, huh? I can’t sculpt clay, so I bought this cat baby. I didn’t price the Obama/Bush salt and pepper shakers that I fell in love with, but I may regret that.

My husband and I currently have 6 cats and never wanted have kids. I figured if we DID have a baby, maybe it would look something like this.

The pets love it! The husband, not so much.

  posted @ 7:31 am Comments (9)

Our dining room plaster repair proved a bit problematic as we needed to work around our wallpaper border. We actually laminated the ceiling and repaired cracks in the walls. We’ll need to use a thin crown molding to hide the gap between wall and sheetrocked ceiling, covering up some of the border.

Although I liked the original color, I wanted to brighten it up some. I’m not loving this turquoise, it’s too greeny. It looks more beach cottage than Victorian, but it looked really good on the paint chip! I think my biggest problem with it is that it’s not completely flat. When Home Depot tells you they have a flat enamel that’s washable, don’t believe them! It’s not flat, it’s more eggshell!

  posted @ 8:27 am Comments (3)

As you may know, we own two homes. And as you also may know, we are getting ready to sell one of them. Not the best market to sell, especially when it was purchased near top of the market.

Going into this, my thoughts were “No way we’re selling for less than what we put in! We’ll rent it if we have to.” Then I did the math. Not that I’ve given up on the idea of getting my price just yet. The house won’t be on the market for another few months, but even if we “lose” $100k (including the renovations), we still come out way ahead of the game.

And so, I’m learning the importance of letting go.

At first, when my husband said “Yeah, but we lived there for 5 years. Think of it as paying rent.” that wasn’t enough to change my mind. What did it was figuring out exactly how much extra money we would have to play with by only owning one house. The mortgage payments, the taxes, insurance, gas and electric, extra car plus insurance, gas and train to go back and forth, maintenance and renovations, even food.

So my friends, if you are thinking of selling your house in this market, do not despair. Do the math! It just might make sense to let go of your pride, swallow the loss and live happily ever after!

  posted @ 7:44 am Comments (0)

I’m sure we all know someone who has been affected by the Haiti earthquake. When we heard about it, my husband and I went through a list of Haitians we knew and wondered if their families were ok.

We forgot about Darnelle.

Darnelle is the cheerful young woman who meets and greets everyone at Kush Cafe in Clinton Hill. She lost several family members, including her mother, when her childhood home was destroyed.

Kush is holding a fundraiser this Wednesday, February 3rd. All profits go to the Dasne family. It’s $20 for an all you can eat buffet.

If you cannot attend but want to contribute, I’m looking into how to do that. I’ll leave it in the comments.

via Brownstoner

  posted @ 10:01 am Comments (2)

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