Architecture on Netflix!

So it's still flu season and now cold season has come on and I'm home with a sinus infection. Blah. It seems my brain has turned to mush and it may be drip drip dripping from my nose. To pass the time I've been exploring the nooks and crannies on Netflix' Watch Instantly. I watched Unusual Buildings & Other Roadside Stuff which I liked a lot mostly for it's odd ball, kitsch, and sometimes mid-century modern appeal. Above is a picture of the famous Wigwam Motels that are highlighted in the short documentary. First off it's weird - the first one was built in 1937 and was some white guy's romantic idea of the Sioux of South Dakota - so he appropriated their traditional dwellings and turned it into to a roadside attraction! It is a weird and wonderful America of ours. I also watched an A&E production called "The Homes of Frank Lloyd Wright. You have to fast forward about 7 minutes to get to the bit about his work - the beginning is childhood back home stories. It's Season 2 Episode 12 of America's Castles - here's the IMDB description of the show. I also noted the topic of green design that I'll check out too. The point of this blog - there is a lot more to Netflix than movie watching! You can learn too. Also just an FYI - you can check out 80's classics like the A-team, Gimme a Break, and Murder She Wrote all gazillion bazillion seasons! Happy Holidays!

Backyard Shed: Margarita Holding Area

One interesting and annoying thing about Eugenians is that we are notorious for home construction projects that are often done with a small budget, without a permit, and with the help of friends and neighbors. When looking to buy a home in Eugene it is very common for the Real Estate agent to say something along the lines of "It appears the previous owners added on this room but it's not counted in the square footage . . .". There are many a Eugene home with "unique" design features that were initiated by the whim of a high weekend warrior to "open the room up" or "let some more light in." They seem to be good ideas at the time but when it comes down to it the game is on, there's a Ninkasi beer in the fridge that waiting to be opened, and it's much too time consuming. Corners are cut and you end up with some odd shaped bedroom or a "sun room" with outdoor dingy carpet that's really more of a sun closet. So it is in this great tradition that Mr. Monkey has attempted to set a new bar, a higher bar, in fact a dry bar in the clouds. I like to call it the Margarita Holding Area. Truly Mr. Monkey is doing a great and amazing job building the backyard tool shed of all backyard tool sheds and in the process I talked him into a roof patio where we could drink margaritas and watch the summer sun sets. Also all the Dwell magazines and talk of modern design rubbed off on him and he decided to make the shed out a combination of reclaimed wood, windows, and board form concrete. Mr. Monkey is making some serious progress and so I'll be posting pictures to show off his work. He's also had some friends come on over to raise the framed walls and pour the concrete. Yay for friends. Tune back in soon for more pictures!

Holidaze: Preparing for House Guests

For the first time my family will be visiting for Thanksgiving. But this is only a half truth because for the actual Turkey day we will head down to Mr. Monkey's family's place and they have the joy/burden of preparing the Thanksgiving dinner. We will bring pies from our favorite pie-ery in town - Sweet Life and a caserole. I should get my pie order in now in case it's too late. Yikes. My main focus is making sure our bungalow is clean and organized. So over the last few weeks I've taken several stuffed-like-a-turkey-bags of clothes and glassware over to Goodwill. This week I have two bags of clothes to take to the clothes exchange and the rest is mostly laundry and prepping the guest rooms (1 is usually the T.V. room) for Mother and Brother Monkey.

I recently read a post at Apartment Therapy about preparing the bathroom for guests. All of their pointers are a part of my usual routine with the exception of the air scent diffuser or soy candle. I tend to stay away from this because of the strong smell. I end up as Sneezy and I think about guests that may have allergies too. I have yet to find mild but pleasant scent that can just hang out in the bathroom. If you have a favorite let me know. With the four of us adults using one restroom I think a air scent diffuser of some sort is in order.

Here's a pick of the last time we had a guest. Sorry for the blur. That's a fresh flower in a jar, a clock, a light that can be turned off from the bed, a candle plus matches, and the usually small bottled liquids, and oh yes the towels.

As for towels I used to like the idea of leaving a nicely folded tower of towels in a bathroom cabinet. That is until one guest used a towel that (to me) had obviously already been used and was hanging on a drying rack! Major ick! I felt really bad just thinking about her probable gross thoughts about using a pre-used bath towel! I didn't do a good enough job as a hostess - argh. So I've since switched practices. Now I leave nicely folded towels on top of the guest's bed or in plain view in their room so that it is very clear which towels are theirs. Plus there is now a hook on the back of their bedroom door where they can hang their towel to dry. There are so many little details to make sure that guests feel welcome and are comfortable and can get a good nights sleep.

One final note from my Mrs. Monkey Hostess Book - when decorating I was sure to place a mirror in the guest room. Since guests don't have their own bathroom at our wee place they have to stumble out of their room on their way to the lieu every morning. I always prefer to look and make sure nothing is hanging out of anywhere that should not have things hanging out . . . wink wink . . . if you know what I mean. Or even if you don't you probably get the idea. A mirror in the guest bedroom lets the guests see themselves (if they care to) before they head out of their safe and cozy temporary dwelling. That's all my pointers for now. I should probably go and do some of this sh*t instead of just talk about it. Good luck next week. Take a deep breath and another swig of that seasonal ale. Cheers!

Modern Fences IV

The quest for the perfect modern fence continues on . . . Mr. Monkey and I have been on a search to be good neighbors and to have happy neighbors. In our case this involves hiding their houses (for privacy) and keeping our late-night laughs and bunches of bon fires contained to our yard and not echoing off their walls. We often walk around the neighborhood in search of ideas for fences. These first pictures are of the winner of the fence that we liked best in the neighborhood, that is a little different and meets our needs. It's modern but not too modern like a wall of corrugated metal. I like the horizontal lines and the big carriage bolts. I also like their color scheme and their overall landscape. We'll be skipping the raised bed boxes and our fence may not be 3 thick pieces. We're thinking four slightly narrower pieces that would also have a slightly smaller gap in between each horizontal strip. Of course we'll keep you posted on the existing fence coming down and the new fence going up! Next up -scroll down for a wacky totally unique Eugene fence!

Recently this fence went up in our neighborhood. At first we walked by and wondered what was going on over there. Was it a parade float? Was it a booth for a festival? Was is a gazebo? Finally it took its final form as a fence! I'm not the hugest fan of the aesthetics of this fence (aka I don't like the way it looks). But I admire the way they just went for it big! It's new and different and it seems like it uses twigs and not processed wood so it's environmental impact is small. It is creative and offers the house a nice privacy screen without feeling unfriendly. Yay for fences. Even though we've ended our search for our fence I'll keep my eyes for y'all. You can click here for my other 3 posts on modern fences.

Fall in the Friendly St. Neighborhood

Life in the PNW is pretty good these days. Our Oregon Ducks are kicking booty in football and our weather is gorgeous! It's my favorite time of year and I have to say that this year has been specatcular. I'm not sure if it's global warming or what but the rain seems to mostly come at night, leaving us with crisp and sunny days. I'm feeling very fortunate to be here in Eugene during this time of year. Here are some pics that demonstrate the fall colors. A tree in front of our neighbor's house and dahlias still blooming in our front yard!

This is a little neighborhood park on 27th and Monroe. It's a sweet little park in our Friendly St. Neighborhood. Within the last year or so they added the community bulletin board and updated the playground equipment. we've headed over a few times with our niece and nephew and they've really enjoyed it. Below we have fall crocuses that popped up in our park strip in the front of the house. We forgot we planted these last fall until one day I came home form work and there they were.

Mr. Monkey's fountain all dried up. Jefferson St. Above.

Our street one morning with quite the cloud coverage.

Making Wine Tasting Modern

This summer we went on a tour of a few vineyards in southern Oregon in the Applegate Valley. They say to not judge wine by it's bottle but I did in fact judge a Vineyard by its building. Case in point Fiasco Vineyards also known as Jacksonville Vineyards (2 smaller pix above are from their website). We visited this vineyard in particular because I really liked their use of corrugated metal. This building is very modern looking. Many of the tasting rooms in our lovely state try to mimic an Italian or European retreat. While this is lovely it's not really authentic to the region, community, or our times. Fiasco was nice because while they did grow some "Old world" grapes while their building design sense is very modern. I didn't take pictures of the inside but it was very informal with concrete floors with a mix of rough river rock in the center of the floor where they had wine barrel tables for more wine sipping. The wine was not my favorite but I admired their use of passive solar, big glass doors on the south side, and materials. Wine tasting doesn't have to be stuffy - it should be comfortable. Another vineyard that is drop dead gorgeous and has amazing wine and views is Wooldridge Creek Winery. I can't say enough good things about their wine and the people that run the winery and make the wine. I haven't tried a wine I didn't like! Their building is also a great use of space. They have an amazing large outdoor patio with huge ceilings but furniture and tables to make it feel as though you're sitting in an outdoor living room. This picture is from their website. Man I love this place. I know vineyards are popping up all over the country. I've even visited a vineyard in Missouri! They are a great place to check out different design features that you might want to bring into your own home on a smaller scale. I know for sure our Thanksgiving weekend will take us back to Wooldridge Creek Winery. I seriously cannot stay away. I'll take some more pics of my fave features from their tasting area. Goodness all this vineyard talk is making me thirsty! Cheers!

End of Summer Updates: Part II

Well it truly is the end of summer here. We had a gorgeous weekend - warm, sunny, clear skies - days that you want to go on forever. Two of our friends were married at the Wayfarer Resort, a rustic little vacation spot on the gorgeous McKenize river. And now the gorgeous gloom has set in. There was thunder heard on my run today along the river and the rain came down in the wee hours of the morning. The wind picked up and blew off the newly orange hued leaves off the trees. It's my favorite time of year here in the PNW. We get just enough sun light, the foliage fills me awe, the air is crisp and clean, and football season leads to many potlucks and good PNW beer. So here I'll share a final few pictures from the summer. While I'm sad to see it go I'm ready to nestle in for the fall and winter.

The first picture is the new bedspread for the guest room and pillow. You might recognize them from the DWELL line at Target. We had quite a few house guests this summer and I just wanted to snazz it up a bit. This room still leaves quite a bit to be desired (it's very small). I'm thinking of pulling out that robin's egg blue from the pillow and painting the wall with the window. Now below I'm sharing 2 new Tiny Showcase prints we picked up. There is now definitely a water them in the living room. This was not intentional. I just bought what I liked and there it is. I wanted to hang the new pictures like they were hanging in the trees on the wall but Mr. Monkey did not approve so they are just floating below the branches now. Somehow I think it works allow I could be on the lookout for a third or a more few prints to hang out with the water collection. Hmm. The picture is of course the whole kit and kaboodle. I'm getting the itch to switch around the furniture. That might have to wait for the full blown winter. For now it's working and I'm still working way too much to do the shuffle. To round off the summer I'll add some pictures from our weekend vacations this summer up to Washington and Vancouver, B.C. and then finally the fence discussion will be back! Thanks for reading all! I hope the sun lingers in your part of the world a bit longer. Cheers!