Since my last blog, a lot has happened in just this past year. Did quite a bit of traveling, which lead to an accident. More about that, later. Remodeled my digs. A little bit about that . . .
This is the front room. I gutted it. We custom-installed a carpet square in the middle from Matthew Klujian Carpet, on Devon. We use them a lot in the building. Bonded, insured, quality carpet, family-owned local business. They came out to install the first one, before the furniture had arrived, and I noticed it had a reddish (pinkish) cast to it. So when the furnishings arrived, it threw off the entire room, so I had to have them pull it up and order a new one and pay for it. The second group of installers showed up with this one drunken person with a full cast on his leg, and wreaking of gin. I reported him to Klujian and told them I thought they could send someone sober, being Tuesday, and wasn't happy with the carpet sample they shipped directly to me, telling them it was off, once again. But, it was actually better than the color I had picked, so this is what you see.
We installed 18" ceramic tile with a "sand" pattern and continued that into the dining room and kitchen. Then, a green leather-texture tile from "Aamerican Custom Flooring, on Caldwell, for the "L"-shaped foyer. This flows right into the retro tile in the bathroom, (not pictured), which I want to keep, along with the Crema Marfil marble border. (You can kinda see the beginning of the green tile, just to the left of the light in the pic). The "off" roll of carpet is in a wrapper on the hallway floor, in the pic.
We chose Benjamin Moore paints at Thybony for all the walls and ceilings for vibrant, contrasting colors. We chose "Camouflage," "Decatur Buff," and a dark green "Cloud Grey" for the columns, radiators, and below the windows. This pulls attention away from them, and draws it to the windows and view.
I have either painted or collected artwork over the years, and had some of them re-framed at the local frame shop, Wall-to-Wall-Framing on Bryn Mawr, to match the dark bamboo, using UV glass, to protect from the bright sun. They turned out perfect. (The Aunt Zona Murano Glassware is on the top rt. shelf with gold emobssing).
"Add-On" Glass on Elston came out and retrofitted the existing panes with double-thermopane glass over them. After about 2 weeks the sealant started to melt and drip way down the windows making an obscene mess. I called and called. They kept blowing me off, until finally they came out and re-did every single window at no charge. Now, the place is practically hermetically sealed from moisture, temperature and dust. They will also come out and add tinting, to further protect from the bright sunlight, if this batch of sealant works properly.
I used Room and Board for all the furniture, lighting and accessories. We drove up to the Skokie showroom THE DAY the stock market was crashing, (10/08) and the streets were eerily deserted. We had the place all to ourselves, and had a personal shopper (Dustin) go around and collect all the furnishings, while we sat on the couch and watched design ideas come together. My bank almost had a heart attack, when we put the totat thru, and they locked up my account and made me call them, thinking someone stole my card and was on a shopping spree. They were right next door, as it happened, so I paid them a little visit, easing their distressed minds that it was actually me who was taking out more than $40 at the cash machine in one day.
I am drawing up the plans to redo the kitchen, next. That is proving to be quite the challenge!
I'm gutting it and knocking out a wall. (That wall behind the TV, in the pic).
Lakefront views during the day are quite spectacular, but at night are pretty dark and drab, so we had to use some creative lighting. I don't like using candles, (me with flames and sharp objects=not), so I use "flameless" candles and installed a lighted fountain I won at the book fair, on the low-middle shelving unit, in the piano photo.
Oh, We ordered Hunter Douglas custom shades (see bottom piano pic) in a mid-opaque thickness so you can still see the light, but enough thickness to block out the brutal E. exposure sun.
Other than that, had some minor health issues, a ski accident, a surgery which turned bad. Found a good therapist. Quit smoking. Started again.
Misc: Revamped all my websites. I pretty much re-coded all of them by hand, and one of them keeps me quite busy - hollywoodtowers.com
And where, you ask, do I put 7 pianos? Here are 5 of them. The 7 foot Kimball Viennese Classic Grand in the top photos, then in the electronic set, below; a Fatar full-weighted 88-key piano controller, Roland sampler/mixer, Kurzweil Micro-Piano, and separate Roland midi-sampler. I need to make room for a dining table in this spot, so look for this to be on sale on eBay, soon!
So, to finish remodelling, I now need to move on to the kitchen. It needs to be gutted, as well. Then, the bath. But, life is full of curveballs. Mother has been in and out of the nursing home / rehab. Work has been hectic. Oh - and the #1 EXCUSE MAKER of all time: I joined the 21st century and upgraded to the world of HD! Honestly, I have never wasted so much fricking time in front of a dam TV!
Wanna see the "Before" pics?
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