A tidbit

Sometimes architects talk funny. Not funny ha-ha. Funny weird. It's not their fault. They learn it in school.
It's called Talkitecture. It's their language.
When dealing with a human in the architect genus one must remember that one is dealing with an animal that is at once extremely left-brained and extremely right-brained. And you want that. You want a human who can both do long division AND paint. A mathematician AND an artist. You want a beautiful space to live in AND you want the walls to meet at the corners, don't you? Sure, ya do.

Anywho, when the mood strikes, look here to build your talkitecture vocabulary.
Let's start with these two:

Circulation corridor. This means hallway.
Glazing. This means windows.

Make flashcards. Study often.

This dog says: Huh? What?

Craigslist ad of the day. the week. the month.

This is too good not to share, with a quick edit cleanup, cuz that's what I do.
And, yes, I was trolling for used sofa beds on Craigslist. (I hate the recession with the white hot heat of a thousand suns.)
Enjoy!

p.s. if you know of a good place for cheap beds that look like lounging furniture, (economical. i meant to say economical) or have a relatively decent sofa bed to sell, do call.


The most uncomfortable Sofa Bed EVER!! $250 (Mercer Island)
Date: 2010-08-26, 10:10AM

Ok. If you read that title and still clicked the link to read this ad, either a) you're just looking to see who would be stupid enough to title an ad that way; b) you thought you'd have a look to see if there was something funny inside; or c) you are a masochist and you really NEED the "Couch Of Pain," " The Davenport Of Doom," The "Marquis De Sofa." No matter which of those descriptions best matches you, read on. I'm not here to judge, just to unload this couch.

I don't know how old this thing is. I have reason to suspect that it was used in the inquisition. As far as what brand sofa it is? Couldn't tell you.

What I DO know is that it is a sofa and it pulls out into a bed. Oh, and the stupid things weighs roughly six thousand pounds! I think it has left divots in the concrete slab under my carpet. Bring your strong friends to load this.

It is just under 6 feet long so if you are exactly six feet tall, like me, you can't nap on this sucker without risking a serious neck "crick."

When you pull the bed out, you had better be prepared to sleep diagonally if you are so much as a hair over six feet tall. Now, if you are EXACTLY six feet tall, that bar that supports the mattress is going to make you hurt in your middle back. If you sleep diagonally your gonna have pain that starts just below one shoulder and goes to the opposite hip. If you intend to sleep all night on this thing, you may want to switch it up about half way through the night so you'll at least spread the agony out.

There are no tears, stains, pestillance or fire damage on the couch. Interestingly, I couldn't get it to light.

The mattress has some sort of stain on its under side. I'm guessing somebody died on it a few generations ago but all I can figure (seeing as how the stain is on the under side) is that somebody was sleeping on it and got folded up in it. The couch probably decided to eat them. At any rate, the stain never comes in contact with you while you are on it. Unless of course the couch gets hungry again, then all bets are off.

If you decide you need this couch, I also know all the chiropractors within about a 10 mile radius of the island, and I will be happy to give you their phone numbers.

I've taken several photos of this thing to try and properly capture the pure evil that resides within. This one, I think, best does the job.

Bloggy See, Bloggy Do

Partay, people! Partay!
In case you were wondering where to go for drinks and whatnot tomorrow in the greater Seattle region, you should go here and see this:
http://blog.buildllc.com/2010/08/arcade-29-1-launch/

It's the blow-out for Arcade Magazine's fall issue. And this time around my cool friends Kevin and Andrew at BUILD LLC. were guest editors (not as easy as it looks, izzit you guys?!).
Arcade is dedicated to design and the built-environment. And K and A put forth this Great Notion: When is a design complete?
"In the process of design, there are an infinite number of stopping points – each of which has advantages and disadvantages," they write. Hmmm, sounds a lot like editing.
Wednesday’s event officially launches the fall issue. And it's being held at uber-cool photograper Chase Jarvis' place next door to Gas Works Park. Ten bucks gets you in the door. No-host bar.
See and be seen, kids. That's the way they do it, play the guitar on the MTV.

Here's more about Jarvis from my fabulous home town newspaper:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2012354444_pacificpchase25.html

p.s. photo is random, yet entertaining.

Pacific NW | Tiny apartment shows the value of a good fit | Seattle Times Newspaper

By the way, since I wrote this, I should post this: a darling of the blog world this past week, by the way. My thanks to Steve Sauer for spending the last seven years of his life to create the great space in a mere 182 square feet! Kudos, Steve.
Pacific NW Tiny apartment shows the value of a good fit Seattle Times Newspaper

Yellow Mountain StoneWorks

Some days the mail is so freakin' heavy it feels like people are sending me nothing but a box of rocks.

And, guess what? Today some people did exactly that. Fed Ex no less.

It's a rock company. Yellow Mountain StoneWorks right here in Seattle. (you will find this blog to be heavily Seattle-based, and that's for two reasons: 1) seattle has some of this country's the bangenest residential architecture going. and if you didn't know it before, ya do now. And, 2) i live here. back to our programming)

The folks at Stoneworks have become pals with the folks in China and so, because they're friends and all, they have "cultivated long-term relationships with artisans and quarries in China." They will make just about anything for you in China. Including rocks. And the two I got in the mail are quite nice. For rocks.

For the record, these two guys I got are called Redheart Limestone and Butterfly Blue Granite. And if you had a lot of them, you could have yourself quite the set of stairs, terrace, fireplace, floor, you name it. But what I have are two jim-dandy paperweights. Or headstones for a gerbil.

Now seeking two freshly dead gerbils. But not in the mail.

Seriously, though, Redheart and Butterfly Blue were used in a sculpture called "Fluidity" created for the 10th anniversary of Portland's Lan Su Chinese Garden (in case you're headed that way soon). You can find it in Lan Su's entry plaza, where it will be on display for the Mooncakes & Pomegranates celebration (I have no idea what that is, but the name, uh, rocks!). After that catch Fluidity at the Portland Art Museum for the Lan Su gala on Sept. 16.

The p.r. lady, in her pitch, points out that rocks are nature's oldest building material. Ooo, that's so caveperson. Love the fur outfits and the big hair, not much for the lack of shoes though.

Thank you, Betty Rubble.

Rebecca Teagarden: In The Beginning

Welcome to House and Home.
Strap on your pith helmets, darlings, we're going on high-design safari. And I, your Goddess, will be your guide.
From our particular corner of the Pacific Northwest (Seattle) we will hunt for the new and modern. The great and, sometimes, the outstandingly not-great.
Seattle is blessed with more than our fair share of architects who have accepted the riskiest (yet quite possibly the most rewarding) of design assignments, specializing in home design. They are re-inventing the way we live: The way we think about home: What we do there: How we behave there. Architects are reshaping what goes on in our most personal and prized possession -- our nest.
This matters. We kill for this. Protecting hearth and home; it's why we go to war. Dorothy tells us, "There's no place like home." There is not. And there isn't any place like your home, either. Mine isn't yours. Yours isn't your parent's.
So this is important. All of it. From the million-dollar mortgage to the tassels on the pillows.
Our residential architects are drawing up and building out a future that will leave our planet with contemporary dwellings great and small, light-filled and spare, sustainable and green. Planted on rolling acreage and inserted between the Victorians.
And that is just the beginning. Such creativity has sparked a flame of design inventiveness: in furniture, lighting, fabric, landscape and interior design. From the elitest showrooms of the Seattle Design Center to the college roommates who pooled their dough to rent an old warehouse and give it go.
We seek to know them all. With no limits. One man's Barcelona Chair is another man's sawed-off whiskey barrel.
Blah, blah, blah. Now, for the fun part, which is the rest of this blog. Forever and ever.
Starting now.
Stay tuned, children.