I’ve written about this amazing block of buildings in London several times before, most recently in September, here and also here. I am just enchanted with the St. Paul’s Studios, a block of former artists studios with gorgeous double height windows, and look forward to seeing them when I am back in the UK next month. 
You can read the full article here.
Well, this was a record-setting weekend all along the mid-Atlantic coast, and especially here in Baltimore. We set the record for one day/one event snowfall with 29.2 inches falling in just about 30 hours. At times, the snow was falling at three inches per hour! The snow started slowly, at about 3:00 p.m. Friday and continued until just about 8:00 p.m. on Saturday.
In the second image, you can barely make out the lump that it my neighbour’s car! Mine was shoveled out with the help of a young man who was savvy and motivated enough to advertise on Next Door™. I still can’t get my car out of our street because it hasn’t been ploughed yet… This might be the reason why:
Here’s my car before shoveling.
After lots of shoveling, we managed to make piles of snow taller than I am – and on both sides of the path!
No work on Monday because many of the city’s streets are still impassable. With the high winds we had along with the snow, there are massive drifts that make ploughing difficult.
Did you have snow? How did you cope?
We have had a pretty easy winter here in Baltimore. In fact, my family ate Christmas lunch on the porch in 70°weather. I can’t remember that ever happening before! Well, as they say paybacks are a bitch!
We’re expecting up to two feet of snow, plus 50 mph winds, beginning on Friday night and ending sometime Sunday. If you remember, we had about 50+ inches of snow in five days in 2010, but since then, just 10 inches here and there. Nothing too monumental!
I will be sorry not to have Connor around to use as my snow-meter, but I still have the snow bunny for measuring. He actually loved the snow, and would sit outside for as long as I’d let him. 
I think I am going to work on finally finalizing the design for my Toile de Baltimore. My friend Julie had resurrected this over Christmas and had printed some wrapping paper with the pattern. I used it on a gift bag over the holidays, too.
My work hours preclude me from photographing my great mother-of-pearl silverware during the week, so the bright diffuse light of the snowstorm should be perfect for shooting. 
Luckily, I am well stocked with reading materials, and am making sure that all of my devices and chargers are charged in case we lose power.I went to the grocery store before it became an episode of The Hunger Games (literally). It’s all a little daunting, but I am sure we’ll all get through it, and then have great stories to tell.
Wish me luck and check my Instagram and FB feeds over the next few days!
As I’ve said many times before, one of the best parts about this blogging adventure is meeting new people. Loi Thai and his partner, Tom Troeschel, are some of those people. They have joined us for some fun parties here in Baltimore and have become wonderful friends over the past few years.
Loi and Tom also own the gorgeous store, Tone on Tone, in Bethesda, Maryland and writes the blog of the same name. He’s also got a beautiful instagram account with something like 31,000 followers (gawd, now I am depressed!).
And, if that’s not enough, their beautiful house is featured in the February issue of Martha Stewart!
His house is the epitome of cool, calm and collected, as is Loi himself. Spare, clean, white and bright are some other words I’d use to describe his design aesthetic.
Here’s Loi with Baltimore-based photographer, Helen Norman, who did the photography, and Lorna Aragon, editor for MS Magazine. I was actually up at Helen’s Star Bright Farm, just before Christmas.
This is all just a sneak peek, but you must go pick up the magazine and see how gorgeous it all is and then go visit his blog.
Tell Loi I sent you!
I love chairs, and perhaps have a few too many that I’ve collected in my house. I have a specific Pinterest board called Chairy to highlight chairs I love. Some are fun and whimsical, and others are historical and serious.
I was at a long meeting the other day in my role as Chair of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation. It was held at Price-Modern, an office furniture company with a modern slant. It’s a great location – a former warehouse which looks out over a small river valley. Lots of huge windows, lots of cozy meeting rooms and a ton of chairs. Tons of chairs.
So, of course, I had to take pictures of some of them to share with you.
Really conflicted about this chair. Love the design, but it’s not very comfortable, and it doesn’t show one’s best side.
The day we were meeting was bitter cold with 50 mph winds. This looked like such a cozy place to curl up and work… or nap.
A new take on the old 1006 Navy chair. Super shiny with rockers.
I couldn’t quite figure this out, and because I was wearing a skirt, I didn’t try it. Sideways or straddling?
My friend Steve tries this on for size. The radio reception is fantastic.
Another cocooning chair for a chilly day.
And then there was this. It was huge.
It’s always fun to go to events at this space because it’s so contemporary and I get to see what is new in the showroom, but I don’t always want the chairs.
Hard to believe that this marks the beginning of my 10th year of blogging! And as I say every year, blogging has literally been life-changing. The people I’ve met, the experiences I’ve had, the things that I’ve learned and shared are all such a part of my life now. Although I’ve slowed down a bit, and after more than 2,337 posts, I think I am entitled! This is my philosophy for the coming year!
One of the first local posts I wrote was about my friends at Housewerks Salvage. All these years later, it continues to be a treasure trove of amazing pieces. I got a call the other afternoon, telling me that through a series of events, Housewerks had just acquired some amazing pieces from the British Embassy, just 40 miles down the road in Washington, DC. I couldn’t wait to see these exceptional pieces, so met up with two of my besties and went down to check them out.
Before we even got inside, there were some great things to see. Housewerks recently deconstructed an old church, and there were plenty of artifacts around the property.
Once we went inside, it was like an Aladdin’s cave! We came to see the pieces from the British Embassy, including these weighty iron fire-backs with the insignia of George V, who was king at the time the embassy was constructed in the 1920’s.
Here’s an image of the piece in situ.
The embassy was designed by English architect, Sir Edwin Landweer Lutyens, and is the only building he did in America. Sometime during a 20th century renovation, these pieces were removed and Housewerks was able to acquire them. Eight fireplace surrounds came to Housewerks in dozens of pieces, and through investigating a series of marks on their reverse, the crew was able to re-assemble them.
The provenance on these pieces is, as most everything at Housewerks, impeccable.
Here are some of the other fun architectural artifacts I saw at Housewerks.
Marble sink surround with rock crystal legs. Comes with a matching black & white marble sink!
Coffee grinder and brewer in the shape of a COFFEE POT!
Magazine holders.
Tolework chandelier.
Spiral-carved marble columns.
Church detail.
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Thank you so much for reading over the years.
I am immensely grateful for your support, your emails and your comments, and most of all, your friendship.
No, they’re not having a sale, they are for sale. I made a lot about OKL’s crazy sales, the amazingly stupid things with eye-wateringly ridiculous prices, that they had on their flash sales. I used to anticipate that daily e-mail that came at about 11:00 a.m. and see what bargains I could find (not many) and what I could laugh at (tons). I even created a category of these finds, here.
Now word comes that One King’s Lane is for sale. From a high vaulation of $900 million, to a possible sale price of $150 million, the mighty have fallen. This news comes from Fast Company and you can read it here.
After a while, I just quit reading and even opening the OKL emails. You could find the exact items, with a little looking at Home Goods, Amazon or even Goodwill, as I proved several times. It wasn’t worth the effort to scroll through pages and pages of items looking for that one bargain.
Just for fun, let’s revisit some of OKL’s more ludicrous offerings.
Metal clamps on a stick.
Framed tea towel. It must be the recipe that inflates the price.
There’s an expression: Dumber than a box of rocks. Hmmmm.
My dislike of canning jars intensified here.
Complete insanity. And how do you know that the wood is circa 1930s?
This was the post that got me a long, scolding email from another blogger. But it provided a great challenge which you can read about here.
Are you surprised about this? Did you ever shop at OKL? I did, and got some great things, but it was all tempered by their unreal prices on mundane items.
