decorating

Things to Love About San Francisco

July 13, 2010

THIS is the lobby of my ENT doctor’s building. Makes a medical visit feel like raiding an Aztec tomb! And what could one expect to find in the garage?

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The Tomato Plant that Ate My Balcony

July 1, 2010

I think it aspires to be a shade tree.

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Rats! (and Mice)

June 25, 2010

Ikea sells some charmingly weird stuffed animals, including these rats. And mice: …which I had to add to the family because the white one is clearly the result of a genetics experiment gone wrong; I think his father was Gonzo from the Muppet Show. A rat also found its way into my office:

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Balcony Garden

June 5, 2010

All edible: nasturtiums, two kinds of sage, tomatoes (gift from @bubbva), parsley, bell pepper, serrano pepper, rosemary, thyme basil and (in front) variegated pineapple mint from Jeffrey and John – and it really does smell like pineapple! Will have to experiment making some tropical drinks with that. Let’s see, I have cachaça and mango juice…

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Home Update

May 30, 2010

A touch of Texas: Bob the dangerous weapon now lives with me, at least until Ross returns to live in the US (whenever or if ever that may be). In the “small things make me happy” department, my fridge now sports some cards bought in New Orleans, a Simon Drew card sent by my stepmum, [...]

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Ranunculus

May 11, 2010
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Living, Room

May 1, 2010

I think I can call the living room area finished now. Ikea had this lovely and comfortable armchair on sale. Add a couple of end tables for party drinks and nibbles, and we’re done. I’ve already had a few sets of dinner guests over, and all pronounce the daybed/sofa very comfortable. The painting on the [...]

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Home Update

April 24, 2010

Today Ikea delivered a queen-sized memory foam mattress and “support” (Ikea’s version of a box spring). I also bought additional wooden legs to raise it up a bit (hoping to be able to stash suitcases underneath), but couldn’t put them on myself. Well, I could, but it will require two people to flip the support [...]

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Home Update

April 20, 2010

This wall of my bedroom is pretty much done, with a cheap-but-capacious dresser from Ikea, Elfquest prints, decorative bark balls bought on the street in Porto Alegre, and the etched mirror bought at Tribal Route during my recent visit to Mumbai. The merino sheep is from last summer’s trip to New Zealand, but he’d been [...]

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Home Making

February 7, 2009

^ Memories, new and old: An embroidered silk hanging from the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, Delhi, which I bought during an epic shopping spree with Yuti, and the decorated tin trunk I bought in Mumbai from artist Rashmi Dogra while visiting Deepu, combined with an American mission-style dresser. The objects on the dresser include figurines [...]

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Other People’s Bookshelves

October 6, 2003

In the course of looking for a place to live in Lecco, we’ve seen the insides of many strangers’ homes, up for sale (for the moment we’ve ended up renting, but that’s another story). The décor was extremely variable. Many Italian homes run to a type I think of as “classic” Italian: heavy, dark wood [...]

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