I'm sure many of you already know Mikey from Shabby French Cottage. He remodeled his kitchen on a budget last March and it came out so beautiful! Mikey has some exciting news about it on his blog! Hop on over to the Shabby French Cottage to read all about it! I'm so happy for you Mikey!!!
Mikey's Exciting News!
I'm sure many of you already know Mikey from Shabby French Cottage. He remodeled his kitchen on a budget last March and it came out so beautiful! Mikey has some exciting news about it on his blog! Hop on over to the Shabby French Cottage to read all about it! I'm so happy for you Mikey!!!
The changing skies
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| Pelican flying high |
The ever changing skies fascinate me, there is so much movement above me and
dance like the clouds change positions...
I love the sky here in the morning, the light wakes slowly over the east facing sea. From darkest night-bluish gray still fringed with stars to beginning streaks of lighter tones, slightly graying above the horizon, first deep orange red beams, slowly slowly filling the sky until a red hazy sun emerges on the horizon.
Not every morning rises like that. Some days a gray light emerges and the clouds hide the sun completely. Changes come fast!
Two days ago stormy winds brought rain and more rain, drenching the small island until
small rivers of water run down the streets. Once in between the sun broke through and magically lit the storm.
Later in the evening the heavy clouds were swept away, leaving nothing but a blue firmament, laced with feathery white wisps high above me.
I wish I could show you the glorious night sky! Imagine it dark, blackest blue, but oh-so star filled. I hear nothing but the brandishing sound of the never-ending waves, far out I can see a few lights of fishing vessels and behind me the stretching strip of land, with it's houses, which become smaller with every step I take. My feet feel the warm waters...
But above me stretches the universe, the awe-inspiring summer night sky of the northern hemisphere. I see the Milky Way, the Great Wagon and his small brother, countless constellations and the moving dots of airplanes and satellites. I open my arms wide and let the wind fill me with happiness.
Looking up I see more then one shooting star flickering through the sky and I send my wishes out there, for us to be kept safe by the great embracing spirit of all!
Victoria
All pictures by V. Zlotkowski. All rights reserved.
NAHB Predicts New Homes in 2015
We may not know how many new homes will be built in 2015, but we do know what they will look like. The National Home Builders Association’s Economics and Housing Policy recently asked 3,019 builders, designers, architects, manufacturers and marketing specialists in various locations to describe the likely characteristics of the average, new single-family detached home in 2015.The findings have some surprising, and not-so-surprising, results:
- The average new single-family home will be smaller, between 2000 square feet and 2,399 square feet
- Needs will outweigh wants in terms of size and features
- Universal design will be a key architectural design consideration for new homes
- Energy efficiency is one of the top goals for newly constructed homes, and new homes will have more green features, like low-E windows, engineered wood products, and make efficient use of water
- Technology will be a top priority in a home built in 2015
- Landscaping and outdoor living space will receive more attention as homeowners will utilize their outdoor space more
- 2-car garages remain high on the list
Specific room priorities:
- The formal living room will either be combined with another room in the house, like the music room or library, or completely disappear
- Kitchens will feature a double sink, recessed lighting, and table space or a breakfast bar for eating
- First-floor master bedrooms with walk-in closets will be a priority
Least-likely features of the 2015 home?
- Two master bedroom suites
- Sunrooms
- Hobby rooms
- Formal living rooms
Whether you’re building or remodeling a home in 2011, 2015, or anytime in between, Bonin Architects has various architectural services to help you design, build, or remodel a home that fits your priorities. We’re located on Main Street in New London, NH. Call or stop by to set up a free consultation!
Show and Tell Friday!
Welcome to Show and Tell. I'm sharing one of my favorite table clothes this week. This was given to me by my mom, she was the ultimate linen and lace collector. All through my childhood she was buying vintage linens at flea markets and thrift stores and she passed so many of them down to me. This one is by far my favorite!
The photos really don't do it justice! It reminds me of a beautiful
The Painted Furniture Party!
I never imagined when I did my tutorial on How to Paint Furniture four years ago that it would draw so many new visitors to my blog! It's been wonderful!
I know many of you have painted your own furniture using my instructions and I thought it would be fun to have a Painted Furniture Party to see them! Even if you didn't use my tutorial you are welcome to join the party! I know this will be a
Sunrise
Pink golden sunrise, the early rays glide
liquid like over the gentle morning waves.
Facing the light the moon pales
and sparkling sand melts into the edge of the water.
My soul reaches the clouds.
Images and poem by V.Zlotkowski. All rights reserved 2011.
Reminder!
My Painted Furniture Party is tomorrow! You can link up after midnight (Pacific Time) tonight!
Impressions from the South
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| The gate to our house on Hilton Head 2011 |
When I was a child the closest to the ocean I could get was the Baltic Sea at the East German coast line, with one large island - Ruegen - and several small ones, almost entirely reserved for the communist elite. Our quarters at the sea "resorts" were usually cramped and rather primitive.
The waters were cold, but the beaches pristine and often undisturbed.
Many people living up there made an extra income by renting out their garage, converted for summer rental for whole families.
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| Usedom 1965 |
If you were lucky the company you worked for would send you and your family at little cost to an organized vacation spot, a large place with dorm like living and central eating places, were you would get food stamps for your daily allowance. There were hardly any shops, smallest island traders with nothing but the bare necessities like soap, dry goods, milk, butter and bread. A bakery sold fresh rolls, that was all. People had hardly any kitchens and I remember my mother at times cooking on a two flame propane gas stove on top of a sideboard for a family of five...There was of course no air condition and summer nights were often unbearably hot.
Don't get me wrong, we children loved it and the circumstances were such, that we did not wonder about it. We did not know any better. My parents must have surely felt different about it.
My grandmother told me of wonderful beach vacations, when they rented a villa for the season, lovely beach restaurants providing fresh seafood...
It all ended with the beginning of WWII.
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| Zempin, ca 1925 |
Fast forward more then forty years at Hilton Head Island: I am sitting under the slow moving fan at a wonderfully screened in second story porch, an Carolina peach ice tea in front of me, the soft breeze caressing me. I am looking through palms towards the sea, a minute away from the beach, pelicans overhead and nothing disturbing the summer peace but the cries of the sea gulls or the occasional sounds of children nearby splashing in the pool next door.
The house we've rented for the summer is large, my in-laws spending the summer with us, our teenage children having ample space for themselves and apart from a fully functionally home away from home - actually better - since I enjoy a lovely walk - in closet (!) we miss nothing.
Thinking back to these days many years ago, when all we had as children was a shovel and sand bucket and perhaps a beach ball it still amazes me and I am so in awe of these summer perfect days we can enjoy now. I guess these memories and impressions are strong. Every time we find ourselves in these lovely circumstances I have to think about the summers of my youth. Of course it's me and my husband, since we both experienced similar upbringings, our children basically seeing it as perfectly normal....
Hilton Head is charming, we rented bikes for the weeks we are here and getting my morning coffee at a small cafe some minutes away by bike is a lovely ritual I have established by now. There is a different rhythm at the island.
Lively activities very early in the mornings, when the heat is still bearable and joggers, bikers and dog owners share the beach or the perfectly laid out paths through lush vegetation. There are countless spots to eat small meals, breakfasts or dinners, markets sell the freshest produce: sweet juicy peaches, cool watermelons, ripe tomatoes, plums and apricots. I hardly ever get these kind of tasty fruits in New York.
The slow days are wonderful, no extensive planing is required, we sail through them casually and lazy, from beach to pool to riding our bikes along the backwaters through the Lowcountry...
I watch the birds. I am fascinated by the prehistoric feeling of the flying pelicans. They glide effortless, hardly ever flapping their wings, but instead getting carried by the warm currents and only occasionally diving into the sea to hunt for fish.
They look like bands of hooligans, a little rough, but I love them.
I see gulls, egrets, herons, South Carolina cardinals everywhere. It is simply a paradise.
The area around Hilton Head is also one of the largest breeding grounds for dolphins. They can be seen often.
The island has a rich history reaching back to the days of slavery, plantations, cotton picking, rice planting and the Gullah culture is still witness to those long gone days.
Savannah is nearby, the wonderfully preserved city of the old South, were I have been walking for hours already under the live oak shaded streets and dreaming my way into living in one of these beautiful houses, the old French living culture alive all around me.
People are so welcoming and the Southern drawl is incredibly charming, the slowness of living so enticing.
Perhaps my yearning for beauty and colors, great homes and design stems from those years of missing it, longing for things I only could imagine or heard from stories my grandmother told me so many years ago.
I am deeply grateful.
Greetings from the Southern coast!
Victoria
Pictures by V.Zlotkowski and via google image.
Show and Tell Friday!
This week for Show and Tell I would like to announce a Painted Furniture Party that I have planned! I invite everyone that has painted their own furniture, either with my "How to Paint Furniture" instructions or some other method to join in on this party! I think it will be really inspiring to see everyone's creations! So come back on Tuesday morning and link up to the party!
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read more "Show and Tell Friday!"
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Community Outreach: We Build it Forward Update
On June 25, 2011, teams of community members and local businesses met at R.P. Johnson & Son's Andover NH location to kick off a day of giving back, We Build It Forward. Ten projects in seven communities in the Andover – Sunapee area were completed in a day, including fundraisers and yard cleanups, fixing park shelters and painting an entire house. Team Bonin Architects designed and built a community bulletin board at the Andover transfer station - even some of our clients pitched in!! Other projects included replacing the roof on a mobile home in Sunapee, NH, building a handicap ramp, installing 2 storm doors and doing a yard cleanup in Sutton Mills, cleaning up Wadleigh State Park in North Sutton, remodeling a bathroom, painting and repairing a picket fence at East Andover Preschool, replacing a bulkhead basement door in Andover, and building a 60 foot Allan Block retaining wall.
The Kearsarge Chronicle was on hand to interview volunteers and beneficiaries of this terrific program. Watch their interview and mark your calendar to become a volunteer at next year’s We Build It Forward!
Show and Tell Friday!
My friend Kim and I at the winery. This picture is deceiving, we really weren't that close to each other!
I have nothing to share for Show and Tell Friday because I've been out enjoying summer too much! The weather here has been very mild..sorry to those of you that have been dealing with those extreme high temps! I feel for you! I hate the heat and it's even worse when it goes on and on for
Vacation and a road trip
I have always loved the excitement of a road trip. The preparations of the journey, the planning of routes, accommodations, sight seeings along the way and the choices of restaurants and last but not least the arrival at one's destination.
Our travels will bring us to South Carolina, a place I love, not just because there is such beauty in the name, but because of it's history and lifestyle. There is certainly a Southerner hidden within me! The slower pace and the French influences, the style, charm and language are dear to me and to spend more time then the average tourist in Savannah,GA adds to the thrill of this year's summer time.
My book list has been modified to put us in the mood and we will listen on the road to our well loved audio version of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
A story only life could create so incredibly and perfectly captured by Berendt's effortless prose. Storytelling comes easy to him and this one will hold me tight again. My fascination with crime stories, the South, a slew of eccentric characters, all fueled by his unwavering eye for details will delight me like the first time I read the book, more then 10 years ago.
And no summer is complete without the typical beach readings, easy and fun, entertaining and amusing!
I picked Karen White's Charleston based stories The House On Tradd Street and the sequel to it: The Girl On Legare Street!
Of course there are so many more good reads, loose yourself in a bookstore on any given sweltering day and you surely will find one of those lovely stories, wrapped in local hues, which can transport you to your destination of choice!
Just the other day through this lovely blog I came to discover another Paris story: Hidden In Paris. You can buy it here! The chain reactions in the blog world are sheer endless, one of the many things I so adore about it!
This tip came from the charming Vicky of French Essence.
Thanks, darling!
Our annual family vacation brings us to a lovely island in South Carolina, only about twenty miles outside Savannah, GA.
A beach house awaits us, there will be lots of bicycling, tennis and walking, beach combing and long nights poolside with clam bakes and wine under the stars.
And I will write about my impressions, dreams and plans.
I will lure my husband to discover Savannah again with me. We will walk hand in hand along streets lined with spanish moss covered oaks and across many small squares. It is something I can't wait to do. Small cafes await...
We've been there for one night years ago on route to Florida. This time it will almost feel as if we were moving there for a while. This truly tickles my fancy!
Still at home we have pulled the traveling bags from the attic, the quiet place were our summer dreams camp over the wintertime. Stickers from last years travels to Italy are a reminder of the wonderful time we've all had in Tuscany!
This year will again see all of us together, in-laws, our older children from Germany and the youngsters here!
My packing list sits on my desk, bedroom dressers are open and I can't wait to start packing!
Between bathing suits and sun cream, snorkel equipment and ballet flats, sundresses and shorts I dream of my toes in the sand...loosing myself a little on an endless beach!
I hope your summer as well comes along nicely, relax and refresh, wherever you are.
xx
Victoria
Pictures as indicated, via google image (map) and my own.
read more "Vacation and a road trip"
Our travels will bring us to South Carolina, a place I love, not just because there is such beauty in the name, but because of it's history and lifestyle. There is certainly a Southerner hidden within me! The slower pace and the French influences, the style, charm and language are dear to me and to spend more time then the average tourist in Savannah,GA adds to the thrill of this year's summer time.
We will stop over near Raleigh, NC. The small town of Wilson will shelter us for the night. The kids are all excited about the hotel and pool after a long journey!
And to sink into the jacuzzi will be IT for hubby and me!
My book list has been modified to put us in the mood and we will listen on the road to our well loved audio version of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
A story only life could create so incredibly and perfectly captured by Berendt's effortless prose. Storytelling comes easy to him and this one will hold me tight again. My fascination with crime stories, the South, a slew of eccentric characters, all fueled by his unwavering eye for details will delight me like the first time I read the book, more then 10 years ago.
And no summer is complete without the typical beach readings, easy and fun, entertaining and amusing!
I picked Karen White's Charleston based stories The House On Tradd Street and the sequel to it: The Girl On Legare Street!
Of course there are so many more good reads, loose yourself in a bookstore on any given sweltering day and you surely will find one of those lovely stories, wrapped in local hues, which can transport you to your destination of choice!
Just the other day through this lovely blog I came to discover another Paris story: Hidden In Paris. You can buy it here! The chain reactions in the blog world are sheer endless, one of the many things I so adore about it!
This tip came from the charming Vicky of French Essence.
Thanks, darling!
Our annual family vacation brings us to a lovely island in South Carolina, only about twenty miles outside Savannah, GA.
A beach house awaits us, there will be lots of bicycling, tennis and walking, beach combing and long nights poolside with clam bakes and wine under the stars.
And I will write about my impressions, dreams and plans.
I will lure my husband to discover Savannah again with me. We will walk hand in hand along streets lined with spanish moss covered oaks and across many small squares. It is something I can't wait to do. Small cafes await...
We've been there for one night years ago on route to Florida. This time it will almost feel as if we were moving there for a while. This truly tickles my fancy!
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| Yesterday's Sunday breakfast |
Still at home we have pulled the traveling bags from the attic, the quiet place were our summer dreams camp over the wintertime. Stickers from last years travels to Italy are a reminder of the wonderful time we've all had in Tuscany!
This year will again see all of us together, in-laws, our older children from Germany and the youngsters here!
My packing list sits on my desk, bedroom dressers are open and I can't wait to start packing!
Between bathing suits and sun cream, snorkel equipment and ballet flats, sundresses and shorts I dream of my toes in the sand...loosing myself a little on an endless beach!
I hope your summer as well comes along nicely, relax and refresh, wherever you are.
xx
Victoria
Pictures as indicated, via google image (map) and my own.
Show and Tell Friday!
Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!
Once again, I'm showing off my dog, Beau! He turned 7 years old on the 4th of July! He was premature...his poor mom was so afraid of the fireworks that she went into labor early! I'm not sure if I ever shared the story on how we got Beau. Lauren was in 5th grade and wanted a little Chihuahua. This was the during the time when Paris Hilton was caring hers
Early summer heat
The early summer heat unravels me. I try to tend the garden, but by late morning the hydrangeas look dead. Only the cooler evening air will revive them. For good measure I am going to water them longer tonight.
I hope for rain, but there are no clouds.
The midday heat hangs heavy over the garden, the house sits quietly.
There are no sounds.
It's the year of the chipmunks, I watch them play among the flowers and bushes. They are allover the garden this year.
And oblivious to me watching them.
Later in the afternoon the sky begins to look a bit bluish gray.
And then gets solid, there is no blue left. More rumbling above.
I move outside and sit under the umbrella on the small stone patio behind the house and begin to write. I love how it has cooled enough to enjoy the garden. I feel the wind caressing my bare arms and neck, the sweat under my hair begins to dry. It darkens more and the dog slowly walks over and stretches out next to me. He looks at me warily. The changes of weather make him always uneasy. I weigh the options for rain.
The happy sounds of the two little girls next door carry over the fence and make me smile.
I feel the rustling of the wind in the trees around me.
My hope rises.
Birds begin to twitter again, but the swallows fly high in the sky. Too high for showers.
An airplane crosses above. I can't see it but hear the faint rumble of the breaking sound barrier.
Another stir and gust of wind, stronger now. But looking up into the sky all I see is the reemerging sunshine behind the trees, westwards over the Hudson.
It has blown over, no rain yet!
All images by V.Zlotkowski.