Favorite Posts: 2007

As I have written several times before, I feel so very blessed. I have an amazing wife (and business partner), beautiful kids (inside and out), a house-full of pets, a little house in the woods of Chappaqua, loving parents (and in-laws), great friends, dedicated employees and a very successful residential architecture firm. God has been very good to me.

The year 2007 is just about history and Living Well in Westchester is just over a year old. Thanks to all of you for visiting each day. I enjoy writing every post and look forward to all your comments. I am amazed by the success of Living Well and can’t wait to see how it will grow in ‘08.

Here are a few of my favorite posts of 2007. Happy New Year to you and yours from Living Well in Westchester.

A “Temporary” Place Called Home

Shutters Should Shut

Traditional Style | Modern Edge

Selecting Your Contractor

The Dining Room Dilemma

Fear of Color

Fuzzy Snow Suits

Wide Plank Floors vs. Radiant Heat

Inside Chappaqua, Homes Will Be F.A.R. Smaller

Favorite Places

Passion + Pride = Success

I’ve Awakened the Kitchen Giants

Process

Born on the 4th of July

Castles and Cottages

Tag… I’m it!

NapaStyle

Michael Chiarello is the tastemaker behind NapaStyle stores, Chiarello Family Vineyards, Consorzio Flavored Oils, and Tra Vigne Restaurant as well as an Emmy-winning Food Network personality and cookbook author. Over his 20-year career, Michael has drawn on his Southern Italian roots and Napa Valley way of life to pioneer culinary and lifestyle innovations that inspire friends and family to gather around the table to create meaningful traditions in their own lives.

From NapaStyle.com:

Food comes alive for me when it tells a story, and nearly every dish I make has one – of a childhood hike with my family to forage for mushrooms, of an afternoon spent canning tomatoes with neighbors. When I cook or eat those dishes, the flavors remind me of those wonderful experiences and the friends and family who helped prepare them.

I created NapaStyle to share these stories and the rich, uncomplicated lifestyle that the Napa Valley inspires – and to encourage you to start your own traditions around the best of every season. Whether you live in the wine country, at the shore, in the mountains, or in the city, there are great flavors all around you – if you know where to look.

My favorite section is NapaStyle lighting. It’s filled with unique and interesting fixtures.

Living Well Link of the Week: NapaStyle

***

Thanks Annmarie, for the link.

Holiday Traditions: HGTV Dream Home

Every year we celebrate Christmas with Mom and Dad, at the same house in which I grew up. For 37+ years Mom has been making memories for us (thank you Mom). When I look back and remember the best times of my life, Christmas in Paramus are among my most favorite.

The holiday season is always a very busy time at my house. Most people get to come up for air during the few days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Six years ago Annmarie and I added a birthday (my first born) to the week, so needless to say we don’t stop to rest until after the ball has dropped.

By the time we reach New Year’s Eve, Annmarie and I are exhausted. It has become our “tradition” to go to bed early.

On New Year’s Day, we look forward to the unveiling of HGTV’s Dream Home. We don’t watch much television (well… the TV is on while I post each night. Does that count?), so the one-hour special has become somewhat of a treat. The Dream Home special premiers on January 1 at 9PM.

Click here for a sneak peak of this season’s Dream Home.

Industrial Washstand

I have posted about Urban Archaeology before. We love their attention to detail and very high level of workmanship.

Kathleen posted about a couple of industrial style washstands over at her blog, so I thought I would add my 2 cents to the mix.

A very different price point than Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware, Urban Archaeology’s Industrial Base is available in polished brass, polished chrome, green petina, brown petina, satin nickel, architectural bronze, statuary brown/black, antique brass or glass. Yes, glass. I would love to see that. Pipe diameters come in 1 inch or 2 inch and their routed Carrara marble top is more than 2 inches thick.

They’ll also fabricate custom configurations. We designed a double washstand was for the King Street House. The team at the uptown NYC showroom did a great job. Their sales reps knew their products well (something many other companies still need to learn), were extremely easy to work with and the piece was executed flawlessly.

Be Not Afraid

And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:10,11

The Tree’s Up

…and to all a good night.

Niche Modern

Charles and Hudson reminds us that This Old House is a great resource for ideas and products. These pendants from Niche Modern are very cool. Not sure where we would use them though… Maybe a funky powder room?

From This Old House’s Secret Sources 2006:

Pendant lights have become so popular that it can be a challenge to find something really unique. That’s why we were so excited by Jeremy Pyles’s hanging glass globes and cylinders. The visible bulbs and filaments evoke the era of Thomas Edison, but with a contemporary sensibility that cleverly bridges past and present. And because each fixture is hand-blown, you’re guaranteed never to see another one just like it. New York, New York; 212-777-2101; nichemodern.com

Green Demolitions

We have several clients interested in Green Demolitions. They have locations in Bethel, NY, Norwalk, CT and Honesdale, PA.

From GreenDemolitions.com:

Green Demolitions sells luxury commercial surplus and donated kitchens, appliances, bathroom fixtures, home decor, etc. from houses being demolished and renovated in Greenwich and New Canaan, CT, Scarsdale and Bedford, NY, and beyond.

Donation proceeds benefit Recovery Unlimited, the operating name of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supporting a highly successful addiction recovery program established in 1964. For more information, click here.

Looking for a Green Gift for the holidays? Reclaimed Home points us to the the Green Demolitions Green Bucks gift card.

If you are thinking about buying from GD, now is the time. They are having an Almost Free Sale. Save up to 95%.

The Secret to the ‘Hidden Doors’ Post

Okay. I might be a bit slow, but in my defense, I do not have Xbox-aged kids yet (I do not look forward to that).

I mentioned to the crew today (during our annual Christmas Lunch) that I designed a secret door to a hidden stair for a client. It will be integrated with built-in cabinetry for an adjacent television… very cool!

That lead to me talking about how my posts on secret doors and hidden rooms are always my most popular posts (check it out on the Top Posts list to the right). Every single day, those posts outperform every other post by at least 10 times.

Bjorn (he does have Xbox-aged kids) suggested that my hit rate may be coming from gamers looking for tips on secret doors and hidden rooms.

Duh!

And I thought that there was this huge global demand for secret doors and hidden rooms. I am glad that I never started that “Hidden Room Company” I was considering. “With that sort of demand, we’ll make a fortune.” Maybe we should start selling video game tips instead.

It will be an interesting experiment to see if this post shoots straight to number one with a title like, The Secret to the ‘Hidden Doors’ Post. Keep checking the list to the right and watch it climb to the top.

Uncouple Your Tile

From Schluter.com:

Ceramic and stone tiles are durable, easy to maintain, and hygienic, representing the ideal surface coverings. However, today’s lightweight construction methods can make the installation of hard surface coverings particularly challenging. In order to protect the integrity of the tile assembly, an underlayment that performs multiple functions is required.

Schluter-DITRA is a polyethylene membrane with a grid structure of square cavities, each cut back in a dovetail configuration, and an anchoring fleece laminated to its underside. Schluter-DITRA is bonded to the substrate using thin-set mortar. The anchoring fleece on the underside of Schluter-DITRA is fully engaged in the mortar to provide a mechanical bond to the substrate. Tile is installed over Schluter-DITRA using the thin-bed method in such a way that the mortar becomes mechanically anchored in the square, cutback cavities of the Schluter-DITRA matting.

Designed specifically for ceramic tile and dimension stone installations, Schluter-DITRA serves as an uncoupling layer, waterproofing membrane, and vapor management layer that accommodates moisture from beneath the tile covering. Further, DITRA performs all these functions while still providing adequate support/load distribution for the tile covering.

Living Well Link of the Week: Schluter-DITRA