How was your weekend? Ok, let me be honest: I’m not going to hear a single word you say in response to my question, because I am going insane. I did not have a sleepy, relaxing weekend. I did not take trapeze lessons. I did not even do the laundry. We did look at houses every single second of the day. While at first I felt confident that we may have a winner, with every second that separates me from the promising property my doubts double.

Did I mention that I’m going insane? Why can’t we just afford a house like this?

Honestly, as much as I like stuff n things I’m not an incredibly materialistic person. I don’t actually require a house of this scope and grandeur (require being the operative word, here). We like our current house and love our neighbors, but we need a place that can grow with our family (jeebus, I am old). Here’s a checklist of our priorities.

Needs: Good schools, another bedroom, within our budget, not crazy far from town.

Wants: Awesome architecture, lots more space, closer to town than we are now (hahahahaha!), financial comfort.

People who live in desirable urban areas, you know what I’m talking about when I say that the chances of all these things coming together in one affordable package is about as likely as a winged unicorn taking me for a ride over a rainbow and serenading me with a Foreigner song. In other words, it’s an awesome dream, but it ain’t gonna happen.

Let me summarize, thusly. Dream:

Reality:

$400,000 for a dilapidated disaster, wherein the roof has leaked all over the joint, the floor is rotting, the sunken bathtup is a death trap, the floorplan is a tragedy, the structure is built too close to the property line, and we are selling all our possessions to move into a house where will be forced to eat ramen for the next decade.

Great schools and fantastic location near town, though! Don’t cry — this isn’t the house we’re considering.

The state of close-in Austin real estate is abysmal. Remember this unforgettable house, one of the first we looked at back in 200freaking9, aka forever ago? (PS: that dent is still in our bumper). Those were the days.

Possibly maybe more news tomorrow. Right now I’m curious as to how you dudes prioritize your housing needs. What’s most important to you? Please distract me from this hideously depressing downward spiral.

I know how ridiculous this sounds, but before I went to Europe I would never have expected to dig the museum scene over there as much as I did. I’ve been to plenty of American museums in my tenure as an artist and art teacher, but naturally there is a distinctly American flavor to what’s happening over here. It’s the flavor of newness, of a wink-wink nudge-nudge self reflexiveness, of an endlessly creative populace with no distinct past and an overwhelming urge to reinvent the present while hurrying toward the future.

And then you have Europe — a continent teeming with centuries old, continuously operating cultures. Old art was never my thing (so dark! so fussy!) but to see it in person is to experience an almost religious revelation. I thought my head might explode from the amazingness of it all.

This is all my roundabout way of saying I really wish I could go to Holland and see this show:

Let’s see — incredible architecture: check. Color and light like only the Dutch can do: check. Old art that will make you doubt the dubious talents of any contemporary painter: check. Add in a few sly contemporary feints and tricks and I’m altogether annoyed that I haven’t already booked a plane ticket. Stupid money.

Rineke Dijskstra? Hot double damn.

The Portrait Pavilion at the ancient Duivevoorde Castle in the Netherlands is simply stunning. The castle is almost 1000 years old, the paintings are hundreds of years old, and the idea is so right now. It’s like looking at time in a three way mirror.

via Design Upcomers

I really should have added books to my list of acceptable holiday gifts, mostly because I am a greedy hoarder of all things glossy and gorgeous. Just cracking open a new monograph by a favorite artist is enough to give me a eyegasm, but don’t worry — I like to keep my peeping on the down low (insert lecherous laugh here).

Feast your eyeballs on the Fables series by Karen Knorr and try to restrain yourself. Stunningly staged rooms + Animals = Perfection in print. Enjoy.

Photographed in large format at museums based largely in France, Knorr’s images combine analog craftsmanship with a bit of digital trickery to highlight the chasm between the natural and civilized worlds. The results range from sweetly playful to shockingly menacing.

Buy the book here. This kind of eye candy never gets old.

Found via the very excellent Bertha Mag.

So the furnace was broken and we called our trusty heating and cooling guys who, when last time we called, literally moved a wire and the unit was fixed. This time was equally embarrassing as we had already gone through the pains to install a new igniter (I didn’t install it, my handy stepfather did it — neither the husband nor I are capable of such things), and it turns out one of the little tubes that connects a something to a something else was clogged. One blow of the magical repairman’s breath and it was unclogged — and $125 later, we had heat! I guess since it took less than 5 minutes to fix, the repairman (lets call him Bill) felt obligated to critique our old houses heating system. This is actually a good thing I guess, since we are officially on the market as of a few days ago. However, after hearing what Bill had to say, I felt like giving up and taking a short sale right then and there (I get discouraged easily). Anyone in Kansas City want to buy a sweet little 50s bungalow in the Plaza area? Probably not after I mention the problems that were so blatantly overlooked when my husband purchased this nightmare house 4 years ago. Don’t get me wrong; the thing is cute as a button, but DAMN — you almost have to have a degree in construction or whatever to live here. So as a future warning to peeps living in old houses, you might want to check for a few things in your heating and cooling system:

1. Is your flue lined? I think Bill was talking about the chimney flue, however we were in the basement when he was telling me this and I’m not sure which flue exactly he was referring to. But he said that the previous owners had installed a high efficiency furnace (at this point I’m thinking — Yay! A plus for once!) which isn’t supposed to be used with a flue like ours. (Fabulous)

2. Are your duct pipes double lined? If they are exposed and hanging about the basement as ours are, they should be double lined because well, they get really hot! Not only that, but going back to the flue issue, if the flue is not lined, non double lined pipes collect acidic moisture in them and eventually, they will disintegrate which makes it pretty darn hard to heat the house.

3. The crème de la crème was the asbestos tape coming loose. (Asbestos!?!?!! WTF) I had no idea we had asbestos. Cancer treatment centers of America — here I come. I have no idea who the jank-ass inspector was that my husband used when he bought this house 4 yrs ago, but he sure didn’t mention the A-word. I’m gonna be so pissed if I get mesothelioma before this is all said and done.

On a much lighter note, let me introduce myself, I’m Liz and a guest blogger here. Erin and Karly were so kind to let me be a part of their amazing site and I hope I don’t totally ruin its rep. Since the theme is design, I’m going to introduce you to an amazing new firm/furniture design team called Autoban based in Istanbul, Turkey. The team are young architects Seyhan Özdemir & Sefer Çağlar and their crew of designers is barely old enough to have graduated architecture school (Yeah, I’m Jealous). Autoban mixes old and new – (hence the this old house theme… clever EH?). They do residential and commercial and there are some definite patterns running in their work, the main being stark minimalism set against ornate traditionalism in the moldings, paneling and other ornate prettiness, and they soften it by painting it all white (which I love). I guess in Istanbul most of the residential architecture is pretty darn old, and the way Autoban handles it is Autobantastic! Ok I’ll stop now.

Sorry the pics are so small.  I love this gold ceiling and the stark minimalism of the carrera marble counters (must have cost a fortune.)

Painted brick is always a good idea.

Neon butterflies = happiness

Introducing my newest obsession — the box sofa (on left) with its super clean lines and tufted leather yumminess- I’m sure it don’t come cheap.

Gorgeous hotel kitchenette — Witt Hotel, Istanbul.  I’m sure I won’t be visiting anytime soon, but it’s nice to dream.

For more info on Autoban go here: www.autoban212.com
Hope you enjoyed the post!

This morning I woke up to a precious gift in my inbox:  Erin sent me a link to one of my new dream houses.  This is a sign of several things 1.  Erin knows me pretty dang well 2.  Erin is slowly making her way back to the interwebs which means that 3.  Hopefully she’ll be taking over for me soon and 4.  You get to see great pictures today.  Let’s do this:

Designed and occupied by Guilherme Torres, this living room fulfills my every last fantasy.  The only thing I would change is the chandelier.  I would replace it with this one.

Hello ceiling!

(ps, what’s up with the tiny fan up there?  It will go the way of the light as soon as I move in, promise)

Chair: stays

G:  replaced with either a K or an M or one other letter that I can’t reveal to you just yet

No to the toys, yes to the texture created by the conduit.  I will also be replacing that spread with something a bit more cheerful.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still loving this place

I displayed this one XXL so you could get a full frontal of those walls.  I think I need to make this happen somewhere… you know I have my own kitchen to remodel.

I would let Erin stay here when she visits, just for being so kind as to send me this link.

Thanks Erin!  And happy weekend bros!!

xo, K

I just spent the entire Labor Day weekend looking at homes with my inlaws, who are considering a move to Austin. While they were pretty glazed over by the end of our shopping whirlwind, I was totally keyed up, because I am crazy obsessed with real estate — like I tour houses in my sleep. Including houses I’ve looked at for myself, friends, family, and potential investment, I’ve probably been in hundreds of houses in Austin, so I thought maybe I’d start a little feature on Austin real estate.

Today’s home comes in at $295,000, and whether you think that is expensive or cheap probably depends on where you live now. For Austin, that’s about 100k above the median home price, but I’m just going to go ahead and say that it’s worth every penny.

The Clause Residence was designed in 1979 and features just over 2000 glorious sq ft of Memphis inspired deliciousness. I want to hole up and marathon watch Miami Vice (the original) up in here.

Since you know that the hubs, Ike, and I, are currently house shopping, you may be wondering why the bleep I haven’t already signed the papers on this piece of design history. I mean, never mind the fact that it only has two bedrooms — Ike and our future progeny can just bunk up, right?

Dudes, this house is so far from town, we may as well move to Waco.

Sadly, I was not able to tour this baby in person because it would have been an all day event, but I just know that it’s every bit as awesome as the pictures, and probably way more. I really hope there is somewhere out there that buy this house and do it up righteous, and then they better invite me over for a pool party. You know… as a finder’s fee.

Check out the MLS listing and more pics here.