"Garden office rooms are all the rage," says Emilia D’Erlanger

Great article on working from home, via Shedworking.

(If I read Shedworking enough,

will a lovely little shed appear in my backyard?

With a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush?

And an old lady--would that be me, now?--whispering hush?

Once upon a time,

I certainly read "Goodnight Moon" enough...

when the T.K. were all so very little.

And it seems it has appeared, somewhat...

now, where is that rocking chair?)

I digress.

Anyhow, lovely quote from the article:

"Garden office rooms are all the rage," says Emilia D’Erlanger,

interior designer. "The smartest of addresses now all

want a media room and a garden office

as a sanctuary away from distractions."

Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas worked at home;

one would be in good company.

Working at home. The new old frontier?

Now, if my smart garden shed

would manifest in my backyard. Bitte.

(above, a sweet little brickhouse @the Presidio)

more here

design: victoria thorne

photo: nlmphotography

Be Light of Heart

A Summer Rhyme, In Time for Fall

I asked my mother for fifty cents

To see the elephant jump the fence;

He jumped so high he reached the sky

And didn't come back till the Fourth of July.

From I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild's Pocket Book

edited by Iona and Peter Opie

illustrated by Maurice Sendak

Your work is to discover your work

 and then, 

with all your heart, give yourself to it.

Why Coworking is Good, or: I never could get through Ulysses.

"Ulysses" (and "Moby Dick," since we are being honest here) was the book I simply couldn't conquer as an English major. Therefore, it was a delight to find this sentence in an article which was noted in Shedworking today:

"Working from home is like living James Joyce’s Ulysses — a tiresome stream of consciousness interrupted only by procrastination."

"5 rules for Working at Home," looks wonderful--like everything else Shedworking recommends. Having worked from home for the last 18 years (well...26, if you count being a mother as working...which I suppose we all need to do), it made me laugh out loud to see the task compared to reading Ulysses. Kay Spicer is brilliant.

It's one of the reasons that I'm really looking forward to the development of the co-working movement, which will be a boon to many, including any parent who must work from home. Brad Neuberg spearheaded this, and he is marvelous; I was fortunate enough to meet him this spring at a co-working seminar at M. F. Chapman's brilliant Cubes and Crayons in Menlo Park

I would've loved co-working 25 years ago, when my husband was driving submarines around arctic waters and I was at home with, in a quick four years, three babies. All good. Now, to get back to Ulysses...

Above, a fairly typical item one might 

find 

in my work area: 

Handwoven Japanese Snow Shoes. 

I am wondering if I should start photographing and cataloging the odd items, thanks to my photo-styling days and quirky antiquephile tendencies, that dot my workspace...and then, perhaps, crate them all up...

Indian Summer.Garden Dream

Summer at the Cloisters

nyc, 07.08

In Search of Chocolate

Six little Bakers

Let's Give a Hand to Hollister Hovey

The truly wonderful Hollister Hovey is in the New York Times Home & Garden section today...a perfectly marvelous treat...her blog is delectable...her taste, impeccable...

 

for a look at her picks, just click here.

Congratulations Hollister!

snapped this just off Broadway, 07.08

In A New York State Of Mind

nyc, 07.08

A New Week. An Old Hope. A View.

Peace

nyc  07.08

Baby Bauhaus: Revolutionary Rockers

Never fails to intrigue me, this cradle 

from the Bauhaus Museum in Weimar. 

It was a marvel to wander through the museum and see how brilliantly these men and women thought, how beautifully they brought new concepts of form and function to the modern world. 

Hard to believe it has been nearly a century since Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius. 

Hard to believe this cradle first rocked almost a hundred years ago. What design, now, is as revolutionary as this was, then? What shows us the future, now...are we paying attention?

Design like this shakes me from the complacency of "pretty things:" things that have been seen a million times, and always fall a bit short of beautiful. And far short of revolutionary.

Next Step

Yummy new blog called stair porn, by the brilliant minds behind materialicious. To salute their new step, I'm posting a photo I took last summer at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. 

There's another photo of these steps on one of my earliest posts, "Vedana--Eric Case's Weblog: Steve Jobs Inspiration Roundup." I mention this because, for me, today has been a day of connecting dots...remarkable dots. Mr. Jobs covers this sort of thing beautifully when talking to the graduates at Stanford. I think there is so much between the lines in what he says, also: so much that can be heard, but was not said. 

Funny thing about the Jobs "talk:" it's one for the history books, now. His words have been so often quoted, and ring so true, that it's more than just a commencement address. Worth watching; worth another watch, if you haven't seen it for awhile. Click here.

Drop Me a Line.

Although an incredible number of invitations and notes are sent on the internet, it's still the siren call of stationery--real paper, real envelopes, real stamps, real ink in a real pen--that gets to a lot of us. Maybe it's the retro joy of opening the mailbox and finding real correspondence.

Maybe it's the pure art of it, when it is well done: the thrill that comes when one receives their own little bit of thoughtful beauty in an envelope.

Here are two marvelous stationery moments:

the first, Cotton Idea Studio, has yummy stuff.

Chic, elegant: disciplined, yet soft. Nice. The other, also

from the beautifully curated black*eiffel,

is a delicious selection of designer's wedding invitations.

Full disclosure: I spent several years creating illustrations for invitations, having had a delightful little stationery business...with a lovely business partner. We had great fun, and I will promise you that, as with all else in life, a truly great invitation is achieved through much hard work. I tip my hat, therefore, to every marvelous stationer...it is an art, and beautiful to behold when done well.

Above, elegant penmanship from Friedrich von Schiller's house in Weimar.

Design for a Willow Glen Cottage

When a place has good bones, be it a cottage or a palace or a treehouse in the woods, one simply doesn't want to disrupt this fine circumstance.

Staying true to what already works...what is already beautiful...is important to the harmony of the house and those who inhabit it.

A lovely little cottage wants to grow with reason and care. A palace wants an Inigo Jones to create that perfect addition. And a treehouse, done well, feeds the souls of those who must climb the ladder to get there.

Therefore, I believe, one must try to build without rattling the bones.

Long ago, at this cottage, the sweet 20's garage might have housed an early version of Henry Ford's masterwork. Perhaps there was a cart, also, or a wagon, or some such thing--something to bring home baskets of cherries and bushels of plums from the surrounding orchards.

All things considered, the little building cried out for a good solid set of doors that looked like they'd been crafted to keep the cavalry mounts in for the eve. Somehow, in it's soul, the now-vintage space seemed far grander than a garage/fruit drying shed.

It might have held cherries, but I couldn't help thinking that the first inhabitant of the sturdy structure might've been a horse, rather than a horseless carriage. Anyway, it--the structure, not the long-ago-imagined horse--wanted us to make these doors. Bespoke, as it were.

Either way, I find myself hoping the Buffalo Soldiers would have approved wholeheartedly.

Above, the as-yet unpainted doors await final touches.

design: victoria thorne

Hearth for Home

The truly important part of home design is the collaborative effort behind it.

When the project is finished, the goal is to have created something that is useful and beautiful: the design needs to fit, like a glove, those who live there.

If you can create a space in which your clients can live well and happily...a space that holds, with care, the essence of their lives...then you've done your job.

To get a call from someone gifted with a great eye, an open spirit, and the desire to roll up their sleeves and work toward this vision with you...that is, clearly, the best of all possible worlds. This project is that.

When we started the work, I had just returned from France and had seen, in the Louvre, the original foundation of the Great Tower. The rough beauty of the 12th century stones was astonishing. There was a sort of quiet enchantment to the whole business...something that made you just want to be there, a solid peace.

To build a fireplace--the virtual heart of the project--and incorporate a bit of the feeling from this remarkable fortress seemed ideal.

The result sits firmly centered in the back of the yard now, holding down it's own little fort. It is solid and well-used, and has a bit of a sense of humor in it's stout and stalwart appearance. (When riffing--in California and elsewhere--on an ancient french chateau, a grain of Cleeseian Salt seems advisable.) The fireplace became the inspiration for much of the building and masonry that followed. Grand in it's own happy way, it brings a quiet bit of peace to the family on many a weekend, and work night.

A Little Cottage Project

This week: will be showing a few details from the cottage I've been working on...first, a little taste of the barbeque doors. The feeling I was going for was a bit of Brian Keith's groovy cali-ranch in the 1961 "Parent Trap" (one of my favorite movies, as a kid...still is...doesn't it just make you want to run away to camp?)...with a little touch of Connecticut Yankee thrown in.

The doors are set in the outdoor grill-o-rama, which is actually pretty subtle (read: not on steroids, thank goodness)...so these were sort of a fillip, adding a dash of elan with a sense of humor.

Curmudgeon: An Unlikely Army Chaplain

It's Sunday: a good time to spend a moment with CPTDRFRTIM.

Father Tim is a Jesuit Catholic Priest & former 

Stanford Molecular Neurobiologist 

who is currently serving in Iraq.

Click Here: Curmudgeon: An Unlikely Army Chaplain

This is a wonderful wonderful blog, by

 a man who has been called 

to do amazing things. 

I have a great amount of respect for the Chaplains who serve 

in the military: for all who serve in the military. 

Please, if you have a moment, give thanks for them. 

And send Father Tim, and his colleagues, 

special blessings 

to assist them with the good work that they do for so many.

Gosford Park Gets All The Good Lines

Watching Gosford Park (for maybe the thousandth time?) once again this weekend: herewith, some favorite lines...

"Yummy, yummy, yummy" (This one, from Maggie Smith, simply fills me with delight every time I think of her uttering it.)

"I can't believe you forget much, Mrs. Wilson."

"I believe in love, not just getting it, giving it, and I believe as long as you love somebody...it's worth it."

"Difficult color green...very tricky."

"It's the gift of anticipation...I'm the perfect servant....I know [what they want] before they know it themselves."

And--once having seen the movie--the one that resonates, perhaps, the most deeply:

"I know. And what purpose could it possibly serve, anyway?"

Gosford Park

written by Julian Fellowes

directed by Robert Altman

I love this movie.

Must Go Now: Lee Miller leaves SFMOMA on 9.14

"I would rather take a picture than be one..." 

these words from

Lee Miller...

Exhibit at the SFMOMA, 

only until the 14th...

must hop on freeway now...

to the right, 

Nob Hill 

and 

Grace Cathedral

San Francisco...an easy place to leave your heart....

Last Fall: A Little Trip Down Memory Lane, Courtesy of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang

If you are going to put together your own validation squad, as Twyla Tharp suggests (see yesterday's post, below), the best captain you could ever, ever hope for would be... 

Deanna Vukovatz Watson.  

Pondering this, today, it seemed crucial to say thank you for all the wonderous feats she has accomplished, over the years, as the captain of the VTDVS. 

Thank you, D, with more gratitude than I can possibly put into words.

In honor of her marvelousness: a few happy snaps, with sweet memories attached, from a photo shoot last fall featuring the one and only Michelle Watson as Truly Scrumptious, from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

Thanks, also, to Dustin and Jasmine of the

Dustin David Salon in Los Gatos 

for the impeccable hair and make-up. 

You are always superb!

Be Still My Heart: Siberian Wooden Houses

I love Shedworking, a wonderful blog from the U.K.

Siberian Wooden Houses is the newest post. Too wonderful.

More in Shedworking: see the office garden view of our best red-headed architect-president...I have been a great fan, since college in good ol' Virginny, of the way T.J. used windows--especially when they doubled as floor-to-ceiling triple-sash doors. Brilliance. 

And I've mentioned this one before, but it is an all-time favorite. Beach Hut Tuesday. I'm packing my bags right now; surely, there is a beach hut waiting for me in Barcelona...

Above, a mysterious set of doors from the Albrecht Durer house in Nuremberg. They might've been right at home in one of those groovy Siberian Huts, eh?

Two Days O' Twyla: "Build Your Own Validation Squad"

Once more unto the breach: Twyla Tharp on Validation...

"Look around you. 

Who are the brightest, 

most talented people you know? 

Choose them, 'qualify' them... 

and then get them involved.

 All you need is people with good judgment in other parts of their lives who care about you and will give you their honest opinion with no strings attached. The last point is crucial. All things being equal, the validation that matters most is the kind that comes with no agenda."

Tharp also quotes the great director Billy Wilder: "If I like something, I am lucky enough, fool enough, or smart enough to believe that other people are going to like it too." 

"As we mature," Tharp writes, "we need to build criticism into the working process, as we do failure."

Dux femina facti

 Nice job. Twyla Tharp: 

"The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life"

Tweeting Twyla's Mad Skills: Tharp, on Learning from Failure

First off, thanks to Merlin Mann for mentioning Twyla's book in a Tweet. 

In "The Creative Habit," Twyla says:

 "When you fail in public, you are forcing yourself to learn a whole new set of skills, skills that have nothing to do with creating and everything to do with surviving.

     Jerome Robbins liked to say that you do your best work after your biggest disasters. For one thing, it's so painful it almost guarantees that you won't make those mistakes again. Also, you have nothing to lose; you've hit bottom, and the only place to go is up. A fiasco compels you to change dramatically. The golfer Bobby Jones said, 'I never learned anything from a match I won.' He respected defeat and he profited from it."

M. F. K. Fisher, in the New York Times

M.F. K. Fisher's home in Sonoma, in Sunday's New York Times. 

Is anything more marvelous or meaningful than 

Sister Age or 

As They Were or 

How to Cook A Wolf? 

I think not.

The Art Of Eating, by M. F. K. Fisher. 

The woman created a life that was a true work of art. 

Her writing: style incarnate.

Last House. Not to be missed.

A Window on Creativity: Twyla Tharp, Amy Tan, and Han Feng

Amy Tan speaks on creativity, for TED.

Twyla Tharp writes on creativity, and Merlin Mann thinks 

it's one of the best books on the subject he's ever read. 

I, for one, bought the book right away, 

on the strength of Mr. Mann's conviction. 

I like his style, and he knows from creative.

Han Feng has done the costumes for the upcoming premiere, 

at the San Francisco Opera, 

of Amy Tan's

The Bonesetter's Daughter.

And more, from New York Times, on The Bonesetter's Daughter.

May your weekend be creative and full of life. 

As Goethe implored, 

"...turn around, and dare to be happy."

This post is dedicated to my amazing sister: 

good luck, next week, and many blessings. 

This is a remarkable voyage that you embark on: 

fair winds, and following seas.

Matt Nauman on Nanosolar

Happiness.

Because Kim Boatman Nauman is one of my all-time-favorite people on earth, I was thrilled to see that her wonderful husband wrote this article.

"'Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) rather than silicon' will be used in Nanosolar's thin-film solar panels."

Yeah, it sounds sorta like Greek to me, too. But, because both the Naumans are superb writers, if you click on the above sentence, you can read more and learn. Matt Nauman makes a lot more sense of this than I do.

Go Nauman Fam!

Photo: Solar power in it's purest form. Go Waikiki!

Late to the Party: Nice Guys Still Finish First

Admittedly late to the party on this one, but always worth noting: 

Nice Guys Finish First. 

Proven, pretty much, at Harvard. 

Tested in Kindergartens all over the country. Double-tested in homes all over the world. 

Click Here for the NPR interview with David Rand.

Be nice. It's the best way to make your way through the world. Good to remember, today and every day.

Above, Cindy Sherman photo from the MOMA this summer. Surely, she is looking for a book about nice things. 

Why late to the party? The NPR interview was in March. Even so, the research is eternally relevant.

"put down your credit card and go take a walk"

wonderful quote in the October issue of dwell: 

"'We need less stuff,' states Phil Tucker, project director for the California Healthy Communities Network. 'We're a nation of consumers, but we can only consume so much before we've consumed it all.' In other words, if you truly want to act sustainably, put down your credit card and go take a walk."

light

Ralph Lauren at the Olympics: It Doesn't Get More Gatsby Than This

Watching the Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. Goodness.

Ralph: Nice Job.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, for better or for worse, captured the spirit of a new America...Ralph has perfectly defined the sportswear.

Jay Gatsby is somewhere, smiling broadly, wishing he could've stayed around long enough to suit up in these whites.

Looking at the athletes as they walk past the camera, you can smell the Sands Point lawn, and feel an Indian Summer breeze, almost, floating sweetly off the Atlantic...

Southampton shells courtesy of Kirk. Many Thanks.

One More Shot

One more shot of the new fixie.

(couldn't help it)

Fixie: A Boy and His Bike

We are proud to announce the addition of a new bike to the family. Finally. 

(we started this at Christmas, and it is good to see it finished)