well-crafted

Shadows and Light

The recent Last month’s issue of Dwell magazine had a very interesting feature about an artist—or draftsman as the magazine referred to him—named Hugh Ferriss. His renderings of buildings and other architectural structures are just amazing. I love that they’re sort of realistic and other-worldly at the same time. Their unusual combination of precision and almost painterly richness is truly something to behold. Makes me want to dig out my Monolith and Fabriano.

There’s a great set of Ferriss’ work on Flickr. There is also a nice (and arguably more articulate) post about it here.

Just perfect

Two weekends ago we attended an open house for a renovated Rummer in Oak Hills. It was so beautiful. I’ve seen remodeled Rummer homes before that have not been done well—shaker style, cherry cabinetry in the kitchen—which is such a wasted opportunity (and a waste of money). In my opinion this one has been done perfectly. It’s not a restored home done with “period” details but the choice of materials and design so accurately reflect the spirit of the original design—but with a contemporary sensibility. I was so impressed. Sigh…if only it was on the East side…if only it didn’t have efficiency issues…if only my kids wouldn’t trash it…if only I were more tidy…

I don’t really want to move. I love our house—work in progress that it is—and our neighborhood. And frankly I just don’t have another move in me. But I did indeed appreciate this home. I’ll just hold onto the inspiration for sometime in the future.