The painters are finishing up. All the trim, doors, and cabinetry are painted with Bioshield Aqua Resin Trim Enamel, a very pleasing product that is also very green.
Linen
Guillaume and Freddy, of Canivet Construction, making sure everything is ship-shape
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Posted by sarah
I met up with an old friend in Las Vegas last week. Her employer always puts her up in very nice hotels. I enjoy seeing the details of the rooms and lobbies. This time it was The Cosmopolitan, one of the newer hotels on the strip. Here is a photo of the west tower only. I like the of blue linear lights on the façade. There are also big private balconies attached to most of the rooms.
Here is a less glamorous photo in daylight that shows both towers
Here are three photos of the hotel room. Nice how the vanity and tub area is open to the room, making the space feel bigger.
Hotel room – there is a huge balcony on the other end of the room.
sparkly light fixture
sparkly light fixture and wall paper
The next few photos are all taken on the main floor – casino, bars, and lobby. It is quite spectacular really, but it is the opposite of restrained. Everything shimmers and sparkles and there is a dazzling array of patterns, lights, mirrors, and colors. The aura throughout is opulence and extravagance. It felt strange to walk these halls in flip flops and cotton. Diamonds and pearls would be right at home. Sequins and rhinestones would fit in too.
opulence and sparkle in the casino & lobby
more shimmer and sparkle
another shot of the main floor
casino glamor
The Chandelier Bar
Even the bathroom signage is shimmery and fancy
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Posted by sarah
My friend Matt is making progress on his little buildings! Here are a couple of older posts about the project:
It will be very nice to have the garden and patio between the main house and the small buildings with good southern exposure. (See site plan below)
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We had a great time at the Wooden Boat Challenge. The Bar-Ba-Loot was the prettiest boat and the fastest boat, at least in a straight line.
18 teams had 3 hours to build their boat out of two sheets of 3/8 plywood, some 1×2 and 2×2 sticks, screws, three tubes of caulk, and some plastic sheet and rope.
I only saw one sailboat this year (using the plastic sheet and rope) It got to the mark very quickly on a beam reach, but broke its rig during the gybe around the mark.
Team deedsdesign built the kayak pictured below.
Onlookers peer at The Bar-Ba-Loot under construction
construction underway
This series of photos shows the start of the championship race. Our downfall was being a bit slow out of the gate and running into a traffic jam just past the end of the dock.
Third Place
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I made this painted plywood seat for my friend Matt’s family heirloom chair a while back. Just happened upon the photo while searching through my files.
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My Dad just sent me this interview of Rahul Mehrotra, an architect practicing in Mumbai, India . He presents some of his ways of helping to connect society, “soften thresholds,” and bridge the gap between rich an poor in a very economically stratified place. In case you don’t have time to read the article, here is one excerpt from the interview that I found meaningful:
“This idea—how architecture can deepen social divides, depending on how it is used—is a major theme in your work, and obviously something you care deeply about. Do you ever have a private client who wants to build a very ostentatious house? How do you handle that?
I try to steer my wealthy clients toward “introverted worlds”—marble floors, nice fixtures. Ostentation on the inside rather than the outside. Polarization occurs when wealth is flaunted, and architecture can get co-opted in that process.”
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I am so excited about this bench that I can’t wait for better photos. I’ll add some later. My friends Jim and Treacy Malloy bought it for me at an auction at the YWCA. It is originally from the Oakland YWCA, designed by Julia Morgan and completed in 1915. It is perfect in my rustic kitchen. You will see this better when I add some photos not taken with my phone. (although this photo does have my cat Frodo’s tail, which is hard to beat.)
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Come watch! April 28
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This project is the opposite of my last post. 14000 SF of beautiful space is very nice if you want to fabricate things. No need to squeeze in storage space in every nook and cranny! We are working on improvements to the space for a technology start-up to use it for fabrication and testing of their prototypes.
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