Photo's from a Mies Enthusist, thanks Juliana.....

Another perspective from Juliana, a Mies enthusiast from Toronto.

Paintings in dinning room...

You get a sense of how much light there is at the top of the stairs. 

my favorite room in the house, the study...

the park is so plush and green these days.. beautiful

Dinning In these days....

Dinner is served! I finally have my table, it arrived yesterday. The dinning room is simple. A table, I chose a Fronzoni 64 made by Cappellini, six chairs 4- Herman Miller bent plywood and two Thonet's, a rug (looking for a 6' x 9') and an old 50's floor fan.
That's about it.  I've hung two of my paintings on the separating wall but re-thinking that.  I'm working with artist NAI SAMMON (Detroit) to do a mural, it's the prominent wall everyone sees from outside. My paintings might be better in the basement.
The finished dinning area.                                       

View of the front yard

These are my doll paintings, wanted color with a white table and black floor.

I'm rethinking the wall, moving the paintings and having a mural painted of color, patterns and shapes. Artist NAI SAMMON tediously tapes off and spray paints using various techniques. This is a mural he did for my daughter, my Iphone pictures do not do it justice.  Click on the image to make it larger to see the complexity and beautiful layers, he has an amazing sense of color.

Artist: NAI SAMMON

thenaisammon@gmail.com

 Entry way at dinning room.

 Hall, coat room and second bath along inside wall.

Inside Lafayette Park Exhibition April 14-22 The Settlement Shape

If your around the area, you won't want to miss this exhibition ......

Panelists:

- Danielle Aubert – WSU Professor of Graphic Design

- Robert Fishman – U of M Professor of Urban Planning

- Kevin Harrington – Professor of architectural History, IIT

- Michelle S. Johnson – Historian/Civil Rights Consultant

  April 22nd: Society of Architectural Historians tour through Lafayette Park and through the exhibit

To help make this week-long pop-up exhibition event a success, we urge you to help tell our story and spread the word.

Contact: Noah Resnick (resnicns@udmercy.edu)

See the Rouge HAA Facebook page for updates.
Inside Lafayette Park:  featured photographs by Vasco Roma and Corine Vermeulen
http://www.knightarts.org/uncategorized/meet-mies-in-the-park-inside-lafayette-park-and-urban-futures

Happy 126th Birthday Mies Van Der Rohe

                       http://life.time.com/culture/architect-mies-van-der-rohe-and-the-poetry-of-purpose/?iid=lf%7Cmoreon#1    

     

                           Ludwig van der Rohe - born March 27th 1886

Google Doodle, very well done..

Dinner Is Served! The Kitchen Finished.

The kitchen was the room that required the most work. The ceiling had a leak from the bath tub above that had been left unattended for years. Prior to starting the restoration the gas line was installed and the plumbing and wiring redone.
What a feeling to be able to prepare a meal not from a microwave or eating on the fly.  A long wait, but well worth it. First, I had to go before the board and get approval to run a gas line, once my plans were solidified and settled on the final design I presented this to the board and waited for their response. I found out that only two of the cooperatives have the ability to run gas. After the first two were built they made a decision to run gas in the last two, luckily I live in one that has gas.
I decided to keep the kitchen stream line and simple. 
Prior to the remodel:

condition prior to remodel

post remodel

Nicotine patina...yuk. Like the other rooms just cleaning the walls was a huge chore.  
 

 
 

The pull down cook top that many of the units still use. Here in LP there like gold, I had intended to someday restore mine..maybe.. or not.
I had a table made to the same dimensions and restored the legs. 

Once the cook top was removed, I tried to preserve the table but ended up having it remade and I restored the legs. Alan Kaniarz made the top, he teaches at CCS, Wayne State and works out of Russel Industrial center. A fine woodworker and furniture maker.
The kitchen had a 24" built in oven for cooking any thing else was prepared on the cook top. The cabinets were aluminum, a small counter and double sink. Not a whole lot of counter space, but workable. I selected a single rectangular shape stainless sink.
Plans for the remodel: I decided on an IKEA kitchen, I used it in my last house and the quality was fine. With the one wall it doesn't leave a lot of space for storage. I still have to have my metro rack downstairs for large pots and other kitchen stuff. l did install a rod to in the kitchen to hang sauce pans.
The appliances were all studio apartment size. I went with a Bosch 18" dishwasher, a Bertazzoni 24" gas convection stove. A 28"x 75" Summit refrigerator . All very serviceable especially the stove.

 the installation begins...

Stephen Lee a friend and coworker did the installation, wiring, tile work and plumbing. Hes a perfectionist and does just about anything!

Steve hard at it!

Finished kitchen: It tool a little getting use to working in a smaller kitchen, but now I'm very with the space. Most important to me was to have a gas stove. I have a little table to eat breakfast sip coffee so the space works for me.
 I decided on glass tile for the back splash to visually open the space. IKEA faucet and stainless sink. The counter tops are concrete. Derek Peters Russel Industrial Center.

Because of the space I installed a rod to hang my sauce pans. I store all my large Le Creuset pots and additional things on a bakers rack downstairs.  Eventually, I will have a pantry built in the front hall closet and use for extra storage.

 All appliances were ordered from Speciality Showroom in Berkley on 11 mile.
18" Bosch dishwasher, very serviceable. 

Summit Refrigerator 28" x 75" 13.81 cu. ft bottom freezer in Stainless steel.

Bertazonni 24" convection stove. One of the best I have ever cooked with!

The Study, Now I must work.......

The study is one of the rooms I spend a lot of time in working on my computer, sipping coffee and looking out the window. It has the best view of any of the rooms. I have a beautiful tree right out my window that attracts many birds, the park is full of trees there are many bird watchers here in LP.
The study was pretty typical of all the other rooms in the restoration process, floor, windows re-caulked, plaster and paint. So I won't show the work in progress, here are the finished images.

Hall leading into study

floor to ceiling glass

New ways to display art. A little painting I had done of a doll. I have a lot of my doll work in this room, shadow boxes and paintings. The table lamp was done by Andy Kem who also lives in LP, I also work with Andy. He's a very talented fine woodworker and sculptor.

This is a piece I had bought from Review Gallery, the piece was a collaboration between Andy Kem and Dennis Hayes.

detail

the shadow boxes hung on the wall

on old library table for my computer, I'll have to find a comfortable chair one day

I could spend hours just looking out into the park.














I did not take this photo I believe Michele Unverzagt tool it. I do remember that day though.
Looking south out the study you can see the 1300 building.
Having all the glass on the two sides of the townhouse lends itself to many fantastic views.