smallrooms®

What’s Blooming Now

Posted on March 31, 2016No Comments

Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’ (the purple flowers) the will send it up blooms before it produces new leaves.

Spring has sprung here in Dallas. Unfortunately a lot of the blooming perennials I showed you last year didn’t make it after last year’s weather extremes and some bad luck. I’ve replaced some of them this past fall, but most will have to be purchased this spring when they become available. What has been replaced is doing very well. Because of our mild winter with no freezing temperatures, the root systems were able to grow the entire winter and are now well established. But it will take another two years to get to where their predecessors were before last spring’s El Niño killed them.

Country Retreat

Tumble Moon (Small Solution #1)

Posted on February 29, 2016No Comments

The top photo is an elevation done to scale to show how the wall-hung shelf would fit in on either side of the bed, and it couldn’t be a more perfect fit. The bottom photo is a fuzzy jpeg of the wall-hung shelf from the vendor’s website.

When a traditional nightstand won’t fit, a wall-hung option can be a perfect solution. My bed will be located within the gable alcove, and with only an eighteen inch clearance on either side, a traditional nightstand was going to be too much mass and clutter. After an extensive online search, I found a very affordable option that also had interesting character at El Paso Import Company. I’ve ordered one to make sure it will work for me. If it doesn’t, I would have only spent $29 and can easily use it somewhere else at Tumble Moon. There is one concern, and that is the depth of the shelf, which is listed as being seven inches. That’s not deep enough. Perhaps it can be replaced. We’ll see when it arrives, and I’ll post photos of it.

Country Retreat

Tumble Moon (Update 2)

Posted on January 22, 2016No Comments

Paint colors have not been picked for the house, but I felt these drawings could use some pizzazz. The back elevation has changed. The back door has been moved around to the side, and there are now two windows.

Design Development. We (Charley McKenney and I) have now moved from the schematic phase to the design development phase. Actually we’re further along and are now way into the construction document phase, but this post is about the design development and includes all the interior elevations. You know… the fun stuff. Once you have clicked over to the entire post, please remember that by clicking on an image, you will see a much larger version. While you’re in the large version mode you can click the right arrow which will take you to the next drawing. This way you don’t have to exit this mode in order to get to the next image, but you will need to exit in order to read the captions.

Contemporary Art

At The Reading Room

Posted on January 15, 2016No Comments

Video still, Becoming Colette/Grand Vefour, 2015

Becoming Colette
new work by Colette Copeland
at The Reading Room/Dallas
3715 Parry Avenue, Dallas
January 16—February 20, 2016
opening reception January 16 from 6 to 9 pm

Becoming Colette, a project by Dallas multi media artist Colette Copeland, will open January 16 and continue through February 20. Copeland’s work examines issues surrounding gender, history and contemporary culture. The exhibition will feature video, prints and sculpture that take the viewer on a performative journey into the literary history of Paris and the writings of the iconic French author Colette.

Copeland’s work has been exhibited in 15 solo and 70 group exhibitions/festivals spanning 29 countries in the past 12 years. She received a BFA from Pratt Institute and MFA from Syracuse University. She currently teaches at University of Texas Dallas, Richland and Collin Country Colleges.

Film: Design & Architecture

The Temptress (1926)

Posted on December 31, 2015No Comments

"Never would he let himself be snared by passion!" The graphics in these old "moving picture" posters are so much fun. It was the only time the public would get a glimpse of color before they headed to the black and white film. — “Never would he let himself be snared by passion!” The graphics in these old “moving picture” posters are so much fun. It was the only time the public would get a glimpse of color before they headed to the black and white film.

It’s New Years Eve, and since this film’s party scenes are so glamorous and fun, the way New Years Eve should be, I thought I would bring some visual glitter to spark your evening plans. So click the link below to see how others celebrated in bygone days.

Just Because

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 24, 2015No Comments

"Ring-a-bling, hear them ring, Soon it will be Christmas day." Yes, there's a slight lyric change, because "bling" is way better than "ling." — “Ring-a-**bling**, hear them ring, Soon it will be Christmas day.” Yes, there’s a slight lyric change, because “bling” is way better than “ling.”

Landscape & Gardening

What’s Blooming Now

Posted on December 1, 2015No Comments

After a week of rain and clouds, it was a cheerful surprise to see these blooms.

Giant Leopard Plant (Farfugium japonicum ‘Giganteum’) started sending up its bloom stalks in November, but the flowers didn’t start to unfurl until the very end of November. These Giant Leopard clumps have doubled in size since they were planted in the spring of 2014, so I’m kind of worried at just how big of a mass they will be next year. The University Park code enforcement lady loves to torment those who dare to plant something other than grass.

Country Retreat

Tumble Moon (Update 1)

Posted on November 2, 2015No Comments

No paint colors have been picked for the house, but I felt these drawings could use some pizzazz. I do know what color it won’t be, white. The color pallet will come from the natural elements on the property, twigs, bark, leaves, and stone.

I finally decided on a name for my new piece of heaven, Tumble Moon. It’s the name of a Texas Dude ranch in an old campy film called Lightning Strikes Twice (1951). It seems that all the other name combinations that might describe my property’s uniqueness were already spoken for by multiple apartment complexes.

Just Because

Trick O’ Treat

Posted on October 31, 2015No Comments

All items were purchased from Oriental Trading.

The goodie bags are ready and waiting by the front door, stuffed with edible weirdness and kooky treats. I should have ordered more eyeball gum balls, but my math skills were missing when it was time to order. After doing these treat bags for at least ten years, you would think I would have this calculation skill perfected by now.

Contemporary Art

At The Reading Room

Posted on September 5, 2015No Comments

OCCIPUT
by Lucia Simek
at The Reading Room
3715 Parry Avenue/Dallas
September 5 — October 3, 2015
opening reception September 5 from 6 to 9 pm

OCCIPUT by Lucia Simek opens tonight at The Reading Room. This solo show OCCIPUT, which means the back of the head, features short films, images, objects, and a pair of socks. Themes of exile, instability and insecurity found within daily life are seen through the lens of nature and the sublime.

Simek is an artist, writer and curator based in Dallas. Her work has been shown at Dallas Contemporary. Simek is co-founder of the artist collective The Art Foundation which organized Boom Town at the Dallas Museum of Art in 2013 and Fountainhead in 2012. She completed a MFA in sculpture at Texas Christian University in 2014.