Meet Joe!

I have two very special "Joes" in my life. One is my cousin's beautiful baby Joe. This kid could rule the world with his smile. When you have two awesome parents you're bound to be amazing, right? The second Joe in my life is located at the Pulitzer Foundation located in the theater district in Saint Louis.

Joe is a large sculpture created by artist Richard Serra. It was commissioned by Mrs. Pulitzer as a way to honor her late husband Mr. Joseph Pulitzer. Her office window overlooks the sculpture in the courtyard.

Joe also has the honor of being the place I said yes to becoming Mrs. Shane Thompson. That is right folks this is where my husband proposed. I'm proud to say we were the first couple to become engaged in the sculpture. There have been a few others since so needless to say Joe is a romantic place to be.

The sculpture is made from several large steel plates/walls that have been connected together to form a large torqued spiral. You walk through it like a snailshell shaped maze and end up in a center courtyard that blocks out all of the city noise. It is an amazing place to be. It was an honor to become engaged within its walls.

The husband and I try to visit the sculpture when we can but we are always running here and there. For my birthday Shane wanted to take me there for a visit so we took time and made the pilgrimage There was Joe just as he always is a reminder of strength, beauty, and most of all love.

Of course as always a photo shoot must happen. Thank the heavens we don't have kids because we would have more photos of Joe than them. His walls are starting to age and like Paul Newman or Steve McQueen he is only getting better. We took several detail photos of this beautiful new patina.

We have quite the photo series from this last trip and I can't wait to get them framed and installed in our master suite. I can think of no better way to wake up everyday than with images of Mr. Joe.

Once I get the photos framed and installed I'll be able to do a more thorough post on the master suite and share its' details. If you have never been to the Pulitzer Foundation or have not been in awhile I highly recommend it. There are two art installations right now that I thoroughly enjoyed and while you are there don't forget to visit Joe!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Final Touches for the Family Room

Getting back into the swing of things and continuing on the path of renovation has been hard. Our professional lives are busy and in the evenings the chill in the air leads to lots of snuggling on the sofa near the fire and not much physical labor. As I mentioned in my previous post there are plenty of projects in the planning stage and until those get underway I wanted to tie up some loose ends and finally post on those spaces that just needed a few finishing touches to be blog worthy.

Starting this series of buttoned up spaces is the Family Room, the room that sold us on the house. Not because this room was attractive. As you can see from the before photos it was that awful shade of dirty off-white, had a dark fireplace, and odd trim around the doors and windows. Don't even get me started on that terrible audio equipment rack. On the plus side the room had a good square shape , the fireplace is a nice size as well as being flanked by windows, and the most important thing - adjacent to the kitchen.

This is the one room that didn't take major surgery to update. We removed the trim, painted the whole room - including the fireplace, and the rest was decor'. I chose a palette of navy and pale grey (I know you can hardly believe it) The majority of the furnishings came with us from our last home. We added new window treatments, some thrifted finds, and a few inexpensive accessories to work with the new color palette.

This room has turned into a cozy space that feels great to come home to at the end of a long day. I feel like some of the great pieces we had in our last home finally have room to breathe. Having space allows them to shine now.

There are quite a few details in the room I love. My favorite space is the reading corner. Our beloved Eames lounge is hanging out with some of my other favorite pieces. This grouping is quite indicative of my style mid-century - meets industrial - meets metallics and texture. If I had to pick one photo to sum up my design style it would be of this vignette.

Another spot in the room that is such a simple thing however makes me smile every time I see it is our fire tending area. It started out with a vintage milk crate and was rounded out with a two-toned painted basket to hold firestarters and some basic tools hung on bamboo hooks. Having a fireplace is a luxury to me so I have to make the most of it.

Speaking of that luxurious fireplace some would be horrified about the painted brick. I have no qualms over painting brick especially ugly orange 80's brick. Eventually we would like to re-clad it in stone but for now making the brick a lighter tone really brightened up the space. I accessorized the newly painted fireplace with vintage pottery and artwork that features one of my retro loves Mr. Steve McQueen. In this house however he is just Steve. It is hard to see but the piece in front of Steve is an original blueprint of my childhood home. A few years ago my Mom gave me the whole set and someday I hope to frame them all together.

Lastly, I added a bar cart, again something we've had for years I re-purposed. That cart has held printers, tools, and more recently scrap wood while we were working on the kitchen. I would like to have a nicer bar cart so I'll have to add it to my thrifting list. However, for right now this was free and is a nice contrast against the navy backdrop. The husband doesn't mind his precious rum collection being handy either.

I'm glad the wheels are starting to move, albeit slowly. As I mentioned before any step forward is progress. One space checked off the to do list a million more to come! Have a great week!

 

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