Blast From The Past!: More From the Old Apartment

More pics from the old apartment! I'm sure I said before that so much of what you see here influenced my design aesthetic of today. The idea that you can take a barren old space and create something entirely new has followed me here to the church I now own. Again, I apologize for the quality of these photos. They are from over 20 years ago and digital photography was in the single digit megapixels.

We filled empty spaces with items that delineated the space. Stained glass...who knew I would wind up with so much of it now!

This is a desk made entirely out of windows. You might say we had a window fetish. We found a lot of them at an auction...something like 30 windows, and we paid $20 for them. What a bargain!!!

Another view. The one draw back to a mostly glass desk we found, that you are always dusting it.

One of the many bathrooms. Oy, cleaning them all was such a chore! Again, we used old windows as the shower doors.

Another bathroom! This one has record covers as the flooring. Many coats of polyurethane were needed so that it could be mopped.

And yet ANOTHER bathroom! This one has a painted floor and again, old windows were used for the shower doors.

Here's a beauty shot of the window desk. What you can't see in this pic is that this room was also a closet. All of the clothes are suspended from the ceiling on racks that are attached to a motorized wire system. That way, when you needed to get dressed you just lower the racks and otherwise, they are out of the way. It was a great system until one night we heard a huge bang. One of the hook systems had come out of the ceiling, and there were clothes and destruction everywhere. Yes, the window desk met it's demise that evening. It was nice while it lasted.

Blast From The Past: The Grandparents

I am still scouring these back-up CD's I found. There is a ton of stuff on them that I had completely forgotten. Here are a couple of very old pictures of my grandparents. I had been restoring these for a Mother's Day present for my mom way way long ago.

On her wedding day.

I don't know the date of the above picture, but I am guessing it was the early 1900's. She was quite beautiful, but I still see a bit of that sassy smirk that always crossed her face.

I'm guessing he's swimming or something aquatic.

I never knew my grandfather. He died in his mid 30's of something heart related. Ya know...back then they pretty much called everything a heart attack. Everyone says I look like him, but I don't see it. I mean, look at those ears!!! Not to mention the muscles and the obvious athleticism. Soooo not me! That being said, his knees do make those little "Old Man Face" squinchey things like mine do when I straighten out my legs. He also has way more hair than me but then again, I don't know how old he is in this picture.

Blast From The Past: The First Apartment, Part 1

Many years ago...in a town far away, my partner Ian and I moved into a delightfully dilapidated 3 story "apartment". Actually it was a 3 story building with a tattoo parlor on the first floor and 4 individual apartments above and behind. After we chased all of the current tenants out (thank you police department) we took over the entire building and went to work turning it into a pretty amazing living and party space. I apologize upfront for the quality of these photos...it's 1994 and megapixels weren't invented yet.

The 2nd Floor Landing. Ian had a window fetish.

The Greek Room. Exposed plaster and sepia. Also my office.

Master Bedroom. Yes, a puzzle bed that came apart in 9 pieces for party seating!

Let me tell you what a pain those poke dots were! Not painted, wood circles nailed to the wall!!!

The Garden Room. He did the painting. I cut the hole in the wall to the Kitchen!

That's it for now. I'll post more later. I can't take credit for any of the design choices here, it was all Ian. At the ripe old age of 25, I couldn't have visualized any of this. I was just the muscle...lifting and cutting and wielding a sledge hammer.

I have to say tho, when it came time to renovate my church, a lot of what he taught me played a very major role in it's design and construction. 

Ian, I miss you and I will always be grateful for you teaching me that, "No matter what happens, you can always paint over it!" Rest in peace.