Carriage Houses aren't just for carriages any more

I was looking for the perfect carriage house today, for inspiration and design ideas for a garage I'm designing. I was really looking for images of simplified farmhouse Victorian carriage houses. I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, but I came across some lovely examples.

Visit to a Local Landmark: Lockwood Mathews Mansion

I attended the Traditional Building Conference this week at the Lockwood Mathews Mansion in Norwalk, Ct.  I have lived in this area nearly my entire life, have driven by the Mansion hundreds of times, and somehow have managed never to tour the mansion.  The conference seemed an ideal opportunity to finally see the inside of the mansion and to take care of some of my continuing educational units. Although the conference was restricted to the the entry, rotunda, and the billiards room, we could peak into the other spaces which have been restored to their former glory.  It was a real treat.

 The mansion was built in the 1860's as a summer home near the Norwalk River.  The city is really built up now, but I imagine when the mansion was built, it was almost a coastal home, and probably had views of  the Long Island Sound.  It was built in the Second Empire style, and was a precursor to the Newport Mansions which were built some 20 years later.  I have to say I love the architecture of this building, the granite, the massing, but have always found the wooden porch, picture above, to be an odd design element.  It's always seemed way to spindly and weak compared to the massive granite building.

 I love this little conservatory room.  apparently major green houses were part of the original estate...they were demolished many years ago, and I've never seen them.

 Roof and dormer details

 Porte Cochere

roof and dormer details

view from the South East

Floor Plan

 Entry Hall with extravagantly carved mantel

Detail of Mantel

 Library with restored woodwork and new wallpaper

 Library with restored ceiling details 

Much of the restoration work including ceiling painting and woodwork has been done by the amazing firm of John Canning Art Restoration & Decorative Painting.  They are a world renowned company located nearby in Cheshire Ct.  They have worked on notable projects including the Grand Central Station renovation in NYC.  Mr. Canning gave one of the lectures about his work on the restoration of the mansion. It was fascinating.

 Library before the wallpaper was installed

 Detail of Library Cabinet

Conservatory

Music Room

 Detail of Billiards Room ceiling

 Detail of Billiards Room Ceiling

 Rotunda

Rotunda

Draping your outdoor rooms

One of my clients asked me to help them figure out how to shade their pergola.  They were having trouble with the low western sun that gets in your eyes in the afternoon and early evening hours.  Walpole Woodworkers makes a sun shade that drapes over the top of the pergola; but that wouldn't really solve the problem.  Because the sun is most bothersome when it's low.  They were even thinking about some kind of screening system.  I went online to look at it..UGLY!  So I got busy looking through my image files to see if drapes would be a good solution.  I found many great images of drapes being used on porches, and some on pergolas.  These are the nicest ones I came across.  The drapery helps to make a porch or pergola feel more like an outdoor living room.  It's an elegant solution to my client's sun problem. 

It's a Spring Thing

It doesn't seem possible but today is the first day of spring.  The temperatures are cold and there is snow on the ground, so it certainly doesn't feel like spring.  It's been a long winter and I'm looking forward to a little color and for my garden to start doing it's thing! Here are a few of my favorite early bloomers.

 

hyacinths

grape hyacinths and snow drops

narcissus

grape hyacinths

tulips

hyacinths

hyacinths

pansies

hyacinths

fruit tree blossoms

tulips

azalea and vinca

crocus

daffodil