Ever wanted to see inside a $5 million mansion?  Me too!  Well, today I got the chance, and thought I’d share it with you.  Enjoy!  (Oh, and if you happen to have that much laying around, then email me and I’ll send you the listing! Hah.)

I mean…pocket change, right?!

Philadelphia’s art scene is always buzzing with something new, and on May 16th the NKCDC will be hosting it’s 3rd Annual Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby.   Go to their website to enter, see previous derbies or become a derby sponsor.   If you don’t live in Philadelphia, it makes you want to move here, doesn’t it?  (I knew it would.)

It’s kind of reminds me of a Mark Rothko painting…in a tragic, sad way of course.

The first thing that is important to understand about Philadelphia (for anyone who doesn’t live here) is the tremendous amount of [architecturally] beautiful homes there are here.   The second thing to know is just how many of those homes are falling apart because the neighborhood is crap or because it’s just plain difficult to keep up with old houses.   Anyways, the beautiful homes are one of my favorite things about this city.  Everywhere I turn there’s always a more beautiful house…that I wish I lived in.  (I mean, I didn’t name this blog House Obsession for nothing.)  Everyone that knows me well, knows that I am constantly saying “Oh, I wish I lived there!”  Maybe that’s why I’ve moved so many times in my life.  There are always more houses to decorate, after all!

At any rate, today N and I took a walk to the “nice part of the neighborhood” so that I could torture myself with falling in love with every house.   I’m sure the people who lived around there wondered why we were taking pictures of their houses, but it’s just something I like to do – dream of what the insides of those houses must look like.  Anyways, here are my favorites from today’s walk.

I mean, how cute are those shutters?  I can’t even stand it!  I love them so much!

Is it possible to burn with porch envy?   I imagine sitting out here drinking tea and rocking in a rocking chair.  I think this is a former twin (like mine) where the person actually owns both halves and has turned it into a single home (not like mine).   I also love that they painted the brick.  I’m not usually a fan of that, but this house just looks so good in person.

This house is one of those that is so ridiculously huge that you have to wonder just who originally built the house.  Was he an inventor or a banker?  Nevertheless,  I certainly wouldn’t want to have to clean this huge home…nor would I want to pay the gas bill, but oh what I wouldn’t give to get to live there just for a month.   The owners must get lost in there sometimes!

There are so many things to love about this house, such as the curved porch and the two-color brick accents.   It’s hard to see in this photo, but it also has real leaded glass windows too.   Again, who built this house?!  It’s enormous!  I think you’d need an army to fill it (and clean it), but I’d love a house tour.

Okay, so this is not a photo of a house…but it IS a squirrel lantern in someone’s yard.  It’s a shame that whoever owns this house has let the lantern (and the rest of the house too) get into this condition b/c it’s seriously one of the best pieces of lawn decoration / lighting that I’ve ever seen.  The house itself was in such disrepair that I didn’t both taking any photos of it.  Such a shame…it breaks my heart.

I can’t explain it, but this one is my fantasy house of the day.  I love it’s lines…the porch…the stone wall in front…the overly bulbous top.   I hope the owners love it as much as I do.

Walking through the neighborhood window shopping like this lets me forget about all the renovation projects for a moment in my own house, and just dream about the endless possibilities of someone else’s space.  Now if only I could pick this house up and move it to the beach.  Now THAT would be a real dream house!

Oh, and completely un-related, we also saw a really cool custom hood ornament while walking today.  Pretty nifty, right?  It was on the hood of a small Ford pickup truck.  It looks very art deco.  Definitely not something I’d expect to see on an old pickup truck.

And we also saw the house below.  It was hard not to stand and stare because there are just so many things going on here.  First, the double doors on such a moderately scaled house jumped out at me immediately.  Add the hulking gargoyles on either side of the doorway and you know the people that live inside must have a real sense of humor.  (Hopefully, right?!)  And then top it off with the craftsman light fixture and the 70s aluminum siding…and you’ve got a mish-mosh of nuttiness.

At least their gargoyles made me laugh.  I seriously hope that someone in that house plays Dungeons & Dragons!

Today has provided us with a huge rainstorm, and hail the size of acorns.  At least the clouds and light were spectacular.

This was the line to get into our polling place this morning at 6:50am.  Everyone seemed glad to be there and be part of the process in spite of the long wait.  There were lots and LOTS of first time voters.  Don’t forget to get out there and participate in the process today!!  GO VOTE!

So as I mentioned several days ago, I’ve started taking longs walks with the dogs in the neighborhood.  I do it for exercise (both me and them), but also because I want to feel like I’m exploring the ‘hood a little too.  There’s nothing like getting out of the house and being part of the world around you.  It didn’t take long for my walks to take on a dual-purpose however.  (Let it never be said of me that I don’t find ways of taking multi-tasking to a new level.)

Anyways, anyone who has visited Philadelphia is aware of our teensy-widdle problem with litter.  They don’t call it Filthadelphia for nothing, after all.  Thankfully our new mayor has made it a top priority to tackle the issue.  Now Philly has solar powered trash cans, dedicated cleanup days, and at the VERY least publicly acknowledged the issue.  Ever since I’ve moved here, it’s been a trait of Philly’s that I’ve found particularly irritating.  And because of that I realized I should do something about it…no matter how small.  Therefore now when I am going on my long nightly walk, I take along a couple plastic grocery bags and gather litter along the way.  Then once they’re full, I’ll toss them in the public garbage can.  Even though I realize I’m not making a huge dent in the problem, it feels great to know that I’m at least doing something.  (And hey, I’m finding a new purpose for those pesky plastic bags.  Even though I take a cloth bag with me to the store, somehow I always manage to come back with at least one.)  I want my block to stay clean…and also the blocks around me.  It just feels better when you take pride in where you live by trying to keep it beautiful.  Who knows?  Maybe someone else will be inspired to pick up trash as well.

Lately I’ve been thinking alot about the state of our world…and wishing it were a better/safer/cleaner/nicer place to live.  I realize one individual can’t change the world, but each of us has to start somewhere.  So…start by saying hi to your neighbors.  Read to your kids.   Choose to support locally-owned shops.  And maybe if you see some litter on the ground, stop and pick it up.

Photo credit: It’s Only the Trash via flickr by Ian W.

Some of my friends over at Minima have curated and organized an event for Design Philadelphia 2008 called “A Clean Break.”  It’s biggest highlight is an ACTUAL prefab Weehouse by Alchemy Architects from St. Paul, MN…which is extremely cool!!  The Weehouse is an interesting design that I’ve actually wondered about in the past, and so I’ll be excited to check it out in person.  (It’s especially interesting because it comes in several different variations and can be customized.)  Here’s a picture of the Weehouse getting installed into the Philadelphia exhibition space on Spruce St.

The show also features high design, low waste “innovations” by artists such as Michael Iannone, Daniel Michalik, In Liquid, Bolle Design, Pie Studio, and SMIT.  (Shown below is one of my favorite items by MIchael Iannone, his cork sideboard.)

The event kicks off on Thursday Oct 16th from 7-10pm, but is open daily from 11-7pm, Oct 17th – 30th.   The exhibition is located at 313 South Broad Street at Spruce, Philadelphia. Go check it out!!

More and more [and even more] I’m discovering that I love a good BARGAIN.  And nothing feels better than a bargain that also includes something that’s been recycled.   Not only am I saving money, but I’m saving the earth, right?!  (I know…it makes me feel giddy knowing that I just saved the planet.  I’m like Superman.)

But seriously, earlier this week my co-worker told me about something called a “Pre-Demolition Sale.”  This is something I’ve never heard of before, but apparently there are people who buy extremely expensive homes and then tear the whole thing down to rebuild something new.  And well, their loss is our gain, right?  Today’s sale involved a large stone home on the Main Line.  Nick and I went out there with tools in hand and managed to get two truckloads of slate flagstone, which included the walkway [shown below] and about 20′ of two-inch thick large slate capstones.  All for $250.  This will come in quite handy when we want to do our backyard project next summer.  (We’ve also decided to do a retaining wall in the front with all those capstones.)

Anyways…we’re both really tired from digging out flagstone and carrying it all day.  I’m thrilled about the new discovery of these sales though.  If you live in Philly and are planning on some home makeover projects you should check out their website for the next one.   I think there’s another one next week.

And p.s., yes, they are going to tear down this house.  All that stone will be gone for good.

Well guys, I’m about to road test my first eco-friendly polyurethane. After reading a little bit about Low VOC poly on the internet, I decided I’d check into it. First off, it seems that a lot of regular hardware stores aren’t sure what “Low VOC” and “eco-friendly” means. Several people pointed me to just the regular water-based polyurethanes, which didn’t seem accurate.

So I went to the knowledgeable folks at Greenable who were able to give me lots of great info on this soy-based product. It was also comparably priced to regular floor sealers at $44/gallon. I like that it is self-levelling, and supposedly requires none to very little sanding in between coats!! (I’ll have to let you know about that in a subsequent post.) I also spoke to the people over at The Environmental Home Store to see what they offered. They’re actually in my neighborhood, and I really wanted to use their products…but at a cost of almost $85/gallon, I couldn’t justify the cost difference. (Their version wasn’t soybased, but rather some different Low VOC water-based poly that wasn’t self-levelling and seemed to require additional sanding.)

Besides just price though, the folks at Greenable went out of their way to break a 5 gallon container to sell me 2 gallons of satin finish [of which they were out of stock in the smaller size]. I loved Greenable’s knowledgeable staff and their customer service! I have to say that in today’s economy, I really appreciated that they were fighting for my business. It made me really happy to shop there. (So…kudos to Greenable’s staff!)

Meanwhile, soon I’ll let you know how my experience with Acri-Soy Poly-Soy Eco Procote Polyurethane works out. Cross your fingers!

*Update: Thanks to Angelo at Greenable for clarifying what I purchased. Since they broke the 5 gallon container into 2 smaller ones, I didn’t have a label and assumed [wrongly] that I’d gotten the Acri-Soy. At any rate, more info to come on the end result of the floor finishing eco-friendly style. But so far so good.