I love where I live and I'm fortunate to have an experience of Florida that's not the typical sprawl of suburbia most people see when they live in this part of the world. St. Petersburg is unique among Florida cities in that it's a city of neighborhoods and these neighborhoods came to be over the last 120 years and were already platted out and developed by the time the car came along. This makes for a walkable place, a city of front porches and wide sidewalks.
There's a real sense of community here in my neighborhood and I think it's due in a large part to the fact that our homes are set close to one another and such garages as there are, are located in the back where they belong. This makes it difficult to isolate and it forces us to interact with each other. Neighbors don't say strangers for very long when you see them every day.
Anyhow, I took a leisurely walk on Sunday afternoon and I took my camera, something I've been promising myself to do forever. This neighborhood is so filled with interesting nooks and crannies it's impossible to take anything BUT a leisurely walk. Anyhow, here's a slide show of my walk around the 'hood.
I added a new design blog to my blogroll this week, Joni Webb's brilliant Cote de Texas. Her tag line reads: French design on the Texas coast. Yes, it does exist! She has tremendous energy and spirit and her writing style is comfortable and approachable. Her sense of humor is evident from the name of her blog all through her every woman's approach to interior design. She certainly loves nice things, but manages to keep her wits about her and she still manages to have a couple of laughs along the way. Bravo!
Her blog's name, Cote de Texas, has had me thinking about the Côtes du Rhône all week. The Côtes du Rhône is the region of France that runs the length of the Rhône river, from Vienne to Avignon. It's not exactly the first thing that pops into my head when I think of coastal Texas, and I love the fact that Ms. Webb is crashing together these seemingly discordant worlds. It reminds me of my friend Kevin's insistence that my beloved St. Pete is the Monaco of the Gulf Coast, the Florence of Florida. Why not?
Cote de Texas features some fantastic dissections of well-designed rooms as well as a fair number of Joni's successful projects, including her own home. If you're looking for some great ideas and some crisp writing, head over there today and say bonjour. If my recommendation's not good enough, know this: Cote de Texas was named one of the top ten blogs of 2008 by none other than the Washington Post. We keep some good company around here, I'll say that.
Here's a quiz that's pretty amusing. It asks ten questions and based on your answers, it matches your personality type with a font. Hmmm. Are you a Helvetica, a Goudy Old Style, a Baskerville or a Lucida Sans?
I'm Times New Roman just in case you're wondering. Some call you timeless --others call you a snob. I'd say they hit the nail on the head with that one.
The signed Matte Stephens I won on Tula Jeng's delightful blog Whorange came back from the framer yesterday. Big love to both the artist and the middle woman on this one --I'm shouting with glee!
So in response to the discussion that started earlier this week about pull out sprayers, here's what I learned about Delta's new MagnaTite magnetic docking system. Thank you Laurie from Kitchen Design Notes for alerting me to the fact that these things exist in the first place.
Delta has a new docking system for some of their faucet models. In these select models, Delta's placed a strong magnet along the inside rim of a few of their kitchen faucets with pull out sprayers. This magnet pulls the sprayer head back into the stem of the faucet and holds it there. Traditionally, these pull outs are held in place with a weight placed at the far end of the pull out's hose. Keeping the pull out retracted becomes a matter of gravity. So long as there's nothing for the weight to get caught up on, this system works. However, most people don't keep their sink bases free of obstacles. We have a Vinnata from Kohler in our showroom and that faucet's weight has an unnatural attraction to the Insinkerator that shares its space. If you look at thebottom left of the illustration below, you can see the weight clamped onto the hose. So as I know from experience, this back-weighted pull-out hose thing is a hit or miss proposition. In an ideal world, there's nothing to get in the way of the weight when the sprayer's in its retracted position.
But in the real world, sink bases are filled with all manner of obstacles for these weights to get caught up in. This is a pain in the butt because it never happens at a convenient time. Getting the weight uncaught is pretty simple, but it usually involves emptying the contents of your sink base. Ugh. Well enter Delta's MagnaTite and here's how Delta explains this innovation:
MagnaTite™ Docking
MagnaTite™ docking keeps the kitchen pull-down spray wand firmly in place with a powerful integrated magnet, so it stays docked when not in use.
The pull-down spray wand comes free with a gentle tug and gives you total flexibility. The hose extends and retracts without friction points, fed by gravity. The toggle button on most wands featuring MagnaTite allows you to switch between aerated spray and stream modes.
As you raise the wand to dock it, the magnet embedded in the spout pulls the wand precisely into place. So unlike other pull-downs that tend to droop over time, MagnaTite keeps your pull-down faucet looking picture perfect.
Here's a Delta video that shows this system at work. It's a great idea, really.
Now this MagnaTite system is only available on a limited number of their faucets, there are two of them that are Lowe's exclusives and the following four models are available through independent dealers. Independent dealers like our pals at eFaucets.com who furnished these images.
This is the Allora
This is the Pilar.
This is the Victorian.
This is the Leland.
Each of these four designs is available in a multitude of variations and in any of Delta's five finishes: chrome, stainless, Venetian bronze, black and white.
I have no firsthand experience with these faucets and I'd be glad to hear from anyone who does. Finding non-sponsored reviews on these things has eluded me completely. It's a really clever idea and I can't imagine why it wouldn't work exactly as promised. But then again, real estate never depreciates, right?
