Entries from May 1, 2007 - May 31, 2007
Mytoi garden
Somehow in decades of visiting Martha’s Vineyard, I had never explored the Mytoi garden on Chappaquiddick until this past Memorial Day weekend. It is 
inner gateexquisite. Originally created in the ‘50s by Mary Wakeman with the aid and advice of her architect Hugh Jones, the property is now owned by the The Trustees of Reservations. Apparently it was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Bob in 1991 but has since been revived thanks to a new master plan by landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy. She’s the co-author with Sarah Susanka of the recent Taunton book, Outside the Not So Big House. Today’s refurbished four-acre garden is a delightful hybrid of the Island environment and a Japanese aesthetic.
Katie Hutchison
Ask Katie: Thoughts on a kitchen and doors
Q: We have a condo in a beautiful Beaux Arts-style building, but our kitchen is Beaux-Brady Bunch. It desperately needs remodeling though we have very limited space. There is an enclosed pantry that takes up almost one-third of the room's area, and my husband especially likes it because it's a sort of food-cave. But I think it takes up too much space in an already small kitchen.
Would we be better off just knocking out the pantry or remodeling the kitchen around it, with new cabinets and appliances?
Sue from Oakland, CA
A: Beaux-Brady Bunch can have a certain charm, but probably not in the context of your Beaux Arts-style building. If you’re ready for the challenge, I’d consider abandoning the Brady look and food-cave altogether.
Welcome Fellow House Enthusiasts
Allow me to introduce myself, my mission, and the magazine
I’m an architect, but mainly I’m a house enthusiast. Ever since growing up
New England antique in the cozy comforts of an antique New England farmhouse amidst rock walls and wildflowers, I have been fascinated with notions of home, how homes are shaped and how those within are shaped by them.
Early on as a suburban pre-teen, I was intrigued to visit friends’ homes of different eras than my own. To me a contemporary house was some sort of exotic. Open plans with low slung roofs, glass sliders, interior stone courtyards, and decks piqued my curiosity. The smell was different, often the artwork more abstract. What did it mean? What influence did these homes, that were so unlike mine, have on these families and vice versa? How, as a result, were we dissimilar yet also similar?
