Lori's East Atlanta Pottery Studio is "Out in the Country"

It feels rural just south of East Atlanta Village.

At Lori's there's a nice pre-Depression era house on a half acre, a gravel and grass drive, and an outbuilding workshop. Our southern grandparents, aunts and uncles lived in places like this. They worked in the city but preferred living in the country. Many still do.

I went to Lori Buff's Future Relics Gallery yesterday. Lori is a clayworker. She's having her holiday sale. I was already charmed by Lori and her work, We have one of her raku horsehair pieces. Yesterday I got to see the studio.

You can keep up with her on Facebook and Twitter @FutureRelicsGal.

 
Who doesn't love a crisp sign, a grass drive, and a perky outbuilding.
 

Three bloggers, two clayworkers: Left is Linda Starr, also a clayworker and blogger at Blue Starr Gallery. Right is Lori Buff, the one-person total package at Future Relics. If you go out much, go out to where the artists, artisans, crafterers are, you'll run into her. Lori blogs at Future Relics Pottery.

Now I'll just show you.


It feels country but she has neighbors and this great yard sink.


This is so cool.


These round things are "bats."  You put the bat on the wheel, the clay on the bat, then you throw, like on Ghost.


You take the bat off the wheel and let the pot harden just enough. Then you use a cut-off string with handles to cut the pot off the bat.


Depending on how you pull the cut-off string, you get very cool patterns like this.


Handles have their own production line.


There a wheel with a metal pedal.


There's a kick-wheel with a collection of clay tailings.


There's orangestone clay.


Phoenix clay in clay lingo: "... It has a good amount of tooth without being rough on beginners hands. Fine mullite grog has excellent thermal shock properties ..."


Loafer's clay is just my style.


Straightforward tools everywhere, You'll need this to make sure your lids fit.


I'm rather ham-handed but I love the tools.


For big curves and striations.


There will be mud but not today.


Humble sponges.


A stick for every season.


I like the lamp a lot.


Do the clayworkers bond like the printmakers? I think so.

Time to go.


This is a rural scene.


Some of Lori's handmades.


A neighbor took a picture of us. You can just see the back of the house.


A look at the seconds table, they look like firsts to me.


Bye.

Linda Starr blogged it too at "Lori Buff Open Studio."

Six fireplaces in this 1920's Virginia-Highland Craftsman

1017 Highland View is for sale right now. It began its life in high style and at 90+ years all that style is still there. It's loving owners didn't mess it up while updating the kitchen, bathrooms, and decor. The interior design is effortlessly outstanding. I think would look just as good empty.

If you see an open house on certain streets, you must go.

I'll demonstrate with its six elaborate fireplaces in 4 designs.

 
This is the entry room with a classical mantel with chimney breast, built-in bench and stair with unashamed, expensive floral wallpaper. Who dares wallpaper these days?


The parlor on the right has a matching fireplace but without a chimney breast.

Matching fireplaces tie entry and parlor into a single visual space: modern right, craftsman left, florals left, horizontals right.


The dining room mixes antiques and modern with this Louis XV curvey fireplace on a chimney breast. This is un-whimpy decor, minimal on its own terms. A pro designer can go sparse in a room like this or pile it on.

That's the three downstairs, now for the three upstairs.


The master - I think - all three bedrooms are grand. Look at all that yummy woodwork. The dark fireplace makes a statement in here. The furniture harmonizes with the dark wood, tying things together.


Curves with shag and Eames: Bravo. Do try this at home with professional help.


Same fireplace design but on a breast, art pulls colors from the marble.

I wish  you could turn around to see what's behind me because I'm not showing you everything.




If you visit an open house on certain streets, you'll probably find an architecture tourist.

Teardown Complete in Inman Park - Bravo

A teardown in Inman Park. Are you kidding?

When we dream, we talk Ansley Park, Candler Park, Peachtree Hills, Morningside, Midtown, Virginia Highland, Oakhurst, Kirkwood, Winona Park, MAK. In the end it's always: "We want to live in Inman Park." But there's isn't room for all of us.

Property records say the old house was built in 1917, 1,603 square feet on a 0.11 acre lot.

 
The new house was designed by Adam Stillman Residential Design, built by Cablik Enterprises, the building permit shows 2,302 square feet.

This is a stunningly small house by today's intown teardown standards. But it fits. At nearby 836 Euclid they are building 4,162 square feet on .2 acre, but it also fits.


The old house was blue and boarded up.


It was embedded in the vegetation and in the context of the street. It's the house on the left.


There wasn't a driveway. The houses seem like a mass planting, growing together. This is an "old" look.


You just can't do a new house without a driveway so the new house is narrower to accommodate it. On this hill the driveway requires these abrupt retaining walls. It's a startling effect but landscaping will soften them over the years.


I liked the old place but if it had to go...


...this is pretty darn good and better in person.

It's within sight of this infill which also had to fit.


 

Charm that's Bigger Than It Really Is in Lake Claire

On Tuesday morning the low winter sun lit the south side of McLendon and this little house caught my eye. Tax records say it's about 1,200 square feet, built in 1940. It's so good.


There are 1000's of great ways to detail this wall but a billion bad ways.


The gable's peak is half hipped, clipped or jerkinhead: "a hipped part of a roof which is hipped only for a part of its height leaving a truncated gable."


The bell-shaped window just touches the fascia.


The returns are prominent but not too beefy. The white trim moves my eye all around. The tall chimney has a little hat. Neatly spaced  little boxwoods don't crowd the view or diminish the height. A leggy bush softens the corner but doesn't hide the foundation. the hydrangeas aren't yet overgrown. It would look so different without the window box. Smooth trim and glass, shingles on roof and walls, brick and screen, horizontals, verticals and diagonals, one complex curve.

Designers get these details right and can imagine successful variations.


Guests know where to knock and sense the sheltering porch.


The garbage cans are just a sign of life.


Bravo. Let's come back in the spring.