Author Archive
Stacy Kirk Photography
by admin on Jan.11, 2011, under Uncategorized
I am proud to announce the launch of my new website, www.StacyKirkPhotography.com
Stacy passed away in 2005 but I am honored to represent her photography on behalf of her family. After months of discussions and planning, her website is now up and features 37 carefully selected works but more will follow over the next few months. All are open edition, archival inkjet on canvas (giclee’) and are available in 3 sizes, based on a 24″ frame, a 36″ frame and a 48″ frame. Prints will be created by her printer, Fidelis Art Prints in Vancouver, BC, shipped to me where I will have them stretched on a frame locally and they can be delivered to you or picked up in my studio at Bay6 in East Austin.
I think you will find these works amazingly beautiful and unique. Stacy worked with a friend who was able to create a specially built digital camera that was able to get detail and resolution that was up to her exacting standards.
She also used one the highest resolution scanners available to achieve incredible effects that almost simulate x-rays. I think you will be amazed at the beauty in these works!
I have included a few in some of my staged homes and they always make a big impact. They have to be seen to be believed!Thank you so much for having a look!
New listings
by admin on Oct.29, 2009, under Architecture
I have had a busy summer and many of my listings have sold. This creates a fun challenge of moving these items to new properties in a timely manner. I was lucky that Megan Gattis with Avenue One forwarded my email indicating this to another great agent, Susanne Lee, who has this amazing listing in the Heritage Neighborhood, also called Oakwood, in central Austin. It is featured in October 25th’s real estate section of the Statesman and you can read about it’s great features here:
- 3108 West Ave
We also did some streamlining in another amazing property in Westlake called Haven Hill Estate. Visiting and working in this home was a real experien ce. It’s like walking into your own private enclave with 3-story Spanish style home with elevator, detached game room, guest house, pool, jacuzzi and cabana. Linda Biderman with Wilson Goldrick is the listing agent. Check out the details and photos here:
http://www.austinhomesearch.com/Search/Details.aspx?li=141838&or=1&cp=3
Eanes School Road Living Room
I currently have several other listings with Linda in a great and up and coming neighborhood in South Austin considered South Terrace, just off Bluebonnet, west of Lamar. I didn’t know about this area until I staged three properties there for Linda and her green-building investors in early September. There are a lot of late mid-century homes here that are in well-preserved condition or are being updated with a slight modern edge - a really smart choice considering the architecture. It’s a really great little pocket with a ton of potential. I can’t see it becoming a big, over-built condo factory back there but a nicely updated area with tasteful growth and improvements. If this neighborhood has been off your radar, you should check it out!
Overcup Oak
3206 South Oak
3202 South Oak
Summer is here!
by admin on Jun.29, 2009, under Uncategorized
–And the market is picking up. I have had 7 jobs this month and 3 more houses to fill in the next 2 weeks. ‘Tis the season indeed. I just completed the installation for the Austin Cool House Tour. Linda Biderman with Wilson Goldrick Realtors referred me to Jeff McFadden & Lindsay Yeakley of Ultraverte (green builders), who did an amazing job of restoring a 1920’s bungalow to 5 star Green standards. It has all the charm of a 1920’s home with all the green benefits available today. Here is what Ultraverte said about the event:
Hot Day, Cool Houses!
The 2009 Cool House Tour proved to provide a cool relief to lots of people who braved 100+ temperatures to view eco-friendly homes rated by Austin Energy Green Building. Together the Texas Solar Energy Society and Austin Energy Green Building selected 12 homes to participate on 2009 tour help today from 10am-6pm. It seemed like there was a steady stream of 10-15 people in the house at a time for 8 hours…a wonderful success!
The tour allows the community to visit green homes throughout the Austin area to learn about eco-friendly products and innovative technologies that reduce energy consumption, save water, conserve materials, promote healthy indoor air quality, and encourage green living habits.
Ultraverte’s historic project was selected for the tour with the hope of educating the community about the restoration of a 1920s home into a 5 Star Green home. As the builders we were available to answer questions about the replica Energy Star windows, spray foam insulation, HVAC and ventilation system, original white oak hardwood floors, no-VOC paint, humidistat system, and sustainable landscaping.
The house provided additional highlights with the beautiful staging work by Blanton Design & Staging. Furniture from Austin’s own Jaya and Wildflower provided character and ambiance. Unique, original artwork from Rebecca Bennett, Gallery Soco, Austin
Art Garage, and Wendy Ford Mackey provided conversation pieces for the walls. Tour guests enjoyed learning about the reclaimed, eco-friendly, and local art and interior design!
Read more about Ultraverte and their terrific building standards:
Jaya supplied the gorgeous furniture for the home. I thought it worked visually, but when I learned that Jaya “proudly uses reclaimed or plantation grown teak and other hard woods, as well as rapid-growing,
sustainable materials in approximately 90% of our furniture; leaving the rainforest for future generations” I realized they were a slam dunk for this project.
Wildflower is a homebody’s fantasy shopping destination. Luxurious linens, organic mattresses and the most fabulous and unique accessories around. It’s one of those stores where you walk through and touch everything in your path. Cori Hedman graciously allowed me to borrow some of their most delicious accessories for the event, adding a level of quality I frequently cannot incorporate due to budgetary restrictions.
The art was also graciously donated for the day from Austin Art Garage
Gallery Soco
Rebecca Bennett
www.rebeccabennettartworks.com
and
Wendy Mackey
All have outstanding work - which is why I chose them!
It was such a pleasure to be part of this wonderful project. Thank you again to my vendors and of course to Linda, Jeff and Lindsay for entrusting me with this important task!
The Marlin House
by admin on Mar.02, 2009, under Architecture
I’m a little late in passing along this story but thought it deserved some additional attention. Our friends Ivan and Priscilla got a nice feature from the Statesman a few weeks ago for their wonderful work on The Marlin House – a subject I was going to write about anyway but the paper beat me to it. My husband Baird and I always say that, “when we grow up, we want to be Ivan and Priscilla”. They are doing what we have done and will continue to do as the economy improves, just a bit bigger and dare I say it, a lot better than we have had the luxury of doing so far, which is invest in properties, improve them and resell them. Some could call it “flipping”, but let me assure you, none of their homes are “flips”. They carefully select a home with great bones and sometimes historical architectural significance, then painstakingly repair, refinish, revive, refresh and renew every single detail, resulting in a masterful work of art every single time.
I met Ivan while he had Floribunda Plantworks on Lamar. http://www.floribundaworks.com/
I needed a water feature for our back yard and after seeing his portfolio in the shop, I knew he was the right one for the job. He did not disappoint.
Photo by Ivan Spaller
Since then, we have been trying to keep up with his projects with Priscilla on a grander scale, the first being the Nickerson house, just off the main drag area of South Congress. They took a little craftsman, gutted it, made historically accurate improvements like replacing bad windows with new ones that look and operate like the old ones, adding new white oak flooring and white marble countertops but also added fresh, smart architectural details that are distinctly modern, like the steel gable on the front of the house and two giant wooden beams used as stairs, hand torched to bring out the grain. He also took great pains to add custom steel and glass doors that lead to a small courtyard with – you guessed it – a water feature. Outstanding.
Now they have done it again with The Marlin House. The link to the Statesman article is here:
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/business/stories/statesmanhomes/01/25/0125marlin.html
Whoever buys this house is like a lottery winner. You get the magic of a grand old Victorian with all the luxuries of a contemporary home. The detail is dazzling.
Luckily, the home is for sale and represented by Carrie Bills at Green Mango. Here’s their listing.:
http://greenmangorealestate.com/index.cfm?p=homelisting&type=forsale&id=672
I have much more to say about Ivan and Priscilla’s plans for other homes in 78704. Just wait – you won’t believe it!
Creative Solutions in a Tough Economy
by admin on Feb.06, 2009, under Around Austin, Art
This tough economic climate has people rethinking the money they spend – even if their jobs and finances are seemingly secure. It’s between what people want and what they need and this new conservative mind-frame has them leaning a lot more towards the latter part of that equation. Unfortunately, art, home decor and boutique clothing has slipped into the “want” consciousness and has forced these retailers to rethink their way of doing business.
My friends Jason and Francesca of Gallery Soco have closed their gallery on South Congress after nine wonderful years. They were always voted in the top few, if not the very top favorite galleries in Austin year after year by Austin Chronicle readers, among others. They have been diligent about keeping their business focused equally in the virtual world as well as the physical one. Their website is always updated with new work from their large stable of artists and removed promptly following a purchase. Luckily for us, they are going to be able to maintain their business as a virtual gallery, where clients can see all the work online but can also make an appointment to view it in person before making the final decision on whether or not to make the purchase. They have also elected to keep an office space in the back of the gallery where they can continue their framing business, as the actual labor is all done off site anyway. It sounds like a perfect solution for them: they have closed their doors without really closing their doors! They can continue with their focused, knowledgeable art sales without all the time and financial constraints associated with a retail facility. www.GallerySoco.com
Another favorite establishment has closed its doors in Austin for good. AREA on Lavaca near 2nd was a real respite for me: a favorite to browse their beautiful, hand-picked furnishings, books and home décor. My 16 year old niece would always have it at the top of her list to visit when she came to Austin and would fantasize about buying “this chair” or “that lamp” for her future home she will have in an unforeseen time frame. The good
news about AREA, however, is that they are not closing their doors forever, just the ones in Austin. The owner said she is currently shopping for the right location in Dallas hopes to reopen there sometime later in the year. I will watch for them! www.AreaAustin.com
The last great shop to close its doors and head exclusively into the virtual world is Love on 1st Street. Cindy Hill and Ginger Leigh created a wonderful little boutique in an old bungalow-style house filled with rock-n-roll style clothing and accessories for all ages. They frequently hosted “Love on the Lawn”, an intimate musical gathering featuring the talents of many great Austin musicians including Ginger Leigh, Slim Richey Quartet and Patrice Pike. If you can’t live without their great rock inspired items, check them out online www.LoveAustinTexas.com
Accessible Art
by admin on Jan.07, 2009, under Art
This weekend my friend Thomas Walker and I ventured into a gallery around the corner called Austin Art Garage. I had heard about this once or twice before but was afraid it was going to be another one of those “junk” galleries with lots of passion but not a lot of - dare I say, talent, or appeal (to me). Believe me, I love the low-brow and underground art more than just about any other but just because it is in a gallery doesn’t mean it’s good. We were delighted to discover that the vast majority of the art in A.A.G was good. Actual skill was apparently involved and most even had a message or meaning that conveyed to even the two major art snobs who had just darkened their doorway. The heart of A.A.G is their aim to showcase only local talent – and a lot of it at once so everyone gets some exposure - but also at reasonable prices, keeping it accessible to all levels of collectors. This is the kind of gallery where buyers truly love the work for just what it is, without any lame aspirations of its value down the line.
The walls are covered top to bottom in small to mid-size pieces that can be easily worked in to all sorts of locations in the home or office. Some of our favorites in the current exhibition are Graham Franciose, with an illustrators eye he reminded me of my friend Gris Grimly and his imaginative work. www.MadCreator.com (more on Gris in a future blog). Mario Jimenez Diaz and his amazing paintings that look like slightly blurred photographs, one with a bit of additional embellishment, which adds to the magic and fantasy of The Orange Patio. I have to say, my personal favorite in the entire collection was the work of Dan Grissom. His acrylic and Xerox transfers on wood panel kept grabbing me over and over again as I circled the space. I am sure we will end up with a Grissom in our collection before long. Joel Ganucheau also had some great graphic pieces, many of which had been reproduced in a charming 5” x 5” format, which could have great strength alone on a wall or several in a group, of course. I like the idea of a solitary piece though, as I feel it gives it more power and the image doesn’t get diluted. Thomas kept going back to the work of Justin Preston and Julie Isaacson, both skilled abstract painters who draw some influences from geometry and nature. Isaacson had more in the current show so I found myself returning to her work as well. I found the work of Adam Rader a real stand out. It was very similar in style to Grissom’s but instead of Xerox transfers, Rader sketches his subjects in charcoal and/or graphite. I found Grissom’s work more eye-catching but Rader’s work spoke to my soul. His images are ghostlike figures on an icy background. I could review and ramble about his work for several paragraphs I’m sure, but in the interest of holding your attention I will leave it at that for now. Check out Austin Art Garage’s site and get a preview, but if you’re in Austin please drop in and see these works in person. www.AustinArtGarage.com
Hello and Welcome!
by admin on Dec.19, 2008, under Uncategorized
Hello and welcome to the Blanton Design Blog! I hope to be able to use this to educate myself, as well as others trying to sell their homes with ideas and observations about the real estate market as well as trends in design and art in Austin.
For a traditionally slow time of year, we haven’t been slow at all! We are hearing that there is a lot of activity in the market as there are so many deals to be had. The feds cut the rates again a couple of days ago to 5.19% and that is not just for new home owners, it’s for anyone buying one.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/18/AR2008121803532.html
Unfortunately it’s not for refinances but still good news for anyone who must move and sell their home in this weakened economy. The result of this cut is that those who will be seeking new loans will get an amazing rate, creating a mortgage that is more affordable without the insidious gamble of a variable rate, which got us all into this mess in the first place. This you already know.
However, I intend for this blog to tell you about things you do not know. I am active in the art as well as the real estate communities and am able to blend the two worlds into the business of staging homes for sale. I will be writing about unique properties I have visited, architects I have spoken to and artists I have met. I have a unique perspective on the real estate world because as a developer and artist myself, I understand the challenges in showcasing the home from the architect’s perspective, while maximizing the home’s appeal to a wide market. The staging shouldn’t overshadow the details of the home, it should enhance those details and create an atmosphere that people can really identify with how they could live there. I work as a team with the Realtor, architect and/or builder towards one common goal: sell that house.
I’ll have updates soon about some incredible projects going up in our neighborhood – stay tuned!
