Our designer friend, Gordon, got us hooked on shutters. It's not the worst thing to be hooked on for sure.

Sometimes a final detail, sometimes a curb appeal eye-catcher, sometimes a flaw concealer, sometimes a distractor, sometimes all four and often amusing, they are always worth a look.

We try to reason out how the shutters (or throw pillows) tie things together or make things pop.


But shutters compete. You can't have the same shutter form or color as any of your neighbors. They must be unique.

As you go up the scale, shutters become "designer" and worth a very close look.

My Monday errands take me by a house near Mr. Paron Road. It was rather forlorn. It looked newish but abandoned in the crash.

I've been rooting for it, hoping for a comeback.

They've been fluffing it up, now doing the shutters. I don't think it needs them but I'll leave that to the professionals.


Interesting 4 over 6 sashes. See the quoins? Is that lantern a bit small? I'll bet they get bigger lanterns; they'll have to compete with the shutters.

What do you think so far?

That same day. I cruised this house. It's getting a Spitzmiller & Norris re-do.


I thought the old columns were fine and I'm really loving the green door.

Who knows what it will look like when it done?

It strives to delight and lift our spirits, not to intimidate. May I show you in via my 30-second video?

There is no trouble finding the rose door. It's the clearest of the pinks and reds from the tile, faded walls, and gravel. Isn't the color of the door perfect? Can you imagine another color?


There is another door, the service door done as a window. See the steps in the corner?


The foyer bumps out. It's plain and human sized, more comfortable than I expected. Little hedges and lanterns guide us to a perfect landing. We might have to make a dash during a rain.


No athletic step climbing is required. It's perfectly sized for families. Ladies in heels might need some gravel practice: I notice some "interesting" lady strides as we crunch toward the door. The left window lights the ladies room, the right lights the men's.


Time to go into the surprisingly cozy foyer.


Mind if I quote "Pattern 130. ENTRANCE ROOM?"

When hosts and guests are saying goodbye, the lack of a clearly marked "goodbye" point can easily lead to endless "Well, we really must be going now,?' and then further conversations lingering on, over and over again."

It's been 6 days and I'm not over it, not over my visit to the Pink Castle. I wrote about the angel & urns and about the garage.

I'm participating in Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. Thanks to Susan!



Jeff finished his shutters. See Jeff's Shutters from May 20 and Jeff's Shutters #2 from July 16. Gordon designed them. Jeff built the shutters and the hardware. Paint color was a issue. Gordon wanted "stronger colors. Others wanted less strong.

The thing that pulled it all together was painting the addition.



How about that rich red door?







Before: black, too-small louver shutters. The addition was white and didn't look very integrated with the brick part.





Here is the bluer color, I did Photoshop mock-ups for Jeff and Gordon:





I like with it no shutters. The underlying formal feeling comes out that way. The house seems bigger.



Here is Jeff.



Here is Jeff, life-size with Copper.



Thanks to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.



Thanks,
Terry

Hooked on Houses is hosting her "Hooked on Fridays" blog party; I hope y'all will click here and have look. Today, I'm hooked on an Argentinian's (Norberto Feal) pictures of Atlanta. Certainly Norberto is an Architecture Tourist of the first order. I'm very happy to have a new perspective. And -by the way- this is my 200th post as Architecture Tourist.

Last week I was honored to receive this email. I guess he found me by Googling "Atlanta Architecture."

I write you from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Last year I visit Atlanta: I was
enjoy your wonderful city; and now I am writing an article -I am
architecture historian and critic- about David Yocum & Brian Bell Atlanta
office of architecture; and I discover your blog: Nice.

I send you the photos of some Atlanta buildings that I love.

Regards
Norberto (Feal)

So lets have a look. This first one in is near Murphy Avenue, near the office of architects Brian Bell and David Yocum. This is a neighborhood that time has nearly forgotten. Not anyone's destination but it's full of fascinating reminders.



What a porch!



Love the delicate details on the columns, the mini dentils, the transoms over windows and doors, beefy window moldings. Looks like there are permits in the oval window. Somebody has recognized this jewel.



This is the modest stair to a conservative facade in Ansley Park. From here you'd never guess that the back side of the house is ultra modern.



What was Norberto thinking? I'd say that this 4-square is still getting the job done perhaps after a variety of assignments. Who doesn't love the picket fence on the wall.



Getting down to the details: Diamond lights and impossibly proportioned shutters make the whole window into something else, just something else. And what about the brick coins?



Are there repurposed IHOPs (International House Of Pancakes) in Argentina? I hope so.



Thanks so much Norberto. Hope you get back to Atlanta.

Thanks to Hooked on Houses' "Hooked on Fridays" blog party.

Hooked on Houses is hosting her "Hooked on Fridays" blog party; I hope y'all will click here and have look. This week I'm hooked on Jeff's Shutters again. Do you remember the original Jeff's Shutters post? A lot of nice folks left great comments.

Jeff needs your comments again because...

Jeff has changed the colors. He's started building the hardware, removed all the old shutters and painted the windows.

In the original post Gordon and Jeff had designed new shutters, and selected colors for the shutters and for the window muntins. It was controversial. Family harmony was at stake. Dogs and cats were sleeping together.

They did a test. I took some pictures and did some PhotoShopping. Here are the original black, non-functional shutters. The test is in the lower right.



The muntins have gone white and the latest shutter color is California Paint "Pettingill Sage" Hist144. Here is the sample.



Let's go though the progression via my amateur Photoshop Elements, skills.

Black Shutters:



Photoshopped bluish shutters:



Removing the shutters changed the house big time. I almost snapped my neck as I drove by. I asked Jeff if he'd considered no shutters. He said emphatically, "these shutters are going up."



Photshopped Pettingill Sage (I don't have the correct colors and don't know how to manange the sun and shade.



It's a corner lot, here is the other facade with original black stick-on shutters:



Photoshopped with the bluish shutters:



The no shutter look. Here is Jeff. He's horsing the shutters around so I can get some pictures. Did I mention that he built the shutters himself? Well he did.



The Photoshopped sage shutters.



It's a great corner lot in the Lenox Park area of Atlanta's Morningside / Lenox Park neighborhood.



Thanks so much,
Terry

Hooked on Houses is hosting her "Hooked on Friday's" blog party: I'm hooked on a helping Jeff and family. Please tell Jeff and me what you think. Jeff's doing new shutters as part of a general exterior spiff up.

He's done one window (lower right) for the whole neighborhood to see. The opinions are rolling it. I PhotoShopped the rest of the windows.



Opinions are divided about colors but not about Gordon's design of the new beefy shutters. They are in scale with the windows, unique in the neighborhood, and show up the puny old black ones. Here is the Photoshopped version. What do you think?



What about the side?



I'm not sure all the side windows need shutters. Or, maybe the middle windows need flower boxes - a decisions best left to the design scientists?



Jeff is building the shutters and the hardware himself. Here he is with Copper and a project he did for us - a base with legs for what we call our "thing." Jeff is the one standing on his hind legs.



The "thing" with legs. Thanks Jeff.



Here is more of the "thing" story and a couple more pictures. But that's another story.



Thanks so much,
Terry