Sanatorium to Become Hotel

A 1920's era sanatorium near Louisville, Ky is slated to be turned into a hotel. The Waverly Hills Sanatorium has long been a site for ghost hunters and has been featured on a number of TV shows.

The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and the plans seem to be coming together to make the project happen. Plans include a hotel, spa and meeting space.
Courier Journal article.
Waverly Hills Sanatorium website

Photo by Alex Davis, The Courier-Journal

Kitchen and conservatory, Practical Magic.

Sometimes the best part of a movie is the sets or the costuming. Over the years as we have searched for our perfect house I have had at least two requests, a large kitchen and a conservatory.

The house sets in the movie Practical Magic are wonderful examples of just that. Sadly, there was no real house used in the movie. It was all well conceived sets and a temporary facade.









The huge kitchen set from the movie. They never make kitchens big enough in real life.

Your home is your sanctuary

Your home is your haven - your sanctuary - where you can be you. Whether you want old world charm on the outside with seclusion, peace, and tranquility on the inside, or a flashy contemporary facade with wide open entertaining spaces, turning your dreams into a design that fits you and your distinctive lifestyle is my goal. Please explore this site, and see what Rob Sanders Designer can do for you.

From 2004 Parade of Homes, Austin, Texas (Greenshores) Barefoot Cove

Your home is your sanctuary

Your home is your haven - your sanctuary - where you can be you. Whether you want old world charm on the outside with seclusion, peace, and tranquility on the inside, or a flashy contemporary facade with wide open entertaining spaces, turning your dreams into a design that fits you and your distinctive lifestyle is my goal. Please explore this site, and see what Rob Sanders Designer can do for you.

From 2004 Parade of Homes, Austin, Texas (Greenshores) Barefoot Cove

Dining room wall decor

I found this dining room image at Architectural Digest. The wall behind the table has a high impact but look closer, it is a very simple design.

An iron curtain rod hung high on the wall with a tab top curtain(s) in a basic fabric is used as the back drop. The images are hung using a series of hooks or chain to suspend them from the rod.

The main piece of art is the painting in the middle. You could use a featured piece of art or even an art poster if it was well framed. The surrounding frames appear to have photos or ink drawings. All of this could be done on a theme such as one main work of art by an artist and then use smaller prints from the same artist in the other frames.

This would also be easy to do with a group of frames from a thrift store painted black and filled with small prints, art images scavenged from a calendar or cards with art fronts.
Image: Architectural Digest

Jay Walker's library: something to covet.

Wired did a piece on Jay Walker, a technology millionaire and his library of awesomeness.

It is a mix of old styled library, historical science museum and a geek-fest. Walker has everything from an actual Sputnik satellite to an Enigma machine and various medical oddities.

There are more images in the Wired article including more views of the library and of various ancient books and artifacts.

Chicago Colombian Exposition, stroll the white city.

The Chicago Tribune has a slideshow of the 1893 Chicago Colombian Exposition. All that remains of this expanse of buildings is the one that is now the Museum of Science and Industry.

Most of these buildings were built with wood framing and plaster and either burned down or decayed quickly. Even by today's standards the end result done specifically for a one time event is amazing.

Design Interior Modern Living Room

Your living room is one of the most important rooms in the entire house, and most of the people spend a lot of time in their living room. The decor of your living room can set the tone for your entire house. If your style is contemporary, then modern sofas, recliners, Plasma or LCD TV stands and entertainment units are an introduction to the rest of the contemporary space in your home.

The living room is the place of first introduction to your guest in your home. In simple terms, the living room is the focal point of a home, and a place that will bring comfort and joy to all of its inhabitants. So, how to create an impression of modernization living room? The idea is to come up with contemporary designs but still patterned to your taste and personality.

1. Focus to the modern living room design

To create your living room as a modern design it doesn't mean that you should be spend more money to buy new items, Simply you only need to create them to be modern look. With simple designs, you can easily come up with modern living room designs.

You can use lighting accessories, such as vanity strips and ornament lights. These items will serve as accent lighting and will emphasize or draw attention to your furniture even if they are not brand new. The idea is to blend modern lighting and not-so modern furniture and demonstrate what modern living room designs are all about.

2. Put some of accessorize

Design interior modern living room is does not necessarily mean buying updated furniture, modern style. Some of modern home accessories can help you to create your living room look as modern design, These items are much cheaper than the brand new fixtures and furniture.

The important thing is you should know about how the modern living room looks like. This would mean using accessories that are elegant, shiny, and patterned in subdued colors such as silver, grey, or black.

3. Choose the color scheme

In order to make your living room looks as modern design, You need to choose the color scheme. Modern homes are usually painted in sleek colors, such as black, white, and silver.

Hence, it is best to stick to basic colors so as to reflect contemporary look. Design interior modern living room for paints are also focused on using matte or flat paint finish. Try to avoid the glossy or shiny paint finish. For the walls, you can stick with the white color and enhance them with modern accessories such as paintings or modern day murals.

4. Create an abstract design

Now days, Many people are patterned their living room in abstract designs. Hence, incorporating these things in modern living room designs will definitely bring contemporary look in your area.

Home accessories such as clocks, picture scenery are can help you to set them create a modern interior design on your living room. Abstract designs provide a playful interpretation on the perception of different things.

70's gothic dining table DIY rehab

We bought this table about ten years ago for $50, it was not in great shape but the style of the table was just too cool to pass up.

It had cracks in the legs and chunks of the wood veneer top missing. This was one of those projects I said I was going to do every spring and never did.

It was stripped and sanded and then given lots of woodfiller. That was the main reason I painted the table, staining was not possible with all the damage to the wood.


The table was taken apart and all of the pieces were given 2-3 coats of water based black paint and a coat of polyurethane. The top received three coats of poly.

The gold was painted in between the black and the top coat. The chair in the background is one of our mismatched chairs. They will be stripped and stained with an ebony stain to keep the look of the wood but tie them into the set better.

I think it will also look much better when we get the floors redone in wood to replace the vinyl tile.

Cocoon Lamp

2006
bamboo plywood / wool yarn
varying dimensions:
small 8” h x 22” diameter
large 16” h x 31” diameter

The structure of this unusual pendant lamp is made from bamboo plywood and wrapped with 100% wool yarn which functions as a sculptural lampshade. The yarn also holds the structure together through tension rather than with nasty adhesives. The component bamboo plywood pieces slot together and are lasercut from a pattern of concentric circles, minimizing material waste from the manufacturing process. It ships flat to be assembled on site and is handmade in San Francisco.

Suspension Cabinet

2005
african mahogony / maple / aluminum rod
18” x 18” x 43.5”

This piece is about suspension as well as deconstruction. The central cabinet unit is suspended from four points within the maple frame. The outer structure is bolted together and deconstructs into component parts. The aluminum rod functions as the connection point for the hardware, as well as acts as a buffer between the wooden components, while the hardware is presented as an accent rather than hidden from view. The overall design brings attention to the structure of the frame -as a container, protecting the contents of the shelf.

Tessellation Table

2005
steel / brass / mahagony / maple
38” x 42.5” x 16”

tes'sel·la'tion n.
“to cover the plane with a pattern in such a way as to leave no region uncovered.”

This tessellation is based on a hexagon, and arises from a personal fascination with geometry. Component parts create a flat surface that plays with concepts of perception and visual illusion. Contrast of materials from wood to metal within the pattern adds to the illusion of the three-dimensional quality of the flat plane of the table..

Air House Bench

2005
cherry / upholstry
18” x 36” x 18”

The concept for this piece was inspired by a residence in Japan titled the Air House. Featuring floor to ceiling windows creating the walls, the house is almost completely surrounded by water and the natural environment. Following the formal aesthetics of the space, the upholstered piece floats in a thin, airy frame of cherry wood. The shape of the upholstery is representative of airflow, and the seam-lines reflect and emphasize this aspect of the bench.

Floating Back Armchair and Ottoman

2004
solid walnut / upholstery
24” x 28” x 33”

This chair is an experiment of the structural integrity of wood joinery. The back of this armchair floats seemingly with little support from the base of the chair. The only connection is through the armrests - a thin piece of walnut joined to the base with a mortise and tenon joint. Although it appears fragile, the structure is solid.

Ghetto Blaster

2003
brass / copper / acrylic
7” x 3” x 5.5”

An 80’s hip hop cultural icon, the boombox, is replicated here in copper and brass. The lid opens to reveal a compartment sized to fit cassette tapes – an almost extinct media form. This piece returns the ghetto blaster to it's former glory as the icon that it is.

The free antique piano

Dr. Dreadful asked me if we wanted a free piano. One of his co-workers found it left behind by a former tenant in one of her properties. If we removed it we could have it.

I was told that it had white paint on it, had lots of carving making it look old and it was made in the 1960's. It sounded cool so I agreed sight unseen.

After much fuss and aching backs Dr. Dreadful and friends showed up with the piano at our house. It was indeed very cool.


Whomever painted this with a thick layer of interior wall primer does need a serious beating. Upon further inspection the piano didn't look to be constructed in the 1960's. After some serious googling I found that it is actually an antique. Based on the serial number it is around a year 1909-1912 Smith & Barnes. A similar one fully restored sold for around $9700. It does need a small bit of work, one of the hammers was broken but otherwise is one of the most amazing sounding pianos.

I did discover that the finish underneath the primer is recoverable. By using a piece of extra fine sandpaper I was able to get down to pure finish without damage. So this will be my January and February project, hand sanding the entire piano.
My sanity in March remains to be seen.

The images do not do justice to the detailed carving.