Wednesday, October 20, 2010

US visit - the final installment

A final few quick photos from my recent US visit.

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My sister lives in an area full of town houses, or row houses as they call them, predominately built in the 1920s.

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Many have been renovated and I couldn't get enough of them.

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There were tasteful neutrals:

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Some a little more daring - love the red one on the end:

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Some seriously loud (and fabulous) turquoise:

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Or how about orange?

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How about that turret at the end? How about this one (my kids want to live here):

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Aww, and check out this little guy. Probably chock-full of rabies, but still so cute!

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On many of the houses I saw these lovely bronze stars, or in this case it's painted white. I wondered what the go was with them, they were everywhere.

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As always Monsieur Google had the answer. These 1920s houses were built to a basic design - four brick walls, and niches in opposite walls where beams would be inserted (upon which the floors would be laid). House walls tend to settle and move slightly as they age, and these floors beams had a tendency of popping out of their niches. And unsupported walls have a tendency of collapsing which is somewhat inconvenient for inhabitants.

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So people started putting steel rods right through their brick walls, alongside their niched beams and out the other side again. Boring folks would secure these rods with a normal round nut while the stylish crowd started using nuts in the shape of a star.

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A cute design addition and a house that doesn't fall down. Bonus!

5 comments:

Pene said...

What lovely houses, I too would love to live in a house with a turret!!
Pene x

Karen from Sew Many Ways... said...

Hi Kirsty, Thanks for the kind comment on the Santa can. I hope you get a chance to make one for the holidays. I'm finally getting a chance to read my favorite blogs. These pictures from your trip are just beautiful...so colorful. Hope you had a great time visiting. Fast, but I'm sure enjoyable.
I have a quick question...I love your blog, your photos, your quilt projects etc. Would it be ok to link to your blog and share it with my readers? I know they would love it.
Take care,
Karen

DAVS said...

I agree with your kids, I want to live there too! And you're right that squirrel probably does have rabies!:D

magpie chic said...

I'll never feel quite the same about squirrels LOL! Rabies indeed. I never thought about it actually, cos we don't have it here. They are just sooo cute, rabies and everything!

islandgirl4ever2 said...

Hi Kristy...

Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment! I just LOVE these apts/houses.. SOOOO charming!!! It reminds me a bit of London... There are some really BEAUTIFUL flats there...
Take care,
Leesa

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