Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me get unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. Here are some photos that I gathered in the last couple weeks.

December already, things are slowing down – the cats are hanging out in the art studio in their new cat tree … don’t they look as if you could just pluck them off there?

We also decorated our stoop – we are all in this year – our first Christmas in this house :)

In other house news- we have still some loose ends construction and painting wise- but we stripped those plaster brackets that were painted over and over the past decades that no details were visible. I couldn’t believe when I found all those different patterns like dots and grids in there …those things make me so excited – it is ridiculous LOL

We went an artfair held in the Armory nearby – I always wondered how it looked inside and well – now I know. Love the floor

But these old wooden gym seats with the brick wall just are my fave!

The building on the left is in a very sad state but must have been magnificent back in the days- nonetheless I love this little view with the Queen Anne on the right, a church visible in the middle and the brick apartment building with fire stairways on the right …it is so typical Jersey City to me!

This is one of many identical apartment buildings on a neighborhood street and I find it just so interesting – the oval windows next to the columns- the door obviously not original . And then the very long quoined window units on the left and right of the second floor …was this ever ONE window? or how did the middle look in between back then …these are the weird things I ask myself when I walk through the city- LOL.

This building is being renovated and I love love love the massive entrance – isn’t this amazing? I just wish they would have created a different stairway or will still do something with it -the stairs do not fit at all with this.

Hope you enjoyed the stroll this month – see you next month :)

Nat

Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me get unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. Here are some photos that I gathered in the last couple weeks.

So hard to believe that it is already November – and while I am dreading winter before it even started I nonetheless loving the ambience that comes with the seasons …and hey …I got an antique oil lamp and I looooveee it.

I am also taking a class at NYU in Historic Preservation and a lot of my assignments are to take a stroll through the hood and take pictures of certain architectural features – HA – great – you asked the right person LOL. Anyway- for my assignment to photograph pilasters I thought the class would enjoy this gem of a house ;) No sugar coating back then!

A wonderful Cafe in our neighborhood offered a great dinner and we went with friends. The theme was 1894 – the year the building in which the cafe is set, was built and the owner and cook not only researched all those recipes, he also told the story and background of each course. It was so much fun.

Now I am sure you are as nervous as we were about the “Pickled Ear”

I am happy to report all was good- no Jersey Style chopped ear was served ;) An ear of corn ….which was delicious.

Other than that we are still doing a lot of renovation and updates in the house. The picture above is the curtesy of the seller …we call this usually a landlord’s special – when they just paint everything with flat paint – including hardware etc. without doing anything like priming etc. In this case it was especially stupid and bad as it was painted on top of a layer of oil paint. Don’t ask me how I feel about taking this all off …I am ready to pickle an ear ;)

We are also working on a new guest powder room and we cannot wait for it to be done. This used to be the super dark laundry room in the basement. I actually think that initially the cook might have slept here as the cook often times was also the laundress and according the censuses from 1890 and 1900 they lived in house. Plus this room downstairs has a window. So I think the cook was here and the other servants have lived upstairs …but we will probably never know for sure. In any event …this is what it will be in the future. The blue on the wood panelling is called Skinny Jeans …I love the name!

Hope you enjoyed the stroll this month – see you soon :)

Nat

Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me get unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. Here are some photos that I gathered in the last couple weeks.

I really love the light in my new studio and I am looking almost forward to colder months that make us stay home more and me spend more time in the studio.

Our stained glass window in the kitchen needs a lot of love as it is starting to sag and bulge and I had to take some photos to get things in motion for the restoration – isn’t this just amazing? I love love love all the little bits and pieces and color variations.

This old cemetery – which has it’s first recorded burial in 1680 is the last resting place for a lot of the older families from the Netherlands that settled here around the 1630s. It is never open – so it was a treat to be able to go in finally.

A lot of the gravestones cannot be read anymore- but every name is a street in Jersey City.

This one has this interesting skull engraving on the top.

And then we stumbled across this stone …and I gasped – not only because it was half eaten by the tree but because I recognized the name and the dates right away. Albert J. Vreeland’s widow and his children lived after his death in our house for a couple years – and I had found his son’s WWI enlistment etc. It was somehow touching to see the gravestone …I know weird, but then I thought- hey, there hasn’t been anyone in decades probably who stopped at this stone and thought of this person…so it is meant to be.

Across the cemetery is the Old Bergen Church which has been re-built several times and has each of the old headstones in walls. It was the first time that the church was actually open as well and I could see it since we moved here

It is a pretty church and quite similar to some of the Northern German churches I have seen.

This one is a bit sad as the two buildings had a huge fire – everyone is ok. The reason I am posting it, is because of the cornice. For years I walked by this building and said “I bet there is a really cool cornice underneath that ugly vinyl siding” and there it is. I am glad the people in the houses and business owners are ok. So scary.

Meanwhile this guy just sleeps on my desk – being a Pretzel

And this guy loves lettuce …don’t ask …

Hope you enjoyed the stroll this month – see you soon :)

Nat

Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me get unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. Here are some photos that I gathered in the last couple weeks.

Lots of House pictures this month – as we are still working on a lot of stuff. Here is the bathroom floor – pretty much the only nice thing about our main bathroom which is a Frankenstein of DIY throughout the decades …and believe me…it is not good and not shown are the holes in the floor that I patched temporarily. I love the pattern though – I always think about which stamps I should take to recreate it – and maybe I should just tackle this ;)

And yes there are still boxes – but I am happy to report that they are now finally unpacked. Mingus was caught like this judging the mess …it was all fun for him on the ladder until he decided to jump down and the ladder tumbled …then it was a scaredy cat for a little bit …but don’t think he learned from this ;)

(no cats, windows, floors or else were harmed in the cat flight)

We finally got our wonderful home commission artwork by Natalya Khorover back from the framer and now it hangs in our dining room. I loooveee it.

Pretzel loves the Fainting Sofa

Always love this row of houses downtown! The iron work is so beautiful.

Wallpaper hung, walls painted and trim painting in progress.

I love our floors- it is simple but beautiful! I am actually thinking of using the border pattern for the bathroom when we redo it next year or so. Imagine a black tile border like the darker wood and the rest in white tiles …still adding to my little idea board.

My studio while filming the new Artful Adventures with Matisse Class – it was hot hot hot in that room- but I love my studio so much.

In the bathroom which will not be touched as long as we are in the house is this contraption which I think I never showed you. It is actually a common thing in old bathrooms on the east coast still – but we had no clue what it was when we bough the house, until we ran the water in the bathtub and we couldn’t figure out how to drain the water LOL. It is a Standing Waste and Drain Tub Tower – pull on the top or push it down …mystery solved.

Speaking of gorgeous floors, we had dinner at our friend’s house which is close by and look at this gorgeous pattern on the floor.

And I may have serious radiator envy …it is a thing …trust me.

They also still had this crazy antique breaker box in the hallway …

This made me laugh hard at our local music store

I leave you with a little wavy glass love – the reflections of our 130 year old window glass are just my favorite thing.

Hope you enjoyed this stroll- until next month! See you

Nat