Phoebe’s recent spring break was more like a staycation, since Mommy and Daddy both had to work. We did try to do something special every day though, to make it feel like a holiday. One of those special somethings was to go visit Jeb for lunch, and since he works for the Texas Legislative Council, he gave us a little tour of the nearby Capitol Building. I was surprised by some of the elaborate decorative details we spied during our visit.

Like this door hardware, for instance, featuring a Lone Star on the doorknob. At first I couldn’t believe they would spend the money doing custom doorknobs–even back in the day when art and craft were more highly sought after in construction–but after mentally calculating how many doors are probably in the Capitol Building, it stands to reason that there was a certain economy of scale.

A decorative doorknob at Texas’ Capitol Building.

Decorative details on the front doors of the Capitol Building.

Even the brass hinges are beautiful:

Decorative door hinge spotted at Texas’ Capitol Building.

The floors feature interesting patterns, including this one in concrete on the front veranda–much more mod than I would expect to find around a 160-year old building:

Texas Capitol Building’s front steps feature this mod geometric pattern.

This terrazzo floor detail inside the Capitol Building reminds me of the movie, The Secret of Kells:

The interior floors of the Texas Capitol Building feature multicolored terrazzo imagery.

…and the elevator doors sadly reminded me of The Apprentice:

Swanky elevator doors in the Texas Capitol Building.

We fell in love with the library in the Capitol Building, filled with reference material for Texas state legislators. Curiously, there were pink folders and book bindings scattered throughout, making Phoebe look color-coordinated with her surroundings.

I dug this abstract view of orange reference books:

The library of the Texas State Capitol Building.

From the OMG category, I discovered this stupid-looking romance novel written by Texas’ current state comptroller, Susan Combs. Talk about embarrassing. This is why pseudonyms were invented, Suze.

Kismet: A Perfect Match, by Texas state comptroller Susan Combs.

Of course no visit to the Capitol Building would be complete without a peek at the dome’s interior beauty. Did you know that our Capitol Building is taller than the US Capitol Building? We have to be bigger in Texas…you’d be disappointed in us if we didn’t maintain our rep, wouldn’t you?

The illustrious interior dome of Texas’ Capitol Building.

Walking back into Jeb’s building, I fell in love with the wood ceiling and star-shaped pendant lights in his lobby:

The wood ceiling and custom (one assumes) pendant light fixtures in the lobby of the building that houses the Texas Legislative Council.

I didn’t expect this to be a design or work-related outing, but was intrigued that it took a turn that direction. Reminds me to look around once in a while.