Reminiscing

Yesterday we were interviewed by a journalist writing an article about Andrew Geller who was the architect of our house. Talking to her reminded us of things we'd forgotten while we've been updating this house. Forgotten or maybe suppressed.
For example, I'd completely obliterated from my memory the large rat sized whole in the garage and the unmissable odour of rat urine that permeated the area. Steven can't remember that the first things we put in the dumpster in July 2004 were several large closets that framed the back of the garage, to try and get rid of the smell. Several buckets of bleach and hours of scrubbing did the trick, but we had to repeat that over the course of many months.
Then there was the day that first winter when we went into the city and returned home to find that the previous day's snowfall had begun to thaw and water was pouring into the house from every window onto the newly laid bamboo flooring. That continued for the next few weeks. That's when we discovered that we didn't just need to replace a few windows, we needed a new roof as well.
I'd forgotten, too, about the hole in the window frame in my office caused by termite damage that we covered in plastic and duck tape for months while we tried to get replacements for the single pane, single hung windows. I won't forget, however, the trauma of selecting the replacement windows - trying to balance code with modernism and keep it affordable. ("Of course they'll match the existing windows, madam, they are custom made"). And then having them look just a little too much like double hung windows, after all... A bad day, better forgotten.
But there were good times, too. Like when we pruned the bushes by the bridge and revealed a pond and a stream under there. Or the day Verity moved into her bedroom and discovered the secret room at the back of her closet. Or the first morning walking down the back stairs when a shaft of sunlight shone through the window in the girls' bath and illuminated the tiles on the floor. Just like walking through a cathedral, it took my breath away.

House swap?

Our Little Bungalow left me a comment on my post about landscaping that led me to think that maybe housebloggers should think about swapping their homes with other home rehabers to get those pesky little chores done that we don't like doing or are beyond our capabilities. Of course being a swap, you'd have to be willing to share your particular skill set and do some hard work on a house other than your own. But at the very least you'd get to see up close what the renovations look like and maybe pinch some good ideas.

Today's little chore

Power-washing
Originally uploaded by modernemama

He's been at it all day poor baby, 1000+ sq' of Bluestone that was black and green with mold and algae. Accompanied at all times by his faithful companion. Neither of them wants to come in until the job is completed. I'm just off to put the exterior lights on. I think they could be there all night, too.

Dividing the hostas

South drive/Vineyard Rd border
Originally uploaded by modernemama

This is as far as I got dividing the hostas this week. Ten hostas split, oh about a hundred more to go.................

My hit tail

Floor tile
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Browsing a very useful web marketing tool the other day I was interested in seeing how people get to my blog, and more especially what they are looking for.
It seems that they overwhelmingly want to know about two things: Toto Nexus toilets and Porcelanosa Ferroker tiles.
Although they'll find photos and brief descriptions on the blog I've never given product reviews. Until now.
Firstly, I absolutely love the three Toto Nexus toilets we put in this year. I will take a detour in this house so I can use them rather than the flimsy Kohler we have in the master bath, or even the 38 year old solid as can be one-piece American Standard in the powder room that used to be my WC of choice.
Because it is a couple of inches higher than standard US toilets, I find the Nexus just more comfortable. And their elongated shape makes cleaning the outside a simple task. As for the inside, a wider trap means no clogs and the flush is well, really reassuring.
Of course I bought them for their sleek design, and being slimmer makes them less intrusive in the bathroom. Or it should, but every time I see the maple wood toilet seats, I stop and think to myself: Man that's a good-looking toilet. The only regret is that I bought one with the basic plastic softclose seat. It saved a whopping $100, but it's not nearly so handsome, nor as comfortable as the other two. I will remember this when we do the master bath makeover and I think we'll go for the new Eco version then.
The Ferroker Copper tile, which we used on the boys' bath floor has even more people googling it, and I'm not surprised. It is a thing of beauty. I worried it would be too dark, that it would be too heavy to install, that the large tiles would look weird in such a small space and mostly that they would crack if I stood on them in the wrong place. I could have saved myself a lot of sleepless nights because they have been a joy. They anchor the room, they were challenging but not really difficult to install, they actually make the room look larger than before and they seem to be steady on the mud base. The most lovely thing about them, apart from the amazing coppery tone, is that they feel warm underfoot. All the other tiled rooms in the house are definitely chilly in the morning but these never do, in fact they feel cozy, almost soft. Is that psychological or does Porcelanosa have a secret heat retaining porcelain process I don't know about?
Whatever it is I'd recommend them to any remodeler, and for designer tiles they were less expensive than we'd thought (although still more than the original budget allowed!).

Five minute fix

Cabot walnut stain
Originally uploaded by modernemama

I've mentioned this before, but it's amazing how history repeats itself around here, there is nothing like someone announcing they'd like to visit your house for you to fix those little chores you've been putting off since, oh I don't know, June 2004.
This evening I stained this piece of molding that was missing for three years and has been begging to be finished for the past two months. Hurrah for me.
I also dusted, washed floors and vacuumed, even though I know that by tomorrow morning the two dogs and four cats will have shed enough to cover every surface with a thick layer of fur, and if I'm very lucky one of the kittens will have coughed up a pink or green fur ball on the white carpet and the other will have peed on my new duvet cover.
I'm glad someone gave me the impetus to do this though. Who knows how long we might have been living with an 2' untreated piece of wood otherwise?

Cobweb, fungus or something more serious?

cobweb or fungus?
Originally uploaded by modernemama

I noticed a new decoration to the siding yesterday, one I haven't seen before. It's 2-4" across and 3-4" long with a curved edge. There are groups of them under my bedroom window and along the east side of the house, on the garage.



Does anyone have any idea what they are? They'll be coming down this weekend when we are power-washing, but I'd like to know if I should add it to the list of things that could potentially cause my house to fall down and thus I should worry about. Thanks.

Construction in the Neighbourhood

new house
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Not having so much work to do on the house (although yardwork never ceases) means I have more time to get out and walk the neighbourhood.
Back in May I wrote about a 70s colonial that had been torn down and the construction that was underway on its replacement.
For a couple of months we all wondered about the style of the new building, especially the roof line, and now we can see it in all its glory: a post-modern Dutch farmhouse. The roof is cedar shingles and took weeks to complete. You can see from the side angle they've taken advantage of the views and especially the sunsets. I think they've used the same square area as the old house and angled it slightly differently but it seems twice as big. It also dwarfs the two colonials on either side. At least its not a standard McMansion, if anything it references the older houses in the Bay Crest area on the other side of Willow Pond. I can't wait to see the finished siding.

Long Island Sound - 7 AM

Long Island Sound
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Looking toward Connecticut from Nathan Hale Beach, Huntington, NY

Guess what the cat dragged in?

Lavae large sphinx moth (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Hermes is trying his paw at hunting. This morning he found this 5" caterpillar by the rhododendron outside my office window and carried it around for a while until I persuaded him to drop it in return for cat treats.
I wikipediaed it and it appears to be the lavae of a large sphinx moth. There's a much prettier photo here.
I've never seen one before but it could be the variety that lives on vines as I spent more time yesterday pulling them out.
You'll be happy to know that it survived the cat attack and it's crawling off to another bush as I type.

Prettier than mud

I spent hours outside yesterday weeding, transplanting day lilies and splitting hostas. After a couple of hours of back breaking work, with sweat running into my eyes and feet and hands caked in mud, a passing neighbor stopped to give me this helpful tip: instead of digging up the hostas and then splitting the clump with a spade, get two spades (actually she said "shovels" but I can speak American so I understood) and put them together into the clump, then prise apart. She maintained it was much easier to divide the perennials that way. Her second tip was to get someone to help, but I don't think that will happen.
Still, I managed to get two borders replanted and to rid two more of the vines that were threatening to choke the rhododendrons, so I'm rewarding myself with another shot of Sunday evening's sunset.

Rewards

Nathan Hale Beach sunset Sunday August 26 2007
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Last night we rewarded ourselves for finishing the chores with an hour at the beach watching the sunset. Priceless.

The kittens are getting bigger

Not only did Steven clean the slate patio, but he also took the table to pieces and cleaned that, too. Of course, no sooner done than the kittens wanted to check it out.

At least Maya did, Hermes was more interested in the trees.

Power washing chore sparks kitchen design idea

concentrated power washing
Originally uploaded by modernemama

It's that hot, humid time of year when the algae grows like crazy and the beautiful slate patio looks like a mossy lawn.
Steven got the power washer working properly for the first time this year and boy did that green gunge fly off. Unfortunately so did a lot of mortar, too. *Sigh*. You know, it would be really nice to do a job and not cause another little problem by doing that job. Just once.
So next week we plan to spend the holiday weekend power washing the front path, the back patio, the brick path and pool area. Then we'll take that big bag of mortar we have left over from the barbeque project and re-grout the slabs in place.
Just maintenance, not exciting but it has to be done. The benefit is we can see how gorgeous the stone really is. Which led me to a little thought: When we renovate the kitchen, should we put slate like this on the floor to bring the outside in?

How much damage can water do?

DSCF0055
Originally uploaded by modernemama

I feel bad even writing about this, given the amount of flood damage that people in the mid-west are experiencing, but I'm getting increasingly frustrated at the mysterious pool of water that collects under the kitchen sink.
This has been going on for the last three years ,and the last time we said we'd rip out the kitchen sink if it happened again. Well, we're not in a position to do that so I'm sucking it up. Again. (Not literally).
Here's the thing: It's not there all the time, I check for puddles under there regularly; it's not caused by drips from the wastepipe, or from the faucets; we had new lines put in when the dishwasher was replaced last year and they are fine, too. And here's the other thing: The water under the sink is clear. I found this out because we'd put a roll of kitchen towel under there and while it was wet through, it was clean. But it's still water, and that in itself is damaging enough, especially to laminated cabinets.
And of course there is the damage to my psyche. It is driving me nuts. I have to know: Where in the world is that pool of clean water coming from?

Beach car

Just to prove that our trials aren't limited to things going wrong with the house, my Jeep decided to choose to today to test me, too.

It's rainy and coldish and I have to run to the vet with the kittens tomorrow so I decided to put the soft top back on and zip in the windows. I think that was my mistake. When I'd washed the grime off my hands and filed down the nails I broke struggling with the zippers I tried to start the car and it hiccoughed twice, beeped and flashed the interior light forlornly. Then, nothing.

Luckily we have AAA and more luckily it only took twenty minutes for the guy to turn up and even more luckily I was watching for him and saw him driving into the front drive so I was able to sprint across the lawn before he drove off, unable to locate a black Jeep on the property. This has happened before, even when I explained there are two driveways, one to the garages and one to the front door. It pays to keep your running shoes on so you can chase them up the road waving and yelling like a crazy person and direct them to the right entrance. As I was on my way to the gym when the saga started I was dressed appropriately.

The guy gave me a jump start and left me to reverse the car out of the garage so I could charge up the battery. I got two feet back before the car died and I had to leap out of the car and chase the guy down the road, waving and yelling like a crazy person. To cut a long story short, the battery was dead and I spent this afternoon waiting for a replacement because they don't keep that type of spare battery on the truck.

I swear the Jeep only did this because it's a beach car, happiest with its top down and doors off. It didn't like being smothered in its rain gear. Either that or there is a conspiracy to drive me nuts and the house and the car are in it together.

Being jacked around

I spent a very frustrating hour this afternoon trying to glue two telephone sockets back on the wall. Sockets we never use because we have cordless phones, which Steven has told me just to cut off at the wall. But if I cut the phone wire I will be left with lovely holes in the skirting boards (baseboard). And not tiny holes either but miniature mouseholes, like the ones in the Tom and Jerry cartoons.
Every room in the house has a phone jack, and judging from the tangle of wires in the basement, there were at least six lines going into the house at one point. The electrician said he had only ever seen this system in offices, never in a residential home. There were also UHF and VHF TV cables in all the rooms, too. I imagine everyone lived there own lives and came together just for meals. Maybe.
Anyway, the new kittens, being stronger than they look and always up for some mischief, managed to pull the jacks in our room and the bamboo room clean off the walls. It looks as though these have been re-glued several times before, I'm sure I remember doing it myself once, but despite my best efforts with Gorilla glue and weights to secure them to the wall while the adhesive dried, they just refused to stick.
Now I'm left with a couple of options: chop off the wires and replace the sections of board with the holes in; try a stronger glue and hold them to the wall for 24 hours. Neither of these is very appealing.
Or I suppose I could try Velcro?

Shady shopping

Is it my imagination or has it suddenly got a whole lot easier to find clean, modern soft furnishings in the US? Three or four years ago I had terrible trouble trying to find something sleek to keep the early morning sun out of my eyes before I'd had my daily infusion of caffeine. I even made Steven carry two 6' roller blinds from Habitat in London, England back to New York because I couldn't find anything here. Customs at JFK sarkily informed him that they did sell blinds in NY and, while that was true, at that time they were all vinyl or frilly. Now, though, I have a ton of resources to look at, from relatively cheap to astronomical.
I don't actually need any new blinds or shades at the moment but if I did I would definitely check out this modern roller blind at The Shade Store. I always have a hard time picking upholstery and fabric on line because the colours can't be accurately displayed but the great thing for me is that I can visit their showroom at The Conran Shop in Manhattan and see the merchandise close up. Some of the things that Conran sells are pretty expensive, although I've had quite a few bargains there over the years, but the wood blinds seem to be slightly cheaper than the one I bought for the downstairs bath, and the designer hardware seems reasonable too.

From blue to green

Fern shade
Originally uploaded by modernemama

We got the last shade up today. A much easier job than the rust shade in Steven's office. To determine the exact height for the cord in that room we had to utilise a very precise measuring device. Steven needed to be able to walk under the lamp without hitting his head. As he is 6' 2', the shade is 14" long and the ceiling 8' high we knew we didn't have much room for error. Rather than use a rule, which we didn't have in the room at the time, we improvised. It appears that I am a screwdriver length shorter than he is. So he held the shade in the approximate position and I held the screwdriver on my head and walked under the shade until we got it right. And we did, with millimeters to spare.
This time it was just easy, cut the cord, trim, attach. Perfect. This the spare bedroom with the new Eden pendant shade form CB2, nifty, no? White, sand and green, very soothing.
A little look back at the way things were:
This is the room with the dingy lucite and plastic shade. Everything else is new: windows, floors and paint. We call it the fern bedroom after the pattern on the curtains.



This is the bedroom as it was when we moved in three years ago, we originally called it the blue room after the shag carpet. The windowless wall was covered in faux paneling, and the awning window was fogged, making it very dark. It's much lighter now.

Crowning glory

Rust pendant shade
Originally uploaded by modernemama

As long as Steven doesn't choose to tiptoe through his office in stiletto heels and a tiara he'll clear this new pendant shade by a hair's breadth.
He's always wanted a touch of red in this room, although this is on the rust side it goes well. Now I have to cover his office chair in a toning color. Any suggestions?