Sedum "Autumn Joy"

Sedum "Autumn Joy"
Originally uploaded by modernemama

A gratuitous photo of a bee on the sedum.

Late summer border

Late summer border
Originally uploaded by modernemama

The last couple of days of summer have seen the temperatures in the 80s and the sedums are a-buzz with yellow jackets and bees. The border I planted in late 2005 has filled in nicely now and pinks and greys play off the granite wall and slate path beautifully. I'm really pleased how this turned out, especially as I bought all the new plants at the end of the season, and at least 50% off. Not as good as free but every little helps.

It had to happen

Really it was only a matter of time before the toilet in the master bath executed its revenge. Probably because I called it "flimsy" in a previous post. Although it could simply have been jealous that the other toilets have either been replaced this year or were given a serious overhaul in 2006.
The saga went something like this.... I went to bed one night and when I got up 8 hours later I realised the loo was still flushing. I took the lid off, jiggled the float and it stopped and then I flushed it again for good measure. That seemed to have cured it so I didn't give it another thought until....... a week or so later I used the toilet, left the bathroom, went out for the day and returned that evening to find the thing STILL FLUSHING. Once again I applied the temporary "massaging the float" fix and it stopped. But rather than chance it going off again, I started running to the other side of the house every time nature called and this rapidly got old. I mentioned it a couple of times to Steven but he didn't give a high priority on the to do list. Until Sunday morning that is, when running down the corridor in the dark to get to another WC, I collided with the dog and tripped over a cat. That's when he reckoned five minutes spent with his hand in freezing water was going to be easier than listening to me curse under my breath all day. And five minutes was all it took him to tighten the nut with a pair of pliers. Problem solved.
And while he was there he fixed the wobbly toilet seat that he failed to fix twice before. My hero.

Sunset at the beach

wood table
Originally uploaded by modernemama

The last rays reflected on the wood table. Peeling paint can be pretty.

Spoiling the ship for a ha'pence of tar

So the advice I received after yesterday's post was to remove the rotted siding. And of course what I had forgotten is the possible damage to the framing behind the redwood. Because this door was installed so badly we get leaking inside around the bottom. It's possible that we'll open up a whole can of worms by taking off the siding (a section 6' long by 6" wide).
Let this be a warning to all who need windows and doors installed. You can buy the best windows in the world but their ability to keep out the elements will be totally dependent on the installation. Maybe I shouldn't panic yet but I have a feeling this could turn into a very expensive job.
Rats, rats, rats.

Maintenance, Renovation or Total Remodel?

When you're rehabing a house how do you know whether a project is renovation or just simply maintenance?
For example, that vanity unit we had to replace in the downstairs bath this spring. Was that maintenance? The thing had de-laminated completely. What about the faucet? It was leaking and we couldn't fix it. If we'd simply bought another a part I'm pretty sure that would be classified as maintenance but replacing it with a new one? What category does that fall into?
Right now I'm looking at the redwood siding between the kitchen slider and the slate patio step and it's in pretty sorry condition. The rainwater gets splashed up against the siding and has caused the redwood to look a little moth-eaten. It definitely needs some maintenance. The question really is: what should we do about it?
The other sliders off the living room have had their redwood footers replaced with the same bluestone as the terrace on that side of the house. This would seem to be the most sensible solution, effectively solving the problem once and for all. However, these doors are (hopefully) going to remain in situ and ideally I would like to remove the kitchen slider, a replacement that was put in neither straight nor true, (and with interior molding that doesn't match any other in the house) with a better model. Unfortunately, the slider is only a few years old and would not be cheap to replace. It would also be better to leave any replacement doors and windows in this room until we get the kitchen updated, to go for one major upheaval, rather than making two lots of mess. In short, I don't want to replace the rotted siding with slate only to have to knock it off again in a year or so.
The only answer I've been able to come up with so far would be to replace the thin cedar molding by the step with a 4" version, and hope that withstands this winter's rain, ice and snow. I'm a little afraid though, that, as often happens in this family, the temporary fix will turn into a permanent solution.
My problem is that we would be doing maintenance on what I think requires renovation, if not a total remodel.

Hosta(ge)

Of course this would be the other reason my grand plan for hosta domination in the yard might not work out.
I divided and re-planted fifty-two hostas in the dell on Sunday morning. Five different varieties, no less, from giant yellow and green ones like Hermes and Maya are pinning down here, to a tiny pale green one that could be Lakeside Little Gem.
I don't want it to just be a hosta bed so there's also a couple of heuchera in there and a Japanese climbing hydrangea at the bottom of the weeping Juniper as well as a dwarf pink hydrangea, assorted rhododendrons and azaleas and a couple of different hollies. If the day lilies have taken there will be two large clumps of those, too.
But it's the hostas that are fascinating the kittens at the moment.





Ah well. at least they aren't scratching up the furniture......

Design Genius

Design Genius
Originally uploaded by modernemama

It was our total joy to welcome the architect of our house, Andrew Geller and his family into our home last Friday.
Thrilling for us to listen to the stories he and his wife, Shirley, told, not only of the gestation of this house, and its original decor, but of his other designs for houses on Fire Island and the Hamptons.
It must be quite emotional to visit a house you designed almost forty years ago and see how much of the original spirit remains. The week before he had been out at Fire Island Pines to see the Frank House, now totally restored by Philip Mognahan, and this week he got to see our work in progress. He seemed to approve of the efforts we have made to ensure the house survives another forty years. All I can say is that it's easier to preserve something when you have such inspiring architecture to work with.
Here is Andy on the balcony of the living room, designed so the original owner could have bridge parties below and those not playing could watch from above. It's an awesome room and works just as well for those of us who don't play cards. A truly great room, in fact.
Photo courtesy of Jake Gorst.

Screens, doors and hostas

How did I spend my day?
First off I fixed the garage door. Not the one that failed in an ice storm on Valentine's Day this year. The other one. Someone had knocked the sensor off its box, either with the car or while manoeuvring the trash-can out of the garage. We should open the other door to take out the trash but one of us is too lazy and the other too clumsy to do it properly. Anyway, half an hour's playing with the lever, pull knob, buttons and sensor box and the door was fully functioning again.



Then I put back the screen door that the clumsy person knocked off its wheels during the party and even fixed the other one that has been only partially functioning since, oh I don't know, last summer. Pretty good going, huh?
And just because I was already sweaty and and dirty, I thought I might as well transplant another dozen or so hostas. What, you thought I'd finished that job weeks ago? Not quite.



The thing about transplanting perennials in the fall is that they will die back quickly now and then I'm left to wonder for the next six to eight months if they have really taken, or whether I just wasted several beautiful September days getting mucky when I could have been down at the beach with a book soaking up the last of summer.

Reverberations

Living Room
Originally uploaded by modernemama

The house constantly astonishes me. Just when I think I have learnt everything about it, it reveals one more surprise, gives me one more thing to adore.
I'd invited some of the guests at the party last weekend to entertain us, and Bob rocked out some Stones on his guitar. The music was great but it was only when his wife, Sue launched into an aria (from the lotus position, no less!) that I realised how good the acoustics in that room are. Her voice just soared up to the second storey and filled the entire space. Of course it helps that she is an opera singer, but all the wood on the ceiling certainly lent a great tone.
If we'd had a piano she would have sung more. And as the photographer pointed out last week, that's what should go on the raised dais in the den. A piano, hmmm.....................

Andrew Geller article in Newsday

The article on architect Andrew Geller will be in Newsday tomorrow, but for those impatient folks who have to have it now, it's available online at Newsday.com.
The major part of the article concerns the Frank House on Fire Island, which has undergone a complete restoration back to its original design. The photos are amazing, I'm blown away by the beauty of the work. Our house is featured in an article entitled A love affair with a Geller house. There's a link to this blog and photos, including a truly stunning one taken in the den, where the photographer got the perfect shot of the den, living room, foyer, part of the dining room and front stairs by facing directly at the media unit/bar. I think I've fallen in love with the unit again - it looks like the prow of a ship. Thanks, Bill.
One really sad note: the article mentions that the Hunt House, also known as the "Milk Crate" will be demolished later this year. I can't believe another modernist marvel will just be bulldozed. It sparks an interesting debate about house preservation. How far should we go to keep our architectural masterpieces? Is this is even possible? And if we do choose to restore them, should it be to their original state, or should we adapt them to fit our current lifestyles and tastes?
Read the article and weigh in. And consider contributing to save the Pearlroth House, which will become a museum of modern architecture here on Long Island.

Curtain of rain

Downpour front porch
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Look closely at the slate step and you can see the water cascading off the overhang and bouncing on the path. If your eyesight is really good you can see the curtain of rain that fills in the frame between the house and the post.
Just a little local downpour.

Party time = house tours

towards kitchen
Originally uploaded by modernemama

We threw a party on Saturday evening, and as usual when people come to our house for the first time they are blown away by the architecture. I'd like to think they come for the company and the food but I'm pretty sure they come to see the house.

Visitors always ask many questions, but two are inevitable:
1) Who was the architect?
2) How did you find it?
The answer to the first question is Andrew Geller, one of the most innovative architects of the 20th century. We have a copy of the Alastair Gordon book Beach Houses: Andrew Geller as well as postcards of the The Pearlroth House and they are fascinated to discover other Geller designed houses on Long island. Most are amazed that they hadn't heard of him before, given the uniqueness of his work. The consensus seems to be that this house should be featured in Architectural Digest so that more people can appreciate it.

To the second question I always answer: Serendipity. I wasn't looking to move house, I was simply filling a dreary Sunday afternoon looking at house listings on the internet. But my reactions to the photos and to seeing the house at an Open Day were physical - the hairs stood up on the back of my neck and the thought that I wouldn't be able to live here one day left me with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I fell blindly, totally in love with the house and it's the way I still feel more than three years later.

That's why it's my pleasure to welcome people into my home, conduct guided tours and answer as many questions as I can about my unconventional house and its creative architect, Andrew Geller.

Another Andrew Geller fan

I spent this morning doing what I like to do best: showing the house to someone who loves architecture. And it turned out that the photographer had been here years before, with the architect Andrew Geller. It was so interesting to talk to him about how the house used to look, about Andrew Geller's work and about his experiences renovating his own house.
We had great fun deciding on the best angles to shoot the rooms, or at least I did. I hope I didn't bore him with my constant questions and chatter.
I'll post more when I find out when the article is coming out. I can't wait to see the photographs he took in print and on the newspaper's site - the digital shots looked amazing. Until then, here's a really bad photo I took of the kitchen when we moved in.

A little moment of madness

The newspaper phoned this afternoon to ask if they can send a someone to photograph our house for the article on Andrew Geller's work tomorrow at 9 am. As I had so much spare time I decided to wash the windows, at least on the inside.
I really don't know what possessed me. I can't wash windows. I've tried, believe me. Many, many times.
I've used Windex and Glassex and white vinegar. I've used soft cloths and paper towels and newspaper. I even bought one of those microfiber magic window cleaning cloths. It didn't get my windows clean but at least 10% of the price is donated to help stop domestic violence.
I would think the problem was me, my technique is lousy, except that last year Steven washed the windows outside and he did an even worse job. So bad, in fact, that I wouldn't let him clean them this Spring. I said I'd do it myself. And I have done, in the last hurrah of Summer. And they are horrible.
Other people have clean windows. How do they do it?
All window cleaning tips gratefully received.

Maybe the 70s are back

What I'm supposed to be doing is researching recipes for a party we are throwing on Saturday.
What I'm actually doing is being distracted by the kitchens at My Home Ideas including this almost garish (they call it vibrant) retro one from Sunset Magazine. It reminds me of the kitchen in The Ice Storm, one of my favourite movies about that era. But I don't think it's a look I want to create in my house, even if it feels contemporary. This simple kitchen that uses Ikea cabinets and quartz and laminate countertops appeals a lot, though.
OK, enough unproductive kitchen envy. Back to menu planning.

Labor Day Sunset

Labor Day Sunset
Originally uploaded by modernemama

The perfect end to a perfect weekend - dinner at sunset on the deck at the beach

More photos of hostas

hostas
Originally uploaded by modernemama

This is the bed right at the rear of the yard that I planted the summer before last. The peonies were hidden under weeds, and the rest of the bed was bare except for some suckers from the original rose bed. I dug up those and replaced them with hostas from other parts of the yard and three large leaved variegated ones I bought on sale that fall.
I actually told someone the other day that this bed was planted when we arrived, I had forgotten doing it until I was sorting through some photos from that summer. Looks like I could think about dividing these hostas again, we've plenty of bare spots where they could go.

Dividing day lilies

Dell
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Or how I spent Sunday September 2 Part II.
Digging up, splitting and replanting day lilies. Along the drive, in clumps around the tree stumps in this border, in more clumps by the lawn - next summer there'll be day lilies all over the yard. Yellow ones, orange ones and my favourite burgundy. Then it will all have been worth it.

Newly pruned trees

Newly pruned trees
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Or how I spent Sunday September 2 Part I.
Just a little light pruning to let the sun shine on the lawn and increase our view from the kitchen window (in the far back of the photo) to the road.