That was then, this is now

It's raining, the lock on the new back door has failed (old lock, new door) and I'm waiting for it to dry out so I can install one the new one (actually bought in 2007. I knew it would come in handy one day). All the constant maintenance got me thinking about what I'd been up to in previous Octobers since we moved here. For example, a year ago we were anticipating the start of the big projects we've undertaken this year: remodeling the master bed, bath and the kitchen. While looking forward I was also ticking things off the to-do list and I'm pleased to report that with the exception of one of the replacement windows and the hall that will be decorated this autumn, we are back on schedule - we've even tackled the 2011 items and taken care of a couple things that didn't appear on that list.
It's not always about The Cool House and renovations, though. For three straight years I posted about things other than dust, debris and demolition. On this day in 2008 I was more obsessed about the Presidential election than the house, a year earlier I had been concerned about where I was going to eat in town and in 2006 we were mourning a truly great kitty.
In the early days of this blog I didn't write so much but the topics were confined to the house and the Incorporated Village. In October 2005 there was only one post. I'd finally finished the back stairs - only to have the big dog fall down and "distress" them for me. The flooring guy was supposed to fix those for me this summer but I guess the only way they will be redone is if I get down on my knees and DO IT MYSELF!
Finally, all the way back in October 2004 I was eagerly awaiting the berm that would keep the water running down the street from flooding our yard. And ironically, here I am six years later watching the remains of Tropical Storm Nicole pour down and the torrent of water pass by on its way to the newly installed drains at the end of the road. Progress!

Blend it

Now that the kitchen is up and running there is one small appliance I miss. About a zillion years ago I tried to make some margaritas and my KitchenAid blender could not cope with the task, it stalled and died. I was very negative about the whole experience and didn't want to spend a couple hundred dollars on something that couldn't even make a drink so I got an immersion bender for sauces, soups and purees and gave up on the whole crushed ice thing. I've since heard that it isn't just me mistreating the appliance - others have had the same experience. Now I'd like to make the occasional smoothie and figure this would be a good time to go ahead and splurge but I want to make sure I'm buying the best heavy-duty blender out there. Amazon has a couple of 900 watt models that should be able to mash bananas and crush ice and a super expensive one that I would expect, for that price, could mix concrete! Do you have any recommendations?

Anniversary Night

Me (waking up with a start and glancing at the clock): Get up! It's 5:35! You have 10 minutes to get out of the house
Him (jumping out of bed): #%*!.
Me (a couple of minutes later, actually awake enough to look at the clock and process information): Did you check the time?
Him: No!
Me: It's 2:37, not 5:37.
Him (pulling off socks and shirt): #%*!

I'm surprised we're still married.

Double Faucets

I used to think the Kohler Karbon faucet reminded me of an 80s Italian car manufacturer but this image reminds me of storks at the waterhole.
I really wanted to find out why I would need dual Karbons in the kitchen, after all it articulates so surely it will reach to every corner of the sink, no? Unfortunately as usual with Kohler when you click on the photo it takes you to an article that DOESN"T MENTION THE FAUCET AT ALL. Does Kohler know how infuriating this is? If you're gonna make me look you'd better be sure I'm satisfied with what I see. Anyway, it looks as though one is for washing up or maybe rinsing vegetables and the other is for... soaking the chips 'n' dip??? Please guys at Kohler, link the images to the relevant articles in the future and put me out of my misery by telling me what to do with the second Karbon faucet.

Done, done, done

and tick! All those things on the Fall list were completed... and because we had some leftover mortar The Guy decided to re-grout the patio where it had cracked after those extremely heavy kitchen appliances had beaten a path to the kitchen door. A reprise of this, in fact. No mess, no fuss - just a couple of hours graft (although I could have done without the high humidity) and we are good to go for the next few months.

Catching up

The kitchen floor has been sanded and resealed. There's a 3'x4' piece I'm unhappy with - it looks like it was missed or wiped over while still wet - but I'm undecided whether to get it done for the third time, after all in a few months people will be tramping snow through the kitchen and the animals will have given it a not-so-gently-distressed look. The wallpaper backing came off with a 1/1 solution of fabric softener and water. This was the first time I'd bought fabric softener since 1990 and I'm sure I paid $1 for a bottle back then. Big sticker shock but the kitchen smelled snuggly for a couple of days. And a decision was made on the baseboards. That's all I'm saying. Watch this space.


And we finally changed the lightbulb on the balcony after ::cough:: eighteen months. These are all good things. On the rest of the renovation promises have been made. On the last day of September the kitchen punch-list will be checked, rechecked and the items will be tackled methodically and purposefully until every last one is done.
Then there is the Fall list. That's the list you get when you walk around the house one coolish day in September making sure everything is ready for the six months of ice, snow and freezing temperatures that make up a Long Island winter and discover a whole bunch of things you are sure weren't there a couple of months ago. Like the paint that peeled off the front door step... and the basement windows... and the chunk of window that's fallen off the latter. Off the window mind, not the trim. And not through rot either. This piece is clean and smooth and hard, it just isn't attached to the window any longer. Then you realise there's a hole in the mortar under the sliding door in the great room that's big enough to shove a baby's fist through - or for a whole nest of mice to crawl in and out of and a gap in the slate that will allow all that snow to melt though to the subfloor and you'd better fix that pronto.
At this point the idea of selling up and moving to a condo with a very friendly and super handy on-site maintenance person seems a very attractive idea. And if you could make that condo somewhere dry and warm with a mid-century vibe it would be almost irresistible.


The only other option would be to take a very long nap...

Inspirational Decor

One of my favorite inspiartion rooms. Black & White Salon from Marie Claire Maison featuring the "Bouquet" chair by designer Yoshioka Tokujin. I love the way all the black elements in this tall room bring your eye down to ground level and that the ethereal quality of the chair is balanced by the weighty ceramic bird. Beautiful.

The downside of induction

I love, no I LOVE my new Electrolux induction top, it's fast and controllable and I've been cooking up a storm since I got back from Europe, mostly soups and other one-pot meals. On Sunday though, since The Guy finally made it home, I planned on making a giant pancake-just the one-to serve with a bottle of Blueberry maple syrup we bought in Maine (and which I have saved these past two months as it's been too darn hot for cooked breakfast). I grabbed my trusty cheapo Belgian pancake pan, turned on the heat and the blue light flashed at me. I knew what this meant as I'd already had to consign one sauté pan to the recycle box when it proved to be non-magnetic - it meant no pancakes. We had cereal.
Later that day I started to chop veggies for stir-fry when it occurred to me to test the wok before I got too committed. The wok didn't work either. At that stage it seemed prudent to test all the pans. The majority of my cookware is Le Creuset and cast iron is induction friendly, so at least I can make casseroles and soup. The big pasta pot from ikea works fine, the small deep-sided frypan from the same store? Not so much. Of course the copper pans don't conduct, nor did an All-Clad omelette pan. I ended up retiring five pans, all ones I had used frequently.
Today I purchased a Cuisinart saucepan that I'll have to return tomorrow; not all stainless steel is created equal. The lesson I learnt from this experience is to take a magnet with me when I go cookware shopping!

Looking outside

Warm days, cold nights, falling leaves, rain showers and the occasional tornado - the transition from summer to autumn on Long Island.

Name Your Price

I like to keep my eye on what's for sale in the Incorporated Village - call me nosey, I can take it.


I get an email alert every time a house comes on the market.


Sometimes I get a bonus.


The same house 40% off. Pick one!

Feeling Creative? Support Seatuck!

When Long Island schoolgirl Olivia Bouler heard about the Gulf oil disaster she set out to help and she did it big time raising over $175,000 to help affected wildlife. Now she is fundraising again - this time locally. She and her family are holding a fundraiser on September 4th for the Seatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Islip, New York. She is asking all artists - and would-be artists - to submit a 5x7 postcard-sized bird image (painting, drawing, photograph, collage, mixed media) which will be displayed at the center and sold for $5.
The event will also include a concert by The Sea Tuckers a group of jazz musicians that includes Olivia, her brother Jackson and their friends. Not only is Olivia a "decent drawer" she's also an extremely talented saxophone player and Jackson will wow you with his cool! More information here

Olivia's Fundraiser
Saturday, September 4th
12:30 to 4:00 p.m.
Suffolk County Environmental Center
550 South Bay Avenue, Islip
Admission - $5

Remember artists of all abilities are welcomed so send your postcards in advance to Seatuck, PO Box 31, Islip, NY 11751.

LED Downlights

I was wandering through the eco-friendly section of the lighting department of Home Depot the other day in search of a replacement bulb for the recessed cans in the kitchen when I spotted something new - LED downlights from Philips. Normally I'd be the first one to jump on an eco-friendly upgrade (which is why I have 6 different bulbs in my kitchen - all different lumens and kelvins) but the price made me choke. The Philips Ambient LED was pennies short of $70. To do the job properly I should replace all 14 lights in the kitchen, plus the three in the mud room/corridor, which would cost ::GASP:: well over a thousand bucks.


When I got home I started to look around for other LED manufacturers and found one Cree Lighting that offers an Ecosmart bulb for an affordable $50. The company claims each bulb will save $300 over its lifetime and that lifetime should be a long 35,000 hours or approximately 30 years. They are basically telling me I'd never have to change a lightbulb again. And the video shows how simple it would be to install.

What do you think? Obviously no one can test the veracity of the claim to the longevity of these bulbs but has anyone out there tried these LED lights? Is the Easy White color as natural as they claim? Is there a reason they are twenty dollars cheaper than the other brands? I'd really like to have the lighting issue in the kitchen sorted once and for all but I can't justify spending such a huge amount of money on a promise.

Hair, Bristle and Profiles

Note to self and other interested parties: Never, ever, leave the State or even the house so the flooring guy can sand and seal the floors and stain the baseboards and trim without getting pet dander in the mix. Not unless you are prepared, upon returning from vacation, to find that he has sealed someone else's hair and a handful of grit into your kitchen floor and stained three hundred feet of baseboard that doesn't match the rest of your uniquely modern house. Be aware that the feeling of nausea and subsequent meltdown when you survey the mess will last much longer than the three weeks it takes for the smell of floor sealer to dissipate from the house.
The kitchen floor has to be redone but with two dogs and four cats this is no easy (or cheap) undertaking. We decided to wait until we were on another trip so the animals would be in kennels anyway. However I'm really unhappy about leaving the guys to correct their mistakes without supervision. My supervision!
Then there's the baseboard. Stain grade baseboard. Roughly twice the price of the pre-primed stuff, more when you add in the time to actually stain it the correct shade. Leaving aside the occasional brush bristle in the finish - after all we don't have to use those pieces (eye roll) - there's the fact that it's 1/4" too narrow and the profile is rounded. It's not as if I wasn't explicit about it matching the rest of the trim in the house. This carpenter had installed the square edge in the master bedroom a few years back, when I also made him replace a piece in the closet that he thought "would do". He knows I am that obsessive.
And he really shouldn't have said that was all that was available in his catalog. Because he know I am going to check. It took an hour on Saturday morning to find two lumber yards - both in this town- that have stain grade baseboard the right size, and both were cheaper than what he told me he paid. I think he should suck it up and reorder the molding. He offered to have the rounded edge routered off - at my cost. Changing the edge isn't going to make it grow an extra quarter inch wider, is it? And the molding can't go on until the floor is redone so we are at an impasse. I guess I'm lucky he didn't get around to the trim.
The great baseboard/molding/flooring debacle is holding up the completion of the renovation and I'm frustrated that something that should have been done by the end of July has dragged on another month with the very real possibility of going through until Fall.

Butterflies, Sunflowers and Steering Wheels

New at the MoMA store the George Nelson Flock of Butterflies wall clock by Vitra. It's an early 60s design of wood and polished metal, part of the “Clocks Ahead of Time" series. This one would make a real statement on the kitchen wall - it's a full 2' in diameter, which is probably a little more manageable than my (until now) favorite George Nelson design:


The 1958 Sunflower Clock. The extra-large size - 29.5" makes it the ideal clock for my kitchen. I know because we bought a floor model when we got the Platner table but had to return it when the hands dropped off. It fitted exactly into the style of The Cool House and the space on the wall. We plan to put a new model there after we paint...


but if I had a slightly more mod house - and only needed a 12" clock - I'd definitely pick The George Nelson Steering Wheel clock. It might be a 1948 classic but it reminds me of Mini Coopers and pop art mini dresses. Available from Velocity Arts

Focusing on the positive

This is the side yard we cleared and re-planted a year ago. Everywhere the sprinklers reached survived not only the winter but the summer, too. The Crape Myrtle is enjoying the hot, humid but practically rain-free season we've had. The giant Sum and Substance hostas are amazing and the Kerria has bloomed again.


Unfortunately we have also have this... The sprinkler pipe burst again, leaving a giant hole under the flagstone. Another little job for the weekend.

Martinis & Mutts

Since we deconstructed i.e. ripped out the bar in the den I've been searching for the perfect cocktail cart for our house. We also repurposed Polly's dog bed space in the kitchen and I need to find her another napping place before winter comes. This is an ingenious solution but I'm think this might prove problematic with our hyperactive, allergy-prone itchy dog. I forsee martinis up the wall and olives behind the sofa.
BowHaus Modern Pet Crate by Den Haus via Allmodern. Also available in ZenHaus and TownHaus styles.

The lights went out

Well, half the undercabinet lights. I haven't even got paint on the walls, let alone a backsplash behind the small appliance counter but now three of the six strip Xenon lights from WAC stubbornly refuse to light up. Ylighting think it's a transformer issue and are sending me a new unit. Until then the lighting will be a little sombre, which suits my mood.

Picking Paint

Various people have been asking what color we have chosen for the kitchen and while I'm tempted to leave up the mix of spackle, old paint and backing paper that's currently adorning the walls, I think it may be more aesthetically pleasing to have coherence in that space. The oppressive heat and humidity that was summer 2010 has abated so we're up to the challenge of picking a paint color. Obviously we aren't undertaking this lightly. Remember this marathon paint ponderation from 2007? That wasn't resolved until 2008 - and after all the drama we went with the color on the dining room walls. I had already used some sample pots left over from the master bedroom to try out four shades of green/gray, Iced Cube Silver, Gray Cashmere, Moonshine and Crystalline but none was really speaking to us. So I got out the paint chips and with some trepidation began the process anew. It turned out to be a really simple process. We had already decided on a gray to pick up on the tones in the Caesarstone Misty Carrera countertop. Most of the chips were too dark, a couple too light and then we had the perfect Goldilocks moment.


We loved Silver Satin, the color I painted the door and trim in the green bathroom many years ago. It works in both the sunny and full shadow areas of the kitchen. Because there is no logical place to stop in this house we'll continue this color through the mud room, up the back stairs, along the balcony, down the front stair, finally finishing by covering the walls in the foyer. Eventually we'll also give the great room a coat of two of this lovely pale grey.


We could use Silver Satin in the den as well but ultimately we decided that Bronzed Beige give this room more definition. Bronzed Beige is the color we used in this room and The Guy's office.


The ceilings and room openings with be freshened up with Simply White.
All colors by Benjamin Moore.

Filling the hole

Also a little marvel: 15" wine refrigerator by Marvel. That completes the appliance selection for the new kitchen, And yes, we had it filled 24 hours after it was installed and no we haven't emptied it again...yet.

Orient the (micro) Wave

The kitchen isn't even finished yet I'm almost certain there will be a minor remodel to the renovation in the future. The microwave is sitting on the counter like the ugly big box it is, reminding me daily that my first wish for the kitchen was a dedicated small appliance area and my second was to stop the breaker tripping every time we used the toaster, coffee maker and microwave simultaneously.
I looked at built-in microwaves and microwaves in a drawer but they were so expensive that when it came time to do the budget I nixed the idea. We decided we could live with the microwave on the counter and had the electrician run four outlets on the wall behind the small appliance area. It transpires that he didn't run a separate 20 amp breaker for the microwave though, so we still can't heat oatmeal, make toast and warm coffee at the same time - a fact we discovered when we had a bunch of people staying all trying to get breakfast together.
So something has to be done. When I ordered the other appliances I talked to the sales guy who told me that built-in microwaves were not worth the money and it would be much cheaper (and fairly easy) to convert a 24" or 30" cabinet to hold the microwave and buy a trim kit that allows steam to vent out the front. It's certainly an option and I do have a few placement possibilities.


I could build an appliance garage on the small appliance wall under the staircase but this would cut into valuable counterspace - and make that wall look cramped - it would also be a pain to run a dedicated line to the microwave here. I could also modify one of the 30" cabinet drawers underneath but it would ruin the look of that cabinet run.


Or I could place it in the island - there is a dedicated 20 amp line here that will only be used occasionally and it would be handy for heating plates etc. but the induction cooktop is so super fast that I wouldn't use the microwave for heating stock or any other cooking process and it's far from the site of primary use - heating oatmeal, boiling water and reheating coffee.


The final place probably has the fewest disadvantages. The cupboard next to the dishwasher houses appliances we use occasionally: coffee bean grinder, ice cream maker, food processor. It would be easy to relocate these to the tall pantry, which, at the moment, is completely empty. We would replace the two tall doors with two 15" doors on the bottom of the cabinet and place the microwave on the shelf up top, then trim it out with the kit. The microwave would be opposite the coffee maker and it would be a cinch to run a new 20 amp line here with no visible holes in the wall. The only problem? I really like the way that run of cabinets looks now. I don't want to mess it up with an ugly microwave. What to do?