The Fixer Upper House and Garden

Getting Chopped

A few important things got chopped off this week!

When she was 5, C decided to grow her hair for "Locks of Love," a charity that uses donated human hair to make wigs for kids who've lost their own hair (www.locksoflove.com). This had significance for our family, since C's cousin has had alopecia for many years (now 14 and confidantly bald, he's the most handsome boy in his freshman class!)

C looks good too, with her new grown-up haircut. It took five years to grow her hair so long--she was at Little Leisure preschool when she started. She donated 10 inches of light-brown hair with lovely blond sun-streaks. Here are a few more shots of C's haircut, followed by a photo of something else that got chopped down.

A bit later:

The next picture is of our house--we chopped down two arborvitaes this week, to make way for a storm-drain that must stretch out to the street. Note to fellow gardeners: No, I don't feel bad about taking out the trees. Begone with them! They were overgrown, too close to the house, and not even remotely indigenous. I can hardly wait to dig out those two ugly evergreen bushes!

Floored!

Yesterday was one of those dreary, wet and muggy days that make me wonder why anyone would chose to live where I'm living. I went to the gutterless house in the morning, fearful the melting icicles and slush had seeped into the new basement overnight...they had not! The house was drier than the Arizona desert, and just as dusty. The floor guys were already at work sawing and buzzing, and they made great progress. Here are some shots of the house as of today, Wednesday:

One view:

View from another angle:

And another view:

While We Were Away ...

While we were away, GC and the subs were very busy. What fun it was to come back to a house with walls! Here's the 2nd floor "window nook:"

Behold, the fireplace wall:

A view down a hallway (please forgive the vertical nature of this photo!):

Kitchen Counter: Dramatic Turn Of Events

Friends and readers may recall my obsession for finding the perfect kitchen counter. Over the past year I explored counters of every variety and material, and I was set to splurge on soapstone until a grey morning in October when I realized it was too dark for the new kitchen. At that moment--literally--my new friends George and Linda stopped by and suggested that I look at their counter, Sensa Perlado honed marble. I did, and for many weeks I was determined to go with this lovely cream and tan stone, which Husband and Miguel agreed would lighten up the kitchen and look swell with the cabinets.

Then reality set in.

One night last week, the darling and effervescent 10-year-old C did the dishes in the borrowed house and helped get the lunches ready for the next day. She whistled and sang and chatted and did a fine job on the chores save one thing: She forgot to wipe the counter. In the morning, raspberry jelly, chocolate frosting, orange juice and a chili-covered spoon were congealed to the Formica. Fortunately, the cleanup was a snap, and no one was worse for the wear, including the white Formica. Had the counter been marble, it would have had to be refinished.

I'll save honed marble for the empty nester years.

This brought me back to the beginning, much to Husband's dismay. An active participant in the counter hunt six months ago, he now was willing to agree to anything ... anything...so long as I made a decision.

"You've got to pull the trigger on this," he said.

"Please stop talking about counters," the children added.

By last week I had eliminated soapstone, marble, wood, tile and counters made of recycled paper, as well as Corian, Silestone, Ceasarstone and all other solid surfaces. Where did this leave me? It left me with granite. 

I don't like granite because it's overused, but I've realized there's a reason for this: It's durable, affordable and nature-made. If you can overcome an aversion to speckles, it's not even too ugly. So I went back to Stone Habitat in Mundelein (www.stonehabitat.com), which has the best prices in my area, and I picked out a light-colored, speckly granite in cream, grey, tan, brown and black that's called either Santa Cecelia or Venetian Gold, depending on the slab. (I later changed my mind ... again ... and went with Costa Esmerelda!) It looks good with the cabinet door sample, it coordinates well with the fireplace tiles and the best part: it costs less than soapstone and honed marble. To mix it up, I'm using soapstone for the butler's pantry and on the raised hearth in the family room ... and I'm still coming in under-budget.

In fact, the only things that are coming in under budget are those that I'm pricing out myself.

Nooks and Cronies

The stucco is up; the kitchen nook looks great...but the brick is ugly.

From the side:

From the back:

In the kitchen:

One of these things is not like the other. Unless you're colorblind or reading this blog on a b&w computer, you'll notice the new bricks don't match the old bricks. We knew the pallette we picked out wasn't going to be a perfect match, but this isn't even close: There's more orange here than in a pumpkin patch. At GC's suggestion, we've hired NawKaw (www.nawkaw.com) to stain the new bricks to match the old ones (cha ching!). A nice young man from Naukaw came by this ffffrrrrreeeeezzzing morning to get started, but it was too cold to get much done. I'll report more on this as the events unfold.

Upgrade Vs. Uptick

What is it they say about the renovation budget? That you should be prepared to spend 10% more than you initially planned? Or is it 20%? Could it be 30%? 50%? So much comes up when the walls are in shreds that it's hard for me to remember where the budget once began and ended (rest assured that Husband has not forgotten where the budget ends!) Today's dilemma is the location of two enormous down drafts in the eating area of the kitchen.

Roger-the-HVAC-guy installed these after exploring other options, none of which worked, with the end result being that there are two enormous hvac returns flanking the kitchen table in what is otherwise a most peaceful, elegantbuthomey space. Miguel, our architect, doesn't like the look of these enormous hvac returns, and so he's suggesting that we relocate the north return so that the two drafts flank a small stained glass window, creating a desk-niche area. It's a clever idea, and we could use a little desk/niche area to organize those never-ending school notices, forms and bills. But one cannot relocate a roughed-in HVAC return without incurring some rough expenses. And therein lies the renovator's challenge: When is an upgrade worth the uptick?

Below is Miguel's drawing for the desk/niche area. I have to examine this more closely when I'm in the house later today. 

Fireplace Surround I

Given what I wrote previously about everything having to be just right before one goes tile shopping, it's been hard for me to undertake this task. Events, weather, health, karma, car woes, children, moving, social commitments...all have conspired against my efforts to pursue the absolute most wonderful fireplace surround for our new family room. But I haven't given up the faith that I'll find what I'm looking for...once I know what I'm looking for.

My idea is to do an arts & crafts tile surround a la bungalows from the 1920s. I'm presently exploring Motawi tiles, which can be found locally at just one retailer--The Fine Line tile gallery in Chicago (which is kindafar from both my owned and borrowed homes, and hence is hard for me to get to). Motawi tiles are hand-glazed and made from local clay in Ann Arbor, Michigan (www.motawi.com). I love the Midwest connection, and I like that the Motawis say they're inspired by the Arts & Crafts ideal that "art should be for the people, and by the people ..." However...at prices like $90/square foot, Motawi tiles are definately not for all the people.

There are ways to circumvent the extreme expense. For example, if I go with the willow border shown in the photo at left, I could get black and green field tiles from a different tile maker whose prices are more reasonable ($30-$40 square foot). But the color selection from the substitute company is limited, and you can't substitute tiles with justanyold tilemaker, because Motawi tiles are a funky size. For example, a 4x4 Motawi tile is really 3/16 of an inch less than 4 inches, and it's 5/8" thick, which is chunkier than most tiles. Another problem--significant--is that I don't love the green that's offered by the more reasonably priced tilemaker. Naturally, I prefer the expensive green that's offered by Motawi. 

The field tile is perhaps even more critical to the design than the willow border tile, as it will cover 80% of the surround. So I've really gotta love the color and glaze of the field tile (not to forget Husband--he must love it too, and does not); I've been carrying around a green 4x4 tile (that's really less than 4x4) everywhere I go, hoping the color will grow on me. So far, all it's doing is making me hungry for pea soup.

Here's Miguel's drawing of the fireplace wall:

And below is a photo of the fireplace in its present state. We bought "the royal superhearth" woodburning Majestic fireplace. Our GC is concerned about tiling over the black metal surround, but the guys at Chicago Furnace say this is doable:

Will report back when I've gathered more info on the fireplace surround issue!

Some New Pics

Here are some recent photos. It's hard to keep up with all the action! The photo below shows the new roof and the new (primed but not yet painted) beadboard soffit at one corner of the new addition.

Don't you just love a full dumpster? It's even better watching it get hauled away.

I got a very creepy vibe from the guy who installed the fireplace this week. When he first arrived, he sprang from his truck, asked me my name, whether my dogs were friendly and could he have some water. When I said yes I'd get him some water but no my small dog is not friendly, he sprang back into his truck and retrieved his girlfriend and their puppy, who wound up spending most of the afternoon on the front lawn; she even raked the leaves. I gave them each a LaCroix and then, later in the day, strong coffee (they looked a little fried). But I lost compassion when the girl lit up a cigarette in front of my kids, and I kind of felt like they were eyeing my purse. The good news is these bad vibes will most certainly get burned to ash the first time we operate the fireplace (assuming the fireplace is operational!) It's a good thing he was installing the firepalce and not the tile. ... By the way, this is a pre-fab, wood-burning fireplace. It's not a beautiful masonry fireplace, nor is it an eco-friendly wood burning fireplace. Sadly, neither was in our price range.

 

Old and New

The noise is hard but the quiet is worse. The crew left early this afternoon and I want to know: Why? Where are the boys? Where's the buzzing? The stapling? The hammering? The dust? It was in the 90s on Monday; today it's 50 in the sun. Did they leave because it's too cold to work in a roofless, wall-less space? Are they just waitin' on another sub? The weather? A friend?

At least progress is being made:

I've looked at the plans a gazillion times but could never visualize how they were going to connect the old roof with the new roof. It's starting to take shape:

A wider view of the above shot:

Ups ... and Downs ...

The homework hours are excruciating in this house. Yes, I said hours. My 2nd and 4th graders could spend an hour or more on their homework if I let them. I don't let them spend that much time because a) they should be playing and b) I can't stand the sobbing, the stabbing of nubby pencils into torn paper, the feverish erasing, ripped crosswords and scratched math worksheets. What is with these teachers? My fourth-grader's teacher told the kids they should only spend 25 minutes on their homework. Then she told them if they don't complete their homework, they'll have to stay in from recess. Threat or promise--which does the child respond to? I suspect the teacher is judging me based on the fact that C is terrified of the threat.

Meanwhile T, in second grade, brings home subtraction problems that she has no idea how to solve and I have no idea how to help her. Am I suppose to teach her how to subtract 29 from 98? Isn't this the teacher's job? How do I explain that she needs to borrow 1 from the 9 to make 8 an 18 and then subtract 2 from 8 to arrive at 68? How do I articulate this to a child who is heaving great sobs because she doesn't get it while I'm feeling anger at the teacher for not explaining it better and frustration at the child who cannot, will not, admit to her teacher that she doesn't understand. I don't remember even getting homework in 2nd grade, let alone crying about it.

On the bright side of things: the guys made great progress on the house today. Here are some photos that I took after dinner but before the treacherous homework "hour" began:

Look how dark it got in just a few minutes: