New floor!

Since we moved into THATC, we have been longing to tear up the stained beige carpet in the living room. It wasn't very attractive, and was only good for soaking up the occasional beer spillage.

2 weeks ago I happened upon an ad on CL for 230sq ft of solid oak flooring for $50. It wasn't enough for our living room, but I can't pass up a bargain :)

After emailing, it turned out to be at Lumber Liquidators. The store manager was really helpful, and said he thought he could find us more stock to use with the oak, and create some kind of border. I thought he would try to sell us more flooring at a close to normal price, so we were pretty happy when we got there and the guy who helped us found us another end lot of 270 sq ft of teak, which he sold us for $100!

So we had enough wood to do the entire living room and passageways, but had to be a little creative about how we laid it out. After laying it out in autoCAD, we decided to use the oak to border the teak, and hoped we would have enou

gh!

Ripping out the carpet and pad (with a million staples holding it down) then smashing up the tile (only 2 whole pieces came up) was painful. The 2 days it took us to install the wood was even more painful.

We still have to put all the furniture back, poor A-Rod has had his basement taken over. The kitchen is full of furniture, and the dining area stuffed with couches.

Madra hid in the bedroom for most of the time, with the noise of the pneumatic nailer, air compressor and chop saw, she wasn't too happy! When she did occasionally venture halfway down the stairs during quiet periods, she assumed the position of supervisor:

We are 98% done now, with just some pieces still to be face nailed in. Here is how it looks now, along with a 'before' picture which I used to give away the old carpet on CL :) A nice girl came and picked it up today! This pic is a little dark, but it's close to the colours. The teak is really beautiful, with lots of natural variation. We are pretty happy with the results.

It's Finally Safe To Leave The House...

By the back door!

When we bought the house, the 'deck' (really a glorified landing) was crumbling and falling apart. Boards were rotted through, the handrails were no longer attached, and there were even steps missing, which led to people (and pets) falling through a couple of times!

We basically avoided using them as much as possible, and prayed that no one would get severely injured on them before we had a chance to fix them.

Watching a 75lb dog run up and down a couple of times a day, and the steps bowing under her, we realised we would have to replace them, now.

After a trip to HD and Lowes, we found the stand

ard stringers were only premade up to 6 steps - we needed 8. We visited Tart Lumber, who told us they would happily make the 8 step stringers, at a cost of around $78. Per stringer. We needed 3. (Although the old stairs had only 2 - deathtrap!)

The wood itself was only $17 per length, so T decided we were doing it ourselves.
We bought the pieces of wood needed (12"x2"x12') and drove them home sticking 4' out the back of the Versa at 50mph. That was fun.

Out came the skilsaw, jigsaw and drill. We used the old stringer with the least chunks missing as a template. I marked up the new pieces of wood and T cut the triangles out. We then lined them up, made a few adjustments here and there, and screwed them to the deck using metal brackets (a little more sturdy than the 25 yr old nails holding in the previous ones!)

We then attached the 8 brand spanking new treads (premade from Lowes) with screws.
We reattached the handrails and added some support to them at the bottom posts, so they are now pretty sturdy.

I then ran up and down the new stairs repeatedly. They are very sturdy!

They passed Madra's inspection.

Poochums!

On September 12th, we became proud parents to an Alaskan Malamute, Madra! She came from a puppy mill where she was being bred from, and kept in pretty sad conditions. I haven't written about her yet because she was very sick when she first arrived, and we weren't sure what was wrong with her. I'm happy to report that the vet is very pleased with her progress, and she is settling in great at THATC.

Here she is on her new 'Coolaroo' bed, with Sheepy (sticking out under her head). The Coolaroo is great for her - Mals do not like to be hot, and this keeps her off the floor with airflow. As the days have gotten cooler this week though she has also enjoyed lounging on the wool shag! :)

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

I wasn't able to post anything at the end of August, as I was working on an episode of Extreme Makeover in DC with Burch Builders Group, where I have been interning.

http://www.burchbuildersgroup.com/

We rebuilt The Fishing School in one week. It was a great project, very tiring but extremely worthwhile! The original school was around 2000sq ft, and the new building is about 6500sq ft. All the extra space will make a real difference to the after school and community support program.

I can't post proper pics yet as the show hasn't aired, so it's still pretty secretive. We were scheduled to be aired in November, but it's now looking like February. The new season has begun, so keep watching!

Here is a sneak preview of the close to end result:

paint it black

The little tin of black paint I bought last week has almost gone!

We are planning to rip up the vile carpet on the stairs, and when we do, I intend to paint the risers white and the treads black. We may end up using some FLOR tiles on the treads too, especially when the pooch is on the scene.

In preparation for the blessed day when the carpet bites the dust (although from the state of it, I suppose that day came many years ago...) I decided to paint the stair rail and the newel posts black. When we arrived they were mostly white, but some parts had rubbed away to reveal they were once black.

Now they are nice and shiny :D What else can I paint black?

monee comes to stay

Dad isn't going to be pleased about this one, but I had to...

Monee loves him some Pollock chair ;)

powder room primping

The toilet on the main level (or powder room, for our Yank friends) has been in a state of unrest for about 6 months now. Just after Christmas we began its renovation by removing the hideous wallpaper border that crowns every bathroom in this house (except the basement, which escaped this treatment). We then painted the edges... and that was as far as I got.

Last week I finished painting (guacamole!) and tried painting the vanity. The pic probably doesn't make the doors look that bad, but they are actually veneer over nasty particleboard, which is obvious in person. I messed it up a bit - I accidentally let some paint dry on one side before I was ready and it became lumpy. I had to wait for it to dry, sand it down and repaint it. It's all good now.

I added some stainless steel handles, a towel ring and tp holder, and voila!

I also picked up a great piece of soapstone for $20, from which we are going to fabricate a new countertop and mount a vessel sink on it. But for now, it looks a million times better already!

The New Table

Within 2 days of selling the faux-guchi, I had 2 new coffee tables. The sweet little danish table has now found a new home, and we love the new silky smooth spherical slab! The new table was custom made in the Phillipines (maybe by some Mercer cousins eh?!) for a couple who live in Sterling now. It has a Saarinen style white steel base and is one fat hunk of wood on top. I am not sure what, but I would guess teak. It is very pretty! And bonus - it swivels like a lazy susan!

"Pass the remote"-"SPINNNN!"

We also now have an oh so soft new zealand wool shag under it - it is realllly shaggy!

T-Rex's 30th is coming up next week so there is much prep going on for the party, including painting and gardening. Updates to follow!

thanks for the memories

So the month of June has passed without a new post, due to my sheer laziness. Many things have happened since my last post. We had several house guests at THATC, my 25th birthday occurred, and just before that, Michael Jackson died.

I grew up listening to Thriller, Bad and Dangerous. My siblings and I used to try to do the superhuman lean in Smooth Criminal, thinking if we practised hard enough we would be able to. This week, I learned that MJ actually invented a special shoe for this purpose and I therefore had no hope of ever performing this move.

http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=5255452&KC=&FT=E

We watched Moonwalker countless times, then later played the Sega game where we could dance zombies and dogs to death and become a giant spaceship/robot... I never really understood that part of the film!

RIP Michael.

Time For A New Coffee Table

It is POURING with rain. So much for spending time at the pool this week! This is actually good, because I am still sunburned from our summer kick-off marathon pool session on Saturday! Don't worry, I went to CVS the next day and bought factor 50. There's little chance of me getting a tan this summer!

In other news... I am selling the knock-off Noguchi table. I was going to wait until I had the perfect coffee table lined up, but the truth is I don't yet know what that is. I am thinking if I clear the area (and thus my mind!), the new table will magically reveal itself to me! I have seen a couple of options I really loved, but they have somehow escaped me.

Pros of the Faux-guchi:

The glass top makes the space seem much more open.

The sculptural aspect of it definitely appeals to me. In a perfect world, I think I would replace this with a gnarled tree root with a glass top, however I don't have a couple of grand to spend on a table, and I don't have the time or inclination to find myself a fat tree root and wait 2 years for it to dry out.

With the eventual plan to put in hardwood floors and a nice rug here, it would be nice to see the rug through the table somewhat.

I like that the glass has round edges and thus klutzes like us are unable to slice open our shins.

It photographs well....

Cons:

Although it photographs well, it doesn't look this good covered with the crap of everyday life, and as you all know I am far too lazy to keep my coffee table completely clear all the time. Life is for living, right?

You would think glass would be easy to keep clean, but actually every cold drink you put on it makes a water mark, it's weird. It wipes off, but still... coasters definitely ruin the aesthetic of the table!

I want the space to be more eclectic and I think that something more unexpected is needed for that. As you can see in the background, we are now the proud owners of a replica Eames Lounge Chair and the Noguchi next to it definitely pushes the space into too much obvious mid century. The chair is sooper comfy and so the table must go. Farewell, young friend! Hopefully there will soon be a buyer who will love you!

Any ideas for a new table, send them my way! I am thinking something wooden, a bit beat up. I am kind of taken with this lobster trap table: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/fuo/1191009834.html

but as yet unsure if it's a passing fad... I'm also not sure if I'm $70 taken with it. Maybe $50?

THATC: Untouched and Unloved!

I kept promising people I would send them pics of THATC from last summer, when we first viewed the place. Here they are, as promised! The place was a total disaster, from the holey basement to the unusable kitchen (the tap sprayed water across the room!). We immediately began tearing out the kitchen, ripped out that soffit in the middle and fitted an Ikea Lidingo kitchen with butcher block countertops. It's not entirely finished (still!) but I will take some pictures later so you can see how much better it is. We still have to live with the vile tiles for the moment, but they are bearable.

T immediately pulled up the carpet in our bedroom and laid down a birch coloured laminate floor. We weren't thrilled about it, but didn't have any spare cash and the laminate cost less than $100. We were happy to be rid of the 25 year old carpet, which we stored in the basement and someone just picked up last week to use as flooring in their loft!

We have painted the living room, kitchen/dining room, the master bedroom and the basement room (where we learned, painfully, how to drywall) and bathroom, and I began painting the powder room about 4 months ago then stopped. Now that school is over it won't be long until I finish it (I promise!) The office is now a bright yellow, which has helped me stay cheerful through some extremely long nights.

Furniture Frenzy

In the past few weeks I have bought a lot of furniture. I like to think that my late night trollings through craigslist have assisted me in keeping my sanity while I finished up the spring semester at school, which was mentally exhausting. I finally finished yesterday, and took a 6 hour nap to celebrate!

The end of the semester and a lack of time to clean has meant the house at the corner has resembled a charity shop for the past few weeks. Thankfully, I live with boys, and they've been very patient with me!

So here are some of my recent purchases. Some of them need some work (refinishing, painting etc).

Every piece was a bargain. The dresser was the most expensive item, at only $35! I intended it to go into the master bedroom but it is far too big. I have ended up really liking it in the lounge though, so it's worked out well. Also this means we don't have to lug it up the stairs, which is great because it's very heavy.

The nightstands were $25 for the two, along with a beat up old dresser (that ain't got no legs) that I am going to attempt to refinish. When I opened them up I realised they are stamped Kent-Coffey. I hadn't heard of the manufacturer but having done a little research since, it seems that they were a popular mid-century manufacturer. One table is pretty scratched up at the base and will need sanding and refinishing. I am going to practice on the dresser, as I have seen 2 sets of Kent-Coffey nightstands on sale for over $2500. I think the seller is a bit deluded, but still!

I went to collect 2 Breuer chairs and ended up getting 4. Now I have rather a surplus but am finding them extremely comfy! We also picked up 2 Breuer bar stools in not very good condition, that I intend to refinish and sell on. I really like them, but T-Rex is suffering from Breuer chair overload, and I don't blame him.

Although I didn't really need a new drafting table, I fell in love with this one when I saw it's cute blue metal base. It is much bigger than my old one, and not as easy to use as each side moves seperately! But it means I can draw standing up. I sold my old one on craigslist for twice as much as this one cost. Woot!

I was really pleased to find this thonet-style bentwood rocker for only $25. It is sitting in our boudoir, and it takes up a lot of space. But it is lovely and you can rock to an almost horizontal position!

Farewell, Domino :(

Alas, Domino is no more. I have been subscribing since late 2006, I think, and will miss my monthly fix. I was extremely sad to receive a card in the mail saying that Domino has been discontinued, and they will be sending me some strange magazine I have no interest in instead. Not even Architectural Digest (it's sister mag) which would be great, but something totally un-design related!

As a journalism graduate training to be an interior designer, design magazines hold a special place in my heart. Domino did a great job of publishing an interesting magazine with a mix of high and low end style. One of my favourite articles was this peek inside Matthew Williamson's house. The fab chair in the corner here inspired me to find myself a similar wicker 'throne' on craigslist ($35!) which I aim to paint in vibrant colours this summer.

To all at Domino - you've been inspirational, thank you!

Funky Solar Lights, Finally!

Thank you, once again, Ikea! I have been looking for some solar powered garden lights for a while. Unfortunately, what I want and what I see are not the same. I am sick of seeing the same dull colonial style lamps.

This spring, Ikea has finally come out with 'Solig' - a range of solar powered garden lighting which is sleek and gorgeous! They even have solar powered japanese lanterns. These are a few of my favourites...

Of course the big question is, will they really give off any light in my sun starved garden? We will find out soon enough!

The Tenacious Tree

This tree is a joke. I don't know what it is for sure, but it has been suggested that it is some kind of 'Locust' tree, possibly a Black Locust. It's hard to tell because all we have of it are offshoots of the roots, so fairly small (although the tree was about 18' tall already) and I haven't inspected the actual tree they are coming from.

When we first moved in last summer, it was about 10'. A couple of people told me to get rid of it, because it was a pain. I liked the dappled shade it was giving the garden, and the screening from the neighbours, so I ignored them. Well now we are regretting that. There must have been at least 20 thorny shoots growing up out of the garden. Instead of one trunk, there were masses like a bush, all babies coming from a tree about 30ft away. This is the spot where I want to put my patio, so I decided before the leaves come back, it was time for us to get rid of it.

Poor T worked up such a sweat that he had to take a pre-soccer shower. It still isn't out of the ground, but after almost 2 hours in the misty rain, I finally persuaded him to leave it for the night. Underneath the surface we found about 50 roots going all over the garden to its various babies. I don't think we will see the end of this anytime soon, and I have just read that when you chop a root, many more spring up in its place!

It bit me in the hand a couple of times (even through my gloves), I think it knows that its end is nigh.

First!

Since I constantly browse the interweb looking for the ideas of others to 'borrow', it occurred to me today, when looking at the lovely blog myskinnygarden http://myskinnygarden.blogspot.com/ that perhaps it was time for the house on the corner to have its own blog.
Since we live so far away from the homelands, and therefore from everyone, I am always being asked for updates on the house that was purchased in the summer of 2008. So, this little blog will be a place where such information can be found, and a log of the renovation of the little house on the corner.
Of course I will also be adding trinkets 'borrowed' from other places that inspire me. I hope you enjoy!