We know color has been a big topic with me. Do I go with the bright fun mid-century colors or the more cool sleek modern colors? As you know, in the end the greens and oranges won out and I am sure glad they did because every time I look down the hallway and see that orange accent around the closet at the end, I smile.
Now that the bathroom and hallway are done, it was time to tackle some of the bigger rooms (which ended up being easier than the bathroom and hallway. Lesson learned.) The problem with the bigger rooms is the wallpaper. And the wallpaper backing. After pulling off all the wallpaper in the dining room and living room, we were faced with the backing and deciding what to do with it, paint over it or remove it.
We took the high road and started on one of the walls in the dining room with DIF and then with a steamer. (I say ‘we’ but I did a tiny section of it while Brett did the rest.) The wall wasn’t large and we thought it would be a good experiment. However, six hours later we decided it was a horrible experiment and we would never do it again. In fact, I think Brett’s quote was that he would rather hang drywall over every wall in this house than do that again. Okay, then. The wall did look lovely once it was painted, I will say that.
We decided to try another experiment, this time painting over the backing. This is a tricky thing (as explained in the wallpaper backing post above) but we figured it was worth it just to see what happened. We removed any loose edges of paper and sanded them down. They we applied Kilz Latex sealer all over the wall. Then we painted. Orange. Easy peasy. Much faster and easier and peasier than that other wall. You cannot see any seams from the wallpaper backing at all. Even if you look super closely. And it makes me happy every time I look at it.
The living room walls got the Air color, as I learned in my Apartment Therapy tutorial that you only want about 20% of strong color to not overwhelm. I think that in the living room I will bring in the orange with my fantasy orange sofa from Perch.
The kitchen and family room are next and as I type this I realize that in the end, I am going back to the palette of my favorite Orla canisters. Should always remember to trust my gut.
So another room completed. We went from this:
To this (I love the way I can see both the green and the orange from this vantage point):
And this:
And the now empty living room (after selling all the Pottery Barn furniture…except for the rug. Anyone want to buy it?):
To this:
The house if finally getting that Atomic Ranch feel we were dreaming of when we first walked in. I am now totally stoked for the next project. And so is Brett. He just asked me if he could get a jump on it while I am at work today. Score!
“License to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. Man, free to kill gophers at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit – ever. They’re like the Viet Cong – Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that’s all she wrote.” – Carl Spackler, Caddyshack
Most of the land around our house is wild. (Read: overgrown and unkempt until we decide what to do with it.) Brett pushed the lawnmower over the wilder patches this week to even things out and allow the girls to tromp around in the back. But let’s face it, it’s still just mowed weeds. We will conquer this problem eventually when we get to thinking more about landscaping, but for now the wildflowers and tall grass doesn’t bother me so much.
We do have a nice patch of lawn extending out from the side porch. This is my favorite porch and view. I like to sit out there with a glass of wine after work or a cup of tea before breakfast. (Those are in order of priority, of course, but at least it’s not a glass of wine before breakfast.) The vista is of the lawn and the field of tall purple foxgloves beyond it.
When we first looked at the house, we noticed a few patches of dirt on the lawn. We assumed it was from a dog because that is where the temporary dog run is located. We thought nothing of it at the time. However, over the past few weeks the lawn is turning more dirt patch than grass and we realized that we have a problem.
Now I have never seen patches like this in my life. I grew up in South Texas and I am not even sure that furry animals can live down there because of the heat. I’m sure they can but they didn’t tunnel in my neighborhood. Even if they did, I strongly doubt they could push up a mound under that thick patch of St. Augustine grass. My husband is no expert on tunneling varmints either, so we both assumed it was a mole and those were molehills. We began researching and investigating possible remedies.
Killing the rodent is a last resort and one that cannot be mentioned in front of the kids, especially one kid. Ainsley is the sensitive soul and cannot bear the idea of killing animals.This is the child who became vegetarian at the age of nine and who is deeply disturbed by our installation of an electric dog fence. She even put on the collar and tested it on her wrist and is encouraging me to do the same. Uh…no thanks Ains.
This investigation is turning my husband in Carl Spackler. The appropriate word is becoming obsession. Without the option of killing the rodent for now, Brett is trying a mixture of pureed garlic and hot water and pouring it in the new mounds at night. This seemed to be working for a few days, but two new mounds appeared this morning. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him. I need to get him one of those hats Bill Murray wore as he wages his war.
Even more appropriately, I have learned that it is not a mole, but a gopher. (Hide the explosives!) Apparently, moles leave behind evidence of their tunnels, creating a pattern of lines on the lawn. Gophers just leave mounds that are turns in their underground tunnels. Also, getting rid of gophers is requires different methods than getting rid of moles. For moles, I have read everything from castor oil and water to high frequency sound generators to stuffing human hair into the tunnels. (Yuck!)
Gophers are altogether different culprits. They like vegetation and will often tunnel and eat your plants and bulbs from the root. We don’t notice this yet because we have no new plantings around the yard nor any vegetation that we pay much attention to right now. And there are only two ways to get rid of them: kill them or repel them. A lot of sites I investigated said to learn to coexist with them. I will happily coexist with them. My lawn will not. I did also learn that the top four methods LEAST recommended for gopher elimination are: drowning them, blowing them up, gassing them and gumming them. That’s right, blocking their intestines with chewing gum. Some people have a lot of time on their hands. I would have thought that Molly and Baker’s presence as predators would have scared them away but apparently they already have Molly and Baker’s number.
For gophers, rodenticide is recommended. Jenn, who has the same issue, told me yesterday that they sell it in gummy bear forms at True Value. I worry about kids and dogs though. I worry about me. What if I give the gophers the gummy bear vitamins and the kids the gopher poison! Trapping is another method and that one I will definitely have to leave to Brett because I can’t imagine dealing with a dead gopher. (See where Ainsley got it from?) There is another natural method for gophers which involves castor oil, Tabasco and peppermint oil that may be worth trying before poison or trapping. Also, mothballs. That may work as well.
We will not be shooting them, as one site suggested. ‘Just as effective as a trap and more fun.’ Perhaps there are gophers in Texas.
P.S. Brett aka Carl just came into the house singing that old camp song ‘Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts’. Yum.
I think I’ll go outside for a while…and just smile. At least, that’s what Baker and Molly are always wanting to do. I know I’ve mentioned them in these posts before, but for the uninitiated Baker and Molly are our four-legged furry children. They are just as challenging as the two-legged ones and often cuter. And sometimes, they even smell better.
Molly is a full-bred beagle, and Baker is a mix of a Brittany spaniel and…get this mouthful…Nova Scotia duck trolling retriever. Both are rescue dogs, as was our previous English cocker, Roark. (See what an architecture buff I am?) We love rescue dogs. Not only will we not support puppy mills, but rescue dogs are SO grateful to be in a good and loving home, they shower you will kisses and love and cuddles until you just can’t take it anymore. (This is, of course, after they adjust and realize that they don’t have to run and hide when someone removes their belt.) If you are ever looking for a rescue animal, check out Pet Finder. Warning: Do not go to this website unless you have some serious time to kill, a heart to melt and possibly a spare dog bed lying about.
We have had Molly for over four years, but we just got Baker in December. Molly had been getting a bit lazy and chubby and we decided she needed a playmate. She, however, failed to see the wisdom in this choice and seems to relish in baying at her brother and protecting anything that remotely looks like food. Despite this behavior, she will often not leave his side and does not like him playing with any other dogs at the dog park but her.
In our previous home, Baker and Molly had a yard to run around. A very small yard, but a fenced yard nonetheless, where we knew they would be safe and not escape. With this house, all we have are wide-open spaces for them to run and run they will. Both bred as hunters, Molly and Baker will catch a scent and be off. We have contemplated how to deal with this but can’t bear the idea of fencing the yard and blocking out all the beautiful land around the house. If you do end up fencing the land around your mid-century home, there are a multitude of options beyond traditional fencing. I particularly like the options shown here on the Eichler for Sale site. We may put up something like the cinder block retaining wall in the backyard. Other great fences are shown on the Eichler Network with helpful thoughts on installation and care.
Since we have moved into this new home, the dogs have made a few escapes, usually to the neighbor’s yard to visit their golden retriever Bentley. Once we found them both trotting down West Mercer Way like they were off to town for the day. However last week when I was overseas, Brett called me at two in the morning to tell me they were gone. As in like gone GONE. They had never been gone for more than 30 minutes or so and it became hours. He put up signs, he called friends, he drove for hours. He walked up and down WMW with the leashes until someone stopped and told him that she had the dogs. Apparently her kids were loathe to part with them and Brett said they could visit them anytime. My deepest gratitude goes out to that woman for helping our errant pooches. Just another reason why I love living on this island.
But now it was time to get serious, not just for our own sanity but for the safety of the dogs. Clearly, they are not (nor will they ever be) well-trained enough to be trusted to stay on the property. They are who they are, hunting dogs for centuries. The previous owner had rigged up a temporary ‘dog-run’ in the side yard and that has been our solution for now. With numerous trips to the Luther Burbank dog park, they have stayed relatively happy. (So have the girls who love to run in the water at the park with the dogs at the end of a sunny day. Last night, they taught Baker to fetch a ball in the lake with lots of coercing.) But the laundry-line dog run is temporary. They need more room to roam. Invisible Fence is the logical option. There is even an office here on the island. I had bought a house years ago that already had one installed and it worked great for Roark. All we had to do was buy the collars. We thought we’d check it out.
But, cha-ching! Those things are expensive! We estimate our property would have been upwards of $2000 for installation and we could think of way better uses for two-kay, you know? We (ahem or Brett rather) started looking at other DIY electric dog fence options. There are loads to consider: Radio Fence, Pet-Super-Store.com and even one at Lowes. At the end of the day, we were still sold on the Invisible Fence brand because of the collar options. Invisible Fence collars emit a stronger or weaker shock (I prefer ‘buzz’) depending on the individual dog’s age, weight and temperament. What to do?
Once again, my super-in-laws come to the rescue. They just happened to have a spare Invisible Fence transmitter and two collars. All we Brett needed to do was purchase and run the wire, hook it up to the electric box thingy (a technical term) and train the pups. (Training them is a delicate matter and you should investigate the best methods or talk to a professional if you have never done it before.) How lucky is that! And it got me thinking that there are may be other people with that kind of equipment lying about for the cheap industrious DIY-er. And there is! Ebay is full of transmitters, collars and wire at prices way lower than an installed fence. Many are the Invisible Fence brand too. When Brett struggled with connecting the wires to the transmitter, he discovered that the Invisible Fence people on the island are more than happy to help with second-hand equipment.
We are in the midst of the training process and the pups are responding well. But if you ever see them hitching down WMW, please give them a ride. Home.
Disclaimer: I have never removed wallpaper before. But say those words and you hear groans from anyone in the vicinity that has. Look it up on the internet and you hear even more virtual groans. Professionals won’t give final quotes on wallpaper removal until they get into the job to see what they are working with. Apparently the degree of difficulty depends on what kind of wallpaper you are dealing with.
Anything coated like vinyl or acrylic wallpaper or metallic foil looking papers are not porous and more difficult to remove. Also, methods differ depending on the kind of wall the paper is stuck to. Determining which method to use is a difficult enough task. Wait until you begin the back-breaking work of actually doing it.
As I mentioned in the last post, we are starting small. I needed a small victory to keep me inspired. After being off on business last week, I returned home ready to tackle my project. I decided this was the weekend of the bathroom. I became inspired by a Marimekko-ish shower curtain I found (at Target $19, thank you very much versus the $50+ price tag for Marimekko). I often find inspiration for a room in a fabric I am attracted to. I think this is because I know what I like when I see it. I just have no idea what it is at any moment before that. What I love about this fabric is the green of the poppy, very mid-century modern. (This green will reappear with frequency in our house, I think.) I also like the grays. I decided that I would paint the walls the lighter gray and the cabinets the darker. I visited the local True Value stocked up on paint and wallpaper removal supplies and got started. Brett also visited Home Depot that morning as well to pick up a wall-paper steamer to try as well. He has had luck with that in the past and said works better than the chemicals.
We tried two different chemical solutions: DIF Gel ($4) and WP Chomp ($4.50). We also got a PaperTiger wallpaper scorer (photo with the round object and the shiny round teeth-like things) for $5 and borrowed wall-paper scrapers from our friend Jenn. Finally, we rented the steamer from Home Depot for $35 for the day. (We learned later that the local True Value has them for $25/day. Shame on us for not shopping local first!)
For removing the wallpaper, the verdict was tied between the DIF Gel and the steamer. Both got it cleanly off the wall. My personal choice was the DIF gel, however. The steamer was big, unwieldy and hot! Areas that were higher up on the wall were more difficult for me to steam and with the DIF gel and a ladder, I made much more progress. Plus, the gel is significantly less expensive. The downside to the gel is the icky blue goo that gummies up the scraper. Keep a wet towel with you and wipe occasionally. The WP Chomp was worthless. Don’t bother. We succeeded in getting the paper down and need to give it a final wipe with TSP (trisodium phosphate $8/box) to remove the glue residue before finally painting. That is another post entirely.
My goal was a finished bathroom by the end of the weekend. (I am such a dreamer!) I realized, or is it rationalized, that when I watch HGTV or any other DIY shows, there are no kids around. The people on the shows go about their business working on their projects with no one needing a snack or a dispute settled or to be run to a friend’s house or to some kind of rehearsal. (In fairness, I had also forgotten that I was volunteering Sunday at the MI Farmer’s Market and that it was Father’s Day!) And because that isn’t masochistic enough for you, I also told Maeve she could paint her room and invite a friend over to help her do it. The answer to the question you are now thinking to yourself is YES. Yes, I am certifiably insane.
Hailey and Hannah also decided to join in the painting fun with Maeve and her friend and at one point we had four girls under the age of 13 with paint trays and rollers in their hands creating a god-awful mess. I did learn through this process that paint (lots of paint) does come off hardwood floors with a scrub sponge and Murphy’s Oil Soap. Getting it off me and the girls was another story. That is not premature gray in my hair. That is paint. I swear.
Her room went from an unusual orange color to a lovely crisp white (her choice). More photos later on that. Brett also installed her new bamboo blinds. We need some color accents in there and a new rug. (She wants poppy colored accents…yes, she said poppy. Not red, not orange. Poppy.) And then we will have one room completed!
And I thought it would be the bathroom. But what do I know?
Those who know me well know that I am not a DIY-er kind of girl. I fall more into the ‘someone do it for me’-er category. I like to think of myself as the visionary, the strategist, the conceptualizer. I think better than I do. This trait runs rampant in most of my family. We call plumbers rather than repair leaks. We hire cleaning help and yard workers and, when I grew up in Texas, pool men. (My mother has some kind of deviant gene in that she actually enjoys painting, but that is most definitely the exception.)
My first foray into home-keeping illustrates this trait perfectly. My grandfather asked me to clean the glass patio door when I was about five. He gave me Windex and some paper towels. The dog had slobbered all over the glass and I couldn’t seem to get it off no matter how hard I tried. Frustrated, I went back to my grandfather and told him of my failure. His response: ‘Put some elbow grease into it.’ My quizzical response: ‘Where do I find a can of that?’
My husband’s family on the other hand is the total opposite. Doing it themselves is always the first option. They understand how these things work and the thought of failure doesn’t seem to intimidate them. They all have the gene my family lacks. (These are the people who put in a wall on moving day, remember? Just for kicks.) Brett’s brother Eric completely renovated a 1904 craftsman by himself. We are talking removing a fireplace, redoing siding, electrical, plumbing, putting in a new kitchen, bathrooms, hardwoods, etc. You get the idea. Brett’s parents think nothing of putting in a floor over a weekend. I stand in awe of these people.
All this is to explain why the project list for the house only intimidates me to the point of mild anxiety and not total paralysis. The list is categorized first by size of project: Big projects and then room projects. The goal is to complete one room before moving on to another. Big projects will be done either simultaneously or when feasible. We talked about the top three in a previous post. (Ready for my close-up…) I also believe that, for me, it’s good to start small. I need a success to inspire me to try another project. So here’s the list of the big ticket items and the first achievable room. (Read that as easiest!)
The Big Ones
Drainage ditch
Terraced retaining wall
Remove deck and install terraced patio (A sunken hot-tub would be nice, too.)
Refinish all the floors
New electrical panel and those safe outlets all through the house
French doors in our bedroom and a private patio with outdoor shower
Studio/guest house
First Room: Main Bathroom
Finish removing wallpaper (Thanks for the great start, kids!)
Paint walls, cabinets, tile countertops (New countertops someday!)
Think the bite sized piece I think we can handle right now. More posts to come on the choices we need to make. But to the ethos, I started to hint at it in the last post. The options are to go completely original and stay absolutely true to the time period (i.e., if we had a pink bathroom, we’d leave it.) or to honor the intention of the house, the original style and design, but make choices that will bring it closer to the 21st century. In essence, ask ourselves WWFD (what would Fred Bassetti do) if he were building this house today. We want to honor the indoor-outdoor sensibility, simplicity in design, lightness on the land and the environment and make as many green choices as we can.
We welcome any and all suggestions and will highlight the - process in future posts.
