History II

K and I are all atwitter about tonight's premiere of the John Adams series on HBO. In anticipation of this, I decided I might do a little research into what President Adams might have said about my angst over home ownership. As it turns out, I found exactly what he said.

Though flawed, our 2nd president was a genius in an age of geniuses. His statement, which I've copied below from The Founders' Constitution web site, is not new, and in fact, is so familiar it seems trite. But coming from Mr. Adams, I shall definitely give this sentiment new consideration.

Suppose a nation, rich and poor, high and low, ten millions in number, all assembled together; not more than one or two millions will have lands, houses, or any personal property; if we take into the account the women and children, or even if we leave them out of the question, a great majority of every nation is wholly destitute of property, except a small quantity of clothes, and a few trifles of other movables. Would Mr. Nedham be responsible that, if all were to be decided by a vote of the majority, the eight or nine millions who have no property, would not think of usurping over the rights of the one or two millions who have? Property is surely a right of mankind as really as liberty. Perhaps, at first, prejudice, habit, shame or fear, principle or religion, would restrain the poor from attacking the rich, and the idle from usurping on the industrious; but the time would not be long before courage and enterprise would come, and pretexts be invented by degrees, to countenance the majority in dividing all the property among them, or at least, in sharing it equally with its present possessors. Debts would be abolished first; taxes laid heavy on the rich, and not at all on the others; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded, and voted. What would be the consequence of this? The idle, the vicious, the intemperate, would rush into the utmost extravagance of debauchery, sell and spend all their share, and then demand a new division of those who purchased from them. The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If "Thou shalt not covet," and "Thou shalt not steal," were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.

Make me an HBO Superstar

What's a Light Shelf? (and the usefulness of American Bungalow)

K's pal, M, came up with an idea for this bi-level ceiling idea in the future library. When K described it to me, I had no idea what he was talking about and I couldn't in any way envision it. Then, the plan cost K an extra day of work to frame and I decided that from now on, M should keep his ideas to himself.

Hard to see where it's going but here is the freshly drywalled bi-level ceiling light shelf thing.

Apparently, (because K wants to keep the ceilings free from fixtures as much as possible) the whole idea is to cleverly hide lighting fixtures in a shelf around the edges of the ceiling and provide indirect lighting. He plans to install fluorescents and I'm hoping this won't be as annoying as it sounds.



Then, while flipping through old issues of American Bungalow, there I saw it! On page 82 in Issue 53, Spring 2007 of American Bungalow there are pictures of this thing called a light shelf, exactly as K had described it but as I had failed to comprehend. Teri Sue Wolf, the author of the article, describes it as "cantilevered shelves that project from walls and project indirect light on ceilings." According to the author, Frank Lloyd Wright made use of them in his Prairie and Usonian homes.



OK, we'll see how it works out. M may be allowed to make more suggestions after all.

A Few Words About Daylight Saving Time

The cat tried to wake us up. We thought that she thought we would be late for work. Silly cat. It's Sunday. Let us sleep. K wasn't expecting the workers (Mr. U and Mr. A) for another hour.

We should have listened to the cat. The gentlemen were here at the appointed starting hour of 9 am, while I was still brushing my teeth and only thinking about a trip to Starbucks.

We had forgotten about the change of clocks.

I never understood this odd custom. Where is the light being saved? There was just a story in the news this week about how no energy is being saved and, if anything, more is actually being used to make up for additional heating and cooling costs. But the thing that really bothers me is the idea that we can just change clocks to suit our needs whenever we want. What's the point of having a clock if what it tells us means so little? Why can't we change other tools of measurement, like yardsticks (if we run out of molding) or better yet, bathroom scales?

She knows what time it is, but she doesn't know that the top of the ladder is not a step.

There Will Be Walls!

A lot has happened in the past two weeks.

First, the framing passed inspection.

Then , a big stack of drywall was delivered. I think it was 75 - 8 foot sheets.

Then, the big stack of insulation was stuffed into the appropriate places.

Then there were walls! Or at least there were the beginnings of walls.

And then last Thursday there was another successful inspection. Apparently all the drywall screws were lined up properly, or whatever it is they look for.

And today there was taping and mudding !



K thinks we may be done have about 5 or 6 more days of this, then we’ll be ready to move on to the really fun stuff.

If you read a lot of house blogs, you may be thinking to yourself, "there’s something missing here. I’ve learned nothing about the process of this work." I confess. I’m really not good at describing the details of construction. I hope you’re not looking here for any how-to tips. There are plenty of other house blogs for that. If you’re looking to me for construction tips, you’ve got a lot more to worry about that you even know.

K does all the work. In the case of the drywall components, he brought in some nice hardworking men to help him. The framing he did himself. What I do? I think. I shop. I watch a lot of HGTV. Those paint colors won’t select themselves and K has better things to do than drive all over town for the best selection of outlet covers.

But while I don’t know about construction, thanks to our friends at Wikipedia, I now know more than I should about the history of drywall:
"The name drywall derives from its replacement of the lath-and-plaster wall-building method, in which wet plaster was spread over small, wooden formers. In 1916, the United States Gypsum Company invented a 4' x 8'ft sheet of gypsum pressed between sheets of extremely strong paper, which they called "Sheetrock." Despite extensive use at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933–34, it was generally seen as an inferior alternative to lath-and-plaster, and was not quickly adopted. It was adopted during World War II, when the war effort made labor expensive. It was reintroduced in 1952, impelled by the migration to the suburbs of the 1950s and by the cheaper construction methods associated with its use.[2]"

Huh! My house was already seven years old before drywall was even invented!

If you need practical information, you can check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drywall

But still, I think if you’re consulting Wikipedia for construction information, maybe you should hire a professional.

For today’s presidential portrait, let’s honor Woodrow Wilson. The years of his term introduced both drywall and the federal income tax. We all owe him a debt of gratitude.

Fun with Framing (Happy President's Day weekend)

I’ve been sick for a week. Fine way to spend a 3-day weekend. I suspect the dirt and dust of remodeling has found its way into my sickly lungs. The dust is everywhere. We try to contain it but it’s a losing battle.

K has been working hard on the house. Even the hammering and drilling don’t keep me awake. I am blessed with an Olympic sized talent for sleep. He is blessed with an Olympic sized talent for hard work.

This weekend he’s been working on the framing. We passed the framing and electrical inspection last week and now it’s all about details.

A corner of what will be a bi-level ceiling in the library. The bi-level ceiling thing was an idea that K got from a friend. I still don't understand it. I guess we'll see how it works out.

The kitten is inspecting what will be a future closet. It had been one of the front doors. Well, the door was one of the front doors. What will be the closet was just space on the porch.

I guess this insulation is going to get stuffed into somewhere.

When I’m not sleeping, I’ve been making the best of this time by checking into appliances, reading Consumer Reports ratings. So far, I think I’m pretty sold on Bosch for both the dishwasher and the stove. What really made up my mind for Bosch for the dishwasher is that it was the only brand I’ve found that doesn’t have those stupid, smooth buttons that are covered by plastic. It has proper buttons that won’t split or break through in a few months. On the a/c unit in the office/guest room the buttons split exactly as I predicted it would. We hardly ever use that air conditioner since we don’t use the room all that much. I’m surprised manufacturers still use those buttons. Maybe I’m the only one who has a problem with them. But I'll never again buy an appliance with those plastic covered buttons.

I’m not sure how to select a stove. I’ve never had the choice before. I've always made do with stoves in my former apartments or the two that came with the house. Yes, two, as the house was a duplex when we bought it so it had two kitchens (like it had two front doors). I’m not a chef. I have no cooking related criteria by which to judge a stove or oven. I hear convection is better so I’ll go with that. But I won’t do much baking. Never have, never will. Unless you count frozen pizza. Really, I can only make a decision on the basis of appearance. I know I want stainless steel and hefty knobs. Hefty knobs count for a lot for me as do full surface grates. A warming drawer would be nice too. I guess the warming drawer is for people like me who can never time all their dishes to be ready at the same time.

In addition to framing speaker wire went in, too. That includes the doorbell wire. So we’ll be able to hear the pizza delivery guy even from the back of the house. No point in getting the nice Bosch stove dirty by cooking all over it.

Hey, it’s President’s Day weekend and I can’t think of anything to kvetch about.

In honor of my weeklong cold and probable respiratory infection, let’s have a portrait of William Henry Harrison, our 9th president and the one who served the shortest term. Only 31 days into his presidency he succumbed to a cold that turned to pneumonia.

This is what I herd

My kitchen remodel will completely revolve around the display of my collection of vintage creamer cows.

The picture above represents only the cows acquired since the purchase of our house, five years ago. There are dozens others that have remained safely packed in boxes since the move. They await a fitting shelf.

The display of these cows has determined a future rustic-vintage look in our vintage but very urban home (inhabited by at least one urban and very un-rustic – but increasingly more vintage – homeowner.)

K, (who actually has fond memories of childhood year spent in McCall, Idaho) does not cling to his urban identity as much as I.

Urban or not, I love my cows. Seeing them actually makes me happy! I love to see them all lined up together. They seem to almost sing a concert of moos, their mouths uniformly open, necks extended.

By the acquisition of them, I feel I have also acquired the history they hold. I don’t know how old they are. I’m sure some are not very old at all. Others could carry considerably more history. K recently gifted me one with the highly prized mark "Made in Occupied Japan."

My bovine beauties carry not only the history of the time they were fired, they carry the history of those who first bought them and who first held their smooth ceramic bodies. Who knows how their previous caretakers displayed them? Who knows how often they were engaged in the daily act of pouring cream into coffee? I have recently learned that creamer cows were often a source of salmonella poisoning. They’re hard to keep clean. Rest assured, mine will only be used for decorative purposes.

But back to my point. My kitchen has become about the display of these cows. So really, isn’t my whole house about the display of all my material goods? Couldn’t I spend a lot less money on kitchen cabinets if I were content to go with something a little more modern (but which don’t go with the cows)? When it comes down to it, what was wrong with the house as it was? as I bought it? It had a new roof. Yes, it was as cold as hell, but I’m not remodeling the whole house just for the sake of the drafty windows. Is all this effort and expense really about ego and vanity? "Look at my good taste!" "Look at my beautiful cows!" "Look at all the stuff I’ve collected from all the places I’ve traveled!"

I always wanted to avoid being one of those people whose life centered around possessions. The material world sucks you in, doesn’t it?

Back to the rustic/vintage thing. I hear a wee bit of alarm in response when I've told others that we are going with black kitchen cabinets. But I feel drawn to black cabinets. This is an image from Crownpoint.

Crownpoint is out of my price range but this is the idea. Instead of pottery, you’ll have to imagine my cows lined along those shelves.

The paint will be distressed to give the effect of age. It will be the artificial application of history. How ironic that my 100-year-old house will require a dose of artificial history.

The woman who writes this blog: http://owcl.blogspot.com/2007/09/red-cottage-farmhouse-antiqued-cabinet.html does a very nice job of distressing her own cabinets. I briefly considered this option. Not to our old cabinets, of course - but doing our own distressing on stock cabinets. The act of distressing adds quite a bit to the cost of the cabinets. Of course. Everything I want adds to the cost. But with so much else to be done, this is a task K doesn’t need.

The Price of Empire

Yes, it’s been a while. In November we began the demolition of the last four rooms, the public rooms. The living room, dining room, kitchen and "library" were brought down by Mr. U and Mr. Blue, both of whom I believe came to this state from Wisconsin.

Mr. U takes down the living room.

Mr. Blue under the green beam.

Adios, ugly white painted paneling.

Auf Wiedersehen, nasty kitchen counter.

Arrivederci, white tile.

Bon voyage, bits o' plaster.

Hello, dead rat.

Santa Claus ain't comin' down this chimney no more.

Welcome, squatters and thieves!

Here, you'll just have to imagine the future loveliness of our living room.

We are down to the frame in half the house. We live in 2 rooms. Better than maybe 97% of the world; still … we feel crowded.

It’s been cold. In a Southern California kind of way it’s been cold. It’s been a damp, cold winter and there are huge gaps all over the house. The windows never did seal well and now there are holes where things used to be. And of course there’s no heat source. As K said “there’s no difference between here and outside. Just fewer ‘possums.”

But I’m glad to see it go. Especially in the kitchen. The hideous counter is gone, along with the filthy, horrid drawers and the nasty, crumbling little tiles. And the disgusting vinyl floor.

This is a picture of the kitchen under the reign of the former homeowners. I see now that I managed to make it look considerably worse over the past 5 years. It didn't help that the doors on the lower cabinets started to fall off. But my addition of the green paint certainly didn't help. It was just a test.

Through this process a dumpster was filled . . .

Who knows where all the detritus will go. Actually we do know. Into a landfill. Because we have to have new stuff. It keeps the economy running.

Presidential portrait of the day? - the man who gave us both the Immigration Reform and Control Act and the Iran-Contra affair.

I suppose soon we'll be serviced by Kurds at the Waffle House and Sunnis at Supercuts. That's cool. As long as we get what we paid for.