Work on the Studio Exterior (12-31-10)

In retrospect, the hardest part of the project has been to find reliable contractors; in addition to Gary, this carpenter is the sixth contractor to work on the shed/studio.

Replacing the missing battens

End of Year Wrap-Up (12-31-10)

While I was working in the yard this morning, I was thinking of the the things that drive me. I am passionate about my little crooked house with the crooked floors. I am passionate about making it just right and cozy for us, our home, a refuge beyond the reach of the world.

A Day of Work (12-31-10)

I spent all morning and most of the afternoon trying to get some yard work done before there is another freeze. Lots of work today: I turned the dirt over in the garden area, to discourage the weeds from settling down for the winter. I stacked up away from the house all the wood logs Gary had split and left near the carport. I carried a lot of the wood debris left behind the studio (aka shed) by previous contractors to the side of the trailer, for a future trip to the dump. Valérie and Julia brought all the trimmed rose branches from the rose garden area and put them in the trailer, with the rest of the yard debris. Then, I went down to the rose garden and trimmed half of the lavender shrubs at the front of the property, and the big hydrangea near the front porch.

One of the pipes at the back of the house behind the laundry room may have burst: there was a long trail of ice along the side of the house, not a good sign...

On a positive note, the outside of the studio is finished, as far as the missing bats are concerned. My friend Julie Olson gave me the phone number of a carpenter who seems to know what he's doing (a nice change, since the last 10 months have been been a wild ride). He worked pretty fast, with no gloves on. Yet, it was so cold in the morning, I couldn't even feel my fingers inside my gloves...

Gutter Installation (12-21-10)

After getting estimates from 14 different people, I thought I was going to go mad! In the end, I ended up choosing the... first guy! Happy-go-lucky, with a gentle sense of humor, he gave me the assurance that he wasn't out to take advantage of us, but to do a good job. I was able to get the last 30 ft. box of foamy rain filters Costco carried in the state, and he provided the missing 30 ft. What a difference with the guy who tried to sell me 60 ft for...$410! We may have a few low spots where the water will accumulate, such as the corner of the porch roof, but that remains to be verified when it rains a lot.

The gutter machine molds flat metal into 5" gutters.

The gutter for the upper roof is ready.

A nice change: a straight upper gutter.

The Lights are Installed! (11-20-10)

I never thought this would ever happen, but we finally got the lights installed in the studio (can't really call it a "shed" anymore).

The big chandelier was in the dining room when we bought the house, and I immediately hated it with a passion; it was too big for the small room. ( It made me think of a monstrous space alien mothership looming in the sky, with tiny people running in panic on the ground.) But in this space, it looks just right.

The light in the foreground is a lovely small 3-light chadelier I got it at Hippo Hardware many years ago. It was on the upstairs landing in our old house, set with flickering flame bulbs (it drove Gary nuts, since it didn't light the staircase at all).


Next in the project is coating the OSB floors with polyurethane, to protect them and give them some sheen.

Ideas for a Fence (11-18-10)

I drew this sketch to try to get a visual idea of what a fence would look like in the lower part of the property. Right now, there is no fence because the old fence erected in the early 1980s was all rotted out and had to be taken out. Unfortunately, there is just not a way to get a new fence at this time, for lack of funds...

Fence idea.

Rain and Water Update, etc. (11-11-10)

Gary was able to patch and repair the back gutter and downspout. The issue is not totally resolved, but with this temporary fix, we've gained a few days to get a couple more gutter estimates. And at least, I sleep better when it rains.

We live on a hill...

Water Issues (11-06-10)

This freaky weather is just killing me. It's been raining pretty hard for a while, and all I can think of is the missing gutter at the back of the house, with pouring water saturating the ground touching the area where there is a missing segment of concrete foundation wall. I don't know what to do, because none of the gutter contractors I talked to made me feel confident about how this project would evolve; but not dealing with the issue at all is clearly not the right solution either.

An Incredible Find! (11-06-10)

I was browsing at Portico when I came across this superb chaise in the back of the store. It looked absolutely perfect for the studio (if and whenever it gets done...). I hope there won't be any bad surprises with this purchase; I still remember the Toxic Couch of a few months ago...

Are there any competent gutter contractors around? (11-03-10)

No kidding! I learned a lot about gutters in the last few weeks: steel is terrible because it rusts; aluminum is terrible because it expands; wedges will work to support the gutters; wedges won't work because of the angle of the upper fascia board; screws are the best; screws are impossible to remove; spikes are the best; spikes damage the wood underneath; corrugated downspouts are in; rectangular downspouts are the best; metal filters can't stop pine needles; fibrous spongy filters will literally save mankind; 5 inch gutters is perfect; no, only 6 inch gutters will do the job...

And, so far, thirteen guys came over to look at the gutters. As already demonstrated, contractors come in every types imaginable.

Here are some highlights:

- The Reconverted Happy-Go-Lucky-Marginal: comes in an old beat-up truck, steps off, takes one looks at the gutters, and exclaims that he knows exactly who did the job! When I ask who that might be, he refuses to tell. There is nothing to replace, he says: it can all be repaired. I am bemused. What about the bowed porch gutter at the front, with waterfalls of rain pouring down the middle? No worries, life is too short; it can all be repaired. What about the upper gutters that look like they're hanging by a thread? All fixable. He hands us a scribbled estimate, with vague descriptions of repairs to be done.

- The Hostile Slavic: acts clearly annoyed to be here, but he can do "everrrrything, everrrrything!" (The accent never ceases to delight me). But I need to commit now, because of the "special prrrice." He leaves several enticing messages over the next three weeks. He wants to come over, to do the work, for the special price. He wants me to call him back, please, "special prrrice." When I finally call back, he is dismissive and hostile; there is no special price. He never left a message. The price is the price.
Yet, the temptation is great: the price is rock bottom low, but with no details about any materials used. A check of his license number on the Contractors' Board website reveals a myriad of business licenses tied together, some of them pulled as a result of disciplinary actions...

- The Old Timer: has been in business for 30 years, and makes his own gutters in his metal shop. He does not need to measure; he looks at the gutters, hem and haws. We got some tricky stuff here, he says, but he can make things right. He can put wedges to secure new gutters on the upper roof, and it'll be fine and dandy in no time.
As would be expected, he is not Internet savvy, and leaves a message on my phone: he'll do the work for $1,800. Not wanting to solely rely on my memory when making a decision, I call his office and request a written estimate. The estimate comes in the nail a few days later, for $2,200. I call again point out to him the apparent discrepancy. He calls me a couple of days later; he says he made a mistake the other times; the estimate is now for $3,100!

- The Mellow Man: is very nice and has an interesting and unusual product to sell: half-round gutters. They look like some of the pretty cool-looking gutters I saw in (Eastern) Europe in September. Unfortunately, these gutters are made of white vinyl (looks suspiciously like PVC to me). I am not sure they will last, and plastic makes it looks kinda slapped together. I don't know how to nicely thank him for coming over.

- The Aggressive Salesman: on the phone, he volunteers that he has been in business for 19 years and had only two complaints during that time. He promises to call back the next day, but does not for several days. When he finally comes by the house, he seems belligerent. He talks down to me, points out that the roof is bowed at the front (Well, duh!). I interject that, yes, it is, but the gutter is also bowed in the opposite direction. Amazingly, he argues with me that I don't see it right: the roof is bowed, he claims, but the gutter is straight! He then suggests that we ought to rebuild the roof, to straighten it! When I ask him about the advantages of aluminum vs. steel, and question another one of his peremptory statements, he answers that he has been in business for 19 years and had only two complaints during that time (feelings of "déja entendu"). I can't put my finger on it, but this guy gets on my nerves, big time. He claims that he can fix the upper gutters. I point out to him that they are pretty twisted. I suspect that his motivation is due to the placement of hanging straps if new gutters are installed. I need, he then adds, to get some expensive spongy filter that sits flush with the opening of the gutters, and nothing will clog the spongy material; wet leaves will be blown off by the wind, as if by magic. This is the only filter material I ought to use. He leaves me with a brochure to read about this revolutionary product (imagine a very thick kitchen scouring pad).

So I am still looking... In the meantime, the coming rain season is an issue because we are missing a section of gutter at the back of the house.

Halloween (10-31-10)

Even though we still aren't settled in, I wanted to make an effort for Halloween.

I got some old lanterns at the Goodwill Outlet, spray painted them matte black, put candles inside them and placed them along the path to the porch. The old skeleton was dusted off and arranged on one of the chairs. The living room and dining room windows were decorated dark wreaths on the outside and with skulls and raggedy stuff on the inside. There were also three or four real garden spider webs within close vicinity to our Halloween decorations. Perfect.
We got over 20 visitors; not bad at all... And it was validating to overhear one kid comment to one of his companions that he got re scared when he first saw the rubber snake on the floor of the porch.

Creepy Creatures Crawling Out (10-25-10)

Tonight, Julia mentioned to me that she had seen a very scary-looking spider inside the window over the kitchen sink when she got up during the night. I tried to get her to give a description of what she saw, but all she could tell me was that it was a really scary-looking spider. I asked her if it perhaps could have been one of the Mondo spiders. No, and it wasn't a sort-of-cutish (!) one, like those we have in the yard (that would be, the huge garden spiders that have been spinning webs all over the front porch). She said the spider climbed back to a hiding place inside the opening for the window weights. As it turns out, shortly telling me about this, she called out urgently. There was the spider, dark, ominous, shiny and hourglass-shaped. All the commotion was too much for the beast; it retreated inside the window frame. I checked the web, and it was crinkly as I expected: a bona fide black widow. Crap. All we need.

Then, a few minutes later, Julia pointed out what seemed to be a small carpenter ant on the kitchen floor. Crap again.

Unrelated, Valérie called and asked if we had seen any Mondo spiders inside the house lately. I answered that we hadn't, and we both agreed that this was very suspicious.

A few hours later still, as Gary and I were sitting on the couch in the family room, checking out some garden lanterns I bought at the Goodwill Bins, which I thought would be perfect for Halloween, as I tried to wipe off one of those cloudy white spider egg sacks, a gazillion tiny eggs fell out and rolled all over the coffee table...

Aaaarrrgh!

Peacock Window for the Living Room (10-17-10)

Jennifer Hanson made this beautiful mosaic glass window; a natural spot for it was in the living room, next to the piano.

New Flower Windows for the House (10-17-10)

I got some gorgeous windows from Jennifer Hanson again. I absolutely love them.

Stunning at night when the light is on indoors.

This one is in the staircase.

Gorgeous Windows for the Art Studio (10-17-10)

I liked these windows the minute I saw them on Jennifer Hanson's website. The problem was their horizontal orientation, making less than ideal for the vertical window frames in the dining room or the living room. It turns out that the only place where these windows will fit is the Art Studio...

And Here is the Artist... (10-17-10)

...the amazing Jennifer Hanson, who created the lovely mosaic glass windows I mentioned in previous posts. She came to deliver more windows and very kindly hung them up.

Hydrangea Blooms (10-07-10)

I wanted to cut a few hydrangea blooms from the huge bush in front of the kitchen window, and I was enjoying myself so much, I got carried away and I cut them all off! (Pretty stupid...)

Master Bedroom Improvement (10-04-10)

I convinced Gary to take down the hideous trellis the previous owner had attached to the ceiling. When lying down in the bed at night, I could imagine armies of spiders nesting behind the trellis, and dropping down on my face during the night... I don't mind the green and lavender wallpaper, but this was too much, you know, "Girly-Woman-has-a-Southern-Plantation-moment."

Christopher started painting the walls a deeper shade of lavender, to match the color in the wallpaper. The original (pallid and drab) color of the wall is visible in the photo above.

Contractor Update (10-01-10)

Well, it turns out that the genius carpenter was also a flake. So annoying.
After installing the French doors, redoing the ceiling, setting in a large decorative beam supported by two beautiful rustic posts, and laying the floor out in the studio (aka "the shed"), he disappeared, leaving work unfinished on the outside of the structure. Pretty annoying since he left work unfinished.
I could see it coming a while back: he was getting here later every time, yet leaving earlier. There always was an excuse of some sort; he seemed flustered; he "was having personal problems," "was busy at his other job," etc. I almost expected him to say that the dog had eaten his homework.
Now I am in the frustrating position of having to pay someone else yet to finish what he didn't.

Rethinking my Attitude (09-27-10)

Now that I am back from a soul-recharging and inspiring trip back to Europe (Amsterdam, and specifically Budapest and Prague), I am going to pick up the pieces of my blogs and start posting again.

It's been said many times, things in Europe are different. Things look old from natural age, not out of artifice. No need for Disney-esque fairy tale-style quaintness, or for grand-looking ephemeral buildings on movie sets to be soon torn down... It's a difference in attitude. The saddest photo exhibit I've ever seen was, if I remember correctly, an exhibit of Minor White's early photos of Portland: it was a great city with great architecture, and it is no more, because it's all been torn down.

It was refreshing to see elegant old buildings in the cities, some gloriously restored, some still showing the heavy scars of wars and time. Give me that any time over the cheap strip malls and box-style stuff passed off as buildings here. We saw more buses and trams running throughout the day in the cities than we would in a month in Portland, and they were heavily used by commuters, no less, appreciated as a necessary element of the infrastructure of a city.

It was refreshing to visit Skanzen, the open-air ethnography museum near Szentendre in Hungary, and to see old farmhouses relocated on-site, decorated and furnished with authentic folk-style furnishing, things that fit the setting they were intended for. Most interesting, it was amazing to see how people lived in these ancestral houses, how some had airy courtyard proving summer shade, or a central room with a wall oven, or how the variations in styles based on the regional setting.

In Cesky Krumlov, we had the amazing opportunity to stay in a hotel built in 1459, and this reset my perspective. The lovely and picturesque buildings in Cesky Krumlov were all of the same vintage; none were straight and plumb according to today's standards, and yet, they were still standing, and still occupied and clearly well-cared for and valued.

An old house like mine, despite the local reaction to its so-called ancient age, construction methods and materials, is in fact a window into the history of its setting (although, a very young history, since the oldest buildings in the area are probably in Canemah and Oregon City and date back to ca. 1861). What is wrong is the approach to this history. My experience has been that on the West Coast, there is a tendency to consider anything over 20 years old to be decrepit, in need of updates or replacement, and, ultimately, worthless. So sad.

This trip was particularly valuable to me in the sense that it allowed me to rethink my reaction to getting bad news about the house (and have I gotten bad news in the six months we've lived here!). Consequently, so what, if the house has settled over the years? So what, if the roof over our house is not straight? So what, if the oak trees drop leaves inside the gutters?

A Light to Shine Through the Night (09-24-10)

I've been going to several lighting stores over the last couple of months, hoping to find a light fixture or two for the art studio (previously called "the shed"). There wasn't much that I liked, though. I wanted a distinctive light, but one I could afford (requirement that apparently cancel each other out).
Yet I kept thinking about a chandelier I'd seen at Hippo Hardware as one that would be perfect for the dining room. The looping drapery cord design, the bright gold paint finish struck me as a somewhat charming 1960s gaudy interpretation of a more classic and timeless style. So, after giving myself a generous few weeks of going back to look at it and thinking about it, I finally purchased it. (Who ever said I'm impulsive?) And thanks, once again, to Jim McDonald, for excellent customer service.

Great House Party! (08-22-10)

Days of work and cleaning paid off: many friends came to visit and we had a great, great time visiting with all, even some we hadn't seen for a few years. A head count of all the people present over the course of five hours came to a total of...95 people! Amazing!

The house was clean; I had even managed to cram all the still-unopened boxes in the small family room closet, making it look like we had our act together. The instructions were simple: if you show the house to visitors, no matter what, do NOT open the closet door.
So, after the last visitors were gone, as I was finally about to sit on a chair in the dining room, in a daze, munching on my first bite of the day, leftover chips (wistfully thinking of all the appetizing treats I had seen come and go), commenting on how great everything had looked, and how masterfully I had managed to get all those boxes to fit all piled-up in the closet, and no one had even known, Monica-Sophie commented that she had in fact opened the door to show everyone how we had managed to hide all our stuff away in the small closet!..

Coming Soon: House Party (08-14-10)

There is no point in postponing this any further; we are going to go ahead and have a house party in a week or so.
Monica-Sophie is presently in South Korea and will be in town for a couple of days before leaving for Budapest, possibly up to a year; Valérie will also be here 9in fact, she's been here all summer), so this seems like the best time to invite people over, whether the house is messy or not.

A Favorite Place (08-14-10)

When I take a walk down the alley to the front of the property, I like to stop at this small shady paved area.

The Rose Garden (07-10-10)

Many red and orange-colored rose bushes were already established in the rose garden at the front of the property, but I brought along my very favorite David Austin roses from Heirloom Roses when we moved: The Prince, Tamora, St Cecilia...

Remodeling by Intuition? (07-02-10)

I hired a team to work under the house to shore up the posts, and as they set out to crawl under the house this morning, I suddenly had a real bad, creepy, feeling that something bad may happen, a feeling of dread that kept on increasing with time. So I made the contractor stop and told him that I felt uncomfortable with them being under the house. The poor guy looked totally baffled. But I felt much better once they were out of the crawlspace and gone.
I can't figure out if I an apprehensive about spending money (all the money we'd set aside for improvements is spoken for), if it is about this particular team doing the work, or if it is because the crawlspace had been sprayed with pesticide only the day before, and I am concerned about any residual fumes... Most worrisome: could it be one of those premonitions I get every once in a while, that something bad may happen..?

Fiction Writing Exercise (06-24-10)

I wrote this fictional text with a certain house in mind...:

Sadie had spent days sweeping and mopping floors, opening boxes of once important things that now seemed pointless to hang on to, and she could tell the adversary was formidable. The house was malevolent. Not your evil-horror-movie-house malevolent, but insidious and discreet about its evilness. Despite her scrubbing them with scouring cleaner, baking soda, and even alcohol, she had been unsuccessful at removing the many smudge marks from the walls. It seemed that only paint would cover the damage.

She had encountered various noxious creatures: ants, tiny ones who had invaded her sugar containers, as well as the more destructive carpenter ants, and even the occasional spider, huge and hairy. She wouldn’t even be surprised if, getting up one morning, she found a scorpion curled up inside her slippers.

Another Day with Contractors Over (06-24-10)

I have lost track of how many contractors and/or workers have been over since we moved in. Whether it is roof, gutter, foundation, or insulation, somebody's come over to look at it. I may post a sign by the mailbox: House With Problems Straight Up the Driveway. And Bring Yer Own Flashlight and Measuring Tape this Time.

In the case of the foundation, if five contractors have been over to inspect the underside of the house, there have been that many opinions about the state of the foundation. These people all seem to describe a different house, ranging from shrugged dismissal, the age of the house given as an explanation for its shabby state, to manic smiles in anticipation of a fortune made to bring everything to 21st century standards, to paranoid rants about how one should be paid to even look at anything like that. Yet, there is never any mention of the issues that had been pointed out in the house inspection report (repairs Mrs. Previous Owner promised to do, but didn't).

And when one of these guys goes under the house, it's not like I can really tell him that I'll be in the house, and to just let me know when he's done. No; there is a sort of unspoken expectation that I will be standing by the side of the porch leading to the crawlspace, and kill time while whomever is crawling about under the house. Some guys like an audience and talk away the whole time (inaudible muffled sounds coming from under the house)... There I am, patiently standing by the opening under the porch, thinking of how to muster dinner out of what may or may not be in the refrigerator, or looking for weeds to pull by my feet, while nodding and making sounds of agreement to whatever he may be saying.

When he comes out, and rattles on about whatever repair he thinks is necessary, I try to look interested, but pinch my hands behind my back as I hear the keywords that trigger yawning reflexes: posts, piers, cinder blocks, etc. Then I ask inane questions, like were there spiders under the house? Little spiders, or giant ones? How about rats? Any carpenter ants?

Too Much Rain (06-10-10)

My days are spent on the phone, calling contractors.

We can’t repair the gutters because the roof eaves they are braced to is totally crumbling (dry rot and suspicious ants in the vicinity); we can’t repair the roof eaves because there is an electrical conduit with live wires braced to them; we can’t move the electrical conduit (not up to code) because the electrician needs to come brace it up to the exterior wall, etc.

In the meantime, whenever it rains, I watch water pouring out from the gutters and going straight into an opening under the house where there is no foundation wall...

My Octopus Window (06-10-10)

...Here are some photos of the window Jennifer Hanson made for our house since the other one was too small for the window frame. The window is in the bathroom upstairs now and looks superb, especially from outside at night.

The Homeowner's Lament (06-09-10)

A poem by Pascale Steig

Found a house, at last
Charm abounds everywhere
It sits on a hill.

Yellow wood siding,
A nice porch to while time away
On warm summer days

Wake up to the light
Filtering through old stained glass
Lavender, red, green, amber

To rest, -Home at last-
And finally settle in,
Unpack my boxes

Secret garden spots
It is ours now, all of it
Plants, shrubs, flowers, trees.

Glorious spring blooms
Peonies, roses and more:
Endless surprises.

Water runs downhill
Rainy weather, soggy ground:
Endless surprises.

Alas! Rain; more rain!
Water pours under the house,
A river, a lake…

Crumbling foundation
Carpenter ants, -worse: spiders-
Problems all around

A mess to fix;
“Sell it before it’s too late,”
Says one contractor

“Don’t think about it -
It’s been here a hundred years,”
Says another one.

I try to fix it
I paint it; I buy windows:
Presents for the house

I want to tame it:
The cantankerous old house
Hides its beauty well.

The Removal of the "Lump of Dirt" (06-08-10)

It's been driving me crazy to look out the living room or the dining room window, and to see the stupid eyesore of a mini-mountain covered with weeds behind the house! According to neighborhood gossip, it was erected when the previous owner's old father dumped the dirt that was excavated when the green house was built next door (insert the crazy vision of an old man pushing wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt up the driveway, through the carport, by the garden area, to the back of the house...). We finally got rid of our "lump of dirt" and the dingy concrete pad touching the house, and had the land leveled. This was no small task; the tractor had to be brought in through the neighbor's driveway because there was no other access from our side, and three huge dump trucks' worth of dirt and one truck's worth of concrete were hauled away...

"Before" view: dirt partially removed, concrete pad in foreground.

Pretty funny, the guy talking on the phone; note the little boy watching.

View of the shed and family room.

View of the family room and the back of the house.

"After" view of the back of the house.

The Toxic Couch: Part Three (06-08-10)

My project was not going well. After letting everything fester under the carport for weeks, I convinced Gary to rent a Rug Doctor, so I could try my hands at a last ditch effort to rescue my couch and recliner.
I decided to treat the stinky mattress first. It was a nice, thick mattress; it looked comfortable and clearly had never been used before (by a human). Unfortunately, it had been in contact with the rusted springs inside the sofa and had been contaminated with the same sour smell as everything else. I laid it down on an old shower curtain on the lawn, and scrubbed the heck out of it. I then left it to dry on the green lush lawn, hoping that the fresh spring air would do wonders for it. There was nothing else to do for it but wait... Next, I scrubbed the sofa and the recliner. The leather responded beautifully, springing back into shape, a testimony to quality materials. But the dark places which had been stained and damaged, once wet, had the same sticky gummy feel as the cushion covers; the leather was rotten.

All those efforts were for nothing in the end; the repulsive smell oozed and wafted from the couch, mattress and recliner, no matter what.

The last episode in this saga: I reluctantly took everything to the dump. As I was driving away from the huge bays, I turned around and got a last glance of the couch without its cushions, with a mountain of trash all around, as a bulldozer was advancing in its direction.

RIP beautiful couch.

I drove the car to the exit window, paid the dump fee and briefly told my woes to the lady at the window. She laughed and said "I always tell people; you gotta give it the sniff test before you buy it!"

Mosaic Glass Windows (06-07-10)

I decided to post some photos of the absolutely gorgeous mosaic glass windows made by Jennifer Hanson. I found the window with the hand, the window with the flowers and the wide sun window at Portico. The cherry tree and the small sun windows were on display at Houlton Bakery in St Helens. Jennifer made two smaller windows for the master bedroom in a crazy mosaic patterns to match the colors of the "real" stained glass windows. She also made a large window with a big octopus for the upstairs bathroom (the photo of the octopus window below is similar to mine).

My Closet Palace (06-06-10)

My closet is finally finished. It's so big, it's more a dressing room than a closet; I could lie down on the rug to meditate or read a book.

We got the clothes rack, the cute red bookcase and the dresser at Ikea. The antique mirror belonged to my mother and is a replacement for the big mirror with a blue wooden frame that fell and broke at our previous house. The big black trunk came from Village Merchants. The rug and the floor lamp in the far corner both came from the local Goodwill outlet store. The floor lamp was rewired by Hippo Hardware; the small candle lights were outfitted with specialty flickering light bulbs for an added fun touch. I bought the crazy chandelier in Belgium, but it is essentially a novelty deco item made in China; it used to hang in my closet at the old house. The gorgeous mosaic glass windows were made by Jennifer Hanson; my favorite is the one with the hand, and the colors of the sun window work perfectly with the room's color scheme.

I bought a cherry tree! (05-29-10)

I can't help it, I love cherries...often eating them till I feel miserably sick (I once ate 5 lb)...

To satisfy my annual lust for cherries, I ordered a Compact Stella tree from One Green World Nursery.

We already have a huge cherry tree on the property, but it is so tall that the branches are out of reach of even a 20-ft ladder.

Work has started on the shed (05-27-10)

After days of agonizing over it, I finally decided to hire the artist carpenter since he was available when I was ready to get started with the project.
We decided to focus on fixing the base structure at this point, to get it ready for pest control treatment and insulation. So far, he removed the damaged wood boards (carpenter ants), replaced them with new ones, and installed the French doors I bought at the Rebuilding Center. So here are some before and after photos of this work in progress.

Wanted: A Competent Contractor (05-12-10)

My days are spent trying to get contractors to give me estimates to make the shed usable as an art studio to spread my art supplies around. There is no middle ground; contractors are like day and night.

An upscale-looking remodeling website recommended this contractor based on my zip code. Right off, when I see that this gentleman specializes in Lake Oswego and West Linn remodel, I doubt that my modest project will be worth his attention… In any case, he comes promptly with his dad, a retired architect. Both are dressed in business casual, and, with similar perfectly creased pants and matching shirt, look so much alike that I can’t help repeatedly cast surreptitious glances from the father to the son during the visit. Rather than give pertinent directions as to what I am expecting from the project, all I can do is distractedly point to the inside of the shed and lamely say that I want it, you know, “nice.” They walk around the inside of the shed, take notes on a legal-sized pad, nod their head in unison, and promptly leave with the promise of an estimate... Neither ever calls back.

According to my real estate agent, this guy is a true artist who worked on various local artsy projects on a regular basis. He looks like a nice quiet young guy, but seems to be pretty bummed out due to some recent losses in his life. He explains what could be done to turn the shed into a really cool building and seems knowledgeable about how go about to achieve that result. The problem is that he doesn’t have any tools at the moment, and neither do we; I am not sure how this problem can be overcome. He sends me a rather vague text estimate via his cell phone.

The day I find a crudely printed black and white flyer in my mailbox praising the merits of this contractor, I am particularly fed up with deciphering Yellow Pages ads in tiny print, so I call him, my heart full of hope. He seems competent enough, but I am not sure he understands what I mean by "an artistic look, like in North Portland," using materials from the Rebuilding Center. The blank look I get in return and his immediate naming a nearby suburban home improvement center as a perfect source for materials suggests that he does not, in fact, know what I am talking about. As I ponder whether this guy has ever been anywhere outside of suburbia, he clears his throat and spits something huge on the gravel outside the shed... (My mental picture of my perfect little shed is now jarred by the presence of pools of spit…). His high estimate confirms my determination to not hire him.

Many times, one relies on a network of people who recommend people who did a great job, etc. This contractor, a smiling, happy-go-lucky type, comes with high recommendations. His estimate is very affordable, but I am not sure he understands the scope of the project, despite my best efforts to overcome the language barrier. When I mention getting recycled materials, he suggests vinyl windows, then shouts "No problem!" when I object. In fact, he keeps interjecting "No problem!" for every issue we may find, be they carpenter ants or structural beam that need strengthening. This is a man with vision. He gesticulates, waves his arms around; we could move over that wall, remove the siding; we could even tear down the building and build a new one! Despite his contagious enthusiasm, deep inside I suspect that there will be problems down the road...

Again, the homeowner benefits from using references, and references from other contractors are valuable. This guy exudes a quiet self-assurance in his capabilities, seems competent and immediately comes up with sound solutions to eventual issues we may encounter. He clearly knows what he is talking about and asks me to give him a chance to prove his skills. As I finally think I may have found the right person for the job and I see my charming little art shed taking concrete shape in my mind, I get an email from him. His high estimate is distressing; I just can't afford him.

So, it looks like I will either pull my hair over costs, or pull my hair over having to babysit someone all the way...

The Toxic Couch: Part Two (05-10-10)

Now, you may ask, what does NOT work on a cat-stench-infected high-end leather sofa bed and recliner bought on Craigslist? Here is the answer, from direct experience: Febreze (1 bottle); Nature's Miracle (2 bottles); Biokleen (3 bottles). Add to that, a couple of big rolls of paper towels to spread the products all over the leather.

I removed the cushions from their zippered covers and took them to the laundromat, with the idea that if they were thoroughly cleaned, the problem may be resolved at last. Armed with detergent and bleach from home, I loaded three large-sized front-loading washers with the cushions. I filled the soap and bleach dispensers with what I estimated to be the required amount of liquid to deal with the situation at hand, and for good measure, I added yet more soap and bleach in each washer's dispenser. I watched as the machines filled with soapy water, and as I saw the water level rise behind the glass door, I noted with slight alarm that there was an awful lot of foam.

I was alone in the laundromat. I could see some foam pushing through the soap dispenser door on the top of one of the washers; I tried to wipe if off with my hand, but the foam was coming through anyway. A card on the wall behind the washers said that the place was under surveillance 24 hours a day. A glance to my left confirmed the presence of a camera overhead. I casually walked over to the thrash can by a folding table and pulled out an old pair of jeans that had been tossed away.
The foam had worked its way through the dispenser door and was now pulsating down the front and side of the washer and pooling on the floor. I tried to wipe everything, like it was just no big deal, once in a while glancing at the camera overhead. As I was busy wiping, I caught sight of mountains of foam cascading out of reach, at the back of the washer and the one next to it... Needless to say, once my load was done and the cushions had gone through a dryer cycle, I was out of there in no time.
But the cushions had come through with flying colors. They were clean and smell-free. There was hope, after all.

Filled with visions of myself sitting on my luxury distressed leather couch and telling people about my good fortune ("Would you believe, I got this $4,000 Restoration Hardware set on Craigslist of all places!), and bolstered by my success with the cushions, I decided that I might as well also take the leather cushion covers to the laundromat.

I walked in like an old pro, put detergent in the dispenser, inserted money and washed them, three times for good measure. I stood in front of the machine like it was perfectly normal to have this unappealing, even gross, stuff churning inside, and watched the yellow-brown water swirl about behind the glass, every turn of the drum causing a shot of brown color to ooze into the foam. Once done, I carefully stretched the wet covers and ran them through a gentle dryer cycle.

But despite the thorough washes, the part of the cushions that had been at the back of the sofa and recliner still smelled awful and rank and was gummy and sticky to the touch and stained my fingers with an oily substance I tried wiping on my jeans. When I got home, I asked Gary to help me gently stretch the covers, to then let them air dry on a chair in the sun. Cripes and aggravation! Inadvertently pulling too hard on one of the gummy corners caused the leather to tear!