Just for Fun

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I have such fond memories of when my children were small, and we would sit snuggled together on the couch reading our favorite stories.  I have to admit that a couple of stories in particular  (both co-written and illustrated by Mark Teague) were a special joy to page through for me. I don't think you will be surprised... it was because of the houses. Gracie, the little dog who has an adventure when the painters come one day to paint her house, lives in an especially lovely Victorian.

If you look closely, you can see her in the window downstairs....

 

Much to her surprise, she is put out by the painters...

and the fun begins! As we come along on her adventure, we catch glimpses of the neighborhood houses.... What a treat!

And then there is Willobee Street, a charming, picturesque, yet wacky place....

where Ma Brindle, standing on her porch below, has baked a pie so sweet and irresistible everyone (including the neighborhood cats and dogs) have overindulged...and are lulled into a sugary-sweet stupor.

The streetlight glow, the generous front porches, the gabled roof lines, the leafy green trees...they make me happy. And they capture an essence, a spirit of place that I don't know that I could put into words.

What places, fantasy or otherwise, feel that way to you? Pay attention--look for inspiration in all kinds of places. See what feels like home to your heart. This focus will help you to bring little bits and pieces of that  contentment, creativity, warmth and significance home to where you live in the real world, and we will all be better for it!

 

The wonderful books featured here are: The Great Gracie Chase: Stop That Dog!  by Cynthia Ryland & Mark Teague, and Sweet Dream Pie  by Audrey Wood & Mark Teague.

Have You Got Religion?

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I think the answer had better be yes...

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of touring the abandoned Spring Valley AME Church. I have admired this humble country church as I have driven past it for the past 20 years or so.....always wondering who owned it, what would become of it....and wouldn't it be so charming if someone would just take a chance and fix it up??

Imagine my surprise when I passed it a week or so ago, and saw a "For Sale" sign posted right out front. I couldn't wait to talk to my business partner and see if she would be game to take a look. What would we do with the building?? I don't know....we can figure that out later, don't you think??

It is always a good start to a showing when the first thing Victor asks me while getting out of his truck is: "You want to tear that down, right??"......

We kicked around a few ideas as we looked at the property. With all of the development going on around it, we all felt that the former church could make an absolutely charming coffee or breakfast place...

Alas, it was not in the cards. I knew that there was a good chance that the old frame building would not be in any kind of shape for rehab after all of the years of neglect.  Victor confirmed that the foundation would have to be rebuilt, amid other expensive obstacles to the restoration--so a project that was already outside the scope of what we normally "do" fell victim to a fatal blow--we have made the decision to not proceed with making an offer. It makes me sad, but I still hold out hope that someone will have a vision for the property that does not include razing the building....

We have to have faith, right?

Thinking Outside the Box

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There are many ways in which to think of your house. When frustrated with the flow and function of the interior spaces, sometimes it is helpful to envision the building as a large rigid box, with many smaller somewhat flexible boxes inside that can be shifted around and fit back together inside of the whole. The result can be a completely new relationship between the rooms, and a great improvement in the function of the home. In the whole house renovation that I participated in starting this past summer, that is essentially what we did to allow for a modern kitchen to be created, and maintain certain things that the homeowners did not want to change about the original floor plan of the house. You may remember this house. I have written about it here and here, and I am very excited to show you the end result of the kitchen renovation, which did indeed include moving the space from one front corner of the house to the other.

What we started with was a mid century gem of a house that had been lovingly designed by its original owner, an architect himself, for his family. The house was conceived during a time when the kitchen was for those who worked in the house, not for the lady of the house herself, and the kitchen was not the hub for family gathering that it is today. The pictures of the kitchen it its original state say it all:

The kitchen had an awkward L-shape to it, and on one end was an exterior entrance which had always been used as the main way to enter and exit by the family. You can see it at the far end of this picture....

When I proposed closing this door up, and instead turning the opening into a window so that we could have a workable kitchen layout, the response from my clients  was a polite but firm  "Hell No."

So, we were temporarily at an impasse.

Because I didn't want the owners to go through a costly renovation to have a pretty kitchen that would essentially function no better, I went back to the drawing board.

In our conversations about the house, I had learned that while the kitchen door had not been intended to be the front door of the house, visitors interpreted it to be just that. If they had not visited before, or weren't instructed to do otherwise, they often came here to knock, since it was the most visible door when you approached the house. The true front door was hidden from this angle, and therefore very seldom used.  In the picture below you can see the kitchen door as seen from the driveway....it is the one on the right, propped open in this picture taken during construction....

Since it was unthinkable to have this door not be a door (for functional and sentimental reasons), then why couldn't we then solve two problems at once and create an entry/foyer to be just inside of this opening, and then shift the kitchen down the front wall of the house, so that it would absorb the space that was once the entry hall??  The kitchen could then encompass a much larger and more functional space....

The answer I got this time was a resounding "YES!"

Victor Burgos, our so very knowledgeable, always patient,  favorite general contractor, was there to assure that the changes could be done, and we started working out all of the details that would need to be addressed. It is amazing to me that the view of the original front door went from this:

To this (a great but sadly blurry picture of Victor and me going over details during the demolition)....

to this:

Wow.

And here are some more......

Before:

and after:

(The curtained window above in the "before" is the very same window here in the upper left of the frame.)

Before:

and After....

I am so pleased with the way this project turned out. The craftsmanship and materials are just beautiful.

What was once the "front" door to the house is now a beautiful kitchen door, complete with a new light cut in it (asymmetrically placed to be true to the vintage of the house) to allow more natural light to enter the space.

And the staircase, which wasn't able to be fully appreciated before in the dark front hall, now adds so much architectural interest to the kitchen.

So, don't allow yourself to be boxed in! Creative thinking and not being married to the way things are, can help you to look forward to the possibilities of what could be!

 

 

 

Rented!

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Today the papers were signed and it is official! Our project house that has been sitting so pretty for so long will have someone new to love her. We are so excited!

I was there today going over the paperwork and working out some details....had to snap a few pictures.

I am so proud of the work I did on this house. If you missed it before, you can see a lot of it here and here.

It seems strange that I won't be able just to pop over just to say "hi" and enjoy all of the pretty sun-filled rooms..... but what a happy ending for what was once a forlorn little cape cod so down on her luck.