Shake the Frame

We Recommend: ROBB DAMMAN

2011-06-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

When we bought our house three years ago, while still living in Boston, we pushed ahead quickly to get work done and in our hurry we cut corners and took advice from contractors without doing our own research all the time. We got recommendations on contractors, but rarely got multiple quotes for projects. We also generally left contractors to work on their own, assuming this was their business and they knew more than we did. Nine times out of ten, we received good recommendations and good advice, and have managed to skate through relatively unscathed. We ended up with a really great and efficient HVAC unit, and blowing in extra insulation into our attic has saved us a ton of money in heating bills, for example. However, we cut some corners on repairing our foundation, and it has just come time to pay the piper.

Luckily, the foundation work we did was really an inexpensive stop gap measure and relatively easily fixed. We had taken the advice of a contractor to put up a couple of cross joists in our crawlspace supported by a few metal screw jacks to help support our floor. Recently though, after a New Year's Eve Dance Party, we noticed our living room floor was beginning to feel more like a trampoline than a floor. When I went into the crawlspace to check it out I noticed our insulation was beginning to fall down, and a couple screw jacks had begun to slip and slide under the weight, especially since we hadn't poured new concrete footers for the screw jacks to sit on.

We called Sara Lachenman at Four Over One Design to ask for subcontractor recommendations (Sara does great design work, and is well versed in historic preservation work). We were determined to get multiple quotes, and to put the contractors through their paces. We wanted to ensure the contractors were good communicators, prompt, and dependable. We called both of Sarah's recommendations, one of which was Rob Damman.

Robb returned our first phone call the same day, and scheduled a site visit and quote for the following week. Robb was the first contractor to come give a quote, and after assessing our foundation and our concerns (Jessie and I didn't want a dance party to end in our crawlspace) he laid out a thorough response to the problem. He even emailed me a detailed quote for labor and materials by the end of the day. Robb was clear I should email him if I had any questions.

The second contractor came out the next day and he also assessed the problem and asked questions, and he suggested a much simpler approach. Now this second contractor is very good, and well respected, so I was a bit taken aback at the disparity in their suggestions. I asked him why he wouldn't do x,y, and z which Robb had suggested, and he responded that it wasn't necessary and probably overkill. I thanked the second contractor and let him know Jessie and I would make a decision in a week. He also sent me his quote by the end of the day. (Big thanks again to Sara, these are both great recommendations). His quote was much less work, and therefore much less money.

Since I knew I was out of my depth on deciding between these two projects, I called a general contractor friend, Miles Honeycutt who was just finishing up our friends' home, the Petty Home, for his advice. I proceeded to completely misrepresent the work Robb had planned to do and Miles thought there was a number of problems with it. I decided to call Robb though, and ask him to respond to Mile's criticisms, as well as why the second contractor's plan was so different from his. Robb's response is the reason we picked him, and why we're so vocally recommending him.

Robb very gently let me know I had misunderstood his plans, and was able to re-explain the work in different language without coming across as condescending. He was also completely unoffended I had questioned his plan, and when I asked if he thought his plan was overkill, he told me the second contractor's plan was perfectly adequate, "but when I heard 'dance party, I figured you wanted something more." He also never criticized anyone else's ideas and made sure I knew I could call again with more questions if I had them. We called Robb the next day to let him know he had the job.

For the next week Robb showed up every morning when he said he would, he answered any questions we had and made sure we understood everything he was doing without giving us too much information. He kept the job site incredibly clean, and his work is meticulous. He also did two things which in my opinion went over and beyond my expectations for a contractor. First, he recommended some excellent preventative measures (vapor barrier, and new insulation) which in retrospect our first contractor should have installed. Second, he recommended one change to the work plan which went above housing code requirements, and he managed to keep the additional materials cost very low, and managed to get the extra work done without charging more for labor. Robb went above and beyond the work in our agreement just because that's the kind of guy he is.

During the course of our work with Robb, we also found out our next door neighbor had used Robb to install some windows and she couldn't speak highly enough about his attention his craftsmanship, as well as his ability to communicate. And it turns out he is an actual artist too, both of his blogs are below. You can look forward to seeing a couple more posts about Robb here as we plan to hire him and his carpentry skill for two more projects which will hopefully include custom made desks, and re-used lath board for a dining room table.

We hope you hire Robb for your next project!

Robb Damman
919 621 5481
robbdamman101@gmail.com

http://www.dammancarpentry.blogspot.com/
http://robbdamman.blogspot.com/

An Epic Tale of a Girl and Her Bikes

2011-06-12T20:09:00.001-07:00

Since I've known Jessie, she and I have been searching for her perfect bicycle. Her bicycle would the ideal marriage of style and utility, but unfortunately the beauty was always more important than the utility to Jessie.

Kim posing on Jessie's 3-speed Raleigh, 2006

Way back in 2006, Jessie had a beautiful old green Raleigh 3-speed cruiser. The size was right, the brakes worked (mostly) and the three speed hub worked like it was supposed to. Jessie loved this bike so much that she used it as a prop for elaborate photo shoots to hone her craft. This beautiful bike was not long for the mean streets of Boston though, and the cable lock was the only thing left in front of her apartment one morning.

After the green Raleigh, Jessie had a succession of old Schwinn, Raleigh, and Columbia cruisers. The first replacement was a blue Schwinn cruiser. This bike had a three speed hub, but only one speed worked reliably. I replaced the brake pads and cables, but rebuilding a three speed hub was outside of my skillset. This bike ended up sitting in Central Square (Cambridge) until we decided to move down to Durham and had to sell it.

The next bike Jessie bought was a bright red Columbia three speed cruiser with a great basket. This bike suffered from another broken hub, and wheels so warped that the brakes were ineffectual and the wheels made an ungodly noise when they rubbed up against the fenders. This bike sat locked together with the blue Schwinn.

Jessie was determined to have a bike in Cambridge, though, and so bought a third bike she had managed to find for cheap on Craigslist. This was a maroon ten-speed with wheels in pretty good condition, a basket, and fenders! It wasn't nearly as beautiful as Jessie's old Raleigh, but after a few hours of replacing brakes, cables, and tuning the gears it was a passable bike for local errands, and it was built like a tank. One morning we woke to find some hooligans had knocked over all the bikes on the street the previous night, and Jessie's bike had sustained a pretty vicious attack to push it to the ground. But in spite of the dings and bruises, everything was in working order. This Schwinn was the only bike of Jessie's to make the journey south with us.

Once we got to Durham, though, the bike sat unused. It was heavy and not designed for climbing Durham's hills. This bike was soon sold to a neighbor, only to be replaced by beautiful matching his-and-hers Columbia 3 speed cruisers. Jessie had grand visions of the two of us cycling to the farmer's market and around town with all of Durham whispering about what a stylish couple we were. These bikes were beautiful, but again only two speeds worked on each hub and it made the hills more difficult than they had to be.

About two years ago, Jessie decided she was finally willing to spend the money on a new bicycle, and with a little encouragement from me she started down the rabbit hole of bike blogs. She looked at Globe Cycles, and Treks, Electras, Publics, and Linuses. I pushed for Linus cycles because the reviews I read said they were the best value and I thought they got the design just right. Jessie was partial to Public cycles, though. Public also gets the design mostly right, but they charge a pretty significant premium for the design.

The past two months reached a climax of discussions and turmoil about color, fenders, 3 speed vs. 8 speed, style vs. utility, etc. etc. The decision finally came down to two basic styles of Linus bikes but the only stores to sell Linus were in Richmond, so naturally Jessie got to be on a first name basis with Chip from Pibby's Cycles. Chip is awesome. He took a ton of time answering all of Jessie's questions, including difficult technical questions about swapping out hubs and gear ratios for hill climbing, and important questions about just how beautiful the sky blue Linus Mixte is. For the record, "it's the most beautiful color I've ever seen," according to Chip.

Naturally, however, Jessie could only make these decisions in person, so this past Friday we headed up to Richmond to check out the Dutchi, and the Mixte.

The black Dutchi was at Carytown Bikes in Richmond, and is the type of simple and beautiful bike we saw all over Copenhagen this past summer, but the bike's relaxed geometry make it ideal for flatter terrain. After a week of reading the Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog, Jessie wanted this bike but I pushed to go see the blue Mixte at Pibby's.

As soon as we walked in the door Jessie let out a sound similar to a squeal of delight after seeing the powder blue mixte in the afternoon light. Chip was in the shop, and was just as friendly in person as he was on the phone. Chip adjusted the bike for Jessie's test ride, and advised her on a hilly route that she could put the three speed hub to the test. While Jessie was riding, Chip and I geeked out about ways to swap out chain rings to give Jessie an easier time on the hills, but before we were done talking Jessie was back from her ride and had no problems with the hills. She's much fitter than she gives herself credit for.

We chatted with Chip a bit longer, but Jessie still wasn't sure what she wanted so we went across the street for a cup of iced coffee and a chance to look at the photos of the bikes and to chat about the pros and cons. And just like how we came to the decision to move in together, after 5 minutes of discussion, we had decided the mixte was more practical for the hills and it was also the bike that really grabbed Jessie. We finally found the ideal marriage of beauty and utility!

I'm looking forward to Saturday morning bike rides to the farmer's market, and other adventures we're sure to have with each other and other two-wheeled friends (I'm looking at you, Craig & Nellie).

[If you are in or near Richmond and you're looking for a bike, you really should go check out Pibby's. And if you're in the Durham area, Seven Star Cycles will start carrying Linuses once they get up and running, and Adrian is a great guy too.]

The Next Phase...

2011-06-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

Save for our bathrooms, kitchen, and some finished carpentry work, our house is basically finished. Our bathroom and kitchen are serviceable until such a time we can afford to do the level of work we want. In the mean time though, we hope to use this blog to occasionally document our lives and adventures in Durty Durham. We hope to help keep Durham Disreputable.*

We hope you enjoy what follows.

*Apparently Jim Kellough can be credited with creating the "keep Durham Disreputable" tag and bumper stickers.

Wanted: Your Opinion! (For once...)

2011-05-31T13:13:00.001-07:00

It's a rare opportunity, folks. Matt and I just picked up a great 11x7' Persian rug off Craigslist last night, and we're figuring out how/whether it works in our living room. There are several factors to consider, so we figured we'd put it out there for feedback. Here are some rough shots of things are they currently are (including a bit of messiness).

Things to consider:

The curtains. Too busy now?
The chairs. We always considered recovering the cushions on the mid-century chairs. Should we, and if so, with what color/pattern?
The wood trim. We've pretty much decided as of late to repaint the trim in this room white. Matt feels like it dictates the other colors in the room too strongly, as well as darkens the room and walls over all. I like it, but am willing to go for it as I've always liked white trim. Thoughts on this, with the added rug?
Wall color. Sounds crazy, but we're considering going white for this as well - perhaps just a teeeeeny shade off from the trim (if it's white). A cool white.

Okay, I know we asked for it. Go nuts!

*Note: I originally posted this on Umbrella Love, my other blog, by mistake, so apologies to the two of you whose posts got deleted. The perils of managing more than one blog!

4th Annual Home Tour!

2011-04-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

Come to our next neighborhood tour! For the past four years our neighborhood has been hosting home tours to try and attract new home owners who are looking to move to a neighborhood to be involved and to engage with neighbors to make this a dynamic place. Our neighborhood is a special place where neighbors get together for monthly potlucks, or semi-annual block party's, trick-or-treating, caroling, and projects like adopting the local parks and working with the city to build a dog park!

We hope you come check out all the good things happening in Cleveland-Holloway!

Our new (to us) piano!

2011-01-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a while since posting to this blog, but then again it's been quite a while since we've done any work on the house worth posting.

Just recently though, Jessie's parents wanted to redecorate the family room and move out the old family piano. Jessie was very eager to be the recipient of this family heirloom, even though I was less sure we'd find the space. It turns out that our very wide hallway is the perfect space for it.

After hiring a piano mover, we had to wait a few days for the piano to settle before the tuner could come. Apparently the piano hadn't been tuned in quite some time, and the 5 hours the tuner spent with us attests to that. Of course, as almost all things Durham, our tuner Danny Moses was both talented and warm. Danny chatted with us about the news of the day, and about the best way to rehydrate and cook dried black beans.

If you're looking for a great piano tuner in the Triangle, we highly recommend Danny Moses. Here's his contact info:

Phone: 919.270.3930

Email: thrundr@hotmail.com

3217 Lassiter Street

Durham, NC 27707

The Color in My Head

2009-11-15T08:20:00.001-08:00

Look!

I don't know if you can exactly call it smokey eggplant, but I do know that of the ten or so samples that I tried, none of them was quite right. I'm THAT picky. So I took the two closest, which each lacked a bit of the other, and made my own mixture, with just a dash of a third color. Then I tried it on the house, and once satisfied, painted a swatch of cardboard to take to Home Depot for matching. While I was there, I tried to find a matching sample, but couldn't. Not sure what this says about my control issues. But I'm incredibly happy with the outcome.

(Disclaimer: monitor colors may vary. Sigh.)

But I should go back a bit.

North Carolina has been really lovely this fall. Now that I've intentionally backed off my workload a bit, due to back problems, we've been taking some more time to enjoy it. We went to the state fair with my parents, sister, and bro-in-law, for a little local flavor, fried foods, and wild rides.

(Perfect score!)

And we had a great Halloween right here in own own neighborhood. It was great to see a gaggle of kids and adults come together for trick-or-treating for probably the first time in many years, since the neighborhood has been getting safer. A lot of work was put into making it a great night. Matt and I spent the day going door-to-door with neighbors Natalie, her baby Madeline, and Leslie, handing out balloons for participating houses, and making sure everyone knew about the festivities and had candy to give out. We barely had time to get dressed ourselves, but threw together some makeshift costumes.

After that, we spent a long weekend in Portland, OR, with one of my best friends, Meredith.

Portland, as we knew it would, gave us a great sense of several elements that Durham is missing, but could, with a lot of effort and investment, someday have. It will never be as big and urban as Portland... but it gave me a lot of hope for the direction Durham is going in - denser, more bike- and pedestrian-friendly, more progressive and tightly-knit.

When we got back, we collected Cleveland from the farm. He loves being out there with my parents and has lots of room to run around... but he's always especially cuddly when he comes back.

India has started her landscaping project on our front yard. It will take a while for the plants to reach their mature size, but I'm in love with the plan she did, and it's so nice to have a softer, more organic look to our wonky hill. These pictures are from before they actually went in the ground.

We've been steadily organizing the inside of the house, too, trying to figure out where everything wants to go, and how to keep it that way. I'm loving the winter light that's starting to pour in the kitchen windows.

And, finally, the house painting, which commenced Nov. 14. We hired Jose Vera, who's done some excellent work for my parents, as well as James. Jose works with his two sons, and they've all been doing an awesome job.

(The above photo gives a nice view of some of India's landscaping.)

These photos, of course, are already out of date, as the team is outside now, working away. Another post is in order as soon as the trim is finished.

UPDATE: Here are some end-of-day photos of the house. All that's left is some touch-ups on the cream color, and then the red accents. Can't wait to see that pop of color!

Cleanliness: It's Next to Godliness.

2009-09-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Today Matt and I spent a few rare hours cleaning - you know, the kind of stuff most responsible people do every week, more or less, but which we had let go for far, far too long - embarrassingly long, folks. Recently, when I was lying on the floor stretching my back, I rolled my head to the side, and the dust gathered on the floor was like a foreign, desert landscape. Between my traveling 2/3 of the time, and Matt being back in school... it just fell far further down the list of priorities than we ever should have let it.

But it felt great to have a clean space again. Unfortunately I had to hit the road almost as soon as we were done for another shoot, but here are a few quick shots from this afternoon's serenity post-cleaning:

The throw pillows were an Etsy find on Matt's part.

We are trying out the idea of a dining "nook". This corner of the living room tends to get wasted otherwise. We may eventually put a woodstove here. Or a piano. We have very different priorities sometimes. :) I'll leave you to guess who wants which.

We are clearly in sore need of some art; we have yet to dig what we own out from the chaos of our "back room" i.e. "enclosed porch" i.e. "future master bathroom". In my eagerly-anticipated upcoming month off, I'll spend some time looking through some of my photos to print and frame, too.

We desperately need to paint the outside of the house SOON. If you live in Durham or Chapel Hill, and you know us, even vaguely... be prepared to get an invitation to a caulking/painting party very soon. You will be thanked with the requisite beer (or soda) and pizza.

Shake the Frame Indeed

2009-09-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

'Cause it's not going anywhere... not with the solid handiwork of Woody Osborne and his talented crew. Here is a little teaser for a hopefully-very-soon-to-come post on the near-completion of our home's siding. For the first time, I can squint my eyes and actually imagine how, someday soon, this might actually be an attractive house. I cannot wait.

Imaginary Colors

2009-08-09T14:14:00.000-07:00

First thing's first: Where did we leave you last? I think it was around here:

Ever since Barrio left the country in March, you could say we've been fairly paralyzed in terms of work. We hadn't even taken down the ladders propped against the left side of the house that he was using to put up siding - it's a bit of a miracle that they weren't stolen. We refocused on some other parts of our lives. Work for me, a new internship for Matt. Life went on. We celebrated with neighbors on the Fourth of July:

...and enjoyed a second visit from our friends Asher and Diana:

Check out Matt's frisbee moves!

Last month, however, we reached our one-year anniversary of living in Durham. Ironically, the date itself - July 27 - found me right back in Boston, doing a photo shoot and visiting wonderful old friends. I've been thinking a lot about the way the last year has unfolded, and where our lives are now in Durham. I never seem to find the time to get centered enough, still enough, to actually sit down and expound on it all in writing, though, so instead I think it's important that I focus my energy, and my little window of time between shoots, on catching you up a bit. Continuing the process of documenting.

The great news: we've hired a new contractor! Woody and his team started a couple of weeks ago, and the first thing they did was remove all the rest of the vinyl siding we hadn't attended to yet. Here's our house, naked for the first time since who knows when, all its many and mysterious flaws exposed to the world:

Slowly but surely, the crew has been getting siding up, and replacing the last of our crappy old windows with the new four-over-ones.

Duke Energy came by and took down the huge sweet gum that was interfering with their lines between Jennifer's house and ours. We didn't really mind - except that they left all the stumps and debris for us to enjoy removing.

Lately, finally... we've been experimenting with colors. Here was our first attempt with some Home Depot samples:

Which weren't what I had in my head, and after enough neighbors asked, "you're painting the house gray?" (not at all the name of the color in my head), we made another run for samples:

Yeah, it's weird: the color scheme in my head, one I've been dreaming about for months if not years, involves the happy marriage of a deep, smoky eggplant (not too gray, not too purple), and a bright, straight-up red (kind of like the folding chair in the photo above). But I can't seem to find this perfect smoky eggplant - or maybe it just doesn't exist. The current contenders are much closer... right now, of the colors above, we're (well, I'm) leaning towards the one in the middle. But still looking.

Below: Jennifer, Una (canine), Eleni, and Keelee stop by on a walk.

And Lisa stops by to enjoy our color neurosis.

And I'm proud to introduce the newest member of our family... at least the process involved what I imagine to be the complication of adopting a child... our new couch.

Also known as Cleveland's New Seat.

I don't have a great photo (and it's hard to tell by this one), but we repainted the hallway. The lemony yellow and mustardy yellow combo just wasn't working for me. Now we have a banana-yellow on top, and a medium/light gray underneath. I'll get a photo soon.

So here we are. August is pretty much shot for me as far as time in town to photograph and blog - after this very busy Durham week, I'm off again for more travels for work. Which is part of why having a contractor we trust is soooo wonderful. Come September, I hope the siding project will be completely done, and maybe the house will be painted. If we're lucky, the back deck will be underway, and perhaps we'll even have the start of a fall garden in front, maybe some clearing in back.

Stay tuned, friends... you've been with us this long.

Home Tour!

2009-06-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Last year about this time, Matt and I were still in Boston milking the last few months of steady income before becoming a grad student and a freelancer, respectively, so we missed Cleveland-Holloway's first annual home tour. Our house was newly under contract at the time, and my parents made time to come out and meet neighbors and curious strangers and to take photos. It looked like such a good time, and we were especially eager to be here for this year's tour, organized by the neighborhood and our lovely realtor Ken. Hell if I was going to let a little thing like a canceled flight prevent me from being here - I took matters into my own hands, rented a car, and arrived at 4am the morning of, in time to sleep for a few hours and help Matt clean the house for our guests.

It sure is nice to have some incentive...

The tour turned out great. A lot of neighbors who hadn't seen the house in a while came through, and we gave tour after tour to Durham residents, many of whom are various degrees of interested in buying in Cleveland-Holloway. Despite the real-estate-driven nature of home tours, it felt important to be involved, as it gave us a chance to express to potential new neighbors both the realities of the neighborhood, and also what we're looking for in terms of priorities (i.e. people who are going to be invested in the health of the hood, its current and future residents of all economic statuses). It also gave us a chance to chat with some realtors face to face, and express our concerns about inflating home prices too quickly.

In the brief time I took to peek into a few other houses, I was struck with how little displacement is going on at this point - actually, none that I can think of. There are still so, so many abandoned/abused houses to be reclaimed before that starts to become an issue. Even ones that weren't featured on the tour - a sign that, if people are really committed to living here, they should look past the MLS listings and be willing to contact delinquent owners directly.

The best part of the day was the after-tour party, held at neighbors' Leslie and Maria's house on Ottawa. Triangle Brewing Company donated two kegs, and lots of folks brought snacks and drinks. Lisa got her hands on India's hair, and then mine, braiding it so tight our eyes watered.

I really love my neighborhood. I know it's changing in complex ways, and that this will bring good and bad repercussions. We can't stop this. The only thing we can do is make sure the way is paved for as many of the positive ones to happen as possible.

Freddie and Heather, a great couple we met a few months ago during their house-shopping process, wrote up a nice review of the tour at their blog, Bull City Bungalow. And we met a fantastic family - Steven, Kenya, and Azalea Easley - who have just started their own blog, All Things Easley Done, (how cute is that!) in which they mention meeting us on the tour. I'm hoping to slooowly, subtly... publicly... entice them to move to our neighborhood!

The Truth

2009-05-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, here it is: we really haven't done all that much on the house since we left you. Things got a little crazy; Barrio left to go back home and take care of some things, I (happily) got busy with photo jobs, Matt dove headlong into a difficult semester and subsequently an awesome summer internship. So it's not like we haven't been busy. We've just been enjoying the embrace of a house whose interior is so livable, so pristine, compared to the construction site we'd known since we moved in last August. So, you get used to things: the missed thresholds, the remaining unpainted trim. I know one of these days soon we need a real kick in the butt to get it all finished (we still have three windows resting in our hallway ready to replace old vinyl ones), but in the meantime, life's been full and lovely.

Take this morning, for example. Our new friend Melissa came over with three mangoes and a lesson in how to properly enjoy them.

And yesterday. Yesterday was Lisa's birthday, and James threw her a proper cook-out party.

She danced in the street from about 8:30am until a good while after midnight.

Even Matt couldn't say no.

A couple doors down, we chatted a while with Mr. Joe, Troy, and Mr. Joe's sister who was visiting.

Oh, another thing about spring:

(That's milk - not rabies.)

Another happy dog story: my friend Claudia and I managed to rescue this little pup from a yard nearby where she was forced to live on a tight chain with no grass and barely any room to roam. Aside from some minor, and fixable, health problems, she's doing great - has already learned "sit" in the last few days. I think Claudia is in love. She named her "Clover".

Good ol' Cleveland is doing fine, and enjoying lots of trips out to the farm for swimming.

I hope that next time I see you, I'll have something house-related to report: our windows got installed, say, or we hired a contractor to finish the siding. In the meantime, have a great summer, everyone!

The Fruits

2009-03-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

Below is the result of an exhausting amount of cleaning, timed delicately between coats of varnish on the hallway floor, the last wood to be finished. As it turned out, we were unable to sand off the (potentially harmful) glue residue from the nearly 100-year-old wood, and had to lay new wood on top. An unforseen expense, but well worth it.

We started cleaning around 7am Sunday morning (which felt like 6am due to the time change!) and cleaned until 10, when we lay down the last coat of polyurethane and left. By the time Marie's train arrived around 6pm, it was just about dry. Of course I already have some new photos, but here a few from our toils yesterday morning. More soon.

(Note: the red sofa will eventually go in the sunroom once we get a new living room couch. But it does the trick for now.)

A Little Break

2009-03-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night we escaped the fumes of floor stain and polyurethane and raced out to my parents' house in time to beat the snowstorm - the March snowstorm, I should add. This is what we awoke to.

As much fun as it is to watch our house come together, sometimes it's absolute luxury to be in someone else's.

Back home, we went from this:

To this!

(Pardon the horrendously messy kitchen.)

And that's only coat #1. The third one goes on tonight, and then we're furniture ready. Except for not having furniture. We're heading to the new Charlotte IKEA as soon as this weekend, before Marie arrives on Sunday.

I wanted to share a few more neighbor pictures with you, though many more will gradually be introduced on the Cleveland-Holloway Neighborhood blog.

This was my idea, not Tyler's - hard to tell by the light, but he's blushing like a rose:

This is James and Lisa, who live across Oakwood from us:

And this is Hector, who lives next door to them:

Aaaaaand, great news! Bronx, our little foster dog, has a new home. He is with a fantastic couple and is adjusting like a rock star. Here's a photo they sent of his first day:

I am so happy about it. This is a hard neighborhood to live in when it comes to animal neglect and being a big old bleeding heart. You have to harden your heart a bit because there are just so many animals who are treated anywhere from not-great to downright badly. But when this little guy appeared it was just too hard to watch. I'm so glad his owners did the right thing and gave him up to someone who was able to give him above and beyond adequate care.

Time to clear out of here before the fumes get to me!

Running to Keep Up!

2009-02-23T20:54:00.000-08:00

Whew, every time I manage to get these photos online, they are already out of date. The kitchen cabinets, for example, are now painted a dark, chocolate brown - well, except for a few places that need a third coat. It looks so beautiful! As soon as they're dry and the white knobs are on, I'll post a new photo, but this is from a week or so ago.

A few other things happening around here...

The new siding got primed... still haven't decided on an exterior color.

The study is perpetually a mess because it's functioning as our living room, office, and dining room, but once the living room is done (soon!) we'll whip it into shape. In the meantime, it's a pretty cozy space. Click to see the panorama larger.

Yesterday the new living room windows went in!! Barrio has this funny trick where I'll come home from some errands or a meeting, and as I get out of the car he'll tell me that there were major setbacks (materials shortage, something's uneven, something broke, etc.), and then when I go look, some huge project is actually DONE, in about half the time I expected! Then he giggles a lot and tells me to trick Matt, too. I'm catching on, but Matt believed me yesterday when I told him we had to entirely redo the windows because Barrio broke one. Barrio loves this.

This is my neighbor Jennifer, who bought the house immediately next to ours, and is about to begin her own renovations! I am really excited... the folks who owned it before her never did a thing and I can't wait to actually have an active neighbor making her house beautiful. She and I are also working on revamping the neighborhood blog, with a new interview about ready to go up, and some design changes underway. Anyway, this is Jennifer standing in her house, considering things.

And this is a reminder that not so long ago, almost all the houses on our block sat empty and unloved, and squatters were not deterred by a stupid locked door in the way of getting inside.

(Actually, this print may have been left by a realtor who forgot his keys.)

While I was at Jennifer's, I caught a glimpse of our house that I don't usually see:

Here's Jennifer interviewing Rich, who lives in Jackie's house across the street from us.

Rich's awesome dog, Bucket:

Some asshole neighbors' contribution to Ellerbee creek:

And this is Bronx. He actually lives around the corner, but at the moment he has no fence and no shelter, only a short chain. Matt and I, bleeding hearts that we are, had been slipping him food on our walks (he's pretty skinny), but on a morning last week that dumped freezing cold rain on the poor guy, I offered to take him into our yard for a while, where there's a dog house. He's been her about 5 or 6 days now. Not sure what's going to happen or whether his owners are going to be able to get a proper setup for him soon, and give him adequate care. We're looking into ways to help. Cleveland does NOT get along with Bronx (which makes sense, given such differing locale names), and wants his yard back. But Bronx, while a little nutty, is sweet as can be.

Inside-Out

2009-02-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

It's hard to remember what it was like living in the kitchen, now that we have the whole entire bedroom and study essentially finished. Eventually, the plan is to get that couch reupholstered in a similar blue to the filing cabinet (in a double-oops a few months ago, Matt stained one of the cushion covers with a pen, and then I took it off, put it in a plastic trash bag to take to mom and dad's to wash, and then... took out the trash). I wonder if we'll spend as much time in here once our living room is done and complete with furniture. For now it's a pretty great all-purpose room.

Speaking of the living room... here are some photos from this morning. Note the newly installed french doors, the completed wall opening, the built-in shelves, and the awesome morning light.

The first shot is taken with the front door behind me, looking slightly left.

This one is standing in the living room looking into the kitchen; the sunroom is directly behind me, and the hall is to my right:

Here's the opposite view, taken from the kitchen; note my attempts to find the perfect green (I am having some trouble):

A couple kitchen shots... the insides of the shelves will be painted green, and the front painted in chalkboard paint for writing lists and notes. And poetry.

The cabinets will be a dark chocolate brown; apple green below. Not sure about the bigger walls yet.

Here's a panorama for ya. I'm standing with the living room window behind me, facing the hallway. Obviously a little distorted, but you get the idea.

Ahhh, look at that gorgeous light! I can't WAIT to finish those floors! Shouldn't be too long now.

Donna and her team have pretty much finished the siding on the outside of the sun room. Now we just have to decide on colors and try them out!! Soooo much pressure, and this was supposed to be the fun part! I dream in color schemes.

Looking into the sun room from the porch. We still have to paint the walls and floor and trim out the windows inside.

And a picture of Barrio, standing in India's house, just 'cause.

Coming soon: final paint colors, new living room windows, and... and... oh dear. So much more to go.

My neighbor Jennifer and I (her construction blog is now linked on the right) are going to be reviving the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood blog soon - I'll let you know when there's a new profile up!

One last thing: our wonderful little neighborhood is most likely about to be included in a historic district. Here is the description of our house from the application - can you believe we have the oldest house on the block?? Can't wait to have a centennial celebration in 2011!

What We Have to Show for Six Months

2009-01-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

So much has happened in lapses between posts. I take pictures constantly, but am hardly poised to post when more changes happen and already my post is out of date. Instead of scrambling to show you everything, here are a few highlights from January-Oh-Nine.

Remember our awkward little sunroom, sticking off the front of the house? Overwhelmed at the projected cost of removing it and restoring the porch to its original size, we decided (yes, Dad, you were right) to chock it full of windows and call it a sun room. Albeit: a sunroom that doesn't really so much get any direct light. We'll call it more of a "watching-crack-heads-and-other-colorful-characters-room." Here are the windows getting delivered.

Amusingly, the guy who delivered them seemed to be familiar with our neighborhood, and asked quite seriously if we "had heat". We replied chipperly, "oh yes! It's very warm." And then we realized he meant, like, packing heat. Oops. We said, it's cool: we have a pit.

Goodbye, crappy window!

Hello, four-over-ones!

Boy, ask me how much I've learned about grills. As in the little pieces of wood between panes, or "pretending" to be between panes; not as in cookouts, or as in being all up in someone's.

Notice the little furry ear peeking out there? Just gotta take a a moment to feature the aforementioned pit. Life is great with Cleveland, and at last I have a new willing (or unaware) model to photograph.

(The bedroom is allllmost done... just need: a new window, three new/old doors installed, some closet shelves, some art.)

Our friend Chris Boggs figured out the issue of hiding the above-the-closets storage in the study: old outdoor shutters turned sideways! Barrio came in and knocked out the framing in a flash, and with his brother Antonio installed two recessed lights in the "reading nook". Now all we need is to hang the shutters once they're painted, and to find the perrrrrrfect armchair to fill the space - big enough to curl up and sleep in.

Here's Barrio, who is absolutely the man. An incredible worker, a true artist, a good friend.

Another set of characters you should know: Tyler (human) and Sancha (Cleveland's bestest buddy).

Thanks to Dad, Cleveland now has a cozy home of his own in the back yard.

Which protects him from this mess - though rather threatened at first, Cleveland eventually embraced the snow and ate lots and lots of it.

Here's what happens to ugly and unnecessary walls around these parts...

Aaaaaand much better:

At this point I'm kind of getting used to the heap of trash in the middle of the floor and may keep it. I've certainly seen less comfortable furniture.

So, that's pretty much it, folks. Once we clean up the joint I'll attempt some more professional-like photos, but at this point it's still rather rough-hewn. But change is happening. Yes it is. Yes we can. See? It works for just about anything.

May 2009 live up to its incredible promise.

Funny Dances

2008-12-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

So I'm having some trouble with Blogger's photo upload feature, making photos very time-consuming to resize. We have some new photos posted of our recent floor endeavors (two coats of polyurethane down, one to go!), and you can see them here on Facebook until I sort out the issue.

Befores and Afters

2008-10-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

It's probably hard to see this as progress:

Here's a peek into the same room upon our arrival in Durham 3 months ago:

Some would say we're undoing work. Why pull up perfectly good carpet? What was wrong with 8-foot ceilings? We say... it had to get worse before it can get so, so much better. Here's a few more before-and-afters, even though I find the phrase ironic, because our Before stage stretches out into the future as far as I can see. I dream of the day we can post real before-and-after photos of our finished house. But then again: they say you're only truly finished with a house when you sell it... or die.

The hallway, looking towards the front door. As you can see, we knocked out that middle wall to open up the space. Eventually, the ceiling just beyond that arch will open up to the attic, accessed by a narrow staircase. Two skylights in the attic roof will let light into the hall. Our door came from Steve Peter's salvage shop on Foster Street.

Same hall, different angle. The door on the right leads to the living room and will be replaced with French doors:

Here's the hallway facing the other way - a little less of a straight comparison, but you can still get the idea. We tore down the dropped ceiling - hence the two-toned look of the arch. The door at the back is the one current bathroom.

Below is a shot of the back wall of the bedroom, in progress and then as is right now. The other side of that wall will be a small second bathroom, or master bath; the little "nook" we built in will house the sink, which we're making from an antique cupboard. We had to take down some of the old beadboard from the bedroom as there wasn't enough to patch it where it was damaged and it's very hard to find. We're keeping the beadboard ceilings plus one wall, the one to the right in this picture. The floors have also been patched with new hardwood, and will be sanded, stained and varnished soon!

Here's the opposite wall of the bedroom, which is adjacent to the study. The first photo is when we opened up the wall (there were two crappy closets that someone hastily built in), the second is current. The bed will go where the bike is.

(Here's an early shot of the same wall.)

Here's Kim the day she and I pulled up the carpeting, the first real inside progress back in August! Note that the ceilings were still at 8 feet:

And here's the same wall that's at Kimmie's left in the photo, with a built-in closet (minus doors) and nook for a big armchair or small desk. The space overhead is open for now, but we'd like to build in storage cabinets once we find the perfect doors. The ceilings, which had several broken boards, were patched with wood from the bedroom by Barrio, our neighbor and awesome carpenter friend. Clearly we need some electrical help... we're in the process of finding a new electrician.

Couldn't resist this before-and-after: our experimental winter veggie garden, flourishing despite recent morning frosts! Can't wait to get to more landscaping next spring...

Here are a few more images for you from late:

And... may we introduce our new friend, excellent companion and security-system-in-training... meet Cleveland, "adopted" 9/28/08 when he followed Tyler and his dog Sancha home from a walk.

Yeah. We know. He's completely amazing.

Life trucks along here on Mallard Avenue. I'm sorry it's been so long since we've contrubuted to our online epic. Up next: choosing windows, fixing siding, and finishing the bedroom so we can move out of the kitchen, where we've been living for the past two months!

A Word From Dad: New Series

2008-07-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

In a brave attempt to join the online word (in the same manner that he admitted, eventually, that CDs have handy little tracks you can skip to, and that email is actually a satisfying way of corresponding with people) my father has started his own "blog", in the form of emails that go out to me, my mom, and Matt once a week or so. Entitled "The Ballad of Mallard Ave", they are great accounts of whatever day he's just spent at our house, working on the lawn or just seeing how things are going with the work being done. Since I'm interested in keeping good documentation on this whole project of fixing up a first house, I asked if I could "syndicate" his blog here. So I bring you the new series, "A Word From Dad", starting with his latest entry. Expect updates (and hopefully archives) soon.

July 10.

Hey to all- Regular readers of this blog know that I do everything I can to make your reading experience up-to-date and enjoyable. Many of you have written to tell me that you've enjoyed the regular features, the games, the promotions, the contests. Tonight's fun is to vote on a new name for this blog. Here are the choices, or what I call The Ballot of Mallard Avenue:
1) The Mallard of Mallard Avenue (in case a wild, male duck is sighted in the back yard)
2) Mallard Avenue Melody
3) Mallard Avenue Malady
4) Your Choice: _______

On to today's news. I had an interesting meeting with two women at lunch today. They're trying to start a farm where women getting out of prison can live and work and learn about organic farming. They knew about a community garden (www.anathothgarden.org) where I volunteer. We traded ideas and names. Late in the day I phoned Donna, our contractor, to see if she'd be there when I got there after work. She'd already left, but told me about the work that got done (you can read about that in her informative email). Aside from the construction, she: heard and saw two women on Oakwood Avenue cursing and screaming at each other; heard the music of Tooth, which electrician Clint, who's a killer musician, thought was incredibly loud and bad; could barely get away from neighbor Lester, who kept saying that Donna should have hired him.

Lester, who lives in a house about twenty yards across the street from 502 Mallard Avenue, is the star of tonight's blog. The first time my wife and met him, he told us that he'd been a cowboy out West. Though he grew up as a young black man smack in the middle of Durham, he'd had a fascination with all things horses and cowboys. Not that we needed proof, but he ran inside to get a lariat and an orange traffic cone. He placed the traffic cone on the hood of an old truck and, sure enough, roped the critter from about twenty feet away.

I ran into him first thing when I got there today. He alternately praised Donna's work, then said he should have been hired, he can level the side stairs, told me to ask Jessie and Matt if they need help with molding, installing light fixtures, et. al. But the best of all was when somehow we got on the subject of martial arts and fitness.

I got into a mock karate stance and told Lester that I'd practiced for 4 months 38 years ago. That launched him into a very long speech about how he teaches teenagers in a gym to box. About then neighbor Tyler, the street's Mayor walked up. Lester asked me,"You know how to get in underneath them? You got to do the duck walk!" He proceeded to lunge toward me in a low crouch, threw mock punches to my ribs. Thing is, though, his "punches" felt like noogies to my ribs, so I started laughing hysterically in a high-pitched howl. This didn't deter him at all. Instead, he did a reverse duck walk, then a forward duck walk with more noogies to the ribs. Tyler was almost doubled over with laughter. Lester then lay on the ground doing situps/crunches (despite various aches and pains, he's in great shape) as Tyler and I continued to laugh.

What did our "fight" look like to others? I'm a 6'3" white guy, he's a 5'9" black guy. As Sheriff Andy Taylor once said on the Andy Griffith Show, "what looks like rasslin' to some is dancin' to others."

I told Tyler, "Say, how about that thing you wanted to show me at your house!?" Tyler said, "What thing?" I said, "You know- that thing!" Finally Tyler caught my drift and we were able to get away for a few minutes. Tyler and I hung out for a while- he told me how he got a little mad when a neighbor with whom he'd been friendly wandered into his sister's house and inadvertently scared her, also how he chased away what he thought was a crack user who went onto the porch at 504. Tyler knows I'm at least a little nervous about Jesse and Matt's living down there and usually has some sensible thing to say that puts me more at ease.

I was about to leave, but spent a few more minutes talking to Lester at his house. Jesse Curtin was also there. Jesse has almost finished sheetrocking his master bedroom at 501. I drove away laughing about Lester.

502 definitely looks like a construction site- a whole lot going on inside and out. Living on Mallard Avenue, I expect, will never, ever be dull.

- Dad/PK.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back, Repeat.

2008-06-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a little tough getting excited about keeping a blog when I've been so far removed from the action on Mallard Ave, though there's been no shortage of phone activity on our end - talking to Donna (our wonderful contractor who's made great progress on the foundation), electrical workers, HVAC folks, the security company, etc. etc. etc. It's my parents, at this point, who have to (or get to, depending on how you look at it) be the ones actually watching things unfold, and learn the nuances of our dumpy-but-full-of-potential little house.

There has indeed been progress, which is exciting, but for every two steps we make towards "livable", a road block comes up and either delays us, or it rains on our parade a little bit. Things like, for example, our electrician who refuses to call Matt back but instead would call my mom or dad, even though Matt was handing things; or the across-the-street neighbors who like to use a little wooded part of our land as a free-for-all dumping grounds (no trash bags necessary!); or the little sliver of land we're in the midst of purchasing for which no official deed seems to be found. It's all getting worked out with time and patience. But I am prepared for the whole process to be like this, sometimes even more so.

Here are a few of my favorite elements of late. First the front dormer, which will eventually have a window of some sort cut into it:

...something like this (the house next door):

The original (I think) wood trim, and the way the light comes into the windows on both the east and west sides of the house (this is east morning light): Won't it look beautiful spilling onto hardwood floors? Can't wait to raise those ceilings, too.

The piles of letter found underneath the house just waiting to be pored over, and other treasures:

Donna's handiwork (boring to you, maybe, but to me this means progress!):

The huge attic waiting to become a guest loft accessed by spiral staircase (check out the transformation this woman performed on hers):

The kitchen, which will be opened up to the living room, and have a door added in this wall onto an eventual back deck:

The existing arch, and the idea of adding others elsewhere in the house:

Perhaps the most exciting piece of news so far: running water! Isn't it beautiful?

On a neighborhood note, things seem to be moving along quickly in ours, especially on Mallard Avenue which mere months ago sat completely abandoned. Our neighbors like Jesse and Tyler (whom my dad has dubbed "Mayor of Mallard") keep us posted and send names and numbers our way for repair folks, and have big plans for making our street a great place to live.

A week or so ago, Matt and I watched an incredible documentary which hit on lots of issues we've been thinking about as we embark on moving to Cleveland-Holloway. It's called "Flag Wars" and it takes place in a neighborhood of Columbus, OH. The characters' circumstances differ a bit, as well as the ratio of homeowners to renters, but many of the tensions felt very applicable. We were both moved by this film. Go rent it, friends and neighbors.

Next up: security is installed, we have temporary electric, and how to deal with trash-dumping neighbors! See you then!

Openings and Closings

2008-05-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

The date has arrived... thirty years ago today my dad bought the farmhouse and land in rural Hillsborough, and today Matt and I are the co-owners of our first house in downtown Durham. My dad asked me to take a moment today and think about what my house and landscape have meant to me growing up, but I don't even have to try; I think about it all the time. I had 50 acres to tromp around on, thick grass to lie down in, woods to run full speed through and a big pond to swim in. I think of my home as a big, gentle friend who I love almost as much as I love anything. It has undoubtedly made me who I am.

And as much as I love the farm, I also grew up with more of a taste in my mouth for the urban landscape. Durham is not Boston, and it's certainly not New York (which honestly I'm glad for; I'm a little tired of Boston and I don't think I have the energy right now for New York), but it is still a city; the house on Mallard is a mere three blocks from the downtown loop. There will still be noises to deal with (instead of the braying of donkeys I grew up with), traffic to fight (though I plan to stay out of a car as much as possible), and also the wonderful benefits like walkable amenities, interesting people around all the time, businesses that will come and go, opportunities for fun and cul-cha.

Last night Matt and I sent my parents out to dinner at Tosca as a thank you for making the purchase with us, and therefore making it possible, and together we split a bottle of champagne and toasted our good fortune, which is really what it feels like. (I can feel the house's damp foundation mockingly laughing at us, just waiting for us to see what's in store.)

Today we've been deluged with emails from Durhamites welcoming us to the hood. Many of them, I'm almost shy to say, I already "knew" by reading their blogs or hearing of their music or their involvement in things. It felt great.

Here's another post from a Durham blogger whose writing I really like. It bothers some people that being "green" is "trendy" now, particularly those who've believed that living environmentally consciously is just the right thing to do for years. But I love it. I say, who cares about the motives - can you imagine how great it would be if folks who previously sat in their cars in traffic to go five miles home would start biking home instead, even if only for the trendiness factor? Especially if it actually makes a difference to the earth? More marketing, I say. Let 'em all scramble to put out their "green issues" and hire "conservation consultants" so they can boast about it in their annual review. This is all a little off-topic from the aforementioned post, but it's what it made me think about.

We missed the neighborhood house tour, and I'm struggling to find time to arrange repairs and other work from my post 700+ miles away, but it's only two months now. My feet are itching to move.

Another Response

2008-05-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

...from one of my daily-read blogs, Endangered Durham.

The closing is tentatively set for May 28th, a date that happens to fall exactly 30 years after the day my father closed on the purchase of our farm and house. Some celebration will be in order.

The Cleveland-Holloway home tour was this past weekend and I feel like stamping my foot that we had to miss it. I'll post some pictures my mom took soon. I am still trying to make the most of my last two months in Boston, but itching to get started on this new chapter in Durham.

Distress the Wood, Make it Shout!

2008-05-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

Lately Matt and I have been having these little two-person dance parties to Thao's song, "Bag of Hammers" in front of our huge window over Mass. Ave. for our neighbors and everyone else to see. We don't care - we're unbelievably happy these days and can't help but shake it. In two months we'll be shaking it on our new (to us) hardwood floors beneath their layers of dirty carpeting, ignoring all the work before us to break it down together in the oppressive and wonderful North Carolina heat.

This is intended to be our new digs in cyberspace to showcase our progress as we go. There's the house itself to dress up all spiffy, a neighborhood to explore and try and understand, a venture away from the lives we've come to know in Boston for the last several years. It's a way to collect the things we're reading about Cleveland-Holloway in particular, and things like gentrification (uh-oh.... it's the 'g' word!) in general. Expect lots of pretty (and not so pretty) pictures and occasional wordy ramblings. For our friends who we'll be leaving behind, I hope this will be a way to stay close to us in some sense, as I feel closer to people I see infrequently by watching their lives unfold in pictures and words. Not a replacement; just a supplement.

A few items right up front: My flickr set of the house photos from a few weeks ago when I went down to visit (read the comments for some of my grand plans); Wednesdays insightful Indy article about Cleveland-Holloway's precarious balance on the cusp of something new, and Bull City Rising's eloquent response.