The Elephant and the Otter

Kitchen floor installation

2011-07-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

The goal was to never see this again...

In the end, based on durability, cost and looks, we opted for the Roppe rubber floor in 12" square tiles. The pattern we wanted was anti-pattern and we laid them out, switched stuff around, and switched them around again... you get the idea.

There were two layers of glue on the sub-floor making for hours and hours of chipping away at the stinky crud. We lived with the bare wood for quite a while.

And now for the island, under cab lighting, quarter round trim...

Some before and after shots

2011-01-05T14:52:00.000-08:00

We've been gone for so long! A 28" tall addition to our family has been running the show here since April. We've just managed to get a few more things done as of this winter. For a little inspiration/ motivation here are some long overdue before and after shots. I'll return shortly to show more detailed shots of the rooms.

Dining Room

2010-03-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

The bar is open, if only the ice maker in the fridge still worked. I guess only "neat" drinks will be served until I go to Menard's for a new water line. The dining room is just about done. The walls are painted in a pretty dark gray that changes from green to blue tones as the light changes. The ceiling is a minty color that reads as white next to the gray walls. Notice the floors, which have been refinished way back in September, are finally uncovered and cleaned.

Until we get a larger dining table we are using our old kitchen table. We do not have enough furniture to fill the house. Notice the various artworks that are out and hung. Very happy to see old friends and some new pieces that were never hung before. We've got quite a collection.

Looking towards the front door. The ceiling at the upper right was where the water damage was, It looks good now. Behind the curtains is a niche that holds two bookcases full of our ceramics and dishes. Everything is unpacked and ready for entertaining. To the left is towards the kitchen, bathroom, and library.

We also finished painting the hallway and foyer on the first floor. Heather picked out a lemon lime color that blends real nice with the room colors. This is our favorite vantage spot for now. As long as we look forward the house looks like a home, complete. There are more completed rooms to shoot; office/clean studio, our bedroom, and nursery. Soon, I promise.

Library/Guest Room

2010-03-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

Finally, here is some "after" shots. This room is the spare bedroom on the first floor, which we are using as a library and guest room.

The wall of books give the room a nice vertical feeling. In lieu of real furniture, we have an air mattress for our first guest. This is the first time all of our books made it into one room. Art books meet literature and reference books.

Another wall of books shot. The door leads directly onto our deck in the back. I know the colors in these photos suck, but we've been so busy to even load up photo let alone color correct them.

What do you mean it's not a two flat?

2010-01-31T06:51:00.000-08:00

If you remember, we almost didn't get this place because it was listed as a two flat when in fact it was zoned as a single family home. This second upstairs kitchen was a thorn in our side when it came to switching our mortgage to a single family. The lender was worried about us renting the upstairs when it was illegal so they insisted that the sellers remove the appliances and cap the water and gas lines in the wall. Above is the photo for craigslist. We were able to sell the cabinets to a young Mexican family for $25. A pretty good deal for both of us. We avoided dumping in a land fill and they get some sturdy solid wood cabinets.

What is left behind is old 50s plastic tile. The tile came off pretty easy but the mastic was a pain in the ass to remove. The mastic smelled like 50 dead horses were used to make it. I was able to save about half of the tiles. (Anybody need faux white marble tiles?) We spent a good two weeks in December knocking off the old tiles and mastic. I know we could have ripped the walls out and installed drywall. However, the plaster is in good shape and drywall costs money. Our labor is cheap.

Here I am in my "uniform"; khaki pants, gross White Sox hat, and respirator (more comfortable than a dust mask). The walls have been skim-coated and are ready to be primed. Now if we just knew what we were going to do with this room. Another bedroom, giant walk in closet, sauna (now I'm dreaming).

Boy in the bubble

2010-01-31T06:30:00.000-08:00

Time to tackle the dining room. The last room in the house to have that dank, moldy smell. This time we thought we would install a zipper door to "try" to keep the construction dust out of the rest of the house. It did work to some degree.

The previous owners had installed faux tin ceiling tiles made out of paper. Not quite the pretty patina tin ceiling that we used to have in the storefront. A few weeks ago, I had removed one tile near the bay window to reveal some old water damage in the plaster ceiling. Of course we have to do it right so down comes the ugly paper tiles.

The tiles came down fairly easy. Leaving behind 80 or so brackets that were screwed into the ceiling. Which then left behind some good size holes, oh about 80 or so. The front (to the left in the photo) had some old water damage that we were able to knock off. It came off so well that we knocked off the two layers of old plaster down to the concrete base. We then spent last week building up the losses and skim-coating the entire ceiling. Two coats of primer, two coats of paint and the ceiling is done! The walls will follow in a few days. No more stinky smell. "After" photos to come soon!

p.s. bonus..reflected in the mirror is Heather at 30 weeks, ten weeks to go.

Kitchen Updates

2009-12-31T10:16:00.000-08:00

Say goodbye to ugly laminate and faucet that sprays all over. Thank you Wes! Our brother in law who has been a champ in helping with everything in the house. Here he has on his plumber's hat.

Say hello to pretty Corian counter top and new Kohler sink and faucet. The countertop is a slightly translucent lime ice color that does not reproduce well in photos. We really like it a lot. I noticed after it was installed that the color matches a Knowles Accent bowl from the early fifties that we use almost everyday. Heather is starting to install the doors on the cabinet. The drawers are primed and ready for color. You can see the track lights that I installed to add some good lighting instead of a harsh overhead CFL. We are still trying to figure out the under cabinet lighting. Which bring us to the next phase - electrical upgrades. Our electrician comes Monday to upgrade our service and organize our box. He will also update our switches and outlets and add a few. After that we will install white subway tiles and grey grout on to the back splash. Its taking forever, but it's looking really nice.

Exterior Work Is Done

2009-12-31T10:06:00.000-08:00

I know its hard to see, but all major exterior repairs are finished (for now). Let see - roof shingles removed and replaced, new flashing and water/ice membrane, new solar ventilation fan and intakes, new siding on dormers, new gutters, facia, soffit, new chimney from the roof line up, and tuck pointing around the whole house.

1 Room Done 11 To Go

2009-12-31T09:56:00.000-08:00

Sitting room/family room is basically done. We went from a brown/tan walls to a cool light blue with white ceiling and trim. With the new windows and colors the room is really bright. I like how our orange console pops off the wall. All we need is art on the walls, which will be the last thing done in the house.

A Memorial For Jean-Claude

2009-11-29T07:21:00.000-08:00

We were a little nervous when they were stripping off the old shingles. Lucky for us, the wood was in good shape, no water damage (phew). New ice/water membrane, new solar ventilation fan, new shingles. Notice the lack of the shade inducing awning and the new windows on the dormer.

More pictures to come, interior rooms are getting completed thanks to help from the Hollywoods.

A Brief Interlude

2009-11-29T07:13:00.000-08:00

Some pretty colors from our Japanese maples out front.

The giant "American" maple out front that shades the house from western exposure

Words of wisdom from our wall of white, a problem we are trying to solve (stripper?)

Heather is not pleased that the beautiful fountain in the front is hard wired. Don't ruin our curb appeal!

We need a party

2009-11-29T06:58:00.000-08:00

Three days after the demo the deck was complete. New codes for Chicago means our deck is over-engineered and rock solid. Heather observed our garbage collectors peering over our fence staring at the new deck. We think they liked it. We do.

TA DA...all gone

2009-11-29T06:55:00.000-08:00

After the stinky enclosed porch was torn off and discarded, the back of the house received new life with the amount of sunlight that came through windows and doors.

Demolition Derby

2009-10-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

They tore down the enclosed porch this week. Progress!

What just happened?

2009-10-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

Well, we're in!

Since the last post (less than a month ago), we closed the deal, packed up our apartment which was stuffed with ten years worth of storage plus a bursting art studio, had the floors refinished at the new house, met with numerous contractors to get bids on the porch project, started refinishing the cabinets in the kitchen, demolished walls in the basement where the studio will be and MOVED IN.

Its been over a month of living with box towers, either at the old apartment or here at the new house. The cats seem to think that they have a permanent jungle to play in. Actually, it feels like a permanent state to us as well. "Slowly but surely" is the new mantra. Since the moving date deadline has been met the pressure is off a little bit, now its only a matter of getting it done before we lose all sanity. Each room needs a fresh coat of paint, better lighting and probably new windows. And every room is part of the larger domino effect (i.e. this has to be completed to have this completed to have this completed, ad infinitum.) At least the floors are done.

Here are some photos of the "before"...

what will be the dining room- first floor. the first room you would enter from the front door.

first floor- the library and guest room

first floor bath. not exactly our style but the lesser of the two evils for the moment

the teenage boy's room will become our office/clean studio room.
p.s. didn't keep the chair they left us, but we're debating the disco ball...

the kitchen. its on the first floor. it looks like its being torn out but we're refinishing the cabinets, replacing the backsplash tiles, getting a new countertop and hopefully a new floor...as opposed to the one really being torn out on the second floor.

the first floor room of the soon-to-be-no-more enclosed porch.

stairs to second floor. found perfect oak treads under the linoleum!

living room, second floor. the stairs are behind that door all the way to the left. then just to the right of that is the little bedroom.
little bedroom.

master bedroom.

former kitchen, second floor. the reason we couldn't close on 09/04.

second floor bathroom

i know- yikes. second floor of the enclosed porch science experiment.

half of the basement space that's had the drywall removed. eventually it will be a huge studio workshop area.

looking through a former wall and into the other half of the studio.
bags of moldy drywall and insulation.

Next time: pictures of the floors and progress on the kitchen and basement! Maybe even some arranged furniture...

Banging our heads slowly against a wall.

2009-09-14T16:53:00.000-07:00

Before you get anywhere near closing on a house in the city of Chicago, you may want to check out this zoning map online. http://maps.cityofchicago.org/website/zoning/liability.html. Had we known about this web site, we could have saved ourselves some grief and time. Of course, hindsight is 20/20. Two days before we were set to close, the seller's lawyer went to pull the certificate that states the building we were buying was a two flat (as listed on the MLS sheet.) Well, guess what, the building is not zoned as a two flat, but a single family home. Oops, I guess somebody was suppose to have checked that out. Needless to say, all of our best laid plans where gone in the time it took me to exhale with a heavy heart upon hearing the news from my wife.

It turns out the second unit is illegal. In order for us to continue with purchasing this property we have to have the seller take apart the second floor kitchen and have it re-appraised before the closing date. After much back in forth from us - to our lawyer - to their lawyer - to the sellers and in reverse, we came to terms that we could live with. The seller agreed to tear out the kitchen, give us a credit towards a rate lock extension, and a $5000 reduction in the selling price. I guess it's the price for listing the property incorrectly. Like I said before, check out the link above.

The good news is we will be living in the whole house and not renting out the upstairs "unit". We had planned on taking over the whole house in a few years. I guess we're just a little ahead of schedule. I am excited to be moving into a 4+ bedroom house with three full baths. I just feel a little wary of paying for the whole mortgage. Especially after reading a great blog by my friend Dustin (http://open.salon.com/blog/dailyforeclosure) who is going through a foreclosure on his house. Read it.

The outside tour- aka the good, the bad, and the tear it down.

2009-08-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hello All

2009-08-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

We've been living in a large storefront for a number of years. It has served us well. It is approx. 2000 sq. ft. with one very large bedroom and one typical small bedroom. The ceiling height is 12' tall and the space feels very open and airy, although it rather dark and cave like. Which can be mentally troubling in Chicago's very long gray cold winters. For a number of years, I ran a storefront gallery. My wife now uses that storefront space for her studio, which gives her a large working area for free (compared to paying for an outside studio).

It's time to move on. The neighborhood has been fully gentrified and I expect our reasonable rent (grandfathered in) to continue to go up every year. We also are very handy people and really would love to fix this space up more than we already have. However, the futility of giving away our services for free (and material cost) to our landlord for a brief enjoyment just seems wrong. We have been looking for a single family home that would be somewhat central in the city, works in our budget, not be in too bad of a neighborhood (crime-wise), near public transport. Sounds too good to be true. However, we feel there are deals to be had with the troubles in real estate. Not to mention the incentives for first time home buyers and for using energy star appliances. Wish us luck.

Adventure Chapter: First House

2009-07-28T22:10:00.000-07:00