We’re Still Here

It’s been so long I’m not sure I remember how to create a blog post. It’s been several years since I’ve done an update on the money pit… I mean Mid Century house restoration. I’m happy to say that much has been done in that time, but now 8 years since we bought it, there’s still a lot to do (just less). 

One of the things we’ve done recently was expand the kitchen. After living in the house for several years, we realized that there was a lot of space in the kitchen, but it wasn’t being well utilized. So we added an upper and lower cabinet on the end near the dining area, and then brought out a peninsula with storage on one side and an overhang for seating on the other. That freed up the island for being enlarged (storage on both sides), and used solely as a work space. These modifications more than doubled the amount of storage space in the kitchen, but did result in having to change the countertops around the perimeter (we left the original counter on the new island).

We also finally put doors on the walk-in pantry!

The kitchen expansion

Next, we finally turned that utility room (the other half of the walk-in pantry) into a full bathroom. In a great leap of faith, I hired contractors, went over the design with them, ordered everything that was needed to complete it, and left for Tucson. They kept me informed of progress, asked questions before anything was attached to a surface, sent pictures along the way, and amazingly, without my on-site micromanaging, the result was pretty much exactly what I had envisioned.

The 2nd full bathroom (now we can remodel the main bath)

We redid the fence around the pool (because the town made us), and took another year or two to decide whether to fix the pool or fill it in. Finally, last spring we filled it in. Much to my dismay, my certainty that we’d find Jimmy Hoffa under did not come to fruition. A couple of dead critters, some bull frogs and a snake or two (I missed those discoveries, thankfully).

We cleared all the landscaping (if you could call it that) from the front of the house and had the enormous Japanese Maple trimmed so it looks less like a blob and more like a small tree.

It looks so much lighter now

Since I left off on the blog, we’ve bought and sold 2 homes in Tucson and bought our current house there 3 years ago. Fortunately, it wasn’t a fixer-upper, but as is the case with most homes, still required some work each year (updated a bathroom, replaced flooring, redid kitchen appliances and counters…. but we love this house and hopefully we’ll be here for a long time.

We also rescued a dog 4 years ago. He’s been a great addition to the family.

Winston (after Churchill for that underbite)

Those are the biggest things that have been done. I continue to buy and sell MCM “stuff” but have gone from dishes and small items to furniture, art and more.

Life is good. Hope the same is true for you (whoever you are).

More to come (hopefully in less than 4 years.

A Burst of Progress

Thanksgiving weekend gave us the time and motivation to finally finish the master bathroom.  I removed the wallpaper over a year ago, and we were living with open light switches, bare walls in disrepair and the knowledge that we wanted to keep the original fixtures.

I’ve Created a Monster

It started so innocently.  “I’ll just try to find a few ’50s kitsch items for the house to bring out the authenticity of the design”.  Uh huh.  Just a few things.

Now, a little over a year later, I have a house over-run with vintage treasures.  Although the intent is to sell them (and I have been doing quite a bit of that),  I’m running out of room and an organized way to store them until they sell.

Update on A/C

Brrrrrrrrrr

Way Cool!

After enduring the 90+ temperatures and humidity in July, we realized that getting air conditioning needed to be moved up on the “to do” list.  One of the advantages of a brick and cinderblock house is that it stays cool as the temperatures rise… to a point.  But once it gets hot inside, it also stays hot for quite a while.

We had a portable air conditioner in the bedroom, so at least sleeping was tolerable, but the rest of the house was too warm for comfort, and the thing was an eyesore.  We went back and forth on whether to put in central air or mini-splits (heat pumps/air conditioning units that hang on the wall and are ductless).

Catching Up

It’s been a while since I posted progress reports, mainly because there hasn’t been too much.  The rental property we have needed lots of work before re-renting, so most weekends have been spent on that instead of here.

But a few finds worth noting, and some gradual progress has been made here.

Hans and Franz Will Pump You Up

A few weeks ago I wrote about the painting I scored at the ReStore.  It’s a huge mid-century modern abstract oil painting, and it was signed “Kline ’58”.  I didn’t realize it was signed when I bought it (I just loved it), and when I found the signature, I started doing some research.

Update

It’s been at least two weeks since I put the stinky chairs outside….. they still stink.

Score!!!!

 

I’m still licking my wounds from my last Craigslist purchase (and they’re still outside, and still stink), so I thought I’d drown my sorrows at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Lately it’s been slim pickings over there.  They seem to be getting lots of hotel furnishings and art, and not as many of their usual treasures.  But today was different.  The moment I walked in, I saw it and I knew it was going home with me.

Craigslist Challenge

 

The “find”

Now that we’ve finally restored the Chromcraft table and have seating room for six, I was faced with only having four chairs from the original set, and two of them really need to be reupholstered.  They’re large, so six of them wouldn’t fit around the table.

My choices were to use the four original chairs around the table and use folding chairs when we needed seating for six, or find a set of four smaller chairs that would match and keep two of the original chairs at the head and foot of the table, and store the other two until such time as I’m ready to have them all reupholstered (interpret as never).