Nemesis

what shall we do with the bbq support?
Originally uploaded by modernemama

The old built-in barbeque is refusing to lie down and accept defeat. So far three of us have had a go at removing it. Verity took out most of it with the sledgehammer, Steven decided to save the bricks and chipped the mortar off the whole ones, I took the sledgehammer to the bottom course and chiseled out the cement between the patio and the bbq base.
But the base itself is a surround of bricks with poured concrete in the middle and right in the centre is the old support for the bbq and gas line, which was cemented into the ground. This obviously went in first, then the brick surround and them the concrete was poured in. The base is 5' long, 2' deep and 6" deep. And it won't budge.
I think the only thing to do is to rent a jackhammer and reduce it to rubble but until then I've lent this Japanese Knotweed seedling that was growing behind the barbecue in front of the pipe. I think it disguises it quite nicely, don't you?

The Unimal

It's a crazy, scary concept but I kind of want one in my kitchen to remind me to keep only real food in there. The Unimal toy was created by H.E. Babcock, professor of farm marketing at Cornell University in the 1920s.

The clip is from Farmboy, a documentary about his son John Babcock. It is directed by Jake Gorst, grandson of Andrew Geller and lead mover to save the modern icon The Pearlroth House, a beach house on the east end of Long Island.

Ready for the summer visitors?

High cabinets
Originally uploaded by modernemama

We all know it's true, S**t or as D. Rumsfeld, would have it, "Stuff" happens.
So the day before the first visitor arrives, the old barbecue has been demolished and a new one has been ordered, and all the bathrooms (except for the master shower, but who cares about that apart form ME?) are functioning. The house has been cleaned from top to bottom and the yard is looking good. We are all set for a relaxing summer, just in the nick of time. When...........
Many months ago, while we were deciding on a timetable for the remaining projects, the far left kitchen cupboard door came off two of its hinges. We managed to get it back in place and agreed not to use that cupboard again. We didn't really need it as we have plenty more space and it was an odd corner cupboard anyway (we used to keep dog food in it but we found another place for that).
In the frenzy to make this place look gorgeous I (it was me, mea culpa) opened the lower door instead of the upper where the vases are kept and the door fell completely off, twisting the remaining hinge in the process. Impossible to re-attach, the hinges have already been re-positioned at least once, impossible to fix into place, and exposing the nasty, old cabinet interior.
Luckily we were just about to leave for a well-earned martini in Huntington, and I couldn't do anything other than laugh about it but today we are now faced with another dilemma. Do we take the door away completely leaving the old dirty white laminate for all to see (think rotten tooth) or leave the door leaning against the cabinet and risk someone (probably me) walking into numerous times each day?
Is there any way we can get the kitchen remodel done by this evening? I mean if Extreme Home Makeover can rebuild an entire house in five days how long would it take to do a kitchen? Seriously, we need help here.

More demo

This time in the yard. The old built-in barbecue finally expired when Steven was slow grilling a pork butt just before we went to Tennessee (we were craving bbq and couldn't wait).
We could have re-pointed the bricks, got new stainless steel doors made and installed a new barbecue unit, but it would have cost $$$$ more than buying a new gas grill so we went the demolition route.
As we believe in making our kids work for their supper, Verity gave a few whacks of the trusty sledgehammer and this is all that was left.

Now all we have to do is choose a new grill.

Downstairs bathroom done

downstairs bathroom
Originally uploaded by modernemama

We're all plumbed in and good to go, only three weeks after the final deadline but importantly two days before the visitors arrive. It's a temporary makeover but it's a big improvement over the 60s suite that was there before.
I do wonder, though, how long it will be before vessel sinks and pillar faucets are considered passé?

Hermes and Maya

Hermes and Maya
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Don't get too used to that hiding place, kitties. It's coming out later today.
These are the latest additions to the household. Maya is the tiny tabby and Hermes el bandito is the Burmese cross with the raccoon eyes.

Quick bathroom makeover

new vanity, backsplash
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Well not really quick, but at least not the six months the other two baths took. We got back from Tennessee to find the tiler had been as good as his word and he'd tiled grouted the backsplash for the new floating vanity.
This is a temporary fix, I'm still sold on the beadboard paneling idea for this room when we completely remodel it in a few years' time. Or maybe glass subway tiles, if they've come up with a better solution to fixing them to the walls by then.
With the mosaic backsplash in place, we noticed one thing immediately about the bathroom wall. If you get up close you can see how the wall is off by about .5" under the window, luckily by placing the vessel sink on the countertop the eye gets distracted and it's no longer obvious. However, when we looked closely above the window to the ceiling, we could see that the wall slopes badly to the left (more like 1"). This wasn't noticeable when the old roller blind was up, so I hope when we put up the new wood blind we'll camouflage this problem as well.

Downstairs Bathroom

The vanity is in, the ceiling has been patched, the old blind is gone. These are the positive things. Yippee.
On the less positive side, the shower has yet to be caulked, the new wood blind won't be here for "two weeks" and the tiling has hit a bit of a snageroo.
Although the tile showroom assured us we could build up the specially modified thinset to make it flush with the existing tiles, they didn't tell us it would take a few attempts, many hours to allow the thinset to set up and the patience of several saints to arrange the glass mosaic, watch it slide off, catch it, wash the thinset off, re-attach it, watch it slide off again and repeat these steps until you just want to rip off all the tiles and replace them with beadboard that you just staple to the walls.
The handy tiler guy says we are not defeated yet and he will attempt to fix it while we are vacationing in Tennessee. If he's successful he'll then grout it and finish the caulking. He didn't say what would happen if he wasn't........

We are buying up all the caulk in Huntington

Well, on Saturday we found out why the foyer ceiling has water damage. Steven managed to clean out all the old grout and there was an inch gap between the tiles and the bath tub. Even worse, as far as we could see that there was no backer board behind the tiles. I guess it must end somewhere up that last course of tiles but WTH were the tilers thinking?
Steven was just working out how best to caulk this again so we can use the tub for the next few months when we got a call from our handyman to say he could start back on Tuesday and finish up all those jobs he had to leave when he damaged his knee. We were so thankful to get this call, but I'm not sure the handyman felt the same when we regaled him with the list of extra things that had gone wrong while he was away and now needed to be fixed.
He was pretty appalled at the mess they'd made of the tiling, especially as the actual tiles are in good condition and were obviously expensive. He had two thoughts - a border of tile edging around the tub or ripping the whole lot out and doing the job properly. We are obviously going with option 2 but not until after the house-guests leave, so for now he is building up the caulk, one layer each day until we are leak free.

More ivy

But this time it was the poisonous kind. I must have brushed against it while I was clearing the border. I thought I'd cleared it all away but judging by the red itchy rash on my leg I missed a bit. Luckily we had some Zanfel in the house so it wasn't as irritating as it might have been.
On a more positive note we got the tempered glass for the back door a week early. So now we are up to code and we can see out to the backyard again. This pane is much clearer than the old one, in fact we didn't think the guy had installed it until we touched it. I hope the dogs don't think there's a big hole there and try to jump through!

Ivy irony

cassis and jefke
Originally uploaded by modernemama

I have spent every spare moment this week clearing ivy from the borders on Vineyard Rd. I've filled trash bag after trash bag and this morning I finally declared it done. All the ivy under the rhododendrons? Gone. All that ivy chocking the tiny azalea bushes? Gone.
Then I bought some more flowers to fill a planter. And what did I use to trail down the sides? Variegated ivy, that's what.
Oh, the irony.

Exposed plumbing - a trendy new look?

We are now a week passed the "absolutely has to be finished by" deadline and we still have this charming hole in the laundry room and its mate, the lovely new wastepipe in the downstairs bathroom.



Still no word from our lovely handyman on his poor knee so no chance of repairs to the drywall, or tiles for that matter but apparently we will have an installed vanity in the bathroom by Tuesday morning. Then, if I'm smartish, we may get the bathroom plumbed before we leave for a week of music and mayhem in Tennessee at the end of next week.
May. Might. With a lot of luck.

Peonies

I have been suffering from peony envy for about five weeks. My neighbour's front yard has the most beautiful, large, continuously flowering peonies. They start early, in the beginning of May and are still blooming now.
Mine, on the other hand have taken all this time to reach flowering stage. I put this down to the fact that these are ones I transplanted from the shady rear yard, where I never ever saw them bloom. This year, though, I noticed big buds on them and I've been anxiously waiting to see what colour they would be.
They turned out to be a glorious shade of cream with a pink center and a pink tinge to the outer petals. But the strange thing is that this year more peonies sprung up in the back garden. I obviously didn't transplant them all, although where they've been for the last two years is a mystery.

pink peony
Originally uploaded by modernemama

A bigger mystery is why these peonies are a dusky pink.
Any thoughts?

Revenge of The Cool House

back door
Originally uploaded by modernemama

It is a truism in house renovation: fix one problem and another is thrown your way.

In this case not many hours after I was dancing a jig of glee at having replaced the decades old laundry appliances Steven walked past the back hall and bang went the pane of glass in the door.

Apart from the damage to his nerves nobody was hurt but we can't work out what happened. The dogs were in the other part of the house, no birds have flown into the door, it just cracked across blowing a huge hole out of the middle. Of course it was 8 pm so apart from a temporary keep the elements out job with duct tape, cardboard and contractor bags on the outside there wasn't much we could do.

I'm waiting for the glazier to open at 10 am to find out what the damage will be to replace the door light with tempered glass. Until then it's kind of dark down this end of the house.