Light... and water

Steven thinks he has cleansed the den of its random lighting curse. Yesterday morning he managed to turn on all the lights in that room and turn them off again. Wanting to demonstrate his newfound electricity controlling skill, he turned them on again in the evening but, of course, nothing happened. He went off to bed mumbling about lighting and x10 and a few minutes later all the lights magically came on. But this time, I was able to turn them off at the switch. A delay, sure - but it beats running down to the basement to turn them off. Success.
The payback came around 3 AM. A loud CLUNK, followed by a whirring sound from the basement that woke both of us up. It was the sprinklers, which are programmed to come on at 10 AM because they make so much noise, but had obviously been seriously set off course by us having to turn off the electricity every other evening. I've switched them off for good now, we should be ok without them at this point in the year.
Hopefully that's an end to our lighting problems but I'm waiting to get through this evening with no lighting issues before I declare this chapter of "the house is trying to kill us" closed.

Way beyond funny

This happened again last night. 7:30 just before Steven came home.
For anyone counting, that's once every other evening this week. Twice with these lights, including one time with the chandelier doing a "now I'm on, now I'm off thing" as well, and once with these lights. Each time we have to turn off the electricity at the panel to switch these lights off.
Now, is it just coincidence that this has happened twice just as Steven was arriving home? And it happened once while I was out. Could it be connected in some way to the garage openers? But we use them continually during the day so why just in the evening? Could it be connected to some ancient x10 automatic security light on a timer? But why has it just started this week? And why every other night? And why won't the lights turn on and off at the switches?
Am I obsessing about this? Am I crazy yet? How much more can I take?

It's p p p PINK!

Ha! After getting rid of the 1968 pink and avocado green vanity in the girls' bath, I now discover that pink is in again. At least that's what Trendir tells me.


Here, in all its lipstick pink glory is the Trend Vanity from Novello. Does anyone else think it is the ugliest vanity ever? I can't imagine anyone installing one in their bath, but if they did I'm pretty sure that it would be ripped out by the next owner. Unless the next owner was Barbie.
Although it would go with the huge sectional in our living room, this is certainly not a trend I'm going to follow.

Weird lighting issues

den built-ins
Originally uploaded by modernemama

This is starting to freak me out - big time. This evening I went to have a sundowner at the beach and watch the sun set. I left at about 6:30 and although it was too hazy for a proper sunset there was a true harvest moon to make up for it.

When I got home, though, I was greeted by this in the den, The lights over the built-ins had come on. Not the bar lights that scared me on Monday , but the ones on a different switch.
I didn't put them on, in fact I haven't touched any of the switches in the den except the table lamps since Monday night because I was afraid I'd have to go to the basement again and turn the entire house off and on, which means I have to rest the airport and the TV cable has to reset itself. A hassle.

So, WHAT IS GOING ON? Help, somebody, and quickly, please.


UPDATE 9:12 PM
The chandelier over the coffee table in the den (you can see it in the photo between the built-ins) came on and five minutes later went off again. Is this some new random motion sensor thing? Again, HELP...........

Still more sedums

Sedum sieboldii
Originally uploaded by modernemama

This is Sedum sieboldii, which I planted in full sun on the rock bed by the bridge. There isn't much soil there, so hopefully it will thrive.

Messing with my mind

drinks cabinet
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Yesterday evening sitting in the den around 6:45. I'd just prepared an authentic Spanish dinner (Imperial potatoes, slow-roasted pork, spicy tomato sauce and peas, if you must know) and I'm waiting for Steven to come in when the lights in the drinks cabinet come on. On their own.
Spooky. I mean I'm just sitting there and the next thing everything is illuminated.
I've mentioned this problem before but that's only happened when I've tried to turn it on or off recently. I swear no-one had touched that light switch all day, and probably not since the photographer came from Newsday two weeks ago.
I tried to turn it off - no luck. I tried to turn the other lights on that switch on - nothing. Steven came home and he tried. At 10 PM we were ready to go to bed and the damn light was still burning. There was only one thing for it. We went to the control panel in the basement and turned the whole house off and then back on. And it worked. Every other light came back on, the cabinet lights stayed off.
Now the only thing I can think of, is that we have 1970s x10 wiring on the switches in the den, our bedroom and various other places in the house. We don't know exactly where and what they do because we haven't got the remote control panel. Maybe somehow the x10 got screwed up. Once again we wouldn't know how.
The question is: What can we do about it? I'm not calling an electrician because the last one looked at the wiring, turned white and then green and said he didn't understand it! Is there anything we can do to solve this mystery before I go out of my mind or we burn the house down?

Conspiracy Theory

Is there a conspiracy to deprive me of a full night's sleep?
Last night I'd just dozed off when Steven (who'd stayed up to get the cats in) came and woke me up. As usual he didn't just tell me what the problem was. He likes to work every last nerve by increasing the tension and anxiety level.
"Can you come to the kitchen?"
"Why, what's there?"
"Just come to the kitchen"
"But I'm asleep"
"No you're talking, so you're awake, so please come to the kitchen".
Now, you'd think after all these years I'd have learnt to JUST SAY NO, but I always fall for it.
I could hear the beeping on the balcony.
"Is that it, that's what you wanted me to hear?"
"Just come into the kitchen"
"It's a cicada"
"In the kitchen?"
By this time I was through the kitchen door and I switched on the lights and pointed to the alarm system.
"Stand on a chair and take the battery out of the motion sensor" You can see that I'm not at my politest when I think I've been woken up on a fool's errand.
Steven takes the chair and moves over to the wall ovens.
"It's coming from in there"
"Well open the cabinet then"
"I'm not going in there"
"Well I'm not standing on a chair". I opened the oven but there was nothing inside and the beeping continued.
Then Steven jumped on the chair, unscrewed the overhead halogen light bulb directly above the wall oven and the beeping stopped.
Then he screwed it back in. Nothing. He put the chair back, I turned off the lights and we went to bed.
He went to straight to sleep and I spent the night alternately fuming that he couldn't have sorted that little problem out without my help and wondering what caused the noise, and why unscrewing a light bulb fixed it.

Sedum repestre "Angelina"

Sedum repestre "Angelina"
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Sedum Sunday.

What goes "hmm...errr" all through the night?

No not my better half snoring.
It sounded like a nail gun compressor, or the power-washer when you've switched it off but haven't unplugged it. Hmm...errr. It started about 2 AM and continued at five minute intervals. I got up and checked the dryer: Off. And the pond pump: Off. And the oil burner: Definitely off. I thought it might possibly be the neighbour's airco unit. It was odd and irritating and disturbed my sleep all night long. This morning I discovered that every time the Hmm...errr occurred the lights flickered. Obviously it was our problem and I was going to have to track it down.



The one thing I didn't think of was the pool pump because I noticed it was off on Monday. It was completely still out there, and as no-one is brave enough to get into the unheated pool now, I thought I'd just leave it off until the guys come and close it up for the winter.
Well, guess what? Having exhausted all other possibilities, we checked the pump and the electrical unit was still on although the pump wasn't functioning. We turned the timer off and voila, silence. So I'm pretty sure that means we'll need a new part or pump or whole freakin' electrical unit next Spring.
Ho, hum, errr......

Sedum "Autumn Joy"

Sedum "Autumn Joy"
Originally uploaded by modernemama

A gratuitous photo of a bee on the sedum.

Late summer border

Late summer border
Originally uploaded by modernemama

The last couple of days of summer have seen the temperatures in the 80s and the sedums are a-buzz with yellow jackets and bees. The border I planted in late 2005 has filled in nicely now and pinks and greys play off the granite wall and slate path beautifully. I'm really pleased how this turned out, especially as I bought all the new plants at the end of the season, and at least 50% off. Not as good as free but every little helps.

It had to happen

Really it was only a matter of time before the toilet in the master bath executed its revenge. Probably because I called it "flimsy" in a previous post. Although it could simply have been jealous that the other toilets have either been replaced this year or were given a serious overhaul in 2006.
The saga went something like this.... I went to bed one night and when I got up 8 hours later I realised the loo was still flushing. I took the lid off, jiggled the float and it stopped and then I flushed it again for good measure. That seemed to have cured it so I didn't give it another thought until....... a week or so later I used the toilet, left the bathroom, went out for the day and returned that evening to find the thing STILL FLUSHING. Once again I applied the temporary "massaging the float" fix and it stopped. But rather than chance it going off again, I started running to the other side of the house every time nature called and this rapidly got old. I mentioned it a couple of times to Steven but he didn't give a high priority on the to do list. Until Sunday morning that is, when running down the corridor in the dark to get to another WC, I collided with the dog and tripped over a cat. That's when he reckoned five minutes spent with his hand in freezing water was going to be easier than listening to me curse under my breath all day. And five minutes was all it took him to tighten the nut with a pair of pliers. Problem solved.
And while he was there he fixed the wobbly toilet seat that he failed to fix twice before. My hero.

Sunset at the beach

wood table
Originally uploaded by modernemama

The last rays reflected on the wood table. Peeling paint can be pretty.

Spoiling the ship for a ha'pence of tar

So the advice I received after yesterday's post was to remove the rotted siding. And of course what I had forgotten is the possible damage to the framing behind the redwood. Because this door was installed so badly we get leaking inside around the bottom. It's possible that we'll open up a whole can of worms by taking off the siding (a section 6' long by 6" wide).
Let this be a warning to all who need windows and doors installed. You can buy the best windows in the world but their ability to keep out the elements will be totally dependent on the installation. Maybe I shouldn't panic yet but I have a feeling this could turn into a very expensive job.
Rats, rats, rats.

Maintenance, Renovation or Total Remodel?

When you're rehabing a house how do you know whether a project is renovation or just simply maintenance?
For example, that vanity unit we had to replace in the downstairs bath this spring. Was that maintenance? The thing had de-laminated completely. What about the faucet? It was leaking and we couldn't fix it. If we'd simply bought another a part I'm pretty sure that would be classified as maintenance but replacing it with a new one? What category does that fall into?
Right now I'm looking at the redwood siding between the kitchen slider and the slate patio step and it's in pretty sorry condition. The rainwater gets splashed up against the siding and has caused the redwood to look a little moth-eaten. It definitely needs some maintenance. The question really is: what should we do about it?
The other sliders off the living room have had their redwood footers replaced with the same bluestone as the terrace on that side of the house. This would seem to be the most sensible solution, effectively solving the problem once and for all. However, these doors are (hopefully) going to remain in situ and ideally I would like to remove the kitchen slider, a replacement that was put in neither straight nor true, (and with interior molding that doesn't match any other in the house) with a better model. Unfortunately, the slider is only a few years old and would not be cheap to replace. It would also be better to leave any replacement doors and windows in this room until we get the kitchen updated, to go for one major upheaval, rather than making two lots of mess. In short, I don't want to replace the rotted siding with slate only to have to knock it off again in a year or so.
The only answer I've been able to come up with so far would be to replace the thin cedar molding by the step with a 4" version, and hope that withstands this winter's rain, ice and snow. I'm a little afraid though, that, as often happens in this family, the temporary fix will turn into a permanent solution.
My problem is that we would be doing maintenance on what I think requires renovation, if not a total remodel.

Hosta(ge)

Of course this would be the other reason my grand plan for hosta domination in the yard might not work out.
I divided and re-planted fifty-two hostas in the dell on Sunday morning. Five different varieties, no less, from giant yellow and green ones like Hermes and Maya are pinning down here, to a tiny pale green one that could be Lakeside Little Gem.
I don't want it to just be a hosta bed so there's also a couple of heuchera in there and a Japanese climbing hydrangea at the bottom of the weeping Juniper as well as a dwarf pink hydrangea, assorted rhododendrons and azaleas and a couple of different hollies. If the day lilies have taken there will be two large clumps of those, too.
But it's the hostas that are fascinating the kittens at the moment.





Ah well. at least they aren't scratching up the furniture......

Design Genius

Design Genius
Originally uploaded by modernemama

It was our total joy to welcome the architect of our house, Andrew Geller and his family into our home last Friday.
Thrilling for us to listen to the stories he and his wife, Shirley, told, not only of the gestation of this house, and its original decor, but of his other designs for houses on Fire Island and the Hamptons.
It must be quite emotional to visit a house you designed almost forty years ago and see how much of the original spirit remains. The week before he had been out at Fire Island Pines to see the Frank House, now totally restored by Philip Mognahan, and this week he got to see our work in progress. He seemed to approve of the efforts we have made to ensure the house survives another forty years. All I can say is that it's easier to preserve something when you have such inspiring architecture to work with.
Here is Andy on the balcony of the living room, designed so the original owner could have bridge parties below and those not playing could watch from above. It's an awesome room and works just as well for those of us who don't play cards. A truly great room, in fact.
Photo courtesy of Jake Gorst.

Screens, doors and hostas

How did I spend my day?
First off I fixed the garage door. Not the one that failed in an ice storm on Valentine's Day this year. The other one. Someone had knocked the sensor off its box, either with the car or while manoeuvring the trash-can out of the garage. We should open the other door to take out the trash but one of us is too lazy and the other too clumsy to do it properly. Anyway, half an hour's playing with the lever, pull knob, buttons and sensor box and the door was fully functioning again.



Then I put back the screen door that the clumsy person knocked off its wheels during the party and even fixed the other one that has been only partially functioning since, oh I don't know, last summer. Pretty good going, huh?
And just because I was already sweaty and and dirty, I thought I might as well transplant another dozen or so hostas. What, you thought I'd finished that job weeks ago? Not quite.



The thing about transplanting perennials in the fall is that they will die back quickly now and then I'm left to wonder for the next six to eight months if they have really taken, or whether I just wasted several beautiful September days getting mucky when I could have been down at the beach with a book soaking up the last of summer.

Reverberations

Living Room
Originally uploaded by modernemama

The house constantly astonishes me. Just when I think I have learnt everything about it, it reveals one more surprise, gives me one more thing to adore.
I'd invited some of the guests at the party last weekend to entertain us, and Bob rocked out some Stones on his guitar. The music was great but it was only when his wife, Sue launched into an aria (from the lotus position, no less!) that I realised how good the acoustics in that room are. Her voice just soared up to the second storey and filled the entire space. Of course it helps that she is an opera singer, but all the wood on the ceiling certainly lent a great tone.
If we'd had a piano she would have sung more. And as the photographer pointed out last week, that's what should go on the raised dais in the den. A piano, hmmm.....................

Andrew Geller article in Newsday

The article on architect Andrew Geller will be in Newsday tomorrow, but for those impatient folks who have to have it now, it's available online at Newsday.com.
The major part of the article concerns the Frank House on Fire Island, which has undergone a complete restoration back to its original design. The photos are amazing, I'm blown away by the beauty of the work. Our house is featured in an article entitled A love affair with a Geller house. There's a link to this blog and photos, including a truly stunning one taken in the den, where the photographer got the perfect shot of the den, living room, foyer, part of the dining room and front stairs by facing directly at the media unit/bar. I think I've fallen in love with the unit again - it looks like the prow of a ship. Thanks, Bill.
One really sad note: the article mentions that the Hunt House, also known as the "Milk Crate" will be demolished later this year. I can't believe another modernist marvel will just be bulldozed. It sparks an interesting debate about house preservation. How far should we go to keep our architectural masterpieces? Is this is even possible? And if we do choose to restore them, should it be to their original state, or should we adapt them to fit our current lifestyles and tastes?
Read the article and weigh in. And consider contributing to save the Pearlroth House, which will become a museum of modern architecture here on Long Island.

Curtain of rain

Downpour front porch
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Look closely at the slate step and you can see the water cascading off the overhang and bouncing on the path. If your eyesight is really good you can see the curtain of rain that fills in the frame between the house and the post.
Just a little local downpour.

Party time = house tours

towards kitchen
Originally uploaded by modernemama

We threw a party on Saturday evening, and as usual when people come to our house for the first time they are blown away by the architecture. I'd like to think they come for the company and the food but I'm pretty sure they come to see the house.

Visitors always ask many questions, but two are inevitable:
1) Who was the architect?
2) How did you find it?
The answer to the first question is Andrew Geller, one of the most innovative architects of the 20th century. We have a copy of the Alastair Gordon book Beach Houses: Andrew Geller as well as postcards of the The Pearlroth House and they are fascinated to discover other Geller designed houses on Long island. Most are amazed that they hadn't heard of him before, given the uniqueness of his work. The consensus seems to be that this house should be featured in Architectural Digest so that more people can appreciate it.

To the second question I always answer: Serendipity. I wasn't looking to move house, I was simply filling a dreary Sunday afternoon looking at house listings on the internet. But my reactions to the photos and to seeing the house at an Open Day were physical - the hairs stood up on the back of my neck and the thought that I wouldn't be able to live here one day left me with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I fell blindly, totally in love with the house and it's the way I still feel more than three years later.

That's why it's my pleasure to welcome people into my home, conduct guided tours and answer as many questions as I can about my unconventional house and its creative architect, Andrew Geller.

Another Andrew Geller fan

I spent this morning doing what I like to do best: showing the house to someone who loves architecture. And it turned out that the photographer had been here years before, with the architect Andrew Geller. It was so interesting to talk to him about how the house used to look, about Andrew Geller's work and about his experiences renovating his own house.
We had great fun deciding on the best angles to shoot the rooms, or at least I did. I hope I didn't bore him with my constant questions and chatter.
I'll post more when I find out when the article is coming out. I can't wait to see the photographs he took in print and on the newspaper's site - the digital shots looked amazing. Until then, here's a really bad photo I took of the kitchen when we moved in.

A little moment of madness

The newspaper phoned this afternoon to ask if they can send a someone to photograph our house for the article on Andrew Geller's work tomorrow at 9 am. As I had so much spare time I decided to wash the windows, at least on the inside.
I really don't know what possessed me. I can't wash windows. I've tried, believe me. Many, many times.
I've used Windex and Glassex and white vinegar. I've used soft cloths and paper towels and newspaper. I even bought one of those microfiber magic window cleaning cloths. It didn't get my windows clean but at least 10% of the price is donated to help stop domestic violence.
I would think the problem was me, my technique is lousy, except that last year Steven washed the windows outside and he did an even worse job. So bad, in fact, that I wouldn't let him clean them this Spring. I said I'd do it myself. And I have done, in the last hurrah of Summer. And they are horrible.
Other people have clean windows. How do they do it?
All window cleaning tips gratefully received.

Maybe the 70s are back

What I'm supposed to be doing is researching recipes for a party we are throwing on Saturday.
What I'm actually doing is being distracted by the kitchens at My Home Ideas including this almost garish (they call it vibrant) retro one from Sunset Magazine. It reminds me of the kitchen in The Ice Storm, one of my favourite movies about that era. But I don't think it's a look I want to create in my house, even if it feels contemporary. This simple kitchen that uses Ikea cabinets and quartz and laminate countertops appeals a lot, though.
OK, enough unproductive kitchen envy. Back to menu planning.

Labor Day Sunset

Labor Day Sunset
Originally uploaded by modernemama

The perfect end to a perfect weekend - dinner at sunset on the deck at the beach

More photos of hostas

hostas
Originally uploaded by modernemama

This is the bed right at the rear of the yard that I planted the summer before last. The peonies were hidden under weeds, and the rest of the bed was bare except for some suckers from the original rose bed. I dug up those and replaced them with hostas from other parts of the yard and three large leaved variegated ones I bought on sale that fall.
I actually told someone the other day that this bed was planted when we arrived, I had forgotten doing it until I was sorting through some photos from that summer. Looks like I could think about dividing these hostas again, we've plenty of bare spots where they could go.

Dividing day lilies

Dell
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Or how I spent Sunday September 2 Part II.
Digging up, splitting and replanting day lilies. Along the drive, in clumps around the tree stumps in this border, in more clumps by the lawn - next summer there'll be day lilies all over the yard. Yellow ones, orange ones and my favourite burgundy. Then it will all have been worth it.

Newly pruned trees

Newly pruned trees
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Or how I spent Sunday September 2 Part I.
Just a little light pruning to let the sun shine on the lawn and increase our view from the kitchen window (in the far back of the photo) to the road.

Planted split hostas

Planted split hostas
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Or how I spent Saturday September 1 2007.
Split another 10 hostas and replanted 60! Yes 60!!!
Then I weeded. Steven power-washed the brick patio and paths. It's hard to say who was more dirty at the end of the day.
But in the battle with the yard we are definitely winning.

I said dig, not pounce

Hermes flattening the hostas
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Hermes helpfully flattening on of the hostas I divided on Friday.

Sunset toward Huntington Harbor

Sunset toward Huntington Harbor
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Exhausted.
No words.

Reminiscing

Yesterday we were interviewed by a journalist writing an article about Andrew Geller who was the architect of our house. Talking to her reminded us of things we'd forgotten while we've been updating this house. Forgotten or maybe suppressed.
For example, I'd completely obliterated from my memory the large rat sized whole in the garage and the unmissable odour of rat urine that permeated the area. Steven can't remember that the first things we put in the dumpster in July 2004 were several large closets that framed the back of the garage, to try and get rid of the smell. Several buckets of bleach and hours of scrubbing did the trick, but we had to repeat that over the course of many months.
Then there was the day that first winter when we went into the city and returned home to find that the previous day's snowfall had begun to thaw and water was pouring into the house from every window onto the newly laid bamboo flooring. That continued for the next few weeks. That's when we discovered that we didn't just need to replace a few windows, we needed a new roof as well.
I'd forgotten, too, about the hole in the window frame in my office caused by termite damage that we covered in plastic and duck tape for months while we tried to get replacements for the single pane, single hung windows. I won't forget, however, the trauma of selecting the replacement windows - trying to balance code with modernism and keep it affordable. ("Of course they'll match the existing windows, madam, they are custom made"). And then having them look just a little too much like double hung windows, after all... A bad day, better forgotten.
But there were good times, too. Like when we pruned the bushes by the bridge and revealed a pond and a stream under there. Or the day Verity moved into her bedroom and discovered the secret room at the back of her closet. Or the first morning walking down the back stairs when a shaft of sunlight shone through the window in the girls' bath and illuminated the tiles on the floor. Just like walking through a cathedral, it took my breath away.

House swap?

Our Little Bungalow left me a comment on my post about landscaping that led me to think that maybe housebloggers should think about swapping their homes with other home rehabers to get those pesky little chores done that we don't like doing or are beyond our capabilities. Of course being a swap, you'd have to be willing to share your particular skill set and do some hard work on a house other than your own. But at the very least you'd get to see up close what the renovations look like and maybe pinch some good ideas.