Paul Mayen table

Paul Mayen table
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I've been searching for nearly two years for a coffee table to go with the original sofa in the living room and I finally found one one ebay. Hooray for ebay! I'm thrilled because it fits right in, especially with the chandelier, which isn’t surprising as they are both by renowned designer Paul Mayén. 

Mayén was a protegé of Frank Lloyd Wright and designed the gift shop at Fallingwater. My next search will be for a rug to replace the one in the photo, which is a little too small and classic for this room. After that maybe the 70s track lighting will have to go and we can call this room "done". No major renovation, just a little gentle updating.

Need some landscaping done

I'm trying to decide what to do with the yard to the north of our property. It used to be fairly heavily treed with a couple of beautiful azalea borders but years of neglect have led to about a foot deep of accumulated debris, tree branches and weeds. Last year we got the tree guys in to take out the dead and decaying trees and they also took away the heavy branches and tree limbs that were on the ground. We then weeded and got rid of the debris: sprinkler hoses, bricks, bluestone pavers (we recuperated those by extending the path) and dead bushes still wrapped in hessian that never got planted.
What remains is ivy, smaller branches and some old tree stumps. Now what we need is a digger to come in and haul away the top 4-6" of ground so we can get a clean start. This area is about a tenth of an acre so it ain't gonna be cheap. What I was wondering is if someone were to tip off the FBI that Jimmy Hoffa was buried here would they dig over my yard for free? And could I sell souvenirs to finance the new landscaping?

Name That Room

One of the differences between Europe and America is what we call the rooms in our houses. Actually, the first difference is that Europeans call it a house, Americans call it a home, but further than that we (I am a European living in the US) tend to have fewer rooms and less creative names for them. For example in Belgium the typical house has a living room, a dining room (or a large living/dining room), a kitchen, a bathroom, a shower room and three or four bedrooms. Some houses may have an office, basement or rarely a playroom but generally you know what your getting.
When we first looked at property here we were confronted with terms like EIK. I phoned my American friend but she was no help, apparently they either don't have eat in kitchens on Cape Cod or this abbreviation gained popularity only after she left the US. And I still don't know what the difference is between an EIK and a kitchen with a breakfast nook. I was familiar with the term "den" from American TV shows but I thought it had to be practically windowless and have knotty pine paneling and I never knew what you were supposed to do there that you couldn't do in a living room.
Then there's the Great Room. I call the room in the middle of my house the great room because it has a great big ceiling but the previous owner called it the living room. The room where we do most of our "living" ie vegging in front of the TV, she called the den but it is full of light. Our neighbors watch TV in the Media Room; it's dark and windowless but please don't call it a den. I'm confused.
This posting was inspired by an email from Dream Home Source that features a room I had never heard of before: The Gathering Room. I have an idea that each morning the family gathers in The Gathering Room and picks out a room that they will occupy for the rest of the day so that they do not have to interact with the other family members. Although it has its attractions this doesn't win the prize for the oddest named room. In my opinion that goes to Home Plan 18913 that has a something called "Future Quarters". Any clue, anyone?
I love Dream Home Source. One of the search options you can use is "Secret Room". Isn't that the best? And one last question: if you have a Media Room, an Exercise Room and a Billiards Room, what the hell do you need a Bonus Room for?

Modernist Road Trip

Mother's Day, so I'm putting my feet up and perusing my favourite inspirational magazine dwell and making a list of all the things I want to get after I win the lottery, when I glance at the special advertising section for the Saturn Sky Roadster.
This takes the form of a suggested road trip around Long Island, NY to see the modern and post-modern architecture. And the proposed itinerary takes in the works of the celebrated architect Andrew Geller who worked on the Leisurama prefab homes for Macy's and designed the Pearlroth House and, coincidentally, who designed our house in 1968.
It's a long way to drive from Shelter Island to Manhattan without stopping to see some mid-century architecture. So I suggest, should you ever follow the indicated route, that you make a detour off Rte 25A and see another Andrew Geller masterpiece. I'm so lucky to live in this unique house and I want to share it with everyone.

arty shot from under maple

arty shot from under maple
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Notice the lovely hosepipe that is running to the pool. One day I'm going to take a properly staged photograph.

Summerising

That's what May is for, getting ready for Summer.
We got the pool open on Saturday. It took five hours to drain off the water on top of the yacht sail that serves as our pool cover. Apparently a new cover runs $2,500 or so and the last homeowner didn't want to part with that sort of cash, so she went to the sailmakers down at the marina and got them to make a cover for the pool. It does a great job of keeping the debris out but the winter rain and melting snow collects on it making summerisation a time consuming task.
After the water is off we rake up the leaves, tons of them, and allow them to turn to mulch. Then we roll up the cover and put it away and bring up the pool steps and diving board. Add 30 lbs of what is effectively baking soda and we're good to go. Except this is New York not Florida and the water temperature is an uninviting 62 F. That little issue won't be solved this year, the heater didn't repair itself and we didn't win the lottery, so no heated pool for us this summer. Still the frogs don't seem to mind.

Flooring frustrations

Last week we had the carpets steam cleaned to get rid of the kitty pee and poop stains, and it worked fairly well but the cat must have snuck back in the dining room and peed again 'cos it smells awful in there. So we decided we would have to take up the carpet and put down hardwood floors.
That was the start of the process. Our first choice would be BR111 Brazilian redwood which is what we put on the landing two years ago (see photo). When we tried to order more of it then our supplier said there was a problem with quality and we'd have to wait a few months to get it. Well, it turns out the problem is more than a temporary hiatus in production and there is no more Massaranduba to be had.
This leaves us in a quandary. Do we continue to wait in the hope that more will be released at some future date? Do we pick another hardwood? If so, what?
We liked the redwood because it goes with the house (that's a close up of our Californian redwood siding that forms the background on the banner on this site). It is exceptionally hardwaring hard wood, and that's important with two big dogs and cats that are prone to throwing up and peeing in the most inappropriate places. The other issue is it has to fit with the parquet in the foyer and great room that is oak and mahogany. Light wood won't work, there is a lot of wood in the house: beams, stairs, railings, doors and moldings and it's all dark or red toned. And it has to be of the right depth so there won't be a huge step from the foyer to the dining room and the dining room to the kitchen.
I really didn't want to do anything about this carpet until we did the kitchen remodel so that at least we could tackle the floor level in one go. But despite copious amounts of my usual secret weapon Nature's Miracle the smell just won't go. I suppose we could just not use the dining room for the next couple of years until we're ready to redo the kitchen but that seems kind of limiting, and getting rid of the kitty and replacing the soiled carpet with new carpet is a no go.
So to sum up: we can't get what we want; we really don't want to settle for an interim solution; we can't live with the yucky carpet any longer.
Any suggestions?

Big landscaping project

front yard
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Extreme gardening this week. We had to move a huge maple that was sitting on top of the fir tree. This was a seedling from another maple in the back of the property that had grown 4' in the two years we have been in the house.
It was the lesser of two evils: we could move the japanese maple or chop it down but it was compromising the 100' conifer that the house was designed around, and we don't want to lose the big specimen tree, it's the focal point of the yard.



(that's a view of the fir towering over the chimney from the other side of the house).

It took all Saturday to dig out a pit 6' diameter and 3' deep to accomodate the rootball and all Sunday morning to dig out the maple. The soil is great though, all loamy from the leaves that have decomposed over the years. We've had the soaker hose on it since we moved it to its new home and we can only cross our fingers now.