Gorilla Spotted in Tree on Hanover Avenue

A gorilla has been in this tree for days and it cracks me up. A few days ago it was joined by his friend the white bear, however, when I finally remembered to take my camera on my dog walk today, I see that the bear has disappeared. Today the gorilla is sporting a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket as a hat - fetching, don't you think? This sort of thing would never fly in the old northern Virginia neighborhood. There would have to be an emergency meeting of the home owner's association and no doubt the gorilla would be ordered down from his perch. In the Fan, no one seems to care and it just seems sort of normal. The writing on his stomach says "Got art?" Yes, I think we do.

Today a van pulled up in front of the house and the workers got out and started spraying yellow insulation. It looks like the blob has invaded and brought with him a very odd smell. So, with insulation done, can we be far from drywall?
The other excitement of the day is that my friend, Loi Thai, was featured on the front page of the Home Section in today's Washington Post. Loi has the most incredible shop, Tone on Tone, in Bethesda which you should pop into the next time you're any where near. You will want to go home and throw everything out and start over with some of his inventory.

In my next post I hope to have shots of drywall or windows. Either would make me so so happy.

From the mountains to the bay and back to the city

One of the things I love most about living in this part of Virginia is that I'm able to hike on Saturday in the Shenandoah mountains and on Sunday take a ferry ride out to the middle of the Chesapeake Bay and get back to the city by dinner time. The above shot is of Chimney Rock at mile marker 90 in the Shenandoah National Park. My husband and I did about a 5 mile hike with the dogs and it was beautiful but hot and buggy. The best part was stopping for lunch in Charlottesville on the way back to Richmond.


The photo above is of Tangier Island, an hour and a half ferry ride from Reedsville, Virginia. The island feels like is has been frozen in time - what time I'm not quite sure. We rented bikes for $2.00 each and rode all around the island (no cars allowed out there - only golf cars and the occasional ATV). We discovered a beautiful deserted beach and then headed back to the little town for the required lunch of crab cakes. The ferry ride back was not for the faint of heart as we motored through a thunderstorm. My husband and I stayed up top under the canopy and loved every minute of it - most of the other passengers ran for cover and I was ready to as well as soon as I saw lightning. I'm anxious to go back to that part of Virginia for more exploration but the real world was calling us back to Richmond.

Since my last post I'm so happy to report that we now have air conditioning on the upper level. Central air has a way of adjusting every one's attitude around here (mine). I can now sit at my desk without air blowing at the back of my neck and the quiet is most appreciated. The units are sitting on top of the roof as is customary in this part of Richmond. I wasn't around with my digital camera when the crane came to lift them up there. Maybe that was good.

This week the house is getting openings for the new windows for the kitchen. The mason is out there right now chipping away at bricks and mortar.
So, back to the kitchen design:
Above is a scaled drawing of the back of the house (thanks to the prior owner who is an architect) as it was when we purchased the home. Below are plans for the new kitchen.














The new window that is being cut is is to the right of the range to allow for more light in a north facing rather dark room and also to be symmetrical with the current window to the left of the range. We've eliminated the bathroom from the kitchen area and have relocated it to under the front stairs - also typical for these row homes. The laundry hookups are gone as well - moved upstairs.
Just about every house I've ever lived in and loved had a white kitchen. When I go back into the archives of magazine pages that I have torn out over the years the vast majority are white - I especially love this one pictured above and have kept is as my inspiration for our new kitchen. I"m sorry that I didn't keep the name of the designer or which magazine this came from. If anyone knows, please fill me in. In any case, it has all the elements of what I feel a calm and cozy kitchen has - simple off white cabinetry with glass fronts, honed granite counters, bleached beams and pendants hanging over the island. The backsplash is also simple and elegant. I could move right in.

My budget does not allow for custom cabinets so I've narrowed our selection down to Medallion Cabinetry. It was difficult to find a white finish that didn't look baked on and that would go with the existing exposed brick wall on the back stair wall. We've chosen the Park Place door style for the wall and base cabinets and the island will be in a rustic Alder wood with possibly a butcher block top. There won't be that many wall cabinets in our new kitchen as we've elected to add a window. I can't have glass fronts on the few that I will have, except on the higher units, as I don't want to look at my mis-matched collection of coffee mugs or my spices. Not that I don't love those coffee mugs, painstakingly collected in our travels over the years - I just don't want to look at them all the time.

The final decision on counter tops has still not been made. Harry the Homeowner has done some research on honed absolute black granite and the results are a little disturbing. From what he reads, they stain easily and are a maintenance headache. There is another stone that is quarried here in Virginia that apparently holds up better - I need to go slab hunting soon. I also love Carrera but I don't think it will work in this scheme.

The back splash will most likely be glass subway tile from Villi tile. I've selected a soft gray color that will sing with the brick and the 36" Wolf range. Other selections are a paneled front dishwasher from Bosch, a Whirlpool refrigerator (stainless) and pendant lanterns (verdi gris finish) from Cape Cod Lanterns. We brought a chandelier from our old house with us that also has a verdi gris finish. This will hang over the farm table in the eat in area. The microwave is going to be installed in the island - a Sharpe microwave drawer. I could have lived without a microwave as all I usually use it for is reheating my coffee but we always have to think about resale as we never know where the wind will blow us. Reheating coffee in a drawer might be a spill waiting to happen - time will tell. The flooring selection is still an unknown until it is determined what lies under that last layer of linoleum - the contractor is very hopeful that we can salvage what's there.

Today the electrical inspector from the city is coming and I'm sure we will pass with flying colors. Next week we get some insulation and then I think I heard someone say drywall. I almost don't want to write this down but we are ahead of schedule. So far everything is going so well and smoothly. Right now I hear a vacuum cleaner - the workers have been so considerate and tidy.

It is supposed to be hot here today - I'd better get on my bike now before I talk myself out of it. Have a wonderful day.

Home Again, Jiggety Jog

I was fortunate to spend the last week on Figure 8 Island in North Carolina. For those of you who have never heard of it, the island lies just to the north of Wrightsville Beach. My extended family (mother, father, three sisters, two brothers in law and several nieces and nephews) rent a house for a week on the sound side of the island and it is my goal to only leave once to go to the market when it is my turn. We all take turns cooking and even the kids took a night this year!! It was so nice to be in a dust free, quiet zone with a functioning kitchen. I wanted to do nothing more than kayak, read and swim and I turned the blackberry off for days at a time - quite a feat.

So, while I kayaked with the dolphins and the sea turtles the crew here on Hanover were very hard at work. All of the duct work for the upstairs air conditioner is now in place. The unit is to arrive this week and will be lifted by crane onto the roof. Fortunately the weather here in Richmond has been cooperating and we seem to be able to get by most of the time with window and ceiling fans.I never thought I would so love to see a vent in a ceiling. This will blow cold air on my side of the bed very soon.

Before I left for Figure 8 the contractors discovered that the original hardwood floors lay under all of that Euro laminate that was in the foyer and soon to be family room. The floor contractor believes that the kitchen floor can also be saved, even though it is covered with a thick mastic and laminate flooring from the 1920s. This I am so happy about, as adding another flooring material to the budget was going to be painful. I have it in the back of my head that, if needed, I can have the floors painted. The possibilities are endless, but I'm keeping it under my hat for now.
Here is a view from the front door (just got back from a bike ride!). The floors are in remarkably good shape, probably because they've been covered over for so long. I can hear the house sighing with relief to be back to its original design.

A lot of framing took place as well in the last couple of weeks. It is hard to capture that with a camera but here are a couple of shots:


The image on the left below is the old "trunk room", soon to be laundry room (upstairs back hallway). I've never had the laundry upstairs but I'm told it is the only way to live. Right now we're walking a few blocks to the Strawberry Street Laundromat every Monday night (I call it our date night), so any thing will be better than that. The floors in this room were painted and so I will most likely be doing the same. I have visions of stencils swirling in my head. The large structure to the left in the room is to frame around the ceiling of the back stair case which leads down to the kitchen. We'll be turning this into a counter for all of that laundry I'll be folding. We'll add some cabinetry down the road (phase 2) so we can hide the cleaning supplies, etc.





















The image below the laundry room is a shot of the new powder room's framing. The old "loo" was right next to the kitchen which we feel is a most unfortunate location. Many of the homes in the fan have powder rooms under the front stairs and so that is where we have elected to place it. It will be a tiny space but in a much more private location. The electrician and I marked the location of the sconce boxes before I left - here is a shot of one of the sconces - ready to be hung.


I purchased these sconces from Aquila Little at Scott's Market in Atlanta, GA a year or so ago before I knew that we were moving, but knowing that some day they would find a good home. If you get the chance, stop by to see Aquila in the North building - she has an amazing collection of lighting and other decorative accessories.

This week the plumbers and electricians are due to finish up in preparation for inspections. I've been working with our architect on the kitchen design - details to follow on my next post. Have a most happy 4th of July. We're off to the Dogwood Dell for fireworks and some patriotic band music!!

The Calla Lillies are in bloom again

Such a strange flower, suitable for any occasion. These famous lines in the film about "calla lilies" were taken from the unsuccessful 1933 Broadway play The Lake, in which Hepburn had starred (the dialogue became parody material for Hepburn impersonators for the remainder of the star's legendary career).

I just discovered these flowers blooming in my garden and whenever I pass them I think of Katharine Hepburn and wonder who it was who carefully planted my back yard. It is very exciting to see the garden unfolding for the first time for me.


















In the rear of the yard is a very old wisteria vine and in the foreground are some ancient English boxwoods. There isn't much more for Harry Homeowner and I to do except fill some pots and relax in the Adirondack chair with a glass of wine.
Look at that poodle pretending not to want to chomp down on that quiche!!












The most wonderful thing about yards in our neighborhood is that they are all fenced in so now my dogs can be let out at any time of day or night and I know that they are safe and unable to roam. Of course, any Welsh Terrier worth his or her salt, will attempt to breach any and all borders.
This is the gate that keeps them in.
It is tiring trying to escape all day. The Welshie, Harvey, has successfully breached the eastern border and entered my neighbors house and went promptly upstairs. Luckily for me that neighbor is a dog lover.

Interior framing has started this week and I have learned that we're ahead of schedule Photos don't do it justice quite yet so I'll wait a few more days to shoot their work.

The chicken or the.....

fruit? Which wallpaper came first do you think? I wish I had time to research it. There was another beautiful wallpaper which had seaweed and coral but I couldnt get a shot of it as it was really a dangerous place to be at the time. Most of the plaster is down now so maybe the taste of it in my mouth will go away.

Other discoveries this week:
1. The window to nowhere. This is a window in the kitchen on the west wall which is about 1/2" away from my neighbor's exterior wall. The window must have predated their house. Another research project.

2. The full fireplace in the Family Room was exposed and it looks terrific. Now the question is, do we leave the brick exposed or make it more formal with drywall? Someone is going to have to take a wire brush to it to see if it can look a little less distressed. Also, the euro laminate was pulled up and the wood floors look pretty good except for a plethora of nail holes.
3. There were pocket doors in the walls between the Entry and the Living Room at some point. It is sad that they aren't there anymore. A trip to the local architectural salvage place, Caravati's, is in order to determine what to do with these openings now.Next week framing begins and after that whole house air conditioning can't be far behind. The window units are holding up well in the heat of Richmond's summer. We're off to explore the beaches in Virginia Beach this weekend. Have a great weekend.

Baby steps

I awoke this morning to the sound of workers downstairs - the asbestos abatement gentleman - back for day two, or so I thought. They took down all the plastic and warning signs and said they'd be back on Monday and I was too out of it to find out why. Maybe it had something to do with the horrid weather here today or maybe they took one look at the crawlspace and decided that it was Friday and they were in no mood to crawl in there to suck out asbestos. Who could blame them either way. In any case - that is first of many delays I'm sure. We now have access to the hazardous area once again and so I was able to inspect the progress. They peeled away three layers of flooring - one layer of carpet and two layers of asbestos tile. What is left is yet another layer of floor tile (non asbestos) that is, unfortunately, glued to the hardwood floor below it. My contractor is not too encouraging about the ability to resurrect the original floors. I need to wait until the hall and Family Room floors are demolished next week before I can go into Plan B for flooring.

Then, of course, there are the random holes in the floor that give one a great peek into the crawl space. This entertained my Welsh Terrier for an hour this morning. If only floors could talk! The good news is that we have access to the back yard and the garage for the weekend which is supposed to be glorious here in Richmond. Our neighbors are putting on an alley party tonight and I'm looking forward to meeting the folks that we share the alley with and yet never see!!

Demolition has begun

Fast forward to June. We've been living in the house for a couple of months and have worked hard with the architects to come up with a plan for some changes to the first floor. This is a shot of the entry taken before we moved in. The flooring is some sort of industrial strength laminate. Hardwood floors, are you under there? We'll soon find out. To the left of the front door in this photo is the Living Room . It gets wonderful morning light and I adore the fireplace and the built-ins. Most of the fireplaces from this era were built for coal fires so the fire boxes are not deep enough for use today unless gas inserts are installed. I won't publish a photo of how the rooms looks now as it is filled to the rafters with the possessions that we don't need right now (anything to do with cooking!). These floors were installed a few years back - we're hoping on top of the original heart pine. Again, this is to be determined later on down the road.














The next room in the row was a second parlor. On the left you can see the pocket doors. We believe that there is a set on the right as well under the trim. That and the french doors that lead to the back yard were a huge draw to us as buyers. We believe the fireplace to be original and again, not usable. This room is to become the Dining Room. I've ordered up a chandelier from Currey and Co. and can't wait to get to the painting and window treatment stage. The rugs in these pictures belong to the previous owner.

This room was used as the Dining Room by the previous owner (his chandelier and furniture). The flooring is that same laminate used in the Entry only the colors have been reversed!! We're hoping to find the pine floors under this as well. Behind the china cabinet is a walled up fireplace. We found out today that we can resurrect it for use as a gas fireplace.
The drywall was pulled off yesterday and revealed that the fireplace opening had been merely bricked up. I've heard that many of these have had cement poured into them, and in that case, are not salvageable. And now, for you're viewing pleasure --- the kitchen.

Sorry, but you had to see the "before". I'm not sure of the vintage here but I do know that there is a lot of: