Two months and no blog update. I know. It's bad. We have been really busy doing the kind of work that is not blog-worthy, and certainly does not photograph well. From the naked eye the house pretty much looks the same as it did two months ago, but behind the scenes things are coming along quickly. None of these jobs have been fun, and their lack of big-impact has been, well, depressing, leaving us feeling like Ethan Hawke from "Reality Bites."
All of these boring and messy jobs got us closer to the end of our to-do list, and included fun things like:
1. Wiring the entire house for lights and electricity
Hello down there!
2. Replacing and repairing the sub floor
Good thing Dave likes puzzles
3. Staining the front door and polyurethane-ing it a bajillion times!
Picture that green stuff covered in cedar clap board
4. Building a window seat for the living room
Ok, so it's mostly for our cat. It's normal to add design features to your house just for your pet, right?
5. Framing out all of the lower level walls
6. Insulating the whole house (walls and ceiling)
The Jewett boys in their holiday best.
Prepping the living area for insulation
Insulating the new "lighthouse."
The master bedroom is looking gooood.
All along we have been living in the house, which has been surprising to all that have come over. "Oh, wow. You have a lot of work going on here. Where are you staying?" Umm...here. Why wouldn't we want to stay in our mostly unheated house that has limited kitchen resources? At least we have our "dorm room" which has all of the luxuries of home- a bed, tv, sofa, recliner, piano bench that doubles as a dining table/desk, and a closet! Our latest joke is a play on everyone's favorite fortune cookie saying...I paid all of the bills today...in bed. I finally graded those tests...in bed. Just finished writing out the Christmas cards...in bed. Let's look over our to-do list and find that there's nothing to cross out, only more stuff to add...in bed.
Please allow me to pull back the curtain (ok, it's just a paint drop cloth) to show you how we've been living at our house while it's under construction.
Just step through this curtain and you'll be in the lap of luxury. Maybe more like the bumhole of luxury. You're not allergic to insulation, are you?
Here's another fancy view of the musictorium and our curtain to Narnia.
Our dorm room, our cute cat, and the only thing that keeps me going- new episodes of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." Team Kyle!!
At least we have our partially heated, partially finished bathroom to make us feel squeaky clean after all of our dirty jobs.
Just plug in that space heater and things should warm up to a balmy 55 degrees in no time.
Kind of messy shower area. I still <3 that tile!!
Back in September I thought we would be hosting Christmas Eve at our house. What a lofty goal! We will be lucky if we get the drywall and plaster before Christmas Day. When that is done (by professionals) we'll be ready to paint, put down flooring, install our new kitchen, put in some more heat, and start living life outside of the dorm room!
What? We're totally ready to host Christmas Eve dinner...2015.
Hopefully the kitchen will be updated before December vacation is over. I'm so excited to see how things will come together. We purchased a lot of the kitchen items without actually seeing them in person. For example, we bought Ikea kitchen cabinet bases and used Semi-Hand Made for our kitchen cabinet doors. So far, Semi-Hand Made has been great to work with and we were actually able to afford something we really wanted- Flatsawn Walnut!
We also purchased our kitchen floor tiles and a light for over the island without ever having seen them in person. Here's a little kitchen inspirado board that highlights some of our choices.
Here's to hosting Christmas Eve 2015!
Music for Today- Jenny Lewis edition: Jenny Lewis is a former child star turned musician. She has worked in a number of bands and is now a solo artist. Her jangly guitar, pretty voice and thoughtful lyrics are evident in these songs...
Rilo Kiley, "Silver Lining." This is from Jenny Lewis' former band, Rilo Kiley.
Dear patient blog reader,
It's been over 2 months since I last posted, and it's not because I didn't want to, it's just because we have been so busy helping to build the house of our dreams. It's hard to remember exactly what has happened since July 31st, but here's a little run down of the major stuff.
All exterior walls of the pitched roof were demolished
The new walls went up and the rooms were framed
The roof and strapping were put on, and the new windows went in
The lower roof was removed and replaced
We painted and stained all of the exterior siding and trim so it would look pretty when it went up
The siding and exterior trim are up
The front door was moved form its crazy angle to a normal spot and a new front door was purchased
The new back door was installed, letting in 3 patio doors worth of light
We purchased a new kitchen, but it's not here yet
We purchased the flooring for the main living space of the 1st floor and most of the second floor
We tested 5,000 samples of bluish, grayish, greenish paint to put up on the exterior to break up all of the siding. In the end, we mixed our own out of the colors "rocky coast" and "flint" (flinty coast?) by Benjamin Moore.
All along we have been living in the house, except for the 2 weeks we were in Hawaii (Yes, again. Congratulations Mom and Paul!). There was a significant amount of leaking and mopping when the roofs were not on the house, as you can imagine. Luckily, our renovated bedroom, office and bathroom made it through the construction without any real damage.
We've had a significant amount of Looky-Loo-age. For those unfamiliar with this term, let me give you some context. Lookey-Loo (noun) as in,
Me: "Hey Dave, why is that car stopped in the middle of the road with the driver's face pressed against the window?"
Dave: "Oh, that's just another Looky-Loo. You should have seen they Looky-Loo that was parked on our lawn this morning. That guy was an Mega Looky-Loo. He didn't even respond when I said good morning!"
It's getting pretty weird, to be honest. I'm not sure why, but these Looky-Loos also will not engage if you try to start a conversation with them. That's not in their DNA. Alls I'm sayin is, if you are parked outside my house and you're taking in a good long look, is it too much to ask that you might say hi back to me when I say hi to you? Maybe they're just blinded by the awesome power of our house. That's understandable.
When I see people that I haven't seen in a few months I am often greeted with "What is going on at your house?!" I don't know if they mean "What the F is going on at your house" or "Wow, what's going on with your place because it looks great!" Our neighbors have also told us that there is another faction of Looky-Loo, the Looky-then Hatey-Loo. I guess that in a sea of colonials, you can't please everyone...I can't blame people for stopping to look. The place looks amazeballs.
Take a look for yourself:
Missed a spot on that trim board!
Suck it, looky loos! I mean, check out our hard work!!
View from the back, where no Looky-Loos dare to tread
Back door with interior stair photobomb
Imagine that those windows on the first floor are larger, have black trim, and aren't from 1955.
The inside of the house is a different story...
Wow musictorium. You have really let yourself go. Kitty litter? You may as well be wearing sweatpants during the daytime. Wait, I'm wearing sweatpa...Oh...No, these are work pants. You can tell because they have paint on them!
Stairs to the second floor with messy musictorium in the back
Stairs going down to the basement with second floor stairs above, kitchen in the back
We'd love for you to come visit, but we have only this one chair. We sold everything else to pay for the renovations.
Seeing the whole picture with the living room to the left and dining room to the right, followed by the kitchen.
Things on the second floor look less messy...
Second floor- shop vacs and compressors. This is the landing at the top of the stairs.
Looking down on the kitchen from the second floor landing. We call this the light house.
Looking into the bathroom on the second floor.
The master bedroom and it's sweet window corner. I call dibs on the side of the bed that faces the windows!!
It has a great view of the dumpster...for now
Master bath. Picture a stand-alone tub under the windows.
Slightly askew master closet. We def need to go shopping since we only have one lonely pair of knee pads to put in this massive closet.
So now you know what's going on over here at Modern Love. You can tell your friends and their friends not to bother pulling up our driveway to check the progress. Ok, maybe don't because we secretly love the attention. Also, a few PR announcements: We are not commies. We are not trying to convert the colonial-loving population of our South Shore town to become fans of modern or even (dare I say) contemporary architecture. So if someone asks you "What the h, e double hockey sticks is going on with that house on &*^% Road?" You can tell them that we're just 2 weirdos trying build a house we can love. Live at let live, Looky-Loo.
Music for today:
1) The Bleachers "I Wanna Get Better." The Bleachers are fronted by Jack Antonoff, better known as the guitarist from Fun! (must include exclamation point). Also, more better known as Lena Dunham's boyfriend. If you made it through the summer without hearing this song I congratulate you, but you must now listen to it.
2) Black Prairie "Let It Out." I don't really know much about this band, except that they are listed as bluegrass, but I think "they" give that distinction to anyone with a upright bass and an accordion in the band. They actually remind me a little of Bettie Serveert and Belly, both nineties power-pop bands with female singers.
3) Evan Dando "Ride With Me." I love me some Evan Dando. This is not the best Lemonheads/Evan Dando song, but it is somewhat relevant. "That pencil smell reminds me of school..." Try not to get hypnotized by his beautiful wheaten tresses...and all of the 90's make up/fashion (term used loosely)
Although "Ride With Me" is just a song that I like, this song is one of my favorites of all time.
4) Evan Dando "All My Life." For me it's a reminder not to get caught up in the material things, which is not easy to do when you're building a massive addition, to try to live more in the moment. Depending on the day, this song can be either great to sing along to, "I'm wasting my life away" depressing, or uplifting because it reminds me of how lucky I am. It also serves as a warning- live the simple life, be appreciative for what you have. But I don't know if I should be taking advice from Evan Dando. He is, after all a crazy drug addict. Perhaps this is a "do as I say, not as I do" warning.
5) The Submarines "You, Me and the Bourgeoisie." Similar Theme to "All My Life." I like to listen to it in the morning and do as they say "Wake up, choose love, choose light." It's also helpful because it puts the stress of renovation into perspective, and makes me feel thankful for what we have.
This band is made up of Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti, two former Boston-based musicians who are also a couple. Their first album is a gut-wrencher, each songwriter writing songs individually when they were broken up, only to become a band and reunite to create an album of those songs. The album is called "Declare a New State" and you can find more info about it here.
Speaking of gratitude (see the 2 previous videos), we are indebted to the great people who worked with us and are still working with us throughout this process- Matt D, Dom, Tom, Brendan, Dr. Dave, Sam, Colin, Earl, Fred and Rose, Uncle Rob and Aunt Lisa, Paul and Mom, and John. And to Joanie and Pete for boosting our spirits!! Thank you for everything. We can't wait for the wrap party!!
Hi all. After much anticipation, things are moving along quickly here. In the past 4 days we have demolished the pitched roof portion of the house, created a platform for the second floor, and added 3 exterior walls. I have been painting the backs of the clapboards so they are ready to install once the rest of the second floor is up.
Here are some progress pictures
It's getting there! Here are the interior plans for the second floor.
That's all for now. I've got to get back to the mundane task of staining clapboards.
Music for today-
Today is my 10th wedding anniversary to this crazy fool...
So, here are a few songs from our wedding.
1. Rhett Miller (The Old 97's) "Question." This was our song, and I'm so glad it was because it was short to dance to, and because it's beautiful and unique (read "weird"), just like us!!
2. Elvis, "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You." We walked up the aisle to this, played on flute and guitar. (By aisle, I mean the masterfully planted garden at Dave's parent's house.) I'm a secret Elvis fan. I guess the secret is out.
3. Damien Rice, "Cannonball." The wedding party walked down the aisle to this song played by the flutist and guitarist. There were no lyrics, of course, which is good because they are kind of a downer for a wedding.
Other silly love songs-
Ben Kweller, "Family Tree." I saw him open for Evan Dando when he was just a kid, and continued to listen to him as an adult. This is from his first solo album.
Death Cab for Cutie, "I Will Follow You into the Dark." Don't cry, but do listen to this gut-wrenching song.
The past 10 years have been more amazing than I could have imagined. I can't wait to see what the next 10 bring...
I hope everyone is enjoying summer. We are loving having time off even if most of it is spent worrying about our new project, finagling the budget, researching materials, calling people, harassing family members for help followed by long runs. Thank god we have the summer off to do this work because we haven't even started phase 2, and it's already eaten up most of the first part of our summer.
Home sweet home as it stands now.
Addition above pitched roof portion of existing house
Addition with some color added in
To prepare to take off the roof, there were a number of demolition-related projects that needed to be done. Dave and his trusted assistant Sam started by taking out the basement drop ceiling and demo-ing most of the basement bathroom. This was not a job for the faint of heart. I had gotten a taste of how disgusting this job was when we went in search of mice in the basement this past winter, and I decided that I did not need to be a part of it again. Suggested outfit- something out of Ted Kaczynski's (The UniBomber) closet.
Dead mice can't penetrate my face mask. Wait, it's not supposed to cover your eyes too?
The basement ceiling access was necessary for Dave to remove the old electric wires that run to parts of the house that will be demo-ed and re-done. Dave and Sam encountered a few mice (mostly dead) and more than a few fire hazards in the wiring, so here's to making the house safer and rodent free!
The basement bathroom is looking good, no?
Sam smashed out most of the remaining garage ceiling too so we could have access to the plumbing running into the first floor above. After a deluge of cellulose insulation rained on him, Sam looked like an old man with gray hair and a slight case of death. Suggested outfit- hooded Tyvek suit a la "Breaking Bad."
The boys saved the best job for a nice hot day- the removal of attic insulation and plywood. Because we are adding on above a pitched roof area of our current house, the insulation and plywood will not be needed, so Dave cut a hole in the roof/outer wall and he and Sam proceeded to throw insulation and other attic stuff into the dumpster on the hottest day of the year. Oh yeah, did I mention that we had a huge ant problem with origins in the attic? Well, good news is that the ants were dead once the guys got up there. I didn't help with this project either. Suggested outfit- frozen long sleeve T-shirt to help with the heat and irritation from 1950's insulation.
Dumpster delivery!
Glamorous attic "before-ish" shot
An attic's worth of demo
Attic after with dust snow
Yesterday we did the final demo of the take out window bedroom in the area that we are starting to call the musictorium (because when it's done that's where the piano will go). Opening up that area really gave us a feel for the space that we have.
Plans for the musictorium and beyond
"And this is where we will sip sherry and listen to classical music after dinner, my dear." Dave's take on the future musictorium.
Another before view of the musictorium
Similar view after demo. That's the kitchen in the back
Sort of before in the kitchen hallway.
Same view after demo. Check out that mess in the living room on the right. You can also see the hole where the basement stairs are currently.
Entryway looking from the living room to the front door (before). R.I.P. rock planter.
And after
Here's some insider advice- when you have a huge addition looming, the kind of project that is all- encompassing and requires constant attention to detail and planning you should definitely take time to rip out 50+ years of weeds and plant a garden next to your driveway. I've always been really good at procrastinating by finding other things that "need to get done," and this was one of those things. It all started with some $10 trees from Lowes, and it ended with 15 rhododendrons. At least we can look out in the yard and see something beautiful, instead of looking inside and seeing a wreck. Suggested gardening outfit- something flattering and/or cute (that you don't mind getting dirty) because this is when you will end up meeting your neighbors- when you are out in the yard looking like a crazed lunatic moving a potted tree 2 inches to the right, now to the left, now back to the right.
"Garden" before
"Garden" during
Garden after
Garden after.
The garden update is endorsed by this butterfly
We are set to rip off the roof on Wednesday/ Thursday. Oh, that's tomorrow. Well, I guess I should start taking some before pictures!
Music for today:
1. 30 Seconds to Mars, "Kings and Queens." If there's anything I love it's jumping on a sinking bandwagon which is why I decided to wait about 4 years after the buzz to become a fan of 30 Seconds to Mars. Why now? We watched their movie about their record contract debacle ("Artifact") a few weeks ago. If you are not a fan of Jordan Catalano, err..Jared Leto now do not watch this documentary. It will not make you a fan of his as he comes off a little self-absorbed, but it was still an interesting expose of the underbelly of record contracts. Their music is bordering on prog rock, and where is their bassist? Someone is surely playing the bass, but that guy was probably too homely to do the up-fronts. What a ringing endorsement, huh? Listen to this while you smash walls, or if you need to get fired up for the day. According to the video, it is also appropriate to listen to while riding a ridiculous bike.
2. Tegan and Sara, "Nineteen" and everything from their album "The Con." These twin sisters are from Canada and they have been a musical staple of mine since I heard them in the Gap in the early 2000's. I love their early albums too, but the Con is a very exciting and musically diverse album.
Since putting out that album they have changed their music somewhat and it's a little more dancey. I'm still a bigger fan of the older stuff, but this new-ish song is good too. Here's "Closer"
