Adding On

   By now you know that we will be adding a second floor to part of the house.  So many people keep asking us why we would want to add on.  Well, in case you couldn't tell, we like a project (idle hands and whatnot).  Here are some other reasons:

   When we bought the house a new septic system was being installed and it was rated for 4 bedrooms.  The house only had 3 bedrooms and a weird room in the basement that could have been considered a bedroom.  Since we were given the luxury of having another bedroom's worth of septic, we decided that we wanted to increase the bedroom count to 4.

   Also, as our realtor told us, if we decide to sell this house down the line, having 4 bedrooms instead of 3 will make it a more desirable purchase.  We don't intend to sell this house in the near future, but it seems like a smart investment now to add on an additional bedroom.

   Another reason is by removing one of the current bedrooms and turning it into more living space, the rest of the house will seem more roomy.  We are eager to have 2 living spaces in the house- 1 traditional living room with a tv and couch, and another space for reading, and playing and listening to music (the musictorium, if you will).

   I know it seems excessive to have 4 bedrooms for 2 people, and if you're like my grandmother you're angrily wondering when we will have some god-damned children to occupy these bedrooms!  That's in the plans too.  Eventually, sooner than later, we will hopefully have a/some kid(s) to put into all of these bedrooms we're making.  This is not a pregnancy announcement, nor is it an invitation to ever talk about this again.

   Moving on... When we met with our architect to discuss the changes to the existing floor plan and the possibility of an addition, we showed him different homes that we like.  The reason that we bought this house was because it wasn't like anything else we had seen; not a typical colonial, or a cape like our last house.  We bought this place because it seemed modern and that is something that we don't want to change.  Luckily, our architect listened to our concerns about not wanting to change the modern feel of the house.

  Here's what we were going for with our second floor addition:
  

We'll take one please, and could you throw in the pool?  Oh, hello window corner.  We will be incorporating that into the design.

And here is what he recommended:

 This place is called the Zipper House and we love the mix of wood and paint and thought it would look good with the stone that we have already.

   So, once again, here's what we have:

   And here is the plan for the second floor:

   Picture the coloring from the Zipper House with the current exterior stone front.  This is what the front of the house will look like.  So exciting!

   Meanwhile, in other parts of the house, the bathroom is mostly tiled, the carpet is ordered, and the interior doors are on their way.  Today we will be finishing up painting, completing some electrical work, and maybe looking into trim for the doors, windows and baseboard trim.  The most glamorous job for today will be sanding the old baseboard heating.  Goodbye 50+ years of old paint!

   We are *this* close to moving back into a regular bedroom.  It's the carrot being dangled in front of me.  I can almost see it now...

I updated this by removing the world map and adding some other art

Music for today-
1.  Haim "The Wire."  I keep hearing this on WERS, and I can't tell if I really like it, but this live performance is one heck of a comedy routine as well.  Watch and you'll see what I mean...

Oh no, the bass player has stage 5 Bass Face!  Did these girls endure too many face-melting guitar solos, or is that a type of Bell's Palsy specific to sister musical acts?  Whatevs.  I'm glad to see 3 ladiez playing their own instruments and singing their own music.  (They did write that song, right?)

2.  Dave is endorsing "The Ghost of Tom Joad."  It's the new version with Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello. 

3.  Speaking of older gentlemen with social consciousness, here's Steve Earle with "Low Highway."

Here he is on Radio Boston discussing the fine art of songwriting, the homelessness epidemic in the U.S. and the real cost of war.  All in a day's work for this troubador.

4.   A little less political (depending on the cause), but just as older and gentlemanly is Paul McCartney, and this little number with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear.  It's from an awesome documentary called "Sound City."  If this guy Paul could just quit it with the "Woos" he could just be the next lead singer for Nirvana.  Here's "Cut Me Some Slack"

  If you have the slightest interest in the music recording process, the Foo Fighters, or any number of other awesome bands (Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, GnR, Cheap Trick, and on and on), you should check out the "Sound City" movie. Here's the trailer: