Saturday, October 11, 2014

What's Going On


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!!