Re-Building.com
We're selling our current landmark house that we love. Why? Short version: Money, taxes, traffic -- to start. But there are other reasons. I hope it will become clear later. We'll see how it all turns out.
| January 14 |
| Here's our old (current) house, which is for sale: |
 |
click on picture for more |
Here is our first step towards our new house. We just made an offer two days ago on this condo in River Forest. Today we're under contract. Had to borrow more funds. I hope we're doing the right thing. The unit is 3rd floor walk-up -- 2 bedrooms, 1 bath and a very good layout. They allow pets, so Avey can have the (her) dog there - whoopie. It's really close to a very busy street.
I just can't seem to get away from barking dogs and busy streets!
| The style of the building...well, you either like it or you hate it! I guess you could place it within the "International" style. That's a real catchall if there ever was one! It was built (I think) in the late 1930s. Very influenced by the Bauhaus, and all that. |
 |
click on picture for more |
We looked at several "vintage" condos in the area. They were all overpriced and needed lots of work as well. Even though this is an older building, it's built like a fortress. And it is in superb condition! All masonry walls, concrete floors, etc.. It needs hardly any work, which means I'll be able to focus on our new house when we get there - - whenever and wherever there is - - definitely away from any busy streets.
Some clean-up, decorating, a little paint, maybe a kitchen re-do sometime in the future, and some work on the old metal casement windows. I've never decorated or done any restoration on anything in a 1930s or Art Deco. I think this might be kind of fun.
| January 24 |
While I'm waiting for closing on the condo (February 7th - if all goes well), I called Diane at the Historical Society and asked if they had any info on the building in their street files. She called me back last Thursday with a bit of info.: The building was built in 1944. Well, I was off by about 5 years. I had guessed 1937 or 1938. I can usually get closer than that. Just not in good form lately. I'll have to go to village hall later to see if there are any old permits on file.
We had to borrow more money for the condo. Once we close on the condo, we'll no longer be up to our ears in debt. We'll be buried in it! Two mortgages until we sell our house! I think I'm aging two days for every one. It's kind of scary when there is twice as much money going out as coming in! I can't concentrate well for more than a few hours each day, and am using that all up on my violin.
I did a fun little school program in Highland Park last week with my accompanist, Marika. I used to do lots of school programs several years ago and really loved it (most of the time). We're hoping to get regular engagements with many of the schools in the Chicago area for next year. I signed on for a couple of symphony concerts in February. That will help keep me occupied and bring in a little extra cash. Lots of driving though.
___________________
We met a couple of new friends last week from Japan. Walter Sobel dragged me to one of those goofy Frank Lloyd Wright events over at Unity Temple. Usually I'm bored, and often am so tired of all the Frank Lloyd B.S.. In this case, it was a pleasure.
It was a film about the influences between the Prairie School, Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan. For my taste, it still over-worshipped Wright a bit -- but also gave more credit to other architects than most other sources.
The makers of the documentary, Karen Severns and Koichi Mori visited us on Sunday at our home for a pleasant, but short visit. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of them, but they took a picture of us -- which they just e-mailed from Japan. I've been at it from the beginning, but this digital technology still blows me away!
Just a little catch-up: Well we closed on the condo on the 7th. Now, I'm just doing work on the place to fix it up a bit. Mostly re-decorating. Since closing, I pulled up all the gray industrial carpet.
Of course there were tack strips and hundreds of staples that needed to be removed from the oak flooring underneath. The floor is red oak, and in pretty good shape. It has only been sanded once - probably more than 30 years ago. It has a very thin shellac coat. I don't need to sand it, and will strip it and re-shellac it after I do a few minor repairs.
We also chose some window coverings and paint colors. The windows are the old metal casements, and aluminum sliding storms and screens had been installed throughout the building - on the inside. I really don't, like these, but there is nothing I can do about it at the moment. I heard that the condo association is considering window replacement some time in the future. Of course I'll be there to put in my two cents.
The kitchen is not great, but the layout is okay, and it is serviceable. I'd love to redo the kitchen, but it will just have to wait. We will replace the dishwasher though. The one that is there is pretty skanky.
The bathroom is pretty unpleasant at the moment and I'll be doing a fair amount of work there. I'll need to remove a lot of old moldy caulk all around the tub. At least a day and a few dozen razor and utility blades should do the job. The old wall tile is a really well done mud job (i.e. tile set in reinforced cement). the problem is, the tile is very blue. It's just so hard to find anything to match blue, other then blue! The 2-inch mosaic floor tile that is now in place was installed over the original blue mosaic. I tried to remove the top layer, but it is adhered too well. It is not an option to remove both layers, because the old layer is also in cement, and that would be a major job. I would only consider that if we were to redo the entire bath down to the framing. That's not going to happen.
We will also replace the toilet and basin. The toilet has stains that cannot be removed, and the vanity is pretty junky. So for the floor, I think we're going to choose a twelve-inch slate tile with a gray/off-white sanded grout. I'm going to put it on top of the old tile, and have the plumbers put an extension sleeve on the toilet flange to make up for the height (the last job, they tiled around the toilet - so now it will be raised by two levels of tile - around 1/2 inch). We'll use a cloth/vinyl wall covering for the upper walls. The textured paint finish that is there now is pretty strange - it looks like they were trying to do waves or something. It just has to go! The storm window and frame is entirely covered with mold and will have to be removed. I hate windows in tub/showers! I still see architects putting window in tub/shower areas, and don't understand what they don't get! I think all architects should spend a couple of years actually working on buildings. They would be the better for it. The larger bedroom will pretty straightforward. But the ceiling fan has just got to go!
The smaller bedroom is painted a very dark blue (the ceiling too!!) and it'll take at least three coats of paint to cover it. This room also had old glued-down tile under the carpet. I was lucky and most of the backing and adhesive came up with the tile, however it will be a little more work to strip the floor in this room to clean it up.
Also, I removed all the old covers for the baseboard radiators. It was a little tricky since they were all painted and caulked in place. They are meant to be easily removed for cleaning and should always be removed to paint. Right now, they are so thick with old paint, I'm going to bring them to the house and strip them in the garage.
Here is a floor plan of the condo:
I'm also planning to restore the old pickled-white finish to all of the birch doors. Here is a "before" picture, and some of our decorating ideas:
And what about our current house? We still haven't sold it yet, but have had some serious people looking. Our (hopefully!) new house is still going nowhere! The owner seems to still be toying with the idea of selling the property to a tear-down developer - and not to us. I hope we don't get into a bidding war, or we'll lose and the house will be gone. We may be "house-less" for longer than we planned. We began making serious offers a year ago. We have no intention of trying to push this elderly gentleman out of his house, or to dictate to him what we think are his responsibilities. But we feel that he does have a certain responsibility to try to insure that the house and site are preserved - after all, it was his parents who commissioned the architect. He doesn't seem to agree. Some days, my spirits get pretty low thinking that we may never have the opportunity to move into and restore the wonderful house, after all this waiting - but even worse, that it will be torn down. We've put everything - our whole pretty comfortable lifestyle - on the line - put "our money where our mouth is" so to speak. We may end up in a very small condo - 800 square-feet, third floor walkup, with only one parking space --- for a very long time. Almost everything we own will have to go into storage - books, records furniture, music. We'll have no piano. I'll also have no place to keep my tools, or a workshop, so I'll be closing down my contracting business indefinitely. That also means no furniture or glass making for a while. Realistically, looking at the bigger picture, I have nothing to complain about. Anyhow, walking up and down to the third floor will help me get back into better shape. And...it looks like there will be a lot of other things to keep me busy for a while. |
| February 24 |
| Got no work done on the condo since
Monday.
Also, nothing new on the housing situation, except to mention that we got our garage burgled today. It's not the first time. Good old Oak Park! Lost our snow blower, my compound miter saw, my air compressor and my sawzall. These guys are pros...just in-and-out...grab the big ticket items and take off. You have to watch out for these tool thieves. What they often do is come onto construction sites, or homes, etc. looking like contractors. So people don't really pay attention when they carry off tools and load them into their vehicles. Actually, it happened when we were visiting our elderly friend today, with whom we're courting to buy his house. It was unproductive, but still actually a rather pleasant visit, and we had some good lively conversation. We brought our lunch (by his invitation) and ate it there while visiting. We didn't talk about the house, however - just visited. Anyhow, With a $1000 dollar deductible on our homeowners insurance, today is definitely a "money out" day. Forgot to mention, our lovely daughter knocked off the passenger side rear view mirror on Avey's new car this AM at 5 AM! (She drives to water polo practice, and met with a concrete post in the parking garage.) $305 dollars. Maybe we all should have just stayed in bed this morning.
|
| March 7 |
Our house is under contract. Finally. The people who are buying the house got a good deal - we dropped the price significantly. I hope they cherish the house as much as we have. We have mixed emotions. Some days I'm very melancholy. Other days it's just looking forward and keeping busy. We close in May.
I'm playing with the symphony this week, but that's in the evenings, so I have my days to do a couple of small jobs and work on the condo. Work on the condo is progressing. The place looks like a construction zone, but it is getting done.
In the bath. I broke out the damaged wall tiles for replacement. The new tiles won't match exactly, but it will be the closest I can get.
While the plumber was removing the toilet, we noticed that the floor seemed kind of loose. So I started picking at it and realized that even though the second layer of tile was adhering to the first, the bottom layer was almost completely loose. This is what the old floor tile looked like.
It took me only about 20 minutes to remove all the tile down to the cement. This is a good thing, because now I got a better job setting the slate.
Yesterday, I set all the full pieces.
Today, I set up my wet saw and did all the cut tiles and set those. I decided to apply a coat of sealer before I grout. That way, it will protect the tile a bit and I wont have to worry about getting the tile sealer on the grout. When the grouting is done, I will then carefully apply a thin second coat of tile sealer.
| March 21 |
Things are moving along on the condo. Bathroom floor is done and the fixtures were installed last Monday. Still waiting for wall tile to come in.
All the ceilings and walls are painted, and some trim -- and ceiling fixtures installed, except in the small bedroom. That is my work space, right now. The window coverings are in from Paulson's Paint. They only took about a week, and most are now installed.
I stripped all the doors except the front entry. Half of them are stained - I used a white pickling stain, and applied it very lightly - ready for varnish. There are nine of them in this little place!
Also, this dishwasher was finally delivered today, and it took about a half-hour for me to install. I ordered it on February 14. It is a standard low-end Bosch. For some reason, Trage had to backorder it, and it took over a month to arrive.
Today, I stripped the floor in the larger bedroom, and put on my first coat of shellac. My knees are killing me, and I have funny indentations on my face from wearing the respirator all day. I went to the coffee shop when I was done, and didn't realize why they were looking at me funny -- until I got back and looked at myself in the mirror.
| March 25 |
Stripped the front door this morning and stained one side. Boy, was that sucker heavy! I wasn't ready for the full weight of it as I removed it from the hinges, and almost dropped the thing. It's a solid core 34-inch wide, 1-3/4" thick door.
Finished stripping the living room, dining room and hall floors yesterday. This morning I put on the first coat of shellac, after I did the door. I love shellac. Stripping is misery, but shellacking after almost makes up for it. Some Bach on the CD player made the morning nearly heavenly.
Since I can't go into the condo for several hours anyhow, I will do other chores today. anyhow, I have to do some violin teaching later this afternoon, and then tonight is "date night" - our weekly night out to dinner. Our topic of conversation tonight will probably be something like "when is the old man gonna sell us the house?"
There is more trauma than I anticipated in selling this house - at least for me. During April and May, I will enjoy one last go-around getting the windows washed, etc. and cleaning the landscaping and gardening a little bit for the new owners.
Who knows when we'll have a chance to work in a garden again??. Oh-my-God!, what are we going to do for fresh tomatoes this summer? I hope the new owners appreciate the great raspberry patch next to the garage. Last year it produced tons of fruit for several weeks.
One great thing about a third floor unit in this condo building is the views. In the summer, it'll be just a lot of tree tops and sky (except for our views to the west, which overlook a large grocery store parking lot.) I saw a hawk circling overhead this morning outside the dining room window. Cool.
I'm going to try to get the second coat of shellac on the floors tomorrow.
| April 1 |
Painting, floors are done. almost ready to move into. Many details, but I'll take care of those later.
Next week, I'll get the kitchen washed down, and some shelves in our strorage locker in the basement.
| April 6 |
Well, here's our progress. The last few day have been dedicated to moving small furniture and bookcases up the three flights of stairs. Book, books, books. About 20 boxes will go with us to the condo. About 20 more will go into storage. It has also been good to purge. With magazines and what the used book stores and book sales don't want, we filled about half of a 1-1/2 yard dumpster. We kept only the kids books that we have a fondness for. Some we still have almost memorized - from 20 years ago.
Also got rid of all those silly old readers digest volumes, 20 years 25 years of National Geographics, and lots more. I told Avey we're not the freaking Library of Congress.
And definitely not the Smithsonian. Lots of other junk will fill several dumpsters as well.
We're packing most of our papers and will go through that stuff after our move is complete. I have about 15 boxes of research materials and files that we'll also keep with us - too valuable to put in storage.
My record library will have to go mostly into storage. I still have about 7 or 8 hundred LPs, and about two thousand 78s. I'll bring a few boxes to the condo, but not many. There's no room and they are just too heavy! I just bought a CD burner, so I think I'll gradually start putting my old opera recordings onto CD so I can listen to them in the car. I can always borrow things out of storage later.
Our backs are killing us tonight from all the lifting today, and I'm feeling muscles in my legs I haven't felt in a while. Avey was already falling asleep at dinner time.
My big bonus is that I've lost nearly 10 pounds in the past month. Four weeks ago, I could only do three trips up the stairs and was done in. Now I can do ten or more trips up and down - all in one go - with much less effort, and with only a few seconds to catch my breath.
Stairs are great exercise.
| April 10 |
More stuff moved to the condo yesterday. We're getting there. The house is becoming much emptier. Closets and storage areas are almost empty. My record collection is all packed up ready to move. What a job!
Today was just too beautiful to waste, so I spent all morning over at Thatcher Woods.
Visited the "lost village" of River Forest. An old neighborhood called Edgewater Park that was abandoned gradually into the1930s after the Forest Preserve district bought the land. The area is in the floodplain of the Des Plaines River, and residents very often had to get around by rowboat in the Spring.
Here are some pictures from the Historical Society from their famous Barclay collection. These were taken around 1904.
I love to see how Nature reclaims everything in the end. It puts everything else in perspective. This is what the area looks like today:
This mound is where there used to be a house:
I'll be leading a tour there as part of an Earth Day celebration this year. Here is a flyer:
I'll also be attending the morning bird watching tour led by Jill Andersen. I bumped into Jill there for the first time last week. She is very knowledgeable and in just a half hour I leaned several things from her about the local birds that I didn't know . I'm looking forward to the 23rd.
I am also still searching for the exact location of an Indian effigy mound along the river. I know its general location from old descriptions and a map at the Historical Society. I think this mounded are is it, but I'm not sure.
Saw a couple of deer. One faced me down as I got within about 15 or 20 feet.
Lots of geese. They are already nesting in several places in the area.
Also just to got our income taxes done today. Phew! I just hate it.
| May 10 |
Well, we're in the condo and the house is empty. This entry is the first one done from the condo. We close on the house next Thursday. It'll take about a week to clean up, wash the windows and do a few minor repairs. My way of saying goodbye.
There's been a lot of other things going on in my life. A death of a family member and the death of a friend I had just started to know in the last year. I've also been fighting and finally losing an old preservation battle which has also taken its toll on my sanity!
The movers moved in the big stuff today and it's our first night sleeping in our new home. Cleaned up after the movers and here are some pictures (below). Now we're really starting to hate the kitchen and I think that we'll have to re-do it sooner rather than later.
Copyright © 2005 All Rights Reserved.