It's been a few months since we worked on the dining room. Looking back through the photos it was apparently January when we last worked on it! I'm excited to report some more progress. As always, we seem to have underestimated the time paint removal takes though. We started work around a week before July 4th. We were having the family over for some July 4th BBQ, so it seemed like a good project to try to get accomplished. At one point I remember Patrick commenting "You think we can get this done by the 4th?" (Referring to the area of the three windows.) Well, here we are approaching September and we're still not done. Surprise, surprise! ;-) But I'm still excited how good it's starting to look. I'm currently at the phase where I use a toothpick and flathead screwdriver to get into the small corners and crevices. Where do I find those dentist picks? Haha.

So without further ado, here are some photos of our progress since June. In the close-up you can still see how I need to get into some more of those hidden places.



Nothing more exciting than peeling off a big chunk of paint!



Concentrating so, so hard.









Acrobatic skills required.









Starting to look pretty good.

While surfing the internet Patrick came across one of A&E's TV shows, "Flip This House". More specifically a short segment about "Flip Tip – Curb Appeal". He showed me the video and we both watched in horror of what this "Investment Consultant" Angela Wilford was recommending. Angela and the TV show "Flip This House" reminded me of some of the challenges we're up against as a transitioning neighborhood: INVESTORS! Bad investor's freeze the progress transitioning neighborhoods are making - and destroying beautiful houses in the process. (And if you look at the video and see the footage of a boarded up house you know Angela Wilford is working on a house in a transitioning neighborhood because I'm fairly certain you can't find too many boarded up houses in non-transitioning neighborhoods.)

First of all (and this part doesn't necessarily have anything to do with harming a transitioning neighborhood), am I the only one that was puzzled by her comments to tear out landscaping? I thought it was common knowledge that landscaping is the only investment that will actually increase in value over time. That kitchen renovation isn't getting any younger over the years…but that grown in hedge or bushy perennial will awe potential buyers. That's what always gets me about new subdivisions – they are sooooo boringly bare! (Well, that and the fact that usually new subdivisions mean long drives into the suburbs and cheap cookie cutter construction.) I'm sure in certain cases it doesn’t hurt to remove some plants, but the house she was talking about had no landscaping but the hedges she recommended to tear out. The house would have no plants remaining.

Then the part that really terrified me was seeing those original windows being torn out. As a fellow blogger once commented, there is a special place in hell for people that tear out old windows. (And we'll make sure there are some extra flames added for showing them being torn out on a TV show.) I know homeowners go the tear-out-historic-windows route as well, but especially investors have a tendency of harming those beautiful treasures. And that's one of the problems with investors...they tear out absolutely everything. It hurts my heart every time I drive by a dumpster in the neighborhood knowing that some architectural detail was surely torn out. It’s easier to tear out the old woodwork and slap some drywall on the studs instead – our contractor even said so herself! Investors...out go the windows, out goes the butler's pantry, out goes the wooden plate rail molding, out goes the old fireplace, out goes the character. We fell in love with the houses in this neighborhood because of those details. I'm sure we can't be the only ones, so who do the investors think they're doing the neighborhood a favor by tearing that stuff out? Besides, investors are known to put the cheapest of the cheap materials back in the house. NO thank you!

So what are we left with after the investors have come to ravage a house? "For Rent" signs! I have been a renter myself, so it would be hypocritical to be totally against renters, but renters in a transitioning neighborhood don't exactly help to establish a neighborhood. What is needed are loving, caring homeowners to rebuild the foundation of the neighborhood. Hopefully Patrick and I are helping to do our part in this process for Westview.



As a footnote I'd like to add that even though I mainly think investors are bad, I have witnessed some, or more specifically one, investor that I think has been doing a tremendous job. Two houses over from us was a house that was the shame of the block. It had been sitting empty since we’ve been here and had granite blocks falling out of the foundation, paint peeling, and was generally looking pretty pathetic. When Jim bought the property and said he would rent it we were worried, but he was quick to assure us he cared very much about the historic details. Over the last couple of months the house has gone from the shame of the block to one of the nicest looking houses! He had the granite and brick re-pointed (which is where we got the guys from to re-point our brick), he scraped all the paint off the porch and repainted the whole house, had railing re-installed around the porch, re-paved the driveway and path, cleared out all the kudzu from the backyard, put new grass down, had missing windows custom made to match the rest of the house, replaced the crappy front door with a restored historic Craftsman door, and the list goes on and on. From what I've seen I'd say Jim get's the "Westview Investor's Award".


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The Westview Community Organization, which Patrick and I are part of, participated in tonight's National Night Out. The purpose of the nationwide event is to get neighbors out and mingle and get information about public safety. The WCO sponsored hot dogs and refreshments and passed out information ranging from fire detectors, to important phone numbers, to security video cameras. Lieutenant Deborah Cox, District 4 Councilwoman Cleta Winslow, and NPU-T Chair Kwabena Nkromo were some of the public figures that stopped by to show their support.


Neighbor Julie Orr chats with WCO Vice President Scott Smith.



Cleta Winslow chats with some of the community's ladies.



Michelle Green passes out public safety information.



WCO Development Committee Chair Kenny Ellsworth and girlfriend Leslie Gage chat with Patrick. (We're part of the Development Committee as well - so many projects, so little time!)



WCO President John Davis works hard behind the grill.


Patrick and I had a really nice evening. We helped put up some of the decoration and getting things ready for people to come. Then it was nice to mingle with our neighbors over some hot dogs (though it was sweltering hot!). The evening ended really pleasantly when it took us an hour to get home because we ran into neighbor after neighbor on the way home (and we only live about half a block from where the event took place!). After running into our first 3 sets of neighbors we were ready to continue on our way home. We had taken some left over helium balloons with us to give to our neighbor's three adorable children. As we were walking down the street we realized the kids were at another neighbor's house whom we hadn't met...of course they were so excited to get the balloons. This homeowner that we hadn't met was sitting and chatting with another neighbor that we know, so he called us over to meet the other neighbor. As we chatted with the two men the ice cream truck came by and our new acquaintance went to buy his little boy some ice cream - and came back with an ice cream for all of us! I'd only met this guy 5 minutes and he bought us ice cream!

So as we are drawing near our 2-year anniversary mark of being in the neighborhood (where has time gone?!) we were excited to realize how many neighbors we already know and how many new neighbors we keep meeting. It makes it a great community feeling when you can approach all of your neighbors and randomly get engrossed in conversation (and in some instances unexpectedly get treated to ice cream). It's nights such as tonight that once again make us realize how much we love the Westview community!

When we were picking out light fixtures for the house we forgot to include a light for the hall, so we opted for a cheap white light that was just laying around. It had been removed from either one of the bedrooms or the living room. For the past year and a half it served it purpose, but on our trip to Europe this year we stumbled across a Moroccan light at "Garten Tag" (Garden Day) in Steffi's grandma's town in Germany. We were really indecisive about buying it at first because we would have to haul it with us across Europe and back to Atlanta, but in the end the light won.

Getting it back wasn't as bad as expected since the lady at the market took a lot of care wrapping it in bubble wrap. What proved to be more of a problem was finding a canopy to hang it from. If you go to Lowe's or Home Depot the canopies they sell are attached to the lights, so you have to buy the whole light to get one little piece! Grr!

After looking at a number of lamp stores a sales rep finally pointed us in the right direction. If you are local to Atlanta we went to Lamp Arts on Howell Mill Road by the water reservoirs. They had just what we needed, and they sell parts for lamps and chandeliers. Apparently this is not very common. Who would have guessed?

We got back home and were all set to hang the light. We started working at around five - hoping to get it done before the sun set. Since we were replacing the light we had to cut the breaker and were worried about not being able to see what we were doing.

We did all the wiring, attached the chain, and took down the old light. Everything was going smoothly, and then we realized the rod that fastened the canopy to the ceiling was too long. When we screwed it in it was hitting the back of the metal box that houses the electrical wires. Doh! Off to Lowe's we went to buy a deeper one.

We bought one that was 1.5 inches deep (the original one was about 1 inch deep), and we got back and screwed it in. Up went the light a second time, and bam - we had the same problem. After scratching our heads for a few minutes I realized the actual hole in the ceiling needed to be deeper. Since we have drywall over our old plaster (not our doing!) I was able to knock out the plaster and put the boxer deeper in the ceiling.

Five hours after we started it finally worked! (We ate dinner in between there, so it didn't really take the full five hours.)

The close-up detail of the light.


Here's how it looked before. Borrrring!


Much better. Now we just need to paint the walls.

I thought I would post some general updates...



It seems like it's been a while since I've posted an exterior house shot. We installed some hooks this spring so we could hang up ferns - and I'm loving them! Otherwise our house is still pink, still has that ugly tree stump, and still has that beat up path. At least one of them will get worked on soon...but I'm not going to tell you which one! :)


I've talked about our kudzu musings and frustrations in the past (See photos from May 2007, June 2007, July 2007 I, July 2007 II, and September 2007), and took a photo of the neighbors yard last October (2007):




Well I'm glad to finally be able to present some change! Our new neighbor moved in back in April. He's fought unsuccessfully with the landlord to get the back yard cleaned up so his kids could play in it. He has finally decided to take matters into his own hands and look at how far he got! I have never seen the back of that backyard cleared up since we've lived here, so I'm just amazed at the view - I'm not used to it!




So in the meanwhile back to our garden...



...I think we have a vegetable garden buried under those weeds somewhere! This year we had planted tomatoes, beans, zucchini, bell pepper, hot pepper, and cucumber. Our tomatoes caught some disease so we haven't seen any harvest from them. The beans seem to grow at a steady pace, so we've collected beans here and there and are freezing them until we have enough to make something with. We've harvested a couple of zucchini’s and were a bit disappointed with how hard they were on the outside (any tips?). The cucumber has yet to deliver. The hot peppers have had a few that we've collected and dried. And the bell pepper had one of decent size that was ready to be harvested when we found a squirrel had gotten to it before us! (Next one is growing now.) The weeds have yet to be removed...we're still not quite caught up from having gone on vacation, and the torching heat, killer mosquitoes, and "convenient" rain only on weekends has hindered us from tackling the bed. (The ever-growing grass has kept us busy in the meanwhile too.) Oh yeah, and don't we look classy with our pile of crap on the driveway?!


And more gardening...



This bed looked so cute last fall, but isn't quite as cute this year. We haven't planted anything new, but I was excited to see the fern overwintered since it indicated it wasn't supposed to. The yellow annuals obviously didn't make it, but I'm glad to see the mum's have made a return. In the meanwhile I've been really disappointed with the boxwoods. I was really fixed on having them as the evergreen backdrop in that bed, but they're not doing well at all. I think they may not be getting enough water - whenever it rains the water doesn't go on the boxwoods due to the houses overhang. I was sooo determined to have them there! We already replaced one of the plants in the spring, but now only two of the plants have survived. Anyone know anything about Japanese Boxwoods? Is it worth replanting new ones? They only get morning sun and like I mentioned hardly get any rain water. I'm simply determined to have an evergreen that doesn't grow above approximately 3 feet in that spot that will survive in Zone 7.

This is a project that finally feels really accomplishing. Not that we technically lifted much of a finger to do it. But it's definitely a bigger house improvement project - getting the foundation's brick repointed!

Two houses over from us a house had sat empty ever since we bought our house. It was a cute enough bungalow...granite foundation, several built-ins (kitchen, dining room, and living room), a number of fire places, and even some original light fixtures! Though Patrick and I have been able to see past the neglect we realized it was still a house in need of some TLC. Especially the granite foundation was looking a bit sad where blocks looked very loose. Finally after all this time of sitting there a "For Sale" sign appeared. It sat on the market for months, and just before we went out of town someone bought it. When we returned from vacation we were thrilled to see they had worked on the granite mortar - and it looked great! The workers also continued with the brick foundation on the back of the house, so one day I decided to walk over there and inquire who had done it. We have long realized that our brick foundation was in need of some new mortar as well, so we went ahead and got a quote.

We had previously researched about repointing bricks. Unfortunately the results weren't so fun. Basically from what I’ve read it comes down to this: These older houses were built with a softer mortar. Shortly after the bungalow timeframe harder mortar mixes were introduced. All this eventually means that using the harder mortar can damage the old bricks. So what does this mean? "We need to get our mortar analyzed for some $500?! And that doesn't even include the labor or figuring out how to get the materials for the analyzed results?!" I'm all for trying to do things the right way and respecting historic aspects, but we had to draw the line somewhere. Some of the bricks already had new mortar slapped on, so was this such a bad decision anyway? I’m trying to make myself feel better here…I hope the old-brick-and-mortar gods forgive me one day.

So over the last few days we’ve had Victor and his crew work on repointing our bricks. Since the old crumbling mortar (can you even consider it crumbling anymore when it’s really just turned into sand?) was a reddish color we opted to die our mortar with the “Terra Cotta” liquid cement color. On most of the house they simply scraped out the loose mortar and replaced it with the new one. However in two locations the condition was so bad (they were able to pick out the bricks by hand!!!) that they rebuilt the entire section. We think they did a great job and are so excited how much better our foundation looks!! (Now we just need to get rid of that god-awful pink color!)

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After




Before




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Before




After




This was one of the walls they entirely rebuilt. Imagine how scared we were when they just picked out bricks near the supporting corner by hand!

Before




Patrick going “Can you believe that”




In the process




After





Yay for another completed project! :)

During our travels to Europe we came across some lovely houses that would make great vacation homes. Of course they were all historic! In fact, most of them probably make our 90 year-old home look like a young vixen. It's funny how the definition of "old" is quite different in Europe. We talk about old in the 1800's or early 1900's. They talk about old in terms of centuries. For example, a lot of the pubs we visited were from the 16th or 17th century, and they are still proudly pouring beer to this day!

Vacation Home #1 - A Spanish Castle in the South of France. This place even had hot water during its heyday! With a little renovation I'm sure it would be lovely.



Vacation Home #2 - Old Tudor House Along the Thames. This would be a great place to go when you feel like boating.



Vacation Home #3 - Small English Village. We might as well own the whole village. It was right out of a storybook! Everything was so picture perfect!



Vacation Home #4 - English Country Cottage. Old and cute - does it get any better? Check out the detail on that chimney and the old tile roof.



Vacation Home #5 - London Flat. Why not? Everybody needs a place to stay when visiting the city. We might as well have one with a little style.

Wow, what slackers. I know we said that in the last post, but I think we can say it again. Last time my parents had been in town so we didn't get too much accomplished. This time we were on vacation, followed by being so busy with work that we found ourselves slaving away until 11pm every night to catch up, followed by Patrick coming down with an unpleasant fever. Now we finally feel like we're starting to catch up with life...work is getting back to normal, Patrick is feeling fine, and we're starting to get our yard under control again (you know how those weeds grow when you're gone for a little while!).

So even though we've been doing a little house work here and a little yard work there I'll post about that later. In the meanwhile I'll share some more non-house related things, like happenings in the neighborhood.

As spring/summer was coming, the trees were filling in with leaves, and the birds were busy making nests. While checking the mail one morning I was upset to see one bird's hard work hadn't paid off. The nest had fallen on our path and the blue eggs were lying smashed next to it. :(




In the meanwhile at a neighborhood association meeting someone asked "What's going on with all the dead chickens in the road?" - Patrick and I, like much of the remainder of the room, burst out in a puzzled laughter. What on earth were they talking about?? Someone else chimed in and said they'd seen them at various intersections as well.

A couple of days later we drove down one of the nearby streets and saw something laying in the middle of the road. What do you know, it was a dead chicken!! Of course there has been much speculation as to the reasoning of this, the main one being that it's some sort of voodoo related thing. I believe someone mentioned that it may be a type of initiation ceremony, or someone doing a protective "spell" on the neighborhood or something. If anyone knows about these types of things, please let us know what else it may mean!




Otherwise we've been very busy with neighborhood related work. One of the recent projects was a neighborhood BBQ...an "excuse" for neighbors to come out, meet new neighbors, chat with acquainted neighbors, and an opportunity to get to know their local police officers and firefighters. The firefighters brought out the truck for kids to play with, the police brought out barricades to block off the street, and generous neighbors donated food, money, and time to make the BBQ happen.



Patrick and neighbor Leslie enjoying some food in the shade.

We have really been slacking on the blog lately, but Steffi's parents were in town visiting so we have a good excuse! Of course we did continue working on the house (and the neighborhood) while they were here. We have made some great progress in the garden. We enlarged our vegetable garden, came up with a garden plan, laid out a path, created some new flower beds, weeded the old flower beds, and started a compost pile.


It took us a while to come up with the plan, but it really helps to have a clear vision of the garden.

We also finally put up the Westview street toppers yesterday. We have been working on these since October (Steffi was the lead on the project), so it was very rewarding to finally see it all coming together. We had a small unveiling ceremony at Ontario Park, and then neighbors drove around with ladders installing them. The street toppers are very important for Westview since people often think we are part of West End.


Months of hard work finally paid off!

Lastly, a couple weeks ago (when Steffi's parents were visiting) we went to the Inman Park tour of homes. Inman Park is a beautiful old neighborhood on the east side of town, and it holds a lot of historical significance to Atlanta. Their tour of homes is always one of our favorites.

As we walked up to house number six on the tour Steffi's dad headed inside while we remained outside reading about the house in the handout they provide you. Her dad promptly returned with a huge grin and informed Steffi's mother she was in for a big surprise! As it turned out Steffi's younger sister had gone to school with the homeowner's son. Surprise, surprise! They had recently built a traditional Austrian Weinkeller (wine cellar) in the basement using old bricks, so the conversation turned to where they acquired the bricks.

I'll pause the story here to explain why old bricks are significant. We have been looking for old weathered bricks since we bought the house. We want to tear up the front walkway, which is currently broken concrete, and replace it with brick. We specifically wanted old bricks to match the old house. New bricks just don't have the same character. Unfortunately we haven't had much luck. It seems that when a building is torn down these days a lot of the time the bricks are sold, recaptured, and then re-sold. Additionally, we don't have many connections to the demolition industry in Atlanta, so we had no clue how to go about trying to ask for bricks that are headed landfill. This has been a very frustrating situation for us.

Okay, so back to the story... Sandi told us she would have to check with her husband, but they had a pile of old bricks left over in the backyard from the construction of the wine cellar. Could it be true?! Had we finally found the elusive bricks we were looking for? We got her email and phone number and left with our fingers crossed.

We waited for the weekend to be over since we knew they would be occupied with hundreds of people touring their home! Steffi sent a couple emails back and forth with Sandi, and finally the email we had been waiting for came through. She told us to come and get them!!!

This morning our neighbor Carl from West End rang our doorbell bright and early (10:30am) and offered to help us with his truck. We made a trip over there and filled up the truck and the trunk of our car. Then we headed back to the house to drop them off. We probably were able to move at 1/3 of the bricks on this first trip. (THANKS FOR THE HELP CARL!) Steffi and I then returned four more times by ourselves and were able to move the remaining bricks in our car. In the end when we stacked them up they look like a palette of bricks. Lucky for us it seems as if it is going to be exactly the number of bricks we need for the front path. Hooray!

So we have to say a MASSIVE THANK YOU TO SANDI AND KEVIN for giving us the bricks!! It means more to us than we can really express in words. They also put a lot of hard work into removing the mortar from the bricks, and we know that is no easy task. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU SO MUCH!


We had a lowrider with all those bricks in the trunk.


A big old "Pile-o-Bricks".


A girl and her bricks have never been so happy!


Check out the beautiful old bricks!

We started working in the garden again! Our wonderful neighbor Christy told us about a place in Loganville where you can get plants for cheap. We all made a trip up there and came back with some great stuff for the yard. Steffi and I have also finally come up with a half decent plan for the backyard, so we are slowly working on making it happen. We also dug up a ton of concrete!

Check out the hostas from last year. They came back STRONG!


We dug up a lot of concrete - now we just need to figure out how to get rid of it.


We started by making some small flowerbeds along where the path will go.


Here's another one of the flowerbeds. They will eventually all become one big flowerbed!


We planted some Jasmine by the shed. We aren't sure what the colorful plants are in the front - they had no labels!


This is the start of our "woodland garden" behind the shed. Nothing but hostas and ferns! It should grow in nicely.