RedneckModern

Foster Art?

Since the major renovations are mostly behind us, the posts sometimes might become a bit random, here's one:

Growing up in the antebellum South and going to art-school in the hometown of Edgar Allan Poe gives one a certain aesthetic point-of-view -- at least until they move to California and into a Mid-Century Modern home. We've traded Faulkner for Eames.

And since the move, we've toted much of my college-art around and are now hoping to find good homes for these pieces. Maybe that's you! If you happen to be a friend on the east coast (Kate? Erin? Dana? Rob?), I'll even box them up and ship them to you knowing that they'll have a warm home to reside it. Otherwise, they'll end up in my mother's barn.

From left to right and top to bottom:

• Peter Borman / Alkyd, Epoxy and oil on linen ... Peter was an older classmate at VCU. This is a portrait. He was a nice guy with an amazing face and towering stature. (24X36in)
• Clockwork / Gelatin Silver Print ... This is a photo of a wind-up chicken in action. Taken with a Kodak Brownie camera as far as I recall. Framed in a unique, aged frame. (15.5X19.5 / framed size)
• Portrait of the Artist / Alkyd and oil on board ... This was fashioned after James Joyce, who's pictured in the group-image below. When I had hair and vintage round glasses, it was actually a decent resemblance. Framed in a gold-tone, aged frame. (21X27 / framed size)
• Mr. Wilmore and his Wife / Alkyd, Epoxy and oil on masonite ... This is a portrait of my grandparents fashioned after the Arnolfini portrait by Jan van Eyck. ... (18X24)
• Spanish American War Regiment Roster ... This is a document from 1898 listing the troops in the Forth Regiment. My Great Great Uncle Bill is in there somewhere. They misspelled his name. It is archivally mounted in a great maple frame (28X32 / framed size)

 

$10,000 House

From Life Magazine (c1951). Courtesy of The Selvedge Yard.

 

Chromography

Chromography: This is a mini-site put together by Stephen Coles of the Mid Century Modernist ... some neat stuff.

Time to check your radiant heating... (a recommendation)

It's that time of year again... time to turn on the heat.

Fortunately, thanks to Glen at Anderson Radiant Heating, our boiler and pipes are in as good of shape as they can be.

Last week, they were able to make a last minute run to our neighbors Chris and Laura who've had some horrible luck with termites, funky electrical and a leaking pool. Thanks to Anderson, at least they won't freeze. Within a few hours, a malfunctioning boiler came to life.

We've worked with a number of service companies -- and only a few that are worthy of repeated recommendations... Anderson certainly fits that bill and are likely the best we've had the opportunity to work with. Thanks, Glen.

Heath: Open Studios

This weekend, a few friends and neighbors headed to Sausalito to visit Heath Ceramics during their Open Studio weekend. Founded in 1959, Heath was recently purchased by designers Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey who have interjected some much needed design and marketing acumen to the iconic brand. They've done well, in my humble opinion, and it's always nice to visit.

Robin lead the tour and spoke eloquently about Heath's past and their values -- and walked the tour group through the process... from clay-making to final glazing. It was neat to see.

The openness of their facility and the honest, humble building is quite photogenic... so I snapped a few pictures.

       

MCM: Alive and Kicking

It's nice to see the warmth and whimsy of mid-century modern design alive and kicking across the internets. Sites like GrainEdit, ISO50, and the MidCenturyModernist keep the spirit alive.

Nice to meet me

It's funny when you google something and instead find yourself.

I was looking for some info on Ikea kitchen stuff and ran across this. Ha!

Picture Perfect

Our photographer friends Stephen (who caught my bug in a rare driveway-appearance... it's generally tucked in the garage) + Katrine (scheduled to stop by Sunday) and Chris + Sara -- two separate couples -- have used the house as a backdrop for some recent photos.

Nice work, guys. (and, readers: should you ever need a talented photographer, click on the links above).

Now that we have the house mostly finished, I suppose we should look into formally offering it up as a backdrop, huh?

Rain, Rain

The first few rains of the season remind us of how spoiled we are in the summer in regards to roof maintenance.

We have few/no trees over our house (save the eucalyptus to the left and the neighbor's sequoia a distance away) and all of our downspouts were clogged and a good 100gals of water was being held on the roof..

I've found that the ball-shaped covers/traps just trap the debris a bit higher up the line, but does make for easier cleaning as opposed to a stop happening down in the throat of the downspout, but with our new rain chains, I'm thinking they're gonna be more trouble than they're worth and we'd be best off without them -- we'll see. Fortunately, unclogging them is as easy is poking a stick up into the hole and letting a whole bunch of crap fall over you. Fortunately, too, I'm presently dressed for the task, so it could be worse...

Anyway, check the roof.

EichlerVision

Our e-friend Bryan is doing an amazing renovation of an Eichler-built house in the South Bay and is opening up the house for informational tours/sessions. Might be worth a look-see for many folks. We can't make it as we're having a party at the house that day (and unfortunately, Bryan won't be able to come up).

He's also running a blog on the process: EichlerVision.com ... check it out -- some amazing stuff.

--

You are invited to the first of six collaborative informational sessions to see the construction of a zero net energy, zero carbon house that is applying for LEED-H Platinum certification.

The benefit of seeing this house as it is being built is that you will see how green materials are used during the construction process. Many of these materials will be 'covered' when the house is completed so this is an opportunity to understand what is behind the walls. Attending the informational sessions allows you to see how innovative building materials and innovative construction practices are being utilized throughout the construction process.

During the informational sessions, you will be able to ask questions regarding the green building materials to better understand how these innovative building materials affect the cost of construction, the skills required to use these materials, and how using these materials affects the construction timeline.  And, of course, the green benefits of these innovative building materials and construction practices.

The project involves constructing a full lower level (basement) under an Eichler home, built in 1969, while renovating the main floor.  The green features of the house include:

• Roof made with SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) by Insulspan (12¼ inch – R47)
• Geothermal heat exchange with 3,000 ft. ground loop in 25 vertical concrete piers
• Floor constructed with 50 hollow core concrete panels, manufactured in Los Angeles (Irwindale) that were placed in 4 hours
• Concrete mix that includes high slag content (70% in the mat slab and 50% in the shotcrete foundation retaining walls)
• Water-to-water heat exchange with radiant heating throughout the house
• 48 roof-mounted photovoltaic solar panels, with two inverters, to be a net generator of electricity
• 3,700 gallon cistern, to harvest 100% of the rainwater, that will be used to irrigate drought-tolerant native California plant species

The original design of the house included generous roof overhangs that limit direct sunlight, reducing solar gain in the summer.  This passive design has been enhanced with the use of 1.5 million lbs of insulated thermal mass (concrete) in the house that will slow heating from solar gain and slow night time cooling.

Overall, the house performance exceeds (is better than) the Title 24 standard design by 72.9%, which is one of the highest performing single family dwellings in the State of California.

There are a limited number of spaces spaces available for each informational session so you will have to register in advance to attend the event.  Also, given this is an active construction site, you will have to sign a waiver acknowledging the inherent risks of an active construction site before entering the site.
For further information on this project, please visit the construction blog at EichlerVision.com.

If you have questions on this event, please contact Bryan Mekechuk at 408.655.0400 or bmekechuk@teamwrkx.com.

We look forward to seeing you at our first collaborative informational session.

• Date // Saturday, October 24, 2009 from 12:30 PM - 4:00 PM
• Location // 17509 Via Sereno, Monte Sereno, CA 95030