feeling is mutual-- the blog!

4/15/2008

Neighborhood Conservation Districts. Infill development. Prese-reno-restoration.
Everybody in Tulsa seems to have an opinion. The debates have been fueled, for the most part, by the increase in snout houses and McMansions within historic neighborhoods. But where does this guy fit in to the discussion?

It's definitely an interesting take on the American Foursquare style and I can appreciate the nods to craftsman design. I guess I can commend the architect's vision and his desire to update a nearly abandoned architectural style for "today". At least it's not another "urban loft", right?

Personally, I think I'll stick with my original foursquare. Thanks though.

What would you think if this was a renovation within your own bungalow neighborhood?

(Photo of Cherry St. renovations originally posted within theTulsaNow forums.)

Labels: design, house, remodel, Tulsa

posted at 1:34 PM

4 comments

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1/27/2008

Tomorrow morning the contractor comes to take a look at our bathroom remodel. We've finally reached the end of the demolishing segment of the game and need a little direction as to the steps that should follow. I wish we could be DIY purists, but I just don't trust us to complete a bathroom that won't fall apart, flood or explode. There are just a few things I'd rather leave to the professionals. For example:

1. Thanks to our powers of deductive reasoning, we know there is a leak in one of the pipes since every flush sent water dripping into the kitchen below. We're crossing our fingers that the source will be from one of the recently exposed walls, and NOT from a pipe under the floor.

2. An unused chimney travels through the house taking up valuable space in the bathroom and kitchen. Hopefully, Mr. Contractor will tell us this can be removed without causing our house to collapse. The ventilation pipe that connects to both the water heater and furnace is located inside the chimney... so this will need to be relocated...but to where?!

3. Underneath the tile floor is more plumbing encased in an unknown amount of cement. I understand that the tile will probably have to be sacrificed for the greater good... but how do we remove the floor without destroying the plaster on the dining room ceiling? Jackhammering is out, I guess. Once all the cement is removed, will the house collapse? I'm very concerned with the possibility of the house collapsing. I'd rather that not happen.

Good luck Contractor! I hope that your skills include magic and miracles!

Labels: house, remodel

posted at 4:58 PM

3 comments

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12/02/2007

My brother Sean came down to Tulsa for Thanksgiving and so I enlisted him in the hanging of our Christmas lights. Of course, it was after he and Chris defied death climbing on the roof that we discovered we hadn't bought hooks to hang lights on the gutters. Whoops. Taking advantage of their position, we decided that it would be an opportune time to remove the large metal awnings from the second floor windows.

So what do you think? With the awnings gone, our house definitely looks less squinty and it really shows off the houses original window panes.

We're doing our best to make the house look friendlier from the street. When we moved in, there was a wall of ivy on the side of the porch and metal bars on all the first floor windows. Even though there are still bars on the front door, hopefully it looks a little less like the people who live here are 80 year old shut-ins afraid of the light.

The story goes that the older gentleman who lived here during the '80s used to leave the house once a year, walk to the front of the yard and shoot his handgun into the air to see which of his neighbors were still around. As far as I can tell, the neighborhood has really improved since then.

While Sean was on the roof it was also an opportune time to take pictures for the sole purpose of making my mom nervous. Yes, that is a pirouette and yes, it did make my mom nervous. Mission accomplished. Sorry mom.

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Now playing: David Karsten Daniels - American Pastime
via FoxyTunes

Labels: house, life, remodel

posted at 7:46 PM

2 comments

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