My Neighborhood is OFFICIALLY Badass!

Don't believe me? See for yourself:

Rose City Park ranks 31st overall, with a badass-ness score of 41.61, putting us right between Irvinton and Sellwood (not a bad place to be, actually!). This makes my neighborhood solidly Badass, which is slightly better than "Rad", but not quite up to "Super Badass" standards. Maybe if they open another strip club...

You can see more on the video.

My Side Project Comes Alive

I've been working on another website off-and-on for quite some time.  Over the last few weeks I've been spending all of my free time getting it in shape and Ready for Prime Time.  Well, I think it finally is.

 

NewClassicDesigns.com is going to be a site containing all kinds of resources for people looking to decorate and remodel (respectfully, of course) their classic American homes.  For now, it only has one featured home, which happens to be one of my favorite examples of how to remodel a bungalow, Portland's own Bungalowcious.  I have also added a directory of artisan lighting, ceramics, and textiles.

 

If you own a home that is at or near the end of a remodel and would like it considered for a feature on the site, drop me a line.  I'm also open to any thoughts or suggestions about the site.

Party at the Bungalow!

Block Party Today!

We're having a block party on NE 58th between Siskiyou and Stanton from noon 'till 8:00 PM on Sunday, July 25.

There'll be a band, water wars, and BBQ in the streets.

I'm hoping to meet some of you in person, so stop by and don't be shy.

Our house is 3007, about mid-block on the west side of the street

See you there!

Musings from a nine year-old

Riley

My nine year-old had me in stitches yesterday when she said, and I quote:

"Do you think Riley's favorite color is black, or white?"

Spray Paint

Terry Border, of Bent Objects fame, has posted an image that not only do I love, but it ties in with the theme of this blog. Click over to his site and check out "Spray Paint". While you're there, spend an hour or two looking through his old posts. He's a creative genius.

And the Mailbox Goes To...

Kelly Berggren!

As of midnight I had 30 followers. I used a random number generator which gave me 18 the time I ran it. I counted my followers from 1-18 in the order they display on the screen and Kelly is the lucky winner.

Congratulations Kelly, I hope you like the mailbox. I'll send you a message with instructions for claiming it.

My Latest Side Project

My blogging here has been sparse for quite some time for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I haven't done anything to the house.  I've also been busy building a new website that I hope will serve as inspiration to fellow classic home bloggers and remodelers.

New Classic Designs is the site, and it is meant to provide interior design ideas to anyone with an older home who wants to undertake a respectful remodel of their bungalow, foursquare, cottage, or other classic American home.

So far I only have pages for the Bungalowcious kitchen and basement bathroom, but I am looking for other finished rooms and also for interior designers who are looking to get more exposure.  If you have a high-end interior that you would like considered for the site, please drop me a line.

If you visit the site and like what you see, don't hesitate to tell your friends!  And if you're really feeling gracious, a link from your blog would be much appreciated. ;-)

Who wants a free mailbox?

I've got a mailbox to give away to one lucky reader!  The good people at MoreMailboxes.com have supplied me with one of their Ecco small brushed stainless steel wall-mount mailboxes as part of an internet promotion, and I get to give it away.

I also get to make up the rules, so here they are:

On February 1, 2010, I will randomly choose one person from my list of followers.  To add yourself to the list, just click the "Follow" tab in the upper-right portion of this page.  Do it now!  You'll have pretty good odds at getting yourself a free stainless steel mailbox that will look good on any front porch.

Cash for Caulkers

I was just reading about President Obama's push for home energy efficiency tax incentives, so I decided to send the following letter to all 3 of my representatives:

As an Oregon resident, I would like to encourage you to support incentives pertaining to home energy efficiency improvements (aka "Cash for Caulkers").

Specifically, I urge you to ensure that incentives are put into place that will benefit owners of older homes who increase the energy efficiency of their original windows by installing wooden storm windows and weatherstripping. Please push for legislation that is not exclusively aimed at replacing old windows with new windows. The windows in my home are over 90 years old and will last another 90 before they need to be replaced. Adding weatherstripping and custom-made storm windows will increase their energy efficiency without adding to the local landfill. It will also create local jobs since wooden storm windows are often custom made by local craftsmen.

Thank you for your time.

If you also think it is important to incentivize old-fashioned wooden storm windows and weatherstripping, please feel free to send the same message to your congressmen. You can find your representatives here: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Update: Check out Window Wednesday for more info on saving old windows.

My Weekend Project

My daughter's preschool has a log cabin playhouse in the yard that had never been completely finished on the inside. I decided to pull together some parent and teacher volunteers and get the inside finished properly. I thought I'd share some before and after pics here on the blog.

BEFORE:
The walls were all plywood with an old layer of paint.

None of the windows or doors had any trim; they were just roughed-in openings.

AFTER:
We added some inexpensive pine trim around the windows.

We put cedar wainscotting around the entire perimeter and a sheet of vinyl flooring.

Then a fresh coat of paint and called it done! It was really nice to work on a project that went from start to finish in less than two days and made such a big difference. Instant gratification is kinda nice sometimes. ;-)

Hot in the Shade

My trusty Honeywell digital thermostat never lies, and as you can see here, it's saying "Damn, it's HOT!"

The Life of Riley

I'll have some pics posted soon of my window progress, but I just HAD to share this today. Our living room window has no shades and the morning sun beams directly into the eyes of whoever may be sitting on the loveseat. Riley has found a way of dealing with it.

I saw the Google Street View car

I walked out my front door the other day just in time to see the Google Street View car drive by. I made sure to wave hello. He was going kinda fast, so I don't know if he was actually taking pictures or not. I'll keep checking Google Maps and see if I show up.

My Wife Gave Me the Bird

Isn't it cute?

It's a bird sculpture made out of wire and sunglasses by Terry Border. I've been following his blog, Bent Objects for a while now and I finally got to purchase a piece from his Etsy shop for a Christmas present. He takes ordinary objects and gives them personality using little more than his slightly warped sense of humor and a little bent wire. I love it!


And now for something completely different.... Here's an advertisement:
Hotel Furniture
Hill Cross specialise in providing high quality hotel furniture.

Craigslist To The Rescue

If you've been following this blog you already know we got a LOT of snow in Portland this week (over a foot so far). Normally in Portland if you ignore the snow long enough it will just go away. That's what I've been hoping for all week, but to no avail. We got another 5" overnight with more on the way. With time quickly running out to finish the Christmas shopping, I figured I had better give-in and get some chains for the car so I can get out on the roads. Of course by now every auto parts store in the area is out of chains that fit my car. As a last-ditch effort I resorted to craigslist. To my surprise I found a guy fairly close to me who offered to deliver the chains to my door! On top of that he was asking far less than the retail price of the chains. His name is Jose Mesa and he's an auto wholesaler here in Portland. I figured since he helped me out I'd post a link to his website: www.josemesa.com I've never bought a car from him but he seems like a good guy so look him up if you're looking for a car.

The Morning After

Sometime early this morning the blowing snow changed to freezing raing. Now we have about 1/8" of ice on EVERYTHING. Unfortunately I couldn't get the car up the driveway yesterday and now it's parked directly under that big maple tree that is covered with ice and losing branches. I guess I should go move it somewhere, but I'm afraid it won't budge.

Portland's Version of a Blizzard

I stepped out onto the front porch before the light was gone and shot a quick video of our street. I haven't seen a storm like this since I left Minnesota as a kid. I know that's not saying much since I spent most of those years in places like Texas and Arizona, but still, it's quite miserable out there tonight. We've had snow on the ground continuously for a week now. That hasn't happened in Portland since I've lived here. The schools were closed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but open on Tuesday and Thursday. That made for an "interesting" work week. The worst part is that I've been trying to finish my Christmas shopping (and shipping) all week but the weather is making that very difficult.

The hummingbird feeder has been busy this week. I don't see how those little guys can survive in the cold weather. I've been bringing the feeder in to let it thaw twice a day and they seem to appreciate it!

Riley says "NO THANK YOU!!" I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to run around out there in my bare feet either.

Website Remodel is Done

I've been working on redesigning this website during my FTO this week (Forced Time Off). I decided that the old look and feel was getting, well, old. I changed the blog template and took advantage of some new features. I hope you enjoy!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I know I've been absent for quite a while, but I promise you haven't missed anything. Back in June I told myself I'd get loads of work done on the house this summer, but it was not to be. I had too much fun on vacation, and then when I got back I had to go all-out to get a massive systems upgrade done at work. Well, we "went live" this weekend so now work is off my back for a while.

Here's a quick photo journal of what I did this summer.

Sorry for the blurry photo, but this is one of the few house-related tasks I got done. I filled this dumpster (by myself!) with crap from the garage and basement. Unfortunately, I've got enough stuff left over to fill another one or two.

After I got the dumpster filled, I got to spend a week on a boat. A really BIG boat! Here we are anchored in Jamaica. Yeah Mon!

And here we are anchored at the local beach bar. (I'm the one enjoying a nice "domestic" beer and a jerk chicken sandwich. Yummmmmm.)

While in port at the Cayman Islands, we were captured by pirates. The kids were forced to swab the decks.

And take the Pirate Oath.

We managed to free ourselves from those scurvy-dogs and get back onboard the Conquest where we gorged ourselves on copious quantities of mediocre buffet fare for the next 2 days. Finally we docked in Galveston and the fun was over. Back to the grind.

Bungalow For Sale

No, not mine, the one across the street.



It was on the market for 9 days with an asking price of $419k. It used to be a rental but it got a full renovation (and a nice one at that!) and will soon be home to a new family on the block. It's nice to know that in the current real estate market my neighborhood can still do well!