Saturday, January 28, 2012

Let’s Get the Party Started!

P1180466


We didn’t waste any time getting the house broken in. We started with a bluegrass hootenanny at the beginning of December.


P1180469


It was a great test for the great room and kitchen. With a fire roaring in the fireplace, there was room enough for food, spectators, and musicians.


P1180474


Then we turned it around and tidied up for garden club.


P1180542


The speaker wanted to stand behind a counter height table and do arrangements, so we pulled out this cabinet and put a board on top.


P1180541


That seemed to do the trick.


P1180547


And look what a beautiful arrangement he made.


P1180549


And he just kept going!


P1180552


But all of those events were just the warm up for the big show:


Christmas Eve.


It was our turn to host the clan gathering. We do it every three years, so accommodating the crowd was one of our design criteria. Let’s see how we did.


65 for cocktails?


_DSC6074


_DSC6084


_DSC6093


P1180607


Not a problem!


48 for dinner?


Let’s see. How about 14 in the dining room…


P1180602


That works!


_DSC6106


We can fit 12 in the breakfast nook…


P1180595


yep!


_DSC6098


A smaller, quieter table in the library can seat 6.


P1180600


You pay extra for the private room!


_DSC6107


We can put 9 hardy college kids on the porch with the propane heaters…


P1180598


Can do!


_DSC6100


And the others can pull up around the fire and eat in their laps.


_DSC6102


Now what about the pinata? Where should we do that?


_DSC6121


We’ll hang that bad boy from the beams on the porch.


_DSC6130


From the tiniest, to the soon to graduate,


_DSC6128


they whack away.


The recent pinata graduates try to hold themselves back,


_DSC6120


but once the candy hits the floor, all bets are off!


_DSC6153


Now we’ll just tuck a keyboard into the corner of the living room,


P1180625


and sing some carols before Santa’s sleigh gets too much closer ,


P1180624


because somebody’s getting sleepy.


_DSC6125


I think the house passed the Christmas Eve clan gathering test. What do you think?

Friday, December 16, 2011

Barbarians at the Gate

One of the final components of our house was the driveway gate. The old gate was bent (a little too much Christmas Eve one year or a wanton delivery truck?). It was considered by many to be unsightly. So, we removed it and prepared to replace it with something more suitable.


P1180167


I stalked driveway gates in Buckhead, stopping to snap pictures with my camera.


P1170187_2925


It gives a whole new meaning to driveby shooting.


P1170350_2780


I thought this last one had just the right feel for the house.


IMG00105-20110804-1025 (7)


I felt a bit guilty when the neighborhood association website had a neighbor raising the alarm about strangers taking photos of houses. Turns out it was movie scouts scouting for movie locations, but I wondered if I should ‘fess up. I tend to carry my camera with me and stop when I see something nice.


P1180209


Here it was the espaliered sasanqua that caught my lens.


P1180210


Does anyone else do that?


Anyway, I really liked the last gate above and thought it would frame the house nicely. I knew we needed a pedestrian gate and saw a great English gate on Houzz that had the configuration in my sketch below. clip_image002 After I came up with the concept drawing, I started getting bids. One company took my concept and photoshopped the gate onto a photo of the house.


McClatchery A Pic Overlay (3)


They had the most experience and seemed the most professional so they got the job.


P1180297


When their guys came out to install the posts, the posts looked great and the guys were very careful to get every detail right.


P1180300


Well, almost every detail. There seems to be a concrete pad blocking the pedestrian gate.


P1180307


Instead of putting the post mounted gate operators, the gate company apparently decided that with several households sharing the gate, we needed an industrial operator. Two industrial operators. One on each gate. So in order to place this operator the size of a suitcase, they poured the pads. The idea that the the operator would block the pedestrian gate didn’t bother them.


P1180310


Oh, and did I mention that the posts were too tall? My model here is 6’2”. The gate posts should have maxed out at 5’8”.


I was not happy. Gary the Builder, ever the sage, tried to calm me. “We have our head in a lion’s mouth,” quoth he, “it wouldn’t be a good idea to kick him.” Indeed, the company had my deposit and my gate. What to do?


I began to get worried that the gates wouldn’t look anything like what I had commissioned, since some critical parts had been changed. Builder Gary had them email photos of what they had built.



The gates looked good. I was calmed. Builder Gary negotiated a path forward. The gate company would remove the concrete pads and go back to the operators originally specified. They would install the gates. I would pay them the balance and live with the extra foot of height.


I think Builder Gary could have a career in the State Department, but first he has to build another of Justeen and Denise’s houses.


I stayed safely inside when they removed the concrete pads.


P1180436


It was partly because I was trying to give them what they wanted. I had been labeled a difficult customer. They didn’t want me “supervising.” It also made me nervous that they used a motor lift to lift out the concrete pads whole to use again. I wasn’t sure what they were going to use them for, but I didn’t want them sizing up my feet. Concrete shoes are not my thing. Just saying.


As fate would have it, I was in the hospital with one of my kids on the day the gate was installed, so the only way I could see the progress was from the security camera.


gate


When I got back home, I was very pleased with the way the gate turned out. The operators don’t block the path and it is no problem to walk through the pedestrian gate now.


P1180521


So, we decorated a bit,


P1180530


P1180522


and now we are ready to invite friends in,


P1180591


or close things up should we have an encounter with barbarians at the gate…


P1180571

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Getting in the Groove

The week before Thanksgiving, we had the big move.

P1180406

The guys from Buckhead Movers backed down the driveway between the swing set and the basketball goal  and parked the truck just inside the 3 point circle (isn’t there a penalty for staying  in the lane too long?).

P1180407

They carried out furniture, boxes, rugs and weren’t even bothered by strange people with cameras.

P1180408

Goodbye old living room!

P1180432

Hello, new house!

P1180433

They backed right up to the front door and started unloading.  Before too long the new living room was starting to look familiar.

P1180435

We started breaking in the house over the holiday weekend.  The band room got a gentle start with an acoustic rehearsal. 

P1180446

After the soundproofing we had some serious acoustical issues inside the room, but the cork flooring really helped. No more echo chamber!

P1180448

And the soundproofing worked so well, that while this was going on in the band room, a group of teens were enjoying a movie in the great room.

P1180443

A day or two later, another band came in and amped things up a bit.

P1180452

Bye bye bongos!  Here come the big boy drums.

P1180450

Everyone seemed to like the way it worked.  I’d say I did a good job, but I wouldn’t want to…

P1180455

…toot my own horn.

Meanwhile the teenagers felt inspired to use the newly landscaped backyard and stone terrace as a soundstage to make their own movie:

It is really fun to see everyone using the spaces I’ve planned and dreamed about.  We’re really getting in the groove!