A "not-so-big" but inspired choice

It was late spring or early summer when Hank Wall and I got together at the Caribou Coffee off Duraleigh Road in Raleigh.  When it comes to residential construction and renovation, Hanks as creative and practical as they come.  But beware, a lunch of a sandwich and cup of coffee with Hank can cost as much as $1,500.  But that's another story.

06-02-2014

Hank had kindly agreed to look at the plans for the Bath house, make any suggestions and see if Nancy and I had missed anything.  Since getting the project going, it was the most important and effective 90 minutes I'd spend.  Going over the notes I took that day, his advice about materials, doors, tile, flooring, windows, siding and more added to the quality and value of choices we'd make throughout the project.

One comment Hank made, almost in passing, came as we talked about ways to give the house some individual identity -- personality.  He suggested getting some wood, perhaps some old lumber that had been salvaged from the bottom of the Cape Fear River, and do some creative paneling with it.  The more I thought Sarah Susanka's "Creating the Not So Big House."  Sarah's "Not So Big" movement is one of those ideas that is at once so head-thumping obvious and astonishing original.  Simple ideas and basic materials in the hands of folks like Sarah can elevate the creativity of even the most mediocre among us.  The use of wood in many of the examples illustrated in her book drove Hank's idea home.

07-05-2014

about it, the more it seems like an obvious opportunity.  And it was reinforced by a book Hank gave me,

Thus, the idea of taking the kitchen bar -- that works to separate the living and dining rooms from the kitchen but still give the spaces an open feeling -- started to stir.  I searched out Chris Metz of Old Growth Riverwood in Wilmington, N.C.  He offered me a great deal on some 300-year-old lumber left over from a flooring project.

The photos on this page give you a look at the project's evolution.  What do you think?

08-30-2014

10-11-2014

11-02-2014

When it is said and it is done!

A variety of bad excuses has resulted in not keeping the blog up-to-date.  Here’s the latest -- and will in the coming days -- fill in the missing information leading up to this.

Driving along U.S. 264, headed east between Raleigh and Washington (N.C.), is something of an anachronism.  Get past the Raleigh suburbs, and the late fall view from the roadway could be 1954 as surely as it is 2014.  The soybeans are golden and ready to be harvested.  The cotton, bleach white and ready to be picked, is like driving

Beaufort County cotton

through a cloud.  Many of the old tobacco barns remain, though they’ve long-since been replaced by nondescript boxy metal bulk barns.  The white, purple and pink wildflowers, planted by the Highway Department roadside beautification program (to hide the piles of discarded trash people still toss from their vehicles) offer an impressionist transition to the empty fields where tobacco corn has long-since been pulled, harvested and gone to market.  After three years, the car seems to drive itself after the twice weekly trips to Greenville while

05-17-2014

05-17-2014

05-20-2014

I was interim adviser to the East Carolina University student newspaper -- and weekly over the last eight months for the Duck Creek Rising project.

06-21-2014

07-05-2014

08-05-2014

08-30-2014

10-11-2014

   

06-02-3014

The ride on Oct. 29, 2014 looms large.  The great things in life – at least mine --  happen when they are ready to happen.  All I can do is be ready to embrace and make the most of the opportunities when they arise (this earns a huge eye-roll from my kids).  Since early April, this day was destine to happen – but when and what it would take to get here – was about good ideas, good people, good work and the good fortune to have all of them come together.

Still, few good things every come easy.  And the last three weeks provided a vivid reminder. In late September, our builder, Anthony Singleton, let us know the house was ready to close, pending inspection and approval by our lender, the N.C. State Employees Credit Union.  We’re big on the credit union.  Nancy’s first job in Raleigh was with the credit union – which made us eligible to join.  Her supervisors encouraged and supported Nancy’s work to get her CPA.  More significantly, when we purchased our first house in Raleigh – after going back and forth on the price 10 times – the seller made us stipulate that we’d close in three weeks.  The credit union folks pulled out all the stops, got the inspections, appraisals, and other legal mumbo-jumbo done with a week to spare.  In a financial universe of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Fannie and Freddy Mae, Chase and Citigroup, the credit union is simple, thorough and a human-scale institution

Like most humans, the credit union isn’t perfect all of the time.  So, after Anthony let me know that we were ready to close, I pass word on to the credit union folks.  No problem, just getting the all-clear from the underwriters, a final survey and inspection and we’d be done.  A week went by and I checked in.  Waiting on the survey … expect it next week.  The next week – survey’s done but the underwriters have a question.  Check back in a couple days.  What’s the hold up?  Not sure.  Three days later, it seems there’s a utility pole, right off of the road and in the middle of the right-of-way leading the house.  Well, not kidding.  Several years ago, even though the right-of-way had been in place for 25 years, Tideland EMC – the local electric cooperative, placed the pole there after the one near it, but not in the right of way, was blown down in a hurricane.  Rather than raise a fuss with the coop, and raise the ire of the folks in the neighborhood who had just had their power restored, we let it be.

Coke building, Washington, N.C.

No kindness goes unpunished.  Though several months earlier we sought to get the pole moved, the folks at Tideland said they’d be happy to move it, if we paid several thousand dollars to do it.  Far from being worth the cost and antagonism to fuss about it with lawyers, we let it pass and now had the opportunity to deal with underwriters and more lawyers.  Fortunately, the adjoining land was owned by my most gracious brother-in-law who agreed to extend the right of way.  So, after another survey and some effervescent interaction with more lawyers, it was done.

Heading through Washington on 5^th Street, we pass the classic Coca Cola bottling building and then by the fire station at the corner of 5^th and Market.  For many years, it was the site of Tayloe Hospital.  On this day, Oct. 29, on that site, but just a few years earlier, Nancy was born. 

So, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014 – a birthday to remember.  On time (well nearly), on budget and good work!  Thanks to: Hank Wall of Woodwise Design for the inspiration and great advise;  Craig Bethel and TightLines Designs; Anthony Singleton and Jenny Respess of C.A. Singleton Construction and their great subcontractors; and in-laws and neighbors Bill & Karen Thomas and John & Ginger Thomas, who keep an eye on things. We look forward to sharing good times and better memories with friends.