Our Care-Free Home

Driveway Dilemma: Blacktop or Concrete?

2013-04-20T14:09:00.000-05:00

When we purchased the Care-Free Home, one of the first projects we knew we'd have to tackle was the garage exterior and driveway. Both were in sad shape and definitely detracted from the home's exterior. While we were able to get the garage cleaned up when we did the rest of our exterior renovation last year, now the driveway is even more of an eyesore than it was before!

Original Garage Exterior and Driveway

The updated Garage exterior looks a lot better, but the driveway still needs work!

This spring we are finally planning to tackle the driveway project and are debating between replacing the current blacktop driveway with a new one or going for a concrete driveway with a little more style. What to do?
We've been leaning towards concrete because the original design of the home included several concrete patios and concrete in the Breezeway between the carport and house. In addition, the original sales brochure pictures a concrete driveway.

Front elevation photo from the original 1957 Alcoa sales brochure

Another photo of the driveway and carport from the original brochure

We really like the idea of using concrete to both compliment the original details of the home and add more curb appeal and architectural interest to the house. Here's a couple great examples of modern concrete driveways that we like.

We love the way this offset concrete driveway looks with this mid-century modern home (HomeDIT)

Here's another nice concrete driveway on and Eichler home (from Eichler For Sale)

As you can probably tell, we're leaning towards concrete, our only concern is its durability in our cold climate here in Minneapolis. We've done a lot of research online and it seems that frost heaving and road salt can reduce the lifespan of a concrete driveway substantially.

Help us decide! Does anyone have any personal experience with the concrete/blacktop dilemma in our cold Minnesota climate? What did you choose and how has it worked out? Stay tuned, we're planning to get this project underway soon and will post some more photos of the finished project!

Found Vintage: Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chair

2013-04-08T08:46:00.000-05:00

One of the first pieces of true mid-century modern furniture in Our Care-Free home was this very cool lounge chair that was given to us by a family friend. At some point the chair was recovered in the current green fabric and we haven't been able to find any original manufacturer's markings. However, from the shape of the bent plywood legs we're guessing it was made by Thonet. Now its getting a makeover along with the rest of our living room!

Does anyone know the manufacturer of this chair?

Like some of the other furniture we've acquired since moving in to our carefree home, this chair was cheap (free) but needs some work before it will look perfect in our re-designed space. Its green upholstery needs an update to better compliment all of the other design changes we are making in the living room.

Current upholstery in a palm-frond pattern has to go!

On our trip to International Market Square with our interior designer Cy Winship, we took at look at several fabric options for this chair. We narrowed the list down to two that we really liked and felt would compliment the other changes we are making in the space. Unfortunately, we can't agree on which to choose...help break the tie and let us know what you think!

Knoll Textiles "Atelier" in Fireworks and Kirkby "Pin" in Flame...Which to choose?

While the shape and style of this chair definitely compliments the style of Our Care-Free Home, the new fabric will add the perfect finishing touch. Check back soon to see which fabric we chose and some photos of the finished product!

Modern wallpaper selections for the Kitchen, Living Room and Bedroom

2013-04-05T11:08:00.002-05:00

Recently we've been focused on furniture and decor selections for the spaces of Our Care-Free Home that we have finished renovating. As part of the project, we decided to update some of the walls in the Kitchen, Living Room and a Bedroom with some mid-century modern inspired wallpaper.

After a trip to International Market Square with our interior designer Cy Winship, we came home with about a hundred cool, funky wall paper samples. After looking them all over, taping them up on the walls and getting feedback from family and friends, we finally made some selections. Here are the ones that made the cut!

Weitzner "Newsworthy" (for Living Room)

Sanderson "Dandelion Clocks" (for Bedroom)

Innovations Basics+ - "Linen" (for Kitchen)

Orla Kiely - "Multi Stem" (for Hallways)

When we purchased the home, most of the walls were still covered in the original grass cloth wallpaper, which had seen a lot of wear over the years and was showing its age. While it was definitely era-appropriate, there was so much of it throughout the house that it felt like we were living in a tiki bar. It had to go!

Original grass cloth and wood paneling on the Kitchen exterior

Original grass cloth in the Master Bedroom

We're anxiously awaiting the finished results! We'll be posting some before and after photos of the Living Room, Kitchen, Hallways and Bedrooms with their new modern wallpaper soon!

Found Vintage: Mid-Century Club Chairs

2013-03-31T12:28:00.000-05:00

Now that most of our large projects on the main floor have been completed, we've started looking for more vintage and mid-century modern furniture pieces to help create a period-correct look in our Care-Free Home. Whitney's mom Judy is a pro at finding inexpensive vintage furniture and decor for the house, and recently came across these original club chairs.

Mid-Century club chairs

While they need a little work, they have a nice shape with a dropped arm, button-tufted back cushions and tapered legs that are straight out of the late 50's and early 60's. Unfortunately, a previous owner shortened the front legs and added some wheels to them. We'll be swapping these out for tapered legs that match the originals that are still on the backs of the chairs.

The Floral fabric must go!

The fabric also has to go! The floral pattern is definitely not the look that we're going for, so we'll be recovering the chairs in a nice red/orange textured wool that is similar to a lot of the period-correct Knoll fabrics that were used in the late 50's.

Pollack fabric swatch for our club chairs

Hopefully, the chairs will add some color to our living room like the orange sofa pictured in the original Alcoa sales brochure (for more photos of the original sales brochure, see our Alcoa Care-Free Home Brochure post).

Living room photo from 1958 Alcoa Care-Free Home Brochure

As soon as the chairs are recovered, we'll post some before and after shots so you can see the finished result. We also have several more design projects we're working on that we'll be posting shortly!

Planning our Mid-Century Modern Basement Remodel

2013-03-28T13:00:00.000-05:00

Since the day we bought our Care-Free Home, we knew the large basement was a potential equity-boosting opportunity to add tons more finished square footage. Unfortunately, since there was so much work to be done on the main floor of Our Care-Free Home, we had to prioritize our budget and effort and the basement dropped pretty far down the to-do list. Now that we've made some progress on the rest of the house, we've begun planning for our mid-century modern basement remodel!

Floorplan for Our Care-Free Home's Basement

While there are a few walls and some faux wood paneling in the basement now, our vision for a mid-century modern basement redesign called for a fresh start. But before we could get started, we needed a plan for what the finished spaces would look like. Fortunately, our family architect and resident building expert (my Dad) was able to help us come up with a plan for more efficient use of the space.
Because of the large size of the basement, we're going to be able to roughly double the home's finished square footage by adding the following spaces:

Family Room (22'x24')
Bedroom 1 (14'x14')
Bedroom 2 (12'x16')
Laundry (14'x16')
Storage (16'x32')

Fortunately the former owners already renovated the basement bathroom, so we'll be leaving that as-is for this project. We may make a few updates to it down the road, but it's currently the nicest bathroom in the house so its renovation is still further down the project list. They also added egress windows in the locations of the two bedrooms, so the rest of the project will focus on building out these spaces and finishing them in a style that compliments the mid-century modern aesthetic of the rest of the house.

Thanks for reading Our Care-Free Home blog and stay tuned for the next post in our mid-century modern basement remodeling series, demolition...coming soon!

Mid-Century Modern Furniture Finds: Broyhill Brasilia

2013-03-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

Renovation of our Care-Free Home has made significant progress over the last two years, but there hasn't been a ton of room in the budget for period-correct furniture that matches the home’s mid-century modern styling. That is, until we were offered several pieces of amazing mid-century modern furniture that looked like this…for free!

After stumbling into this and several other amazing items, we decided to do a little research to try and find out more about them. Thanks to Brasilia Connection, who specializes in the line, we didn't just learn a bunch about the Broyhill Brasilia line, but were able to see some of the original sales materials. It turns out that Brasilia is experiencing quite the resurgence at the moment among vintage furniture aficionados.

The Brasilia line was launched in 1962 by Broyhill and the design was inspired by Brasil's newly built capital city of Brasilia. The city was designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer and was built in 41 months from 1956 to 1960. Some of his most recognizable designs are the Cathedral of Brasilia and the Palacio de Alvorada.

Cathedral of Brasilia

Looking at the furniture, the design cues taken from Brasilia's architecture are immediately apparent, with the doors, drawer fronts, hardware and legs of the Brasilia line using many of the same curves and profiles found in Neimeyer's designs.

Palacio de Alvorada

As luck would have it, we didn't just get the dresser above, we were able to get our hands several other great pieces from the collection as well, including the triple dresser base, a single arch mirror, the door chest and a full-size panel headboard and footboard.

Brasilia Triple Dresser

Full-Size Brasilia Headboard and Footboard

Brasilia Single Arch Mirror

Recently, we also added a Brasilia hutch to the collection which Whitney’s mom found at Sign of the Times Design in North Minneapolis (who also had a full Brasilia dining set last time we checked).

Brasilia Breakfront Hutch and Console

Seeing the Broyhill Brasilia sales brochure has wet our appetite and we're on the hunt for our next furniture find! We’ll keep you updated as we make more design and decor updates to Our Care Free Home, including a few more great finds by friends and family coming up soon. Hopefully we'll also have some additional Brasilia pieces to add to the collection!

Frank Lloyd Wright's Influence on Mid-Century Modern Architecture

2013-03-24T19:21:00.000-05:00

As the son of an architect, my father raised us with an appreciation for good design and a basic understanding of architecture. So, when Whitney and I decided to visit Chicago for a long weekend, one of my few goals for the trip was visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House at the University of Chicago. As one of his most famous prairie-style designs from the early 1900's, the Robie house features many groundbreaking architectural details for the time that would ultimately influence much of mid-century modernist architecture some 40 years later.

One of the first things you notice when approaching the home is the long, flat cantilevered planes of the roof. This is a prairie-style hallmark and the tour guide said Wright used this technique to make his homes feel visually flatter to blend in with the low, flat prairie landscape. While nowhere near as intricate as the Robie house, you can see the similarities to the house's low pitched roof and large overhangs in many later mid-century modern homes from the 50's and 60's, like the Care-Free home.

Robie House Front Elevation

Care-Free Home Front Elevation

Unlike the more traditional architecture at the turn of the century which featured small, well defined rooms, Wright's designs relied on modern materials like reinforced concrete and steel beams to create large, open spaces with fewer interior walls. Many mid-century modern homes used a similar post and beam construction style that allowed the creation of large, open interior spaces.

Robie House Living Room

Care-Free Home Living Room

There are also similarities in the use of windows and doors to create a connection between indoor and outdoor space. The living room of the Robie house features several french doors which open onto a patio that originally looked out over an open prairie space. The Care-Free home's design also uses a large amount of glass and patio doors to connect the indoor and outdoor living areas.

Robie House living room

Care-free home living room

One of the most iconic elements of the Robie house are the windows and doors, which feature art glass panels designed by Wright specifically for this home. These leaded glass patterns were common in Wright's designs and were used to create interior lighting effects of pattern and color that complimented other design elements of the home. While less intricate, the Care-Free home's window grilles work in the same way to add an architectural design element to the home while creating unique patterns of light and shadow indoors.

Leaded, stained glass windows of Robie house

Care-Free home window grilles

While the Care-Free Home is nowhere near as iconic and unique for its time as the Robie house, it is fascinating to see the elements of Wright's prairie style from the early 1900's that ultimately influenced mid-century modern architecture, including the design of Our Care-Free Home.

Textures from our Midcentury home

2013-03-16T13:19:00.001-05:00

Our wood floors with shadows of the window grates

Blue aluminum window grates and gray wood slatted fence

Blue painted office wall with white abstract flower pattern

Green painted bedroom wall with tree mural inspired by the tree in our breezeway

Gold textured aluminum closet doors

Brown and tan layered paper office walls

Redwood walls

Purple textured aluminum walls with redwood slats

The Hidden Dangers of Renovation

2013-02-07T23:28:00.001-06:00

Thank you to Brian Turner for contributing this article on an important topic for anyone working on a home renovation - particularly for mid-century basements like ours that are potentially filled with hazardous materials!

The Hidden Dangers of Renovation

With construction costs spiraling upward in a tough economy, many people are choosing do-it-yourself home renovation over hiring a contractor. This may save a substantial amount of money, but there can be hidden dangers especially in older houses. The toxins that can be present during demolition are outlined below.

Asbestos
Asbestos is a mineral that was often used in insulation, floor, ceiling and roofing materials. It emits tiny fibers that are inhaled and settle in the lungs where they can remain for decades before causing diseases like mesothelioma cancer and asbestosis, which causes the lungs to scar.

If there is any chance at all a home could contain asbestos, the removal should be handled by professionals during the demolition process.

Lead
Prior to 1978, lead was in widespread use in painting materials. During a renovation, lead can get into the air through dust and the use of paint stripper. After being inhaled, it causes nausea, digestive issues, headaches and anemia.

Mercury
Mercury is an often-overlooked home toxin that is found in heating systems, switches and older thermostats. A single drop is capable of contaminating a large amount of water. Signs ofmercury poisoning include damage to the kidneys and liver, learning disabilities and retardation.

Formaldehyde
Although formaldehyde has long been identified as a carcinogen, it is still in fairly wide use. In homes, it can be found in paneling, plywood, cabinets and particleboard. Even small amounts of formaldehyde can cause burning and watering of the eyes, nausea and breathing difficulties.

PCBs
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used in caulking, plastics, paint and electrical materials in homes built before 1977. The toxic chemical causes cancer in people, and it leads to immune, endoctrine, nervous system and reproductive problems in animals.

Dust
There can be many toxins in the dust created by a demolition. Aside from asbestos and lead, silica could be lurking in the air if there is any type of rock or concrete being broken up. Once silica enters the body, it can cause damage to the lungs through breathing problems and infections.

The best protection against hazardous materials during a renovation is by covering up all exposed skin areas and wearing a mask and goggles. It is preferable to wear old clothes that can be disposed of at the end of the project and to shower thoroughly after each day's work.

Before and After: Our Care-free Mid-century Modern Kitchen

2013-02-07T20:43:00.001-06:00

1950s Inspired Upholstery Fabric from Camira

2013-02-07T12:42:00.001-06:00

As we're getting ready to build out our mid-centory modern basement, we're keeping an eye out for decor, textiles and accessories that could be a good fit for the space. (And we're also ramping back up the posts - so you can look forward to more frequent updates!)

Designer Pages recently showcased a new line of 1950s-inspired wool boucle fabric from British textile innovator Camira. The line, Monroe, is a "simple yet stylish dobby weave upholstery fabric." The line comes in 18 retro-inspired tones (image below courtesy of Designer Pages).

You can check out Camira's video on the Monroe collection below. This stop-motion video was created by Dan Ojari, a graduate of London's prestigious Royal College of Art.

For more information, visit www.camirafabrics.com or https://www.designerpages.com/products/2027122/.

DIY's Sweat Equity TV Show Features Our Carefree Home Renovation

2012-11-14T16:50:00.002-06:00

It's been a long time coming, but after shooting an episode of Sweat Equity in April of 2011 it is finally airing tonight on the DIY network! Our episode "Retro Redo" is scheduled to air at 10pm (9pm central) Wednesday, November 14th. The episode covers the following projects we did shortly after purchasing the Care Free Home out of foreclosure:

Exterior "refresh" (paint, stain and landscaping)
Living Room Hardwood Floor Refinish
New hallway floors
Kitchen "refresh" (cabinet refinish, new counter-tops, appliances and sink)
Guest bathroom "refresh" (tile re-glaze)

A summary of the episode along with additional air dates is available on the DIY Network website. Additional air-dates are scheduled this season if you aren't able to catch the episode tonight!

Our Outdoor Living Room Part 2 - Finishing our Mid-Century Modern Inspired Deck

2012-10-26T16:50:00.000-05:00

With our summer months in Minnesota being so short, we do our best to take full advantage of them when they're here. So, when we bought our mid-century modern Alcoa Care-Free Home, one of the first large projects we wanted to tackle was building a beautiful outdoor space that we could use for entertaining friends and family. When we purchased the home, it had an ideal location for an outdoor space, complete with a wall of sliding patio doors, but they didn't go anywhere!

The living room and patio doors before the deck was constructed

Our Care-Free Home is unique in that it was built with a basement where the original Charles M. Goodman design called for a single floor layout built on a concrete slab. Because of this, the house sits on a foundation that is 12" higher than the original design intended. As a result, the home does not have some of the nice walk-out patio areas that the original sales brochure featured.

Original patio design by Charles M. Goodman from the 1957 Sales brochure

In our first deck post, Creating Our Outdoor Living Room, we developed the design for the deck, set the footings, built the framing and added the decking. After the deck was built, we stained it gray to match the rest of the trim on the house and added two steps that ran the full width of the deck's surface down to the yard. At this point it was use-able but still didn't have the mid-century modern design aesthetic we wanted to preserve the unique nature of the home.

Stained deck surface with completed stairs

Because the deck was in the side yard of the house, we also wanted to create a little privacy from the street. To add more of a mid-century design element, Doug (the family architect and Rob's dad) included a short screen-wall that would match the breezeway fence we had already built and provide a slightly more private environment.

Mid-Century modern breezeway fence that inspired the deck's design

The deck was built so that the weight of the screen wall would sit directly over the footings we had installed when we built the main structure. The frame for the wall shown here was constructed out of treated lumber and was designed to be wide enough that we could install planter boxes in the top of the wall for added privacy.

Building the screen-wall framing for the deck's street side exposure

Once the screen-wall structure was built, we applied horizontal cedar boards to the wall to match the breezeway fence. They were ripped from 6" x 18' cedar deck boards that were each cut lengthwise into 1 1/4" x 18' strips. These strips were attached to the frame and stained to match the rest of the deck.

The completed screen-wall from the deck side is about 28" high

Finally, we made a few landscaping changes, extending the landscape edging and rock out to the end of the new wall. We added some Elijah Blue Fescue grasses and several flowering Weigela bushes to the landscaping area. The new planters for the deck wall were also added after being planted with Prairie Blues - Little Bluestem grasses to increase the privacy while still allowing a nice view towards the street.

Completed screen-wall with planters and landscaping from the front yard

We were fortunate enough to spent a lot of hours on the deck this summer, and as we wind down to fall we're looking forward to our indoor projects this winter. Stay tuned for our next post and thanks for reading!

MID-CENTURIA : Art, Design and Decor from the Mid-Century and beyond: Alcoa Care-Free Homes

2012-10-25T16:04:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Mid-Centuria for featuring a few shots of our renovation progress! If you're interested in more of the history behind the Alcoa Care-Free Home as well as some additional images of other Care-Free Homes around the U.S., check out this blog post!

MID-CENTURIA : Art, Design and Decor from the Mid-Century and beyond: Alcoa Care-Free Homes: In January of 1957 the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) announced the formation of a "Residential Building Products Sales Division" ...

Creating Our Outdoor Living Room - The Deck Part One

2012-07-12T03:58:00.003-05:00

First and foremost...our apologies that its been a year since our last post! A wedding, honeymoon and a series of other life changes have kept us busy! The good news is that work on Our Care Free Home has continued over the winter so a bunch of new posts are in the works!

One of the first projects we discussed after purchasing the Care Free Home was building a deck off of the main living and dining area. The home was built with a full glass west-facing elevation complete with two sets of 12' sliding patio doors, but none of the former owners ever got around to creating an outdoor space in this ideal location.

The west elevation of the home when purchased

Our first order of business was to consult the family architect (Rob's dad) to come up with a design that would provide a large, functional outdoor living space while complimenting the scale, layout and architectural style of the home. Once the design was complete, we started digging!

The first step of the project was to remove the existing landscaping brick, mulch and plastic landscape cloth. Next, we dug trenches to provide room for the support beams and dug holes for the footings. We also made sure to create a slope away from the house to ensure good drainage! A good rule of thumb for this is that there should be at least one inch of slope in each foot of distance from the house.

Trenches for the deck's support beams

Next, we installed the deck's footings and support structure. The support beams run horizontal to the house and are built out of dual treated 2"x12"s to prevent warping and ensure stability. The footing holes were filled with at least 6" of gravel to form a solid base and then the pre-cast concrete footings were installed with grooved tops to hold the structure in place.

Support beams and footings

Next we added a set of joists perpendicular to the house 16" apart to support the decking. Because this is a "floating" deck it's not attached to the house, so there is a 2"x12" beam running along the foundation of the house that all of the joists are tied into as well as another 12" support beam on the outside edge of the deck.

Support joists being installed

Next, we added the decking. We chose treated pine because of its durability and low cost, plus we planned to stain the deck to match the gray trim on the house so the greenish coloration was not an issue. After doing lots of online research, we decided to delay staining for at least six months to allow the treated lumber to weather. Otherwise, the treatment chemicals could shorten the life of our stain.

Treated pine decking being installed

The end of the first phase left us with over 300 square feet of outdoor living space (just in time for winter)! Stay tuned for our next deck post on the finishing touches including stairs, stain and our privacy screen wall which are being finished up this week!

Phase one complete!

Our New Midcentury Modern-Inspired, Green-friendly Kitchen

2011-06-27T18:06:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since we posted, apologies! Work, life, wedding planning, a special event and a 30th birthday have all come to a head in the past month.

Despite the delay, we're more excited than ever to share our newly-remodeled kitchen with the world!

The kitchen was inspired by a set of Mondrian cabinets that are original to the home. We worked to incorporate green elements and reused materials as it made sense.

Unlike the previous kitchen, this room is perfectly tied in to Our Care-free Home! We've already hosted a surprise birthday party for Whitney (complete with a cooking demonstration from a professional chef), two housewarming parties (for neighbors and friends) and a father's day dinner!

Below are before-and-after photos and brief recap of what we did...

LOWERED THE PASS-THROUGH: The previous pass-through was awkwardly high- you could see through to the family room, but it felt as though you were hiding something... We think this was intentional, as housewives in the late 1950s were supposed to be perfect in every way... which means a perfectly clean kitchen (from what guests could see) and just enough space to give the men of the home some privacy while entertaining.
NEW FLOORS: Installed a new Marmoleum Sheet floor in the color "volcanic ash." The Marmoleum extends into the pantry and beyond the kitchen into the adjoining hallway. Marmoleum is made from renewable, natural ingredients. It's anti-static properties repel dust and dirt, making it easy to keep clean and allergen free.
NEW COUNTERTOPS: Installed a new elements by Durcon Ti countertop in Infinity Ti. This is such an amazing line of countertops - and it is absolutely beautiful! Made in the USA, elements is a unique blend of post consumer recycled glass, natural minerals and resin forming a unique surface that delivers an extraordinarily tough, highly sustainable surface. And the countertops are naturally anti-fungal and anti-bacterial, so they're easy to maintain.
UPDATED CABINETS: Instead of paying to reface the cabinets or reinstall new ones, we repurposed the cabinets we had. We color-matched enamel paint at Home Depot, so the kitchen cabinets would tie in to the Mondrian cabinets. Then we went through the painstaking process of removing, taping, sanding, priming, painting, touching up, and reinstalling the cabinets. Even though it took much longer than expected, we saved lots of money and the end result is fabulous.
NEW SINK AND FAUCET: We couldn't pass up the opportunity to incorporate a new Kohler sink and faucet into the kitchen. These high-end stainless steel items are incredibly durable, functional and aesthetically pleasing. The previous items weren't terrible, so they're on the "sell, donate or recycle" list.
NEW APPLIANCES: The appliances we purchased with the house were functional... but ugly and rather dated. We purchased a new refridgerator, dishwasher, microwave and oven from BestBuy.com - where found fantastic deals on some mid-to-high end appliances. The delivery took a few weeks, but it was painless and worth the savings. We splurged on a Bosch dishwasher (with the open floor plan and thin walls, it was important to have a near-silent dishwasher) and a Maytag double-oven. The previous appliances were sold on Craigslist, other than the refridgerator which is now in the pantry filled with booze and other party items. We love the party 'fridge!
REPAINTED THE WALLS: No more nasty pink! Hooray!! In the future we'll add a tiled backsplash... but for now, we're taking a break. :)

Of course there are a lot of less glamorous updates that went along with the kitchen remodel... but these are the most interesting items. Enjoy!!

Here's what the kitchen looked like before the remodel...

Our Care-Free Home's Facelift

2011-06-02T23:00:00.001-05:00

Our new home exterior...
Looking refreshed and era-appropriate!

After much ado, the updates to the yard and front exterior are complete! And after a great trip to Jamaica, our SLR camera was stolen!

What do these two things have in common? Pictures... We had hoped to provide you with stellar in-progress and exterior reveal photos, but instead we must provide you with some in-progress photos we (fortunately) downloaded to the computer a few weeks ago and some exterior reveal photos taken with Whitney's iPhone.

Despite the less-than-desireable picture quality, we're excited to show off Our Care-free Home's fabulous facelift! Here's a quick overview of what we did... needless to say this is NOT an all-inclusive list.

Removed dead and dying trees from the front of the house, providing more room to see the amazing home!
Planted mogu pine bushes along the front of the home. We saved money by purchasing younger bushes from Home Depot instead of the larger and more mature bushes from Bachmans.
Dethatched, aerated, seeded and sprayed the lawn - bringing it back to life despite the creeping charlie that had taken over the yard.
Placed new edging and landscape fabric in front of the house, surrounding the 4-foot perimiter of the front of the house with 2" deep Saint Cloud Granite we purchased from Hedberg.
Removed and cleaned the blue decorative aluminum grates.
Painted the wood trim with solid Stonehedge color stain.
Painstakingly removed the purple aluminum siding panels (which are not one large sheet after all, but many 10" panels that interlock with each other), painted them with three light coats of custom purple Behr paint, and reinstalled the panels.
Created a custom cedar fence that looks MUCH more era-appropriate and stained it to match the wood trim.
Painted, stained and added wood trim to the garage so that it matches the rest of the house.

Enjoy the photos of our new exterior... and for those of you who are in the Twin Cities, we hope to see you on Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. at our open house to show off the rest of the updates!

The view from the street.

Mogu pine with Saint Cloud granite

The newly painted purple panels

The new look of the exterior!

Our refreshed walkway and breezeway fence (recently watered)

More shots of the new fence and house numbers

The updated garage

As a reminder, here are some photos of what the front of the house used to look like. Quite the change!

Back from Jamaica Mon!

2011-05-31T22:27:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of recent posts - we've been in Jamaica celebrating a friend's wedding! Stay tuned this week for the big reveal of our front exterior... it's absolutely fabulous!

Notes From My Awesome Dad to a Girl In Over Her Head

2011-05-16T17:25:00.000-05:00

Whitney here, with a blog post entirely in honor of my dad, John.

When it comes to remodeling, I'd describe myself as a prenovice. Despite my "adorable little tool box" (Rob's words), I have no clue when it comes to tools, construction or home repairs. The condo I recently sold was a model unit, with brand new appliances and every upgrade in the book. I purchased a condo because - at the time - I preferred to pay association dues instead of worrying about maintenance.

I wish I had a photo of my parents' faces when they first saw Our Care-free Home. We're so impressed that you have a vision! It wouldn't be our choice, but good that you can see beyond [insert major home flaw here]. After all, my parents knew then what I know now - I was in wayyyy over my head. Add to that my recent major surgery, newly-launched side business and upcoming wedding... whaaaat was I thinking???

Fortunately, my dad (who, in partnership with his wife Karen, has completely transformed his hobby farm over the past decade+) is retired and has been helping pick up my slack. At times, given I work a 9-to-5 job, we are like two ships passing in the night - he the battle ship that accomplishes great feats during the day, me the puddle jumper that feels proud to simply get from Point A to B without breaking down.

Yesterday, after a weeklong doctor-required break from manual labor, I returned to the house and discovered a treasure trove of fatherly advice... left in the form of short notes, similar to those my dad has left me throughout my life. I'm lucky to have a dad that will give me good advice rather than bark angry orders when my painting technique is clearly terrible or I ruin yet another $15 paint brush. (Not to mention a future husband that doesn't freak out when I purchase more than $100 in custom paint in the wrong finish, but this blog post is not about you, dear).

So this post, dad, is in honor of you. Thanks for all the great advice, for your help and encouragement, and for bestowing upon me DNA that could see an architectural gem through the dirt and code violations . I love you.

Found - Gift House Stamps and Four Pennies

2011-05-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Our treasure trove from the kitchen demo.

While demolishing parts of our nasty kitchen in preparation for our awesome new floors, countertop and cabinets, Rob stumbled upon a treasure trove... Twenty Gift House Stamps and four pennies.

They're adorable and oh so retro - but what the heck are those stamps with a "cash value of 1 mill?"

In the 1960s, Gift House Stamps was among the leaders of the multi-million dollar stamp industry in the US. As people purchased items from retailers, they often earned one stamp per evert 10 cents of the sale price. Consumers would paste the stamps in to booklets, and trade the full booklets in at redemption centers for household items or appliances.

Who knew - the previous owners were stamp collectors!

The stamps were such a cool find, I had to do a little more research. After a little Googling, I uncovered the photo below photo from the Minnesota Historical Society website. Dated January 27, 1959, it shows a Gift House Stamp Redemption center in Saint Louis Park - not far from where our house is. Very cool!

Photo credit: Minnesota Historical Society

Considering New Shrubs and Trees

2011-05-11T09:00:00.003-05:00

Here are some great finds that we uncovered during a recent trip to Bachman's. Which will we choose? Even we aren't sure yet... but I guarantee you they'll be featured in the big exterior reveal. Which is only a few weeks away!

Mint Julep Ponpon Juniper - grows 4'-6' with attractive mint green foliage. It's trained as a ponpon and can stay a manageable size as long as you tend to it over the course of the year.

Dwarf Scotch Pine - our current favorite, and of course the most expensive. Has rich blue-green needles and an attractive reddish bark. You can maintain the present size and shape with pruning, which is a bonus.

Mugho Dwarf Pine - grows 6'-8' tall and up to 10' wide. It's got a mounded shape with dark green foliage. It needs to be pruned to maintain its shape.

Morel-red Pine - a dwarf form of Red Pine that grows up to 6' high. It maintains a dense, rounded form with long, light green needles.

Checking Out Rock Choices

2011-05-09T09:00:00.001-05:00

Yep, we have four tons of wet landscape
rock sitting next to the house. We're those people.

Hedberg Landscape & Masonry Supplies totally rocks. Pun intended.

We stopped by their Plymouth location to check out landscape rock for the front of the house. We're going to pull up the cheap plastic edging, move the garden border closer to the house, create a rain garden, and cover the edge of the house in rock.

Add this to the painting and staining of the exterior, and it's getting easier to imagine our little eyesore becoming a thing of beauty once again!

We considered a number of options before settling on 3/4" Saint Cloud Granite. It's light grey with some purple tones, so it should match the exterior nicely while creating a zen feel for the yard.

We'll post more pictures as soon as the exterior is ready for the "big reveal" - in less than a month!

The Saint Cloud Granite close up. When it's dry, it's all quite light in color (similar to the light gray pieces shown). Other options we considered are below.

Painting the Master Bedroom

2011-05-06T08:50:00.001-05:00

Prep really is the worst part of painting...

The big project in the master bedroom has been the walls. The original grass cloth wallpaper was in very rough shape…stained, ripped and generally showing at least 50 years of wear.

Although it was an original feature of the home, we decided to remove the wallpaper and add some color to the room with paint. Removing wallpaper is never fun, but with a careful approach we were able to get a great finished result.

Removing the grass cloth was actually fairly easily. All we needed was a spray-bottle with warm water, a good paint scraper, a ladder and plenty of drop cloths.

Next we patched the damaged areas of the walls with sheetrock compound and sanded them to get a smooth finish, this took a couple of rounds to get right. After the sheetrock compound was dry and the walls were smooth we primed the walls with Behr interior primer.

Working on the edging.

Finally, once the primer was dry, we put on two coats of Behr premium interior eggshell latex paint. It covered really well but because we used a white primer we had to do two coats. For anyone thinking about a similar project, I’d definitely recommend having your primer tinted with about 50% of your final color…this will help disguise a lot of small “misses” with the final coat.
After all that work, we’re really happy with the final outcome. The room looks great, but we’re already talking about having an artist do some custom paint that brings the room back to that MCM (midcentury modern) feel.

We're also replacing the carpet, purchasing new bedroom furniture, purchasing new curtains and hardware for the sliding glass doors, and installing a pendant lamp that will hang over the bed in the middle of the room.

Stay tuned for the master bedroom reveal!

Saving money by squeezing out those rollers!

All that time-consuming taping was totally worth it! No paint on the aluminum this time around. :)

Testing Out Exterior Stain

2011-05-04T08:00:00.004-05:00

Three test strips of stain cover the current rust-colored wood.

We're staining the exterior wood a color that we feel will complement the purple aluminum siding - which we're keeping purple (but repainting), much to many people's surprise!

We've tried out three different colors, and think we've made a decision... but I'll keep it a surprise for the reveal!

The stains we're working with have completely covered the red using only one coat, without any preparation. A great sign, as we'll be able to save a significant amount of time by skipping the bulk of the prep and getting right to staining!

There are some parts of the wood exterior that will need to be replaced, but unfortunately we're going to have to identify those areas and replace the wood as we go. It seems as though every time we focus more on the house, we find more damage. Arg!

But taking time to enjoy the cosmetic choices we're making does help us to get through the more frustrating projects.

Here's a closer look at the exterior stains we're considering. Any opinions out there?

Option 1: Gray Cloud

Option 2: Harbor Gray

Option 3: Stonehedge

Prepping Aluminum Siding for Painting

2011-05-01T21:24:00.001-05:00

Hello little panels - soon you will be painted and we will
stop hating you and laughing behind your back.

The purple aluminum siding that covers most of the exterior of our home has been oxidized and faded beyond recognition. You would never know that, one day more than 50 years ago, it was a beautiful, rich, deep purple! We plan to repaint the aluminum and honor the original color... just as soon as we get a hundred panels off the side of the house.

What we didn't realize until we started to pull them down is that the large aluminum panels are actually numerous thin, tall panels that interlock and are individually attached to the house with screws. And, in some parts, rusted nails that refuse to loosen up!

No more priming! Huzzah.

We did a lot of reading on painting oxidized aluminum panels, so hopefully our current approach is the right one. We're starting by power washing each panel to remove the dirt, spider webs and dead bugs. Next, we planned to prime the panels with an oil-based primer... but after a test, we realized that the primer was showing through the paint. Luckily, after a paint test without the primer, we determined the oil primer was unnecessary. Hooray, another opportunity to save some time!

And that's as far as we've gotten. Isn't it depressing? Thanks to snow, rain, wind, more snow, even more rain, and lots of kitchen demolition, we haven't made much progress on the panel painting.

On the positive side... how PUMPED are you for the exterior reveal?!

This is what the aluminum panels currently look like... Bonus that they're totally nasty up close.

This is what's behind the panels. Bonus that there is NO mold here! Unlike the kitchen.

Remember the part about the panels being nasty up close?
Here we see what's leftover of a large and very hungry city of spiders. Nooo thank you, spiders.

Ummm, you're not a screw. And that is bad.