ROBIN HOOD'S HIDEAWAY

On April 15, 2008 we closed on a 1955 Mid-Century Modern home in Merriam, KS that was custom designed by the late Donald R. Hollis of Hollis + Miller Architects. We will be sharing our journey as we update the house to make it our own, while trying to stay as close to the original design as possible.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Getting Stood Up and Backsplash Tile!

Don't you hate it when you rearrange your schedule to set up an appointment with someone and they don't show up? Well, we got stood up today! We skipped our morning run, and got to work early so that we could be home by 4 pm. A representative from LiquidStone was supposed to come over and give us a quote for concrete countertops. We waited for over two hours and nobody ever showed up! LD even left 2 messages on the guy's cell phone, but he never returned her calls. I can understand somebody running late or an emergency coming up, but they should at least call. I don't know about you, but I don't like to do business with people like that. I have no respect for someone who has no respect for another person's time.

On a positive note, I got a very excited phone call from LD today. She called me from the Home Depot to let me know that they were now carrying the glass tile we had been lusting over for many, many months (urban camouflage by daltile). Fastfloors.com sells the tile for $13.71 a square foot, and shipping is almost $200.00. When she called and told me that the tile was only $9.97/sq. ft, I told her to go for it! We might not be as far along with our cabinet stripping or have kitchen countertops, but we now officially have the tile for our backsplash!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Art on the walls

We have actually been stripping the cabinets, but have not progressed enough to really blog about it. The work is slow and tedious, and LD has threatened to hire a painter more than once. She really has no patience for the process, I on the other hand, are all about the process. And the lack of countertops is driving her nuts. So on our weekly stop at Home Depot this morning, she decided to go talk to the kitchen designers about the possiblity of installing countertops before the cabinet refinishing is done. When I came into the conversation, I heard the Home Depot staff telling her to be patient. She later told me that he had used that word about 15 times. I am hoping that it sunk in.


We have been doing a bunch of little things around the house. I finished painting the soffit a couple of weekends ago. You would think that dark paint would do the job in one coat-not. It took three coats of paint to get it looking good. I can't say that I am completely thrilled by the paint color, but it is something we can live with for a while.


Something else that I have been working on is finding the right location for our art work. The first piece of art we hung in this house was LD's art piece of a loon. I found the perfect spot in the living room before we even moved in. It is a piece that she specifically created to go over the fireplace in our previous house, but it never really fit in with the style of the house. When I hung it in this house, however, it was stunning! It was as if somehow, deep down in her subconscious, she knew that one day we would move into this MCM house.


LD purchased a set of wildlife sketches by Olaus J. Murie while she was taking a course at the USFWS National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV. LD found them a new home in our hallway.


I fell in love with the frames (below) when I saw them at the store. In the store they had black and white photographs of beach scenery. They brought back memories of family summer vacations when I was a kid. I immediately remembered a picture of my dad doing a headstand at the beach. Unfortunately I have yet to locate it. My mom could not find it in any of her albums. I suspect that it probably found a new home with one of my siblings. So you guys, if you have it, you better fess up!

In the mean time, I framed a couple of black and white photographs that I took at the Saguaro National Park in Arizona. They used to hang above my desk, but now they are hanging from the east wall in our office.


The sea otter from the Monterey Bay Aquarium has found its home in our laundry room. Why not?! I think a laundry room should have art work too!


There are many other framed prints that are waiting for a wall in our home. Once we are done with the stripping and sanding, we will put up more.