Austin ModHouse: June 2007 Archives

containment?

we spent some time putting up the livestock fencing panels.

marvin (the bad boston terrier) continues to escape. the 69 MB is for sale on craigslist and I'd just about pay for somebody to take marvin away.

they have plenty of back yard to stretch their legs. but marvin seems to like showing up at neighbors homes.

pool decking and patio forms are complete and rebar in place. concrete truck is scheduled to arrive in the morning (if it doesn't rain). after that we can remove the rest of the tree protection and close off the back yard. I might just put marvin on the outside of the back yard as the last panel goes up. he can return back to the wild or wherever boston terriers come from... boston? anybody in boston want a wandering dog that really likes shoes and kitty litter boxes?

some family pics from the weekend.

went to san antonio to say "adios" to some relatives that are moving to germany. we ate at la fogata

Posted by paul at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

final phase?

concrete crew is here for their final project. they are now filling in around the pool to form and pour.

I took the opportunity to fill the voids around the pool with styrofoam leftover from the house construction.

here is a sketchup version of how I have envisioned the completed swim spa to look. the water areas to the top left are the koi pool.

once this is complete we can remove the last of the tree protection, clean up the lot, fencing and landscaping.

I fear that silt fence removal is going to cost more than installation. so far I've found no company that UN-installs silt fences.

Posted by paul at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

chalk boarded

cabinets now have sliding doors. faces are chalk board paint. the idea is that each of us gets one cabinet to house all the junk (would be clutter) that is accumulated from day to day living. we have no attic. so this is additional storage.

the swim spa is set in place and now we are back to waiting on the concrete guys to come fill, form and pour the decking that will surround it.

HGTV called yesterday. our episode of WHAT YOU GET FOR THE MONEY will air july 1st. I think he said 11.30 (10.30 central time)

I'm also nearing completion of my classes to get my RE lic to list that house for sale.

Posted by paul at 03:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

light box

my favorite time to view the house is after dinner, when I walk the dogs. it's all lit up and I can see everybody inside. it's like watching my favorite tv show. our back yard is very private so no neighbors to view us.

the garage at night.

the garage reminds me that it's been 2 months since our e39 bmw was rear ended while parked in front of our old house. we still do not have the car back and I no longer have a rental. insurance company tried to give us our bmw back and claimed they were all done. somehow, the car no longer had a working speedometer and every warning light on the dash is lit up. my patience with the insurance company is wearing thin.

last night we enjoyed a crazy japanese movie in the media room. I give it two thumbs up. if you can do the subtitles thing and like something a bit different; The Happiness of the Katkuris. it is available on netflix.

Posted by paul at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

boxed in

more cabinet boxes have arrived

Posted by paul at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

swim spa

swim spa install guys have arrived and got right to work

I'm anxious to see it all complete. the concrete guys have come back for the second back patio pour that includes the decking around the pool.

Posted by paul at 03:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

escape from austinmodhouse

my son left the front door open to the screen room. this saturday the dogs escaped and were missing for hours. we finally got a call from neighbor Earl that they were at his new house. they were muddy and Marvin (the boston terrier) had scratches all over him.

kat used the outdoor dogwash to get them all cleaned up

the evening view from the master bath

mom primed and painted all the stair and inside balcony railing. kat loves the aluminum colored rustoleum.

mom has worked very hard while she's been here. I couldn't let her work on her last day before heading back to her california wine country home. so we had a picnic and swim down at the barton creek green belt. it's great to be so close. eichler (the boxer) went swimming with us. I hear boxers are not good swimmers. nobody told eichler.

my son calls this "green belt island". we usually go to red bud island when we want to get in the water; also very near our new house

mom and eichler

the setting seems so remote. yet we are near downtown. the occasional tuber or kayaker passed by our swim and picnic location.

took mom out to FINO for her last meal here. she developed a taste for mexican martinis on this trip. I think we'll definitely be going back to FINO. it reminded us of our favorite restaurant back in santa cruz; SOIF. we used to love to go there for a glass of wine, cheese plate and their adventurous desserts.

I caught my son trying to insert the olive spear into his ear. I explained how you never put anything smaller than your elbow into your ear. he tried to get his elbow in there.

Posted by paul at 02:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

list knock off

mom leaves in a few days. she's compiled a list of projects she hopes to complete prior to her departure. we're busy knocking items off the list.

the master bedroom is not square. if the headboard were pushed up against the wall it would be at an angle to the wall of sliding glass doors at the foot. as a solution I made this headboard with incoporated floating night stands. headboard is neopolitan plyboo

you can see that one night stand is deeper than the other. there is also a storage space behind the headboard

my daughter just asked me "how do people make web sites" today she is helping me create this entry so she can get a glimpse of the inner works of the blog.

my son recently found this stick bug at the kitchen under a barstool

Posted by paul at 08:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

enjoyment

I was asked if I am enjoying my new home. my answer seemed to be quite surprising; no. I have not yet had the time for much enjoyment. it's still much too overwhelming. my reason is, everywhere I look I see 100 small things I need to get to. a dry wall patch here, paint touch up there, some hardwood floor fill in, boxes of stuff from the old house to unpack (and the fact that the old home is still filled w/ stuff and looks like a disaster area) etc. etc.

the lack of sleep hasn't helped either. we have a wall of east facing windows at the end of our bed. the view of the back yard is great. when the sun starts to rise at 4 am it is not great. the pic below was taken from bed at 11 pm (in the middle of an electrical storm

this morning I was able to sleep in to almost 7! thanks to my sun shield. yes, that is a cardboard box and a 4x8 of 1/2 inch birch. we need some window treatments.

and don't get me started on the accoustics. from the master suite the ice maker sounds like a freight train. conversations are as through megaphones and music sounds like an echo chamber and puts us all on edge. I have fixes for the accoustics in the works, but they are falling down my list of things to take care of.

enough whining. I know things will be much better in a few weeks. some things we love about the new house,

the stove! stir frying on a real wok burner is fantastic, and the convection ovens are great fun

the geothermal hvac works great, is quiet and humidistat keeps indoors very comfortable. the starck tub is a great soak. the home theater is the best place take in a movie.

we did take sunday off from all the projects and moving. hiked the green belt and dipped in the barton springs.

my son found this exotic looking flower floating along in the creek. he let us all smell it and take a few pics before he destroyed it.

Posted by paul at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

back on line!

tell me, did you miss me?

we have internet at the new house. we are partially moved in. at least we have all the stuff we like over at the new house. stuff we don't care so much for will likely find us.

on 5-22-07 I noticed our blue prints were stamped 5-22-06 by the engineer.

we have found a few glitches and we've been busy getting everything sorted. no big problems. we have started the back yard work wich involves a koi pond with negative edge, three levels of patio and a lap pool. it's strange to be at home while all this work is going on. the wall of glass seems so odd when those guys are working so hard on one side of the glass and we are watching from air conditioned space just inches away. I feel like I should be helping and sweating along side.