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Archive for the ‘madness’ Category

a mad rabbit hole. . .

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

While we’ve made plenty of progress over the last year, our home is still very much in transition. As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, there are many items mad is waiting to unpack until our rehab efforts are complete. Thankfully, there’s a room in the garage (that was once my dad’s bedroom) that facilitates this storage.

The garage storage room that enables the mad approach

Sometimes, however, our approach can be a little frustrating (especially given our well known type a tendencies). The good news is that today’s rabbit hole was started for a good cause. I brought a few things back with me from my five years in New York. An appreciation for real seasons, a partner in life, and an affection for the New York Mets baseball team. My fandom was prompted in part by Mike (who loves all things baseball) but also by getting to know the Mets over a four-year period. I like that they’re scappy–even though they have a pretty high payroll. I like that they always act like a team (as opposed to a gathering of well-paid position players). I like that they’re the ancestors of the Dodgers and the Giants. I like the big apple in the top hat and the whole Met mascot family. And I like that they’re always the underdog due to another NY baseball team that we don’t need to name. I will even admit that I even like the way the Mets make you earn your fandom. Mike and I don’t have any animosity towards other baseball teams, but the Mets are menschkeit to us (especially with Isaac Benjamin Davis at first base and Howie Rose announcing the plays).

How does this relate to our storage room? The Mets are kicking off their west coast roadtrip this week. In honor of this, Mike and I decided to get some bleacher seats to see them at AT&T park here in SF. There really aren’t any bad seats at our local ballpark, and one of our best dates was going to see the Brooklyn Cyclones at Coney Island in the bleachers. Of course, to properly pay tribute to the Mets I wanted to bring my super-cool stadium seat cushion. And of course, this cushion was still packed away in one of our many boxes full of art in the storage room.

the cause of today's rabbit hole

Mike was kind enough to halt work on his office to locate the cushion. After a couple of hours, he found it–in the last box he looked in (why are these things always in the last box?). Of course, he found a few other items that we’ve agreed to take out of storage (towels and sheets)–and the room is neater and more organized than when he started. I showed my appreciation for Mike’s efforts by making him a homemade pizza while he was working away. Now both residents of mad maison are sated.

a little thank you from one member of mad maison to another

Posted in SF House, character-building, garage, mad about NYC, the mad kitchen | 1 Comment »

mad bling

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Back in February mad shared our project to add a vanity area to our bedroom for me. After a few months, I realized there was a component missing. As part of my DIY streak I have quite a few necklaces. I wanted to find a way to store them that would discourage tangling and make it easy to incorporate them into my morning routine. Previously, I stored my necklaces in a hacked wooden medicine cabinet–but having them behind a door in a cabinet that was a little too “country” for my evolving tastes wouldn’t work in mad maison. I had seen numerous open displays of jewelry that I thought worked well, but none of those displays supported the number of necklaces I have. I also wanted something that could “tuck away” to avoid tempting the cats from turning my creativity into a cat toy. After a little bit of research I realized a towel holder might do the trick. I found one at ikea that had clean lines and a little upturn to keep the necklaces on the holder. Mike and I installed it on the wardrobe we have in the bedroom. I absolutely love it–my necklaces are readily available but not in the way.

my new necklace storage, with Max's approving gaze

You might be surprised to see my necklaces organized by type and color (if you’ve forgotten that I built a database for our cross-country move). Mike wasn’t surprised at all.

my necklaces in action

Posted in SF House, bedroom, mad projects, type a | Comments Off

a little mad project

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Mike and I have started to make great progress on our second bedroom (which serves as Mike’s office). The room was being used even though it was in quite a state, so the first thing we had to do was move out of it. We’ve temporarily relocated Mike’s desk and miscellany to our bedroom, and all the items that we were “storing” in his office have been moved to various undisclosed locations. This room is exciting for a few reasons:

1. We removed about half of the wallpaper “dry” (without DIF or steam) right after we moved in.
2. There is only one layer of wallpaper on the walls.
3. We don’t need to “live” in the room while we work in it.

All of this allows for a cleaner and smoother room rehab that we’ll be reporting on in future mad maison postings. In the meanwhile, I thought I would share another little project I’ve taken on myself. This was another mad garage find that I’m going to try to turn into something we’ll use and enjoy. I’m going to try to improve a lamp that belonged to my grandparents with some gumption and spray paint. This lamp caught my eye for a few reasons–it doesn’t have any flowers on it (which is unusual for my grandparents belongings) and I like the “two-tier” effect of the lampshade. I will share after pictures when I’ve completed the project. I do recognize that it’s a little odd that I’ve taken on smaller “hobby” projects to distract me from my huge renovation “hobby.” My commitment to mad maison is that profound.

my little lamp project (before)

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the mad kitchen

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

This weekend mad took a break from scraping, painting, staining, sanding, and the like. Instead, we put our energies into the fun enterprise of making Fathers’ Day cupcakes for my dad. While I have fully embraced the DIY attitude of my generation with plenty of crafty hobbies (that would include knitting, making jewelry, cooking, and of course, home improvement), my dad does not have a lot of hobbies. He doesn’t make models, golf, sail boats, or play chess. He also doesn’t have a strong hankering for geeky toys like I do. mad was challenged, therefore, to find an appropriate Fathers’ day gift that he would use and appreciate. He does occasionally like a snack, with a sweet tooth that leans more to the carrot cake and key lime pie end of the spectrum. However, he’s also been on a bit of a health kick for the last few years, eschewing refined sugar, flour, and excessive starch. I decided, therefore, to use our very functional (though still less than attractive) kitchen to make him carrot cake cupcakes that would jive with his clean living attitude. The cupcakes are sugar free, reduced fat, and contain organic whole wheat flour and organic shredded carrots. Despite my DIY nature, I’ve never been a baker, so I baked test batches of a few different carrot cupcake recipes. My brother came over last week to help beta test the batches (as well as help Mike carry our newly refinished furniture up to the dining room). We all unanimously picked the recipe that I used for tomorrow. Mike provided critical sous-baking and cleanup skills to the endeavor. I’m hopeful that my dad will enjoy and appreciate the surprise. Interestingly, he isn’t a faithful reader of mad maison (he delegates that to my mom), so this blog post shouldn’t spoil the surprise for him. You’ll also notice we’ve created a new category (the mad kitchen) for us to share future culinary hi-jinks with you.

mad's Fathers' Day Carrot Cake Cupcakes

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Welcome, Shlomo

Monday, March 29th, 2010

A photo of a Northern Mockingbird, and one of Shlomo's mishpocheh (brethren)

Last week activity at mad maison slowed a little because I was on a business trip to Plano, Texas. While I could write an entire post (perhaps even a few) about the differences between the Greater Dallas area and the Greater San Francisco Bay Area (and why I’m grateful to live in the latter), today’s post is about the new neighbor who greeted me upon my return to mad maison. Our new neighbor didn’t announce himself until after night fell. Once it was dark, he sang his song all night long. Yes, loyal mad maison readers, Shlomo (which is Hebrew for peaceful) is a bird (and yes, irony was present when we named him). After a little bit of research it was clear that Shlomo is a Northern Mockingbird. It seems that when male mockingbirds are without a mate, they sing throughout the night to attract one. While Shlomo hasn’t prevented the residents of mad maison (human or feline) from falling asleep, it’s our hope that he finds a date soon. Of course, Shlomo is one of those small reminders of the differences between New York and the Bay Area. For all of the articles I read about the Peregrine Falcons in Manhattan, I didn’t see many non-pigeon birds in New York City. And of course, avian sightings were even less likely before April or May. But here in temperate San Francisco, with plenty of hills and trees for friends of the forest to make themselves home, Shlomo is welcome.

Posted in mad about SF, madness, urban living, madly | Comments Off

our own little legacy

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

I will admit, mad has strange taste in television programs. Mike enjoys televised sporting events, while I am a sucker for certain procedural dramas. However, we share an appreciation for PBS and documentaries of all shapes and sizes. So it’s not surprising that I’ve been watching the PBS series that sparked the 2009 White House “Beer Summit,” Faces of America. I find myself watching the show with a mix of pride and longing. Mike and I come from salt-of-the earth folks. There are no founding fathers, original settlers, or 600 year-old ancient Asian family histories for either of us. As best as we can tell, there weren’t any mad ancestors inhabiting the new world before 1880. Our grandparents and great-grandparents were farmers, mechanics, salesmen, blacksmiths, bus drivers, and gardeners. No statesmen, no artists, and certainly, no bloggers. But they worked hard to create their own family traditions. As I watch a show that’s all about people seeing generations of family legacy placed before them, thereby renewing their commitment to that legacy, my own commitment is renewed. Because while the legacy we’re a part of in this house is only 67 years old–that seems pretty significant to me. Knowing that we’re not just making a home, but making it in the same place that my pops played ball, learned to read, and learned to drive. It may not be a colonial piece of history, but it works for us.

a mad kind of gothic

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a different kind of distraction

Monday, February 1st, 2010

I know that a lot of people use the internet to distract from the frustrations of everyday life. For some it’s reading every news article on their subject of choice. For others it’s checking out every video on You Tube on their subject of choice. For yet other people it’s all about wikipedia. And of course, there’s always Facebook. For me, while I try to have a nice balance to my internet interests, I’ve been finding myself spending an inordinate amount of time looking at light. Honestly, adding more lamps and lighting is item 1,011 on a 1,200 item list here at mad maison, but I can’t help myself. And, I’ve found my muse. There’s a beautiful lamp at Room and Board that has become the grail of my quest. My goal is to find a slightly shorter, much less expensive version of the Olinda lamp. I love that the glass base reduces the “visual clutter” as my teachers at HGTV would say. My distraction has begun. I only hope I don’t have to distract myself from my distraction.

My current distraction. Photo from Room and Board

Posted in SF House, madness | 3 Comments »

a mad approach

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Since I’ve started cross-posting madmaison to my facebook page, mad has started seeing an uptick in the comment traffic on our site, for which we’re very grateful. One of the questions we received via comments warranted an answer in a new post. Faithful reader Michelle wrote “That sure is a lot of work! do you take breaks in between rooms?”

The short answer to the question is no, but with most things mad, the truth is a little more complex. Now that mad has worked through a couple of rooms, we’ve realized that we’ve developed a bit of a rhythm when it comes to completing our rehab work. We’ve already started working on our next project, which is the floor of our bathroom. It has older, dirty linoleum tiles that were installed by my grandfather when my pops was just a lad. We’re many years away from doing a full reno on the bathroom, but as an interim measure we want to get down to the original wood plank flooring (as we did everywhere else in the house). We’re often motivated to start working right away on the next room due to the enthusiasm and excitement generating from finishing a room. Inevitably, once we start working on that next room, we start to realize we’re a little wiped out and slow the pace down a bit–only for that pace to pick up again as we start to see the progress we’re making. In addition, mad tries hard to incorporate a little fun in our fair city. When you’re working on a project like this it’s easy to get frustrated, burnt out, and yes, even a little bitter. We try to make sure we take time to enjoy San Francisco so we can remember why we’re on this adventure in the first place.

All things considered, we think we have a pretty healthy yet productive pace for rehabbing the whole house before we get too far into this new decade.

the two mad cats, trying to teach us how to pace ourselves

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desperate mad innovations

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

We’ve mentioned before the essential role that Big Wally’s plaster repair has played in the rehab of both our Living Room, what will be our bedroom, and we expect every other room of the house. Big Wally’s reattaches the plaster walls to the wooden lathe that sit behind it. When mad used Big Wally’s in the living room, we came very close to running out of the precious caulk. Therefore, I ordered twice the amount of caulk for the bedroom. Unfortunately, the walls in the bedroom were in worse shape than the living room. And with about 12 holes that still required caulk, we ran out. You can only buy Big Wally’s on the internet, so mad needed to implement some combat tactics in order to stay on schedule. As documented before, mad performs well under pressure. Using a chopstick and a pair of scissors we were able to squeeze those last few drops of caulk out of every tube. Thankfully, it was just enough to fill those remaining 12 holes. Most important, it kept the final week of the bedroom rehab work on track.

Completed bedroom plaster repair thanks to scissors, chopsticks, and guile.

Posted in SF House, bedroom, character-building, madness | Comments Off

sometimes you eat the bar . . .

Monday, December 28th, 2009

and, as the dude would say, sometimes the bar eats you. While it’s been a struggle, mad continues to make progress towards completing the rehab on what will be our primary bedroom. Our goal is to have the bedroom complete around the first of January, which means the clock is ticking. In case you’re new to mad maison, or our living room rehab feels like a distant memory, the steps for being “primer ready” are extensive:

1. Remove crazy-glued, band-aid brand wallpaper that was hidden under layers of paint. Remember to employ water, steam, DIF spray, and anything else you can think of to get the wallpaper off. Curse occasionally when a piece of wall accompanies the wallpaper. Sacrifice at least one outfit to the wallpaper removal deities and tell yourself you still have three rooms and a hallway to go (and with them, plenty of opportunities to wear this crusty ensemble).
2. Identify all of the cracks in the walls of the room and determine how many of those cracks represent the walls coming of the lathe. Grumble when you realize it’s most of the cracks. Stare in wonder at the crack that goes up one wall, across the ceiling, and down the other wall.
3. Drill holes in the wall in preparation for the Big Wally’s treatment. Remember to get out all destructive feelings during the drilling.
4. Complete the Big Wally’s repair process by spraying conditioner and then caulk into the holes you just created (yes, even upside-down on the ceiling). Screw in temporary clamps to ensure the Big Wally treatment does it’s job. Wait 24 hours.
5. Slather copious amounts of joint compound/patching plaster over every hole, gouge, crack, and crevice in the walls (yes, even upside-down on the ceiling). Wait 24 hours.
6. Sand the walls as smooth as possible without removing all the joint compound you just applied.
7. Apply two coats of primer–the first primer these walls will see in their 101 years on this planet.
8. Apply two coats of paint.

This room should have been easier than the living room. It’s smaller, the ceilings are lower, and there was no mantle to remove. Alas, this was not the case. The wallpaper was beyond comprehension and underneath that wallpaper the walls were in much worse shape. Despite this, mad endures. We’ve completed all plaster repair and we’ll have finished all the joint compound application before we head to bed tonight. I’m taking off this week from work so we can achieve our goal. Our plan is to sand tomorrow and prime on Wednesday. Painting, which Mike used to hate more than anything, will be our favorite part of the process.

I read a lot of “shelter” and home design blogs when I’m not working or working on mad maison (feel free to check out Apartment Therapy’s 2009 Homies feature to see the variety of blogs out there). When I lived in New York, these were a fun distraction that provided the occasional inspiration for a small tweak to our perfect (in our eyes) home. Now, they inspire me to action and, I will admit, occasionally make me feel a little slow and inadequate. But then I remind myself that Mike and I signed up for the entire journey together, not just the destination. I remember that I live in one of the best cities on earth where I get to enjoy not only the history of this 101 year-old building but the family history that comes with living in the house my Dad grew up in. I remind myself that all of this home rehab work will be well worth it when it’s done. I remind myself that we’ll be living in chaos for only a fraction of the time we’ll be living in this house. And I look out the window of what will be our beautiful bedroom, past the rooftops of those uniquely San Franciscan homes and at the peak of the Bay we get to see and remind myself that this is all well worth it.

We at mad maison definitely have more in common with the tortoise than the hare. Finishing will be all the 'win' we need. Photo courtesy of thecolor.com