The Lawn Competition That We're Not Winning

Here's a sweet little pic of the kidlets hamming it up on our front lawn. And look at how we lucked out with a swack o' perennial flowers blooming in our lawn.

Wait. What? Those aren't perennials?

They're weeds?

Guess we'll add that one to the mile long list of things to do this long weekend.

Turns out, after a brief survey of three streets that surround our house that yes, we do indeed have the ugliest, most gnarly lawn of them all. Something to be proud of, really. I've seen more landscaping trucks driving slowly by our house shaking their heads than I care to share with you.

Jason did some research on dandelion infestations* because I REFUSE to use any chemicals on our lawn.

Baby + sitting on lawn = hearty green snack

Also, in Calgary, ground and grey water is routed directly into the Bow, UNFILTERED. The main reason why there is no street car washing allowed. So anything that we put on the lawn ends up in the river, which we drink. Ahh, the circle of life.

He found out that lo', you can eat dandelions! Good in salads, dressing and even makes a decent wine. So really, by cultivating our dandelion infestation, we're really embracing sustainable urban gardening. Edible landscaping. I'm sure everyone in the neighbourhood will love us for it!

Here's a recipe I found online. Looks like something you do to cooked spinach to make it taste good. No matter what goodness you cover cooked spinach with, it's still just a bunch of slimy leaves.

Dandelion Greens

Ingredients:

1 pound dandelion greens**

1/2 cup chopped onion1 clove garlic, minced

1 whole small dried hot chile pepper, seeds removed, crushed

1/4 cup cooking oilsalt and pepper

Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Discard dandelion green roots; wash greens well in salted water. Cut leaves into 2-inch pieces. Cook greens uncovered in small amount of salted water until tender, about 10 minutes. Sauté onion, garlic, and chile pepper in oil. Drain greens; add to onion garlic mixture. Taste dandelion greens and season with salt and pepper. Serve dandelion greens with grated Parmesan cheese.

Recipe for dandelion greens serves 4[00].

Anyone want to come over for dinner? I'm serving Severely Neglected Lawn.

LP

*oh, speaking of infestations, did I mention we have a cute little mouse family in our garage? Super.

**sure glad I have an entire lawn made up of dandelions for the pound that I'll need for this recipe - is this a recipe for an entire neighbourhood?

Treasure Hunting - An Aside

As a certified geek with multiple degrees in Nerd, I have always fantasized about finding treasures in the walls and rafters of old houses I work in. I think it's one of the reasons why I became an archaeologist. Treasure hunting for secrets that people hid long ago. When I worked at Fort Steele in the summer of 2000, one of the features we focused on were outhouses. The outhouse is where you would go to hide your secrets - evidence of affairs, drinking problems, cheats, lies, scams. Because the outhouse is the last - no, actually - the only place you wouldn't want to look for evidence. We found countless liquor bottles, and jewelry, shoes, knives, hardware, marbles, etc. We also found out what people ate (yes - kind of gross) and the time of year of the 'deposit' (evidenced by the seeds found in the layers). If an outhouse was aged well, there was actually no smell and fairly easy to dig. Aaaannnd random aside done.

How thrilled was I when Jay, for some god forsaken reason, was recently poking around in the basement rafters when he felt something in the back corner. He pulled out a long tube of paper, unrolled it slowly and found a decent sized sample of wallpaper (like we don't have enough of it permanently embedded on the walls), and an old black and white photo of some kids standing in front of an old farm house. And something that could not have been more exciting as far as rafter finds go. Paint chips of all of the colours originally used in the house! YIPPEE!!

A little background on Mid Century Modern paint palettes. MCM colours were a departure from more conservative and staunch colours in the 1940s and the brooding 'manly' colours of the first quarter of the century. They reflected the period after the war - a period of great optimism, innovation and focus on family and the home.

The MCM period essentially redefined the home to fit growing families and women who no longer had to work due to the end of the Second World War. Not unlike today, where we're at the forefront of redefining how we live (think of how different appliances are today - Dyson vacuums, front loading washer dryers, tankless water heaters, and the emergence of newly designed, energy efficient housing).

I adore the MCM period of design because houses were designed both to entertain guests and with women in mind: ample storage in cupboards and closets, spacious rooms to sache through with your button up dress, well planned kitchens with clever shelving and the hyper modern appliances that you could buy in designer colours like turquoise and pink while cute little cartoon birds sing at your windowsill...

And there was no fear of more feminine colours in the house. We've (ok I've) experienced firsthand the distaste for keeping our pink bathroom but really, if done tastefully, why fear a feminine bathroom? I don't know about you, but I spend way more time in the bathroom than Jay. If my bathroom is pretty, I feel pretty. ha ha. Anyways, this is a whole other posting that will be arriving shortly. Back to paint chips.

All the paint chips found were Pittsburgh Paints - from the Maestro Colour collection. That pink that we so tenderly cherish in our hall is called 'Carnation'. As stated on California Paint's website who feature a sparkly brand new MCM paint line (1940s-1950s):

“One of the iconic colors of the 1950s, this clear, strong pink was popular in all aspects of fashion and interior design. It had strong connections with the First Lady at the time Mamie Eisenhower, a foremost color trendsetter. During the era the color was commonly referred to as “Carnation Pink” (California Paints as quoted in Retro Renovation)

I want to be a colour trendsetter!! Hmph. *stamps foot

The living room and some of the bedrooms were painted in 'Baby Blue'. The upstairs bathroom with the pink fixtures was painted in 'Green Glow' and the back wall of the kitchen cabinets and the downstairs office was 'Turquoise'.

The 'Ceramic Rose' was actually an exterior colour for the trim, window sashes and basement level siding. I imagine that the stucco was likely painted a cream - stucco is very difficult to colour test. To accent the house, the exterior fence was painted Baby Blue.

A tough little predicament for heritage purists out there. Now that I know the original colours and they are kind of hideous, is it ok to repaint in a scheme that we like?

LP

Why I May Just Be The Greatest Wife That Ever Lived...

Jason loathes squeaky floors. So much so, that he thought he would fix a creak in our BRAND NEW kitchen floor by drilling screws into the floorboards from the basement. Yes. I did actually say 'drill screws into the floorboards'. And yes. He did think this was a brilliant idea.

I had no idea what he was doing when he called me to go up to the kitchen.

He asked jokingly: "any screws poking up through the floor?"

Me: "Yes, Jason. There is actually a screw poking up through the BRAND NEW floor"

*Illegible muffled swearing from below*

Me to Jason when he is inspecting his 'handiwork': "Why would you EVER think that was a good plan?"

Jason: "But I was only off by this much" (holds fingers together in a tiny pinch)

All I gave him was a look. That's it. No yelling, no tears, no silent punishment for three days, making him sleep on the couch.

Nope. I'm point collecting. First, the move to Calgary. Then a trip to Vegas this weekend. Coupled with a future fishing trip. I think el wifey needs a new little blue box.

LP

Oh, PS. The floor still squeaks.

Dear Sink...

Why do you have to be so difficult? Why do you have to be cracked? And why can't I find your doppleganger tucked away in a corner of the local New and Used, marked down to $15? Why do you insist on making me look in every Craigslist, Ebay bid, every architectural salvage, and used building material store online in Canada and the United States to find a match? Why do you have to have the cutest taps, that don't seem to exist anywhere and that only fit a slant back sink, the rarest sink type in THE ENTIRE WORLD?

And why, oh why, when I find something close to the original, do you have to be lavender or pink, from Pasadena, CA or Toledo, OH? And $400 US? What's up with that?

I think we need to break up...

L

Bathroom Reno

Yes. Sadly, there is very little redeemable of our downstairs bathroom to restore. The original terrazzo smeared together with a later 70s linoleum (saying bad 70's linoleum is redundant - it's all bad), the shower board behind the white 3x3" tile saturated with water/mold and well, that's about it for the bathroom - it's tiny. We are reusing the original Universal Rundle toilet - lovely lines as far as fixtures go. The sink, which is wall hung with a slant back that holds a sweet little Mueller fixture is cracked and according to the guy who repainted our upstairs bathroom - is "toast".

Original sink, toilet and white square tile above sink.

So I have been on a manhunt to find a replacement from the same era. It is proving 'challenging' to say the least and I am now scouring the Ohio Craigslists' and salvaged building material stores (and oh yes, I started in Canada, then moved to western US. I am slowly moving east).

Jason and his brother, who so kindly came out for a visit just after we moved in, took a sledgehammer to the bathroom shower one weekend in March.

The demo crew taking a break on the front steps.

They quickly discovered that in 1950s houses, drywall was designed to withstand nuclear warfare and is connected by this impenetrable web of metal mesh. Once you start removing drywall, it's hard to stop. They ended up taking off just a 'leetle beet' too much. Oh, well. By doing so, though, we found out that hey - no water damage beyond the shower! Something I'm sure we would be wondering otherwise...

We hired a general contractor to finish the rest (Cornad Contracting) and work started this week.

For one of the only reno's we will be doing in this house, we will be undertaking the following. With a wee bit of help from our g/c, Fred, Murray the electrician (he's excellent and made some super suggestions to add period appropriate lighting) and Justin the plumber (I will add contact info shortly) and various others that are coming and going all day long:

• New concrete board in shower and opening up door so anyone over 5'7" doesn't have to duck to get in
• New shower door and taps and shower head (by Moen) (pix to follow)
• New 'tile-o-rama' from our BFF Corrine at Deerfoot Carpet & Flooring- dark grey floor tile, white subway in the shower with a 3" border of teal/blue glass penny tiles, dark grey pebble on the shower floor (heavenly)
• Refurbished wall hung sink, which at this rate, I'll probably have to ship from Zimbabwe - using original taps
• Original toilet
• Original vanity mirror
• Original light over vanity
• Paint yet to be determined, by the Johnston clan

We're at the boring insulation/vapour barrier/lot's of hammering that gives me a headache stage so I will spare you progress pictures at this point. But maybe that's exciting for some of you. Whatever floats your boat.

Me, the vanity and some studs.

L

Agua DIY

Hubby and I are not much for DIY. We enjoy watching the DIY channel and I adore collecting materials for projects I intend to start but never do (you should see my fabulous pillow fabric collection). Only out of dire necessity do we actually dare to start and finish (gasp!) a DIY. This, was one of those cases.

So I manhunted* the previously mentioned Santevia water filter and by chance, found that they were sold at our local organic haven, Community Natural Foods on 10th Avenue SW. At $169.99, $30 below the online price, who could resist? Not I!

I brought said water filter home, and Lily and I assembled**, only to discover that it didn't fit anywhere in the kitchen. The only option was in the hall by the kitchen. But finding a suitable stand or table had its challenges because of the limited width of the hallway.

We decided the best option was a night table - which would meet the criteria of enough height to not have to bend down to pour water and a more compact size. We agreed that the Hemnes nightstand from Ikea in white met our needs.

To bring a little spunk into kitchen into the hallway, Jason (reluctantly) spray painted the stand a bright yellow (he = not a fan of the colour).

This is our garage. I had no idea what it looked like until I snapped this picture.

We added a little retro touch by using a vintage chrome dish knob he found in the basement - still in perfect condition. And the final product? Voila! Doesn't it look divine with the pink and penitentiary grey walls? No?

LP

*Feverishly and what some would call 'obsessively' hunt down an item, find the best price then order or buy to be sent through any means possible, including mailing by boat from a small obscure country. Approach has met with 'challenges' from time to time. Right Jason? *grin

**I assembled while she de-assembled and made a mess of the bubble wrap

Agua

Whhhhhyyyy can I not stop obsessing about this water filter?

Is it because of the 8 stages of filtration? (including one stage with MAGNETIC ENERGY - rad)

Is it because it is tres environmental and requires a filter change only once every six months and filters tap water?

Is it because there is a white ring around my bathtub every morning from the previous night's bath?

Or is it because I have no friends in Calgary and have nothing better to do?

Maybe a little of all of the above?

This sweet little water filter is leagues cheaper than a conventional water cooler and provides you with some of the purest water on earth. (only $199 for the whole shebang) Plus it's a Delta, BC based company. Go Canada!

Lucky I get to choose my own birthday gift this year.... (nerdiest gift ever)

For more information: (read the Client Testimonials - very insightful)

Santevia Enhanced Water Systems

LP

The Kitchen: After - sort of...

Time to get back at ‘er. After a month of unpacking endless boxes, adjusting our lungs to prairie dust and radical 20 degree daily temperature ranges, I finally have some time to update. Since I last posted, we have not necessarily made any significant progress on the house, but have spent our time sourcing out local product and contractors that are willing to work within our heritage and environmental parameters and that don’t cost a fortune. Needless to say, we have yet to find a contractor...

We have focused initially on the kitchen. It is where we spend most of our time and is almost totally original: original faux marble formica counters, chrome oven fan, wooden cabinets with original hardware and the wallpaper. Oh yes, the wallpaper.

Esme showing off the lovely wallpaper in our kitchen. Note replaced linoleum flooring in 'Brown Flowers Splattered on a Boring Cream Checkerboard' (Courtesy 1972)

The floors were changed out to (bad) brown floral linoleum in the 1970s (see above). We changed the floor out immediately when we moved in.

I have dreamed (in a totally dorky way that one dreams of flooring) of having marmoleum since I first saw it in an abandoned 1930s rooming house at an old psychiatric care facility in Coquitlam, BC (true story). I loved the colours, the pattern and when I did some research, found out that it is as environmental as it gets! Yippee!

Primarily composed of linseed oil,wood flour and pine resins, Marmoleum is excellent if you are environmentally conscious, easy to clean and is asthma and allergy friendly (a prereq. for everything in my life these days)…

We found what we were looking for at Deerfoot Carpet & Flooring (We heart Corrine) on 12^th Street SE in Calgary. We went with Armstrong Marmorette Commercial Flooring with NaturCote in Obsidian, a rich, luxurious dark gray. They installed it that week.

Love BUT shows every bit of food and dust. Noticed how little black food we eat when I'm sweeping 39 times a day. Worth the sweeping though...

This was our first rehabilitation project (replacing with a period appropriate product when original is not known). We didn’t know what the original kitchen flooring was so went with a product that was popular in the 1950s but selected a colour that is modern and suits our taste. And the results? Ooo La la (scroll down for results).

Next on the agenda was to replace the 'oh so lovely' grease-ridden appliances that didn’t work. Need a reminder?

For some reason, we selected all Samsung appliances in stainless steel. All from Sears. The stove is pretty cool and actually has a setting for Kosher cooking. A Jewish stove. Nifty!

While the girls and I were in Vancouver, we hired painters (the lovely guys at Harding’s Painting - highly recommended) to refinish our cupboards in white. We replaced the door hardware with more a more streamlined chrome design from Handles and More in the NE. A reminder of the original hardware. A tad ornate for my style.

Now what you’ve all been waiting for: Before

Will you look at the size of that fridge??? (Now our 'beer fridge' in the basement. Reduce, reuse, recycle!)

And for the sake of what has yet to be done in the kitchen, let’s call this a 'Demi-After':

Jason is smiling here because I finally chose some handles. We were 'cupboardless' for weeks and it drove him nuts.

Our cute little French Door fridge. The corner cupboards whirl around like a merry go round. Fun trick for parties...

On the to do list for the rest of the kitchen:

• Removing the lovely clock wallpaper;

Art courtesy of Lily.

• Painting walls (Benjamin Moore, Wickham Grey with Pratt & Lambert, Sea Crystal (a light sea glass aqua) on the ceiling);

Mason jar and bottle (from antique store in Cranbrook) inspiration for ceiling and glass tile colour. Vases from Crate & Barrel. Antique fruit stand. Real lemons.

• Installing grey formica (Rock of Ages - see last picture) to replace original formica that is peeling up and covered in cigarette burns

Yes, that IS my hand going underneath the formica. Apparently this formica pattern was only made in Canada.

• Installing sea glass aqua glass tiles for backsplash

• New chrome sink and vintage inspired tap to replace one that just doesn’t seem to turn off

• Roman shades which I will be sewing myself (read: we will never have a roman shade on our kitchen window because I am a massive procrastinator)

Fabric for roman shades and formica sample for counter

Lot's more to come. Stay tuned...

LP