dancing with architecture: Lubbock

There's not much to write home about on Lubbock architecture. However, Lubbock did make an appearance in this article about the top 13 buildings to see in Texas in 2013 (although I couldn't find it...). Whilst surfing the interwebs for info on Lubbock architectural sites, I came across this blog post about a wee little development of mid-century modern homes in Lubbock and ventured over for a good gawk.

Indeed, there are a few blocks of mid-cent homes, several of which are fixed up beautifully but most of which have lived hard.

Many of the homes have been modified to make them more "homey", or like more standard views of what a house should look like.

OMG! Are those shutters!!!

Oh my...

The most interesting of the bunch are two that don't seem to have been part of the official development but wanted to stay close:

And I absolutely fell in love with this one at 47th and Akon, which had recently been sold:

Can't find anything online about the house, but similar places in the hood recently sold for (say what?) $75,000!!!

Those expansive plains beg for long horizontal houses. Yes they do.

Also found some cool graffiti and a neat mural.

And a speck of Streamline Moderne.

cursing architects, flored, cats, fans, scarfs, hooks, viewscapes, carpentry, solar

cursing the architects...

The architects sent a note asking (tongue in cheek [I hope...]) if we were cursing them yet. Not at all! The house has been easy living, literally instantly comfortable (I'm sure because of their good design). The clerestory windows are great, art unto themselves framing the trees and skies beyond in addition to letting in light. Everything seems right-sized. We had a dinner party last night, and all (usage of the space) went according to plan, the wide dining room allowing us plenty of room to bus the table and take care of our guests. And the peninsula did what the bride hoped it would do: Keep the hordes at bay with folks only congregating at the lee side.

biggest surprise (so far)?

How quiet the house is. I'm talking crazy, way-out-in-the-country-married-to-your-first-cousin quiet. Yes, we are experiencing a bit of the bookends of residential noise having just moved from downtown and, before that, living in an 1800s house with single pane windows (and no insulation), but it's so quiet here I can hear my blood flow at night. All that insulation (and sealing) and double-pane windowing seems to have really sealed the house off, and this is a good thing. Been sleeping like a baby (without the whole pooping-in-your-pants bit). It's truly amazing.

flored

The folks at flor really really liked our Eileen Gray rug, so they asked for a nice photo that they can use in their lookbook. After waiting for the proper intersection of light, cat placement, and cat positioning (i.e., not grooming his crotch), we hit sun-cat-flor gold last Friday morning:

Gorgeous!

does the cat approve?

Speaking of the cat, you might be wondering: How is he enjoying the place? Since it was before we had read the book that warned architects about clients that include cats in their program, we included the furry beast in the program, asking for windows he could look longingly out of, places to sun, and a place to poop.

An except from our "prospectus" from way back when we were courting architects the second time around. The cat's favorite architect, Shigeru Ban, is famous for using cardboard (aka glorified scratching posts).

When we were designing the house (and then seeing it built), I wondered about the thermal loading from the morning sun spilling inside the ample living room windows, but seeing how happy that old cat is makes it all worth it.

(yes, his peepee is white...)

Sun-drunk and catatonic.

Oh for Gawd's sake, have you no shame!!!

As Schindler himself said: "Modern architecture lies down flat on the ground like a kitten who suns itself."

We often find the cat looking (longingly) out the windows, watching the world go by. And sometimes he's where he really shouldn't be...

Looks like you have more room for Schindler books up here...

our biggest fans

Speaking of bookshelves, we have them in better decorating shape. I went up to storage last weekend with the mission of finding (1) my antique fan collection and (2) the mixer. I found the fans after looking through half the boxes and found the mixer in literally the last box I looked in, the box in the far bottom corner. Free tip: If you are putting stuff in storage, keep the things you are likely to want sooner rather than later in your new house toward the front (and mark those boxes!).

There are so many fans that I had to go into panorama mode on the phone to capture them all:

I know, I know: Not exactly minimal. I'm calling it "controlled maximalism" where stuff is "centralized" in restricted areas and presented as either multiples of the same thing with variation (for example: fans, books) or a number of items from the same color family. We're doing this in the kitchen as well:

Multiples with variation.

Stuff from the same(ish) color family.

The experiments are continuing. Progress reports forthcoming...

found the scarves

There they are!

on the hook

We waited until we moved in before we decided where various hooks and fixtures (toilet paper holders, towel hooks, etc.) would go. This procrastination gave us the ability to see how we use the space and explore options before installing hardware (the bride, being an engineer, wants stuff installed where it makes the most utilitarian sense whereas I'm also concerned about aesthetics. It's a delicate negotiation).

We decided we needed hooks in several places. Then the question became: What kind of hooks? We went with sticks by Umbra. Umbra makes a lot of cool modernish/inspired stuff this side of affordable.

Below is a hook for a hand towel in the master bath that matches the toilet paper holder. Neoplastic, baybee! You can also see what we are going to upgrade the switches and plugs to...

drainage

Have had several good dowsings the past week or so, so we've had a front row seat to drainage off the roof and site. So far, it all looks good with the gravel over yonder doing exactly what I hoped it would do: Capture runoff and direct it toward the front of the lot. Worked like a charm.

Added bonus: The rains have caused cute little mushrooms (that tastefully match the house...) to momentarily sprout out of the mulch.

Along those lines, the Aggie Zoysia (drought tolerant) is doing quite well in the back yard. I'm sure the rainfall has helped immensely. My plan is to not mow it and see how high it gets. If it doesn't get too high, the plan is to never mow it. 

The feather grasses are doing well as well. We've only lost one so far. Still thanking the brilliance of the builder for using PVC instead of the cardboard I suggested (I feared getting the PVC level with the concrete, but the builder and sub did it perfectly). The PVC keeps the moisture from wicking into the bordering concrete and thus keeps it with the plant.

The grass in the driveway is starting to come in. At the moment, it looks like me trying to grow a beard (i.e., a post nuclear war radioactive patch party). We'll have to be patient here, but at least there's some green.

hot tub

Got the hot tub out of storage and placed behind the master. The grey wood panels just about match the grey on the house. Love how the tub is not visible from inside the house.

I generally find hot tubs ugly, but I think this actually doesn't look too bad here. Simple geomteric design (that is, the darn thing's round) in a complimentary color. I think it works.

viewscapes

While decorating, I'm taking into consideration how stuff looks from afar. You can use stuff from afar to guide people around the house. You peak their interest, and they will go investigate. I also like having some unexpected things in the house, things you wouldn't expect to see in a modern house. Surprise (and hopefully delight) is good.

An old German telephone.

Peeking in the powder.

Looking toward the master suite. With (nearly) everything being white, the art really pops.

Test placement in the first landing of the stairwell. I love to walk alleys and found this painted piece of plywood a number of years ago in an alley set out for bulk trash pickup. Whoever painted it is talented, but not talented enough to draw/paint hands (something that's really hard to do). Nevertheless, I love it for its simultaneous success and failure. A parable of life...

future carpentry

Had our carpenter, Dan (who's also a friend; he built the Eileen Gray table for us), stop by to discuss doing a bit of work, namely the shelves in the bathrooms (ate through that entire budget with the cabinets...) and the built-in desk in the guest room. We're going to do what the architects suggest as far as placement but will go with hickory rather than MDF painted white [muffled gasps from the architectural galley...]. We needed to monkey with shelf heights in the guest bathroom since a shelf as designed would go right through a switch plate. Simple planks with no visible support.

We're also going with a simple hickory plank for the desk pulled about two inches off the back wall to allow wires to drop to the plugs below. In other words, there will be a two-inch gap along the entire back of the desktop. I suppose there are a number of reasons why this is unwise, but screw it: It's our house. "Neoplasticism over logic!" I often yell from our back door (fortunately the neighbors' haven't called the police yet...). Dan and I talked about the strength of the desktop and its ability to withstand some yahoo standing on it, a kid jumping off it, and (perhaps...) rambunctious lovemaking. We'll leave the desktop thin to serve as a visual pause button; Dan says it will bend, not break, if perpetrators are clueless(ly drunk).

Dan is also going to make some modifications to the bookcases downstairs to hide the LEDs and accent horizontality.

solar

Had a solar dude come out and scope the garage roof for panels. He had a cool little reflective device that told him the solarability (my word) for the full year. We can get 2.5 kilowatts on the roof with no tree trimming, and (pleasant surprise, surprise) 5 kilowatts if a branch gets trimmed back on a nearby tree. The issue with that branch is that although it is over our property (and therefore we can legally chop it down), it is attached to the neighbor's tree. The solar dude, to his credit, suggested we talk to the neighbor before hacking on the tree and weigh neighbor relations heavily in any decision to extend solar service. I think the neighbor will be fine (he already gave us the unsolicited green light to trim a lower branch), but we'll give him veto power over trimming that more prominent branch.

Waiting on the cost before talking to the neighbor. No sense in bringing it up if we don't need to.

coda

That's it for this week. There's a lot of other things going on, but that's all we have photos and energy to write about this week. Until next time!

and we're in!

Sorry for the down time: (1) we haven't had internet and (2) moving is an all-encompassing endeavor. But the good news is that we are in!

The cat wants to be in the first load (along with the liquor)...

First, an update on the items of concern moving in: the floors, the gas, the internet, and the cooktop.

Being Mr. Barefoot, I noticed that the floors seemed rougher than they should with little stalagmites every six inches or so. We mentioned this to the builder ("Are you sure the floors are done?"). We didn't hear anything back until late in the afternoon before the big move-in day (we had already been moving art and liquor in [priorities, you know...]) when the floor folks showed up to refinish the floors (the builder had sent an email earlier in the day, but we hadn't been checking).

That was depressing. That floor stuff totally stinks (like, literally). The previous layer took three days to outgas, and we were moving in the next day. However, it turned out to be a thin refinishing layer and didn't stink nearly as much as the previous layer. Floor problem solved (just in time!).

The gas company turned on the gas late on move-in day and the plumbing sub showed up at 7:00 pm to connect the on-demand water heater. Talk about cutting it close! Fortunately, everything worked and we had (our first) hot shower (or any shower of note) at the house. It was heaven.

The internet turned out to not be as bad as I had feared. The installer arrived on Wednesday and, as expected, wanted to aerially drop the line to the house. After saying "Nope, that ain't gonna happen." and describing what we wanted, he said he wasn't prepared to bury the line and that it would be another week before the line-burying folks could be there. "Can't you just leave it on top of the mulch for now?" Turned out the answer was yes (They are concerned about lawn mowers, but since we have no lawn to speak of, he was amenable). An hour later, we had internet. Yay! A few days later a burier came and (no joke) simply "buried" (covered, really...) the line under the mulch, just above the weed barrier.

The cooktop is still not connected, and we are on the hunt for another regulator. Looks like I'm going to have to figure this out and finish the installation...

Gots no gas to the cooktop...

How's the house, you ask? We're totally loving it! It's a little weird, after all this time, finally moving in.  It's also rather swank (in a good way) for a couple of low-renters. After living in (and enjoying) a compact setting at the apartment, I wondered if we'd miss that intimacy. However, the house works well at keeping that intimacy (everything is close to the kitchen heart of the floorplan) and yet providing an ample amount of space for us to do our thing. As the bride points out, our house (2,300 square feets) is considered small by many, but it is ample space.

Since the gate is not yet finished, one of the first things we did was occlude the skeleton so folks would be less tempted to walk into the back yard (there are lots of lookie-loos at the house...). I was going to put up a sign that said "Unless you want to see middle-aged people naked, we advise you turn around." but then realized that there are folks out there that want to see middle-aged people naked. Since we don't want to meet these people, we instead "wrapped" the gate in wrapping plastic. It's actually kinda cool, truth be told...

To add some sanity to the insanity of moving, we worked hard to get the kitchen, dining, living, and master bedroom in working order as soon as possible.

The cat lays claim to the bed on our first night in the house.

Dining room (plan to get better end chairs; thinking Eames...)

Living room with the Eileen Gray Flor rug and the neoplastic coffee table. Plan on replacing the settee in the foreground with a Corbusier/Perrand love seat.

Another view of the coffee table...

Still working on the bookcases...

The Eileen Gray table.

The kitchen (where the minimalism stops, my friends...). In the forefront are the semi-custom Barbara stools from local furniture maker RAD. They were kind enough to work with us to replace their standard walnut with cypress. 

If our kitchen has a decorating theme, it's a fusion of the beauty of food with the sciency feel of a laboratory (because what is cooking but gastronomical chemistry?) The open shelves are there in part to showcase ingredients.

Just like Portlanders, we kinda dig the birds. Here are some shots of a couple birds we placed in the living room. The hanging black bird is a raven we bought in Iceland several years back. The raven has special meaning to Icelanders because legend has it that the first horn-headed settlers avoided starving to death by following a raven to the island. We also have a rocking bird picked up on sale at West Elm. 

The raven casts the coolest shadows in the house as it chases the morning sun.

That bird totally rocks.

Got the office somewhat set up last night (hence this present hen pecking). 

"They say people in glass houses can't throw stones. People in glass houses can't walk around naked either!" says the bride. After moving in, it quickly became apparent that we needed window coverings of some sort. Because of the immediate need for coverings, we were inspired by our friends Mr. B. and Ms. M. who have adorned their windows in their modern loft thusly:

Very nice. There's poetry in how the tape is placed and the paper just stops short of filling the entire window.

And here is our interpretation:

We used green tape instead of blue so our friends wouldn't think we had totally stolen the idea from them. We also used part of a Container Store advertisement as part of the "curtain".

We also did some half-assed curtains with pushrods by quickly chopping pre-made curtains from a big box store to "fit". We'll need to upgrade at some point (soon...), but for now, they work!

We made our first meal on the fourth: peppers roasted in the oven and duck and guinea hen baked in the horno.

We then walked down the street to watch a neighbor's electronically controlled Fourth of July display in his front yard. Awesome!

With the cooktop out of commission, we pulled the gas grill out of storage and bought a cast iron skillet (not sure why we haven't had one of these before...) and roasted up some peppers and onions and eggs for breakfast last Sunday:

And we had our first guests over on Sunday evening, the swell folks from the Green House around the corner. We drank pink wine enjoyed with tomato and fig tortes.

And here's dinner last night. Yep, the kitchen is working great!

We've had a few minor surprises. The ovens were too small for the hole (better than too big...):

Note gaps on sides.

 The cabinet lady made it out with her carpenter to fill the gaps:

Mucho better.

Not sure what happened here, but I have a vague recollection of wanting to leave the cabinets at a standard width to allow more standard width ovens to fit in the future.

The other surprise was that the in-wall plug for the television was dead:

That plug hanging down from the telly shouldn't need to be there...

 We will need to talk to the builder about that.

Whelp, there you have it! Pretty much moved in! We've gotten some requests to keep blogging as we get settled in and decorate and whatnot. Plus, we still have solar and rainwater to install (as well as more of the landscaping). We'll also continue to check out architecture during our travels, another reason to keep posting.

We'll keep posting if you keep reading!