For us, the Activity Room is kind of like a 1950’s game room or den. We’re breaking some rules here. Architecturally speaking, the room is a formal living room. Before the remodel, it was the master bedroom. But with three children and one on the way, it is the true heart of the house. Well, okay, it is the heart of the house AFTER the kitchen.
This is the room where all of the real activity happens (especially in the hot Texas summer when it is too uncomfortable to go outside and we are bored with the pool). We need this space partly because the children have small bedrooms. We kept them true to the original home — a modest 9-ft by 11-ft each — and they share with a sibling, so there isn’t a lot of room for play or toys in their rooms.
I’ve struggled with decorating this room. It needs to be wreckable. I mean, four kids, they are going to trash it daily! But it is also one of the first rooms you see when you come into the house, so it needs to be presentable to a certain extent.
The decor has gone through a natural evolution. The 50’s diner table has been the centerpiece from the start. It is an indestructible butcher block with a solid iron base. My father found it for me at a garage sale almost 20 years ago. It had been in the guy’s garage, was covered in oil, he bargained and got it for $25, and brought it home and refinished the top, spray painted the base a gloss black.
The chairs are from IKEA as are the wall shelves. The cabinet behind the table is an old purchase from Target, back when they first started carrying furniture and when it was still fairly well made and not just pin nails and particle board. I would love to replace it with a vintage sideboard, but I know the kids will destroy it, so the cabinet does the job for now.
The blinds are 2-in faux wood. I’ve searched for the “perfect” vintage curtains for years. A friend reminded me of ReproDepot.com where I might be able to find something that could easily be made into tab tops. I will take more pictures later, but for now suffice to say that we have a closet to the right out of view that we will be hanging new doors in soon… and of course with this will launch a new line of interior doors and millwork over at Crestview Doors!
The amazing thing is that the vintage Moe lamp really ties the whole room together. In fact, I felt like I never knew what I was doing with this room until I found that lamp. It never ceases to amaze me how one item can make a room.
We’ve been tending to the garden unceremoniously with mixed results. I lost 8 of the 12 tomato plants I originally hoped would yield a tomato fiest, but I’ve since planted new ones. Try, try again. The bed of greens has been moving very slowly with the lettuce, broccoli, carrots, spinach, bok choy and leeks inching along.
Everything else has done quite well. In fact, we’ve already harvested our first golden squash!
But the majority of the hard labor has gone into landscaping the front fence where we have tried to launch a maintenance-free, draught-resistant variety including rosemary and provence lavender.
The bigger my belly gets, the more difficult it gets to weed, so let’s hope the mulch helps reduce the amount of time I spend bent over! And many thanks to Mr. Erwin who did the majority of the back-breaking work to remove the grass. Along the inside of the fence, we are planting a hedge of wintergreen boxwoods, so there is more work to be done.
What do you think, should we paint the fence white?
When we designed our house, we included a piano niche. So literally from the ground up, we designed music into the house. The piano in the niche is a 1973 Rhodes 88 suitcase piano. I bought it on eBay after wanting one for 15 years.
Austin is a music city. The kind of place where a Saturday afternoon gig at a book store has a warm-up act. I’m as likely to have a guitar pick in my pocket as spare change. And my suspicion that this is common was confirmed during a show at the Continental Club. The lead had misplaced his last pick and asked if anyone in the audience had one. Three arms were out stretched to the stage before I could grab mine. He might as well have asked if anyone had a Fender Medium.
Last weekend I got myself out on a stage. Something I hadn’t done in a long time. And I did something I had not done before. I sang lead. I sing in the house all the time (and even more in the car (I stopped caring if I look silly a long time ago)). First, I know how to sing into the air, not into a microphone. Second, I can sing and play piano, and sing and play guitar, but in this band I was on drums. Singing while playing drums is a whole other thing. Third, I’m a Texan who slicks his hair and wears chunky glasses, and this was a Buddy Holly song. I don’t know about other parts of the country, but in Texas you don’t mess with Willie, or Buddy. So, if you’re going around looking like him and you sing his song, you gotta do right by Buddy. Anyway, I did my durndest. Video below. You be the judge.
Meanwhile, I’ve got a boy learning piano. He’s got his mom’s perfect pitch and he’s new enough to not know what’s difficult. This is from about 18 months ago. Key changes, crunchy chords at the end, it’s great.
As of this posting the video has had over 117 thousand views, and 300 comments. The kid’s a superstar. I’m looking forward to the elementary talent show in two weeks where he’s going to blow them away.
Christiane has an amazing voice. On the rare occasion that I get to hear her sing, I squirm and tear with giddy delight. I have no recording of her. You’ll just have to believe me.
That leaves us with the littlest bits. I gave Baby Erwin some light pitch training very early and at 6 months she could sing a note if I played it on the piano. For now, she just likes to dance, clown, and scream when Dad plays.
6yo has his own thing going on. He’s brimming with talent, but cannot be coached. He chants and beat-boxes and can lay down an authoritative groove on our drum set. At six his voice is rich and full of character. It’s truly unique. Tonight he played a song on our old Rhodes that would break your heart. A little later he and his li’l sister rocked out. And I have the video to prove it. Check out his eyebrows on the chord change.
So this makes me wonder. Am I setting my kids up for the rotten life of a musician? No money, no health insurance. My parents were probably wise to steer me away from music as a profession. I chose electrical engineering over percussion as a major in college (and graduated with an art degree). On the one hand I want to encourage my kids to go for it, whatever it is. The philosophy that you can do anything, just promise me you’ll be damned good at it. On the other hand, there are professions where only a tiny fraction can make a decent living.
Eh, probably over thinking the whole thing. In a few years I’d love to take all of them to the Kerrville Folk Festival and set them loose on the world.
David picked up these groovy Sherwin Williams paint color palettes a while ago and I have been meaning to scan and post them.
Of course, scanning means the colors are off a bit. They are greyer for sure, the yellows not so yellow-y, in real life.
The line is called the “Suburban Modern Preservation Palette” and here is what they have to say about it:
Your future is bright. With clear, cheerful colors the 1950’s exhibited a new American outlook. The exuberance showed up on the walls as striking shades like Chartreuse and organic shapes like boomerangs. Whether you just feel nostalgia for those optimistic days, or you want to recreate the period in exciting detail, our Suburban palette provides the hues you desire.
They really hit the nail on the head with these things. Couldn’t we all use some exuberance and optimism right about now? I’m wishing I had gone for a pink/green/aqua theme for the ModWalls kitchen backsplash! Ah, well, save it for the next remodel.
A while ago, I spotted this pic on Retro Renovation:
As luck would have it, I found a similar retractable Moe hanging light fixture down at my fave resale shop, Room Service:
Sadly, the retractable portion was busted. The Light Fixture Shoppe on Burnet (now closed, wah!) put it on a swank brass chain for me, but I’m actively keeping an eye open for the retractable parts to eventually do it up right.
As I search out compatible curtains for the “Activity Room” as we call it, I will make the room more camera-ready, I promise!
Ideas, anyone? I tried denatured alcohol and steel wool as a friend suggested, and then a mesh scrubber. Some of the old varnish came right off, but much didn’t, and I don’t want to scratch the veneer. I hate to take it in to someone… or use intensely nasty chemicals while preggers…. I’m open
“Most energy-efficient mortgage, or EEM, programs let you qualify for bigger loans than you would otherwise by folding in the additional cost of making improvements for energy efficiency or of purchasing an already energy-efficient home. Another version of the green mortgage provides discounts on loan fees or interest rates for homes that are certified as energy-efficient.
Because mortgage interest payments are tax-deductible, an energy-efficient mortgage can be a more cost-effective way to finance home-energy improvements than using a credit card, bank loan or cash, which usually offer no tax benefits.”
Thank you, Doug and Rochelle Kramer, for providing me with a ray of sunshine on an overcast day.
Photo Gallery of Cliff May Homes on RanchoStyle.com
People, if you have not yet visited this website (or if you have had an overcast or otherwise bleak and dreary afternoon), I suggest that you high tail it on over to RanchoStyle.com post haste and have a gander at their photo gallery. Don’t forget to take a tissue to wipe the drool from your chin, my friend, you don’t want to look too craven.
Used to be I hated this state. Too hot. Too much traffic. Too many bugs, especially mosquitos. Too expensive.
Now my life is here. My house, my kids, my amazing neighbors, my favorite stores and products, my lake, my breezy spring evenings, my barbeque… I have planted my roots and I am watching them grow.
No really, I mean it. We really did plant some roots!
Building the Erwin House Victory Garden, October 2008
Erwin House Victory Garden, March 2009
Last October, we smelled a nasty economic downturn on the horizon, so we planted ourselves a little Victory Garden. It was late in the season, but I took a chance on some tomatoes and basil (no luck). The kids picked out some pretty fall annuals. We had a very successful turn with the collards, broccoli, bok choy, and oregano. I caught the gardening bug, and I caught it bad. Our house is full of cups with various seedlings waiting for the last frost (tonight perhaps?).
Seedlings for the Erwin House Victory Garden
Today we had a grand time swapping seeds, seedlings, and various plants with neighbors. We gave away some trumpet vine, watermelon seeds, and bell pepper seedlings. We brought home stonecrop sedum, inland sea oats seeds, heirloom tomato starts and garlic chives. This we will add to the already bustling beds out back as well as to (we hope) some border in front of the fence. Once we get the fenced fixed, that is. And painted. Dang, where is that to-do list?
How are you? It has been a long time since we’ve caught up and there is so much to tell you that I don’t know where to begin.
If you hadn’t heard through the grapevine, I am pregnant with Baby Erwin #4, and I have caught the nesting bug, so it is about dang time I started blogging again, don’t you think? You wouldn’t want to miss out on a second of my victory-gardening-slash-gourmet-cooking-slash-picture-hanging-slash-closet-organizing-slash–pillow-fluffing-slash-punch-listing tom foolery, now would you?
And when I’m not here being all Mrs. Pert and Perky, you might want to check for me and my busy self over at Crestview Doors where I spend the remainder of my time when I am not micromanaging my three adorable rug rats, two dogs, cat and lovable other half.
In the meantime, here is a sneak preview of the Golden Showers rose bushes I planted along the fence next to the driveway today:
Wish me luck because Maude knows how I can kill perfectly viable plant life.
For us, the Activity Room is kind of like a 1950’s game room or den. We’re breaking some rules here. Architecturally speaking, the room is a formal living room. Before the remodel, it was the master bedroom. But with three children and one on the way, it is the true heart of the house. Well, okay, it is the heart of the house AFTER the kitchen.
When we designed our house, we included a piano niche. So literally from the ground up, we designed music into the house. The piano in the niche is a 1973 Rhodes 88 suitcase piano. I bought it on eBay after wanting one for 15 years.
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