our surroundings: July 2011

25 July 2011

No one is reading this so I can write whatever I want, right?!? Well even if someone were reading I could still write anything I wish… God (and everyone else) Bless America. So I stumbled upon this here and I am enthralled. Part of the cause is a number of recent events that would benefit me greatly if I were to go on and on about them here and soon enough I just may do that, but hopefully/probably not. For now though I’ll dive into my current fixation. I have longed for smallness, since leaving my childhood home, which my parents still live in. I mean I grew up with both parents, my sister, brother and a dog (Puppy then Diamond, Molly and later Sebastian and finally Gracie) in a modest 1,200 square foot house. So I’ve never had a large home to roam in. Thank you mom and dad. However for as long as I can remember most everyone I’ve talked to, given the opportunity, would take a mcmansion with the token new single tree in the front yard and if not all that they are going to go for the maximum square footage for the minimum price and continue to buy more house as their lifestyle allows, or doesn’t these days… Thank You! American Dream. My mother and father have long talked of buying some land and building a big house but in recent years my mom has come around to a smaller way of thinking! I – not being of sound mind most of the time – have never been interested in the common calculation, the bigger the footprint the bigger the resale value. So I bought a humble 932 square foot wood clad number also known as a house. According to dallas county appraisal district it is a 3-1 in Little Forest Hills, an east dallas neighborhood that is a refreshing departure from the dallas that is dallas. One of the three bedrooms is a poor conversion of a one-car garage done in what I’d guess to be the early eighties. Thankfully I didn’t return it to its intended purpose right away b/c now it serves as my living quarters. Some photos below.

An art wall pre-move-in (thanks Danton)

A record-rack I constructed from the removed 2x4 walls.

My Kitchen-ette.

A mattress-rack from the same material.

You see my purchase was built in 1947 and the kitchen was original equipment and in dire need of a reno. So I gutted the thing and while doing so decided to take the sledge hammer to the equally awful (actually it was worse off still) 1980’s bathroom re-hab. Awesome brown 12x12 tile everywhere you turned, a toilet for little people, fantastic fake beige marble with integral sink just below a fully mirrored wall complete with a polished chrome light fixture that could double as runway lighting at LUV. This demolition felt so nice, the next to go was the water heater closet to be replaced by a tankless. Then the mechanical closet b/c it was central heat only and I figured a new central heat/air unit could join the tankless in the attic space. Now with these two closets wiped out and the kitchen and bathroom gone the middle of my little abode was feeling pretty good, down to the studs… I could see from one side to the other – all 26 feet! – right down the center of the house. The wheels started turning, my “anti-real estate-rulebook” was entering its first draft, reduce the square footage? The above, all happened within the first couple months of home ownership. I still had an apartment in Oak Cliff that was fantastic, thanks goodspace, so I had a home to go home to from my home. It had A/C, working plumbing, and a full kitchen! Which was nice for a few months even if a bit of a commute, not horrible though, fifteen minutes door to door at the time of day I was going to and fro. Just as I was moving out of the OC and into a storage unit at whiterock storage I had this idea – to remove all the interior walls in my house – I was going to make this place mine, resale be damned. Worthless 3-1 to Priceless 1-1, ha we’ll see. Granted it wasn’t worthless before, far from it, only months earlier a family called it home, and it will only be priceless in my eyes. Even with budget grounding things, I will still enjoy my 1-1. So back to the idea… I was able to remove all but two sections of wall, make a necessary span with a couple glu-lam beams and open the place up a bit, vaulting all the ceilings except at the bedroom and adding a kitchen/wet wall. Then I ripped out the horrendous 80’s (did anything good come out of the eighties besides thriller?) laundry area addition and the original breezeway b/w the house and garage. Sorry the 1980’s made me do it, which was for the best b/c now you enter the house from the side into what I will call a compressed entry/quasi-kitchen-dining area instead of landing right in the middle of the original living room at front… Back to the demo for a sec. with the glu-lams in place (thanks dad, Jason & Doug) two bedrooms and two closets were removed to become one bedroom and part of the kitchen/dining. Basically in plan the house is 26’ wide and 32’ deep, an L-shaped space within where the long leg serves as living room, the short leg acts as kitchen/dining, this L cradles a bath/laundry room and a single bedroom to complete the now 832 square foot rectangle. A 1-1 with a sleeping loft above the compressed entry/quasi-kitchen-dining area, which will be great for guests, they can sleep up above and then wake me when breakfast is ready! The now severed garage/one-bedroom w/ closet acts as my current home and may be subconsciously inspiring me to go even smaller. Once I get settled in my 800 sq.ft. I’m going to roll a trailer in my backyard and get to building my new 1-1 all 147 sq.ft. of it. TO BE CONTINUED…