Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
San Diego communities...North Park
North Park’s Festival of Arts shows community’s creative side
San Diego Communities - North Park
Written by Elena Buckley, writing for San Diego Uptown News
Wednesday, 04 May 2011 20:44
North Park’s Festival of Arts has evolved over the 15 years since its inception. In the early ’90s, the event focused mainly on music, but in 2000 it changed its name to the North Park Spring Festival, and five years later became the Festival of Arts. Whatever its moniker, however, up to 30,000 people annually attend—“as long as the weather’s good,” laughs Liz Studebaker, executive director of North Park Main Street.
This year, on May 15, the free street festival features six stages for music and performing arts, more than 300 performers, about 120 booths (half of them featuring 40 juried artist vendors), and at least eight hands-on artistic activities in the Kids Art Block. There will also be a craft beer block on Ohio St., featuring 10 sample tastes from San Diego breweries and wineries for $25 in advance, $30 the day of the event.
North Park is becoming more of a regional destination, Studebaker notes, and the festival showcases the community’s creativity.
“It’s a great way for people around Southern California to come to North Park. Maybe they haven’t been here for a few years… [and] it’s a great opportunity for them to see all the positive changes happening.”
Studebaker said that the festival now has examples of almost every type of artistic medium, and businesses view the festival as a way to “…draw people here to learn more about North Park and to appreciate artsbased businesses”—such as the many art galleries, art schools, art workshops, tattoo parlors and hair salons in the area.
“I feel like it’s a great reflection of the community in terms of diversity,” Sara Morrison, event chair said. “I feel that because of that you have things that appeal to younger audiences, families…20-somethings [and the] older crowd.”
In her four years with the festival, Morrison has worked to help expand the event’s diversity, bringing in more and newer bands and forging a stronger partnership with artists in the community—“bringing the right people to the table to make sure that all areas are represented,” as she puts it.
The six stages around the festival show a distinct range of musical styles, with alternative on the Main Stage at 30th St. and University Ave. and an open mic, performing arts mix of beat boxing, jazz, acoustic folk and the stylings of the girls from Lips on the Beats & Eats Stage at Illinois Street and University Avenue, by the food court.
There will also be dance ensembles featuring the Eveoke Youth Performing Group, San Diego Ballet, Flamenco Arana and more on the Dance Stage at 32nd Street and University Avenue, with groups from Japan, Greece, South Africa and more at the World Music stage at Grim and University avenues, older North Park musical acts at Drowsy Maggie’s stage on 31st St. and more alternative music at the Bar Pink stage inside the craft beer block.
There will be a plein air “quick-draw” event on Ray St. along with interactive events and oil, pastel and metalwork demonstrations. Ray St. will also house the Kids Art Walk area, with hands-on activities sponsored by Young Audiences of San Diego, McKinley Elementary, UPS, The Rare Hare Studio, Eveoke Dance Theatre, Dragonfly Designs, BioEASI and the Chula Vista Community Arts Group. Each activity’s theme is created by the organizing group, and themes range from learning what it would feel like to be eaten by a whale to interactive dance lessons.
“It’s really meant to inspire children to have some interaction with their creative side,” Studebaker said.Juried artists present every category of fine art imaginable, including photography, printmaking/digital, sculpture, glass art and watercolor/pastels. The North Park Craft Mafia, a group of DIY businesses working together to promote the artistic community, will also sell original handmade, crafts.
Scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on University Avenue and 30th Street, the festival receives about 10 percent of its funding from the City of San Diego Com-mission for Arts and Culture. The rest comes from private sponsors, including Ascent Realty, San Diego Dialed In, FM 94/9 and many more.
To assist with the lack of parking in the area, the parking structure at 3829 29th St. will be free all day and will offer a unique bike valet service by Velo Cult. For more information, visit: northparkfestivalofarts.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article originally appeared in San Diego Uptown News (a media partner of SDNR).
San Diego Communities - North Park
Written by Elena Buckley, writing for San Diego Uptown News
Wednesday, 04 May 2011 20:44
North Park’s Festival of Arts has evolved over the 15 years since its inception. In the early ’90s, the event focused mainly on music, but in 2000 it changed its name to the North Park Spring Festival, and five years later became the Festival of Arts. Whatever its moniker, however, up to 30,000 people annually attend—“as long as the weather’s good,” laughs Liz Studebaker, executive director of North Park Main Street.
This year, on May 15, the free street festival features six stages for music and performing arts, more than 300 performers, about 120 booths (half of them featuring 40 juried artist vendors), and at least eight hands-on artistic activities in the Kids Art Block. There will also be a craft beer block on Ohio St., featuring 10 sample tastes from San Diego breweries and wineries for $25 in advance, $30 the day of the event.
North Park is becoming more of a regional destination, Studebaker notes, and the festival showcases the community’s creativity.
“It’s a great way for people around Southern California to come to North Park. Maybe they haven’t been here for a few years… [and] it’s a great opportunity for them to see all the positive changes happening.”
Studebaker said that the festival now has examples of almost every type of artistic medium, and businesses view the festival as a way to “…draw people here to learn more about North Park and to appreciate artsbased businesses”—such as the many art galleries, art schools, art workshops, tattoo parlors and hair salons in the area.
“I feel like it’s a great reflection of the community in terms of diversity,” Sara Morrison, event chair said. “I feel that because of that you have things that appeal to younger audiences, families…20-somethings [and the] older crowd.”
In her four years with the festival, Morrison has worked to help expand the event’s diversity, bringing in more and newer bands and forging a stronger partnership with artists in the community—“bringing the right people to the table to make sure that all areas are represented,” as she puts it.
The six stages around the festival show a distinct range of musical styles, with alternative on the Main Stage at 30th St. and University Ave. and an open mic, performing arts mix of beat boxing, jazz, acoustic folk and the stylings of the girls from Lips on the Beats & Eats Stage at Illinois Street and University Avenue, by the food court.
There will also be dance ensembles featuring the Eveoke Youth Performing Group, San Diego Ballet, Flamenco Arana and more on the Dance Stage at 32nd Street and University Avenue, with groups from Japan, Greece, South Africa and more at the World Music stage at Grim and University avenues, older North Park musical acts at Drowsy Maggie’s stage on 31st St. and more alternative music at the Bar Pink stage inside the craft beer block.
There will be a plein air “quick-draw” event on Ray St. along with interactive events and oil, pastel and metalwork demonstrations. Ray St. will also house the Kids Art Walk area, with hands-on activities sponsored by Young Audiences of San Diego, McKinley Elementary, UPS, The Rare Hare Studio, Eveoke Dance Theatre, Dragonfly Designs, BioEASI and the Chula Vista Community Arts Group. Each activity’s theme is created by the organizing group, and themes range from learning what it would feel like to be eaten by a whale to interactive dance lessons.
“It’s really meant to inspire children to have some interaction with their creative side,” Studebaker said.Juried artists present every category of fine art imaginable, including photography, printmaking/digital, sculpture, glass art and watercolor/pastels. The North Park Craft Mafia, a group of DIY businesses working together to promote the artistic community, will also sell original handmade, crafts.
Scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on University Avenue and 30th Street, the festival receives about 10 percent of its funding from the City of San Diego Com-mission for Arts and Culture. The rest comes from private sponsors, including Ascent Realty, San Diego Dialed In, FM 94/9 and many more.
To assist with the lack of parking in the area, the parking structure at 3829 29th St. will be free all day and will offer a unique bike valet service by Velo Cult. For more information, visit: northparkfestivalofarts.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article originally appeared in San Diego Uptown News (a media partner of SDNR).
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Mission Hills, San Diego
May 7th in Mission Hills is being dubbed "Mission Hills Alive" - and for good reason - several neighborhood organizations are throwing events that are sure to fill our sidewalks with both residents and visitors. The Mission Hills Garden Club is holding its annual garden walk, "A stroll down Sunset Boulevard" from 10am-4pm, the Mission Hills Artists will be putting on a fabulous Artwalk on the 1600 Block of W. Lewis from 11am-5pm, and there will be an historic San Diego class 1 street car on display on the 4050 block of Stephens Street between 11am-5pm. Local businesses will be offering food, drink, special promotions, discounts, coupons, and other offers throughout the day. More information on the flyer below!
Friday, April 29, 2011
5 fun things to do in San Diego this weekend
5 to Try in the Sun, Surf and Sand
Written by Robert on April 29th, 2011
Spring Break has come and gone, but to ensure those postcard images of San Diego linger on through Memorial Day – and to put folks in a summertime frame of mind – following are five fun activities to try in Coronado that are just “beachy”!
BTW, forecast for this weekend: clear skies and warm!
Let’s soak up the sun:
What SUP (Stand Up Paddle Boarding)!
1.Take a stand… Stand up paddle boarding! This popular past time is often seen in the calm waters of San Diego Bay or just beyond the surf line of Silver Strand Beach and Coronado Beach. For first-timers, lessons are available from Loews Coronado Bay Resort’s on-site Coronado Surfing Academy and Gnarly Neal’s at the Hotel del Coronado.
Silver Strand walk on the wild side.
2.Go wild… On a ranger-led nature walk at Silver Strand State Beach – one of the top 10 beaches in the world and home to some amazing tideland and shoreline creatures, including sand dollars, crabs, snowy plovers, pelicans and the mysterious grunion fish. You may even spot a dolphin hanging 10! Tours depart every Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 – 11:30 am, from the lobby of Loews Coronado Bay Resort.
Bicycle built for... four!
3.Wheel fun… Surrey biking! Bicycles built for two to four people, are a great way to sightsee around the island. The beach and bay boardwalks are the most scenic routes. Rentals available throughout the island, including Bikes & Beyond at the Coronado Ferry Landing, Wheel Fun Rentals at Coronado Island Marriott Resort, Loews Coroando Bay Resort, PeDels at the Hotel del Coronado and Holland’s Bicycles on Orange Ave.
Finding Zen in the sand.
4.Chill out… with yoga on the beach. Visitors can find some serious Zen on the sands of Coronado Beach during a session with the Hotel del Coronado’s Hatha Yoga instructor. Altogether now, “Ommmm…”
S'mores on Coronado Beach - sweet!
5.S’more fun… Roasting marshmallows around a bonfire on Coronado Beach, Tidelands Park or Silver Strand State Beach is a sweet way to end a perfect beach day in Coronado. Guests at The Del can indulge in their very own s’mores on the beach experience with a cozy fire pit and all the fixins (marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate) provided!
Written by Robert on April 29th, 2011
Spring Break has come and gone, but to ensure those postcard images of San Diego linger on through Memorial Day – and to put folks in a summertime frame of mind – following are five fun activities to try in Coronado that are just “beachy”!
BTW, forecast for this weekend: clear skies and warm!
Let’s soak up the sun:
What SUP (Stand Up Paddle Boarding)!
1.Take a stand… Stand up paddle boarding! This popular past time is often seen in the calm waters of San Diego Bay or just beyond the surf line of Silver Strand Beach and Coronado Beach. For first-timers, lessons are available from Loews Coronado Bay Resort’s on-site Coronado Surfing Academy and Gnarly Neal’s at the Hotel del Coronado.
Silver Strand walk on the wild side.
2.Go wild… On a ranger-led nature walk at Silver Strand State Beach – one of the top 10 beaches in the world and home to some amazing tideland and shoreline creatures, including sand dollars, crabs, snowy plovers, pelicans and the mysterious grunion fish. You may even spot a dolphin hanging 10! Tours depart every Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 – 11:30 am, from the lobby of Loews Coronado Bay Resort.
Bicycle built for... four!
3.Wheel fun… Surrey biking! Bicycles built for two to four people, are a great way to sightsee around the island. The beach and bay boardwalks are the most scenic routes. Rentals available throughout the island, including Bikes & Beyond at the Coronado Ferry Landing, Wheel Fun Rentals at Coronado Island Marriott Resort, Loews Coroando Bay Resort, PeDels at the Hotel del Coronado and Holland’s Bicycles on Orange Ave.
Finding Zen in the sand.
4.Chill out… with yoga on the beach. Visitors can find some serious Zen on the sands of Coronado Beach during a session with the Hotel del Coronado’s Hatha Yoga instructor. Altogether now, “Ommmm…”
S'mores on Coronado Beach - sweet!
5.S’more fun… Roasting marshmallows around a bonfire on Coronado Beach, Tidelands Park or Silver Strand State Beach is a sweet way to end a perfect beach day in Coronado. Guests at The Del can indulge in their very own s’mores on the beach experience with a cozy fire pit and all the fixins (marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate) provided!
Monday, April 4, 2011
The art of selling a vintage home | Inman News
The art of selling a vintage home Inman News
The art of selling a vintage home
House Profile: A Midcentury Modern masterpiece
By Mary Umberger, Monday, April 4, 2011.
Inman News™
Real estate agent Kathryn Madison had a house for sale that she said was "so perfect" she feared it would scare buyers away This is not a typical circumstance in real estate, but then again, this isn't a typical house.
From the outside, it's your basic ranch home. But inside, it's a pristine example of the style known as Midcentury Modern -- a snapshot of the good life America offered in the late 1940s and early 1950s. From its jet-age kitchen table to its ultra-sleek living room mantel, it's stuffed with original features, all of them in exceptionally good condition.
It's the kind of place that would make aficionados of the genre swoon with delight. It also could send people who were looking for a mere house -- rather than a time capsule -- scrambling for the exit.
"I needed to appeal to that 'vintage' buyer, but if I overwhelmed people with too much detail (in marketing the property), I'd scare 90 percent of the buyers away," said Madison, an agent with Windermere Cronin & Caplan Realty Group in Portland, Ore.
In the end, it all worked out -- so well, in fact, that she ended up selling the house twice in a period of two months. But we'll get to that.
The house was built in 1948 in Portland's Raleigh Park neighborhood, which has many homes dating to that era and slightly later, though most have been extensively remodeled and have comparatively few original features.
This place, on Brentwood Street, is much the way it was on the day its first owners moved in. The kitchen, in particular, reflects a category of Midcentury styling known as Streamline Moderne, which has the sleek lines of a vintage Airstream trailer. This kitchen has its original, rounded-door cabinets and a restaurant-style booth (with original upholstery) that would have been right at home in a 1940s diner.
The woman who had listed it for sale -- only the second owner of the house -- was infatuated with the style, the agent said.
"She's so into that era that she still used the vintage, top-loading dishwasher, which sounded like a train coming through the house when it was working," Madison said. "Yet, it worked beautifully.
"She also used the vintage refrigerator -- (its) icebox would hold nothing more than two trays of ice cubes," the agent said. "She worked her lifestyle around the home."
The reason she was selling, Madison said, was because she had found another Midcentury home that had even more intact period features.
Madison began marketing the house by hosting a broker's open house -- it drew an unusually high turnout of 60-70 agents, most of whom seemed to take a lot of enjoyment in seeing it, she said.
But would their clients want to buy it?
"I had public open houses, and always got a warm reaction," Madison said. "The two (minimalist) fireplaces -- people just grooved on those. The original Masonite paneling in the front bedroom -- people loved that."
But there was still no getting around the "museum-ness" of the place.
For example, the bedrooms were almost completely intact, right down to the original windows, she said.
"That's a plus for a Midcentury buyer, but others said, 'This house will cost a fortune to heat,' " she said
Madison is an avid amateur photographer and shot pictures of the rooms herself for the listing -- hundreds of them.
A fan of Midcentury styling herself -- Madison lives nearby in a house that's a few years younger and is closer in feel to a classic '50s home, rather than Streamline Moderne -- she knew that fans of the genre would want to see tiny details.
"I know what excites a Midcentury enthusiast because I have the same illness that they do," she said, laughing. "I get excited over retro doorbells and reed glass (a type of ribbed privacy glass that was popular in the era)."
But too much of that might be, well, just too much for mainstream buyers, so Madison put many of the detailed shots on a "special features" link on the listing that probably only the most curious buyer would dig down to see, she said.
When she began showing the house, buyer reaction became predictable.
"The feedback from the agents was always, 'My client thought it was cool, very special, but didn't have the heart to remodel it,' " Madison said. "I'll bet I heard that half a dozen times."
After a few weeks, Madison got an idea: She hired a company to do a "virtual staging" -- a computer-generated version of how the house would look with stainless-steel appliances, more contemporary light fixtures, and other changes she thought would give it a hipper, Dwell magazine kind of look.
But in order to get it ready for virtual staging, Madison, her husband and the homeowners had to spend several hours carting the furniture out of several rooms so that she could photograph them as empty -- in order for them to be "redecorated" virtually.
Then, of course, they had to move everything back.
Madison left printouts of the virtually staged room depictions for buyers to see as they toured, so that they might envision the place with some updating -- as opposed to a major rehab.
"I went to a lecture a while back by the editor of Atomic Ranch magazine," which specializes in Modernist-designed homes built from the 1940s through 1960s, she said.
"He said there were three kinds of homebuyers," Madison recalled. "One would be like my client who listed this home -- if something in it was original, she would die before she would change it, no matter how inconvenient it was.
"The second kind understands the home, and will remodel, but be very respectful of the era.
"The third kind doesn't care if it's a '50s ranch -- if they want to turn it into a Colonial, they will stick some pillars in front," Madison said.
Madison was trying to find a buyer in that second category -- and that's just who she found, after just a few months on the market. Or thought she did.
The house, which had been listed for $479,000, closed for $459,000 on Dec. 27. But on Dec. 31, the new owner contacted her to explain that a health problem had emerged and the family had a change of heart -- they wouldn't be moving in, after all.
So, she asked, could Madison please relist the house and sell it again?
It so happened that Madison had received a backup offer from out-of-state buyers who had bid on the place, sight unseen: Like the then-current owner, they were rabid fans of Midcentury styling.
Madison called their agent, who explained that the relocating out-of-towners were house hunting in Portland. They came over, toured the house, and made an offer on Jan. 1. The place got new owners -- again.
Madison said she realizes the long odds against finding not one but two buyers who were smitten with such a specific style -- and relatively quickly.
But she suspects the audience for Midcentury homes is growing -- after decades of being panned for their "datedness," and too late for the countless cabinets and fixtures from that era that long since been dispatched to landfills.
She thinks real estate agents are increasingly willing to market the homes' style as a positive, rather than a negative. But it's not a slam dunk, she said: The market is a narrow niche.
"You see that term, Midcentury, used more often in marketing houses, but I still don't think that people really appreciate how special some of the features are," she said.
There's a certain consumer who grew up with that style and just wants to leave it behind, he said. But a younger demographic is captivated by its novelty.
"There's a new generation," she said, "that appreciates the details that make it different from something that looks like you bought everything at the Home Depot."
Mary Umberger is a freelance writer in Chicago.
The art of selling a vintage home
House Profile: A Midcentury Modern masterpiece
By Mary Umberger, Monday, April 4, 2011.
Inman News™
Real estate agent Kathryn Madison had a house for sale that she said was "so perfect" she feared it would scare buyers away This is not a typical circumstance in real estate, but then again, this isn't a typical house.
From the outside, it's your basic ranch home. But inside, it's a pristine example of the style known as Midcentury Modern -- a snapshot of the good life America offered in the late 1940s and early 1950s. From its jet-age kitchen table to its ultra-sleek living room mantel, it's stuffed with original features, all of them in exceptionally good condition.
It's the kind of place that would make aficionados of the genre swoon with delight. It also could send people who were looking for a mere house -- rather than a time capsule -- scrambling for the exit.
"I needed to appeal to that 'vintage' buyer, but if I overwhelmed people with too much detail (in marketing the property), I'd scare 90 percent of the buyers away," said Madison, an agent with Windermere Cronin & Caplan Realty Group in Portland, Ore.
In the end, it all worked out -- so well, in fact, that she ended up selling the house twice in a period of two months. But we'll get to that.
The house was built in 1948 in Portland's Raleigh Park neighborhood, which has many homes dating to that era and slightly later, though most have been extensively remodeled and have comparatively few original features.
This place, on Brentwood Street, is much the way it was on the day its first owners moved in. The kitchen, in particular, reflects a category of Midcentury styling known as Streamline Moderne, which has the sleek lines of a vintage Airstream trailer. This kitchen has its original, rounded-door cabinets and a restaurant-style booth (with original upholstery) that would have been right at home in a 1940s diner.
The woman who had listed it for sale -- only the second owner of the house -- was infatuated with the style, the agent said.
"She's so into that era that she still used the vintage, top-loading dishwasher, which sounded like a train coming through the house when it was working," Madison said. "Yet, it worked beautifully.
"She also used the vintage refrigerator -- (its) icebox would hold nothing more than two trays of ice cubes," the agent said. "She worked her lifestyle around the home."
The reason she was selling, Madison said, was because she had found another Midcentury home that had even more intact period features.
Madison began marketing the house by hosting a broker's open house -- it drew an unusually high turnout of 60-70 agents, most of whom seemed to take a lot of enjoyment in seeing it, she said.
But would their clients want to buy it?
"I had public open houses, and always got a warm reaction," Madison said. "The two (minimalist) fireplaces -- people just grooved on those. The original Masonite paneling in the front bedroom -- people loved that."
But there was still no getting around the "museum-ness" of the place.
For example, the bedrooms were almost completely intact, right down to the original windows, she said.
"That's a plus for a Midcentury buyer, but others said, 'This house will cost a fortune to heat,' " she said
Madison is an avid amateur photographer and shot pictures of the rooms herself for the listing -- hundreds of them.
A fan of Midcentury styling herself -- Madison lives nearby in a house that's a few years younger and is closer in feel to a classic '50s home, rather than Streamline Moderne -- she knew that fans of the genre would want to see tiny details.
"I know what excites a Midcentury enthusiast because I have the same illness that they do," she said, laughing. "I get excited over retro doorbells and reed glass (a type of ribbed privacy glass that was popular in the era)."
But too much of that might be, well, just too much for mainstream buyers, so Madison put many of the detailed shots on a "special features" link on the listing that probably only the most curious buyer would dig down to see, she said.
When she began showing the house, buyer reaction became predictable.
"The feedback from the agents was always, 'My client thought it was cool, very special, but didn't have the heart to remodel it,' " Madison said. "I'll bet I heard that half a dozen times."
After a few weeks, Madison got an idea: She hired a company to do a "virtual staging" -- a computer-generated version of how the house would look with stainless-steel appliances, more contemporary light fixtures, and other changes she thought would give it a hipper, Dwell magazine kind of look.
But in order to get it ready for virtual staging, Madison, her husband and the homeowners had to spend several hours carting the furniture out of several rooms so that she could photograph them as empty -- in order for them to be "redecorated" virtually.
Then, of course, they had to move everything back.
Madison left printouts of the virtually staged room depictions for buyers to see as they toured, so that they might envision the place with some updating -- as opposed to a major rehab.
"I went to a lecture a while back by the editor of Atomic Ranch magazine," which specializes in Modernist-designed homes built from the 1940s through 1960s, she said.
"He said there were three kinds of homebuyers," Madison recalled. "One would be like my client who listed this home -- if something in it was original, she would die before she would change it, no matter how inconvenient it was.
"The second kind understands the home, and will remodel, but be very respectful of the era.
"The third kind doesn't care if it's a '50s ranch -- if they want to turn it into a Colonial, they will stick some pillars in front," Madison said.
Madison was trying to find a buyer in that second category -- and that's just who she found, after just a few months on the market. Or thought she did.
The house, which had been listed for $479,000, closed for $459,000 on Dec. 27. But on Dec. 31, the new owner contacted her to explain that a health problem had emerged and the family had a change of heart -- they wouldn't be moving in, after all.
So, she asked, could Madison please relist the house and sell it again?
It so happened that Madison had received a backup offer from out-of-state buyers who had bid on the place, sight unseen: Like the then-current owner, they were rabid fans of Midcentury styling.
Madison called their agent, who explained that the relocating out-of-towners were house hunting in Portland. They came over, toured the house, and made an offer on Jan. 1. The place got new owners -- again.
Madison said she realizes the long odds against finding not one but two buyers who were smitten with such a specific style -- and relatively quickly.
But she suspects the audience for Midcentury homes is growing -- after decades of being panned for their "datedness," and too late for the countless cabinets and fixtures from that era that long since been dispatched to landfills.
She thinks real estate agents are increasingly willing to market the homes' style as a positive, rather than a negative. But it's not a slam dunk, she said: The market is a narrow niche.
"You see that term, Midcentury, used more often in marketing houses, but I still don't think that people really appreciate how special some of the features are," she said.
There's a certain consumer who grew up with that style and just wants to leave it behind, he said. But a younger demographic is captivated by its novelty.
"There's a new generation," she said, "that appreciates the details that make it different from something that looks like you bought everything at the Home Depot."
Mary Umberger is a freelance writer in Chicago.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Catalina weekend getaway
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island and Alaska's Aleutian Islands are rarely spoken of in the same sentence, except when one learns that the eponymous Russian fur traders, the Aleuts, eventually settled on the California island, driven by the desire for still more sea otter pelts. Located just 26 miles physically but a world away spiritually from Los Angeles, romantics have escaped to this 22-mile by 8-mile member of the Channel archipelago for generations, where they can rent bikes, snorkel or hike the newly constructed 37-mile Trans-Catalina Trail. Those looking for still more remoteness should travel north to Santa Cruz Island, the largest island in Channel Islands National Park. Kayak in the sea caves with Aquasports, or spend the day roaming this remarkable park after taking an Island Packers ferry.
Follow Crai S Bower on Twitter @craisbower.
Santa Catalina Island and Alaska's Aleutian Islands are rarely spoken of in the same sentence, except when one learns that the eponymous Russian fur traders, the Aleuts, eventually settled on the California island, driven by the desire for still more sea otter pelts. Located just 26 miles physically but a world away spiritually from Los Angeles, romantics have escaped to this 22-mile by 8-mile member of the Channel archipelago for generations, where they can rent bikes, snorkel or hike the newly constructed 37-mile Trans-Catalina Trail. Those looking for still more remoteness should travel north to Santa Cruz Island, the largest island in Channel Islands National Park. Kayak in the sea caves with Aquasports, or spend the day roaming this remarkable park after taking an Island Packers ferry.
Follow Crai S Bower on Twitter @craisbower.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Everything Old is New Again
Everything Old is New Again
Restoring Homes with the Patina of Time
By Iyna Bort Caruso
When a Massachusetts couple wanted to bring their 86-year-old home up to 21st century standards, the one thing they would not compromise on was authenticity. They built a separate connecting structure to use as the family room and chose the facade of an old horse stable to give it the patina of time.
Employing artisan techniques and date-stamped design in renovations imbues homes of a certain age with a sense of permanence and maturity. For the savvy homeowner, it’s a matter of optimizing one’s real estate investment. And sometimes it’s also a matter of national “pride,” says José Gorjão, of Portugal Sotheby’s International Realty in Lisbon. Owners there happily comply with government regulations on restorations because they’re eager to retain the best “traits of Portuguese architecture,” which typically feature hardwood floors, handcrafted ceilings and wood-framed windows.
The trick in a period home restoration is to pay homage to the original architecture in a way that makes the new seem old, the contemporary seem timeworn.
Stephen Wang, an architect with offices in Manhattan and Sydney, Australia, spent about 10 months undoing, redoing and expanding his two-story weekend home in the Hudson Valley region of New York. Parts of the residence were more than 100 years old. The original structure was a clapboard, hunting cabin to which the previous owner connected a stone house with a steep-pitched roof. “It looked odd,” Wang says of the addition. He removed the original cabin and built a new addition that was consistent with the stone structure. Wang used granite boulders from the site, laid flooring made of reclaimed pine boards from an old barn in the region and installed wainscoting, much of it recycled from the original cabin. “The goal was to make the addition and the renovation upgrade feel as if they were original to the house,” he says. “It was important that it was cohesive and consistent, that it looked like it was meant to be.”
The three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot remodel is a seamless integration. Wang did his homework, studying the history of the home as well as the history of the previous owner, a cabinetmaker. “I salvaged what was worth keeping and reconfigured it into the addition so it looks like a part of the original vision he had. What he produced was wonderful — he was an artist and a craftsman — and we kept that. I didn’t overbuild, I didn’t overinvest. But what I did build was of good quality and was consistent with the structure that was there,” Wang says.
Vintage is relative, of course. Century-old homes in Europe are considered young. In the U.S., they’re considered classics. In Georgia’s southeastern St. Simons and Sea Islands, most homes are less than 40 years old. “This is probably due to the occasional hurricane — though we experience far fewer than others on the coast — as well as the fact that prior to the mid 1920s, the island was only accessible by ferry,” says Frank DeLoach of DeLoach Sotheby’s International Realty in St. Simons Island.
Nevertheless, DeLoach says it’s “very important” for owners, no matter the age of their homes, to stay faithful to the original architecture during a renovation and to pay attention to the details and nuances in order to maintain property values. The closer a restoration mirrors the original details, the higher the return. “Anything but a well-executed expansion or remodel will diminish the overall appeal of the home and, therefore, will fail to produce the greatest return on the investment,” he says.
In Massachusetts, the homeowners of a suburban Boston estate situated on the Charles River built their 900-square-foot family room addition to be sympathetic with the main house, a classic New England center hall colonial. “It was a beautiful older home, built in 1925, that didn’t meet today’s lifestyle,” says interior designer Freya Surabian of Freya Surabian Design Associates in Winchester, Mass.
Surabian worked with the homeowners to achieve an illusion of time that was both authentic and elegant. The addition is connected to the main house through a covered breezeway. The exterior has the arched glass doors of a classic carriage house and interior finishes that are consistent with the era: Venetian plaster walls, the kind of stone and cement fireplace typically found in a carriage house and a plank ceiling that was stained, glazed and cracked to appear time-worn. “It breaks my heart when people buy a fabulous older home and go in and totally gut it,” Surabian says. “They might as well buy a new home because the most expensive thing in a home is character. And older homes drip with character.”
Restoring Homes with the Patina of Time
By Iyna Bort Caruso
When a Massachusetts couple wanted to bring their 86-year-old home up to 21st century standards, the one thing they would not compromise on was authenticity. They built a separate connecting structure to use as the family room and chose the facade of an old horse stable to give it the patina of time.
Employing artisan techniques and date-stamped design in renovations imbues homes of a certain age with a sense of permanence and maturity. For the savvy homeowner, it’s a matter of optimizing one’s real estate investment. And sometimes it’s also a matter of national “pride,” says José Gorjão, of Portugal Sotheby’s International Realty in Lisbon. Owners there happily comply with government regulations on restorations because they’re eager to retain the best “traits of Portuguese architecture,” which typically feature hardwood floors, handcrafted ceilings and wood-framed windows.
The trick in a period home restoration is to pay homage to the original architecture in a way that makes the new seem old, the contemporary seem timeworn.
Stephen Wang, an architect with offices in Manhattan and Sydney, Australia, spent about 10 months undoing, redoing and expanding his two-story weekend home in the Hudson Valley region of New York. Parts of the residence were more than 100 years old. The original structure was a clapboard, hunting cabin to which the previous owner connected a stone house with a steep-pitched roof. “It looked odd,” Wang says of the addition. He removed the original cabin and built a new addition that was consistent with the stone structure. Wang used granite boulders from the site, laid flooring made of reclaimed pine boards from an old barn in the region and installed wainscoting, much of it recycled from the original cabin. “The goal was to make the addition and the renovation upgrade feel as if they were original to the house,” he says. “It was important that it was cohesive and consistent, that it looked like it was meant to be.”
The three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot remodel is a seamless integration. Wang did his homework, studying the history of the home as well as the history of the previous owner, a cabinetmaker. “I salvaged what was worth keeping and reconfigured it into the addition so it looks like a part of the original vision he had. What he produced was wonderful — he was an artist and a craftsman — and we kept that. I didn’t overbuild, I didn’t overinvest. But what I did build was of good quality and was consistent with the structure that was there,” Wang says.
Vintage is relative, of course. Century-old homes in Europe are considered young. In the U.S., they’re considered classics. In Georgia’s southeastern St. Simons and Sea Islands, most homes are less than 40 years old. “This is probably due to the occasional hurricane — though we experience far fewer than others on the coast — as well as the fact that prior to the mid 1920s, the island was only accessible by ferry,” says Frank DeLoach of DeLoach Sotheby’s International Realty in St. Simons Island.
Nevertheless, DeLoach says it’s “very important” for owners, no matter the age of their homes, to stay faithful to the original architecture during a renovation and to pay attention to the details and nuances in order to maintain property values. The closer a restoration mirrors the original details, the higher the return. “Anything but a well-executed expansion or remodel will diminish the overall appeal of the home and, therefore, will fail to produce the greatest return on the investment,” he says.
In Massachusetts, the homeowners of a suburban Boston estate situated on the Charles River built their 900-square-foot family room addition to be sympathetic with the main house, a classic New England center hall colonial. “It was a beautiful older home, built in 1925, that didn’t meet today’s lifestyle,” says interior designer Freya Surabian of Freya Surabian Design Associates in Winchester, Mass.
Surabian worked with the homeowners to achieve an illusion of time that was both authentic and elegant. The addition is connected to the main house through a covered breezeway. The exterior has the arched glass doors of a classic carriage house and interior finishes that are consistent with the era: Venetian plaster walls, the kind of stone and cement fireplace typically found in a carriage house and a plank ceiling that was stained, glazed and cracked to appear time-worn. “It breaks my heart when people buy a fabulous older home and go in and totally gut it,” Surabian says. “They might as well buy a new home because the most expensive thing in a home is character. And older homes drip with character.”
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