Variance Application Filed

I skipped out of work early yesterday to go file the variance application for my porch. So if I've done everything correctly, the process is under way and I'll have my hearing within the next 65 days as required by law. I'm hoping to be able to show real photos of the exterior work in progress soon but I don't want my porch inspiration photos to go to waste.

While you enjoy the photos, I'll bore you with my little story of talking to my last abutting neighbor and going to file my application...or you can just look at the pictures!

About four years ago my neighbor renovated her house inside and out and restored the front porch she found in an old photo of the house from about the 1920s. She said she was very nervous about the hearing so she went with her architect and her family. Once her hearing was called, she was calmed to hear that three neighbors had sent in letters of support...

(Love the green ceiling on this porch.)

...but there was also one letter of opposition. (gasp.)

The letters of support and one letter of objection were read into the record. They did not read the name of the naysayer but from the content she could tell that it was the neighbor immediately next door (two doors down from me). She did end up getting her variance but opposition wasn't something that she was prepared for. And she was a little hurt that nothing was said beforehand. I'm a little shocked myself but at least I'm informed and I leave this meeting with the promise of another letter of support.

But now Objecting Neighbor has me a little worried. She has been extremely complimentary to all of the improvements I've made. I've caught her admiring my garden. She even tells her dog not to pee on my lawn. But now I'm wondering what kind of monster she really might be! I wonder whether or not under the protection of anonymity, a nice neighbor turns nasty. She'll probably get a notice from the city but, if not, I have to post this HUGE "Public Notice" sign on my house, like some big Scarlet Letter, advising passersby that I'm seeking relief from the zoning ordinance.

So back to yesterday. I go to the building department between 3:30 and 4:30 (just as required) to find three lines of people: one for building permits, one for demolition permits and one for variances. I'm second in the variance line. The two people in front of me I believe are a homeowner and his architect trying to find out how to word their application for a nonconforming addition so it will be "better received." Are you kidding me? They debated options back and forth for what seemed like a half hour. I'm expecting any minute to be told "Sorry, we're done. You'll have to come back tomorrow."

But finally "Unprepared Duo" decided to go with the wording they had and they stepped aside so I could more forward. "Buddy, what I can do for you?" "I'm here to submit my application for a variance to build a historical front porch." "Are you the architect?" "No, I'm the homeowner." "Who filled out this application?"

Hmm. Is this a trick question? "My architect and I did it together."

I must have passed the test because he took my three-ring binder with each response item perfectly tabbed in the same order that the Application Checklist set forth.

"Have you been to Historical?" "No, do I have to?" "Yup. They just need to sign off on the fact that it's not a historic property or that you're in a historic district."

Actually it was great that I had to go to the Historical Commission because I got to ask if, once I got my hearing date, I could make an appointment to show the Director my plans. If he likes the plans, he will write a letter to the Zoning Board supporting my application. I'm sure Historical Commission outweighs Objecting Neighbor. They tell me to call and make an appointment.

Five minutes later I'm done at the Historical Commission and I head back downstairs where I pass in my application, my blueprints, my Historical Commission seal of approval and my application fee of $120. And I'm on my way...to wait.

Boy, these ladies are annoying. I don't know why they keep hanging out on my front porch inspiration photo. It's hard for me imagine myself hanging out here when they won't leave. I wish they would go away.

So the weekend is here and I think I need to talk to Objecting Neighbor. I think I'll invite her over coffee and scones, show her the plans, look into the face of the monster and ask for her support. She couldn't possibly write a letter of objection after having one of my famous blueberry scones, could she? They're chock full of blueberries, just the right amount of lemon zest and a little crunch of crystalized sugar on the top. Surely she'll be impressed with my use of parchment paper too.

Maybe she would prefer tea.

I'll have pull out the good china just in case monsters like tea.

Have a great weekend!

Credits 1.,5. Martha 2. This Old House 3.,8. Country Living 4. Coastal Living 6. Evan Sklar 7. Appraisal.com; 9. Rosie's Whimsy 10. Southern Living

Painted Floors

Janet from The Gardeners Cottage tagged me with a challenge to show the 6th photo I posted on my blog. Janet has been very supportive of my blog, my home improvements and of my personal challenge to see how long I can not eat meat so, maybe I'm high on tofu, but I'm happy to oblige.





The above photo was the first in a group of photos I was gathering as I was first talking to my architects and I was wondering what kind of kitchen would be appropriate for an historical house. I think I've gotten over needing to be so literally historical but I'm still in love with the idea of painted floors in the kitchen and perhaps in other rooms around the house. I continue to collect inspiration photos of painted floors so I'd thought I share a few more from the ones I've collected.

There's something about the combination of a painted design combined with the texture of individual floor boards that I find really attractive.

I've really been in love with yellow and white since I saw the floors in the studio of La Maison LaFourtune. I think this color combination automatically says vintage.

I also like this yellow and white take on macro gingham.

This black and taupe floor is a little dizzying but it shows that painted floors can also be elegant.

This stenciled yellow and white floor is fun. I think a twelve-inch border of white would make me love this.

I also love when part of a wood floor is left natural. It could really cleverly disguise a wood floor that's damaged in a few places. I am really intrigued by the design that left natural inside the larger areas of white paint. I wish I could see it better.

(Update: I found this shot in Flickr but I found the blog and more shots of this great floor here.)

Sometimes just a simple white painted floor is all it takes to be perfect. This is a Jonathan Adler design.

This room is way too much for me but I do love the floor. It's like s strappy quilt that has random pieces ordered by a perfect grid. This idea could be executed in a million different ways.

And I've saved my favorite few photos for a big finish. This Nancy Boszhardt interior uses stain to create a "rug" on the floor. I love this idea. And the hat rack it pretty darn cool too.

These last two photos are just beautiful rooms that just happen to have painted floors. It just goes to show that sometimes simpler is better.

This perfectly serene bedroom with misty blue-green walls and glistening ivory floors makes me want to revisit my guest bedroom. I've been thinking of glazing over the black and white wallpaper (can that be done?) and could I bring myself to paint the refinished floors?

Credits: 1. Soutern Living 2. Cottage Living 3. Southern Living 4. Cottage Living 5. Joel Woodard 6+7. via Flickr 8. House Beautiful 9. Elle Decor 10. Nancy Boszhardt 11. via Brabourne Farm (hi, Leigh!) 12. Country Living

Fruitful Weekend

It's amazing what can happen in the garden in one day. From Saturday to Sunday, my aubergine irises burst into bloom...
...and my Lily of the Valley also started to open up. Boy, it's amazing how one whiff of this takes me back to a 5-year-old kid at my grandmother's house.

I spent most of the day in garden so I could "bump into" my neighbors and talk to them about my front porch plans. I didn't want to just leave notes in mailboxes, I wanted to talk to everyone in person. I also made up packages for everyone so they can see exactly what I plan to do with the house.

I gave everyone a copy of the street elevation from the blueprints. It's kind of tough to see all details so I also showed them this diagram from a book put out by the Cambridge Historical Commission on taking care of your old Cambridge house.

The book, which is actually really informative, shows in detail what kinds of doors and windows each house style should have, styles of fences, how to build stairs, how the apron around a porch should look...

...and this diagram shows all the components of the top of a Greek Revival pediment.

Here's a photo of my house from that same straight-on view seen in the diagrams. You can almost see what it's supposed to be. It's hard to get this photo because there's almost always someone parked in front.

I also gave everyone a copy of this 1876 drawing of my house so they could see that, indeed, a porch once stood at the front of the house. This was fun for everyone to see because many of their houses are also on the page and no one had seen it before.

But, I'll admit, it's kind of hard to see what it will look like from the diagrams. Everyone responded most to this photograph. This is a house (that I've posted before) in the neighborhood but it's acutally a mirror image of mine and very close in scale. So I flipped the photo with my photo editor so the door is on the same side as mine.

I let everyone walk away with a copy of these images and asked if they like my plan, to please write a letter of support when they get a letter from the City about my hearing. Everyone seemed not only supportive but excited about the plan. My application is done and I should be filing it within the next two days. Having an opponent can make things difficult so it's nice knowing that everyone around me seems so supportive.

Now I can refocus my efforts on finding a contractor.

Garden, April

I love coming home from work every day and spending a few minutes in the garden. Sometimes it seems like you can almost see the plants growing. Each day there's something new to see. This morning I was really taken with the view from the garden looking across the street. The Sargent cherry tree is literally sagging under the weight of the pink blooms and is contrasted by the bright yellow green of the new maple leaves. It's a scene that's quintessentially spring.

Just as a refresher, my garden was taken from this thin strip of yard that formerly had a handicapped ramped when I bought the house. Under the ramp was an old patio and a sidewalk extended across the front yard.
The ramp was ripped out, the patio and sidewalk were jackhammered out, the foundation was painted, the porch railings were replaced, and a new curved walk and small patio/landing was added as a place for a temporary chair or grill when friends come over for a summer barbeque.

This is that same view as of this morning. The garden seems to be getting a sleepy start and, for some reason, it seems like I lost a lot of plants over the winter. It was a fairly mild winter so I'm a little perplexed why I lost so many plants.

This is the front half of the garden looking toward the street. This has been a real challenge. Along the fence is very shady and dry so I've had a tough time finding plants that will work in this area. The area in the foreground is a sunnier spot it's been kind of a testing ground to see what things like this spot. I've got some stella d'oro day lilies, shasta daisies, montauk daisies (center) that seem to be taking over. I added some baptisia australis (false indigo) up against the house last year and it seems to be doing well. There's some globe thistle next to new the green pot which is a new witch hazel. And the silvery plant in the front right is artemesia,
In this spot last summer I some black and white hollyhocks. When I told my mother I had put hollyhocks in the garden she said "You'll be sorry. You'll have them growing everywhere. They'll be in your front yard. They'll be in your neighbor's yards. They'll be everywhere." Even though I pulled some the seeds out of both hollyhocks and sprinkled them around, they all seem to be gone.

This is the sunny side of the garden as it looked last June. I would like to have a few shrubs on the left for winter interest but the people who live down this alley have to shovel all of the snow by hand and most it, by agreement, ends up in my garden. They don't use any salt on it, so I thought the snow would offer good insulation to the perennials throughout the winter.

And this is what it looked like probably in July. The daisies in the background are pretty clear. Just to the left of the daisies is gaura. This was my second attempt at growing gaura which seems to grow well during the summer. The purple flowers just to the left of the green ceramic planter is pincushion flower (scabiosa) and that's sitting just in front a few clumps of blue sedge. The coneflowers in the front are echinacea pallida which I liked for it's droopy, sagging petals.

I'm not a fan of the black-eyed susan's--don't care for the orangey yellow color--but they are long lasting and bring late summer color to the garden, so I was excited to find this rudbeckia Prairie Sun, or green-eyed susan's as I call them. I bought several plants and added them just in front of the daisies so as they were dying out and getting cut back, these would rise up in their place.
Here's a photo of my gaura plant which nicely spills out over the fence. And down in the lower right-hand corner you can see one of the green-eyed susan's whose flowers stayed all summer long right into the fall.
Here's that same spot today. All of the gaura is dead. This is the second year in a row it's not made it through the winter. I'd supposed to be hardy in my area and know of people that grow it successfully. Pincushion flowers: all dead. They lived through the first winter but not through last winter. Green-eyed susans: There were three next to the gaura and they're all dead.
There were four more green-eyed susan's behind the blue sedge, in front of the irises. They're all dead. So I'm not sure what happened. Since I'm on a spending freeze and I may have to clear out the garden bed up against the house to do the exterior work (if it happens this summer), I think I'm just going to pick from the plants over there to fill in the empty spots.

I'll post updates on the progress of the garden a few times during the summer.

Wedding Shower : Blue Bird and Lilac Shower

Today I've been getting ready for a shower I'm doing tomorrow morning.






Getting the flowers ready and washing plates.





English cheddar and chive quiche...





Blue bird sugar cookies...





Barefoot Contessa's Pecan Sticky Buns!

I'll post final pics tomorrow!

Everyday | My Visit to Samantha's House

This week I spent some time in St. Louis meeting with some potential members of The Bliss List : STL and visiting my new niece, Samantha.

Above : Samantha in awe of her new friends, the farm animals.

She really likes the flying cow... or she's enjoying digesting the what seems like gallons of milk she consumes.

Snuggling with her Mom.

Snoozer in her fruity pants.