April 22, 2008
Hello blog readers!
It has been a special treat to be able to walk out my doors and work "in" my studio on my side porch. What's been most important to me is to get settled back at home and in my community―physically living there―and to continue working with others on its redevelopment. It's taken some steps of progress since the last two years and will continue to.
There has still been a lot of attention on the house since its publicity on TOH, which continues to bring people into the neighborhood and give it the attention it needs. We have a lot of redevelopments, new developments, and historic landmarks already in place.
I'm beginning classes at my home on my huge side porch on
Monday afternoons to get the creative clay energy moving. I met with
students from University of Minnesota about my side lot and its needs
for a rain garden to absorb the flooding water―at least 1-2 feet during long rains. (I'm on high ground by the river so the
water wants to go down towards the yard away from the levee and just
sits there until it soaks in the ground.)
A rain garden is a system of
sand, rocks, mulch, and plants that enjoy an abundance of water, which
enables large quantities of water to soak into the ground.
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March 21, 2008
I just wrote a post for the second time, and lost it because I hit a sensitive button. So my energy has changed. I was up and ready and excited―had a lot written―and its gone. So I'll try again.
I just want to update and follow up with you all about what's going on here.
I did a few walk-throughs and made a list of things that weren't done correctly, and tried to acquire a warranty to ensure that the contractor would repair anything else that wasn't done correctly. My tub panel is still open. It was not built correctly with access to the motor panel, so the tiles were busted out of 1/2 of the panel to rebuild it. And we didn't have the correct valve trim for my shower valve, so that's on its way here for installation.
I have to impress onto home builders and renovators to get a signed agreement of the specific work that will be done to your home from your contractor, as well as warranty coverage upon its completion.
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February 16, 2008
My house is an aesthetic paradise, inside and out. I just love looking at it from inside, and from the outside as I drive to and from it on the street. I love it love it love it!
There has been a passionate discussion taking place on another blog post and on one of the message boards, which seems to be sort of centered around whether I should have raised my house and rebuilt in a flood prone area. Well, I actually did think about raising my house…and still do for the future―maybe. It of course would have been better to do this before the addition was built, and I do still wonder if I will flood again. And of course, I will never know until it happens.
But I have other things to worry about in life. Trust me, I have my worry priorities. And one of the reasons why this worry is not at the top of my list anymore is that the likelihood that my house will flood again in the area it is in is pretty slim, unless MRGO (Mississippi River Gulf Outlet) remains open and we do not actively work to restore our wetlands.
FYI, the Katrina flooding was a result of breached levees by the
Industrial Canal and an unnatural (not act of nature) flow of water
from MRGO, a human-made drench by commercial entities and the US Army
Corps of Engineers to provide a so-called shortcut for cargo ships to
travel to and from the Gulf of Mexico. However, one of these problems of possible flood culprits has been tackled: Community activists and workers who have been strongly fighting to close MRGO have been successful in their advocacy―MRGO will be closed!
During Hurricane Betsy of 1965, both of my parents, who grew up in the Lower 9th Ward a few blocks from one another, survived flooding of their entire houses. My mother's family had a boat and were able to escape. However, my father's family were on the roof for three days.
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February 14, 2008
I must apologize―I've neglected my blogs. Been a busy bee working to finish my house…and of course, so much has happened since. The house has been finished and I've made it through Mardi Gras…and the best of all, I have officially moved back home!
There are so many things to talk about. First and foremost, I am so grateful for all of the people who've worked so hard to make this project happen. It was definitely a team effort and amazing to see all that is involved in building a house.
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February 2, 2008
It is amazing what a fence can do for yard. My new fence has been installed, with landscaping, and this has totally defined the yard and made it seem even larger.
I must admit, my yard was already HUGE! The property, sized 60' x 118', could easily fit two or three houses. The lady who lived in the house before me used this fertile land for gardening. The soil is really rich and plants can grow in abundance, since its right off of the river.
Well, this fence is not only absolutley gorgeous, it is also very practical.
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January 31, 2008
The clawfoot tub, after the storm, but before the renovation
(photo by Katherine Slingluff)
So much is going on: The plumbing trim-out is being installed, the electrical trim-out is almost done, the stair treads are done―aargh!…Where do I begin without too much rambling?
My clawfoot is back!
When I bought my house, a built-in cast-iron tub with a flat bottom was in the bathroom. It was long and narrow and didn't make me look twice at it. So I was set on finding a clawfoot for my bathroom. As luck had it, about 4 years ago when I was driving down the street from my house, I saw an old cast-iron clawfoot tub on my neighbors' porch…It seemed so lonely, like it needed a home and was dying for a makeover. So my neighbor was so gracious to give me the tub for 50 bucks, I made sure I picked it up that day :) and got it refinished for $300.00. What a deal! A refinished old cast-iron clawfoot for $350.00! So my clawfoot was an added touch to my house, and I throughly enjoyed it.
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January 29, 2008
My kitchen cabinets are really beautiful. They are maple mocha and the pantry cabinets are maple butterscotch. I bought the house because of the generously sized kitchen; when I decided to build an addition, I chose to leave the kitchen where it was originally located, even though all of the plumbing was being redone.
Since the add-on, the kitchen is in the middle of the house instead of the back…it's the heart of the house, with a french door giving it access to the side porch. Overall, my kitchen has had a complete makeover: new appliances, installation of cabinets, a butcher block island…
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January 16, 2008
The original floors are 4-inch-wide boards (photo by Katherine Slingluff)
So much has happened since my last blog―interior painting, exterior painting, drywall, flooring, cabinets―so I need my blog to catch up with the house, since things are moving so fast! It is amazing how drywall can make a room seem so complete.
It all happened so fast: The sheetrock went up, covering up the studs and foam insulation, then primed, then a coat of paint. And then, voila! The rooms just popped out. The structure of the house is now in my memory―covered up.
Then the flooring was installed―the icing on the cake!
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January 1, 2008
When I first got back to my house in October, 2005, I thought I had dodged a bullet. The house was still standing, and I didn't see any sign of the black mold that everyone else had.
That's why I was so so so shocked to learn that my house actually had mold.
After all, I thought I followed the proper procedures: I gutted 1/2 of
my house―you see since I had 6 feet of water in my neighborhood, and
my house was raised 3 feet off the ground, I assumed I needed to gut
only 4 feet of my wall from the floor. The studs were pressure washed
with water and bleach. But there were two things I did not consider:
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December 31, 2007
When I first came back home to check on my house and clean it out during October 2005, I saw total devastation throughout the Gulf Coast. As my sister and I drove down I-10 we passed fishing communities with upturned fishing boats and many destroyed homes. There was an eerie silence and vacancy―no one was present in these demolished homes and camps.
This was an introduction to what I would see when I entered my hometown of New Orleans. We rode in silence as we saw the vacancy of our community, flooded out homes, and began to talk again about memories as we entered our childhood neighborhoods, past homes, and grandparents' houses.
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December 18, 2007
The living room ceiling, stripped in an earlier renovation (photo by Katherine Slingluff)
My house is evolving―the drywall is being installed, the porch is almost done and the exterior trim should be completed soon.
My kitchen ceiling is gorgeous. It was initially sinking and bowing from water damage and I guess lack of support beams. We took it out…and discovered mold inside on the wood and thick paint with caked up grease. YUCK!
I wasn't planning to miss those wood beams at all after taking them down. I was initially evisioning the "possibility" of its beauty on my ceiling after I sanded it down, but have no regrets about removing it. (I'm keeping it for use on something else―either cleaning it for my studio, someone else's house, or create scultpure with it :) )
After the tongue and groove ceiling was removed, the ceiling beams were reinforced and balanced, and ripe and ready for some fresh new tongue-and-groove wood. As I am so involved in my house and watching what's going into it as they build it, I happened to see them (the workers―with direction and approval from my contractor!!!) bringing the boards in to install that YUCKY, greasy, lead-painted ceiling back in my house…yes! the nasty one that was taken down and still uncleaned and without any mold remediation. I was in shock!
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December 12, 2007
photo by Katherine Slingluff
I love my house. I love what it was as a cozy, intimate, shotgun―built by people's bare hands without power tools during the 1890's. And I love what it has transformed into―I'll call it my grand palace.
The process of rebuilding my house has been a tremendous educational experience on so many different levels. I am a hands-on, get-into-it woman―I love working with materials and learning about how things are made. But I have to say that this is the first time in my life that I can recall feeling totally clueless and ignorant, to the extent that I have to trust someone else on something I'm invested in.
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December 11, 2007
photo by Katherine Slingluff
A lot of TOH fans have been hoping that the show would do some work down in New Orleans to help with the post-Katrina rebuilding. Well, that time has come. As the Newton project draws to a close, the work on the next project, which TOH TV has already begun to document for shows that begin airing in January, revs up. This 1892 Italianate-style shotgun house is in the flood-ravaged Lower Ninth Ward, in a neighborhood on the banks of the Mississippi called Holy Cross.
Welcome to our homeowner Rashida Ferdinand, a 32-year-old ceramicist who's taking pre-med courses so she can apply for medical school next year. Stay tuned as she documents the craziness of trying to renovate in a former disaster area while also studying, teaching, and creating her art. It should prove to be an exciting ride!
