October 17, 2014 by Pointes of View

Fall: A Gallery

What Grosse Pointe lacks in the food department, it makes up for in beauty (and that’s saying a lot, friends). Fall has been an amazing display of color. The landscape changes a little bit each day, and I can’t stop staring.

The pinks are my favorite. Normally they’re paired with yellow hues, so you have this beautiful combination of the brightest yellow close to the trunk, and then a slow fade to pink. The perfect ombre. Nature gest it right every time.

But the oranges are also striking. So bright, so bold. And the plums! The reds! It’s enough to make you fall on your knees and weep.

There’s something foreboding about Fall that makes it seem more intense than Spring. Winter is coming. There are already whispers of another bad year (Farmer’s Almanac and such). Right now, though, the trees are trying hard to tell us to pay attention. Look around. Enjoy. And I, for one, am doing just that.

October 8, 2014 by Pointes of View

In Pursuit of Paint

If you’ve been following the blog, you know that I’ve been obsessed with finding the perfect paint colors for the house. Now that the wallpaper was off and the hardwood floors uncovered and cleaned, it was time to paint. I’d already met with Tim over at Shelby Paint, but now I had to put our selections to the test.

I bought a bunch of samples and let the girls help me paint poster boards (as you can see, the above pic was taken a while ago – Lucy is still in diapers and we’re still at the Apartment), which they were thrilled about. Then I took the boards to the new house to check them out.

Color is a very tricky thing, as I have learned over the last couple months. I knew it already, but wow. Colors change from one room to the next, from one foot to the next even, sometimes. And of course they change drastically depending on how light or dark the room is.

Initially I’d picked Athena for the entryway (the largest of the samples above), but now it appeared too blue. We (meaning me, as my husband was rolling his eyes at this point) decided to go with Manchester Tan instead, the darkest color shown above.

Our dining room pick, Nantucket Grey, was perfect.

And for the living room, we were originally going to go with Athena as well, but again, it looked too bluish. I really wanted a light, airy feel to the living room, so I went with the controversial Navajo White (poster board is Athena). Before selecting a white, I went online and read various reviews from both experts and DIY folks. Many experts poo-pooed Navajo White, saying that it felt too “rental apartment” or boring. But that Linen White was a beautiful white.

Anyway, I looked up Linen White, and it is seriously almost exactly the same formula as Navajo White. So there. And I went with the old design rule (whose rule? I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s a rule), if you like it, then who cares what anyone else thinks?

COMING UP: In my next post, I’ll introduce you to John, our painter, and reveal my one color regret. Can you guess?

September 22, 2014 by Pointes of View

Meet Javier, Hardwood Floor Guy

Master Bedroom, before.

When we put a bid on our house, we weren’t thinking about the floors. Let me rephrase. We were trying not to think about the floors. I asked our realtor if she could find out what was underneath the upstairs carpeting. Without hesitation, she said there was no way there was hardwood. She was quite confident that when we lifted up the carpeting, we’d find plywood, typical of homes built in the 1960s.

But our home wasn’t built in the 1960s, it was built in 1960. This is what the little voice inside my head said. So I held out hope. When the sale went through, we didn’t have possession of the house right away, as the owners requested a rent-back to give them time to solidify the purchase of their condo. About a month later, we finally had a chance to get inside and look around. And to put an end to the hardwood floor question.

Guest Bedroom, before.

If you’re anything like me, you love a good home renovation show (my personal favorite, Rehab Addict). Which means you’ve seen the episode where the camera follows the host to (insert room here), and zooms in on the filthy, stained and/or hideously dated carpeting. We then watch as the host reaches down to pull up the carpet and reveal what’s underneath and….oh my goodness, original hardwood floors, can you believe it!?

Yeah, it was kinda like that.

Oak

So we had oak floors. Now what? Our first thought was to find someone to come out and sand and stain. Easy peasy. Or not. The one place that was recommended to me (by several professionals. All these home improvement guys know each other), would be happy to do the job. In November. For $7100. Seeing as we weren’t interested in waiting three months to move in, nor had we anticipated having to pay that much, we decided to go a different route.

I called pretty much all the hardwood floor people in Grosse Pointe Blue Book, requesting a quote for cleaning and sealing (no sanding, no staining) of our floors. Three people got back to me (seriously?) and one of them was Javier (pronounced Xavier. That’s what he said. I do what I’m told) of Exotic Floors & Designs.

Like I’ve done with my other trade interviews, I started by asking Javier how he got into the business. About 19 years ago, he was working for an environmental company (didn’t say what he did and of course me being the amateur interviewer that I am, failed to ask) and although it paid well, he was due for a raise and had a small baby at home. He asked for that raise, they said no, and he decided to look for work elsewhere.

Here’s where my facts get a little sketchy (see what happens when you wait too long to try to decipher your very scribbley notes!?). I do know he is mostly self-taught. In order to learn the techniques of hardwood flooring trade, he bought a video and watched it about 1000 times (for real). He was honest with his first client about his inexperience, and said he would give them a great price if they gave him a chance.

Things obviously worked out (last year, Javier worked with that same client on another job). In 1997, he started Exotic Floors & Design, and at one point, even had a storefront on Mack (a main thoroughfare that separates Grosse Pointe from Detroit) before the building was sold.

As his company name implies, Javier specializes in exotic woods (he was approached by a client who owned a lumber company at some point in his career, and that’s how he got turned on to the exotics). What are examples of exotics? Bamboo and African woods, like the deep red padauk (which can be so poisonous that it can’t be sanded in the home).

What trends is he seeing? He still does a lot of designs – borders and inlays. And says the Grosse Pointe area continues to be traditional and clients here prefer an authentic and/or antique look, whereas newer more fast-paced communities like Birmingham (Detroit suburb) prefer flashier styles. Like what? Jet black floors. I’m sorry… black floors? Yep, finished to where they look like a lacquered piece of furniture. I get the impression he thinks the effect is kind of cool. Perhaps it is.

Javier and one of his designs (not our house).

Our floors look amazing, considering we didn’t have a huge budget. Javier’s guess is that they were never used, never walked on (can you believe it?). There are some bad scratch marks where razor blades were used to install carpet, and several water marks that won’t come out unless we sand and stain.

But that’s okay with us, we feel fortunate just to have them. They remind us a little of our old place (and I want to add “back home” but I’m trying to stop doing that) in San Francisco and I find myself wondering how long it will take for this place to feel like home. As always, I’ll keep you posted.

September 17, 2014 by Pointes of View

My Latest Obsession: Grosse Pointe Estate Sales

Jimmy Choo ballet flats: $45.00 (new $395).

Estate sales don’t happen in San Francisco. Well, according to my husband they do and they did, only we never noticed signs or heard about them (but if a tree falls in the forest…?). There were countless garage sales back home, but whatever wasn’t junky was always priced way too high.

Here, estate sales are like garage sales with sprinkles on top. This summer, there was one, if not several, going on every weekend (I’m sure it slows down in colder months. Perhaps even comes to a full stop. I’ll let you know).

I noticed the sidewalk signs when we first moved and didn’t really think anything of them because for one thing, there are so many freaking signs here that one tends to stop looking at them all together. Anyway, I don’t normally waste my time digging through bins of other people’s unwanteds. But I’d see cars lining the block and people walking with a purpose and one day I got curious enough (and brave enough) to park the car and check it out for myself.

In Grosse Pointe, most estate sales are run by professionals who have been in the business for years. From what I’ve gathered, there are two main companies: Marcia Wilk and Stefek’s (the other companies appear less frequently and are almost impossible to find online).

They announce sales at the beginning of the week, with the actual sale starting on a Friday and ending Saturday. I’ve never gone to one right when it opened, but apparently it can get crazy. Numbers are handed out 30 minutes prior to start time and customers are asked to be “organized and orderly” (as one website states). On Saturday afternoons, prices get dropped considerably, the catch being that the good stuff is usually gone by then.

The first sale I went to was a hot mess. There were holiday decorations galore, plates, pots and dishes for days, books, records, clothes, odds and ends and a handful of furniture. In addition to displaying the estate’s offerings, estate sale companies also bring in their own stuff (items from past sales, consignment items). There were a lot of folks at this one and they were riffling through things like rats in a garbage bin.

Amidst the chaos, I did manage to find something I liked. An Italian Mottahedeh ceramic bowl for $25.00. I did some research when I got home and couldn’t find the exact bowl, but based on similar items (same design, different shape), the actual value is somewhere in the neighborhood of $125-$150.

Since I had a babysitter on Friday afternoons (had, because the school year has started, so I no longer have a sitter), I’d make sure to check out a sale or two if I had time between my frantic errand-running. The signs I followed one day led me to one of the properties that had been on our new home shortlist. Remember the Canadian consulate on Stephens Road? (FYI – It was weird to be wandering around a home that only weeks prior we’d been considering living in. I can’t explain why it was weird, it just was). Anyhow, there I was.

First I spotted a great collection of matches. As I walked to the counter to pay for my $5.00 bowl of assorted matchbooks, I eyed two sets of chairs: a pair of wingbacks with matching ottoman and a pair of tub chairs. All in excellent condition. And all pink. I stared. I paced. I sat. I consulted my husband (who was back in San Francisco for work and who told me to use my best judgement, as he was swamped and couldn’t help me make a decision). So I did use my better judgement, and made the decision to buy the whole lot.

The tub chairs were $350 each. The tag on the chairs said William Switzer, a Canadian company (naturally) based out of Vancouver. I called the company, emailed them a photo of the chairs and they confirmed the chairs were authentic. They also told me the retail value for each is about $3000. Score.

I bought the wingbacks and ottoman for $1200 (Would they throw in the matches for free? They would). I couldn’t find the manufacturer for those, but no matter. I love the chairs and for sure would not have been able to get them for that price at a retail store.

A couple weeks later (on our way to a walk-through of our now home), we drove by the Cloverly place we fell in love with (but whose layout and space would never work for us). We had ten minutes to stop before our appointment. And did I find something there? Of course I did. The yellow floral couch is the perfect size for our living room. It actually looks lovely (so happy, so bright) in there now with our other estate sale finds, but it will eventually need to get a facelift, as it does not go well with the zebra-print rug.

We even went to our new home’s estate sale (the people we bought it from were downsizing to a smaller place). Talk about weird. My husband could barely take it – strangers touching our walls, opening our cupboards, walking around in our bedrooms. I bought a Pottery Barn faux throw for $15 (retail $149) and a shoe rack for $8.00 (my only bad estate sale purchase. Turns out, it doesn’t hold shoes).

I put the brakes on estate sale hunting when all the home renovation stuff came down the pike. I was just too darn busy. Plus, we don’t need anything else. Although… the little one could use a cool vintage bookshelf between the twin beds in her room. Hmmmm, better keep an eye out.

August 17, 2014 by Pointes of View

Meet Tim, Wallpaper Remover Extraordinaire

It’s hard not to talk about our new house without bringing up the wallpaper. It was the first thing you saw when you came in. If it didn’t take your breath away, it certainly surprised you. And it was everywhere. Throughout the entryway, up the staircase, down the upstairs hallway. There was no question we were going to get rid of it. And there was no question who we were going to use: Tim Heidt, wallpaper removal extraordinaire. (There are people out there whose only job is to remove wallpaper? If you have to ask, you’ve never been to Grosse Pointe).

I begin my conversation with Tim by asking how he got started. He looks at me curiously, wondering what I mean. I say I’m sure as a little kid he didn’t dream about someday owning a wallpaper removal company. He smiles (as he does many times during our short interview) and says, “well…and I don’t tell everyone this…”(I hold my breath, waiting for the juicy details) “…I used to be a special ed teacher.” Oh. The old, I didn’t make enough as a teacher story. We’ve all heard it before and too many times.

So Tim the special ed teacher with two masters degrees needed to make some extra money. He started working for a painting contractor, removing wallpaper (of course). There was so much work to be done in the world of wallpaper removal that eventually he quit his teaching job and branched off on his own.

Twenty-eight years later, the business is still going strong. I tell him everyone I talk to knows who he is. Realtors, painters, builders, friends. Whenever the subject of wallpaper comes up, people say, “You using Tim?” or “You have to use Tim Heidt. He’s the best.”

He smiles, nodding in agreement. He tells me why he has such a good reputation. “Three things,” he says. Timeliness. Cleanliness. Fairness. He could probably raise his prices (he could. I’ve done online comparisons), but he’s always tried to be fair and it’s clear he’s proud of that. Also, even though he could expand the business, he wants it to stay small. Being an absentee owner is not on the agenda.

Matt, working on the first floor bathroom.

We continue talking as he and his assistant Matt prep the walls with glue-eating enzymes (or something). The solution breaks up the wallpaper paste and turns it into what it was before – “icky gooey stuff,” in Tim’s words. Am I going to interview Matt, too?, Tim asks, chuckling. He’s getting a kick out of this interview thing. Um, sure. This is Matt’s third year working for Tim’s Wallpaper Removal. What he enjoys most about the job is traveling around the Detroit area and getting to see a new environment every day.

Gone.

My final question for both of them: What’s “in” for walls? Matt says he’s seeing a lot of florals and earth tones. Tim says wallpaper is out. But he’s quick to add that wallpaper is much like miniskirts and bell-bottom trousers – it’ll come back. People choose wallpaper because it’s a medium that creates an effect you just can’t duplicate with paint. As I take a last look at the big, bold flowers covering the entryway, I have to agree. Part of me is sad to see it go (but not to worry, I’ve kept the remnants in the basement. Just in case).

August 6, 2014 by Pointes of View

Meet Tim, the Color Expert

My bad on the blurry photo. This is maybe the second or third time I’ve ever asked a “stranger” if I could take their photo (my introverted self applauds my bravery and excuses my poor photography. Hope you will, too).

Meet Tim, the color expert at Shelby Paint (the local Benjamin Moore store). We met at the new house yesterday to finalize colors for the walls.

But first, lets turn back time a couple weeks. I was in the thick of researching, reviewing and setting up appointments with various contractors and was starting to doubt my ability to make decisions (when you’re talking about spending large sums of money, you want to get things right. Or at least close).

My (exasperated?) husband suggested hiring an interior designer, which pretty much everyone does here. And they are everywhere. Seriously, I have seen more interior decorator/design shops and businesses here per square mile than….well, at least than any other place I’ve lived. After giving it a lot of thought, I agreed we should go ahead and take money out of the home improvement budget and hire someone. However.

Our “office.”

My gut didn’t really want to go that route. So I called up my friend and former roommate Liz for her take on the matter. She completely changed my mind, arguing that so many places nowadays will provide design help for free or for a small fee that you can put towards goods or services (upholstery shops, furniture stores, paint stores, carpet places). And, she said, do you want to spend $150 an hour for someone to show you paint samples? No. You have a good aesthetic, she said. You can do this.

Really what she did wasn’t change my mind. I already knew what I wanted to do (or not do, in this case). I just needed someone to believe in me. Before I spoke to her, I felt so overwhelmed and stressed by all of it – the scheduling, the interviewing, the decision-making. After I got it into my head that I could do it, I just got it done. Bing bang boom. Funny how that works.

Nantucket Gray, dining room.

One of the calls I made was to Shelby Paint. For just $90 ($50 of which you get back in the form of a gift card), a “color expert” will meet with you and help you pick out a color (or in my case, colors) for your project. Bam.

Flash forward to yesterday. How did you end up being a color expert?, I ask Tim. He tells me he started out in sales at another paint shop in town (which has since closed) in the early ’80s. One day his boss asked him if he’d be interested in helping a friend of his pick a color for his office (or house? Drat, I wasn’t taking good notes at this point). He goes over and helps the guy out. Then down the line, he helps another guy out and another, and pretty soon it becomes a regular thing.

Athena, entryway and living room. (photo via homebunch.com)

After the shop closed, he moved to his current job at Shelby Paint/Benjamin Moore. At that job interview, he brought up his color consulting abilities and wondered if he could do the same for them. At first they said no. They were skeptical about community interest. He asked for two weeks to prove himself and they agreed. In Tim’s words, “the phones kept ringing,” so he’s still there, doing what he enjoys and is good at (as I can vouch for). At one point, as he was on his hands and knees, digging through his color swatches to find what he thought was a truer gray for the master (the one I’d picked was too green), he said, “This is the fun part, this is what I love doing the most.”

Galveston Gray, one of two possible grays for the master bedroom.

Thankfully (and because I’m awesome), most of the colors I had on my shortlist worked well with each other, so we were able to take our time narrowing them down. Tim made a couple suggestions and substitutions, for example, selecting a creamier white for trim and suggesting we paint the dining room ceiling the same color as the walls (Nantucket Gray, a very subdued gray-green that I had at the top of my list). That’s something I would never have thought of doing, but may actually consider (and if I like it, suggest to the husband over a glass of wine. Or four).

To give me the full effect of how the dining room could make for a dramatic focal point, he closed the french doors, then walked to the front door, pretending to be a guest coming in for the first time. He walked past the dining room to the stairs…yes, he says, this could be a real “wow” moment. Especially after we replace the chandelier. Ahem. He was also interested in the other decor (paint, light fixtures, wallpaper, drapes) the previous owners had left behind. He would ask, “and are you getting rid of these drapes?” and when I affirmed, he would let out a small sigh of relief and say, “thank you” under his breath.

Acadia White, trim.

Before he leaves, I asked him about trends. No one is using borders anymore (decorative borders that run underneath ceiling trim). People are going more neutral (Even here in Grosse Pointe? Yes, he says. People are using furniture more as accents or showpieces now). And he’s seeing lots of soft yellow. In kitchens, but also in other parts of the house. And one more thing… Wallpaper? It’s coming back.

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