Happy Anniversary To Our Home On The Pond

Three years ago today, January 17, 2017, we moved into our new home.

Our financing was going to blow up after the 17th, so that was the deadline we set for the builder. Get us in by that date OR ELSE. They hustled the last few details, got us a temporary occupancy permit from the village (it helped that the town mayor lived a few doors down) and on that crisp winter day, we made the move. We never did figure out exactly what our “or else” would have been!

As with any new house, and especially with any new construction, there were “issues” to be worked out over the first few months after we moved in. Some were construction-related (resolved), some were more financial (never resolved). But spring came, our swans Harvey and Sheila reappeared on our pond, and we began to meet more of our neighbors. It took a while, but even Barb began to feel that this was home.

For me, this has been where I wanted to be right from the start. It has met our main objectives: downsized (slightly), closer to the I-294 (greatly), and with a first-floor master bedroom (joyously). We have the kitchen that almost mirrors the perfect kitchen in the old place, enough of an open concept that we were able to get everyone onto one long table for the family Seder, and the comfy-cozy office, which to my surprise is where Barb and I spend most of our time, streaming “The Crown” and “Ozark” while Barb needle-points and solves tough Sudoku and I blog and swear over challenging crossword puzzles. Yes, we are multitaskers.

There have been lots of good times here already. We have opened our home to celebrate Passovers and Father’s Days and New Year’s Eve. We inaugurated our annual Family Christmas Eve-Christmas Day Sleepover, have played round after round of Mahjong and served lots of chili con carne.

Sadly, this is also the home where we said goodbye to our beloved Max, who never quite adjusted to the move. His paw print memorial reminds us of how big and wonderful he was. And the place may not be the best investment we have ever made, but in this market, who still thinks of their home as an investment?

Barb has made her mark on the entire community. Her diligence on the Home Owners Association Board has brought beautification, safety and a sign for the times. I have been more in the background, an observer and a commentator.

So a toast to our home, our neighbors, our neighborhood. We hope you are as happy to have us as we are to have you. OR ELSE!

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Five Things We Have Learned About New Home Construction

If you build it…

…they will come.

It has been fifteen months since we started this project.From an idea, to an empty lot, then a plan. The excitement of a hole in the ground, and finally a real structure. We have walls and ceilings. We have plumbing pipe and electrical conduit, insulation and dry wall. Each room has its shape. The main floor, loft and basement each have their own flavor. The finished product, while not quite in sight, will soon be rising over the horizon. Thanksgiving in our new home may yet be possible.

What have we learned so far? Five rules we can share:

Raff Construction Rules

Raff’s Rule of Time Frames: In a construction project, time is meaningless. Financing delays, weather delays, contractor delays. All can make the project schedule evaporate. Balancing patience with cracking the whip is an art, as is finely tuning the good cop-bad cop approach. Learning to laugh also helps.

Raff’s Rule of Hidden Surprises: In a construction project, you never know what is going to hit you next. Soil borings are great, but they aren’t perfect. Who knew about that one corner of the lot where the ground water level was higher than the borings predicted. And who would have known about all the extra water-proofing, sump pumps and architectural changes that higher water lever might lead to. I still don’t understand all the mechanics and engineering involved, but somehow our basement seemed to grow and grow.
Raff’s Rule of Perspective: In a construction project, things look different when built then they did on paper. Perfectly adequate spaces on architectural drawings have a tendency to shrink when walls and ceilings close in. Sometimes the issues that arise are remediable. In our entrance foyer a change in lighting plans and furniture arrangement will solve the “problem.” Sometimes the issues are less remediable, as with our mud room coat closet that now looks much more like a broom closet. That’s OK, who ever wears a coat in Chicago?? We were given a warning on this before we started. A friend suggested we have the architectural drawings rendered in three dimensions. We didn’t do it. Our bad.
Raff’s Rule of Ca$h Out: In a construction project, dollars flow downhill. The Hoover Dam couldn’t stop the tide of dollars rolling to the sea. Barb has found some cost savings measures, including finding the perfect floor tile at a warehouse type store we weren’t expecting much from. But since one of the reasons for making this move is to make my commute to work shorter, it is poetic justice that every change we make will just mean my retirement will move further into the future. As I have said before, it is all just karma.
Raff’s Rule of Find the Fun: In a construction project, the opportunities are endless. Barb and I aren’t construction virgins, but this was the first time we really had total control and say over virtually every detail. Yes, that leads to sleepless nights and sometimes endless flip-flops. But it also gives the ultimate satisfaction when the bits and pieces do fall together and the vision that began 15 months ago starts to come together. Peace awaits us.

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“Hamilton, Tear Down This Wall!”– Bringing Our Construction Up to Date

Walls have always been big news. From Ronald Reagan’s famous 1987 speech imploring Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall to our current political situation, walls create a barrier and an image. So it is no surprise that we have been using a very critical eye in assessing where the interior walls are to be located in our new home. A particular sticking point has been the walls for the stairway to the loft space and upstairs bedrooms. Since the new house is predominantly a ranch style home, the second story has been downplayed in importance, with some concessions being made to accommodate roof trusses. But we want to make sure the stairway has sufficient overhead clearance, is wide enough to allow easy transport of furniture, and doesn’t feel claustrophobic. There are building code issues to consider, and a crown moulding question as well.

So the stairway has undergone several revisions on paper to meet all of our requirements. Each do-over has reconsidered how many steps will protrude onto the foyer, where the mid-stairs platform will be, and where the required hand railing will go. The end result included a new interior wall that was constructed last week. Walking through the house with Jefferson-the-Builder the next day we got our first view of the Wall. I could see Barb’s brain churning. This was not looking right at all. But I could also see that she had the answer. Guillotine the top part of the wall, put the hand rail just so, match this to that, and it could all work perfectly.

barb and jeff — Barb and Jeff-the Builder sweat the details.

Jeff didn’t have any reasons why the revised plan couldn’t work, but we still had to present it to Hamilton-the-Architect. “Tear Down This Wall!” Barb proclaimed. And just like Gorby in Berlin, Ham agreed. He even liked the idea. The wall chop has now been done and it looks great. Once again Barb has put her touch on a problem and found a diamond in the rough. Now we just need to convince Ham and Jeff about our crown moulding preference.

Otherwise the construction is progressing, although at times the pace seems a bit too protracted for our taste. Rough plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and low voltage wiring should be completed within the week, to be rapidly followed by inspection, insulation and wall-boarding. If the wall-boarding doesn’t happen soon, it might be time for some water-boarding to get things moving along! In the meantime we are busy working out the shape and materials for the patio, completing lighting and flooring choices, and pushing hard on Stan the Cabinet Man.

Since we plan to close on sale of our Long Grove house right around Labor Day, we have rented interim housing beginning in September. In another of those karmic events that have been inexorably linked with this process since the beginning, I have found a furnished two bedroom apartment in the same housing complex we lived in 26 years ago while waiting to move into Long Grove. Instant Karma’s Gonna Get You!**

One last thought. If Trump could really get the Mexico to pay for his wall, do you think he could also get it to pay for building our house? If he can accomplish that, I might vote for him after all. (Just kidding, folks!)

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** Music Trivia–What other songs have “Karma” in the title? I can think of three more. Email your answers to les.raff@post.com

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Cole Porter and Suburbia–A Great American Weekend

Just slippin on by on LSD

Alliota Haynes and Jeremiah- 1971

Yes, I know. I swore I would not go near the Taste. I documented my reasons, and I swear by every one of them, even though Whitney from SpotHero did give me some parking alternatives. What I had neglected to take into consideration was that we had plans for Saturday evening that DID include our making the trip downtown to the lakefront. Friends had invited us for supper in their Lake Point Tower apartment, followed by the Cole Porter Celebration at the Pritzker Pavillion at Millenium Park. So it was into the city we headed!

The drive from the northwest suburbs to the city on any given Saturday can vary from a breeze (a rarity) to a centipede-like crawl (the normal,) but we anticipated the worst for Taste Saturday, so the long slow drive was no surprise and easily taken in stride. It was our hunt for clearly visible but difficult to approach Lake Point Tower, one of the rare buildings east of Lake Shore Drive, that almost doubled our commuting time. The NAV system in the car sent us flying towards the Field Museum and Adler Planetarium-definitely an overshoot. Finally, after several U-turns, a desperation call to our hosts led to their sighting our car from their high-up apartment, and then guiding us to the building, as calmly as any air traffic controller at O’Hare or the long defunct Meigs Field.

Subsidized parking in the building (sorry, Whitney) was followed by a tasty supper and then a bus ride to Millennium Park. What a lovely evening it was for an outdoor concert! An orchestra, a chorus and four soloists going through the Cole Porter song book. I was especially delighted to see and hear Karen Mason, who we had last seen in concert with Don McLean (yes, THAT Don McLean) in the early 1980’s. Karen looked and sounded great, then and now. After the show we strolled back to the apartment, our way illuminated by the fireworks show at Navy Pier. Final note to suburbanites-you do NOT want to drive west on Ontario to get to the Kennedy on Saturday night. Take Grand to Milwaukee to Ogden. You will save 45 minutes (at least.)

For those of you eagerly awaiting our house progress, well, it looks great. The exterior stone is 95% in place, limestone window ledges mortared in, the roof a fait accompli. Neighbors continue to walk by and compliment the look of the house. Barb’s due diligence is paying off. We also had a productive meeting yesterday with Ham and Jeff, going over some layout details and considering the shape and composition of the backyard deck. Still no decisions there. I am partial to cedar, but know the ongoing maintenance that is required. Any thoughts for us?

A promised shout out to friend and neighbor Barry B for naming the most songs/artists with a year in their title in our little quiz. He bent the rules a bit, but still came up with the most names that met the “Approved” list. Just like “3 for Free” on ‘XRT, no prize for this one.

That’s it for this edition. In the newly learned greeting of our granddaughter, “Have a good day sir!”

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A Progress Report at the Half Way Mark–Will I Get Steamed?

If it takes a year to build a house, then the calendar on the wall tells us we are just about 50% complete. So our glass is both half full and half empty. Let’s take a look at where we are, and where we still need to go.

Work on the outer shell of the house is well beyond the midpoint. The concrete with additional waterproofing? Done. The wood framing with the green Zip System sheathing? Done and done. Masons are progressing well with the exterior stone; the roof shingles are more than 90% installed. All the sleepless nights (Barb’s, not mine) worrying about the best stone and shingle to choose have paid off, the colors and styles blend beautifully. And for those of you following since the beginning, the muntons look swell too.

The interior framing of the house has been completed for weeks. A few walls have been shuffled, with a larger powder room appearing here, a closet melting away there. The design for the stairs leading to the loft space continues to perplex, with Ham and Jeff (you remember our architect Alexander Hamilton and builder Thomas Jefferson) going five rounds in a UFC cage match before agreeing on how many steps need to be above the middle platform and how many below. Working with designer Betsy Ross, we all agreed on a creative “slat” effect for the top of the stairs. We like the way it will allow light from the picture window in the loft to filter down the staircase.

PVC and copper pipes have sprouted on all levels, and sheet metal HVAC ventilation shafts are blooming as well. Routing the ventilation has led to some redesign in the office and the basement, but the changes are improvements, not defects. We also did the first half of our walk through with the electrician, placing outlets and switches. Although these were all on the original blueprints, furniture placement has required some variation. No sweat at this point.

As we toured the master bathroom with the electrician, Barb said to me “This is your last chance for a steam shower. Are you sure you don’t want it?” After a ten minute exposition by designer Betsy on the merits of steam on aging bodies (ours, not hers,) I caved and agreed to go for it. But when Ham and Jeff did some back of the hand calculations and whispered in my ear the cost of adding steam to our shower, I decided I had no problem with a few aches and pains as I age. The steam shower was vaporized.

So here we are, six months down, six months to go. All the behind the scenes work Barb has put in will start paying off soon, as the flooring, light fixtures and appliances that have been selected begin to appear at the construction site. Add in a little landscaping, and we will be partying with all our new, friendly, neighbors before you know it.

The first drink will be on me!

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Pleasant Under Glass

Look through any window yeah…

…what do you see?

The Hollies, 1966

We turned a home building corner yesterday, or more precisely, the carpenters built one. Actually, they have now built all the corners. The house framing is complete. Every nook and cranny, every niche and recess, is in place. The carpentry crew is moving on to their next job, with a promise to return after the rough plumbing and electrical are complete.

Most significantly, all the windows are installed. What a magnificent view of the pond we have from our kitchen. And standing at the (not yet installed) front door we can look through the foyer and the great room with its stunning window wall to the (eventual) green space behind the house. It all feels very serene — worth it at (almost) any price.

With spring, the first bloom of plumbing has sprouted. Some drain pipes have been installed in the upstairs loft space. Unfortunately, to my untrained eye, it appears that the piping for the bathroom sink drains points into the play room rather than into the bathroom.

An easy fix, I am sure, but it does give us the sense that we had better continue our daily trouble shooting visits to the building site. Of course those visits have a secondary purpose. We are getting to meet the people of our new neighborhood. With the pleasant evening weather, everyone is out walking their dog, stopping by to take a look and say hello. All have been very welcoming, though after one of those pooches got a little fidgety around me we were told the dog didn’t like “old” men. So much for considering myself the product of the perpetual fountain of youth. Maybe a dip in the pond will rejuvenate me?

So where are we now? The roofer has told us he is slightly behind schedule and won’t be getting to our house for awhile. The bad part of the roof delay? Every delay is frustrating, even though we know all the interior work can progress as scheduled. The good part of the roof delay? The slow down gives us more time to make a final choice on a shingle color. And, oh yeah, we are in the middle of choosing floor tiles and lighting fixtures. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Barb’s head is spinning like a dreidel.

Speaking of dreidel’s, Hannukah is very late this year, not starting until Christmas Eve. I desperately hope we will be frying our latkes in our lovely new home by then, even if we have to bring in the Maccabee Carpentry Crew to get it done! Think we will make it?
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Inspired by Budweiser, I Rechristen our New House

By now, everyone with a TV or Internet connection has heard about Budweiser’s new summer marketing plan. Instead of being labelled Budweiser, cans and bottles of brew will have the familiar Bud script replaced with “America”. The labels will also be festooned with patriotic slogans. “E Pluribus Unum” on the package instead of “Profits Sent to the European Multi-National Company We Really Are”. Not a bad sleight of hand! By the way, did you know that Clydesdale horses are Scottish?

Since we are intent on making America great again, and since “American” branding is a super idea for the 25th most valuable brand name in the world, I realized we could get some mileage branding our future home as well. From now on, instead of continuing to call our soon-to-be residence the “new house in the last vacant lot in that nice development by the Tristate”, I am dubbing it the Midwest White House. No, we haven’t switched the exterior stone to alabaster, I just want to make sure you know we are an American Brand.

And things are ramping up at the MWH. On Saturday morning, First Lady Barb and I had a lengthy onsite meeting with our architect, Alexander Hamilton, and General Contractor Thomas Jefferson. We climbed up the American Oak construction stairway to the loft, and in the bitter May cold finalized the design of what is now known as the Lincoln Bedroom. We shaved a closet here, expanded the attic there, and closed off a wall so that future generations of Americans won’t fall backward down the stairs. The space is now perfect, and can even be used for hosting foreign dignitaries. Or we may auction off the privilege to spend nights in there. That is a strategy that raised plenty of campaign cash for Bill and Hillary when they auctioned off nights in their Lincoln Bedroom.

Once the loft was settled, we returned to the main floor. The library, heretofore to be known as the Oval Office, still presents some challenges. We are not quite sure how to place two desks in such a way as to give us both a view of the TV for watching important press conferences. We are hoping our designer, Betsy Ross, will come up with an improved layout. If she does well, we may toss her an extra star to sew onto her flag. We have finally settled on a design for the Presidential Bedroom Suite, although Ham and Jeff are concerned that our plan deprives us of a view of the Rose Garden. It just proves that even when building a national treasure, some sacrifices must be made.

The basement still seems enormous to me. Tricky Dicky Nixon put a bowling alley in his White House basement, we will settle for an exercise room and wet bar in ours. I do have my eye on a nice American Eagle area rug that will keep the American brand going throughout the house though. I’ll run it up the flag pole and see if Barb salutes.

So that’s my plan. And to the Anheiser Busch-InBev Company of Leuven, Belgium, I salute you for the great Americans you are. And remember–this Bud’s for you!

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George Lucas-I’ve Got Your Museum Right Here!

If you build it…

…he will come.

Field of Dreams-1989

April showers have hopefully faded away. The Cubs and Sox are both in first place. Cinco De Mayo is here. And we are making progress on the house! With carpenters working overtime (but not violating the neighborhood construction restrictions!) the framing and roof construction are near completion. Barb took a climb on a rickety ladder yesterday and tells me the view from the second floor is magnificent. Of course, when all the wallboard is up some of those sight lines will disappear, but we will always be able to look out at our tranquil pond and its occupant swans, Harvey and Sheila (Alan Sherman, anyone?) We have also finalized selection of the exterior stone; a little of this color, a little of that color, then a little more of both. Preliminary sketches for cabinet designs are done. Barb has raised her sights and begun assaying light fixtures.

All this leads me to believe we WILL eventually be moving into our new home. And I have a convenient solution to the problem that has been plaguing Chicago and George Lucas. Where the heck to put that museum? The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has been ejected from San Francisco, evicted from its first potential Chicago site, and now the McCormick Place locale is also being challenged. Mellody Hobson, George’s wife, has pronounced they may look elsewhere, prompting Waukegan to get in on the action.

Waukegan? That’s half way to Wisconsin. And don’t they have something nuclear up that way? A Jack Benny Museum I could understand, but Lucas? I have a much better suggestion. When we move out of our Long Grove home, the Lucas Museum can move in! It’s a revolutionary suggestion, but the pros outweigh the cons.

Pros-

Long Grove is used to crowds-the Apple and Chocolate Fests really pack ’em in. And this could be a bigger deal than Strawberry Fest.
The kitchen is perfectly designed for dishing out American Graffiti Burgers. Just be kind to the marble countertops.
Now that we sold the exercise equipment from the bonus room ((Thanks Wallapop!) there is plenty of room up there for a Millennium Falcon exhibit.
Six bathrooms and no North Carolina type laws restricting their use.
Pretty good cell phone reception, as long as you stick to Verizon.
Long Grove isn’t that far from Harrison Fords hometown of Park Ridge.
Empty lot behind the house is perfect for parking.

Cons-

The Home Owner’s Association Renovation Committee might be picky about exterior signage. No wait, Barb is ON that committee. No problem as Lucas gets it approved before we move.
Long Grove is not known for its public transportation. However, I am sure we can work out a deal with all the landscapers to use their trucks to move folks in and out.
We think Adam Driver is better on “Girls” than he was in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” But maybe he will bring Allison Williams to the Grand Opening, so all is good.

All in all, its a win-win. Mr. Lucas, let’s do this!

It’s a Puzzlement–Putting the Pieces Together When Building a House

Oh the games people play now…

…every night and every day now.

Joe South, 1968

Got your Rubik’s Cube handy? You know, that multicolored puzzle cube from the 1970’s made of smaller blocks that twist and turn, billions of possibilities but only one correct solution. It was designed by Hungarian Erno Rubik, and has been called the best selling puzzle of all time. It is easy to solve if you take apart the pieces and reassemble them in the correct way. Build your blue face, your yellow, your green, red, white and orange. It takes a minute or two and you get the right answer. But that is not what the cube is all about. It is about all that twisting and turning. Each cube influences the one next to it and the one after that and after that. Everything is interrelated. Or as Jonathan Safran Foer said in the title of his first novel, get it right and everything is illuminated.

Why talk about an old toy now? Because that maxim, that “everything is related” thing, is what is making it so difficult to design, build, and decorate the house. How can you choose a countertop until you know what the flooring will be. And how do you pick a flooring without deciding what color the cabinets will be. Plumbing fixtures? That depends on the whether the tub is built in or free standing, and that depends on what tile is attractive, affordable and available. Roof color? Well that depends on the exterior stone color, which is hard to pick when the samples don’t always accurately portray the actual product. All separate choices, but they all need to come together.

Those are the puzzles that swirl in our brains and keep us awake at night. I know it is not solving world hunger, but it is the immediacy of our life and (chosen) project. Actually, I lie when I say it is keeping us up at night. It is only Barb who is charged with making all this work. Her hands are the ones turning the inter-linked cubes over and over, lining up all the colors in their proper location. With the toy Rubik’s Cube there are some savants who can come up with the solution in seconds. I wish I could magically grant that power to Barb for the house. But that is not likely to happen.

Barb has undertaken this challenge before, redesigning various parts of our current home. And the spectacular results should make the house very marketable. But in comparison, those projects were like solving a 2 x 2 cube, not the full 3 x 3 version. This is the real enchilada, or in honor of Mr. Rubik, the authentic goulash. I help where I can, but I lack Barb’s sense of style and her vision. My best role is as a documentarian and as a sounding board, and I apologize for even getting impatient with that.

So Barb, this one’s for you. We will find the tile, find the fixtures, sell our house and make our move. And oh yeah, plan a wedding too!
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We Have Wood! Construction Progress

Isn’t it good…

…Norwegian wood.

The Beatles-1965

Spring is definitely in the air. Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend. And a peak over our construction fence lets us know that this is the season for building. In the last week, quite a bit has been accomplished. The concrete foundation has cured, and a layer of black goop applied to several of the concrete walls. The goop is optional water proofing, and it makes sense in view of our proximity to the retention pond. We are throwing in an extra sump pump as well. Now is the time to be in full protection mode. An ounce of prevention and all that…

Our steel beams have been set as well. I am not an architect or engineer, but I trust we have enough steel to shoulder the load. We plan to have lots of house parties, those steel beams better be tough! But even bigger news is that the wood and accompanying crew have arrived. We can hear their hammers ringing out. Its a sound we have been waiting a long long time to hear. It’s not all perfect–one of my four new tires picked up a nail somewhere and I can only assume it was from the construction site. Fortunately it only caused a slow leak and Laurel BMW was able to patch me up. I hope the patch lasts at least as long as it takes to complete the house. I want to park all four of those tires in the new garage!

Now we expect to see the framing move ahead rapidly. Then it will be time to install that peculiar green sheathing, the ZIP system. We still haven’t seen very many residential homes using it, we just hope it lives up to its billing as an energy saver. Anyone out there have any experience with it?

So now the pressure is on us. Make our decisions, get things ordered. Barb has most choices narrowed down. But there are an awful lot of moving pieces to make all the puzzle parts fit together in a timely fashion. No back orders for us…we hope!

That’s our current construction summary. But I feel like a little music trivia today as well. The word “Wood” made me think of double “o’s”. How many musical acts can you think of that have a double o in their name. Goo-Goo Dolls is an easy one. They are a double double. But there are lots more. List them here, or send them to me at lesraff@post.com

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