Wallpaper !!!

By Jenia
Category: VIB Chronicles
Tags: ,

I have attempted to photograph the finished foyer multiple times, but the pattern has proved to be a tricky bastard. this is a combination of photos that Sergey and I took, with a caveat, that I wish a professional would come and help us out here. Also, this post took an inordinately long time to be published, in part due to time crunch with my new duties, in part due to picture taking troubles, and in part because I am still learning to operate on my new Mac…I hope to be back here more frequently soon.

It turns out that I have a rather peculiar idea of how i like to spend my leisure time, and what I consider an awesome gift. Over my birthday weekend (approximately now 4 weeks ago) and instead of deciding to take a day trip somewhere awesome (korean spa? b&b on a farm in the middle of virginia? antique shopping perhaps? sightseeing in DC? – all of these activities I quite like) I chose to hang wallpaper. To justify that though, I knew that Sergey would be very amenable to my proposition particularly o this weekend, as opposed to say a random week in April. So I went for it.

I purchased the “frosted hamlet” wallpaper from anthropologie in the first few months after we moved in to the VIB. The wallpaper is surestrip – supposedly meant to be an easy diy installation for renters. The manufacturers also suggest that it is easily removable, but I am not planning to test that out for quite some time.

Some immediate observations – it turned out pretty sleek, we have a very good looking entry hallway now at the VIB. We were very lucky with how the spacing of the print on the walls, particularly over the archway – because we did not plan that. It took a lot longer than I at first anticipated (not surprising really). It was not as difficult as I was afraid it would be, but it was not exactly throw-it-up-and-forget-it type of deal.

This was a two-person job that we split into three days, working 3-5 hours each time. We would have paid $350 to have someone else do it. I don’t know that the trade off is worth it (money vs time) — but given that the finished result turned out so well, I am glad that we tried it and now know what is involved.

We watched this video series on how to hang wallpaper on youtube, which was extremely helpful and we basically followed the steps as suggested there.

Matching patterns:
* we measured the width of the uninterrupted wall space on the staircase side of the hallway. It turned out to be 138″ across, which was perfect for five panels of wallpaper (the wallpaper panel measured 27″, so we needed 135″ or five panels to cover all of the hallway on one side).
* we measured the length of the wall to baseboard, which was 109″, so we cut each panel just slightly longer at 112″.
* before cutting we lined up each of the five panels on the floor so that the pattern would match, which meant that we were left with remnant pieces on each but the first panel we cut. That was ok because we used those above the doorways.
* after completing the one uninterrupted wall, we carried pattern matching over the archway and then over to the other side of the wall, which has a very large opening for pocket doors to the living room.

***we were able to match patterns form our left over remnants — not sure if we just got lucky, or if that is how it typically works out.

Steps:

1) measure wall space to see how much needs to be cut, add a few inches to account for any discrepancies in wall length.
2) line up panels so that pattern matches, cut.


3) surestrip requires wallpaper to be submerged in water — we used our bathtub. Wait a few minutes after taking wallpaper out of the tub to allow the glue to activate properly.


4) apply to the wall making sure that pattern matches at the seams — we had one person line up the paper on the top , while the other person was holding up the bottom of the wallpaper in order to prevent it from sticking to the wall before patterns were aligned.
5) smooth out with an edger and a sponge, making sure that the edges are sticking to the wall — this required some extra effort at times, but in the end worked out.


6) repeat.


7) we used a b0x cutter knife to cut off bottom and top pieces that were extra as well as to make cuts for the archway and for the switch plate (make sure electricity is off when doing that panel – obvious, but still).

That’s it — with great success!

**because our wall space does not actually end where we decided to stop the wallpaper, we will instal slim wood panels to make them look like columns under the archway. that way the edge of the wallpaper won’t peel and overall the space would look more finished. but that’s a job for maybe the next weekend.

An update (of sorts)

By Jenia
Category: DC Chronicles, Life Chronicles

Soooo….life has been all out of sorts lately. I have been selected as a juror for a multi-week trial. Perks (cons?) of being a registered voter in the nations capital–you will be summoned for municipal jury duty every two years. No ifs or buts about it. you can also get summons for federal jury duty. Its been an adjustment of routine, particularly since I can’t just check out of my day job / work for a month.

I have had a great post written for about a week now about wallpapering our entry hallway, but unable to take pictures thus far. I will try again tomorrow.

Appraisal

By Jenia
1 comment.
Category: VIB Chronicles

Great news – the VIB has appreciated by half of its original purchase price. We appraised well over the value that we needed in order to drop our mortgage insurance. In fact the VIB was valued high enough that we are able to take some money out (“cash out”) in order to pay down our credit card balance and then maybe do an odd repair job here or there. Or do something fun? (hmmmmm, very active thinking on that part right now).

Now, I know how incredibly lucky we are to be in this situation. When we purchased VIB in March 2010 we thought that we were making a good investment in an up-and-coming neighborhood. We were optimistic, but couldn’t have said that in three years we would see our value increase by that much, even with the renovation (that said we also didn’t imagine replacing supporting joists and altering load bearing walls…).

Oh but there has to be a but. But, all of that said – we were disappointed with the report that we got back. Not the bottom line number so much, but the comparisons which were used to derive the value of the VIB, and assess not only the presumably rising stock of our neighborhood, but almost a year of our hard work (and copious amounts of money that we spent). Yes I know that if we were to sell  – which we aren’t – the assessment of value by our realtor and buyers could be quite different. But still… Ok consider:

The way appraisals work — the house gets evaluated based on comparison value of houses that have sold nearby in recent months. The appraiser chose three houses to evaluate VIB against. One of those had to be completely gutted and the seller stipulated that they wanted a cash only offer within a week, that information, by the way, was in MRIS. The other two were in fine condition — but the quality of renovation, in my humble opinion, does not quite come up to par to what we did.

These kitchens were said to be modern and apparently have the same value as our kitchen. By the way the second kitchen is on the basement level, and there is no kitchen on the first floor of the house. Also, I am quite sure that we had the same cabinets as in the second kitchen before the renovation. This is our kitchen:

*i am transitioning to a new computer, and apparently lost some of the more recent pictures of our kitchen. So these are from when our contractors were still working on final touches.

And the bathrooms – again perfectly fine, kind of remind me of our old bathroom before the renovation.

And our bathroom:

*again apologies for the less than recent bathroom picture, but you get the idea.

The appraisal report included another three properties in our neighborhood to “support the final conclusion of value.” Again, one of those, according to MRIS,  needed”Investors who are willing to work…Advised to show in daylight hours. even though electric is on in bldg.” that’s as in – it needs a gut renovation and is not liveable. The other two were fixer-uppers that needed major tlc. And finally the appraisal report also listed two properties currently pending sale. Again neither of those renovated.

What can I say. This is a minor disappointment — particularly given that the evaluation appears to have been done only on the basis of the neighborhood and basic 3 bed 1 bath parameters. I don’t think that any of our renovation efforts were reflected in the appraisal. Which in a bigger scheme of things doesn’t matter, because we got where we needed to be with the appraisal and our new loan (we close in the next two weeks).

One lesson I would derive here — it is hugely important to add a second full bathroom. By itself it may only add 10K to the value of the house. BUT, i think that it shifts the entire comparison framework to another category of homes. My guess is the appraiser pulled up basic parameters (3 bed/1 bath) in the MRIS, and went from there. And the majority or renovated homes for sale in our neighborhood feature at least 2 baths, and many 3+.

So there you have it — we are very happy and will be toasting champagne once all the documents are signed. and ill take this minor disappointment – in the bigger scheme of things – any day over other scenarios.

Exotic destinations and their wares: Rugs

By Jenia
Category: VIB Chronicles

We have a very exciting trip coming up in the next few months – Morocco. With an eye towards that, but also thinking ahead of all the other travels that I am sure we will be doing, I have been studying up on the oriental rugs. I am kicking myself for not acquiring a rug when I was in Turkey a few years ago – but back then I had not a clue of what to look for and no spare funds to spend (doing slightly better on both fronts now).

I love the way oriental rugs and kilims look in rooms – there is just something so elegant and majestic about them. I definitely want several in our house.

- via here and here -

I had trouble finding good resources on the internet about the basics – although I have since found the Indigo&Ochre blog, which is an amazing resource on a number of artifacts from brass to yes, oriental rugs. I have also poked around on Amazon, and found this guide, by Lee Allene, which is very helpful.

But what I really wanted to mention here is that DC’s own Textile Museum has an amazing program – Rug & Textile Appreciation Mornings on select Saturdays at 10:30 am, free and open to the public! I attended the lecture this past Saturday on Persian rugs and had a fantastic time, its so much easier to learn from an in-person talk by an expert.

The room was packed – 30+ people, so I would suggest coming 10-15 minutes early. They serve coffee and tea beforehand too! Man, I have been in DC for 6 years now, but I am still amazed at the amount and quality of resources that this city offers for its residents, no matter what your interests are.

What to expect when you (your house, really) get appraised

By Jenia
Category: VIB Chronicles

So it happened. Months – almost a year! – of hard core renovation, plus some major upgrades in previous two years – A/C and repointing – and we were ready to get re-assessed. This is going to be the nitty gritty of what to expect, and is probably extremely boring for anyone not planning on this process. But the pictures are still nice )

***

In the run-up to the appraisal:

  • We locked our rate with the bank, which officially gave us 45 days to get everything done, including getting approved for the loan (lots of papers!) and getting an appraisal.
  • The bank orders the appraisal on your behalf when you give the go-ahead. You pay for it upfront though.
  • The appraisal can happen pretty much anytime once the rate is locked. However, to be safe, it makes sense to be approved for the loan first, just in case something doesn’t work out — cause then you are out $400 or whatever the cost of your appraisal. At the same time, our mortgage broker suggested not to wait too late in the game - 3 weeks minimum before final closing date, because:
  1. It may take a day or two to schedule the appraisal appointment (which it did in our case);
  2. The results of the appraisal may take a week to slightly more than 2 weeks – the norm for DC is about a week and a half;
  3. There may also be an appraisal review, which can take another week. An appraisal review happens in the case that bank thinks that comps were inadequate (for example dates sold and the parameters compared). Unlikely in DC, but still don’t want to risk it.

-via-

Our appraisal was on Wednesday, so we won’t know the results at least until late next week.

Here’s what we did to get ready:

1) I made a list of all the improvements that we did since we purchased the house in March 2010. Then I stared at it in awe. Then I thought about all the nice things that we could have done instead (travel!) and kind of felt distressed. Then I moved on and thought about crossing the finish line.

Structural / major upgrades:

  • Replaced aging joists under the kitchen, above the kitchen
  • Repointed all three exterior walls in the rear of the house
  • Reinforced rear exterior wall, installed french doors
  • Replaced two exterior doors in the front
  • Added AC system
  • Upgraded electric panel to 200 amp capacity (previous 100 amp capacity)
  • Purchased new energy efficient Washer/ Dryer; Added Exhaust for the Dryer
  • Refinished original wood floors on first level, staircase, hallway and small bedroom upstairs
  • Added built-in storage on the first level, second floor bedroom

Gut Renovation:

Upstairs bathroom

  • installed heated floors
  • new plumbing lines
  • all new subfloor, tile on the floor
  • all new sheetrock, tile on the walls
  • added exhaust fan
  • new sink, toilet, fixtures
  • all lights on dimmers

Downstairs half bathroom

  • installed heated floors
  • new plumbing lines
  • new framing, new sheetrock
  • new subfloor
  • added exhaust fan
  • new sink, toilet, fixtures

Kitchen

  • installed heated floors
  • new plumbing lines
  • all new subfloor, reproduction tile on the floor
  • all new framing, sheetrock, plaster
  • all new lighting (incl. recessed and under cabinet)
  • all lights on dimmers
  • all new cabinets, including kitchen island
  • new appliances: exhaust, refrigerator, dishwasher

2) I printed out several comps of houses that sold in our neighborhood in recent months, in a desirable price range. *I had some (not a lot, but still) difficulty finding renovated houses with only 1.5 baths. Makes sense since most renos of houses our size will have at least 2 bathrooms, and a lot of them would be 3+.

3) And we basically worked like crazy to get everything done on time. Our contractors were still up on their ladders caulking the frame on the front door an hour before the appraiser arrived! Seriously, it was that close. Meanwhile, Sergey and I cleaned the house top to bottom, de-cluttered, and prettified with flowers.

4) About half an hour before the appraiser arrived I turned up the forced-air heat and the heated floors.  And, all of the lights in the house got switched on, even though it was still light out.

The appraiser arrived as scheduled and was extremely nice. He went straight for the backyard, and took pictures of everything with his point and shoot. He also did his own measurements for the square footage of the home. The only part that disappointed me – he spent more time looking at our basement than the three bedrooms upstairs! All the effort cleaning, and all we got was a glance through. Despite Otto’s best efforts of a very cute nap.

We then went through my list of improvements, and he also asked for approximate dates of when the jobs were done and how much, approximately, we spent on all renovations total. Finally we discussed how much I thought the house was worth (comps came in handy!) and why we would like to end up at a certain number (having certain amount of equity is necessary to drop mortgage insurance and perhaps take some money out without penalties).

We consulted our friends who had gone through re-appraisal before us, and apparently these are typical questions to be prepared for. At least in the DC area.

That’s it. The whole appointment took under an hour. Maybe 35 minutes. All of those efforts and 35 minutes later it was all over. Now we wait.

Bits and pieces fall into place

By Jenia
Category: Life Chronicles, VIB Chronicles

I am spinning my wheels a bit here. I suppose that happens when you get close to finishing a major undertaking like a gut renovation of kitchen/bathrooms in a 100-year-old-plus house. There’s lots more to post about, some bits are completely done and haven’t seen the light of blog (hallway lights!), while others are just waiting for their finishing touches that we will add more or less at our leisure (kitchen before and after is going to be so good!) Plus there is the more interesting and much more visually pleasing bits of decor that we can take on as the budget – or whom I kidding, we haven’t had a budget since June, just the limits of our bank accounts and credit cards, albeit limits nonetheless – allows.

But I (and I think, we) are getting bit antsy – where do we stop, is there a finish line that we are to cross, should we just relax and enjoy, what’s next…these are the things that i have been grappling with for a bit now (that i have a few more minutes of free time). I don’t intended for this blog to become a chronicling of that – but I may take time off here and there from the blog as I meditate on life – or maybe merely come down off pressures and anxieties of a renovation.I would like to take some time just to sit on the couch, and stare at the ceiling – now that its so pretty.

We have our appraisal today. VIB is ready. Its clean(ish), its tidy (more or less), and all the major pieces that we, and our contractors, worked hard to get in place are done. We are fairly confident that we can clear the minimum low bar that we need in order to have all the loan conditions that we are counting on, to fall into place. Above that – and at a certain point that seems rather high and unachievable to us – we might have a bit more flexibility with our finances, and that  would be great, but not really essentially. I do want to talk about the appraisal process here, as I keep this blog in large part as a notebook of things I would like to have at hand. So, I will write up how the process goes later on this week.

Until then. And, wish us luck for tonight.

So Lustrous!

By Jenia
Category: VIB Chronicles
Tags: ,

I love Farrow and Ball. And, there is no other paint quite like it. I questioned it before, but now I know that it does stand apart from other brands, in a class of its own. It’s not just the color – although that’s pretty damn good too, but the quality – the looks and feels of it on a wall. And I am not the only one who noticed the difference – Sergey did too, which means it really does exist! The photos don’t do justice to how awesomely lustrous our kitchen walls look, this is more of an in-person difference.

Kitchen walls – Cornforth White, Farrow and Ball.

Oh an aside – that light fixture in the dining room looks pretty swell in the background, eh?

We didn’t have that much wall space to cover in this room, but with four door / hallway openings (french doors, dining room pass through, bathroom and basement doors) and a tin ceiling there were a lot of edges / moldings around which to paint. This could have been a drag, if it weren’t for the paint edger tool. Seriously this thing is amazing – it gives a crisp line that goes right up to the edge, but doesn’t bleed over or smudge. Makes painting go so much faster than trying to either tape the walls or use the brush to cut in at the edges.

To paint the walls, we used a small 4″ foam roller, because it gives an amazing finish and we didn’t have that much space to cover (we used less than a quart of paint in two coats!)

Seriously, the paint looks so good, its almost like wallpaper. It might be in part due to the modern emulsion finish, which is formulated for high traffic areas and kitchens/bathrooms and which has more sheen to it. We will be painting our living room Farrow and Ball’s Elephant’s Breath in regular emulsion, which is supposed to be quite chalky, so remains to be determined how that will compare.

Sputnik in the House

By Jenia
Category: VIB Chronicles
Tags: ,

As I have mentioned before, we are replacing nearly all of the overhead fixtures in the house. My most favorite addition, by far, is a sputnik chandelier in our dining room (the red room). Pictures really don’t do it justice, it looks incredible in person.

I had bookmarked the tutorial on transforming the IKEA Maskros this beautiful chandelier more than a year ago, and have in fact had all of the supplies to make this just sitting and waiting for the right moment. Jenny from Little Green Notebook is a DIY genius – seriously, she has the most amazing ideas! This one was super easy, and relatively fast.

The most time consuming bit was tracing the paper flowers in order to cut them down to size – I chose to stick with 2.5″ diameter as suggested in the tutorial. And the actual cutting. It probably took me several hours, which was fine since I caught up on junk tv.

Instead of painting the florets individually I used Rustoleum’s Brass Spray paint, and that only took a few minutes. This has to be done in an enclosed space, as the paper flowers are extremely light and can easily fly off even with mild wind. I also spray painted all of the other parts of the chandelier.

I also followed the direction to glue the amuse bouche cups to the florettes – easy, and even enjoyable if done with quality tv programming in the background. I just checked amazon and the cups are no longer available, but you can find them here. Only one box for the smaller fixture (which is what we have).

Everything was going splendid until I realized that the fixture calls for a 25W bulb. That’s kind of not really bright enough for our dining room, which is a dark space since there is only one, north-facing window that comes out onto a narrow ally, and is pretty much useless in terms of light. So we came up with an idea of gluing small round mirrors inside each cup. I used 0.5″ mirrors, but I think 1″ could easily be used as well. With candles and other sources of light in the room these work really well!

Overall, this turned out to be a great success. Sometimes I just sit in the dining room and stare up at the ceiling. So does Otto. And really, who wouldn’t?

Fan of our Ceilings

By Jenia
Category: VIB Chronicles
Tags: ,

Our ceilings are starting to look really, really good. We are so happy with quality of the work. The surface don’t look seamless or perfect, but perfectly smooth – kind of like it has always been there and was never graced by the ugliness of the swirly. And the ceiling medallions are fitting in seamlessly. I am not sure that the medallions were there originally, in fact, I am pretty sure they weren’t. There aren’t really houses in our neighborhood that have them. BUT, our house isn’t really true to every last detail t its 1897 construction date. Its more about giving respect to its age and marrying in new elements that we like together with modern conveniences, which we now view as essential for comfort.

Speaking of modern conveniences. Fans are a must in Washington D.C. climate. I am not really keen on (or should I say, I am not a fan of) A/C, we have it, and I am certainly happy for that when its 90+ at night and impossible to sleep without turning it on. But other than that, fans kind of do it for me. That said, most fans out there are terribly ugly. So, I have made some executive decisions here that I hope will keep us cool and happy this summer. We got rid completely of three fan fixtures – the overhead in the kitchen, dining room, and upstairs hallway. Good riddance with the last two, although I think we will miss it in the kitchen. Unfortunately, when designing the kitchen, I couldn’t figure out a good spot for an overhead fixture. Maybe a solution would be to get a cute counter one that can perch it different spots?

Source: Etsy

But I digress from the main purpose here, which is to talk about the ceiling fans that we do have. I had really, really wanted this ribbon fan. But, I don’t think that its actually produced. I do hope that it will be one day, because its totally going in our living room.

So for now, we have settled -with help of friends who originally found these – on something modern and simple. These fans are actually for industrial use. But so far they have been tested in two other homes in Bloomingdale, and have worked out perfectly. One tip – we actually purchased three of these, all from the “used” section (and saved more than 50%!) on amazon – which in this case meant that packaging was damaged. It should state in the item description why it is not being sold as ‘new.’

I think the combination of the modern fan and the ceiling medallion really looks fantastic. Sort of like what we have in the kitchen – with the bones of the room very much of the victorian age, while the kitchen cabinets / appliances / lights are definitely modern.

One more thing – these industrial fans come with giant, industrial size switches (they are almost as big as the fan!!) and can (and should) be replaced with a universal fan control. super easy, these are available in any hardware store.

Inspiration Files: Mari Vanna (DC Edition)

By Sergey
Category: DC Chronicles, VIB Chronicles

While I was traveling in Russia, Sergey was back in DC, getting his Russian on without actually traveling to the place. Lucky him, he got press passes to the soft opening of Mari Vanna, a Russian-themed restaurant – operated, decorated, and staffed by Russians. We have actually checked it out together since, and I can say that the decor is right on point – drawing inspiration from a mix of Ballets Russes, the intelligentsia’s dacha, perhaps with a pinch of a communal flat setup in a pre-1917 mansion. In other words, plenty on what to draw inspiration from.

From myself I can add a few recommendations – order infused vodkas in decanters (black currant was delicious), sip with your meal. Blinis with caviar are indeed tasty. order zakuskis (appetizers) – its essential. That’s it – enjoy the preview, text by James, photos by Sergey.

When D.C.’s most famous Russian resident has already given his blessing to your new restaurant, I am not sure how much else need be said. Alexander Ovechkin made Mari Vanna, the District’s newest Russian restaurant, one of his first stops on his post-lockout return to the nation’s capitol and his endorsement is written for all to see on the Mari Vanna’s artfully peeling wallpaper. According to the grumblings of many of the District’s Russian residents (read: our photographer Sergey Guryakov), D.C. is sadly lacking in quality Russian dining experiences. Opening to the public this week, Mari Vanna looks to put an end to such complaints by serving up traditional Russian standards such as blinis and beef stroganoff, wonderfully kitsch decor and, of course, plenty of vodka.


Located just down Connecticut Ave. from Dupont Circle, Mari Vanna is the second American outpost of a St. Petersburg-based group that includes locations in NYC and London.

The three-story restaurant is packed to the brim with little touches of Russia. The walls are lined with fading tapestries, hutches packed with crystal decanters, and peeling, torn wallpaper – all of which plays up the effect of having wandered into a slightly dilapidated Russian country house, or “babushka chic” as the Post puts it.

The first floor holds a long bar along south wall while rows of tables hug the exposed brick of the north wall. The exposed brick wall, two stories high with four large mirrors, helps brighten and expand the space that might otherwise feel slightly cramped. The open kitchen occupies the back of the space allowing patrons to watch as the chef whips up another delicious blini. The second floor balcony feels much larger than might be assumed when looking up from below and is covered floor to ceiling with small portraits of your long-lost Russian great-grandparents, their tchotchkes and the crumbling Russian novels they used to read. Continuing upstairs, Mari Vanna’s third floor operates as a lounge with a small bar, a DJ booth and plenty of comfy couches to rest on while sipping your vodka.

My favorite piece of decoration in the entire place? – This guy’s record is mounted on the wall.

But let’s talk about the food. The soft opening gave us the chance to sample some of the Russian treats on offer at Mari Vanna. In addition to the bite-sized appetizers passed around (including marinated herring, of course), a blini bar was set up along the front edge of the kitchen. Being from Pacific Northwest, I have a compulsory need to consume seafood whenever possible. So I of course constructed a blini with the fresh crepe wrapped around a salmon filet and topped with sour cream and salmon roe. Feeling the need to balance out the seafood, I made sure to snag a few of the pirozhki (small pastries filled with various meats and veggies). The full menu includes these staples along with traditional Slavic food like borscht and salt-cured meats. Skewers of fruit were a great way to clear the palate but I admit to being bummed that there was no opportunity to sample the cherry pie that appears on the regular desert menu. I do appreciate a cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee at the end a meal.

Just as important as the food are Mari Vanna’s vodka offerings. The bar is fully stocked with an impressive collection of top-shelf Russian vodkas. However, the kicker is the house-made infused vodkas. Offerings on Wednesday ranged from the sweet (strawberry) to the aggressive (horseradish). Other options included honey oat, pineapple, and Sea Buckthorn (I had to google it too). Make no mistake, these are not vodkas with a ‘hint’ of flavor, they pack a punch. My personal vote goes to the honey oat but according to the Mari Vanna’s Facebook page, there will soon be more than 20 different infused vodkas available at the bar so you will have plenty of options to choose from.

Before you leave Mari Vanna be sure to snag a traditional Russian candy from one of the large jars atop the downstairs bar. Not only are these delicious, but also they have way cooler packaging than any American candies I have seen.