Labor Day = Day of Labor.

Holiday Weekend Project #1: Finish Painting the House
SCRATCH! This weekend was too rainy for painting. (I know! We'll never get it done.)

I HATE the idea of having a partially painted house! I don't want to spend the winter in a house painted like this!As soon as it's dry enough to paint (nice and sunny now...) I think I'll take a vacation day and be a house-painting commando. But for now... it's garage time. -Steve



Holiday Weekend Project #2: The Garage
It's amazing what you really don't need to live. We're collectors. That's one step down from the hoarders that are featured on those "can you believe how they live" news programs. Everything is a treasure! And I may need that "what-ever-it-is" someday. So everything we NEEDED was meticulously packed into a U-Haul and brought with us to the new house.


The first load went into the house... the second load didn't make it past the garage. And there that pile sat... for over a year. All our treasures, toys, books... carefully packed in moving boxes... all too precious to discard. And yet, we haven't missed them a bit.

Living in a mid-century modern house has given us the chance to live a "less is more" lifestyle. It's hard for collectors like us. But surprisingly, we like it.

Today was the day. We dove into the huge pile in the garage to see what we've been missing all these months. Junk. Junk. More junk. Hey, there's my college thesis... do I want this? Huh. Junk. Oh, here's some recycling! We loaded up the back of the truck... twice... and took it to Goodwill. Sorted the rest into KEEP, GARBAGE and RECYCLING piles.


Steve found his Volvo again! Charged it up and took it for a spin around the block. Not junk! But we've got to get in back in the garage before dark.
(...or at least under the cover. It's a 1971 Volvo 1800E. This pic is from the MCMLeague Parade back in June. It's a fun car, photographs really nice, and deserves a more organized garage! -Steve)

With the Christmas stuff stacked in the shed and the tools put away in the workshop area the pile is about half it's original size. Best hopes are that we can weed through the remaining boxes and shrink it by half again. Should have a nice garage when we are done.

Steve has big design ideas for the shop and garage. (I'll let him outline the details.) I'm excited to see how it turns out, but think it will probably be something like this:
I'll post pictures of the finished storage cabinets, work bench and shop when complete.
Yeah... I would LOVE it to look like that... I would also like that much hair... but the pic below is what I have to work with (garage space-wise... not hair-wise). I'm planning on building some cabinets with colorful, pegboard sliding doors, VCT on the floor, and some kind of workbench. My space is sorta limited, so I might wind up with a fold-up bench. But we shall see.... In any case, it's sure good to have a handle on the garage. -Steve



Very productive weekend, but hardly a vacation. Labor Day... ha!

Atomic Ranch—Fall 2008 Now Out!

The new issue of Atomic Ranch has finally hit the newsstands. We held our MCM League yard sale this weekend, and the sneak preview issue of the magazine was the biggest hit.

Kelly from Vintage Roadside relaxes with Atomic Ranch in one of the yard sale chairs!

Our magazine arrived in the mail today! The article Working Class Heroes (page 18) features the home and collections of our good friends, Marci and Austin. (Pages 20-23) Their place is amazing... and their "lowbrow lanai" is fantastic. Check it out... it wasn't done when the magazine did the photo shoot, but you can see it on the MCM League forums!

This issue also has the very first ad for the Mid-Century Modern League! (Page 58) Very cool!

Steve's in Phoenix on business and just ate dinner at Trader Vics... I spent my evening blogging. Hmmmm, I'm logging out now to go read my issue of Atomic Ranch from cover to cover.

I'm sensing a color scheme!

Just got the tile for the kid's bathroom delivered. We stacked the boxes in the atrium and cracked them open to inspect the custom blend. Huh... it matches almost perfectly with the bamboo furniture in the atrium! Didn't plan that... er, I mean... I meant to do that!
Now, we've got to get busy and get the walls in and floor ready. It will be so nice to have another functioning bathroom again. Sharing with the kids has been... well, cozy!

House Numbers...

Voila! We finally have numbers on the house... maybe we'll get mail now!
The new address numbers arrived quicker than expected! Luckily, we've finished painting that section of the house so we wasted no time getting them installed.

Each number is individually cast so installation could be tricky. The manufacturer included a (dummy proof) paper pattern template to simplify the installation. This helped a great deal... with the pattern tacked in place (and level) Steve pre-drilled the holes.

The first attempt to dry fit the numbers was more than successful... the "nine" was in for good. The rest of the numbers were set in with epoxy.

The 1/4" spacers are just enough to cast a good shadow under the numbers. It's a very clean look and such an improvement to the front of the house.

Entry Light INSTALLED!

Before: Oooooo!

After: Awwwww!
You can kind of see a small preview of the new house paint! I'll post more on paint as soon as we get the whole house done. (The weather has been spotty... so it may be late August/September before that project is complete.)

Handy Steve in action! I honestly don't know what I'd do without him... he makes it look so easy, but I know better.

I did this without turning off the power, and if you know me, you know I have a great respect/fear of electricity (bad experiences... don't want to talk about it), so yes... my hands were trembling. Luckily I survived without getting zapped. -Steve

Tropical Inspiration

Tiki Oasis 8 in San Diego was the perfect field trip to get inspired about our backyard tropical paradise. Tiki lovers from around the world packed into the Crowne Plaza... historically known as the Hanalei Hotel. We had a quiet room on the atrium side of the hotel. (Next year we'll try to get a pool/stage view and a block of rooms so we can throw a really good MCM League party!)

That gigantic tiki with the smoking, glowing blue eyes is actually a tiki bar. Crazy, huh? -Steve

INSPIRATION #1: THE ATRIUM(S) at the Hanalei Hotel
I'm easily distracted (must be some kind of creative ADD), but the atrium held my attention. It was an amazing display of tikis, tropical plants, lava rock and water features. It's shocking at how closely the hard scape design resembles our backyard. Lava rock everywhere with ponds and waterfalls. It's very inspiring to see it all pulled together with the plants and tikis.

This was a quiet Hawaiian style dude... and he's about 6-feet tall. Would be perfect next to our pump house, but he wouldn't quite fit in my carry-on. (but seriously... some lame Oasis attendees actually STOLE a few tiki posts from the atrium area. Idiots! Luckily peer pressure prevailed and they have been returned to the hotel. sheesh!) -Steve

What a nice, peaceful meandering path with water features contained in lava rock walls, little bridges with painted tiki posts for the railings (there were unpainted posts in the restaurant, and I think they looked better), and tons and tons of tropical foliage including 7-story tall palm trees. It's looked amazing at night with lighting accents. -Steve

This cool little hut proved to be a nice peaceful place for Haley and I to have lunch on our last day... that is until we were surrounded by ukulele wielding ruffians! Apparently this is where they have their "Ukulele Jam." (?!!) We left before things got out of control. -Steve

Here's a nice little outrigger close to one of the waterfalls and on the right is the glass walled elevator. One of the bands actually played inside the elevator... with an upright bass. Now THAT'S elevator music! -Steve

The other glass walled elevator at the top of this pic. I like how they have stuff growing in the ponds... maybe I'll try that in our yard. hmmmmm.
We met Sven Kirsten (author of Book of Tiki and Tiki Modern) at the book signing and we both commented on how it was surprising that the atrium area was empty most of the time. It was a tiki oasis away from Tiki Oasis. -Steve

INSPIRATION #2: HANALEI COURTYARD AND POOL

We ate here a few times and it was okay. Good decor and since you could see the stage from most of the tables... pretty dang convenient. -Steve

This was indoors. Notice the unpainted tiki posts holding up the rails. Much nicer than the painted ones out in the atrium, I think. -Steve

How 'bout this for our pump house? I'm hoping for a cross between this and Gilligan's supply hut. -Steve

INSPIRATION #3: BALI HAI AND SHELTER ISLAND

Did you know the Mai Tai's at The Bali Hai have NO mixers?!!! 100% rum... three different kinds. I didn't have one, but Justin had 5!!!! -Steve

This is the infamous Goof! Consult the Book of Tiki for background on this dentally challenged chap. Sort of reminds me of the totem pole where Gilligan's head was the top. No, we won't be adding a Goof of our own to our house. Even I have limits on my Polynesian pop obsession. -Steve

Justin and Greg are seriously the two dappiest dressers EVER! The jaunty gent in the middle is the headhunter at the front door of the Bali Hai. -Steve

One of the hotels on Shelter Island. I don't remember which, but they're all over the place! -SteveSee!! Here's another one!

This is Humpheries... or Half Moon Inn or something like that. It looks even better at night with propane torches, a huge lit up trap/light fixture at the peak and ambiance o-plenty!

San Diego is a great town and we owe Austin & Marci a dinner or two for playing tour guide for us. You San Diegoans are lucky folks! -Steve