Rummer Plaque

Spent a wonderful day out in Oak Hills at the Rummer Tour sponsored by the Historic Preservation League of Oregon. Walked through some amazing homes; attended a MCM architecture presentation and Q & A featuring Robert Rummer himself; popped over to the open house hosted by the fine folks at the Rummer Network; then finished off the day with a fantastic steak dinner at Poor Richards. Simply perfect day!

Now, for the super exciting news!... These really cool Rummer plaques (designed by Bob and Phyllis Rummer and friends) are now available for Rummer homeowners to purchase and proudly display in their entryways.

If that isn't cool enough... each plaque is customized with the year-built for each home and automatically enters that house on the official registry of Historic Rummer Homes. It's about time! What a great way to honor the design and historical impact Rummer Homes have had on the Mid-Century Modern architectural movement in the Pacific Northwest.

So if you own a Rummer... get your plaque today!

http://site.rummernetwork.com/Rummer_Plaque.html

The tour was great fun and deserves its own post. We will post our highlights and a bunch of pictures soon. 

The Cave

I can't believe I am posting my room of shame... MY office! That's right, and I'm sure many of you can relate to the chaos associated with your home office. It is the center of all computer activity for the entire family. It is the scheduling center, catch all/storage room... and "if you don't know where it goes, just put it in the office" room. Now, to compound my shame, my office is not a room with a door that can be shut to hide all offensiveness from visiting company. No! It is an open nook just off the kitchen and family room. Yes, it is visible. VERY VISIBLE.

Located right off the kitchen and family room.

Here is the embarrassing BEFORE picture. (It is even more embarrassing because it is actually the NOW picture, but I have plans for this to change very soon.)

The home office, aka "The Cave"

I really don't work like this. Really! It's usually not this bad, but with a massive garage clean up underway all "office" items were put in the office. Now... what to do with it all. Hmmm.

Problem #1: Limited Space

The usable area in the room (that is not used as a walk through to the garage or extra pantry storage) is approximately 5' x 5'. That's small, very small. So we have to be very efficient with the space. The needed elements are:

It really is a small space!

1. Functional desk area (this is essential for my work and to house the computer)

2. White board or other option for organizing schedules, calenders and important family business

3. Limited flat surfaces (we are terrible with clutter... need fewer spaces to just stack things)

4. Scanner/Printer station

5. Shelving... lots of storage for all the crafting and paper supplies

6. Charging station for iPods, phones and iPad

Problem #2: Storage

Even with my attempts to operate a paperless design business, I still have a lot of paper (hmmmm), books, markers, pens, straight edges, Xacto knives, swatch books, supplies and MORE PAPER. My need for good usable storage is great. 

Problem # 3: Budget

Basically, I have no budget for this office redo. Maybe $500... that's a big maybe. So I have to be really creative and resourceful with the plans.

The Inspiration

I found this fabulous wall unit a while back when we were looking for a storage piece for the living room. It was a little too bold for our formal living room, but the wild colors, clean lines, and modular design are perfect for my office. I may work in a cave, but I refuse to live like a cubicle dweller. My creative juices would dry up instantly in a beige environment.  

The Initial Design Plan

Besta individual cabinet units at IKEA are a great and inexpensive option. Mounting them on the wall in a staggered design will give the stock cabinets the custom look of a wall unit. I hope!

Overall storage design with colored doors.

Note: the cabinets will be installed on 2 walls (wall A and wall B) creating an L-shaped configuration. We will need to customize the stock IKEA cabinet doors with paint. That should prove interesting and I will devote an entire blog post to that adventure.

Inside of the planned storage.

Wall Treatment

I really want something different on the walls. Something that adds some texture as well as function. Here are a couple of the options still under consideration.

Pegboard

Galvanized metal sheeting

Pantry Wall:

The back wall will be serve as multi-purpose storage... brooms, kitchen pantry, misc. To keep this area versatile, we will install individual shelves and then build sliding closet doors (similar to our hall closet doors) to keep the walk way clear and conceal the clutter! (I know our storage habits... even with the best intentions, it will be cluttered. Best to plan now on how to hide it in the most attractive way.)

Now, I just need to get up enough courage go back into "the cave" and start. If you don't hear from me you know where to send the search party.

Tiki by BOSKO

Our atrium has a new addition. A big tiki... bigger than me. Here's how and why it came to live in our house.
NOTE: There are zillion links in this post! Some to past blog posts, some to other websites... if you're a link clicker, be prepared to spend a LOT of time surfing around. AND blogger is not being cooporative with the spacing at all, so this post looks all wonky! ...sorry... 

If you've read through our blog, you know we're kind of into the whole tiki thing. In fact our visit to Tiki Oasis #8 was a great source of inspiration.

Our back yard has an amazing amount of potential. But we haven't really put any of our "big ideas" to work out there yet. About the only things we've done are cut back ridiculously prolific wisteria plants and ivy (the links to the pictures seem to be messed up. I'll try to fix it later. sorry!),  

Covered a bunch of lattice with reed fencing, 

Refinished the deck (part 1, part 2),

Cleaned up the waterfall and pond,

... and whipped the pool into shape with lots of cleaning and new tile (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7).

While that is kind of a lot, I consider most of that to be necessity and not just aesthetic (yes, even the lattice!).

Our ultimate plans are still in flux, but generally we want the immediate pool area to have a modern Palm Springs style look, the fire pit area will be rebuilt to be a raised bar/table/fire pit with covered area and chimney, the west side of the yard will be home to a small vegetable garden, barbecue area and parking area for our 1956 Airstream Safari. That leaves the east side of the house which currently consists of a side entrance to the yard from the street, a couple of planters, a side door to the master bath, a path to the pool house and slide, and finally... where the topic of this post will live someday... the pump house and small pond with waterfall.

This area will become our tiki/tropical paradise. We envision lush foliage (bamboo, palm trees, tropical plants), tiki torches, Martin Denny or jungle drums playing through some hidden speakers, and a nice quiet spot to sit and sip a beverage through my favorite Don The Beachcomber tiki mug. We are a loooooong way away from that, but there's no time like the present to start accumulating needed materials. First on the list: a big tiki!

While in San Diego for Tiki Oasis 10, I was fortunate enough to meet tiki carver/artist extraordinaire BOSKO. I've been a fan of his work ever since Haley and I happened upon the now closed Taboo Cove at the Venetian in Las Vegas way back in '05 or so. It was a beautiful place featuring paintings by Shag, framed exotica music record covers, lots of bamboo, and a number of decor pieces carved by BOSKO, including a large Maori tiki at the entrance (now presiding at the entrance to Don the Beachcomber in Long Beach, CA). BOSKO had a booth in the vender area and we wound up talking tiki (surprise!).
Turns out, he had a 75" x 19" dia Cedar Marquesan Head Hunter in his studio that was too heavy to ship via UPS.

Haley handled the negotiations and next thing we knew, it was the next morning and we had a 175-pound tiki in the back of the truck. (Note the turquoise patio furniture... that is a Fibrellia lounger and table/chair set... stay tuned...) 

 I think it will eventually wind up between the waterfall and the soon-to-be-tikified pump house (which will require sealing the ends and applying a few coats of varnish to the cedar). But for now, he looks great resting quietly in the atrium by the front door.

Side note: Here's a great old pic a friend sent to me of a cool tiki in a Rummer atrium way back in 1966. Same as it ever was. ;-)