Month: November 2010

Categories
Living

November 2010: Do It Yourself

Before

After

Turn a builder’s grade fireplace into a touch of old Virginia style with a reclaimed mantel and surround.

Fire faux

As we begin to prepare for the cool, autumn Virginia nights, many of us embrace the great indoors. If you’re like me, nothing says fall like making a pitcher of Stone Fences (cider from Carter Mountain, of course), and gathering with good friends around a nice fire. Luckily, many renters are fortunate enough to inherit fireplaces in their rentals for those perfect nights inside, plus a picturesque spot to hang their holiday stockings.

Whether it is working or non-working, a great fireplace can add a focal point and raise the charm factor in most rooms. But many fireplaces, especially those in newer rentals and condos, lack charm altogether. It’s one thing if you’re lucky enough to inherit some old Virginia style, with the fireplace wrapped in white moldings and surrounded by built-in bookcases. However, if you’re like many of my friends, you have the builder’s grade “portal” fireplaces. You know, the one without any trim or mantel, adorned simply by an outline of beige tiles.

With a few materials and a few tools, you can take that hole in the wall fireplace from “lukewarm” to “on fire” in several easy steps. 

 

Getting started

Materials:

1. A reclaimed mantel and surround. This is a great opportunity to explore all the wonderful consignment shops and antique stores in Charlottesville. I recommend stopping in The Habitat Store (on Harris Road) or the Covesville Store (on Rte. 29S) for a good selection of affordable, charming reclaimed mantels. Keep in mind, you’re looking for the complete surround that can stand, not just a mantel shelf. Look for a surround that is lighter weight. You’ll be glad you did. If you feel compelled to strip or repaint the surround to match your room/décor, feel free to do so. 

2. Four “L” brackets and accompanying screws.

Tools: Electric screwdriver.

Consider this a “Choose Your Own Adventure” project, as there are two quick and easy ways to accomplish your goal, all depending on your comfort level and ability to screw into your rental walls.

Option 1: Place the reclaimed surround and mantel around your fireplace. The surround should stand on its own when propped against the wall, so step back and make sure it is centered on your fireplace. Holding the surround flush against the wall (it may help to have an extra set of hands), place two evenly spaced L brackets along the underside lip of the mantel shelf. Using your electric screwdriver, screw the L brackets up into the underside of the mantel shelf. 

Once those screws are firmly in place, attach the lower half of the L brackets to your wall. Repeat this step on the other side to secure the surround evenly on both sides. The L brackets will barely be noticeable. You can even search for white ones to match your walls or paint them yourself before installing. You will only be creating four even, small holes in the wall that can be patched upon removal. 

Option 2: If the thought of attaching the surround to the wall makes you uncomfortable, consider supporting the surround with two large planters (17.5" height works great). If you buy lightweight planters or faux stone, fill the planters with quick-dry cement, rocks or bricks to create some substantial weight. Top the planters with some moss or the decorative arrangement of your choice to hide your support structure below. While I don’t recommend allowing your guests to dance on your mantel, the simple surround will stay nicely supported, flush between the planters and the wall.  

If there is a substantial gap between your surround and the border of your fireplace, consider attaching some decorative tiles with Command Adhesive tape strips. If you don’t have a fireplace in your rental but desperately seek a good focal point for your room, consider picking up a reclaimed mantel and creating a hearth out of some mirrored tiles and candles, making for a nice focal wall. Reclaimed mantels and fireplace surrounds can also serve as great, unique headboards.—Ed Warwick

Leg up

For the range of home improvement projects you might undertake, you need at least three types of ladders—a step ladder, a folding platform ladder and an extension ladder. Here’s why: If you don’t cover all your bases, a less risk-averse member of your family might try to do something silly, such as rig up his own perilous scaffolding to paint the stairway ceiling. I invested in an extension ladder after watching one such stupid strategy unfold in my own home. Now plenty of fellow risk-averse neighbors regularly enjoy my purchase.

A step ladder, with two or three wide flat steps (rather than rungs) is useful for mundane tasks such as reaching wine glasses on the top kitchen shelf as well as more rugged projects such as hanging artwork or the Christmas tree star. Small step ladders are portable and can be conveniently stored in a pantry closet, but at higher price points you can find wood or metal designs pretty enough to leave on display.

Your basic folding A-frame, platform ladder will be your go-to elevator for reaching an attic space and for painting walls, dusting molding and changing overhead light bulbs. These ladders typically are made of aluminum or steel and can be folded for easy storage in the garage or shed. The fold-out platform at the top can hold a paint can and brushes or a few tools. A 6-10′ version should suit most needs without being unwieldy. 

An extension ladder rests against a work surface and has sliding sections that extend up to 20′ or more. Typically made of aluminum or fiberglass, this is your ladder for cleaning gutters, painting your home’s exterior and not giving your spouse a heart attack when you need to reach something two stories high.—Katherine Ludwig

 

 

Categories
Living

November 2010: Circle forward

 

The vibrant iron and mahogany-hued exterior is enough to turn heads on a street full of houses in varying shades of white, but Mike and Lisa Ryan are laid-back about the design of their house; they weren’t trying to make a statement. For them, the house is just a reflection of long-held aesthetics and some budget considerations.

While the initial house-hunting goal was to find space for a growing family of four, the Ryans decided to build their own house in Belmont, working with local design build firm Latitude 38, owned by Jeff Erkelens. “When it was over, we said it was the biggest art project we’d ever done,” says Lisa. 
The house has surprising details at every turn—artfully tangled light fixtures in the stairway, dark bathroom tiles that act as faux bathmats, ceiling panels of birch plywood on the main floor—but the most striking feature is the large, circular open doorway between the living room and the kitchen. “Because it’s open and such an angular house, this is a great, organic shape,” says Mike.
The main floor has quickly become the central nerve of the house: “We spend so much time down here that we sometimes have to force [the kids] upstairs,” laughs Lisa.—Lucy Kim
 
•
 
Mike: “I’ve always wanted a modern aesthetic to a house, but wasn’t sure about how it would work in the context of this neighborhood. I mean, just today I saw a cyclist go past our house, then put the brakes on to get a better look.”
Lisa: “We expected it would stand out but we weren’t trying to be exhibitionists or anything.” 
Mike: “My dad suggested buying a kit house a while back…I was entertaining the idea of something like that until I saw Jeff Erkelens’ house on sale on MLS…It was only on sale for about a day but it caught my eye. I called him, took him out to lunch—that was about two years ago. I basically wanted to know, what does it take to build that kind of house? She must have thought I was crazy.”
Lisa: “No, I didn’t think you were crazy. We thought that we would end up having to get a brick rancher and fix it up—then we realized that this was affordable and his aesthetic was attractive to us. The biggest thing we thought he’d nix was the circular doorway. I kind of had my heart set on it.”
Mike: “We used to be Dwell magazine subscribers and there was this picture of an old Chinese restaurant in San Francisco that a couple fixed up, but they saved the round doorway. We saved and scrap-booked that picture. When we brought it up with Jeff, I remember he just smiled and said, ‘I’m up for it. Every house needs a challenge.’ We thought it was cool enough to take one of our magic tokens.”
Lisa: “I was surprised by how much location makes a difference. We’re downtown, so we have access to the goings on in the city. Mike bikes with Gray or I’ll walk to the library with the kids. We’re more connected to the community and I feel like more of a city resident.” 
Mike: “One thing I’m surprised by is the view. It wasn’t until later I realized we had views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Southwest Mountains, Montalto…We bought a flat piece of land and realized we’re at the top of the city. The best part is not the design, it isn’t the house, it’s living downtown.”

November ABODE takes stock for winter

It’s time once again for a new issue of ABODE—in fact, it’s on the stands as we speak. If you’re into the green thing, here are some highlights:

LEARN how much recycled content is in most newspapers—and how C-VILLE stacks up!

RECLAIM tap water through a national nonprofit!

SUSS OUT the difference between CFL and LED light bulbs!

GET WISE to the farmer’s markets that will carry you through the winter months!

BONE UP on using curtains to jazz up a room (they’ll save some energy while you’re at it)!

STOCK UP on knowledge about making soup stock from local chicken!

We will now put away our carnival barker’s voice and ask you nicely to pick up the issue, read, enjoy, and let us know what you think!

That is all.
 

Win tickets to see Dawes, Vetiver and Peter Wolf Crier

Dawes, the wise and earnest young band from Los Angeles that’s signed to ATO Records, headlines the Jefferson Theater tonight, and folks, we’ve got your chance to dig these vintage California vibes gratis.

For yours truly the main attraction is San Francisco’s Vetiver, a band’s band in a world of bands first known to me as part of that region’s shortly lived freak folk scene. They’ve also released a string of great records since then, including a superb album of covers called Thing of the Past.

Vetiver covers Michael Hurley’s "Blue Driver" live. More below.

 

What do you have to do to win tickets to this show? Tell us which of these three bands your favorite is. (And of course, put your real name and e-mail in the box.) I’ll announce a winner at 4pm today. Martin Braun is the champion.

Election 2010: A look at campaign contributions for Hurt and Perriello

Here we are, Fifth District voters—a-balloting, avoiding, or simply awaiting the results of the Congressional race between Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello and Republican challenger Robert Hurt. As of 9am, the city’s voter turnout was roughly 10 percent of registered voters, while the county’s turnout neared 15 percent. (The next turnout numbers arrive at 1pm.)

C-VILLE plans to post updates throughout the day, with coverage ramping up tonight as precincts start to report results. For starters, however, let’s spend some time with…well, with what people and political action committees spent on candidates.

New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight blog has an admirable collection of charts, statistics, predictions and dollar signs for our Fifth District deul. Below, a few interesting tidbits:

  • Individuals who list the University of Virginia as their employer gave a combined $27,675 to Perriello’s campaign committee during the 2010 election cycle. Donors include cardiologist George Beller, husband of late Democratic state senator Emily Couric, and law professor Jonathan Cannon, part of President Barack Obama’s transition team. Run the same search for Hurt? Zero dollars. (The same search returns no results for independent candidate Jeffrey Clark.)
  • OpenSecrets.org, which provided data for the Times, lists Perriello as the top recipient of funds from the environmental industry, with a total of $56,492. The same site lists Hurt as third among recipients of funds from the tobacco industry, behind Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner and Michigan Republican candidate Dave Camp, with $30,750.
  • The site also offers sector totals for combined contributions from political action committees and individuals. The greatest sector contribution for each candidate was the "ideological/single issue" sector ($461,020 for Perriello, $128,125 for Hurt). However, Hurt shows zero dollars in the "labor" sector, compared to Perriello’s $198,000, and more than $17,000 to Perriello’s $72,000-plus in "communications/electronics." Hurt, meanwhile, received more than $52,000 in "agribusiness" to Perriello’s $12,000, and $48,500 to Perriello’s $8,550 in "construction."

Albemarle County voter turnout lags well behind 2008 turnout as of 1pm

According to the State Board of Elections (SBE), there are more than 69,000 registered voters in Albemarle County, about 28,126 in the City of Charlottesville and 446,641 in the entire Fifth District. As of 1pm, Albemarle County voter turnout was 32.89 percent—22,773 voters. That number falls more than 15 percentage points below the 2008 county turnout, which totaled 49.9 percent of registered voters as of 1pm.

The next update will be at 5pm. The voter turnout has been steady throughout the state, says the SBE.

There are reports that the Jefferson Park Precinct is running out of “I Voted” stickers. If you don’t know where to vote, here are the polling places for the city and for the county.

For information on other races in the U.S., click here for The Huffington Post’s live updates.

New Cover Story: Face the flicks

We know how hard it can be to pick out what’s worth seeing at the Virginia Film Festival, which runs Thursday through Sunday. So we put together an in-depth feature that previews some of the most talked-about films and filmmakers at this year’s event.

What should you watch? Why no Jim Carrey in the new Tom Shadyac movie? Is there room for the kind of psychological horror in Black Swan that has distinguished Darren Aronofsky’s harrowing ouvre? Find out this and more here.

What will you see at this year’s Virginia Film Festival?

Perriello campaign says Old Ivy Road office broken into

The Old Ivy Road campaign office of Congressman Tom Perriello was broken into early this morning, says Jessica Barba, communications director for Perriello for Congress.

Between the hours of 2:30am and 5am, when the office was empty, perpetrators took campaign materials and “there was a Hurt sign that was put up in the front of the office and that was something that obviously wasn’t there when we left,” she tells C-VILLE.

Barba says whomever entered the ground floor office by bending and breaking a screen door took a packet of door hangers. Additionally, door hangers with incorrect precinct information were distributed throughout the Venable district.

“We found out later when we had canvassers going around that neighborhood,” says Barba. She adds that because it was caught early, this incident won’t be a huge factor in today’s elections. “UVA students, [many of whom live in the Venable district,] are pretty smart, so hopefully they’ll figure it out.”

County spokesperson Lee Catlin tells C-VILLE that police were called this morning to the campaign office and are investigating a potential break-in.
 

Hurt leads Perriello, 53 percent to 44 percent, with nearly half of Fifth District reporting

The crowd at Congressman Tom Perriello’s election results party at Siips is growing by the minute. Senator Creigh Deeds is watching the results closely as Perriello supporters gather around the sole TV screen.

According to the State Board of Elections, with 45 percent precincts reporting throughout the Fifth District, Senator Robert Hurt leads with 53.23 percent of votes to  Congressman Tom Perriello’s 44.44 percent. Independent Jeffrey Clark has 2.24 percent of the votes reported.

In the City of Charlottesville, with 33 percent precincts reporting, Perriello has a healthy lead—81.5 percent, compared to 18 percent for Hurt trailing. In last place is Clark with 0.55 percent.

In Albemarle County, Perriello has 51 percent of the vote to Hurt’s 47 percent, with 3.4 percent of precincts reporting. Clark has 1.84 percent of the reported Albemarle vote.
 

Election 2010: With 77 percent of precincts in, Hurt leads Perriello by 6 points

Here at the Albemarle County GOP election night party—at the Doubletree Hotel on Route 29, if you’d like to stop by—everything seems calm. Very calm. The chatter of the 150 to 200 guests, gathered in two rooms, doesn’t overwhelm the flatscreen TVs (provided by GOP donor Bill Crutchfield’s business local electronics business), which show results on Fox News. The crunch of red, white and blue tortilla chips is audible—along with the occasional cheer as more precincts report and confirm Virginia Republican senator Robert Hurt’s lead.

The last cheer announced a six-point lead, with 77 percent of precincts reporting. While Fox makes no mention of the fate of independent candidate Jeffrey Clark, Hurt seems to hold steady at 52 percent, while Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello holds tight around 46 percent.