New To Forum, Lots Of Questions Re: 1967 House

[Bixby17]

I am so glad I found y'all. It is nice to find kindred spirits who don't think McMansion, faux chateau, and mickey mouse mediteranean are all that.

Greetings, my name is Steph and I found y'all through searching around on Houston Mod and checking out the spread in Tribeza.

My husband and I own a 1967 single story flat roof house in the Memorial/Voss area. We are the 5th owner of the house since the early 80's, and unfortunately, the house has been subject to a mish mash of remodel. Stuff was done at different times with different tastes and it is kind of a mess.

We were told by some of the old timers in this area that it was a specially designed house by an architect. That the original owner had an art collection that they designed the house around. We have no idea who the architect was, nor do we know ways to find that out.

When we looked to buy it in 2001, it was almost sold to a builder for scraping. We got it instead. We loved it because we loved the wooded areas, and the trees, and the simplicity of the lines of the house. That and it was on the market for a long time, and a lot of people couldn't get over the flat roof and the paint, and because of those factors keeping it from being sold, it was the only way we could afford living in the area.

The wood outside was already painted, and we believe it might be some sort of redwood. Some of the brick inside stayed unpainted, but unfortunately a huge portion of it was painted fushia. The house was on the market a long time because every room of the house was painted some shade of pink, and what wasn't painted pink, had some sort of dipsy doodle pink and blue wallpaper or wallpaper ceiling borders. (Wallpaper ceiling borders are on the top 5 things that frighten me. Certain curtain *treatments* make me shudder too). The house was updated in the 80s, and there is a bunch of gold and marble that was imposed on the kitchen and two of the bathrooms.

Fortunately, some elements of the original remain. We have a cool double oven we call the DeLorean because the doors lift up. It keeps great temperature. The bones of the house are really cool and are unusual for some of the houses in the area in that there are few rooms but they are really open, spacious and light. We haven't done much to the house than take out wallpaper and take out the pink.

We have to take action soonishly because there is some outside repair work that needs to be done, but also we need to deal with the hodgepodge of flooring and the some of the worst of the 80s redos. It would probably cost too much to return the house to its roots, but at least the worst of the redos could maybe be undone. I want the house to be so cool that if we ever move, someone's first thought isn't just lot value. It has tons of potential.

I've talked to exactly one contractor/design company that does a lot of work in the area, and they are the people that made me flee to find a place like this message board. The company said that they had experience with MCM and designing for it. But then the contractor started talking about stuccoing the outside of the house, and stone flooring, and putting all the granite and marble amenties that have (?!) to be in all Memorial homes, and I thought of some of the horrible *updates* I've seen in the area to houses similar to ours. And I got frightened.

I have a number of questions that y'all might be able to help with. I've read back through the forum to try to see if anyone has answered these before, but forgive me if I repeated something that I missed. Also apologies if I ask some really dumb questions--I know what I find visually appealing, but know nothing about how to get there.

1. Architect. How is the best way to figure out who the architect was? The person who sold us the house was unhelpful in this regard and was basically all "hey it's a great place to live until you tear it down." I am thinking that if I figure out the architect, it might help preserve the house down the road. It might also give us ideas of what it is supposed to look like.

2. Flat Roof. Is there anyone out there who loves their flat roof contractor? The one that did the roof previously, a. does messy work; b. is now only doing commercial. We've had someone out, and they say that we need to replace the original metal the covers the separation of the different levels of the roof/chimney. I'm not sure if I trust his quote as the amount is kind of throwupy high for something that is only supposed to last for 10 years.

All I know is if we are going to be redoing the interiors, I'd like to trust my roof not to leak on them. We have had only minor issues, but I'd prefer not to be afraid of hard rains. Any advice as it relates to flat roof contractors and maintaining flat roofs?

3. Old Appliance Repair. Love my DeLorean oven, but the timer is busted. Anyone know who fixes old appliances? I will cry if the oven itself breaks.

4. Kitchen/Bath/Lighting/Flooring Remodel. I think our kitchen was remodelled in 1987, which means it is kinda 80's messed up. But it could be worse. Some stuff is 80s gold and some stuff is silver. Some stuff certainly needs to be updated but with a MCM spirit and not what the typical Memorial granite explosion du jour is. But I have no idea what to do other than what I don't want it to look like. I've seen people here refer to contractors they like who are good with MCM, but I don't know enough of what I want to say what I want done. I'd be fine to work with an architect, but most of the ones we've talked to don't really specialize in MCM and wanted to charge the rate that people charge when money is no object. And some folks said we shouldn't work with an architect because they will draw up some crazy plan that once the contractors get ahold of it would cost what we paid for the house.

Basically, we know that no matter what we put into the house, it will probably never be worth more than the lot. So we just want to do sensible things to the home, that make it more livable for our family in a way where we aren't spending so much money on it that we'd be better off moving to a different house.

The floors are all some sort of need to be replaced pergo, and I don't think there is anything cool underneath. I have no idea what we should do with our flooring, or the most cost effective ways of de-80fying the house are. I just know what I like, and all the gold doodads aren't it.

5. Paint. Oh, and is there any environmentally okay, cost effective or even possible way to undo the painting of outside/inside brick and wood?

So in other words....

I am confused. And I don't even know who the best resources to help with alleviating my confusion. Architects or other? I'm not sure I even need an architect because really most of the changes we are talking about are materials and style--like flooring, countertops, knobs, switchplates and such--there is so much 80s and a mishmash of inconsistent stuff. Maybe some cabinetry would have to be moved around due to odd built ins (a built in for a microwave that doesn't work any more so it just has an ill-sized microwave jammed in there).

I just know I want to save my house and make it the smooth liveable place it should be. I know what I like and don't like when I see it, but I don't know how to translate that into my house. I read a lot of magazines, and I am trying to educate myself with books, but for something as important as your house, I'd like to have some help. Our house is so basic in many respects it doesn't beg for just one way to redo it (other than not in 80s flashback or '07 Memorial Overdone Vulgar Dipsy Doodle). Very plain in the front with walls of windows in the back. Very simple lines and living spaces.

And even if you can't help, thanks for letting me share this. Other than my husband, there are few people I know in real life that appreciate MCM homes so it is nice to find a forum like this in Houston.

(And yes, I want to join Houston Mod now that I know what it is).

[Guest danax]

Welcome to the group, Bixby17, and welcome to the world of old house restoration. It sounds like the cool house was fortunate to have found you . I think your confusion as to what exactly to do is the answer; don't do anything until you know what to do. If you have structural or system repairs that must be made then take care of those things so that the shell is sound and comfortable, but the other questions as to what would be period correct and cost effective take time to mature into answers, so it is usually best to just do nothing at first, and direct your enthusiam into researching the style, architect etc. and then eventually it all becomes much clearer, and you'll likely be glad that you didn't follow through with your initial ideas. There are several old house restorers here and I think we all have experienced the same sequence.

Also, you'll find that 95% of the rest of the world won't understand why or what you want to do with the house, especially contractors. They'll tell you that certain things "can't be done", like removing paint from brick. Well, it really depends on how much time you want to spend on it. There are plenty of people in the Heights and Sixth Ward who have removed multiple layers of paint from woodwork with dental picks, so I would think that you could use paint stripper and smaller tools to get it off.

So, congratulations on what sounds like a great find and please upload some pics. The "Mods" are not fareing very well preservation-wise in Houston due to their being in popular up-scale nabes, so your work will be applauded and appreciated by many yet-unborn Houstonians. I consider my old house to be my long-term art project, because I get the same satisfaction as an artist from the planning, process and results. My final act of preservation will be to apply for Protected City Landmark status, so that no one will be able to alter the exterior or tear it down. Houston is a tear down city and we will only have a handful of historic houses, many scattered and solitary, and yours might be eligible once it hits 50 years old.

[missjanel]

5. Paint. Oh, and is there any environmentally okay, cost effective or even possible way to undo the painting of outside/inside brick and wood?

We recently bought a ranch home and have only completed the flooring projects to date so I don't have a lot of experience with some of the dilemmas that you're facing. But I know first hand how clueless the contractors can be. My flooring guy gasped when I told him I was going to replace the ceramic tile in the kitchen with VCT. I think I went through 6 wood floor installers before I could find one I felt comfortable with.

As for the paint there are a couple of options for removing paint from brick. There is a very good thread from Lotta Living about painted exterior brick. You can read the thread here. http://tinyurl.com/2zf5ju There are Peel Away products for different types of surfaces so you may find one for wood as well. The downside I think is that Peel Away is expensive and a time consuming process.

Your oven sounds just like what M Granit described the oven as in the 9602 Moonlight Drive house but I haven't actually been inside to see it. He described an oven that opened in a gull wing fashion too. If you could post pics of you oven I would love to see it.

I'm sure you'll do fine and things will become less daunting as you go along. Besides you're already rid of the fuschia. That had to make a huge difference.

[Bixby17]

Welcome to the group, Bixby17, and welcome to the world of old house restoration. It sounds like the cool house was fortunate to have found you . I think your confusion as to what exactly to do is the answer; don't do anything until you know what to do. If you have structural or system repairs that must be made then take care of those things so that the shell is sound and comfortable, but the other questions as to what would be period correct and cost effective take time to mature into answers, so it is usually best to just do nothing at first, and direct your enthusiam into researching the style, architect etc. and then eventually it all becomes much clearer, and you'll likely be glad that you didn't follow through with your initial ideas. There are several old house restorers here and I think we all have experienced the same sequence.

Also, you'll find that 95% of the rest of the world won't understand why or what you want to do with the house, especially contractors. They'll tell you that certain things "can't be done", like removing paint from brick. Well, it really depends on how much time you want to spend on it. There are plenty of people in the Heights and Sixth Ward who have removed multiple layers of paint from woodwork with dental picks, so I would think that you could use paint stripper and smaller tools to get it off.

So, congratulations on what sounds like a great find and please upload some pics. The "Mods" are not fareing very well preservation-wise in Houston due to their being in popular up-scale nabes, so your work will be applauded and appreciated by many yet-unborn Houstonians. I consider my old house to be my long-term art project, because I get the same satisfaction as an artist from the planning, process and results. My final act of preservation will be to apply for Protected City Landmark status, so that no one will be able to alter the exterior or tear it down. Houston is a tear down city and we will only have a handful of historic houses, many scattered and solitary, and yours might be eligible once it hits 50 years old.

Thanks for the encouragement. And your advice to know your house for a while is sound. We have done a very few things to the house since we bought it in 2001, mostly because after we stretched to buy it, we couldn't afford to do much other than taking out the worst of the 80s blight. And we were uncertain what would suit it best. The lady who sold us the house thought it was nice that she was giving us the blue and pink flowered window treatments--we used them as a drop cloth because they were too foul to inflict on anyone else, even as a gift.

Even with just paint and watering and replanting the landscaping, the lady who used to live here said if she knew it could look like this, she would have kept the house.

The advice of living in a house for a while before you do stuff to it is sound, but we are getting to the point soonishly where we have to make some choices. The life of the roof is nearing its end, and what we do to the roof may affect some of the wood outside. Our refrigerator is acting hinky, and the flooring in the kitchen is an embarrassment--we want to do the same flooring throughout, so we are going to have to make some decisions soon. As with many people, we've done a few things we might like to do over, but most of those things are not horrible, but are troubling enough to make you question your own judgement no matter how many magazines and books you read.

I'm afraid for most of the Memorial Villages, preserving the houses may end up being a lost cause. The land is so valuable, and there is no accounting for taste and what that does to house prices. There was a neat house down the street was bought around the same time as ours. It had a flat roof, atrium, and lots of windows in the back. The people who bought it when we did, put a ugly pitched roof on it and did about the worst granite/marble remodel of the bath and bedroom. I saw it in 2001, and then I saw it the other day because a friend of mine is thinking of buying it. The house I saw in 2001 no longer exists--but I was amazed at what those hideous *updates* did to the resale.

That's why I appreciate organizations such as Houston Mod because anything they can do to raise awareness of what is possible is a good thing. Our house was very endangered because it is the smallest one in the neighborhood with a nice sized lot on a quiet street. For me that's a plus because I'd rather have trees than some sort of entertainment room, wine room or whatever BS extra room is the fashionable one of the week. I like having a small electric bill.

Does anyone know a reliable local contractor that does paint removal on inside and outside of houses in an environmentally sound manner? I have kids so I am particularly careful of that--though these days it seems you can't even buy them toys without imperiling their health. There is no way we could do the work ourselves for various reasons.

[Willowisp]

Welcome to the message board! I hope you find all the answers you're looking for. This message board (and lottaliving.com's board) have been very helpful to me.

PM me with the address if you don't want to announce it to the world and I'll ask around at Houston Mod if they know the architect.

1. As you've probably figured out already, it's hard to find the architect info on any particular house if no one told you its provenance and/or it's not in the Houston Architectural Guide. The most reliable way is to go right to the deed history or 1968 or 69 phone book and find the original owner's name and hope it's an uncommon name then start trying to find them or their children. There may be some original owners nearby that remember the people who lived there before and who knows, they may even know the architect if it was a big deal at the time of building.

2. Flat roof redos have been discussed on the message board. I think mdadm (is that right?) had a good experience with his guy, who was straight out of the 60s I think. I think I may call him when the time comes to do our roof...

3. I know someone who may know someone! Let's just say, there are members of Houston Mod who know just about all there is to know about mod appliances and can point you in the right direction.

4.& 5. Sounds like you need a hug. Just kidding, yes, I've been there! Since you've had time living in your house, you know what it needs. We went in kind of blind and hoped we knew what our house needed and therefore we overdid a few things and probably spent too much on a few things that looking back I wish I had spent on different things that the house could still use. Houston is behind the times on MCM fever. There are products out there that can get you the look you want, and you can find them online. We used hakatai tile. http://www.hakatai.com/ for the bathroom. You may want to figure out what original flooring the main parts of the house had and go with it, whether that's carpet or vct tile or who knows what. We found the idea of stripping paint to be too daunting, time consuming, and expensive, so I just decided on a paint color for the house and went with it. I guess that was a choice of picking my battles and deciding between a complete restoration and making the house livable and lovable for my wife and me (within our 4 month time limit).

Keep us updated, and as you can tell, we love pictures if you're not too shy to share.

Finally, find Atomic Ranch - book and magazine if you haven't yet. This book and magazine will give you so many ideas and send you on the path. Then money is your only limitation.

Jason

[Bixby17]

We recently bought a ranch home and have only completed the flooring projects to date so I don't have a lot of experience with some of the dilemmas that you're facing. But I know first hand how clueless the contractors can be. My flooring guy gasped when I told him I was going to replace the ceramic tile in the kitchen with VCT. I think I went through 6 wood floor installers before I could find one I felt comfortable with.

As for the paint there are a couple of options for removing paint from brick. There is a very good thread from Lotta Living about painted exterior brick. You can read the thread here. http://tinyurl.com/2zf5ju There are Peel Away products for different types of surfaces so you may find one for wood as well. The downside I think is that Peel Away is expensive and a time consuming process.

Your oven sounds just like what M Granit described the oven as in the 9602 Moonlight Drive house but I haven't actually been inside to see it. He described an oven that opened in a gull wing fashion too. If you could post pics of you oven I would love to see it.

I'm sure you'll do fine and things will become less daunting as you go along. Besides you're already rid of the fuschia. That had to make a huge difference.

Thanks for the thread link.

I don't have a photobucket for pix (yet), but I just threw a picture of the DeLorean oven up as my avatar. It is a Frigidaire oven. Underneath the Frigidaire name, it says "A Product of General Motors USA Company." It is called a "Custom Imperial." The clock and timer no longer work but boy it keeps great temperature. The pull up doors are great because you don't have to reach over a door to pull out hot items--the door pulls up so it is out of the way. Having the smaller sized oven on the left is nice because you don't have to heat up the big oven if you are just cooking some small items or are just warming a few things. We have a Thermador electric range with a griddle in the middle that I have no idea when it was put in.

The fuschia room used to be hideous. My sister when she saw it for the first time called it the womb room. When you walk into the house, as is typical of many homes of this style, there are few windows in the front and there is a small entry way that leads you into a room with a higher ceilings. The big room is 11 feet tall, almost racket court sized and has a huge panel of windows all through the back.

When the previous owner lived here, that room was painted fuschia with ivory carpeting. She didn't take care of the plants outside so the view out the window was a courtyard surrounded by wood fence. We painted over the fuschia and watered and replanted things so when you walk into the house, it is totally green and like being outside but without the heat. It gets morning sun only and has an overhang so it never gets too hot. The big room is equivalent to the size of the whole rest of the house almost, so having a huge fuschia room actually probably saved the house. Potential buyers walked in that front door and probably wanted to hurl.

The lady selling it also planted some plastic flowers out front, I guess to increase the curb appeal. The house had a Corvette on blocks in the driveway that belonged to her ex-husband. It almost became ours because he didn't move it until the last second. (We always joked that they probably got divorced because of her awful taste in wallpaper and paint colors).

I wish I could find the original plans of the house. There is no telling what the master bathroom used to look like, and we have a few guesses about the kitchen.

Ultimately, I'd like to do the sort of redo of our house that we could show the realtors of our area of respectful things that can be done with houses of this vintage that add value but also aren't architecturally abusive or absurd. That you can do some nice things to fix these houses up without spending a zillion dollars, and make them stone cold groovy to live in. That a bright airy house, surrounded by trees is a good thing, and a good thing for the environment.

You would think that would be self-evident, but not by the new construction that is going up all around. I pray every day that the people in front of us and the people behind us don't sell to someone awful. The house across the street is one of my favorites--no front windows, but real cool brick work. The no front windows thing is especially nice for us because it is almost like there is no one living there--very private.

[memebag]

There was a neat house down the street was bought around the same time as ours. It had a flat roof, atrium, and lots of windows in the back. The people who bought it when we did, put a ugly pitched roof on it ...

I have nothing useful to contribute to your quest (good luck, btw), but I can't keep quiet about roofs. From Encyclop

[Bixby17]

Finally, find Atomic Ranch - book and magazine if you haven't yet. This book and magazine will give you so many ideas and send you on the path. Then money is your only limitation.

Jason

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement. We have the Atomic Ranch book but not the magazine--that will be remedied shortly. We like a lot of the stuff in Metropolitan Home and Dwell too. A lot of the current contemporary stuff in those mags is a little too fishbowly for me. I like my glass in the back of my house.

[Bixby17]

Drainage is a primary task for roofs in Houston. That's why pitched roofs save structures and flat roofs destroy them. They work for commercial properties that aren't expected to live past their mortgage and produce enough revenue to replace and maintain their roof, but they don't make sense on houses. They can look great, but looking great doesn't stop the water.

Flat roofs might not make the most sense in our climate, but for what they spent on putting a pitch on their roof, I can replace my roof for decades and do it over time. And it is absolutely an awful hodge podged, tacked on looking roof.

I would rather see that particular house torn down than seen that roof put on.

[memebag]

Flat roofs might not make the most sense in our climate, but for what they spent on putting a pitch on their roof, I can replace my roof for decades and do it over time.

I thought you said the quote you got was "throwupy high". Did you get a more digestible quote?

Is there any water damage inside the house? Do you know how much has been spent on water damage and roof repair over the life of the house?

[Bixby17]

I thought you said the quote you got was "throwupy high". Did you get a more digestible quote?

Is there any water damage inside the house? Do you know how much has been spent on water damage and roof repair over the life of the house?

Even using the high quote we received that involves replacing the metal and maybe some of the wood attached to the metal, is still a fraction of what they spent to replace their roof. The lady told me she spent $150,000 to put that ugly roof on. She said she thought the flat roof was ugly.

We have no significant water damage. I don't know what was spent by others on our house but most of our roof maintenance work has been under warranty.

I would never build a flat roof house from scratch these days in this climate. But I would also not put a traditional roof on an existing flat roof house. The only roof worse than hers, is the tin roof that someone else thought was a good idea for their flat roof further down the street. They were trying to turn their house into a sorta Austiny looking thing, but instead it looks like a regular house with an awful tin roof stuck on top.

We also have plans that some architect drew updating the front of our house--it was some sort of 80s entry way to make the house look more important. Thank goodness nobody actually did that--the plans are too awful to describe.

[GoAtomic]

Welcome, Steph.

I've spent 6 years immersing myself in mid-centuring info; I don't own a true MCM but do own a decent 1960 California Ranch with some eclectic mid-century character. A few thoughts for you based on my experiences ...

1) The oven must be a Frigidaire Flair - I have one sitting in my garage. Keep it at all costs! There are sites of enthusiests out there, try googling 'Frigidaire Flair'. Someone will have parts ....

2) Inside painted brick - you can strip it, or you can repaint it. If you are fortunate to have original stained paneling around it, an appropriate and cheap change to help the look would be repainting the brick a semigloss white shade with some Neutrel Toner mixed into the paint.

3) Paneling and wood cabinets - stained paneling was common and desired back then - DO NOT PAINT IT if it's original. Yes, it's dark, but with the right light and light colored furnishings and the right flooring, it can be a very cool look. One correct re-finishing option is Amber Shellac, gives a neat glow to the wood. But if it's painted ... try a darker brown paint with reddish orange tones to emulate the original look.

4) Floors - wood, cork or VCT tile for living spaces, carpet OK in the bedrooms. Light maple wood looks especially good against darker cabinets or paneling.

5) Lighting - try Rejuvenation lighting for reproduction period fixtures. If you're lucky to have cove lighting (flourescent strips behind a valance) you can warm up the room by changing away from 'cool white' bulbs.

6) furnishings - think low to the ground, slim profile, period colors such as chartruese or sage green, orange, aqua.

Hope this helps

Edited November 12, 2007 by GoAtomic

[Bixby17]

Welcome, Steph.

I've spent 6 years immersing myself in mid-centuring info; I don't own a true MCM but do own a decent 1960 California Ranch with some eclectic mid-century character. A few thoughts for you based on my experiences ...

1) The oven must be a Frigidaire Flair - I have one sitting in my garage. Keep it at all costs! There are sites of enthusiests out there, try googling 'Frigidaire Flair'. Someone will have parts ....

2) Inside painted brick - you can strip it, or you can repaint it. If you are fortunate to have original stained paneling around it, an appropriate and cheap change to help the look would be repainting the brick a semigloss white shade with some Neutrel Toner mixed into the paint.

3) Paneling and wood cabinets - stained paneling was common and desired back then - DO NOT PAINT IT if it's original. Yes, it's dark, but with the right light and light colored furnishings and the right flooring, it can be a very cool look. One correct re-finishing option is Amber Shellac, gives a neat glow to the wood. But if it's painted ... try a darker brown paint with reddish orange tones to emulate the original look.

4) Floors - wood, cork or VCT tile for living spaces, carpet OK in the bedrooms. Light maple wood looks especially good against darker cabinets or paneling.

5) Lighting - try Rejuvenation lighting for reproduction period fixtures. If you're lucky to have cove lighting (flourescent strips behind a valance) you can warm up the room by changing away from 'cool white' bulbs.

6) furnishings - think low to the ground, slim profile, period colors such as chartruese or sage green, orange, aqua.

Hope this helps

1. Paint. Indoors we painted over the fuschia brick with more paint, so it has at least two layers (don't know what is under the fuschia layer--brick or more paint. We had to move into the house quickly and there was no way we could keep a fuschia wall. The brick underneath is pretty cool--basically it is a wall that has two fireplaces. One goes into the living room, and one goes into the office. We know what the brick looks like in the office. It's really nice brick, but it isn't like it some fabulous painted over stone. And the brick in the big room is next to just a plain wall, no panelling.

Outside, both the brick and the wood have been painted over.

Fortunately, we have no painted over paneling--we have some fancy panelling in the office. I have no idea if it came with the house or not. If I had to guess, I think it was original to the house because of how it fits with the sliding glass door frame. But then again, the doors maybe suggest they are more recent. I don't know. It's such a man room--brick and panelling. The cabinets in the kitchen are not original, and the ones in the bathroom are likely not original either except in my son's room--and I am guessing that was painted over.

2. Floors are a question mark. I debate with self about them all the time. We need something that works between all the areas of the house because the house has few rooms and they are fairly open to each other. I want something durable, easy to take care of, okay for kids. I love the look of the stained concrete, but that is hard on the bones and as I understand very expensive, not terribly durable and when done wrong, is very wrong. I have a hard time picturing VCT tile as looking right for this house because the house has sort of a formal hang your art museum vibe. Cork I understand has some durability and fading issues. Similar concerns for various woods, especially in the kitchen. Wood though, is noticably easier on your joints and is consistent with the bringing the outside in sort of feeling you get from the house. My son who is 7 is the most destructive kid on the planet so we have to be very concerned with durability.

As you can tell, I go round and round on the flooring stuff.

3. I will try your suggestions as it relates to the lighting.

4. I'm still figuring out the furnishings. I am a practical person. I don't like uncomfortable furniture. I have to have furniture that the kids won't wreck. I'm not saying all modern furniture is spare, cold, uncomfortable and fragile but some of it is. I look at magazine articles and sometimes I see modern rooms that I really wouldn't want to go into because they look so uncomfortable. And we have to be a little careful about scale because our big room is big--furniture that is too small a scale looks ridiculous in there. And though I like bold colored furniture, I'm not sure that the formality of the house begs for that. I get more of an upper west side modern art collector vibe, where the old world and the new are mixed together, but not so much the Roche Bobois sort of direction--though I saw a huge swing lamp in there that I totally coveted but will never buy at that price.

Yeah, I am probably not explaining this well at all. I truly do appreciate people who have a great sense of design and place.

Thanks all for the ideas and suggestions.

[Scott08]

Rather than try to make it look "retro" I suggest making it more modern than mod, the art gallery look you have mentioned. I'd do some sort of wood floors throughout, I think you are grossly underestimating their durability. A few dings and scratches just adds patina, the ones in my almost 60 year old house look fine. As far as bath, I'd consider a stand alone vanity, you can get some really cool ones that are modern without looking cold, and maybe some stone like slate or travertine versus ceramic tile. For the kitchen, IKEA has some great ideas that again are modern without looking cold, finish them off with some cool Formica countertops, work around the vintage oven. If the roof leaking is going to be an issue in the future, having one with just a slight pitch is an option. My father designed the MCM I grew up in, when the flat gravel roof became too problematic in just a decade, he went back and built a more conventional but still stylish roof over it. Lastly I urge you to find something you can do yourself, even if it's just the painting. I don't have the skill to build walls, but I've learned to do my own flooring and a few other skills. Putting some sweat equity into your home truly makes it yours, much more meaningful than relying on contractors to do everything.

[Bixby17]

Rather than try to make it look "retro" I suggest making it more modern than mod, the art gallery look you have mentioned. I'd do some sort of wood floors throughout, I think you are grossly underestimating their durability. A few dings and scratches just adds patina, the ones in my almost 60 year old house look fine. As far as bath, I'd consider a stand alone vanity, you can get some really cool ones that are modern without looking cold, and maybe some stone like slate or travertine versus ceramic tile. For the kitchen, IKEA has some great ideas that again are modern without looking cold, finish them off with some cool Formica countertops, work around the vintage oven. If the roof leaking is going to be an issue in the future, having one with just a slight pitch is an option. My father designed the MCM I grew up in, when the flat gravel roof became too problematic in just a decade, he went back and built a more conventional but still stylish roof over it. Lastly I urge you to find something you can do yourself, even if it's just the painting. I don't have the skill to build walls, but I've learned to do my own flooring and a few other skills. Putting some sweat equity into your home truly makes it yours, much more meaningful than relying on contractors to do everything.

At this point I am leaning toward wood floors, with an eye toward the more durable sorts.

The roof guy says that the roof itself looks pretty good, but the metal flashing between the elevation changes is likely starting to break down. So that if we are doing something more long term with our roof, we will want to change that out.

The master bathroom is odd. I think that all the cabinets are original to the house and there are a ton of them (which is nice because of the storage--the no attic thing). The marble and faucets are not, and the jacuzzi tub is kinda scary. I would love to know what the original bathroom looked like.

I wish I could put more of my own sweat equity in the house but it is hard with small kids and being someone that gets migraines. That and I am the least adept person in the world at doing stuff. I took some high school job aptitude test and I scored in the negative range for plumbing, woodworking and forestry of all things. I do love trees though. The closest I come to painting things is furniture in my kids' rooms.

[nativehou]

4. I'm still figuring out the furnishings. I am a practical person. I don't like uncomfortable furniture. I have to have furniture that the kids won't wreck. I'm not saying all modern furniture is spare, cold, uncomfortable and fragile but some of it is. I look at magazine articles and sometimes I see modern rooms that I really wouldn't want to go into because they look so uncomfortable. And we have to be a little careful about scale because our big room is big--furniture that is too small a scale looks ridiculous in there. And though I like bold colored furniture, I'm not sure that the formality of the house begs for that. I get more of an upper west side modern art collector vibe, where the old world and the new are mixed together, but not so much the Roche Bobois sort of direction--though I saw a huge swing lamp in there that I totally coveted but will never buy at that price.

You don't have to buy uncomfortable furniture. I bought mod-type sofas and chairs from Crate and Barrel and other places that are very comfortable. If you have mod accessories to go with them, it can work nicely.

Go to resale shops and estate sales on a regular basis. When we moved into our mod house in the summer of 2006 I basically had to get all new living room and family room furniture because what we had was not mod at all. Over these 17 months I've found great stuff cheap at the resale stores and slowly my house is coming together. It's not a purist's heaven, but it is MY heaven. It's got my personality within the mod look.

I also hired an interior decorator for one hour of time to help me make a few decisions before I redid my kitchen. That helped a lot.

The previous owner redid the flat roof, so hopefully we won't have to do any repairs soon (knock on wood).

Do you know what the original flooring was in your home? Do you have any terrazzo underneath what's there? It might be cheaper to restore that than get new wood floors.

[Bixby17]

You don't have to buy uncomfortable furniture. I bought mod-type sofas and chairs from Crate and Barrel and other places that are very comfortable. If you have mod accessories to go with them, it can work nicely.

Go to resale shops and estate sales on a regular basis. When we moved into our mod house in the summer of 2006 I basically had to get all new living room and family room furniture because what we had was not mod at all. Over these 17 months I've found great stuff cheap at the resale stores and slowly my house is coming together. It's not a purist's heaven, but it is MY heaven. It's got my personality within the mod look.

I also hired an interior decorator for one hour of time to help me make a few decisions before I redid my kitchen. That helped a lot.

The previous owner redid the flat roof, so hopefully we won't have to do any repairs soon (knock on wood).

Do you know what the original flooring was in your home? Do you have any terrazzo underneath what's there? It might be cheaper to restore that than get new wood floors.

Thanks for the good advice.

Got some good news and some not so good news.

The good news is I found out the names of the original owners of the house and I think I tracked down their son. So maybe I can get more information about who designed it and what it used to look like.

The bad news is that I called the City of Hunters Creek and they told me that all the old architectual plans of houses in the city have been destroyed. That in 1991, they moved the City Hall to a smaller building, and asked for everyone to pick up their plans. I was told that some people picked up their stuff, but a lot didn't and all the old drawings were destroyed.

I was also told that they have a building requirement that makes the builders save old bricks. They do not have any requirement to save old applicances. Thought it was interesting.

[Bixby17]

Success.

I talked to the daughter-in-law of the house's original owner this evening after some sleuthing. She is very familiar with the house because she came here every holiday.

Blew my mind. She said she drove by here the other day and almost knocked on the door but didn't do it. I've invited her by next time she is around.

Anyway, some of the mysteries of our house were revealed.

She doesn't know the architect and doesn't think she knows anyone who does.

She believes the original flooring through most of the house was wood, with brick in the entry hall and carpeting in the big room and bedrooms. This makes sense because we lifted up the carpeting enough to see concrete underneath.

The paneling and built ins in the office are original to the house. Including the small mantle over the office fireplace. But the surround around the fireplace in the big room was an add on.

She was surprised that the original oven and range were still in the kitchen.

The thing that blew me away is that some of the things that I believed were 80s add ons were original to the house in 1967. The interior doors are 6 panel doors and very sturdy--some have dead bolts. Most of the fixtures of the house have gold knobs and hinges, except for the kids bathroom that has silver fixtures. So, the silver of the oven was meant to go with everything else that was gold in the kitchen. She said that the marble in the counters in the master was original, but that the tub probably wasn't. So I am guessing that the architect was using the gold to make everything look elegant, but didn't bother in the kids bathroom.

She can't remember if the brick in the living room was painted, but she said that most of the house was painted beige in 1967 and that the people who bought it painted a ton of it cranberry. When we moved in, we beiged out all the cranberry because it matched the marble and made the landscaping the focal point of the house. It's just kind of funny to me that we painted the interiors similar to the way they were originally without knowing that this is what we did.

She said at one point there were plans to put a second story on the house with a slight pitch. I can't imagine.

She says she has a lot of pictures of the house over the years because of holiday pictures. She said she would love to share.

I have to say that it is nice to not be guessing so much about what is new and old.

[Dan the Man]

It's cool that you were able to get in touch with someone so familiar with the house. It's even cooler that they have pictures to help guide you through the renovation process!

Aren't you glad that you haven't ripped out anything yet?

[Bixby17]

It's cool that you were able to get in touch with someone so familiar with the house. It's even cooler that they have pictures to help guide you through the renovation process!

Aren't you glad that you haven't ripped out anything yet?

Yes!

And it explains all these things I've just sort of wondered about. So many things seemed like they had to be renovations over the years because they looked pretty new. And it turns out that they were just really solidly made.

Thank goodness for next door neighbors who have lived in their houses forever.

[brerrabbit]

A friend just had his Mothers roof redone in the same area and it was a flat roof. He used a company called Above All Roofing and was pleased with their work. You might try them.

[SecondTour]

Bixby,

We purchased a 1950s mod several years ago and had to go through many of the same repairs you're about to undertake. We re-did the kitchen and master bath because of tile damage. We did it in the 50s style to stay true to the original design. I'll get the guy's contact information for you. In fact, I need to call the guy myself for the redo on the second bathroom. We also had a new roof put on and some new construction (roof related). Ours is a flat roof also. We used Regional Roofing in Bellaire - ask for Larry.

The only thing I can't help with is the plumbing fixtures. We replaced most of the old ones with new duplicates, again staying true to the original design. However, the company we bought them through is gone.

Don't get too big of a headache over all the "custom" work that was done previously. I speak from experience when I say it can all be undone. It's taken us years, but we undid all the "custom" work our house had when we bought it.

When we bought the place, the neighbors told us the house had a lot of customizations from the previous owner and that he was really handy and did it all himself.

Uh, yeah - handy is one word for it.

Edited November 17, 2007 by Dalton Russell

[Bixby17]

Bixby,

We purchased a 1950s mod several years ago and had to go through many of the same repairs you're about to undertake. We re-did the kitchen and master bath because of tile damage. We did it in the 50s style to stay true to the original design. I'll get the guy's contact information for you. In fact, I need to call the guy myself for the redo on the second bathroom. We also had a new roof put on and some new construction (roof related). Ours is a flat roof also. We used Regional Roofing in Bellaire - ask for Larry.

The only thing I can't help with is the plumbing fixtures. We replaced most of the old ones with new duplicates, again staying true to the original design. However, the company we bought them through is gone.

Don't get too big of a headache over all the "custom" work that was done previously. I speak from experience when I say it can all be undone. It's taken us years, but we undid all the "custom" work our house had when we bought it.

When we bought the place, the neighbors told us the house had a lot of customizations from the previous owner and that he was really handy and did it all himself.

Uh, yeah - handy is one word for it.

Thanks. I like hearing other people's stories because you can learn from them.

What is interesting to me is that from what I can tell from talking to the d-i-l of the previous owners, a lot of the mish mash of styles in my house were original to the house. I'm putting together some more questions for her about some of it.

Originally, MCM houses as I understand it came from a design style intended to create inexpensive homes for the masses. Our home has a lot of elements of MCM style: private front, small entry opening to an elevation changed taller room, giant panels of windows in the private areas of the house, bringing the outside indoors, mix of exterior materials like redwood and bricks, rooms that are open to each other and simple, passive cooling given orientation of windows and overhangs, and a flat roof among probably a lot of other things. It also has what were some of the best appliances of the time. The appliances and the window door frames were silver colored.

But on the other hand, it has a lot of ornate gold fixtures in the kitchen and bath and marble in the bath areas. The office panelling is pretty fancy and the internal six panel doors looked like they were a brand new add on because they are so new looking, but I've been told they are just some really solid 40 year old doors.

Most everything is in pretty good condition all things considered.

Roof needs some love, some overhang wood does too. And the flooring is a redo.