Jumat, 27 Juni 2008

The Gideon and Agnes Pond House

The 1856 Gideon and Agnes Pond house is one of the few Minnesota examples of the Federal Style. Gideon Pond was a Connecticut carpenter who came to Minnesota in 1834 with his brother Samuel to serve as Christian missionaries to the Dakota Indians and to teach the natives European farming methods. He settled in Bloomington, MN in 1854 and founded a mission near the village of the Dakota chief Cloudman. In 1856 he built this two-story house near his mission with bricks made on-site from clay found in the adjacent Minnesota River valley.

Although late for the Federal, which had been losing favor in the East since the 1820s, Pond decided to build in this refined style which had been common in Connecticut when he left in 1834. Some experts hesitate to call later examples like the Pond House Federal, preferring instead to describe them as vernacular or a Federal style remnant. Although certainly quite provincial, the Pond House has some of the classic features of the Federal and I believe the name is appropriate despite its plainness and late date.

Federal buildings are usually box-like, with a symmetrical arrangement of windows and low-pitched gabled or hipped roofs. High style examples have refined, but decorated cornices beneath the roof line with fanlights and sidelights surrounding the entrance door. The Pond house features a symmetrical arrangement of windows, although many Federal examples of a similar scale have a third window centered above the entrance.



The focus of a Federal facade was the front entrance. Entrance doors were sometimes flanked by half or three-quarter sidelights while higher style homes often had elaborate fanlights as a transom. In this example there is no fanlight although full-length sidelights are present.  Although the sidelights appear somewhat wide and blocky (reminiscent of those often found on contemporary Greek Revival homes), the entrance suits the proportions of building. The door slab is a recent (and quite incorrect) replacement.



Rather than an elaborate cornice with dentils and molding which were common on higher style homes, Pond constructed a simplified version in brick.

The Pond house is located at 401 East 104th Street in Bloomington, MN and is open for visits on Sundays from 1:30 to 4.

Nothing could be finer


Nothing could be finer that to be in Carolina on the 4th of July. The fourth is one of my favorite days of the year and New Bern does it up right, with a spectacular fireworks display over the Neuse River. Last year, along with several of our friends, we watched from the middle of the Neuse River. It was a blast, and we were not alone as there must have been 300 other boats anchored along side us. Check out my web site http://www.newbern-nc.info/ after the 4th for some photos and you will see why nothing could be finer.

Kamis, 26 Juni 2008

Stagers Should Picture What They Preach

Without a doubt the end result of a home’s staging should be a great visual impression. Because this is so, home staging has come to be viewed as an “image” industry. But as a relatively new industry, home stagers have much to learn from their counterparts in other more established image industries such as advertising, interior design, and landscaping. Professionals in these fields know that to sell and grow their own businesses; they must first present a good visual image of themselves. This impression starts with the logos, business cards, and websites they use to market their products and services.

Be leary of staging hypocrits. If home stagers are going to pitch the need and importance of investing money to ready properties (which is a home seller's "product") for market, then the stager needs to invest money to do the same for what they sell... their staging services. To be fair and judged credible, a home stager needs to invest in their business image. But more than just spending money. A stager's image, communicated through business cards, brochures, and websites, must demonstrate knowledge of and skill to apply basic design principals. Why? Well, basic design principals are universal and govern all visual creativity, including the skill and ability to properly stage a home.


Picture what they preach. Another area, where real estate stagers need to practice what they preach, is in the portfolios they use to sell their ability. First and foremost, the work they show MUST ONLY be theirs... and it better look good. If stagers are going advise sellers and Realtors as to the importance of using good photography to capture and present a home, then again, a stager needs to do the same with photography they show of the their work. A stager's portfolio is a key, yet often overlooked tool that communicates quality, skill and ability.

Seller’s looking to hire a stager can use a stager’s online portfolio to pre-screen and judge a stager's talent and ability. The best portfolios address the following 3 points.

  • Versatility & Proficiency - Every market is different and examples of the work a stager shows should represent the types of homes being sold in the markets they serve. However the more depth and diversity a stager can show the better. The most compelling portfolios will show staging work that was done in both big and small homes, vacant and occupied homes, low to high end homes, and the ability in to work with a variety of design styles.
  • Same View Point - Proof of a stager's skill and ability is often shown in Before & After photographs. But quite often the Before photo is taken from a totally different position in a room, from the After photo. The best sales testament that shows a stager’s ability and talent come from having Before & After photographs taken from the EXACT same angle.
  • Quality Photos - While it may not be possible to take the perfect Before, the After image needs to be well photographed. Stagers that invest the time and money to take quality photos visually communicate their commitment to their profession.
Just as a home that is for sale is being judged by how it looks, sellers can use the business images a stagers shows of themselves to judge skill and ability. The best home stagers will picture what they preach.

Stage It Forward...
Me

Selasa, 10 Juni 2008

When Wallpaper Attacks, It Can Kill the Sale

In today’s real estate market more and more home sellers are relying on home staging tips and advice to guide them in ways to best prepare their homes for selling. So last week, when I was hired to tour a seller’s property to give them my “Buyer’s Eye” advice, a monster of a problem reared its ugly head. The wallpaper in my client’s home was so extremely ugly I told them I just had to write a blog about it and use it as an example on how monsters like this will negatively affect a home’s sale.

So for the fun of it, and to drive home my point, I present to you (below) what I saw. So hideous was this wallpaper, I have to admit it almost looks like a cliché. However be wise, while not all wallpaper is as ugly this, it still is a problematic issue that sellers need to pay attention to. Fortunately, my clients were motivated and open to advice and willing to take it down. They know they had to present the most competitively appealing property as possible to sell in today’s market. But when it comes to wallpaper, not all sellers are as accepting of staging advice. I have found that the topic of wallpaper usually results in eye rolling, harrumphing, justification and/or avoidance with sellers. So if you are serious about selling your wallpapered home, you need to look it from a sellers view. Keep in mind, regardless of how “fantastic” you think your home’s wallpaper is, it is a HIGHLY personal expression of taste, so chances are potential buyers will NOT like it. Second, buyers want to buy their dream home ready for today, not yesterday. Wallpaper is trendy and needlessly ages a home.

But most importantly, what sellers need to know is this…. when buyers see wallpaper they don’t like, they see dollar signs. When it comes to spending their hard earned money to buy their dream, buyers will scrutinize and negatively react to your wallpapered home as, hopefully, you reacted to my extreme examples above.

So you need to know that any and all the resistance you have about removing wallpaper will be the EXACT same resistance a buyer will have about it too. Buyers know removing wallpaper is an arduous task that can be costly. Because this is the reality of buying a home with wallpaper, buyers know in this market they can and will move on to the next home that does not have that monster to battle.

Stage It Forward...
Me

Senin, 09 Juni 2008


Saturday I played golf in a 4 man superball held at Brandywine in Morehead. Although it was hot as blue blazes the tournament was well organized and there was no waiting in between shots. I have to say this may have been the best superball tournament I have ever played in. The entry fee was $50 dollars, and even though we did not win anything everyone came away happy. First of all everyone received an umbrella when they registered. A grill was set up and offered hot egg and cheese sandwiches. During the round a beverage cart on each side kept everyone hydrated offering gatorade, water, and beer for anyone crazy enough to drink alcohol in 97 degree heat. After everyone finished they served a great lunch and then had an auction for various gifts. A 50-50 raffle was held with a $350 payout to the winner.
This tournament is run by the local chapter of the Military Order of Purple Heart with all preceeds going towards scholarships to children of wounded veterans. Great cause, great tournament, and you can count me in again next year.

Sabtu, 07 Juni 2008

The Workshop

I have already received a couple questions about the workshop where I made the molding in my first post. I was working in the Druke House, an 1854 Greek Revival home which is set up as an 1860s/1870s era woodshop. The Druke is one of many historic buildings moved to The Landing, a living history museum located in Shakopee, MN.

Here is an interior shot showing the workbench and some of my cabinet making and joiner’s tools. The house is divided into two rooms in the familiar hall-and parlor plan, with each room having a stove and chimney.



The house was built by a pair of brothers, Peter and Franz Karl Drüke, who had immigrated around 1853 to Chanhassen, MN from Nordrhein-Wesfalen, Germany (what was then part of the Kingdom of Prussia). Germans used stone frequently in their home country and the Drukes continued this practice in Minnesota, though they adopted a building style then popular in their adopted home. A few, similar examples built by German immigrants still remain in nearby St. Paul, MN. These were also constructed with stone and feature similar transoms over their entrance doors.

Like much frontier architecture, the house is rather small and has little ornament.
The principal features that identify it as a modest example of the Greek Revival are the wide frieze boards on the gable ends, gable returns, the transom light over the door and windows with 6 over 6 glazing (only the attic windows appear to be original). Features that were common in on higher style examples but are absent here are wide frieze boards along the sides and columns or pilasters framing the entrance and the building corners. The windows on the lower level and the door have been replaced. The 1-pane window glazing and bead molding on the window muntins and door stiles are more characteristic of the 1910s.






The walls are constructed of local materials, including rubble stonework, field stone and brick. Often frontier builders started buildings using dressed stones taken from earlier structures and, as their supply ran out, used other, less refined materials. In other cases, builders simply ran out of time, money or ambition and resorted to coarser field stone or brickwork. It is not clear which is the case here, but the bottom sections of the walls are constructed of lightly dressed, coursed rubble. Above this are field stones. As can been seen on the east gable end, brickwork was used at the top. Bricks were sometimes used to repair stonework, so we can speculate that the bricks at the top of the gable end might have been added at a later date.



The Greek Revival appeared in America around1830 and spread into the Mississippi Valley as settlers moved west. It was popularized by several pattern books and carpenter’s guides, including The Modern Builder’s Guide by Minard Lafever and The Practical House Carpenter by Asher Benjamin. By the 1850s the Greek Revival began to be supplanted by the picturesque styles such as the Gothic Revival and Italianate, although the Greek style did persist much longer in the South.

Minggu, 01 Juni 2008

Making Molding the Old-Fashioned Way

I am occasionally asked how molding such as window casing or base was produced during the 19th century. The answer depends on when and where.  By the middle of the 19th century steam and water powered mills were producing most millwork, including casing, base, cornices, spindles, doors and windows. However, in some remote regions people continued to rely on carpenters and house joiners to make molding by hand using a variety of hand planes. By the end of the century factory produced millwork had become the norm, as railroads made quick and inexpensive transportation possible to most parts of the country.

In the following photos I will demonstrate how I made one part of a molding profile on a piece of sample window casing using 19th century hand planes. I am using a scrap piece of basswood approximately 4 inches wide and am working in the wood shop at The Landing, a living history museum located in Shakopee, MN.

I began by adding beads along both edges of the casing using snipe's bills and a #2 round (a side bead plane would work just as well). For t
he next step I will add a  shallow, rounded groove down the middle of the casing.  To start I lay out a small groove which will serve as a guide for a molding plane.   Here I am using an adjustable plow plane with a movable fence and depth stop which allow me to place a groove of any depth anywhere on the face of the stock.



Once I have struck the groove into the middle of the board I will use a rabbet plane to chamfer both of the groove's edges.  The chamfers will provide a good surface for the next molding plane, a #5 round, to ride upon. 



The chamfers guide the #5 round along the length of the casing.  I plane the entire length until the groove from the plow plane has disappeared and I have one, full-width shaving. 


After a bit of refining and smoothing you are done.  You can continue and use other planes to add more complexity to the molding, including hollows to round off the sharp corners.