Garage Door

We  have an amazing garage door.

No, I mean really, it is amazing. It is hung from a series of  guides and rollers and it slides along the north wall of the garage. Not exactly like the drawing below (there is just one door, and it slides counter clockwise from the opening on the left of the drawing to line up along the wall at the bottom of the drawing.

You can see in the drawing that it calls out Richard Wilcox hangers. This company is still around (over 145 years!) and these hangers still work flawlessly.

There are four hangers, and they all look like this:

Sorry about the cobwebs. I could not reach them

This is how it works:

I am going to post this to see if it works, and come back later and add more information. 

Brain work and Landscape Plans

It's been quiet here, but that is because we are working on some final details before we go to the City to get permits.

We need demo permits, electrical permits, plumbing permits, and who knows what else. (well, we know who knows. The Architects and the General Contractor.)

Ah, the GC! We are finalizing the details of the contract, and I hope that we will be able to get that signed next week.

Which means that we will have to start spending real money. (yes, I know. The Air Conditioning was real money)

Once those permits go live, I will update.

But in the meantime, we are also working on the landscaping plan.

Doreen had worked with a Chicago firm named Hoerr Schaudt when she was at Hermann Park. It also turns out that she is distantly related to one of the senior partners, Doug Hoerr. They don't usually work on such small spaces, but they are doing Doreen a favor.

The plan is not finished, but it is not far. It looks something like this:

We've already talked to the neighbors to make sure we won't be encroaching on their properties. 

Its a good plan. We will be incorporating some of the old lintels with the square motifs from the cover over the front door, as well as some "holey boulders" that we found in the yard. 

Some architectural remnants from previous work on the house

Holey Boulders

Playing with some dramatic uplighting.I think it looks nice.