Lots going on and not much time to write, so here’s the short of it:

• The Art Moderne house is still available and will be open this Sunday from 3-5.  We took it off the market for a few days to repair blown seals in the bedroom windows and fix a low spot in the LR ceiling.  It looks better than ever!

• Interest rates are stupid low!  If you do not own a house, there is no excuse for not buying NOW!  The benefit of the lower interest rates is GREATER THAN THE $8000 TAX CREDIT WAS!  Worried because you don’t have great credit?  We can hook you up with a credit repair service that is quick (less than 90 days) and easy.  Contact arlen@cincinnatidmodern.com for more information.

• Need a pre approval?  Contact Shawn Huss @ First Place Bank.  Nobody does it better! shuss@fpfc.net

• A couple of weeks ago, we lost one of the great ones, Architect and designer extraordinaire Abrom Dombar.  Click here for a tribute article by his grandson Danny Lipson.  Abe designed our first house, a fabulous usonian ranch in Paddock Hills.  I can honestly credit his kindness and generosity in talking the time to meet with and talk to us as the springboard for our life and career in modernism.  Check out these vintage photos of our Dombar house:

arlen rissover, susan rissover, abe dombar. photo circa 1988. this photo was taken in the living room of our dombar designed house in paddock hills. i believe i was newly pregnant (with my now 21 year old son!) in this photo.vintage photo of our 1949 abe dombar designed paddock hills home.this vintage photo was taken from the second floor of abe's own house, which was directly behind our house. best porch ever!

All of the last minute details have come together and the house is finally ready!  Check out the link to the left for full listing detail, but being the modern geek that I am, check out some of my favorite modern touches in these photos:

After an exhaustive search for a plain, modern mailbox came up empty, I decided to make my own. This is the box I bought at Lowe's. And this is the box after I attacked it with a can of Rustoleum Aluminum spray paint and covered the 'fleur de lis' holes with a piece of adhesive foam cut in the shape of the diamonds on the block wall (I traced the shape, then reduced it 50% on our home copier). Not bad!I love how by extending the counter from edge to edge with the curved walls, it created these nooks for garbage and recycling cans. LOVE the original midcentury bath cabinet with 'galaxy' Formica and aluminum pulls! The cabinet and original banded sink were in excellent condition. We put in a new faucet and voila! Looks great!The block screen wall turned out great and gave the side patio some needed privacy and modern bling. We also planted this beautiful Crepe Myrtle tree to give some needed shade.

We are having an open house this Sunday, August 8, from noon – 2.  The address is 8580 Wicklow Avenue in Dillonvale.   Please come check it out if you have been following the progress.  Even if you are not in the market to buy, we’d love to show off our project.  If only I could keep pet houses……oh well.  Best to sell it to someone who will appreciate it.  $129,900 and it’s yours! Click here for visual tour.

And because I can't resist - here are a few of our favorite before and after photos:

 patio - BEFOREpatio - AFTERkitchen - BEFORE - there are no words for this wallpaper.....kitchen - AFTERlaundry room / furnace - BEFORElaundry room / furnace - AFTER - by concealing the NEW furnace and hot water heater behind these ventilated doors, it makes a much more finished space - and quieter, too!laundry room - BEFORE - the ginormous laundry tub took up half of the dreary room!laundry room - AFTER - honestly, I saw SO much potential in this room, it was the most exciting project in the house! It's an office - laundry - mudroom all in one!entry - BEFOREentry - AFTERTHANK YOU for taking this journey with us!

Arlen in the background putting the trim on a recessed light.

The Art Moderne is really taking shape and all of the little details I have been sweating are coming together one by one. The inside is just about finished and we took the first load of ‘staging’ furniture over today. Nothing brings out a house’s personality like some well chosen furniture and accessory pieces! I get these ideas for how something should look, and then I’m just a driven crazy person until we can pull it off.  The overall look and feel of the interior is exactly as I had hoped – it is a small house, but it has a very spacious, almost loft-like feel.  The laundry room is nothing short of amazing.

The block wall in our back yard - during last winter's beautiful snow storm. 

Inspired by the block screen wall in our own back yard (photo above), we decided the Art Moderne needed  one to jazz up the appearance from the front and give the huge side patio a little privacy.  You see concrete block screen walls all over town – usually attached to midcentury office buildings (the 7777 Mongtomery Rd. buildings in Kenwood have them and there is a cool one near the intersection of Paddock and Vine).  I did an extensive internet search to try to locate the blocks and happened upon a very cool website highlighting these cool walls in Vegas ( http://veryvintagevegas.com/category/decorative-concrete-block-designs/ ).  I was even more determined to find the blocks somewhere nearby.  Finally, after several phone calls and a near find in Centerville, we located a bunch of very cool block (‘new’ old stock, I suspect) at Wilson Concrete Products in Middletown – I could hardly believe our great fortune!  On Friday, Arlen took the seats out of the van and headed to Middletown.  Two hours later, he was back at the house and had dry stacked the wall to get the visual:

A partial mock-up of our screen wall. You can also see the new garage door (finally)! Try finding a 'plain' garage door without panels or fake wood grain. The garage door people look at you like you are crazy! The finished wall will be the entire width of the patio and the height of the house, and will be painted to match.

Pretty cool, eh?  Arlen and Trent will work on installing the wall this week, and will paint the face of the wall the same light grey as the house.  It will look as if it has always been there – but really, it’s just one more little detail that is pulling this mod look together.  My next project (after I finish scrubbing the grout and polishing the tile in the bath tub) is a midcentury mailbox re-do.  Stay tuned for more info later this week……and the house should be ready to hit the market next week (after some extensive landscape work...).  $129,900.  Interested?  Let us know!

CF3ers susan rissover, chris magee and chuck lohre. photo by city beat photographer cameron knight

Looking for something different to do this Saturday night?  Why don’t you come to the first ever cf3 swap meet/cookout/movie viewing?  More info is available at www.cf3.org, but here is my TOP 10 LIST OF WHY TO COME:

1. It’s a great place to meet other modern geeks (such as yourself)
2. You are thinking of joining cf3 but didn’t know when – there is no better time or place!
3. You are not sure you want to join cf3.  No problem – non members welcome at this event.
4. You need to unload a piece of furniture or that boomerang formica bath cabinet you picked out of your neighbor’s trash because you could not bear to see it go to the landfill.  It’s a great chance to find new homes for deserving pieces!
5. You need a ‘new’ boomerang formica bath cabinet to replace the awful Home Depot one that the previous owner added to ‘update’ your bath?
6. You are hungry (but remember to bring your own food and drinks!)
7. You are curious as to how and why the Tonkens family built their FLW home in Amberley Village (awesome vintage film about the construction and an interview w/ Gerald Tonkens will be shown).
8. You’ve heard of Bellevue Hill Park but you’ve never actually been able to find it.
9. You want to see the work of architect R. Carl Freund with a spectacular view of downtown.
10. You want to take your own family photo under the coolest mcm canopy in town!

 the rissover family, holiday card 2009 photo, taken at bellevue hill park

Also, check out the article about the event and cf3 in this week’s City Beat - we're on the cover!!

I spent a few sleepless nights trying to envision how we could finish the edges of the cork flooring with our radius curved walls.  It’s no wonder these concrete houses were all carpeted!  But I knew some sort of permanent flooring was essential to the integrity of the house – from both an aesthetic and a quality standpoint.  Vinyl cove base was out of the question – certainly not the look we were going for.   I really don’t like molding at all, so for me, the simpler the better.  Our contractor suggested we look into flexible molding.   It’s very expensive, paintable, and comes in literally hundreds of profiles.  We chose a simple ¾” quarter round and ordered it from Huber Lumber in Norwood.  At their suggestion, we went with matching wood molding for the straight-aways.  The two lined up perfectly and saved us about $550 over using all flexible.  Right after these pictures were taken, it was all painted white.  The finished look is fantastic and the quarter round really compliments the other curves in the house. 

Arlen got the new Remcraft bullet light fixture up over the Crestview front door.   Next up, the address #s!

Trent finished painting the exterior – he did a fabulous job.  Once an artist, always an artist!  Painting has turned into an excellent summer job for him.  He just finished some touch up painting for another one of our clients.  At $10 an hour, it’s a win/win for everyone!  Beats the heck out of working at Taco Bell!

This weekend, Arlen and I are going to work on putting together a ‘dream laundry room.’  I can’t wait – it’s going to be fabulous!  Stay tuned for more progress…..

-Susan