Break

We're taking 5 days off to re-energize.  We're mentally and physically exhausted and need to gain a few pounds we lost while painting, which supposedly burns 360 calories per hour (we believe it). 

We'll post pics of Vancouver Island and our new siding when we get back.

Happy Thanksgiving

Degeneracy

According to Lin Yutang, the degenerate is the one who fears pain and dirt, not the one who lives in pain and dirt.

We agree with Lin Yutang's ditcum.  Can we design a house according to his "wisdom?"

Siding done, flooring in process, pics soon...still in ""pain" and about to "escape" dirt.  Still trying to figure out the role of pain and dirt in our lives and our home.


Control, I'm Here!

Labor Costs and Value: Choosing Contractors

Some contractors refuse to hire anyone other than American citizens ("white Americans", in some cases), feeling it's their duty to keep Americans employed. This attitude toward hiring is another example of zero-sum economics and the coddling of American citizenry.  Americans are somehow entitled to a so-called "living wage," regardless of the value they produce. 

A general contractor we interviewed and didn't hire priced himself out of contention for the job (though we wouldn't have hired him even if he offered the lowest price).  He often suggested, in perhaps a threatening way, that he only hired Americans, and paid them well (a lot more than what Wan and Andrew have ever made per hour).  What he didn't understand is that if there is no "affordable" labor, there's no project and no jobs for anyone. And he may not have realized that we don't respond well to emotional manipulation.  We don't need to hire the contractor who hires only (white) Americans to prove our American-ness.

Most major remodeling jobs don't offer positive return on investment.  We don't think this is due to high material cost because in places like Taipei, where material costs are comparable to those in the Pacific Northwest, well-thought out major remodels generally provide positive return on investments. We suspect it's the *inflated* labor costs that makes remodeling such a poor economic investment.

Wan's uncle suggested hiring tradesmen from Taipei, flying them to Seattle and putting them in a motel and giving them free time to explore the city. They charge 1/3 of what most contractors charge in our area, despite living in a city with a higher cost of living (exploited, as living wage activists say, or just smart with money?), and according to our architect, who has worked on a project in Taipei, Taiwanese tradesmen do good work and are low maintenance.

We wonder what American infrastructure would look like if politicians had the spine to tell living wage activists to fuck off and use affordable foreign labor to build state-of-the art transportation and internet systems.  We wonder how many more justifiably high paying construction jobs (project manager, engineer) there'd be in America if we were able to afford to make infrastructural improvements that are key to attracting investment and jobs and to strengthen our manufacturing base.   We wonder what Seattle would look like if it had 4 monorail lines. 

Economics isn't a zero-sum game, where there's a loser for every winner.

Interior Paint Completed

Done with interior paint and on to finish cabinetry!  Some pics below:

Since the blue turned out to be too childish a color, we darkened it with a dark grey wall.  Wan also wants to look at a dark wall before she sleeps.

Hallways are a light green with tints of blue.  Our aim was to create an expansive hallway that's cheerful.  We also have some wallpaper that we may use in the hallway.

View of Andrew painting.  The project has forced him to confront his fear of heights.

Home server area

Living Room.  We tried to make this room cozy instead of spacious.  We chose a dark red with black accents because the colors make people look more attractive and red stimulates conversation and romance.  

Close-up of Wan's bamboos. 

View from bathroom/tub.

Real Estate Values

If, as some think, the $8000 tax credit for first time homebuyers is what's keeping real estate values from falling, then what happens to home prices once it's gone? 

Meanwhile, China's real estate market and economy is as strong as ever.  Maybe the US should've done what China did -- spend nearly all the stimulus money on high ROI infrastructural improvements instead of giving US consumers more money to spend on crap. 

Interior Design and Paint - Random Pics

To speed up and simplify painting, we hired someone to prime all walls and paint the ceilings a flat white.  We're adding color ourselves because, as usual, we make creative decisions during the process.  It's probably better to do it this way if you want to use more than 3 colors.  What a color looks like in the paint bucket won't be the same once its on a wall.  And then it changes again depending on lighting.  No wonder most people go with no more than 2 colors.  Much less stressful that way, but also way less fun.

We opted out of making the den/guest bedroom dark because it's visible from and clashes too much with the airy and bright Great Room.  Keep in mind that this photo doesn't capture the light green color well.  Wan drew bamboo shoots on the wall.  People who've seen it have asked if the wall art was done professionally. Again, this photo sucks.  You have to see it in person to appreciate it.   



The green in the kitchen changes color throughout the day.  When it's sunny, the yellow trim makes the green look yellow. When it's dark, the green tints blue.  It's as if our house is alive. 




Dark grey in the foyer.  Dark colors show imperfections much more easily than lighter colors so we painted a tree and blossoms to keep the eyes off the trouble spots. 





We'll add a black trim piece to separate the living room from the stairwell and sleeping quarters. 

Living Room - Koalas eating black bamboo. 

You'll find a lot of random drawings on the wall.  We try to make it subtle so one can find them only by accident.  This dokomo will be hidden behind a coat rack. A mouse hole with mouse will be partially hidden inside a stool.  Lizards, spiders, ghosts, pikachu -- they could be anywhere.  

More photos later.  We have to get back to work.

Master Closet Paint Color

We're having some issues deciding on the paint color for the master closet.  According to website opinions on the matter, white is the safest bet because it shows the "true" colors of clothing.  For instance, if a closet is painted black, the distinction between, say, grey and black is blurred.  On the other hand, an off-white may make it more difficult to see how white a "white" piece of clothing is. 
 
We're considering painting our master closet at least 2 different colors.  At least one wall will be white, to make distinctions between dark colors clearer.  We'd also like a dark(er) colored wall to clarify lighter colors. We wonder if different wall color hues will make it easier for us to coordinate our attire.