BY WILLIAM ALTREUTER, KATHERINE COLEMAN, BRUCE EATON, DONNA HOKE,
LISA LITTLEWOOD, NANCY J. PARISI, REBEKAH RUTH WEISSERT
We got
it done!
WHEN IT CAME TO PLANNING THIS
issue, Home writers felt there was no better
way to get behind the theme and be more
than just mouthpieces than by resolving
to tackle our own long-neglected projects
(some into double digit years!). From hanging curtains to patching a hole, here’s what
we (finally) managed to get done to inspire
you, along with some extra useful info to
help you do the same.
The porch at
Big Pink
BY WILLIAM C.
ALTREUTER
It was obvious that our
house on Lancaster Avenue
once had a front porch: a
raised flower bed demarcated
with loose slate stabs and
populated with scraggly
evergreens was situated where
something had been before,
and the concrete and brick
front stoop, with its cast iron
railings, was pretty plainly
not original. Even so, it was
far from obvious that a front
porch was something that was
needed, until we built one.
One of the great things
about Buffalo is its diversity.
Of course, this is true about
its people, but walk down any
street sometime and notice
that even the buildings that
appear to have been built
around the same time started
out looking different from
each other. Over time, they
mutate further. Over the
course of its century and a half
undergone a lot of changes,
and, although some were by
design, some were pretty
plainly compromises made as
the place slumped into the last
half of the twentieth century.
Now, with daughters out of
college, and bricks missing
from the front steps, it became
clear that something had to be
done, and it was clear to my
wife that my offer to repair the
stoop was insufficient.
“You don’t know how to do
brickwork,” she said.
“I’ll know how once I’m
done,” I replied, knowing I’d
USEFUL INFO
Finding a contractor
There are times when finding
a contractor can feel like bad
dating. You meet for coffee,
only to hear that the builder
is booking work into the
following year, or reckons
the job is worth twice the
budget, doesn’t return calls,
or just isn’t that into you and
your project.
By all means, if you see
a similar project you like,
inquire who did the work.
“Every time Andrea saw
a porch she liked, she
asked who did the work,
then endured torrents
of stories about missed
deadlines, shoddy work,
shoddy materials, and other
mishaps,” Altreuter laments.
But they kept asking.
Because, in the end, word
of mouth is the best
referral, and that’s Altreuter
ultimately found Jim Reddin,
who was hands on, genial,
and good as his word
when he told said they’d
be entertaining guests on
our porch by midsummer.
“A contractor is close to
being a houseguest for the
duration of the project,”
says Altreuter, “so we were
happy to find one who
cleaned up after the day’s
work and was dependably on
time.”—DONNA HOKE
