Feeling of Southwest Grows From Cedar

I have been blessed in a way that is unimaginable. The two men in my adult life have proven to be what many women only dream of--a devoted, kind, intelligent husband and a creative, talented, reliable contractor.

While I have no intention of sharing my husband, I will detail my experience with the second- most-important man of my adult life.

Barry was recommended by a neighbor who had used him to correct a less-than-satisfactory deck done by an earlier carpenter. We first met with Barry to determine what, if anything, could be done to repair our redwood deck, which had been ravaged by 14 years of weathering and a number of teething puppies, the most recent of which was a bulldog with jaws of steel.

During our meeting, we mentioned that our garage needed work, and the conversation somehow got off the subject of the deck and onto the idea of updating the garage so that it would better complement the rest of the house.

Primarily because of our ever-expanding cactus collection and unigue exterior paint work, the house has been taking on a Southwest feel.

Our painter, by skillfully blending 23 different colors in various combinations and intensities, was able to capture the shading of a giant rock formation we spotted on the drive between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M.

The paint, in earth tones ranging from cream through tan to shades of brown, covers the entire front stucco exterior of the house and blends most effectively with the neutral tan on the remainder of the home’s exterior walls. The overall effect--one of subtly blended diagonal “stripes”--changes according to the light of day.

As the garage work progressed and Barry was constantly around, we frequently talked about how we have tried to renovate and decorate our home to showcase our collection of American Indian art and artifacts.

Over the years we had covered all the floors in the house with terra cotta quarry tile, creating a wonderful flow from room to room and, I might add, allowing us to co-exist with some degree of sanity with the aforementioned puppies. The kitchen was recently remodeled with extensive wall and counter tile work.

Yet, something was still missing.

Barry has an appreciation for and experience in working on homes of this design and he was able to execute his many suggestions not only with the hand and eye of an artist but with the passion of one as well.

With our goal being the evolution from a generic California contemporary house circa 1960 to a home that evokes the basic, earthy and more primitive style of the west and Southwest, through Barry and his suggestions we have come closer to achieving this than we could ever have imagined.

And in less than five months.

That is not to say that we have been in a state of renovation for that period of time but rather we have conceived, begun and concluded projects that included the garage work, refacing the front doors with the rough hewn cedar used on the garage door, refacing closet doors in our entry foyer with the same cedar as a way of carrying the outside into the house and replacing the old painted baseboards with cedar.

In addition, he suggested the master bathroom and bedroom walls be covered with, you guessed it, rough hewn cedar.

The resulting effect was reminiscent of the warm feeling of our former vacation house in Woodstock, N.Y. The rustic, cabin-like feeling perfectly complements the Western-inspired Ralph Lauren bedding we’ve been accumulating for years. The topper has been the old iron stove with enamel oven door that I recently found in a Venice antique shop. It has become the perfect bedside companion to an iron bed.

He also covered the white formica bathroom vanity (which to me symbolized the basic lack of personality built into this house by the builder) with cedar. He treated all wood with a sealer to both protect the surface and enhance the wood grain. The bathroom door was removed and replaced with barroom swinging doors stained to match the cedar.

Two posts and a beam were installed to define the separation between entry foyer and living room, and this added so much to the look of the house that additional posts and beam were placed in the master bedroom.

As a final touch, five-inch dowels were cut to a length of about 14 inches, stained, and placed at four-foot intervals along the upper front exterior of the house, creating the effect of functional beams and enhancing the desired Southwestern look even further.

A few additional small projects remain to be done. Barry will be building some shelving for the bathroom and adding some touches of wood to the master den.

And then, of course, there’s that deck that needs to be repaired . . . .