Secret City Ranch

2011 goals

2011-12-28T12:15:00.001-05:00

It's that time of the year when people reflect on what they've accomplished in the year gone by, and their goals for the future. And with P due to start a new job 800 miles from here on January 15, we're reflecting and goal-setting with a particular urgency.

Let's see where we stand vis-a-vis the list I set out at the beginning of 2011, before everything changed....

Guest Bedroom

~~hang pictures~~
~~reupholster antique chair~~
install closet doors
~~fix hinge-bound door so it will actually close~~

Office

~~make and hang curtains~~
reupholster footstool not a priority
put laminate on top of craft table not a priority
paint and hang door

Hall Bath

~~skim coat walls a little more~~
~~repaint walls~~
~~really, really scrub grout--and if that doesn't remove yellowing, try one of those grout pens~~ I realized that the grout is not just ugly--it's unstable. Potential for water damage sooner than later. Drat. But in current panic state, there's no time for regrouting. I'll either cheat and smear some caulk on the worst spots, or just not do anything. I suspect part of the ugliness is due to a previous half-assed repair
hang at least one picture/piece of art not a priority
~~install closet door knob~~
~~install hooks where I can hang my work clothes~~
~~install new light fixture~~

Hall/Living Room/Kitchen/Dining Room

~~knock down walls to make these all a single space~~
~~install structural beam to replace structural wall~~
patch existing oak flooring where walls were removed
make new attic hatch or just paint old one
~~replace textured ceiling in kitchen~~
~~remove wood panelling and replace with drywall~~
~~remove vinyl floor in kitchen~~, and lay new hardwoods there and over exposed subfloor in dining room
~~commit to new kitchen plans~~
build new kitchen cabinets (at least the lower ones) no time for that now, plus no point in doing something that custom when we don't know what the next owner will like. We have some IKEA cabinets on order
get~~/make~~ new countertops
install backsplash will probably just cheat and do one of those laminate countertop lips that extend a few inches up the wall
~~run plumbing for gas range~~
install new sink
remove windows in dining room, and replace with french doors out to backyard this had to do with our plans for an eventual patio--would have been nice
~~buy fireplace screen~~ ~~and make the occasional fire~~
replace hearth tile got old stuff up, need something new
make living room curtains (purely ornamental) not a priority
figure out window treatment for front windows that will maximize both light and privacy bought some ENJE shades from IKEA--need to hang
install new baseboard and crown molding
install doors on coat closet
fix draft under front door not a priority
~~install lots of new outlets to bring house up to newer codes for required number of outlets per room~~
install new lighting the new switches are in, but we still need the ceiling junction boxes

Utility room

~~build utility room~~
~~buy and install new tankless water heater~~
~~run plumbing and install utility sink~~
~~run plumbing and vent lines for washer/dryer~~

Master bedroom

lay hardwood flooring over exposed subfloor

Master Bath

give ugly medicine cabinet a cosmetic face lift not a priority

Crawl Space

~~complete encapsulation~~
test house for radon oops
~~enjoy running lots of plumbing and wiring for new kitchen/utility room/great room in new, dry, clean space~~

Garage

fix roof leaks
continue to work to make this a functional wood shop for P (so he can spend lots of time out there building me new kitchen cabinets!) plans definitely changed here...

Exterior

~~paint foundation to complement new stair color~~
figure out how to make exterior brick look good after we cut into it to install afore-mentioned french doors that project didn't happen
~~paint front door a more lively color (it should be easy to beat white)~~
work with P's brother A, a professional landscape designer, to come up with an actual design for our landscape nope
~~remove a few more azaleas~~
~~add more plants and beds to continue moving toward cottage garden look~~
~~grow a tomato that doesn't rot before it ripens~~ I got two? before someone else discovered they were good eating and the weather got chilly
try to agree on privacy plantings for west property line, and plant them so they have some time to grow nope
~~buy and plant something on east property line~~

I'll be back tomorrow with what we need to accomplish in the first two weeks of 2012....

The best-laid plans....

2011-12-27T15:47:00.000-05:00

P and I made a big decision this fall--we're moving!

It certainly isn't a convenient time to move, what with the ongoing renovations that we need to finish. But it's the right decision for us. This move will put us much, much closer to family, and is a good career opportunity for P. We're sad about leaving the house, right as we're getting it the way we want it.

Two years ago when we were talking about buying a place, we looked around at friends and family who had bought at the height of the bubble. They felt trapped in their homes. They were out of jobs and in areas where jobs simply weren't to be found, or in jobs they didn't want to stay in, or places they didn't want to live. And they were staying because of their houses--underwater, couldn't sell for the price they wanted, etc.

When we bought this house, we decided that we didn't ever want to find ourselves in that situation. We didn't tie up all of our finances in this house, so that we would have the freedom to move on with our lives, regardless of what happened with it. (And we were so very lucky to be in an area where housing prices let us make those kinds of choices.)

So with finances out of the way, all that stood between us and a move was the emotional attachment to the house. And in a way, those conversations of two years ago prepared us for that part of the decision, too. We like the house. We've poured a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it. But it's just a means to an end--and the end is the life we want.

When this new opportunity came along, the house was no longer supporting the life we wanted--it was standing in the way of it. We want to be closer to family and friends. We want fulfilling work.

So Secret City Ranch, we're moving on. It's not you; it's us. And we're confident that you will get a new family, one whose life goals you can support and further.

Because when we are done with you, you are going to be one nice house.

But we know we have a lot left to do before we put the house on the market, and we'll fill you in on those plans soon.

Christmas surpise

2011-12-24T19:07:00.001-05:00

I had thought this would be the year without a Christmas. (More on all that and what we've been up to at another time....) And then this morning, P came back from his trip to the dump and Home Depot looking very self-satisfied and carrying this:

And then he went back outside, and reappeared:

"Was the tree lot at Home Depot closing?" I asked.

"Not exactly."

Turns out he found them laying on a side at the dump--the first two contributions of the year to the Christmas tree recycling pile. So back they came with him, forestalling their fate for at least a few days.

We're curious where they came from--I imagine they were the last two trees left on a local lot somewhere. Neither shows any sign of having been in anyone's house, and are still nice and moist. The first, larger one still has its original tag, identifying it as a North Carolina Frasier fir.

The fir turned out to be over 9 feet tall, so it needed a little work before being ready for our house and its 8 foot ceilings.

So P whipped out the sawzall....

What, isn't that the traditional way of trimming a Christmas tree?

Picking up a free tree on Christmas Eve turns out to be highly liberating. For instance, why bother with a stand and water? By the time the poor thirsty tree dries out, it will be time to send it back to the recycling pile anyway. So P just knocked together a quick wooden base, and screwed the tree directly into it.

I ran to Kroger and Wal-Mart, and picked through the remaining decorations (with an eye on cheap), and came up with this:

I can't remember the last time I felt this child-like Christmas joy--at least not over a tree. Turns out these freebies were just what we needed.

The smaller tree was rather more crooked, but with some lights, he's looking perfectly festive in our bedroom. When I was a kid, my family scored our own free trees by cutting down scrub pines from the property of family and friends. And since they were free, why stop with just one? So I always had my own in my bedroom. I haven't done that for many years--I'm looking forward to once again basking in the glow of twinkle lights tonight.

Hope your Christmas also held some festive surprises!

Our three day weekend

2011-07-05T22:29:00.000-04:00

Started here:

Moved on to here:

For the first time ever, P convinced me me to join him in the crawl space. Unfortunately, jobs in the crawl space tend to involve a lot of this:

While P is awfully cute when he's thinking, I have very little patience for the finer parts of working out the plan. Give me a job, or I'm out.

So I was out. Instead:

June 2011--month in review

2011-07-02T09:27:00.000-04:00

Nothing like arriving at the year's halfway point to make one feel horribly behind on the list.

Guest Bedroom

~~hang pictures~~
reupholster antique chair
install closet doors
fix hinge-bound door so it will actually close

Office

~~make and hang curtains~~--remember that joke I had here several months back about how my mom was going to have to come finish this one for me? Well, it turned out not to be a joke. Thanks, mom!
reupholster footstool
put laminate on top of craft table
paint and hang door

Hall Bath

~~skim coat walls a little more~~
~~repaint walls~~
~~really, really scrub grout--and if that doesn't remove yellowing, try one of those grout pens~~ I tried all the srubbing possible, and nothing changed. So I've reached the point of not caring anymore. Works for me.
hang at least one picture/piece of art
~~install closet door knob~~
~~install hooks where I can hang my work clothes~~
~~install new light fixture~~

Hall/Living Room/Kitchen/Dining Room

knock down walls to make these all a single space
install structural beam to replace structural wall
patch existing oak flooring where walls were removed
make new attic hatch
replace textured ceiling in kitchen
remove wood panelling and replace with drywall partway done
remove vinyl floor in kitchen, and lay new hardwoods there and over exposed subfloor in dining room
commit to new kitchen plans I wouldn't say we've completely committed, but I think our current ideas are pretty firm
build new kitchen cabinets (at least the lower ones)
get/make new countertops
install backsplash
run plumbing for gas range
install new sink
remove windows in dining room, and replace with french doors out to backyard
~~buy fireplace screen~~ ~~and make the occasional fire~~
replace hearth tile
make living room curtains (purely ornamental)
figure out window treatment for front windows that will maximize both light and privacy (plantation shutters?)
install new baseboard and crown molding
install doors on coat closet
fix draft under front door
install lots of new outlets to bring house up to newer codes for required number of outlets per room
install new lighting

Utility room

build utility room--making progress--dismantled exterior wall, installed insulation, and put drywall back up in May
buy and install new tankless water heater--The water heater is up, and most of the plumbing is done--now for the finishing touches and the gas line
run plumbing and install utility sink--everything is in place and waiting for the final hook-up once the water heater is ready
run plumbing and ~~vent~~ lines for washer/dryer--again, everything is in place and waiting for the final hook-up

Master bedroom

lay hardwood flooring over exposed subfloor

Master Bath

give ugly medicine cabinet a cosmetic face lift

Crawl Space

~~complete encapsulation~~
test house for radon
enjoy running lots of plumbing and wiring for new kitchen/utility room/great room in new, dry, clean space

Garage

~~fix roof leaks~~
continue to work to make this a functional wood shop for P (so he can spend lots of time out there building me new kitchen cabinets!)

Exterior

~~paint foundation to complement new stair color~~
figure out how to make exterior brick look good after we cut into it to install afore-mentioned french doors
~~paint front door a more lively color (it should be easy to beat white)~~
work with P's brother A, a professional landscape designer, to come up with an actual design for our landscape
remove a few more azaleas
add more plants and beds to continue moving toward cottage garden look I spread 2 yards of mulch, my dad spread another two, and the place is shaping up
grow a tomato that doesn't rot before it ripens the deer ate my tomato plant, so I added a second, and now they're both a foot tall--while everyone else in town is doting on their already-pink tomatoes
try to agree on privacy plantings for west property line, and plant them so they have some time to grow
~~buy and plant~~ ~~something on east property line~~ for now, I've filled in some butterfly bushes and purple lovegrass. Not anything either of us is excited about, but for now, it's better than nothing

June...

2011-06-29T21:46:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the silence--I'm not sure where I disappeared to in June. I'll have to fill you in on what we've been up to--but plumbing in the crawl space doesn't make for very glamorous pictures.

So I'll give you some glamor shots of me instead. :-)

P needed to take some shots to document my hair, because I was done with it.

So I tied it back, handed him the scissors...

...and we passed the hair on to someone who could make better use of it.

Once the major deed was done, P got cold feet and refused to go any further. So I had to wait two days until Walmart was open (because isn't it classic that we get into a pickle like this on a Saturday night?), and the lady there straightened it out and added some layers.

Not bad, eh?

May 2011--month in review

2011-06-03T21:35:00.000-04:00

We got more serious about tearing things apart this month. But the progress has been slow--who would have thought it would take P three weekends to rough in the waste plumbing lines for our new utility room? Not us!

Guest Bedroom

~~hang pictures~~
reupholster antique chair
install closet doors
fix hinge-bound door so it will actually close

Office

make and hang curtains
reupholster footstool
put laminate on top of craft table
paint and hang door

Hall Bath

~~skim coat walls a little more~~
~~repaint walls~~
really, really scrub grout--and if that doesn't remove yellowing, try one of those grout pens
hang at least one picture/piece of art
~~install closet door knob~~
~~install hooks where I can hang my work clothes~~
~~install new light fixture~~

Hall/Living Room/Kitchen/Dining Room

knock down walls to make these all a single space
install structural beam to replace structural wall
patch existing oak flooring where walls were removed
make new attic hatch
replace textured ceiling in kitchen
remove wood panelling and replace with drywall partway done
remove vinyl floor in kitchen, and lay new hardwoods there and over exposed subfloor in dining room
commit to new kitchen plans
build new kitchen cabinets (at least the lower ones)
get/make new countertops
install backsplash
run plumbing for gas range
install new sink
remove windows in dining room, and replace with french doors out to backyard
~~buy fireplace screen~~ ~~and make the occasional fire~~
replace hearth tile
make living room curtains (purely ornamental)
figure out window treatment for front windows that will maximize both light and privacy (plantation shutters?)
install new baseboard and crown molding
install doors on coat closet
fix draft under front door
install lots of new outlets to bring house up to newer codes for required number of outlets per room
install new lighting

Utility room

build utility room--making progress--dismantled exterior wall, installed insulation, and put drywall back up
buy and install new tankless water heater--bought a gas tankless water heater--now waiting for all of the other necessary parts to come in
run plumbing and install utility sink--P has all the drain plumbing installed, and has begun work on the incoming water lines
run plumbing and ~~vent~~ lines for washer/dryer--again, drain lines done, and incoming begun.

Master bedroom

lay hardwood flooring over exposed subfloor

Master Bath

give ugly medicine cabinet a cosmetic face lift

Crawl Space

~~complete encapsulation~~ I'm going to call it done
test house for radon
enjoy running lots of plumbing and wiring for new kitchen/utility room/great room in new, dry, clean space--begun!

Garage

~~fix roof leaks~~ good enough for now
continue to work to make this a functional wood shop for P (so he can spend lots of time out there building me new kitchen cabinets!)

Exterior

~~paint foundation to complement new stair color~~
figure out how to make exterior brick look good after we cut into it to install afore-mentioned french doors
~~paint front door a more lively color (it should be easy to beat white)~~
work with P's brother A, a professional landscape designer, to come up with an actual design for our landscape
remove a few more azaleas several more down, only a few left to go!
add more plants and beds to continue moving toward cottage garden look slow and steady, right?
grow a tomato that doesn't rot before it ripens My one tomato seedling that survived the spring with me is in the ground and starting to grow
try to agree on privacy plantings for west property line, and plant them so they have some time to grow
buy and plant ~~Yaupon hollies~~ something on east property line

Progress is slow, and not so glamorous--but we are moving forward!

Surprises along the way: part 1

2011-05-26T06:47:00.000-04:00

One of the fun things (at least to me) about renovating an older house is the archaeology: what did this place look like when it was first built? (Can you tell I'm a recovering historian?)

P cut into our kitchen floor last week to give himself easier access to the crawl space for utility work:

Here's his temporary access hatch:

Better yet (from my point of view) this allowed me the chance to find out what the original flooring in our kitchen had been. See that green layer there?

We're pretty sure that's our kitchen's original linoleum--looks like a bright blue-green. Probably full of asbestos--most linoleum was in that period. (And that's why P's wearing his respirator while cutting in the above picture.)

The last people to renovate simply covered the linoleum with another layer of subfloor, and then laid vinyl on top of that--a perfectly respectable and safe way to deal with asbestos-laden linoleum. We'll have to think about what our approach should be to the problem--that technique probably won't work for us, since we're opening up the floor plan and, ideally, would like the kitchen floor to transition seamlessly (read: at grade) into the original hardwoods in the living room.

Speaking of asbestos, here's the house's original siding, which P found when cutting a hole to vent our new gas-fired water heater:

Pretty sure this was painted white at a later date--again, it looks like blue-green was the original color. Our builder was consistent!

This fiber cement siding used to cover most of the houses in our town, and is newly back in fashion (at least in building magazines--not in our town) as a fairly attractive and really durable style of siding. In fact, the word 'cemesto'--a brand name for fiber-cement siding made of asbestos--is used by the old-timers here to describe a style of houses in town (built about ten years before ours). Again, the previous owners just slapped the current vinyl on top, and left the asbestos underneath. And happily, this is one toxic problem we won't need to touch.

I rocked the zipper

2011-05-24T06:15:00.001-04:00

Every other month, my modern quilting guild does a swap: each person (who wants to participate) makes a particular item. Then we throw them all in a pile in the middle of the table and draw names.

This month was zipper pouches. There were several linked patterns as resources, but each person chose their own pattern. It was fun to see what people came up with--no two used the same pattern.

I used this tutorial (but didn't do the striped piecing) and some sewing themed fabrics to make this:

I'm pretty darn proud of how it turned out and how quickly it came together. I might be over my fear of zippers.

There's one other woman in the group who always seems to be just a few projects ahead of me--as in, she'll bring in a completed quilt for show and tell, and I'll exclaim, "I just started cutting the fabric for exactly that same pattern!" And as the luck of the draw would have it, she drew my pouch and I drew hers.

I think she used this tutorial from Noodlehead--not because we discussed it, but because we look to the same blogs for inspiration. :-)

She got all ambitious and added pockets to the lining:

I like the zipper jewelry she added--just the kind of detail I would never have thought of. That's what's fun about these swaps--seeing all of the different ways people interpret the same assignment.

Special Delivery

2011-05-22T17:12:00.001-04:00

Two UPS men carried this baby up to our door a few days ago:

Wait, you don't buy your hot water heaters from amazon.com? I guess most people don't want to install their own tankless water heater--but if you're as crazy as we are, I entirely recommend checking them out. The selection was far larger than what was available at Home Depot, at far, far lower prices. (Not a paid advertisement.) And let's just say they definitely qualify for free shipping on orders over $25. :-)

Here she is in all of her unpacked glory:

P was hoping to get her mounted on the wall and some plumbing roughed in today, but some classic project creep took over, so now there are several other things he must accomplish first....

Overwhelming cuteness

2011-05-11T07:15:00.002-04:00

Can you believe I got through an entire post on our recent trip with barely a mention of our two and a half year old nephew?

I'm sure his grandparents can't either.

The little guy loves his Uncle P. I mean, loves. (And I totally agree.) And Uncle P had a special surprise planned for him this time.

The little guy's Dad runs a landscaping business, and has a lot of commercial equipment. There's a famous family story of how, several weeks ago, the little guy backed his tricycle up to a 20 foot trailer, looked up at his Dad, and announced, "Hook me up!"

After we finished laughing, P got to thinking. And then he hit the wood shop.

He didn't have time to completely finish before we left on our trip, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because there are few things the little guy loves more than getting to be involved in a building project.

Friday and Saturday, the trailer sat in the living room. The little man had great fun playing in and on it, but he didn't seem to view it as a trailer. I put his truck and tools in it once or twice, and he emphatically removed them. They were not part of his plan. Which is fine--we're all about imaginative play, and who says he has to see this the same way we do?

But once Uncle P moved the trailer and the tricycle outside together, he suddenly got it. He enlisted Uncle P's help to hook the trailer up with bungee cords.

Look at that happy, proud face! (None of these pictures are posed--the kid wouldn't have the first idea what that would mean.) He wasn't so happy when Uncle P disconnected all of the bungee cords. But Uncle P had an even better idea of how to "hook him up." And soon enough, the little guy was so fascinated by the construction that he forgot he was upset.

And my, he was happy when the project was complete!

I brought his favorite dump truck outside to put in the back of the trailer--just to get a few pictures to show off P's handiwork. Since the little guy had shown no interest in playing with truck and trailer together before, I didn't expect him to react any differently this time.

Boy, was I wrong! As soon as he saw the two together, he loved the idea!

And repeat, for at least half an hour or so. Right now, he loves hooks and closures, so the hook and eye P gave him to fasten the tailgate is a favorite feature.

Wondering what that box up front is? Why, that's where he stows his tools!

We're hoping this is a toy that can grow with him. Right now, he's loving playing with it as a toy in its own right--opening and closing the tailgate, sitting in it, hooking bungee cords through the holes on the sides, trying desperately to remove the S-hooks that Uncle P so cruelly crimped closed, etc. I think that later he might begin to use it in a more utilitarian way, to transport stuff across the yard. We'll see!

Weekend "getaway"

2011-05-09T21:56:00.001-04:00

P and I spent the weekend with his brother's family down in Georgia.

On our drive down, we pulled off a random exit to get some dinner. Instead, we were greeted by this scene:

We had seen the pictures of last week's tornado devastation on the news, but it was quite a shock to see it in person, when we least expected it. Eight particular people were killed in this town. One sign from a business blew nearly 120 miles to land near our house. Somehow, those little details bring these things home to P and I and make us feel all the more thankful that we survived the storms unscathed.

It's becoming an annual tradition to crash my sister-in-law's Mother's Day. Last year, she spent the weekend at our place while her husband dragged all of our belongings out of our storage locker.

This year, we tried to make it up to her. Over breakfast Saturday morning, P innocently pointed out a patch of repaired, but not yet painted, drywall. "What happened there?" he asked oh so innocently. (That's his version of the story. I'm always skeptical of his ignorance.)

Turns out it was from a cable routing job. I helpfully offered to put on a second coat of spackle, P obnoxiously pointed out that there would still be a glaring white spot in the pumpkin colored wall, so I offered to paint. To paint whole kitchen, that is.

P and his brother were still reeling in shock as my sister-in-law and I piled into the car to pick up paint swatches. (You know, it would have saved a lot of driving if I had just brought my fan deck with me. Maybe I should be sure to bring it along on every vacation from here on out.)

To make a long story short, we went from this on Saturday (sorry I didn't get any pictures before cutting in--I was too carried away!):

To this on Sunday:

Sorry we didn't have a chance to get things all staged and pretty--we wanted the paint to be good and dry before we starting putting things back where they belong. Even so, what a change, right? I love the color she chose (Olympic "Raindrop")--it really helped to (in P's words) modernize the kitchen.

Since they have a two year old, we went with the Olympic Premium zero-VOC paint. I hadn't ever used it before, and after one coat, P and I were pretty skeptical. But the second coat did wonders.

P is wondering how we take one weekend off from demolishing our own house, and end up demolishing someone else's. But I was so glad to get a paint brush back in my hand again--it had been months! Months!

April 2011--month in review

2011-05-02T12:03:00.000-04:00

Guest Bedroom

~~hang pictures~~
reupholster antique chair
install closet doors
fix hinge-bound door so it will actually close

Office

make and hang curtains
reupholster footstool
put laminate on top of craft table
paint and hang door

Hall Bath

~~skim coat walls a little more~~
~~repaint walls~~
really, really scrub grout--and if that doesn't remove yellowing, try one of those grout pens
hang at least one picture/piece of art
~~install closet door knob~~
~~install hooks where I can hang my work clothes~~
~~install new light fixture~~

Hall/Living Room/Kitchen/Dining Room

knock down walls to make these all a single space
install structural beam to replace structural wall
patch existing oak flooring where walls were removed
make new attic hatch
replace textured ceiling in kitchen--texture is gone, but it will be a while before we're ready to make it pretty again.
remove wood panelling and replace with drywall
remove vinyl floor in kitchen, and lay new hardwoods there and over exposed subfloor in dining room
commit to new kitchen plans we've got the general idea down. I think we'll be figuring out the details (e.g., exact size of cabinets, placement of lights and outlets, etc.) as we go along.
build new kitchen cabinets (at least the lower ones)
get/make new countertops
install backsplash
run plumbing for gas range
install new sink
remove windows in dining room, and replace with french doors out to backyard
~~buy fireplace screen~~ ~~and make the occasional fire~~

replace hearth tile
make living room curtains (purely ornamental)
figure out window treatment for front windows that will maximize both light and privacy (plantation shutters?)
install new baseboard and crown molding
install doors on coat closet
fix draft under front door
install lots of new outlets to bring house up to newer codes for required number of outlets per room
install new lighting

Utility room

build utility room--we gotten a start here--have uninstalled all the kitchen cabinets, shelves, etc, and are concentrating our efforts here for the time being
buy and install new tankless water heater--got a lot of research done. Next need to call the water company: tankless water heaters need a 3/4" diameter feed line, but our lines are all 1/2". What do they recommend we do?
run plumbing and install utility sink--P has all the drain plumbing installed, and has begun work on the incoming water lines
run plumbing and vent lines for washer/dryer--again, drain lines done, and incoming begun. One of the things that slowed work down this month was that I waited until P had the new drain lines in place before asking "where will the dryer vent go?" Rerouting ensured. Some times it is one step forward, two steps back.

Master bedroom

lay hardwood flooring over exposed subfloor

Master Bath

give ugly medicine cabinet a cosmetic face lift

Crawl Space

complete encapsulation 99% of the way there....
test house for radon
enjoy running lots of plumbing and wiring for new kitchen/utility room/great room in new, dry, clean space--begun!

Garage

fix roof leaks
continue to work to make this a functional wood shop for P (so he can spend lots of time out there building me new kitchen cabinets!)

Exterior

~~paint foundation to complement new stair color~~
figure out how to make exterior brick look good after we cut into it to install afore-mentioned french doors
paint front door a more lively color (it should be easy to beat white)
work with P's brother A, a professional landscape designer, to come up with an actual design for our landscape
remove a few more azaleas
add more plants and beds to continue moving toward cottage garden look seedlings had a rough month, and I'm terribly late on the direct-sow ones, but summer will arrive eventually!
grow a tomato that doesn't rot before it ripens I pretty much killed the tomato seedlings. :-( Might just buy plants.
try to agree on privacy plantings for west property line, and plant them so they have some time to grow arguing with our landscaper.... I guess the customer isn't always right when she's your sister-in-law :-)
buy and plant Yaupon hollies on east property line see above

Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Happy Arbor Day!

2011-04-29T19:27:00.000-04:00

P and I celebrated by planting our new black mission fig tree.

Not much to look at now, but hopefully some day (many, many years from now) we'll have fruit!

That is, if it's alive by then. Some people would recommend wrapping it for the winter and generally babying it in our climate. I have more of a devil-may-care attitude when it comes to such recommendations. I've planted it on the west side of our house, where it's nice and hot and sunny, but otherwise, no special treatment from me. We'll see how it goes.

You can ask my calla lilies what they think of the policy--you're supposed to dig them up each fall and properly store the bulbs away from frost. I leave them in the ground, and what do you know, they've not only lived, but multiplied!

Weekend pic

2011-04-26T07:50:00.000-04:00

P apparently got a little confused about what he was supposed to be demoing this weekend:

P: "See what happens when you buy cheap tools!"

I hate it when he's right on that issue.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:03:00.000-04:00

P and I decided to enjoy the nice weather and our nice clothes, and took some pictures of ourselves in the yard after church. I guess we never get too far from our DIY selves--I used a sawhorse and some wooden shims to set up the camera for the shots.

Our crazy kitchen

2011-04-23T09:48:00.000-04:00

Before I get too deep into the nitty gritty of updating you about all the wonderful plumbing, etc., that P has been doing, let me explain a bit of the big picture: where the kitchen is now, and why we're messing with it.

Problems with the kitchen we hope to resolve with this remodel:

1. It's really dark in there, and we're suckers for light, bright spaces.

2. We love open floor plans--and this is not open

3. The cabinetry is in very good condition, but it screams early 80s. P and I lived through that era once, and don't feel a need to repeat it. Plus it's really dark, and is sapping the bit of light we have in there. Have you ever heard anyone complain in a remodel that their kitchen has too much storage? Well, then let me be the first. We actually keep our shoes in one of those cabinets, because what else would we use it for? Which leads to:

4. The side door leads into the kitchen. This is the door we use all of the time, and there's no place for us to keep keys, shoes, jackets, etc.

5. The vinyl flooring also screams early 80s, and is not in good condition.

6. While there is a lot of cabinetry and counter space, I end up feeling cramped, and like I need more room to spread out. I'm sure I could take some of the blame here in how I've organized things and work, but the bigger problem is the layout.

When you enter the kitchen via the side door, you turn right and see what I think of as the "core" of the kitchen:

This is the part of the kitchen where I do almost all of the cooking. You've got all of the appliances--sink, range, refrigerator, and dishwasher--in a very tight area, with a bit of counter space. And not to complain, but it's actually less counter space than it appears--I took this picture with a fish eye lens that distorts the foreground, making it appear larger than in real life. (That's also why the pictures are blurry--I need to work on my focusing skills with this lens!)

To your right when you come in through the side door is the rest of the kitchen:

And across from it:

(What's that strange wooden box, you ask? Check it out:

Yeah, that's been a major obstacle in figuring out our new floor plan.)

This portion of kitchen is a late 80s addition. It added storage space, but since they didn't go to the expense of rerouting utilities, it didn't change anything about the way the kitchen really functions. I do all of my work over in the "core" kitchen area, while all of the new countertop space over here goes to waste. I know it sounds a little silly to say I don't want to walk five extra steps before chopping my onion, but seriously, no one cooks that way.

Want to see a floor plan rendering of this? It's going to blow your mind:

How many zig zags can a single wall have? They're a function of the last remodel--we're hoping ours will be a little better conceived!

Morning and Night: My life in pictures

2011-04-16T09:37:00.000-04:00

Still Life: "Saturday Morning Quilting"

Not-so-still Life: "Friday Night Air Guitar"

(Good thing I caught P last night with his 80s rocker hair--he's scheduled me to cut it five minutes from now!)

Grand Unveiling

2011-04-13T22:00:00.000-04:00

At long last, I can share with you one of these large quiling projects that I've been dropping hints about.

P's sister and her husband bought their first house in the middle of January. I decided to throw together a queen-sized quilt for them. You know, something really quick and easy that I could finish in, like, two or three weeks.

Well, nearly three months later, here we are.

This is the first time I've tried piecing a quilt back. I started really simple--not a bad start, if I do say so myself. :-)

Weekend progress

2011-04-11T08:13:00.001-04:00

I had an all-day quilting event on Saturday. When I left the house in the morning, P was innocently sitting at the table surrounded by graph paper and engineering books. By the time I returned home....

I knew something was up when I saw this exhaust system installed on the outside of the kitchen.

And then P had to remove the ladder and other equipment preventing me from even getting in the door, and then I found this:

Stay tuned to find out what we've been up to.

Painting the foundation

2011-04-08T22:41:00.001-04:00

We've been searching our to-do lists for outdoor jobs that will allow us to enjoy the lovely spring weather. Remember how we painted our peeling porch steps last fall? The foundation paint was in pretty good shape, but still, once I saw it against our nice fresh stairs, I wanted to freshen up the foundation as well--and make it match the stair color better.

Here was our house last fall, with the fresh stairs and original foundation color:

You'd totally say that foundation was a light blue, right? Me too, until I got out the Kilz primer to touch up a rust spot where our old spigot had been leaking. That primer matched the foundation perfectly. Turns out it was a bright white, that only looked blue when compared to the warmer white of our siding.

I decided to use Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter for our foundation. That was the color we used for the stairs--the first time we painted them. Then we decided it was too light, and had them re-tint the paint with double the amount of colorant. I thought it would be great having the foundation the same color as the stairs, just a shade lighter.

Well, the contrast isn't as large as I had expected:

You can totally see the difference between the two shades if you look at the joint line, but taking in the house as a whole, you'd be unlikely to notice a distinction. Oh well. I'm not repainting this time. I put on a slightly thick first coat, and since the previous coats were all in good condition, P and I decided that we could get away with only one coat of paint. Living on the wild side here, people!

Even our trash is getting organized

2011-04-05T21:02:00.001-04:00

The weather here was simply fantastic this past weekend--and we appreciated it all the more since it followed a week and a half of chilly rain. P and I reviewed our to-do lists, looking for anything that could be done outside. To the point where we even called up some friends with a more wooded lot than ours, and begged them to let us come over and chainsaw something, anything. They readily acquiesced and keep talking like we did them some huge favor. I think they did us the favor--I'm not sure how much of our landscaping would still be standing if they hadn't provided P with an outlet for his destructive urges!

But before we gassed up the chainsaw and belched out the fossil fuels, we had to offset its carbon footprint. Or, more accurately, take care of a nagging item on our list: build a compost pile.

Really, this was all about aesthetics: we've already been dumping our compost in the back corner of the lot, but figured maybe our neighbors couldn't tell the difference between an eco-friendly pile and a good old-fashioned trash heap. Especially since we're inclined to throw in almost anything biodegradable--paper towels, cotton fabric scraps from quilting, cardboard egg cartons, compostable plastic, even old drywall (if we're sure it wasn't painted with lead paint). Actually, I'm not that concerned about our neighbors' sensibilities, but I did feel really bad when a paper towel would take flight into their yards on a windy day. Not cool.

Adding to our green credentials, we built the compost out of some old shelving that we inherited with the house. P removed much of the shelving that the previous owner had installed in the garage, so he could set up his own systems. And what do you know--those shelves proved a perfect size to make a great compost bin with minimal effort!

Before:

After:

(The stuff to the left of the compost pile is larger branches, etc, that won't decompose any time soon. We stack it up there until we have a full pickup load, and then take it to the yard waste pile at the local recycling center.)

March 2011--month in review

2011-04-01T07:04:00.002-04:00

February we felt good, like we were really getting back into the swing of remodelling. I'm not sure what happened to us in March.

Guest Bedroom

~~hang pictures~~
reupholster antique chair install closet doors
fix hinge-bound door so it will actually close

Office

make and hang curtains still halfway done--mom, do you want to come finish the job you started for me? ;-)
reupholster footstool
put laminate on top of craft table
paint and hang door

Hall Bath

~~skim coat walls a little more~~
~~repaint walls~~
really, really scrub grout--and if that doesn't remove yellowing, try one of those grout pens I got a magic eraser, and dang, those things are magic--it removed dirt from the tub bottom that I thought was there forever! I also erased my fingernails, so be careful how you hold those things! The grout just laughed back, however, so I guess we're on to the pen.
hang at least one picture/piece of art I'm thinking of buying something like this:

Source

~~install closet door knob~~
~~install hooks where I can hang my work clothes~~
~~install new light fixture~~

Hall/Living Room/Kitchen/Dining Room

knock down walls to make these all a single space
install structural beam to replace structural wall P has been brushing up his engineering skills and reading about beams
patch existing oak flooring where walls were removed
make new attic hatch
replace textured ceiling in kitchen
remove wood panelling and replace with drywall
remove vinyl floor in kitchen, and lay new hardwoods there and over exposed subfloor in dining room
commit to new kitchen plans I've been sketching ideas, and then using IKEA's kitchen planner to turn them into 3D renderings. We won't be using IKEA products, so the measurements and appearances aren't exactly right--but "within a few inches" is good enough at this stage. Good enough for me to see that I like where things are going!
build new kitchen cabinets (at least the lower ones)
get/make new countertops
install backsplash
run plumbing for gas range
install new sink
remove windows in dining room, and replace with french doors out to backyard spent a while staring at doors. It's amazing how inexpensive a decent set of prehung french doors are, and how expensive screen doors are--seriously, it will cost us nearly as much to hang two flimsy screen doors as the entire french door assembly will!
~~buy fireplace screen~~ ~~and make the occasional fire~~

replace hearth tile
make living room curtains (purely ornamental)
figure out window treatment for front windows that will maximize both light and privacy (plantation shutters?)
install new baseboard and crown molding
install doors on coat closet
fix draft under front door
install lots of new outlets to bring house up to newer codes for required number of outlets per room
install new lighting

Utility room

build utility room
buy and install new tankless water heater
run plumbing and install utility sink
run plumbing and vent lines for washer/dryer

Master bedroom

lay hardwood flooring over exposed subfloor

Master Bath

give ugly medicine cabinet a cosmetic face lift

Crawl Space

complete encapsulation 99% of the way there....
test house for radon
enjoy running lots of plumbing and wiring for new kitchen/utility room/great room in new, dry, clean space

Garage

fix roof leaks P's still puzzling over the remaining leaks--sometimes water pours in, sometimes it doesn't. Maybe something to do with wind direction?
continue to work to make this a functional wood shop for P (so he can spend lots of time out there building me new kitchen cabinets!) P has spent a lot of time out there this month building himself things that are key (I hear) to his ability to build other things. He now has the nicest utility cart known to man. I guess I should have seen that one coming if the point of the project was to practice cabinetry skills before launching into the kitchen project.

Exterior

paint foundation to complement new stair color
figure out how to make exterior brick look good after we cut into it to install afore-mentioned french doors
paint front door a more lively color (it should be easy to beat white)
work with P's brother A, a professional landscape designer, to come up with an actual design for our landscape
remove a few more azaleas
add more plants and beds to continue moving toward cottage garden look started my seeds and am happily doting on them
grow a tomato that doesn't rot before it ripens started those seeds too--selected varieties that seemed less likely to split than last year's beefsteaks (i.e., currant tomatoes--even smaller than cherry tomatoes--and plum tomatoes)
try to agree on privacy plantings for west property line, and plant them so they have some time to grow decided to go with Yaupon (or similar) hollies here as well. We placed an order with A, and are waiting to see some trees
buy and plant Yaupon hollies on east property line see above

We made some progress this month, but I didn't get to cross off a single item. Ouch.

Ella Funt

2011-03-30T09:31:00.001-04:00

Here's a quilt I've taken far too long too finish.

I started this a little over a year ago, when we were in the temporary apartment. I found the pattern in a book from the library. The book's version was an incredibly complex safari quilt, with multiple elephants, giraffes, lions, turtles...maybe a hippo? Their version was done in earth tones and for adults. I'm not so sure about that as a decor choice--but I thought some of the blocks would be adorable scaled up and done in brighter fabrics. So I doubled the block size, added a border, and got this:

It was easier to piece than it looks. (Love when that happens!) What I find challenging in quilting is when I have lots of corners and rows that all need to align--you know, like this postage stamp quilt a woman in my quilt guild made this winter. I sat there with my mouth agape in awe, while all the women reassured me, "Really, it's not that hard!" I insisted, "Yes, it is, for me!"

If you look closely, this elephant has very few piece that really need to line up--good for me! Doubling the sizes of the blocks (without doubling the seam allowances) did take a good bit of extra thought--especially since the book had a few typos in the measurements. Since the thinking was a lot more work than the doing, this guy actually has a twin sitting in my closet, just waiting for me to finish sewing on his binding. I finally got this first one done to send to my third cousin who is expecting a boy in June--it's good to have a reason to force me to finish projects!

Camera bag

2011-03-11T09:58:00.001-05:00

My last digital camera was super tiny--easy to slip on my purse, pocket, wherever. My new DSLR...not so much.

P got me a camera bag for my birthday. You know, one of those standard square black nylon things. I feigned excitement upon opening it...but I'm really not a good faker.

P knew it was going to be returned without me having to say anything. Yet I had to admit that he had a point--I needed some way to travel with the camera, while properly protecting it. But I thought one of these nice purse style bags would be so much better--I would only need to carry one bag, it wouldn't scream "I'm a tourist with expensive electronics to steal!", plus it was cute. :-)

But those things are pricy! Plus they're designed for professional photographers--women who carry around multiple camera bodies and lenses. I didn't need anything so large or heavy.

So I decided to make my own version. A $30 purse from JC Penney, $5 in craft foam, a bit of favorite quilting fabric, and I was set to go!

The left side of the bag keeps the camera nice and padded, and the right and side pockets are free for me to fill with all of those essentials of daily life--wallet, keys, Altoids, granola bar, magazine.... Hey, a girl's always got to be prepared for a never-ending trip to Home Depot, right?

One for the life list

2011-03-08T12:29:00.002-05:00

Remember that new light fixture I bought for the hall bath? So I would be able to open the medicine cabinet again?

I finally got the darn thing installed--and without P's help. Major, major victory for me. Moving on up the home-improvement capabilities ladder! Installing an electrical fixture by myself really was on my list of things I dream of doing.

Here she is:

The fixture looks a little crooked in the picture, but trust me and my level, it's not. And I would know, because I uninstalled and reinstalled the darn thing nearly a dozen times trying to get it right. None of the electrical boxes in our house are level or plumb--which amazes me, because they must have been installed at so many different times by so many different electricians--and none of them cared to get it right? There was also a good bit of play in the fixture, so I would line it up, level it, screw it in, and viola! the screws had pushed it off-level.

But I finally got 'er done--except for the bulbs. I was a little disappointed to discover that the fixture only accepts an obscure variety of halogen bulb--but at least the first two came with the fixture. But I could not get the little buggers screwed in! Plus my patience was shot, so I made P do it. I'm not sure how he managed it--even with my tiny lady-hands, it was tricky trying to maneuver inside the narrow light shades. I really hope no dead bugs ever fall into this thing, because I already know I never want to have to disassemble it for cleaning!

The one nice thing about the surprise halogen fittings is that the fixture casts a very pleasing--and bright!--shade of light. Between the new bulbs and the new paint, my complexion is looking great!

Adventures in a gas furnace

2011-03-04T06:16:00.000-05:00

Come November, once it started getting cold, we began thinking about our third heat source: an exterior gas furnace. Okay, I'd been thinking about it for a while, but only about it's eyesore qualities. I did some fall gardening, and extended our front foundation beds and planted some bushes in an attempt to camouflage it a little.

In retrospect, perhaps I should have gone with evergreen shrubs...

Once we started running the furnace, we noticed that we could smell it outside the house. Specifically, it smelled like our furnace might not be completed combusting all of the gas it was using. For two energy efficiency/carbon footprint concerned people like us, this was a problem. 1. I don't like paying for gas that's floating off into the air instead of heating my house, and 2. methane is a significantly more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. From a global warming perspective, it is far better to burn the methane and have the resulting carbon dioxide head off into the air, than to spew out the methane directly.

Since we sometimes try to be responsible adults, we got in touch with a local furnace servicer and scheduled a tune-up, just like all those magazine articles on responsible adulthood recommend you do each year. My father-in-law darkly hinted about not fixing things that aren't broken, but does he write for a magazine? No. (And he would be the first one to yell at me if I used that line to justify not changing the oil in my car.)

The first available appointment was a few weeks out. Fine. Then most of the guys got a stomach bug on the day they were supposed to come, so they had to reschedule all of their non-emergency appointments. Fine.

By the time they got there, it was the day before we were to leave for Christmas vacation. I headed off to work, and P stayed home to supervise. The furnace guy hadn't been there ten minutes before our furnace was condemned.

P called me at work to explain. "He found holes in the heat exchanger that would allow combustion gases to come into the house. We could die of carbon monoxide poisoning, so he was legally required to condemn our furnace." Which meant that he had disconnected and taken some part of our furnace, and it would not run anymore.

My poor coworkers in cubicle-land had to listen to me sputtering through the first three stage of grief over the phone:

Denial: "Can a furnace be condemned? Who's ever heard of such a thing?" "Is the furnace really broken? Is he just some kind of quack who's trying to sell us a new furnace?" P assured me that the furnace guy had showed him the holes, and it was his professional engineer's opinion that the unit was unsafe. Damn. So much for that.

Anger: "He condemned our furnace? Three days before Christmas? Does he understand how wrong that is? What if we had family coming to stay with us? It's Christmas! Did he at least apologize for condemning our furnace on Christmas?" (No, no apology.)

Bargaining: "Did it really need to be condemned? I mean, we have a carbon monoxide detector. It hasn't gone off. What if we buy a few more and use them to make sure we don't die? You know, just until the new unit arrives. So we don't die in our sleep of cold."

P, being the good guy he is, remained calm and talked me down off the ranting.

We had two options: 1. Repair the heat exchanger for $1500, or 2. Replace the whole unit for $5000 or $7000.

Well, that one was a no-brainer. I've been referring to this as our furnace, which it is, but it's also our airconditioning unit. So even if we repaired the furnace part, who knows how much longer it would be before the A/C broke. Sooner than later, we imagined. And when we sell the house, "New HVAC" sounds so much better than "Old HVAC with lots of new parts." Plus, there was one upside to our furnace being condemned just before Christmas: we could qualify for the government's energy efficiency tax credit, which was set to expire on December 31. $1500 off a new unit, or a full-price repair? That was easy.

So P spent the rest of the day researching systems, and calling for estimates. It was one of those days when I was really happy to be married to a mechanical engineer with a specialization in heat transport.

And remember that ceilheat I ranted about in the last post? Well, turns out that I was also really grateful that we had decided not to disconnect it. It's a stupid and inefficient way to heat a house, but it's a lot better than having no way to heat a house. We cranked it up, and basked in the glow of our ceilings.

P picked us out a shiny new unit, and we headed off on our planned vacation while waiting for our order to come in. Turns out, right before leaving on a vacation isn't such a bad time to have your furnace condemned, after all. As soon as we were back home, the guys came out to put in the new unit.

Which is lovely and wonderful and doesn't smell like the old unit and is quieter and was installed very nicely (my favorite part was when they told me to assure P that they had sealed up everything nice and tight so no varmits could get into our crawlspace)...but it's even more of an eyesore than the last one. Good thing I already had those bushes in the ground!

But let's think happy thoughts, shall we? Look in the foreground--the first daffodil of spring, budding out in mid-February! (This picture is from two weeks ago!)

Before we even know it, it will be time to test that new A/C!

Did you know the house has three kinds of heat?

2011-03-02T06:38:00.002-05:00

That's what the seller of our house turned to us and asked.

We responded with blank looks, so she elaborated: "It has the furnace, the wood stove, and the ceil heat."

Even that explanation didn't really help. The furnace and wood stove were obvious, but ceil heat? We had noticed some extra thermostats throughout the house, and a whole bunch of electrical breakers that went with them, but neither we nor our home inspector could figure out what they controlled. We all surmised that they must have been for some electric baseboards or something of the sort that had been removed long ago.

So when the seller mentioned the ceil heat, we just smiled and nodded. The poor woman had been legally blind for years. Clearly her dear departed husband had been taking care of the home maintenance for years, and he had forgotten to tell her--or she had forgotten that she was told--that he had removed the system.

Really, I should know better.

A few months later, P was busy repairing the walls in the guest bedroom and my office, and decided that it was the perfect time to just remove the defunct thermostats and patch up the walls, while he was at it. But just in case, he decided to do a little research first.

Ah, Google, friend of the older house renovator. How else would we have learned that ceilheat was radiant electric heat with wiring embedded in the ceiling drywall? Apparently it was briefly in vogue when our house was built. In retrospect, it seems kind of obvious that ceilheat would have something to do with the ceiling, but trust me, that thought never crossed my mind before Google explained it to me.

And if you don't mind pausing for me to rant, can anyone think of a worse way to heat a house? Heat rises--so if you start with a heat source at the ceiling, the top of your head will be nice and toasty, while your feet are still freezing. Not to mention, I'm fairly certain that the attics of these houses were not insulated when they were first built. (Or if they were, it was nothing compared to modern standards for insulation.) So for every bit of heat that oozes into the room, at least as much is vanishing into the neighborhood. Yeah. Brilliant.

We turned it on, and sure enough, after all these years, it still works. Then P discovered yet another maddening problem with the system: it means we have all sorts of live wires running through the ceiling. And presumably, if you break the wire at any spot, the whole system will go out. He has to get out our little proximity voltage tester (best tool ever if you live in a house with unpredictable wiring) anytime he wants to put so much as an extra screw into the ceiling. The wires seem to be about six inches apart--can you imagine trying to install an extra light fixture?

Given our total contempt for the ceilheat system, P was all for pulling it out. But I got cold feet, and insisted that it stay for the time being. So we turned off all of the breakers (resistive heating uses a lot of juice--it's about 1/3 of our box!), and forgot about it for the next six months.

Over the summer we destructed another one of our heat sources, and removed our wood stove in the name of aesthetics and nine extra square feet in our dining room.

Stay tuned. Next time, on SecretCityRanch: Learn more about our third heat source!

February 2011--month in review

2011-02-28T15:07:00.000-05:00

The monthly check on our list of house goals. We felt good about getting back into the swing of things, but the list still isn't looking so hot....

Guest Bedroom

~~hang pictures~~
reupholster antique chair still stuck 90% of the way there, waiting for the misplaced trim to magically appear
install closet doors
fix hinge-bound door so it will actually close

Office

make and hang curtains still 50% done--I've ordered and received the fabric for the side windows, but haven't done anything with it
reupholster footstool
put laminate on top of craft table
paint and hang door

Hall Bath

~~skim coat walls a little more~~
~~repaint walls~~
really, really scrub grout--and if that doesn't remove yellowing, try one of those grout pens
hang at least one picture/piece of art
~~install closet door knob~~
~~install hooks where I can hang my work clothes~~
~~install new light fixture~~

Hall/Living Room/Kitchen/Dining Room

knock down walls to make these all a single space--started in on this job!
install structural beam to replace structural wall
~~move electrical breaker box to exterior wall so we can knock down the interior wall it's currently on~~ We have a new layout plan that will avoid needing to do this job. P is still considering doing some major electrical work to bring our older house up to modern codes and best practices.
patch existing oak flooring where walls were removed
make new attic hatch
replace textured ceiling in kitchen
remove wood panelling and replace with drywall
remove vinyl floor in kitchen, and lay new hardwoods there and over exposed subfloor in dining room
commit to new kitchen plans
build new kitchen cabinets (at least the lower ones)
get/make new countertops
install backsplash
run plumbing for ~~new sink and~~ gas range Our new layout leaves the sink where it was, so that eliminates the need for this job, but adds:
install new sink
remove windows in dining room, and replace with french doors out to backyard
~~buy fireplace screen~~ ~~and make the occasional fire~~

replace hearth tile
make living room curtains (purely ornamental)
figure out window treatment for front windows that will maximize both light and privacy (plantation shutters?)
install new baseboard and crown molding
install doors on coat closet
fix draft under front door
install lots of new outlets to bring house up to newer codes for required number of outlets per room
install new lighting

Utility room

build utility room
buy and install new tankless water heater
run plumbing and install utility sink
run plumbing and vent lines for new washer/dryer location (due to new layout)

Master bedroom

lay hardwood flooring over exposed subfloor

Master Bath

give ugly medicine cabinet a cosmetic face lift

Crawl Space

complete encapsulation 98% of the way there....
test house for radon
enjoy running lots of plumbing and wiring for new kitchen/utility room/great room in new, dry, clean space

Garage

fix roof leaks most of the way there--we finally got enough rain to test January's repairs--most of the leaks are fixed, and just one slow one remains
continue to work to make this a functional wood shop for P (so he can spend lots of time out there building me new kitchen cabinets!)

Exterior

paint foundation to complement new stair color
figure out how to make exterior brick look good after we cut into it to install afore-mentioned french doors
paint front door a more lively color (it should be easy to beat white)
work with P's brother A, a professional landscape designer, to come up with an actual design for our landscape
remove a few more azaleas
add more plants and beds to continue moving toward cottage garden look well, I spent a lot of time drooling on seed catalogs and dreaming the impossible dream...
grow a tomato that doesn't rot before it ripens
try to agree on privacy plantings for west property line, and plant them so they have some time to grow
buy and plant Yaupon hollies on east property line

There's a lot left to do here--and I think we've added more items off the list than we've crossed off!

Let there be light!

2011-02-24T12:55:00.000-05:00

So what possessed us to rip down an entire wall of drywall last weekend?

Primarily, we're aiming for a more open floor plan. It suits the way we live, and we think most people these days like them--we're hopeful with it will a real asset someday when we sell the house.

There was one other big idea behind the project: light.

Both P and I would consider ourselves "solar powered." We're a lot more productive in the summer than the winter, and we never really feel properly awake on a dark, overcast day. Natural light was one of the most important factors was considered in the home buying process: e.g., the number, size, and orientation of windows.

Our house scored better than average in the light department, but we're still aiming for better.

Our dining room in the morning. It has two west windows--but the wall of the house blocks their southwest side. So it has decent light in mid- to late-afternoon, and is fairly dark in the morning.

Here it is in the morning:

Just to illustrate a point here, I took this picture with the camera settings on manual, and then walked into the living room, and didn't adjust any settings. Here's what the living room looks like in the morning (complete with the clutter we cleared out last weekend):

Gotta love three south windows! And did I mention--the blinds were fully closed when I took that picture. Those windows pretty much sold us on the house purchase.

Now that the wall is down, all that light floods into the dining room. I still give a happy sigh every time I see it.

Just for kicks, I then took the camera into the kitchen--which only has east-facing windows and an east skylight, so it's at its brightest in the morning. Ready?

We have some major plans on how to fix that problem. Stay tuned....

Back in the saddle

2011-02-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure whether it was:

the near completion of the eternal crawl space project that had kept P fully occupied for months;
the longer days and unseasonably warm weather that woke us from our winter hibernation;
weather that reminded us of when we first moved in last year, and we waist-deep in construction projects; or
simply too long since we had last started a new project.

Whatever it was, we snapped out of it this past weekend!

I was just browsing the blog archive, and realized that we've said almost nothing about our living room so far. Here's what we did with the room in 2010:

April: pulled up old carpet, swept up old carpet pad that had decayed into dust, pulled off old baseboards, removed ugly and stubbornly attached window valence, and refinished the floors.

May: put protective covering down on floors and moved everything from our storage locker into here. Unpacked some stuff.

June-January 2011: continued to use living room as storage locker for stuff we didn't know what to do with.

What an embarrassment.

Saturday we tackled the mess. There was some recycling, some uncluttering (Goodwill pile, etc.), and some moving of furniture that actually belongs in the living room to the guest room (plus some stubborn boxes that are continuing to resist unpacking/uncluttering).

Drumroll, please: Ladies and Gentlemen, for the first time on this blog (sans carpet), I present...our living room!

We momentarily admired our handiwork in the floor refinishing, and then Sunday we covered the floors back up. Fully, this time. And with duct tape.

So we could get to the fun part:

P wanted to be sure I documented the last paint color of the dining room before the paneling was installed

P had to work on Monday, but I had the day off to clean up and admire our handiwork:

Eventually we will remove the studs too--but for now, they're the structural wall holding up about a third of our roof. Mr. Resident Engineer has some work to do before they can go anywhere.

Man, it felt good to get back into the swing of construction.

Quilt blocks

2011-02-17T18:05:00.001-05:00

I've been getting a lot of quilting done this winter since our larger home renovation projects have generally stalled. (Okay, that's not really true--what's happened is that P has spent three months rehabbing the crawl space. I refused to help with that job but can't really move forward on any of the upstairs projects without his help, so things are sort of stalled with the interior.)

I showed you the quilted table runner I made to dress our dining room up for Christmas--and then I made four more to gift to family members. I've completed two queen size quilt tops in the last month. Hopefully I can get some good progress made on quilting them over the upcoming holiday weekend. No previews--they're both surprise gifts, so I'd like to receipients to see them before the blog does.

This past weekend was the meeting of our local Modern Quilt Guild. We take turns doing a block of the month--one person hands out fabric and a pattern, and each guild member brings back the assembled block the following month.

Or the next month they're there, if they have as poor an attendance record as I do. Case in point, here is the November block I made and returned in February.

February was my month to present the block. I went with the Rectangle Squared block by Film in the Fridge--though per my usual trend, I made the measurements about 25% larger than the pattern called for. Larger blocks not only come together faster, but I like the less busy look they give a quilt. I'm looking forward to getting all of the blocks back and assembling them!

Bold and Beautiful

2011-02-04T12:04:00.000-05:00

It had been four months since I had painted a room, and I was getting an itchy brush finger. Time to repaint the hall bath!

I loved the first color I selected for the hall bath, but then I got a job, and started getting ready and doing my makeup in there while P continued to sleep (so I wouldn't disturb him by using the master bath). And it turned out the paint color in the hall bath did not love me back--light greens are not flattering to my complexion. So, it had to go.

Here's my new bathroom:

This picture isn't such a flattering angle, but the color is pretty true:

The dark, dramatic color works well, since it covers less than a quarter of the wall space--the rest is tile, doorways, and mirrors.

I also got my act together and added a pair of hooks to the back of the closet door, so I would have a place to hang my work clothes. (I pick them out the night before and move them to the bathroom--that way, I don't have to turn on the light in the morning and bother P, and I don't have to make wardrobe choices before drinking coffee.)

One last farewell to the old paint color--I do miss the peaceful tones, but I enjoy the drama too! (Note: all of the white/almond surfaces read much truer to color in this photo. I did play with all of the white balance settings on the camera when taking the new pictures, but it just wouldn't play along with me.)

January 2011--month in review

2011-02-01T12:47:00.000-05:00

Here's our (okay, my) list of 2011 house goals, and a reality check of how well we're doing on them.

Guest Bedroom

~~hang pictures~~ done!
reupholster antique chair 90% of the way there, with some invaluable help from my father this weekend--it would be done, but I've misplaced the braiding for the trim!
install closet doors
fix hinge-bound door so it will actually close

Office

make and hang curtains 50% done--my mom made the ones for the front windows, and then P hung them--but I didn't have enough fabric for her to do the side windows (are we noticing a theme here?)
reupholster footstool
put laminate on top of craft table
paint and hang door

Hall Bath

~~skim coat walls a little more~~ done!
~~repaint walls~~ done! (pictures forthcoming)
really, really scrub grout--and if that doesn't remove yellowing, try one of those grout pens
hang at least one picture/piece of art
~~install closet door knob~~ done! (thanks, honey!)
~~install hooks where I can hang my work clothes~~ done!
install new light fixture

Hall/Living Room/Kitchen/Dining Room

knock down walls to make these all a single space
install structural beam to replace structural wall
move electrical breaker box to exterior wall so we can knock down the interior wall it's currently on
patch existing oak flooring where walls were removed
make new attic hatch
replace textured ceiling in kitchen
remove wood panelling and replace with drywall
remove vinyl floor in kitchen, and lay new hardwoods there and over exposed subfloor in dining room
commit to new kitchen plans
build new kitchen cabinets (at least the lower ones)
get/make new countertops
install backsplash
run plumbing for new sink and gas range
remove windows in dining room, and replace with french doors out to backyard
~~buy fireplace screen~~ and make the occasional fire halfway there...
replace hearth tile
make living room curtains (purely ornamental)
figure out window treatment for front windows that will maximize both light and privacy (plantation shutters?)
install new baseboard and crown molding
install doors on coat closet
fix draft under front door

Utility room

build utility room
buy and install new tankless water heater
run plumbing and install utility sink

Master bedroom

lay hardwood flooring over exposed subfloor

Master Bath

give ugly medicine cabinet a cosmetic face lift

Crawl Space

complete encapsulation 90% of the way there....
test house for radon
enjoy running lots of plumbing for new kitchen in new, dry, clean space

Garage

fix roof leaks hopefully done? P did some work up there this weekend, so the next rain storm will tell
continue to work to make this a functional wood shop for P (so he can spend lots of time out there building me new kitchen cabinets!)

Exterior

paint foundation to complement new stair color
figure out how to make exterior brick look good after we cut into it to install afore-mentioned french doors
paint front door a more lively color (it should be easy to beat white)
work with P's brother A, a professional landscape designer, to come up with an actual design for our landscape
remove a few more azaleas got a few done, but I think a few more will come this year, so I'll wait to cross it off--thanks, Dad!
add more plants and beds to continue moving toward cottage garden look started expanding the little bed into something rather larger
grow a tomato that doesn't rot before it ripens
try to agree on privacy plantings for west property line, and plant them so they have some time to grow well, we agreed on plants for the east line, so...
buy and plant Yaupon hollies on east property line

There's a lot left to do here--but at least we've crossed more items off the list than we've added to it! :-)

Guest bedroom--the belated reveal

2011-01-27T08:37:00.000-05:00

We completed nearly all the work on our guest bedroom last summer, but I didn't want to give you the full reveal until I hung some pictures and completed the quilt--and I really dragged my feet on completing those details. So, at long last, our guest bedroom:

The painting over the bed is an old oil of my parents' house. It was built in 1906. My great-grandparents bought the house in 1930, and lived there until their deaths in the early 80s. My parents then bought the house, spent a few years making necessary repairs and upgrades (energy efficient windows, installing insulation, modernizing kitchens and baths, etc.), and we moved in when I was four.

As an aside, P and I are so happy with the quality of pictures I can coax out of the new camera. Playing with the white balance and using a really low shutter speed has yielded some lovely results here!

Now the remaining problems are definitely the photographer's (i.e., my) fault--like the feeling that the house is not really level:

The decor in this room is rather more traditional than we're planning for the remainder of the house--we decided this was the perfect place to use some special family heirlooms.

We found this pieced, unfinished quilt top among my grandmother's things after she died. We don't know who made it or when. My grandmother's younger sister was an avid quilter, and our best guest is that this is a project the two of them worked on together during a visit. (Since the two of them lived 3,000 miles apart, visits were infrequent, and when they did occur, quite long. That side of my family is fairly reserved: they bond not by chatting, but by quietly working side-by-side.) But the fabrics used in the quilt puzzled me a little--they are an odd mix, with fabric types that are not ideal for quilting. After long study, I finally realized--they are scraps cut from old men's shirts! And my, they do look like the types of shirts my grandfather favored!

The quilt top was in rough shape-frayed and off-square at the edges, a few holes in the middle where the old shirt fabric had simply given way, and a variety of stains from long storage. But it's imagined heritage is still special enough for me to be determined to preserve it. I'm hoping it exudes shabby chic, and not just shabby. I sewed on a double border to make it large enough for a queen bed, and quilted it. It won't stand up to use, even infrequent use in our guest room, forever, but I prefer for an object like this to be used and admired than kept properly boxed and preserved in a closet where no one will see it.

But there is an exception that proves every rule, isn't there?

This quilt square was made by my great-great grandmother. The aforementioned great-aunt had an entire quilt top of these squares. Several years ago, she cut apart the squares, and sent one to each of her children, nieces, and nephews--including my father. My parents had it properly framed--acid-free paper, UV-shielding glass--and gave it to me as a wedding gift. It awes me--I've never even seen a photo of my great-great-grandmother, I know almost nothing about her, but here is this piece of her in my house.

Here are the pictures to the side of the bed:

The middle one is a print that P's mother commissioned several years ago, of their house. They built it when P was a toddler. Much of the building was done by P's father and grandfather.

I thought it would be fun to frame a few photos of our families that showed the houses--but for all the years we lived in those places, it was surprisingly difficult to find photos where both people and houses looked good.

To the left, we have P (left) and his brother:

And this is my grandmother, holding my baby father:

I hope the room tour was worth the long wait! It's certainly come a long way since we had guests in the spring, hasn't it? Which is to say, family, it's safe to come back now!

Talkin' 'bout my generation

2011-01-21T15:31:00.000-05:00

P and I usually feel like we don't fit well into generational descriptions. Perhaps that's because we bridge most classification schemes. P is in the last years of Gen X, and no one can agree on where I fit in. (Most precise classifications place me as the final year of Gen X, but some schemes put me as the oldest of Gen Y). So we're generally lumped in with people who are either significantly older or significantly younger than us, and don't feel like we're clicking too well.

Which made me all the more excited when I saw this article from WSJ.com entitled "No McMansions for Millennials." Generally when we drive past a new subdivision filled with McMansions, I turn to P and say, "Please let's not ever live there. And he agrees, because he's learned that that's the easiest way to deal with me when I demand assurances about ridiculous, unrealistic hypotheticals. All that is to say, I immediately clicked the link.

And for once, I felt like someone was describing us. Apparently Gen Y is all about living in cities--okay, not us so much--but yes, we're totally willing to (and did) pay more for a location that will minimize our commuting time. Apparently Gen Y'ers love to walk places. 7% walk to work.

P and I mourn the days when it was easier for us to walk than drive. I still bike to work in warmer weather (and when there's enough daylight). A lot of my older colleagues look at me carrying my helmet, and (once they get over their shock) say, "I wish I lived close enough to bike to work!" I never know how to politely respond to this comment, because I'm thinking to myself, "Well, why don't you, then?"

I also got a chuckled out of this line from the article: "Smaller rooms and fewer cavernous hallways to get everywhere, a bigger shower stall and skip the tub, he said." P has been begging for months to tear out at least on of our bathtubs and put in a really nice walk-in shower. I always say, "But what about resale? Isn't a bathtub an aspirational item, if not a practical one? Doesn't everyone dream of one day having enough time to soak in a tub? And isn't home buying as much about aspiration as the daily realities of actual life?"

The article didn't put it in so many words, but it seems that Gen Y might be less about the dream, and more about adding a little elegance to everyday life. So we never have time for a nice soak but we shower daily? Have a nice shower, then. How often do we have people over? Right, and when we do, they're always friends who we don't need to impress. Why would we spend money on a formal dining room and the furniture to fill it? But a patio and a grill, yes!

Here's to adding a bit of class to daily life, and abandoning the dream! After all, it just makes us feel guilty that we're not living up to it. And we weren't the ones dreaming it anyway.

New bathroom light

2011-01-18T13:16:00.000-05:00

Remember our unfortunate bathroom light fixture situation? You know, where the light fixture blocked our medicine cabinet from opening?

I was just ignoring the situation and pretending that I didn't have (and didn't need) a medicine cabinet. If I had time to kill at Home Depot or Lowe's, I would browse the lighting selection. That only proved to me that I think pretty much every bathroom light out there is somewhere on the scale of bland to ugly.

Until I opened One King's Lane this morning to check their daily sales, that is. And saw this beauty:

It should arrive on my doorstep in a few weeks. And hopefully I won't be making a habit of replacing things I've already replaced once in the house.

If you're looking for a light fixture, they've got a number of winners up right now--it was a hard decision! A lot of these will work if you're like us and have an older house that you don't want to scream "I was built in 1954 but remodelled in 2011!"

Check these out:

All images courtesy One Kings Lane, Hudson Valley and Sonneman lighting

New toy

2011-01-17T21:28:00.001-05:00

P got me this for Christmas:

I've loved my old Canon Elph. I love how it just slips in the back pocket of my jeans or adds no extra weight to my purse, and it took some stunning landscape pictures on our acation this summer.

What it didn't do so well was indoor pictures--the flash was garish, and without the flash pictures turn out blurry. Well, at least candid shots of baby nephews, who are always a whirl of motion--even when sitting still.

While the nephews were the main impetus for the new purchase, I'm definitely going to have fun taking house pictures with this thing. Hopefully you'll enjoy the results!

The ghost of the hall bath's future

2011-01-15T21:51:00.000-05:00

Back in December, I showed you some pictures of all the work we had done so far on the hall bath. (Okay, it didn't seem like that much, but trust me--it was one of those projects where every step took 5 times long than you imagined it could.)

There's still a lot we'd like to do in this space, though--let me give you a tour.

First, it needs a new paint color:

I love this paint color (Benjamin Moore Hint of Mint--just a little greener in real life). Unfortunately, it doesn't love me back--it gives my skin an unflattering greenish cast in the mirror. I knew this would happen when I painted the room, but I always conceived of this room as a powder room/guest bathroom. I agonized over the paint color in the master bath, since that's where I figured I would spend most of my time.

And almost as soon as the paint dried I got a job, and started getting up earlier than P, and moved all of my things into the hall bath so he could sleep later in the mornings. Oops.

So new paint it is. I'm considering going back to my first idea for this room, and painting it a rich, dark blue for drama. Since only about 1/4 of the walls will be painted--the rest is all tile or doors--I'm not afraid of going with a really dark color. Plus I figure there's no point in listening to the conventional advice of dark colors making rooms look smaller and darker. This is a tiny bathroom with no windows, and no paint color is going to fool anyone into thinking otherwise.

Next to go: the vanity.

It actually could look pretty trendy with a coat of paint: Hollywood Regency, anyone?

But we're not Hollywood Regency people. Plus, the particleboard has seen better days, and paint isn't going to fix that:

(Trust me, it looks worse in person.)

We're thinking of replacing it with a nice, pedestal sink. Seems like a good fit for a tiny room, and it's a really classic look, in a really durable material--should be a good long-term investment for the house. It's also much more period-appropriate for a 50s ranch than the current vanity. Something like this:

Source

(But cheaper. Just an example.)

Then, let's complete our push toward 50s appropriate, classic style, and durable materials by replacing the floor:

The vinyl here is actually in pretty good shape. But I hate it. We're thinking some white or black and white 50s-esque tile--basketweave, hex, etc.

Like this:

Source

or this:

Source

We'll see if the floor ever gets done. The big hurdle is that the wall tile is installed over the current vinyl floor. Ideally, we would need to remove the vinyl before laying the new floor, but it may not be possible to do that without gutting the walls. Stay tuned...

2011 Goals

2011-01-12T13:34:00.008-05:00

Though we got a whole lot done last year, it's just the tip of the iceberg for what we have planned for this house! We're (or at least I'm) hoping we can get the bulk of the interior work done in 2011.

Here's what I'm hoping for this year:

Guest Bedroom

hang pictures
reupholster antique chair
install closet doors
fix hinge-bound door so it will actually close

Office

make and hang curtains
reupholster footstool
put laminate on top of craft table
paint and hang door

Hall Bath

skim coat walls a little more
repaint walls
really, really scrub grout--and if that doesn't remove yellowing, try one of those grout pens
hang at least one picture/piece of art
install closet door knob
install hooks where I can hang my work clothes

Hall/Living Room/Kitchen/Dining Room

knock down walls to make these all a single space
install structural beam to replace structural wall
move electrical breaker box to exterior wall so we can knock down the interior wall it's currently on
patch existing oak flooring where walls were removed
make new attic hatch
replace textured ceiling in kitchen
remove wood panelling and replace with drywall
remove vinyl floor in kitchen, and lay new hardwoods there and over exposed subfloor in dining room
commit to new kitchen plans
build new kitchen cabinets (at least the lower ones)
get/make new countertops
install backsplash
run plumbing for new sink and gas range
remove windows in dining room, and replace with french doors out to backyard
buy fireplace screen and make the occasional fire
replace hearth tile
make living room curtains (purely ornamental)
figure out window treatment for front windows that will maximize both light and privacy (plantation shutters?)
install new baseboard and crown molding
install doors on coat closet
fix draft under front door

Utility room

build utility room
buy and install new tankless water heater
run plumbing and install utility sink

Master bedroom

lay hardwood flooring over exposed subfloor

Master Bath

give ugly medicine cabinet a cosmetic face lift

Crawl Space

complete encapsulation
test house for radon
enjoy running lots of plumbing for new kitchen in new, dry, clean space

Garage

fix roof leaks
continue to work to make this a functional wood shop for P (so he can spend lots of time out there building me new kitchen cabinets!)

Exterior

paint foundation to complement new stair color
figure out how to make exterior brick look good after we cut into it to install afore-mentioned french doors
paint front door a more lively color (it should be easy to beat white)
work with P's brother A, a professional landscape designer, to come up with an actual design for our landscape
remove a few more azaleas
add more plants and beds to continue moving toward cottage garden look
grow a tomato that doesn't rot before it ripens
try to agree on privacy plantings for west property line, and plant them so they have some time to grow

Wow! We'll see how this goes. Maybe we'll all get together a year from now and laugh at my hubris. We'll see....

2010 Year in Review: the long version

2011-01-10T12:43:00.003-05:00

In the middle of December, I started freaking out or getting tired of the amount of time and energy P was spending in the crawl space or getting antsy to hold a paint brush again or something, and started complaining that we had barely made any progress on the long list of projects we needed to do on our house.

Then we spent Christmas with the folks, and P discovered an envelope of pictures we had sent his mom when we put a bid in on the place. My, it was nearly unrecognizable! (Well, not quite--not nearly so much as it will be when we're finally done with the place. :-) ) It served as an excellent reminder of how much we really have accomplished this year.

Especially considering that for us, the year had only nine months: we closed on our house March 31.

So, without further delay, what you've all been waiting for: the pictures!

Guest Bedroom

Before:

removed carpet
refinished flooring
repaired drywall
painted ceiling, trim, walls, and door
replaced door knob
removed sliding closet doors
installed new baseboard and quarter-round
hung curtains

After:

Office

Before:

removed carpet
refinished flooring
repaired drywall
painted ceiling, trim, and walls
removed sliding closet doors
installed new baseboard and quarter-round

After:

Hall

Before:

removed doors to dining room and living room to open up floor plan
removed carpet
refinished flooring
stripped wallpaper
skim coated drywall
painted ceiling, trim, walls, and doors
replaced door knobs
butchered newly painted attic hatch
installed new baseboard and quarter-round
installed new closet shelving

After:

Hall Bath

Before:

stripped wallpaper
replaced light fixture
replaced exhaust fan
replaced toiled
skim coated
painted ceiling, trim, walls, and doors
replaced door knobs
installed closet shelving

Living Room

Before:

removed carpet
refinished floors
knocked hole in the wall with floor buffer
filled it with boxes and used it as a storage locker

After:

Yeah, not nearly ready to go there yet.

Kitchen

Before:

bought refrigerator
bought washer and dryer
painted countertops
painted panelling, walls, and trim

After:

Dining Room

Before:

removed carpet
refinished existing hardwoods in half of room, lived on subfloor in other half
painted panelling, trim, and built-ins
removed coal stove
removed stove pipe
installed chimney balloon

After:

Master Bedroom

Before:

removed carpet
lived on subfloor
removed TV shelf
patched drywall
painted walls
painted faux headboard
hung curtains
hung vacation photos
reupholstered thrift store chair

Master Bath

Before:

threw away icky carpet remnant
discovered water damage to floor
stomped through floor
repaired rotting subfloor
hung new drywall and ceiling in closet
laid new laminate flooring
painted ceiling and walls
hung shelves in closet
spray painted yellowing fan
hung NYC map poster

After:

Attic
not very photogenic. P spent a good bit of time up there laying down planking so he could work on wiring, etc., without worrying about falling through the ceiling

Crawl Space
P will have creepy crawly pictures for you at some later date. But he's been busy down there.

removed a surprising amount of random junk that every tradesman who's been in there since 1975 must have contributed to
repaired some leaking plumbing
encapsulated 1/3 of crawl space

Garage

removed old shelving
started organizing space to work for us

Exterior

removed wheelchair ramp to side entrance, uncovering existing stairs
removed dead azaleas (and some live ones)
planted new plants
had good herb garden and a bumper crop of sweet peppers
painted stairs
replaced furnace
planted chaste tree to shade A/C unit, and swamp magnolia just for fun
installed new mailbox
created new planting beds around mailbox and furnace/A/C unit

What a (9 month) year! Next time: our 2011 to-do list!

2010 Year in Review: Cliff Notes Version

2011-01-05T12:47:00.000-05:00

I need to write up a formal 2010 Year in Review post.

But until I get that done, here's the Cliff Notes version:

P finally replaced our ShopVac bag last night. We think we went through one bag in April when we were refinishing the floors, and everything we destructed since then went into this bag.

Final tally? Over 17 pounds of dust and spackle and chimney gunk and other junk. That pretty much sums up our year.

(Yes, we're the kind of crazy people who carry the bathroom scale outside to weigh the vacuum bag.)

We're definitely going to best that in 2011. ;-)

A modest Christmas

2010-12-15T16:13:00.001-05:00

I've shown you pictures of our mantle and table decorated for Christmas--and that's almost all the decorating we've decided to do this year. This is our first Christmas with a house, and I don't see a need to buy all of our Christmas decorations all at once. I made an early decision that we wouldn't buy a tree this year.

But doesn't this ladder-as-Christmas tree from the cb2 catalog seem just perfect for our current lives?

I decided that I would buy a nice big wreath for our front door, and maybe 5 smaller ones for our front windows. I've always loved the look of a house with white siding, black or green shutters, and lighted wreaths hanging in each window. (Even before we bought a house with that color scheme!)

And then I discovered that I'm a total wreath snob. And a cheap-skate. Bad combination. I blame my upbringing. My parents' yard is several acres, full of plants that make for perfect Christmas decorations--boxwood, holly, magnolia, hemlock, nandina.... I'm used to producing wreaths that would cost at least $50 if bought in a store for just the cost of a wreath form and some ribbon. Which means I'm stuck now that I'm far from my parents, and the stores are full of expensive wreaths that just look terribly fake to my eyes. (I know it's only going to be seen from 30 feet away on the street, and that will make--almost--all the difference, but still....)

So wreath shopping was a bust, but I still wanted to do something to announce our Christmas spirit to the neighborhood. So I grabbed my large spool of ribbon, and less than $2 later:

I think the boxwood and it's bow look better with a coating of snow and from this unexpected angle, don't you?

I got the boxwood from P's brother's place last month. They're a little small to make an impression now, but hopefully they'll be more striking next Christmas. I'm planning on having them around for the long haul!

That's why I didn't plant them in the large fiberglass pots I normally have by our front stairs--I didn't want to dig up the boxwood next spring when it's time for colorful annuals. So I picked up a pair of galvanized metal pails from our local hardware store and drilled a few holes in the bottom for drainage. Then I worried about rust around the holes, and called P for advice. He sensibly pointed out that I had a half a can of spray paint that promised to prevent rust for exterior applications--and that it happened to be silver, at that! I put a thick coat on the bottom.

We'll see how long the pails last before they rust too noticeably--this is definitely an experiment!

Snow day!

2010-12-13T11:26:00.000-05:00

We got about two inches of snow last night. I know most of you are laughing at us for finding this remarkable--so are we. This is our first winter here, and we hail from parts much farther north. Still, two inches is about as much snow as this place ever sees--so I figured I should immortalize it.

Since 1. no one knows what to do with snow, 2. the town seems to have only one snowplow, and only about one salt shaker's worth of salt, and 3. the whole town is built into the side of a hill, making for steep roads and difficult traction; all the schools are cancelled, and both of our workplaces are closed today. Snow day!

By 10 this morning, we could have gotten out without much trouble--but we live on a road with half the town's schools, so we're a plowing priority. I can see that the side streets just neighboring us haven't been touched yet. We'll see if school's back on tomorrow or not.

We're enjoying the time to work on our Christmas to-do lists--homemade gifts, wrapping, etc.

I hope you're enjoying your Monday as much as we are!

Just because

2010-12-08T18:20:00.000-05:00

I've been looking at house inspiration pictures for months, thinking, "What a lovely exotic fern! Where would I get a fern that lovely? All I can find are the 'normal' looking ferns."

Turns out the answer was right under my nose. There's a florist/greenhouse just a few blocks from our house, but I never went in there until a few weeks ago. That's where all the different varieties of ferns had been hiding! And all of the really nice, healthy poinsettias.

I dragged P in on black Friday to buy a poinsettia for my cubicle, and forced him to ooh and aah over the ferns with me. So a week and a half later, he went back and picked on up for me. Just because.

Isn't he the sweetest?

It's a moss fern. Isn't it lovely?

I replanted it in an extra IKEA planter basket I had on hand--texture on texture!

Christmas mantle

2010-12-06T13:29:00.004-05:00

P spent the weekend down in the crawl space. I know he wants to tell you about everything he's been doing down there--he has been taking lots of pictures, and has promised a guest post.

Before he disappeared, he was kind enough to drive lots of thumbtacks into the underside of our mantle, so I could create this:

The silver bead garland, string of twinkle lights, and poinsettia (of course) were the only new purchases--everything else I had on hand. The twinkle lights were Martha Stewart for Home Depot, warm white LEDs. They were rather more expensive than the other brand of LEDs available, but I'm very happy with them. Some LED Christmas lights cast a very blue light--these blend in much better with the color of light given off by the tea lights.

The "votive holders" are actually drinking glasses, and not technically "Christmas" items--they just look that way when lined up together. (The green ones were a wedding gift; the red ones were my grandmother's. She used to line them up on a shelf in front of a window, because she liked the way the light shone through them.)

I've had the mini tree and it's ornaments so long that I can't remember when my mom mailed them to me. College dorm? First grad school apartment? The presents are actual gifts--someone requested some very conveniently sized presents this year. :-) Hopefully she doesn't mind me using them first!

Deck the table

2010-12-03T18:18:00.003-05:00

Teaching my sister-in-law to quilt a table runner last month inspired me to make a Christmas runner of my own. I finally finished binding it this week, so P would be greeted by a nice holiday table when he got back from his business trip yesterday.

The bowl in the middle contains a batch of popcorn balls my grandmother just mailed us. They're fantastic! My grandmother usually makes them as a Halloween treat, but they're totally working for me as a Christmas mood-setter this year. I guess they make me think of family, and excited about getting to see them in a few weeks.

The runner is reversible for a more subdued look. I'm pretty pleased with the quilting pattern I used:

I'll be working on more holiday decorating this weekend, so there should be more pictures next week!

Hope you're enjoying your December!

Hall bath: "finished" product

2010-12-01T06:41:00.002-05:00

I've been bad about beginning to tell you stories of what we did this spring and summer, and then neglecting to finish them. Sorry about that. I'll try to do better.

Let's begin by wrapping up the hall bath, shall we? To refresh your memories, we started here:

And then we (okay, I) demolished the bathroom in our (my) attempts to get the wallpaper off.

So the wall was in really rough shape. P was going to have to skim coat it, but he was annoyed and disgusted by the whole thing, so the project languished for a few months. To be precise, he just wanted to rip the walls down and start over. I thought that was an unnecessary amount of work and expense. He thought I didn't understand how much work was involved in skim coating walls that were that bad, and how obnoxious it was to work in such a small space. Plus he was convinced that there was other stuff wrong with the walls that we hadn't yet put our fingers on, and what was the point in putting all that effort into fixing walls that wouldn't ever be made quite right?

Plus, he didn't like the tile. Maybe I should have started there.

But I won, and he finally skim coated the walls. My parents visiting in mid-August provided a good deadline for us to pull the place together.

So, without further ado:

The color is Benjamin Moore's Healing Aloe, and I'm in love. Very peaceful.

The color is a little more accurate in the above picture--it's predominately green, but with strong elements of blue and gray.

I'm not sure why I didn't bother to put the globe over the bulb for the photo. It generally doesn't live there because there's not enough clearance for the medicine cabinet to open with the globe on. No joke--that swings out to reveal a medicine cabinet! I really worked to select a fixture where the bulbs didn't hang straight down from the electrical box, so that the mirror would clear. So I was pretty annoyed to discover that even this one didn't work.

What do you think I should do about this? Options:

Who needs a globe?
Who needs a medicine cabinet? Just block it, and keep toiletries on the counter, and overflow in the closet (directly opposite the sink). (FYI, right now I'm practicing a combination of 1 and 2--I haven't bothered to put the globe on, nor do I bother to put my stuff away unless company is coming.) See the closet in the reflection?

Get a new fixture. This one was cheap, and I'm not in love.
Make P move the electrical box that the fixture is wired into to allow more clearance.
Get a normal-looking (and normal sized) medicine cabinet. I find this one charmingly quirky; P finds it ugly.

Anyway, proceeding with the tour. Our new bathroom fan:

You might not be impressed. You would be if you knew how much work went into getting it installed. This one requires a smaller hole in the ceiling than it's predecessor, so P had some surprisingly difficult patching work to do. (And that's why we were so excited that all our master bathroom fan needed was a coat of spray paint.)

Why replace the fan, you ask? We almost didn't--neither of us had a huge problem with the old one. But both of us had this nagging feeling that there was something wrong with it--something with the wiring that might burn down our house. We each developed this feeling independently, and were very surprised to find that the other felt the same. So bye-bye, fan.

(Note: P then got out his electrical meters, and found some very disturbing measurements. There's a significant amount of voltage floating around in those wires, even when the light switches are off. Bad sign. We haven't retested since installing the new fixture, but that probably didn't solve the problem. It's more likely that the house's original wiring needs some updating.)

Our original plan was to replace the ugly yellow toilet seat. Why put a gold toilet seat on a white toilet? Then the toilet died on us. It probably just needed some part replaced, and we probably could have done it for under $20. I say "probably" because we didn't bother to even diagnose the problem. Instead, we just replaced it:

Why spend $200 when we could have just spent $20?

P really wanted a fancy new toilet with all the modern comfort features: chair height and an elongated bowl. Personally, I don't really notice the difference, but he's in love.
And this one's the biggie: our old toilet used something in the range of 4-5 gallons of water per flush. This one uses only 1.28 gallons, yet still manages to have a much more powerful flush that is much less prone to clogging. (P has been testing capacity by throwing paper towels in after cleaning the bathroom. So far, he hasn't managed to find its upper limit. I'm not sure I want to be around when he does.) This is one of those great moments when what's good for the environment is good for us.

We highly recommend this toilet, if anyone out there is shopping for one. It's an American Standard Cadet 3. Not only do we have no complaints after using it for 5 months, but we like it so much that we bought a second one for the master bath. That toilet was perfectly functional, but a water hog, and since we had to remove it anyway to install the flooring, we just put a new one in then.

Our only complaint was the super-cheap toilet seat it came with--why go to all that trouble and expense for a new toilet and then cheap out on the seat, right? So we sent the brand new seat to to Habitat ReStore, and picked up this one instead. Turns out the modern hinges are much easier to clean than the old ones--just as promised.

Enough potty talk--and that completes our tour. Next time I'll tell you about all the changes we still hope to make in here.

We can't have a party without balloons!

2010-11-29T12:44:00.000-05:00

As you surmised from the picture, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our place last week. There's always lots to do before having guests over--removing all of the papers from the kitchen table, straightening up the kitchen, removing the construction equipment from the kitchen...wait, other people don't do that?

I had an additional mission: get rid of the ugly board covering the fireplace.

The problem is that we don't have a damper in our chimney--so that ugly board was the only thing prevent our warm house air from flying up the chimney and heating the whole neighborhood. And to add insult injury, the board wasn't doing a very good job of it. It wasn't particularly airtight. When the air conditioner switched on this past summer, we could often smell chimney soot. Ick.

Ideally, we should install a damper. But that's really far down on our very long project list. So I figured that the ugly and not-very-good-at-its-job board would remain in place for a very long time.

That is, until my friend had the local utility company out to do an energy audit at her house. And he told her that, even though her chimney has a damper, she really should also install a chimney balloon.

What's a chimney balloon? Basically, it's exactly like it sounds: a balloon that's inflated inside the chimney to prevent nice warm heated air from leaking out of your house.

Cool! Sign me up! Where do I get one?

Google, apparently. I'm always a little edgy about ordering from a website I've never heard of like http://www.chimenyballoon.us/ (.us? Who does that), so I picked it up from a third-party seller on Amazon.com--seems much more reputable. (This one, if you're interested.)

It arrived, looking so darn gimmicky that I have to admit that I never would have ordered it if the man from our very reputable local utility hadn't recommended it:

I have to admit--this was the first time I had gotten up close and personal with our chimney. I was surprised to find how narrow it was. Is everyone's chimney this small? Or are we special?

Inserting the chimney balloon was not as clean and easy an operation as I expected. After a few tentative forays, I quickly realized that some specialized gear was required:

I totally would have gone for a dust mask, too, but it's hard to blow up a balloon while wearing something over your mouth. :-)

Now either my chimney was far smaller than usual, or I was a little too determined and shoved the balloon farther up than the manufacturer intended. Long instructions with some diagrams definitely would have been handy. It took me a few tries to get it positioned so that it filled in all of the corners and gaps--and I'm still not at all certain I've got an airtight seal going. (Which is why I totally need this thermal leak detector--but surely a product that advanced can't actually work if it only costs $30?)

Still, I decided that the situation was good enough for the time being, and look! a nice, pretty fireplace for our Thanksgiving dinner.*

P still intends to install a damper someday, but now we can both live with the fact that that's about two years down on our to-do list. :-)

*Yes, the easier and cheaper solution would have been to just light a fire at dinnertime. But since our high on Thanksgiving day was nearly 70, we decided to skip broiling our guests. And please note: every piece of packing on the chimney balloon is covered with warnings to remove it before lighting a fire.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-26T09:28:00.001-05:00

A belated but happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! Hopefully you're still enjoying time off of work and with family!

Baby's first big rig

2010-11-18T20:28:00.000-05:00

How could I have forgotten to upload these pictures from our weekend away? P's brother has a big rig--though it's not insured, so it doesn't really go out much. Why does he have a big rig, you ask? Well, he was approached with a great deal on a used truck, and who doesn't love a deal?

So P got to drive his first rig:

By request

2010-11-12T13:08:00.001-05:00

P is a very good sport about letting me talk about him on here. So when I received an email from him entitled "blog requests," I figured I should take heed. Especially when the body consisted of:

"Picture of you on the mower

Picture of our nephew trying to tie my boot.

Sawzall taken to our dogwood."

I like being married to a guy who's easy to please. :-)

(Plus, yesterday was his birthday--I'm not allowed to say "no" to anything this week.)

So, without further ado:

Here I am attempting to drive P's brother's $10,000 zero-turn lawnmower. I think the bluebook on this must be higher than the values of both my car and P's truck combined. (Don't worry--it's a commercial vehicle, not just for his own yard.)

But speaking of the yard, it is the one my sister-in-law uses for their own house. Luckily the blades weren't down, because it takes some practice to drive it smoothly around curves. Not really my thing, since I'm proud of myself for having learned to use a push mower just last month. I've got a long way to go to work up to this beast.

However, someone else is entirely ready: not only does our two-year old nephew love it, he knows more about operating it than either P or I do. Not saying much when it comes to me, but scary with P--the guy knows his lawnmowers. The little tyke knows every next step with the mower--but thankfully lacks the dexterity and strength to complete them. P drove the mower around with the kid on his lap, and when he wanted to complete an operation, he could just look down and see which button or lever it was little A was reaching for. The kid's going to be scary when he gets a little older--like three.

But for now, he has this amazing attitude--he tries everything for himself, and after a minute, he know when he's outmanned, and looks up, and says, "Help?"

Putting on P's work boots for him was one of those moments:

These final pictures are back in our own yard. We had a (very) dead dogwood tree that needed to be cut down. It didn't seem worth it to put gas in the chainsaw for such a small tree. P is very diligent about not leaving gas in the chainsaw for more than a month. (And what does he do with the old gas? It goes in his truck, unless his tank is full, and then he wants to put it in my car. And I give him the evil eye and say if it's not good enough for the saw, why should I let him put it in my far more expensive car? Back to the story....) We knew we wouldn't use the saw again for quite some time.

I came up with the brilliant idea of just using the sawzall. I'm not used to having a yard so small that I can just run an extension cord anywhere it's needed. Very convenient. P was totally game, so:

Weekend freebies and purchases

2010-11-09T21:17:00.002-05:00

P and I spent the weekend visiting his older brother, A. I've mentioned before that A runs a landscaping business. He also maintains a nursery, of sorts, of plants that he may use in future installs. Being the great guy he is, A toured me around the place and allowed me to take whatever I wanted. I insisted that I just wanted one hydrangea; A wisely insisted that we take our own pickup so we would be sure that my selections would fit.

The final total came out somewhere between my and A's projections:

Plants never look very impressive when photographed against a background of grass. What you (sort of) see here is my hydrangea, plus a swamp magnolia, a chaste tree, some irises, a pair of knockout roses (a has promised me the moon and the stars on these--no need to spray, plus will bloom during unseasonably warm spells in the winter), a few southern shield ferns (which A assures me will grow in full sun, unlike most ferns), a few boxwood, and a butterfly bush. Don't think I missed anything there...

I other garden news, I made all the right calls in regards to the weekend's freeze! The pepper plants andthe basil are done in, so it was good I did a full harvest there. The lettuce, beets, chard and radishes are all still going strong. The jury remains out on the kale and leek seeds. Give up on the garden? Pah!

A's wife T and I went to a local quilting store, and I came home with all this:

I'm hoping to make a holiday table runner from the fabrics on the left, those on the right are for other projects--or just to build my stash.

T is good with a sewing machine, but didn't know the first thing about quilting. She picked out a pattern and fabric for a small table runner, and asked me to teach her. I figured I could teach her to piece this weekend, and she could work on that until our next visit, when we could do quilting and binding. Well, she had the whole thing pieced and quilting, and the binding machine stichted on the top by the time we left, and was sending us pictures of the completed runner by the time we were halfway through the drive home! What a natural! I need to be half so diligent about finishing the handstitching on my pile of projects that's building up!

Of course, one of the highlights of the trip was getting to see our nephew, who's just turned two. He seems to enjoy sewing just as much as T does. Saturday morning he insisted that she sit down and sew with him--she runs the machine, and lets him pull the pins out as she goes along. He takes this job very seriously, and meticulously places each one in the pin cushion. What an assistant!

DIY madness

2010-11-08T12:21:00.001-05:00

P recently went three months between haircuts, and was starting to get a little shaggy:

Since we moved back in February, we haven''t been able to find a place for him to get a decent haircut. Granted we haven't tried too hard--every time we end up a the local Wal-Mart, even though it disappointed us last time.

P got tired of spending $15 for a haircut he didn't like. And when he found out that his sister cuts her husband's hair herself, he decided I should do the same for him.

Thus ensued weeks of back and forth arguing, where I insisted that: 1. I had no training, 2. I had no skill, and 3. I had no inherent "eye" for hair. Seriously--I have no artistic streak whatsoever. Plus, his hair's tricky! He's go a cow-lick in a very unfortunate location, that makes it hard to shape the hair on the back of his head just right.

P argued, somewhat convincingly, that what I lacked in skill I made up for in emotional involvement--I care what he looks like. But what really won the argument for him was sheer stubbornness--I realized that if I didn't cut his hair myself, it wasn't getting done any other way. And eventually anything I did was going to be preferable to his shaggy mop.

Plus I made him promise, over and over, that he would be okay walking around with a shaved head because I had screwed up his hair beyond repair.

P ordered himself some scissors and a trimmer, and I reviewed pictures of what he was supposed to look like--it had been so long since I had seen him with a good haircut! Luckily, one of the best he ever received was for our wedding, so it had been well-documented:

And the haircut ended up being something of a team effort:

P was pretty pleased with the results:

According to him, it's "not the worst haircut I've ever received." Since it was the first one I ever gave, I'll take that as a compliment.

Good thing it worked out, too--we've got another 5 or 6 to go before we break even financially, what with buying the trimmer and scissors.

Refusing to give up

2010-11-05T13:04:00.000-04:00

The weather service is calling for our first hard freeze this weekend, and the newspaper has declared that it's time to give up on the garden. (Digression: the television reporters were doing their best to lather everyone up into a panic about what this means for children at the school bus stop, so parents would have to tune in to find out how to dress their children in the morning. It's just a few degrees colder than it's been! Do you really need a television reporter to tell you how to dress your child? And this is why I read the newspaper instead of TV news.)

I spent a while outside after work yesterday, harvesting the more fragile parts of the garden.

I'm pleasantly surprised by how long the pepper plants all stuck it out. And my one noble basil plant, doing its best to hang on after the others gave up at light frost. I pulled up the cosmos in the front months ago, when they were too leggy and collapsed to work in the bed, but I let the ones in the back keep going. They've bloomed constantly from the very beginning of July through early November--what more could I ask of them?

But I'm not "giving up" on the garden, as the paper suggested. If this weekend turns out to be an aberration, and temperatures nose up just a little, I'm hopeful that I can eek more out of it yet. I planted my fall crops woefully late, and am determined to push my luck. I harvested the largest lettuce leaves, but left the plants intact. I've got some beets that have a few more weeks before they're ready to be pulled--even as babies. My radishes are just an inch high, and my swiss chard (and second run of beets) are even smaller. I only just planted leek and kale seeds this past weekend! I know both should winter over (as long as it's not as cold as it was last year!)--hopefully they'll be able to germinate and grow those first tender shoots at this late date!

This is my first year in this climate zone, and my first time with a real, in-the-ground garden (as opposed to pots on the balcony), so this is all one big experiment. But I'm excited to be pushing the boundaries--how sad would it be to give up on a garden that still had life left in it!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T16:02:00.001-04:00

Painting the porch--take two

2010-10-30T18:32:00.000-04:00

I got our paint retinted, and we put the second coat of paint on the porch today.

To refresh your memory:

Before:

After one coat:

Now:

I don't know if anyone else can tell the difference, but we definitely like it better--and that's what matters.

At some later date, we'll paint the foundation with a similar but lighter color--probably the same color we first tried on the steps.

New York, New York

2010-10-28T06:38:00.000-04:00

Now that we've completed the serious work on the master bathroom, it's time to get down to the fun details! I hung our first piece of art this weekend:

I love having something hanging on that back wall--it makes the room look much more welcoming and less sterile. But P and I can't make up our mind on the height. Usually I hang things too high, and I may have overcorrected this time. (The top of the frame is about level with my eyes.) But I wanted it to be easily viewed from, ahem, a seated position.

I'm inclined to live with it. After all, I'm so proud of myself for hanging it level--that's a real challenge with these Target frames! P has suggested correcting by hanging a second picture over it. I'm worried that one would be far too high. What do you think?

Our "artwork" is actually a sheet of wrapping paper. I bought it last year to wrap my wedding gift to P. He's normally a gratuitous paper-tearer (I know! Who saw that one coming, Mr. Meticulous?), but he took a liking to this piece, and wisely decided to save it.

Despite P's care in unwrapping the gift, the paper still is, well, used gift wrap--creases, tape, and all. I'm claiming that it gives the piece character--makes it look like an actual map that's seen some use. (Anyone buying that?)

Here's the amusing irony--P and I hate going to Manhattan. It's just too overwhelming, too many people--we're small-town introverts at heart. So why display the map? Because the engineer in P loves it. He's fascinated by all the infrastructure required to support modern life--particularly in a place as dense as Manhattan. This map is nice in that it shows things most don't, including train lines and shipping docks. P also feels some personal connection to all of this. His father commuted to Manhattan daily, where he worked to keep the trains running.

At the risk of treading on, um, sensitive topics, I think this is the perfect piece of art for a bathroom. Plenty of detail to keep the eye and mind while a person is in there alone.

We're going to be the biggest experts on the transportation system of Manhattan who never actually go there that you've ever seen.

Painting the porch

2010-10-26T13:25:00.002-04:00

A few months ago, I mentioned that our porch needed to be painted. Let me remind you of why:

Right. Sad peeling paint. Plus the last painter chose to end the foundation paint color and begin the porch paint color in a really random spot. Don't know what happened there....

I started by grabbing a painter's tool and scraping off the loosest of the paint. Nothing crazy (or even thorough)--just the really loose stuff. Which yielded this lovely porch:

And that's when project creep set in. Wouldn't this look so much better if I took some concrete caulk to it?

It's just a little caulk, right? And we've been carrying a tube around with us for over a year, through two moves! (P bought it for a project we did on a house we used to rent, and then didn't need it. But why we bother with the moving is another question...)

Neither of us had actually used concrete caulk before. Fun fact--turns out it's gritty, but still acrylic--sort of like if caulk and mortar got together and had a baby.

The grit means that you can't wipe it as smooth as you can regular caulk. Luckily I wasn't going for perfection, because I had taken my traditional "glop a lot everywhere and wipe off the excess approach."

The problem came when I started reading the directions. I put the caulk on mid-afternoon Saturday (after scraping the paint, washing the porch down, and waiting for it to dry). Turns out that, unlike the nice indoor caulk, this stuff needs 24 hours to dry. Bummer. Guess painting would have to wait until Sunday.

Then I read the paint can. The paint suggested 8 hours between coats (not the 4 I'm accustomed to with interior paint). Even worse, it needed to be applied at least 12 hours before rain or heavy dew.

Heavy dew is a nightly phenomenon for us. As is, so heavy that the time I leave for work in the morning is determined by what time the fog lifts--I don't like to bike when visibility is low. And that's the way it is every day. The dew burns off between 9 and 10 AM, and falls around 8 PM. Anyone doing the math here? That's right, we never have a 12 hour window without heavy dew. What's a girl to do? Clearly, just ignore that part of the instructions.

So P and I popped out of bed on Sunday morning and raced out to put the first coat of paint on the porch--even before coffee and breakfast. I never do anything before a nice leisurely breakfast. He rolled and I cut, and we were done in no time flat. P kept looking at the paint going on and saying, "Doesn't it look awfully light to you?" And I kept saying, "Oh, you can't judge it until it dries."

Well, it dried. Way too light.

I'm used to paint turning out to be a different color than I expected. Usually what happens is I go, "Really? I bought that?" And I hold up the paint chip, and what do you know, I did buy that. It just looks really different on a wall than in a 1-inch square sample. But this isn't even close to the paint chip!

But we have some time to think about it, because here's the local forecast (as of Sunday morning):

I think I'm going to get the paint re-tinted for the second coat. Same thing, just darker. We'll see how it goes. We'll then use this too-light color on the foundation, which we want to be lighter than the porch--you know, create a sense of architecture and all.

Just so long as I get it done on Saturday, this time. Sunday is Halloween, and there aren't enough "Wet Paint" signs on God's green earth to keep candy-crazed children off of our porch then.

Bits and Pieces

2010-10-24T16:01:00.000-04:00

P and I have spent the last few weekends working on little niggling projects. Tying up loose ends of projects, like caulking the nailholes in baseboard molding. And doing the kinds of projects that seemed too small to really warrant our attention before.

We're getting a little cranky at each other, because we both feel like we should be moving ahead on much larger, more significant projects--but can't agree on what those are, how to proceed, or in what order.

That said, we're also really glad we stepped back and took some time to deal with these little things. They don't make for very dramatic blog posts, but they make an enormous difference in how the house feels to us.

We have three small, linen-type closets in the house--one in the hall, and one in each bathroom. We had taken down the shelving in each of these months ago, and it was finally time to put up some replacement shelves, so we could actually put some things away in the closets.

I wanted to go with the wire shelves that you hang on the tracks, so that I could easily adjust the shelf spacing whenever my storage needs changed. P hung those in the master bath closet for me:

We were unimpressed, though, by the shelving. It's fine for holding lighter items like toilet paper, but we weren't sure how it would stand up to lots of heavy paint cans.

So plan B: use the tracks and brackets in the hall and hall bath closets, but put plywood shelving on the brackets (instead of wire).

Plan B didn't last long: when P started knocking around our closets, looking for the studs, he decided they were in inconvenient places for hanging the track. So Plan C: back to the old "nail a board into the side of the closet, and support a shelf on it" style of shelving. Ironically, this is what we had before I made Paul take all the support boards out of the closets back in, oh, May or something. Oops.

All this thinking about closets got me thinking about closet doors. Which we took off in April for the floor refinishing, and never put back up. So I slapped some white paint on the doors, got some new knobs, and up they went! It's funny--I actually don't particularly like having doors on the closets, at least from a practical perspective. It's a lot easier to put an armload of things into the closet without having to fumble for a doorknob. But they make the house look so, well, finished! It's a nice feeling.

At least for a few weeks, before we start knocking down walls. ;-)

While I was on a roll with the doors, I also painted and put a new knob on the guest room door. Much better than before, right?

The one dilemma here was what to do with the master bathroom closet door. It still smelled faintly of that old-lady smell that began the whole bathroom gutting project in the first place. It was a "put your nose right on the door and inhale deeply and think about it" kind of faint smell, but we were concerned that once the closet was closed up again, the smell would magnify and permeate. But all the doors and trim in that part of the house are stained wood, so I feared that painting this one with Kilz would start a cascade of painting everything else to match.

So P scuff sanded it and threw a coat of polycrylic on it. I was skeptical, but I have to say, it turned out well!

You can see that the finish has been sanded away if you really look at the edges and corners--but it's the inside of a closet, and really, it doesn't bother me. Important part: no more smell!

Cheap fix

2010-10-16T15:04:00.000-04:00

The lighting situation in the master bathroom is bad. It's going to need some serious updating. Later. (I'll tell you all about it another day....)

We'll fix it, like, once we have some ideas or something.

The one element that was fine was the ceiling light/exhaust fan. Except for the fact that like most fans these days, the housing is made out of plastic. And after 20 years, white plastic turns yellow.

So I wasn't thrilled with the yellow fixture, but didn't want to go through the time or money to replace something that was otherwise okay. We replaced the exhaust fan in the other bathroom, and it turned out to be surprisingly difficult and time-consuming. So not again.

I've read all about the magic properties of spray paint all over the blogosphere, but hadn't tried it for myself yet.

I picked up a can of silver Rustoleum paint at Home Depot--paying $2 extra for the indoor/outdoor variety, so it could stand up to a humid bathroom environment--and man, everything I had read about the magic of this stuff is so true.

I neglected to take a "before" picture, since this was during the era of "the camera is lost in the mess on the kitchen table." But you can use your imagination, right?

P put the fan back up this morning, and I'm pretty darn pleased:

I think spray paint is going to be a serious player around these parts from now on.

Magic bathroom!

2010-10-13T21:30:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates--I misplaced my camera. On the kitchen table. Yeah, the housekeeping around here definitely leaves something to be desired.

I went back home the first weekend in October for my grandmother's 80th birthday. Great fun! But that's not really on topic here. What matters is that I went by myself, and left P at home. And he painted the bathroom!

This shouldn't have really come as a surprise, since he asked me at least three times before I left, "Where's the paint? What paint are we using?" But I'm usually the painter around here--he's great with a roller, but has little patience for cutting in. And the bathroom required a lot of cutting in: two door frames, mirror, light fixtures, vanity, tub, etc. Bedrooms are really a piece of cake, aren't they?

But P rose to the occasion, and I came home to a lovely room! Here it is as of a few days ago:

(P installed the quarter round bridging the gap between the tub and the floor since this was taken. And the wall color is Benjamin Moore's Horizon, in case anyone is interested.)

Just a few finishing details left now: I need to install all new outlets and light switches, a little bit of touch up paint on the molding corners, and putting the exhaust fan cover back on.

Then on to the fun parts: artwork! A new bath mat! And I'm seriously toying with the extravagance of new towels. We've always gone frugal and used hand-me downs. The idea of getting new ones in matching colors (and that complement the paint!) is pretty novel.

Bathroom paint color

2010-09-28T07:39:00.000-04:00

Since P worked his magic and installed the bathroom floor--the floor we selected on a whim--it was time for me to stop agonizing and just select a paint color already.

I decided, based on some advice from my loyal blog readership (hi, Dad!), that it wouldn't create too much gray in the house if I painted the bathroom gray, as well. Plus I couldn't think of anything else that would work. My concern over choosing a color that would flatter our skin tones has only built over the past month of using the hall bath. P was looking at himself in the mirror a few weeks ago, and said, "I look terrible! Or is it the light?" Yeah, it was the light reflecting off the paint in there. (Since we rarely use that bathroom when the master is functioning, I didn't take "flattering" into account when selecting the paint, and was duped into "pretty.")

I got two paint testers: Behr's Dolphin Fin and Benjamin Moore's Horizon. I was looking for a gray with warm undertones; nothing too blue.

Dolphin Fin is on top, and Horizon is on the bottom:

Wait, you don't see a color on the bottom? Try here:

I decided Dolphin Fin was too taupe. Initially I thought Horizon too light. I've painted dozens of test swatches on the walls of our house, and that's the first time that's happened! Then I decided, despite my rant last week about people using off white colors, that it just might work. Paired with crisp white baseboard and ceiling, I think (I hope!) that it will read as a light gray, rather than a dirty white.

Plus I'm always more adventurous in a bathroom--they're so small, the stakes seem lower. Though this one has some much detailed cutting in work to do, I doubt I'll ever want to paint it again! There's less than 1/2" of clearance between the frames of the bedroom and closet doors--still haven't figured out how I'm going to get a paintbrush in there!

Help! Mystery bushes

2010-09-26T19:32:00.000-04:00

One afternoon last week, I was sitting in my cubicle when I (and everyone else at my workplace) got an email announcing that they had completed the new landscaping installation around our building, and there were leftover plants. Help yourself.

Score! P and I (mostly I, perhaps) had declared that this fall/spring, we would install some more bushes and trees. But good ones are expensive.

I ran straight outside, and was surprised to see that there were some nearly waist-high bushes remaining. I quietly cheered my luck at having worn my jeans to the office that day, and stuffed the two largest in the trunk of my car before anyone else could claim them.

But here's the conundrum: we need to plant these, but we don't know what they are. So we don't know how big they're going to get--which makes it hard to decide on a location. (My guess is they're going to easily double or triple in size, or might even be more properly classed as small trees rather than shrubs--but I"m just going with my gut here.)

Anyone out there have any guesses? Here's shrub 1:

And shrub 2:

Weekend giggles

2010-09-25T16:20:00.000-04:00

An ad from our local paper:

I love it when people try to emphasize what they're saying with quotation marks, but just undermine it instead.

Magic bathroom!

2010-09-24T07:02:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine coined the phrase "magic drawer" to refer to a drawer that magically refills with clean socks. Her "magic lawn" was mowed by the landlord's landscapers, so she never had to notice or think about it. I love the concept, and have freely appropriated it for situations where a person doesn't mean to be thoughtless of another's labor, but never bothers to notice that labor is occurring.

It was no innocent coincidence that I decreed "date night" to pick out new flooring for our master bathroom a mere 36 hours before leaving on a four-day business trip. And P is very good at taking a hint. :-)

To review, when I left, the master bathroom looked like this:

There was still quite a bit of prep work to do before laying the flooring. P had to remove the rest of the old vinyl, pull all of the molding, take the toilet out (so flooring could be laid underneath it), and add the last 1/4" layer of subfloor to the repaired section.*

He also took pictures for my blog! Isn't this guy totally dreamy? (I'll ignore the fact that half of the pictures were of the toilet and icky toilet plumbing.)

Those tasks, in and of themselves, would have been a quite respectable set of tasks for three days (two of them weekdays, at that).

But P is nothing if not an overachiever.

I'll spare you all of the details of what he did--because I don't really know what he did. It's magic, right?

Here's what I came home to:

Detail:

Not bad for the cheapest laminate we could find, right?

Look how nicely he did the door frames:

And because he's a ridiculously hard-working guy, he also taped the new drywall in the closet:

I don't even try to keep up anymore.

I love you, sweetie!

*For some reason we can't understand, the subfloor in the bathroom has an extra layer of 1/4" flooring on top. Perhaps it was to make the bathroom floor, just covered in thin vinyl, line up a little better with the bedroom floor (covered in carpet padding and carpet)?

Whatever the original intention, we decided to match it by adding a 1/4" layer to the repaired subfloor. We could have laid a single, thicker subfloor. But doing it in two layers will allow us more flexibility in the future. In particular, it would make it very easy to lay one continuous type of flooring in both the master bedroom and master bath. (i.e., if we remove the top 1/4" in the bathroom, we have a continuous subfloor extending between the rooms.)

white!

2010-09-22T08:31:00.000-04:00

I'm no interior decorator--that's probably why I don't understand people's concern with finding the "right white." Especially when they want a white that's warm, not too stark.... we painted all of our ceilings and trim with just the basic, off-the-shelf white paint. the kind that used as a base for tinting anything else. and we love it.

I forget how much of a difference this has made to our house until I see something like this:

Yeah, what happened here is that I ran out of painting steam, and never got around to painting out guest bedroom door. The walls, ceiling, trim, everything used to be painted the same almond color as the door. Doesn't everything look so much crisper and cleaner now, with the brought white contrasting with the greige walls? I love it!

I'm always amazed by how much of a difference this paint job has made. With no contrasting true white in the room, the almond paint just looked dingy white. but with the trim painted a true white, it's easy to see how dark the old paint really was. It definitely took some time to paint all of the trim and ceiling and everything, but it was so, so worth it. Both P and I love the way this room is turning out!

The wallpaper strikes back

2010-09-20T06:16:00.000-04:00

On the whole, we were really lucky with wallpaper removal. One wall of the kitchen was papered, and horror of horrors, they put the paper up on bare drywall--didn't even prime first! It should have been a complete disaster, but the paper came down easier than I've ever seen. Just grab one corner, and you could peal down the whole sheet effortlessly.

The hall was a little more involved, but still, quite reasonable. The vinyl peeled off easily, leaving plain paper on the wall. A little spritz of plain water, and then the paper peeled off easily with the scrapper.

Perhaps we were arrogant. P was so eager to see the bathroom paper gone that he grabbed a corner, and:

Ouch. What you are seeing there, ladies and gentlemen who have been so fortunate as to not have this happen to them, is damaged drywall. Yup, P peeled the drywall paper right off with the wallpaper. This is bad anywhere--the drywall will need to be repaired before it can be painted, or else it will look horribly uneven. But it's particularly dispiriting in a bathroom, what with moisture concerns--we don't want humid air getting inside our drywall!

I spent a few weeks scolding P for being a spazz before beginning work on the bathroom paper in earnest. I scrapped and scrapped and scrapped, and got a tiny corner done. Ugly scene. And then, in a fit of frustration, I moved over to the wall he had started on, and:

Yeah. The two of us are not to be trusted.

I finally did what I should have done in the beginning, and called my mother. I grew up in a fairly large, old house. My mother stripped the wallpaper from every room and rehung it all--and then did some rooms a second time, a decade later. She's a pro.

She recommended using the wallpaper remover from concentrate, rather than the gel (that I had been using).

The new stuff was better, but the going was still really tough. The wallpaper was vinyl, so spraying the outside of it with remover didn't do much good. I tried getting one of those wallpaper scorers, designed specifically for this purpose--it makes little pinholes in the wallpaper, so the remover can get through to the glue layer. The packaging promised that it wouldn't damage the drywall paper. Lies--it scored that too. Bye bye, $6.

It must have taken me a few hours to get this far. Most of the room yet to do, plus I was butchering the drywall.

P finally tried using this little scrapper do-hicky we already had on hand.

No magic bullet, but a definite improvement. It would scrape off the outer vinyl layer, and then the wallpaper remover could do its thing.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to have a picture of what the hall bath looked like after I got all the wallpaper off. Let's just say it was a really bad scene. Lots of damage to the drywall, various layers of paint removed with others still on.... It was nowhere near being ready to paint. Lots of unforeseen work ahead.

Date night

2010-09-18T18:30:00.001-04:00

I declared last night "date night."

When P mentioned to a coworker that he had to be out of work on time so he could get to date night, she blurted out, "But you don't even have kids!" And then had a good laugh at her own presumption.

So what does date night consist of around here, then? My idea was that we would grab some dinner at Chik-fil-a (to keep P interested, and to keep me from having to cook myself), and then get some flooring for our master bathroom.

Usually with this kind of thing we research exhaustively, try to balance cost and aesthetics (we don't want to chose something so expensive that we price our house out of its neighborhood--a very real risk around here--but we usually want something that we're going to be happy with for a long time, since we went to all this effort), and spend months making sure we're really happy with our decision before we commit.

This time we're going down and dirty. I want this project done. (There's nothing innocent about me buying the flooring right before leaving P home alone for several days while I'm on a business trip.) And there's a good chance that we're going to re-redo the bathroom within the next few years. We know it doesn't function particularly well for us--it's so long and narrow that we trip over each other in the morning trying to get from one thing to another. But given the constraints of the space, we haven't figured out how to solve this problem. So we're just going to put the bathroom back together for now, and maybe at some future date we'll have a brilliant idea of how to make it more functional. And then we'll do this again. So there's no point in investing money in a floor that's going to be ripped out, or in making sure we'll love it for the long run.

I decided we would drive to the next town over, where a Home Depot and Lowe's are right next to each other, and just pick a floor. No other research. In stock only, no special orders. Down and dirty.

Then P was browsing craigslist late Thursday night, and found a guy selling the same portable Bosch table saw P has been wanting. Only lightly used, for $200 less than new. With lots of extras that P wanted--probably another $200 worth--thrown in for free. So half price.

I always wince at the amount P spends on tools (even though I know it pays off in us not having to hire professionals to do the job, and the next time around we'll have the tools on hand). Finding tools on craigslist was my idea--he's been window-shopping for a while, but frankly, he's a really tool snob. He reads the reviews, selects a particular make and model, and won't settle for anything else. Oh, and he wants it to look brand new. This is the first time he's found a tool he wants in acceptable condition. All of this is to say that there was no way I could argue with adding another errand to date night. We headed off along roads I had not traveled before, on our way to get the saw.

I'll be honest here--we were driving through some pretty unprepossessing areas, and I may have dubbed it "Hicksville USA." Then P spotted a small sign on the side of the highway, and did a double take. "Gluten free pizza?" If living here has taught me anything, it's that places like these often have the strangest surprises. I should know better than to make fun.

What a fantastic turn for date night! I was diagnosed with celiac disease 7 years ago, and haven't had pizza from anywhere other than my own toaster oven since.

So we picked up the table saw, and then backtracked to the pizzeria. It was a tiny thing, with just two booths, in an unimpressive strip mall. The crust had definitely been frozen, rather than made on premises. Still, it was a decent crust, and had that nice pizza-oven baked texture that's impossible to replicate at home. The toppings were good, and the guy at the counter was happy to explain which were and were not gluten free. So if you're gluten free in the greater Knoxville area, I definitely recommend heading out to Cido's sometime.

Finally, we headed to Home Depot and Lowe's. We had decided on laminate flooring for the bathroom--cheap, fast and easy to install, and easy to remove when we're ready for the big remodel. We found some nice looking ones for around $2.50/square foot, but I decided we could make do with the cheaper stuff. We went with the cheapest option we found: an oak laminate, on sale at Lowe's for $0.78/square foot.

Source

It's a surprisingly good match for the oak floors we refinished in most of the house--a little darker "stain," but nearly as much natural variation in wood color as our actual wood. It was cheap, and it seemed in keeping with the character of our house. At least as much as laminate can ever be appropriate in a 50s ranch.

The boxes are now sitting in our bathroom, and I'm hoping they'll magically install themselves. ;-)

And for you tool junkies out there, a few pictures of P's new baby. Here she is, demonstrating the side extension arms (one of the add-ons P was particularly happy was included).

P had a much larger, professional cabinet-maker quality saw in his woodshop at his parents' house, so this smaller model is going to take some getting used to. But it's not without its charms. After years of working in a basement, he's particularly happy that he can wheel the saw outside to work on a nice day. The stand collapses with the flip of a switch. It folds up, wheels around just like a large suitcase. Easy to move to exactly where you want to work, or fold up against the wall between projects.

Look, even I'm singing the praises of this thing. I'm sure you're going to be hearing a lot more about this baby in the future.

Yeah, it was definitely a better buy than an iPad. :-)

Technolust

2010-09-17T12:38:00.001-04:00

I'm spending my lunch break at star bucks, blogging on my new iPad. Well, mine until I arrive at the conference on Sunday. until then, I'm supposed to play with it, figure out how to use it, so I can help others.

Five minutes in, I've so far confirmed what I figured when these were released. it's wildly impractical, especially for the price. I can't type worth a darn. how am I supposed to touch-type if I can' feel keys? every place I'd love to have internet access doesn't have wifi, so lack of a device is the least of my problems.

but this experiment is only confirming my consumerist tendencies, as well. I WANT of these. it slides into my purse so easily! i've always been a Sucker for tiny technology. The plane ride is going to be so pleasant watching movies on this! Much better than my iPod nano screen!

But back to reality. p and I are going to go out tonight and spend nearly enough money to buy an iPad. But instead we'll come home with a used table saw and flooring for the mater bathroom. much more practical.

Sigh.

Update: After using the iPad for several days, my lust has diminished significantly. I'm particularly disenchanted with using my finger to slide up and down to scroll--I find it a little too much like watching microfilm screens glide by, and inducing seasickness after prolonged use. On a positive note, kudos to the Charlotte airport for the free wi-fi--I'm getting a lot of posting done on layovers!