And . . . the floors are revealed!

We've spent the last 4 days on flooring. Not literally 4 days, but we started on Saturday, made progress on Sunday, and resumed last night. It's so fun.

M thought the best place to start would be in front of the living room slider--since that's a place that won't have furniture in front of it, will be readily seen, etc. It took about 2 hours to get the first row laid. Turns out the walls in our house are not square (as is, I've been made to understand, typical) so we (she) had to account for that laying the first row. Apparently if the first row is off, it will get worse, or grow as the courses go down.

The first photo is last week--a shot of M trying to get the old, original floor level. Easier said than done. This is asphalt paper going down to help even it out. Then a couple shots of the first rows of progress!

Looks like fun, no? Thank goodnes for knee pads!

The first two rows.

Close up.

The second row going down, looking toward kitchen.

First we laid kraft paper under the flooring, but under that (the black above in the upper right corner) is asphalt paper used to help level the floor.

Saturday we ran out of time to do much more than those first two rows, but Sunday we were back at it and got about 9 more rows laid. It's slow going.

Mid way through Sunday

Mid way through Sunday, looking the other way

The flooring is Acacia. We both really like the variation and movement, though we know some people may not be a fan. It's funny because the house we're in now, built in the 50's, has it's original narrow oak hardwood. I always think of oak as very consistent, color wise. But ours really has a ton of variation if you really look at it. Though our new floors seem pretty busy, we think that once we get furniture in, it'll be appear less busy. The real test is that every time we walk in we are wowed by it. I'm so pleased with our choice.

We've gotten a system down, and M is waiting until evenings when I can come work after my day job to lay more. She does the down and dirty stuff, and has a sore back and knees to show for it. She nails and makes sure we're still straight, while I open boxes, plan color and length randomness (a bit more of a challenge than I might have imagined) and layout pieces for her. We're finding a lot of pieces that have more or more significant filler than I'd like, or look way too light or way too muddy, so we're saving those for under the appliances, in the closet, etc. I hope it comes out ok. It's been so fun to see it go down.

We worked again about 3 hours yesterday evening, and have about 18 courses down. We're about 2/5 across the living room.

The biggest challenge is keeping Willie off the floor. He loves to look out the slider (it's up about 4-5 feet from the ground below--deck still needs to be built) and we're trying to keep him off the new floor for the time being. I'd like to be the first one to scratch it, not the dog!

Willie trying to be a good boy and stay on the sub floor

Oh dear, another month?

I kept thinking, it's only been 2 weeks since my last update, or was it 3? I had stuff to report, but no verve to write about it.

I had a few minutes this morning and am excited about today's plans, so I thought I'd pop in and give a preview. When I saw the date of the last post, I was shocked! I cannot believe time goes so quickly.

So, yesterday, we had visitors! Corinne and Bill, my friend April's sister and brother in law (who live about 30 minutes away--April lives in NJ) stopped in to visit and see our cabinets. I know, I'm not allowed to show them here yet, but Corinne had contacted me to ask about whether we were pleased with our purchase since they're considering using the same company for their cabinets during their kitchen remodel. And being one of my 5 or so loyal readers (you know who you are!) I of course said, yes, we'd love to show them off!

We are really happy with them, though when we were designing and ordering them, and when it was time to hit that "purchase" button it was a little bit nerve wracking, having never seen them in person! We were happy Corinne and Bill  wanted to come up and check them out before they ordered theirs. They liked them! They brought us a pie! (what nice guests--and it's delicious!). We had a nice time swapping stories.

Then, M and I started something big. One of the things I've been dying to get started (and finished) Really big. We only had about 2 hours to work on it, and will head back out to DG shortly to pick up where we left off, but can you say WOOD FLOORING!?! We have about 20 or so pieces down, and it's so pretty. I can't wait to get back to work on it. Oh, gee, maybe I should turn the computer off and enjoy a lovely Sunday working on my new floors!

More soon, with photos!

My summer garden

This is the third summer (wow!) that I've had a garden at DG. It's a great spot as it's super sunny and there's plenty of room. You might remember that we (and by we, I mean M) did a lot of new irrigation this spring, for both the orchard and dahlia garden (both new this year) as well as to the garden (improvements over last year).

I've always planted a few flowers in the vegetable garden proper, and this summer I expanded what I'd done in the past. I started with a couple nursery sunflowers, then one 6-pack of Zinnias, and then a lot of volunteer Cosmos came up.

1 of 2 Sunflowers from the nursery. Each plant had dozens

It was looking great. 

Zinnias: so much bang for my measly 6-pack buck!

Volunteer Cosmos--love them

I kind of fell a little bit in love with the sunflowers, so I bought a couple packets of seeds and planted them in July. Felt kinda late, but it was a cheap risk. And here's what I got--though none of them are as tall or girthy-stemmed as the transplants from the nursery, they are so darn cheery. They make me happy.

At least these flowers have been a success. The vegetable portion of the garden has been a mixed bag. The cherry tomatoes (1 yellow, 1 red, 1 orange) are doing reliably well (all except for one). The regular sized tomatoes are unhealthy and not bearing very well. The peppers (jalapenos and serranos) are bearing well, but they're so tiny that a couple of the "bushes" have only 2 peppers each (the whole plants are only about 8 inches tall). The squash is the only thing that's going gangbusters--and there only one of the two. The yellow straightneck has not bourne a single pick-worthy specimen. The other one, some kind of light green-skinned slightly rounded end zucchini-like fellow is trying to singlehandedly feed the world.

We think that our amendments in the raised beds cause too much of the water to filter through too quickly. The irrigation system is working well, but to combat our super-clay-ey soil, we added lots of amendments, and apparently not enough native soil. Poor little plants are doing their best, but in some cases, they've just struggled for months.

Next year will be different on several fronts: it should be much easier to tend since we'll be living there and it won't be a drive out there after work to harvest, weed, etc; we plan to re-design the layout of the garden and will either remove the raised beds, or re-dig them. One thing that won't change is to have abundant flowers in the veggie garden. It's such a happy place to be!

The garden, looking west, at sunset

Behind the scenes (or why I'm gonna get in trouble for this)

A professional photographer, I am not. Heck, I'm not even a good photographer. But my little Cannon PowerShot, purchased on my trip from NJ to Cali 4+ years ago (when I started this blog!) is a good chronicler of progress at DG.

Mostly, I try to take photos that show the before, after, and sometimes in between. I hope I'm mostly successful in getting the point or the image across. I do try to frame them so that the focus is on what I'm trying to show, and not the spilling open took chest just to the left of the photo. If only to give the illusion that all is tidy. Well, not so much.

Three nights ago I was at DG after work, and while M was mocking up a dresser-as-vanity for me, I wandered around the house snapping photos. I want to remember what this construction phase was like.

So for something different, I thought I'd show you today what I normally try NOT to include in the photos. I may get in trouble for this. But it'll be a nice reminder of the semi-chaos once everything is buttoned up and we've moved in.

Master bedroom with tile staged for bathroom

Guest bedroom window seat in progress

Upstairs loft with Chair, Ladder and Chopsaw

More master bathroom tile staging in master bedroom

Window, door and baseboard trim awaiting installation

Willie in the sawdust. Really, that's the best place to rest?

Looking out the garage door toward the front porch. ACK!

Partial view of accumulation on garage side of house

Garage workshop

So there you have it. We have lots of projects started, and few completely finished. And while this used to drive me crazy, I now realize that this is the way M works best. Many times she gets started, then gets stuck, moves on to something else, and then realizes a perfect solution to the original issue. Her mind is amazing. I also now know that it all gets finished sooner or later.

I'll leave you with a preview of my weekend project: Laundry room floors! Can you guess what we're doing?

Happy Weekend!

Half day adventure

On Tuesday evening, M and I were at DG looking at the vanities we bought during the summer. I've alluded to them before, and I know I haven't shown them yet. Soon  . . .

So we were looking at several different options for modifications (making them high enough) and suddenly, I realized that if we'd bought a 3rd "dresser" (we're not sure exactly what they originally were) M could cut it apart and more easily modify the two that need the extra height.

So, we called the guy at the Antique Centre in Berkeley (his hours are sporadic) and confirmed that he would be there this afternoon, and I took a last minute half day off and we flew down to Berkeley (not literally, it's a 2 hour drive, but we were there before 3!). We got the third dresser (kind of sad to separate them--he originally had 6), plus a mate to some plates I bought there last time and some matching saucers.

We stopped in at Urban Ore, a (mostly) overpriced salvage shop in Berkeley,  visited another lighting store, had a quick dinner at Picante in North Berkeley, and made it home just about 9pm. It was a fun afternoon adventure!

I'll write more about the dresser/vanities soon, but each one was $50, and that third one will save M quite a bit of time, which is key. Thanksgiving* is only 10 weeks away, afterall, so time is of the essence!


*M promised me we would be in by Thanksgiving 2012. I am a bit dubious, but still hoping for the best.

My two new favorite things

So, work continues, but nothing too major to report on. Kitchen cabinet tweaks are ongoing (and though I've had requests for photos, M says NO! Not until they're finished! I'm dying to show them, though), electrical, and trim also continues. Since I have no exciting photos (though soon I need to share the story of the bathroom vanities) that are of the moment, I thought I'd share two of my favorite new things.

What is it?

It's the left side of the pantry under the stairs. It's small, but should be pretty functional. It'll all get painted white once complete. Here's the right side view: aren't those insets neat-o?

Right inside of pantry. Insets will get shelves.

The pantry is right off the dining nook and kitchen, and in the hallway that adjoins the mudroom and laundry room. We're still trying to figure out how to put some kind of door or closure on it, since there's another door (to close off the mud room/laundry room area from the main room) and a door to the pantry would kind of get in the way to the other door. We shall see.

Here's my other favorite thing. The mondo HVAC unit (guess I'll have to show you all a photo of that, too!) has ginormous ductwork that goes through the loft area (behind the wall), through the guest room out in the open, and then through the ceiling to the ground floor. It was pretty unsightly, but look what M built!

Close up of the unsightliness

It's the base of a window seat that will likely also have built in book cases on each side. Here are two pics that give better perspective:

Guest room window seat base, view out the back of the house

Same seat, different perspective

It's great to get all this little stuff checked off--this is all the stuff that I fear will delay us in the end. But every day, something new is resolved/built/finished/started, etc. Last night, M spent most of the night sketching and designing the kitchen island. It's challenging to work within our increasingly low budget to get everything we want. M is amazing at modifying things to make them just right. You'll see what I mean when I show you the before and after of the master bath vanities. The before will be soon. You may have to wait for the after, since the vanities are still in the "before" state!

Too hot for heated floors

It's hot again, though with the shorter days, the nights have been lovely and cool. It's like a nicer way to have heat.

And speaking of heat, the wire for the heated master bath floor was installed about a week ago. M's mom came over as "helper" for the day (she loves to get home construction assignments, and has been a huge help) and after some discussion about how to lay the wire so as to use it all, not lay it in areas where it's unnecessary (like under the vanity cabinets), and how not to run out, they gave it a go. Apparently, you're not supposed to cut this stuff. 

Laying the wire in front of the entrance and shower

M's Mom insisted the photo show her spool placement

Note the paint that's not finished in the photo above (final color is pale blue. Taupe was primer). See previous post.

oooh. You can see the pretty door and window trim

M is so good at this stuff--the layout was perfect: it covered all, didn't need to be cut, and was a job well done. Obviously, she has good knees! And what a great helper!

Now on those cold winter mornings, our toes will be toasty under the tile!