Kitchen is done! well, mostly

Suppose this is the last of the blog - the kitchen is together (mostly!) and I have even cooked a few meals. Steve just left for a 5-day Rogue River rafting trip - well deserved after getting this kitchen together. He plumbed, electrified, sanded, and stained his way through all this. I am still not all the way moved into it, but see that in the near future. Now, you are all more than welcome to visit. Eugene is a pretty awesome place in the summer.

Bees

We have a honey bee hive in the chimney. Steve thinks we can capture the queen and put her to work in a better l0cation. Anyone know anything about bees?

Poison Oak

I was being so careful! I did all the right things. But, alas, I am covered in poison oak pustules. Waist, inner arm, spots on neck, and my personal favorite, the nose. Steve is afflicted too, but he complains less. I will spare you a photo of that but have included the work on the countertops. The fine sanding has begun. The boys also decided to try to kerf the boards that are a bit warped in an attempt to give them more flex. As I see it, this means routering along the length of the underside about every 2 inches to decrease the thickness. The days are stretching out ahead of us without a kitchen, but I am just glad that we have a sink and refrigerator.

Fourth of July & new neighbors

We had a great 4th! Steve and kids built a fire pit and we had some friends over to light the works. Also, the new neighbors moved into our old house today and guess what - three boys! Ages 10, 6, and 2. D is singing in bliss. We got the appliances today - the fridge is in and we installed the range hood today - must wait to get a few more things in order before we can install the rest.

Three months - and more

So, the saga does still continue and I thought I'd keep writing (for my own sanity at least) until we have a working kitchen. We do now have a working laundry room as Steve finished it up today and hooked everything back. Of course, he wanted to run a load to check that everything was working. I walked in on him a few minutes later and he was so involved in some other project that he didn't notice that the floor was flooding! Luckily, 1) there is a drain in the floor that works and 2) we figured out that the plugged sink had overflowed when the drain cycle was running and that we just had to unplug it.

The most interesting stories are about trying to sell our stuff on craigslist. We have this futon with an all wood frame that has a very nice mattress. Everyone sleeps comfortably on it. Well, the people that come into your life! There was the lady who drove up in the tiniest of vehicles and kept saying she wanted it, but then explained that she didn't want it for two more weeks but wasn't going to give me a dime to hold it because, "she doesn't know me." She told me this at least three times before driving off. The next lady arrived today in some Lexus (some super duper series L thingy) and she was well coiffed. She hummed and hawed (we are selling this $800 futon for $150) and scratched at a ding. All the while telling me about how they are building their dream cabin up on a lake that is on the property they bought next to their existing cabin. And, oh yeah, would we like to trade the futon for a night at the existing cabin. She even said we could check in early if we liked. Steve kinda laughed at her. But then we are the ones with a futon in the middle of our living space. Ughh.

Out of house - put up last of fence

Moving next door

So, this is how you move next door.

dump, packing, trail blazing

Today, Steve and I awoke and came up with a plan of what we would accomplish. And then we left the house and the plan disintegrated. We took out a portion of the fence and cleared a path through the brush (did I mention how overgrown the property is?), took out a bunch of pointy rocks that were placed there long ago but will probably cause an ankle break. We sent the countertop boards off the Urban Lumber to be planed. They should be done by now but we have not heard yet. Steve spent most of the rest of the day organizing the new house (recycling, garbage, dump run, etc) to prep it to move stuff in and I spent the day organizing the old house and prepping everything to get it out in the next few days. Then Steve went to work at 6pm. I will never again call him "the laziest doctor I know."

And, of yeah, the painter came and caulked but didn't quite allow enough time to get to all the "oopsies." So, he will be back on Sunday. The same day we are moving most of the stuff in.

Packing etc.

The shoe is done! The painter comes back tomorrow to caulk and paint it (and to fix all those little boo-boos that "happen"). Mike and I glued the last of the countertop boards together. They will sit overnight and then be taken to the co-op mill tomorrow to be sanded so that the 3-8" boards are a uniformly flat surface.

The kids left with my mom this afternoon for a few days. After they left I frantically began going through toys and clothes and whatnot. I have started packing (and filling my car with cast-offs that some other family may want). I have a list a mile long and 5 days to get out of here. I just cleaned out the fridge as I realized tomorrow is the last garbage service here at the house. I am amazed at the quantity of old salsa containers. Not sure what that means.

Last things before moving our stuff in

Steve and I were over at the house until about midnight finishing up those last minute details. Steve was working on finishing installing the shoe on the baseboard and I was filling in holes wherever I saw them - wall, ceilings, trim, etc. I also cleaned up some so that we can move right in starting this weekend. We also had it confirmed today that we will be moving in without a fully functioning kitchen. The cabinet painter put on one coat today but will come back on Monday for the second coat. He then said the doors to the cabinets cannot be put on until Wed which is the day we have to be in the house. We should be close (let us hope a week or less) but I think we will survive being without a kitchen just fine. Now how do I get everything over there?

Steve and Mike have started gluing the countertops together. Here is the first one.

Ze cabinets have arrived

Here are photos of the beauties. These are not their doors because those are coming with the painter tomorrow. Took two guys a whole day to get these in. Steve and Mike ripped a bunch of 2", 2yr cured maple boards today and then mapped out how to make the countertops. They will glue them together tomorrow. They then get resanded, epoxyed, waterloxed and installed (did I say 8 days left yet).

We started the day out differently with Steve teaching himself how to cope (so funny on many levels!) but he finally got it and so some shoe is appearing on the baseboard. Takes much longer to do in reality than those online DIY guidos make it look. Coping is just a fancy word for a method of cutting a forgiving joint to make a corner. I painted the kids closets - nothing special, just something the painter felt wasn't explicitly requested by me and so he did not do. I would normally have waited until later to paint these but I was irked and had to finish it.

9 days

So, we have 9 days. This has prompted us to consider getting a POD to put our junk in and store in the front yard until we are ready to either drive it all over a ravine or put it into our new home. The cabinet guy brought most of the cabinets today. He will install tomorrow. Our friend Mike brought the raw maple pieces over for the countertop. Tomorrow we will go through them and pick out which pieces we like so they can be cut, glued, and sanded. I can't wait to see what this will look like. Steve spent most of his time today (before work) working on fixing the range fan. I barely helped again as Donovan had a post-op appointment and we went around thanking the nurses on the Peds floor. We were able to find the time to get a bunch more drywall and bicker about a few things though.

I don't know yet if I have mentioned about the timeframe and the "other" things that are occurring simultaneously. On the day we have to be out of here is the same day that our renters have to be out in Klamath Falls. The next day (the first) is the day we have to clean the house and replace a toilet so that the new renters can move in. This day is also our ten year anniversary. It is actually quite humorous and would be perfect for a 1980s sitcom storyline. If all of this happens I think we'll spend a few days taking a break.

Cabinets are coming!

Cabinets should start to be installed tomorrow. Steve and I tried to get all things ready for him. For instance, the old cut-out for the range fan is off by about 8 inches and it extends about 1/2 in out past where the new trim will be. We also will start putting the shoe back onto the baseboard. Not sure if we can do that while the guy is installing the cabinets or not. We shall see.

floors and lillies

Quick bloggin - floors are done and I am going to environmental hell for all the VOCs we just discharged. For what it is worth, I tried hard to find a good alternative, but for flooring the alternatives are just not adequate. We did use no-VOC paint but paint VOCs barely touch the amount of cancer we just put into the atmosphere with these gorgeous, hard-as-nails, last forever floors.

Here was a nice surprise in the way too overgrown yard! These beauties were hidden around a corner. Speaking of that, I spent the morning cutting back the bushes that line the walkway. The cabinet guy, who is coming on Monday to install the cabinets (whee!), let me know that he couldn't get the cabinets in past the bushes - then I realized that we can't move furniture in without these being cut back anyway. I will add a photo tomorrow of the bush carnage.

June 16

Sometimes I feel like these details are soooo dull. The daily grind of all of this remodeling makes your mind go numb sometimes. The most interesting part of today is that the painter mentioned yesterday that he smelled gas near the meter. I smelled it also but then went to bed and didn't call until today (I kept thinking there was something important to do!). The gas co. was out here lickety-split and had a high tech way of determining a leak - spray bottle full of soapy water. The guy found about three leaks. Fixed them and went on his merry way.

Steve and I spent the day putting up drywall on the ceiling of the utility room. A bit of a learning curve but it seems to be going on OK. Steve has the day off tomorrow and although we were hoping to get a lot done we have all these people coming by. The heating co. is coming to put the gas line all the way to the stove location and the downstairs fireplace. The internet/phone co. is coming to install our line locations. And the floor guy is coming to put the final finish on the floors. And then I had a call from the boy of the family I stayed with while I was in India. Haven't seen him in at least 10 years! He sent me this beautiful wedding photo after we spoke. He is driving through town tomorrow and will stop by for lunch. Can't wait to see them and we shall see what we can accomplish.

Two weeks

So here is the deal - we only have two weeks left and there is not a single thing packed and in a box. Steve is over there cursing at concrete screws because he wanted to finish the basement before we moved stuff over and he can't get the screws into the wall all the way to put up the drywall. This will be a race to the finish. He even bought a contraption today called a "helper" - I am a little bit miffed, but I guess it doesn't ask a lot of questions and probably a quiet helper is what the man really needs right now. I think I will be putting some things in boxes this week and maybe moving kids stuff over to their new room as that will be the only room that is done. We shall see.

Paint and can lights

Here are a few photos of Steve's new lighting scheme in the basement (a huge improvement over the two naked bulbs that were there before) and some of how the paint is looking. These colors aren't so true and I will get better ones later - but they give an idear.

Donovan

So, not everything was put on hold because of the "pissed off appendix" as I was able to tell the cabinet guy the color to paint the cabinets (Marscapone) and the window guy to crawl through an unlocked window by climbing up a ladder to get into the house. I bought the appliances today with practically no research but it is a local company and they seem to know what they are talking about. The painters also came today and I scribbled some color names on a piece of paper and sent Steve off to meet with him today. By the time I looked over there again the entire house was masked and the ceiling was already painted. Those that do these things for a living that would take me so many weeks of work and heartache truly amaze me. Should have photos of some painted walls in the next few days. This photo is from the amazing peds floor playroom. First excursion.

Floors

They look beautiful! One of these photos is from before the finish was put on and the other photo is of all the wood shavings and the rotten wood that was taken out from the bad spot. We can't go in it, so we are just hanging out. If feels good.

Emptiness

The floors are looking great. There was one spot that is about 8x3 that needs to be replaced though. Maybe from a pet, it is black and a bit rotted. Other than that the guys think the floors look great for their age. The main reason we hired them though, versus us doing it ourselves, is because we needed three large patches. Two of the heating supply vents were made smaller and one of the heating returns was abandoned. They patched these yesterday and they look amazing. Really a skill. I'll post those photos later.

Oh no - the end of May

Cleaned up the main floor today so the floor guy can just start in on Tuesday. I have to take photos of it as it is completely empty.

Steve tried to finish up the electrical in the kitchen now that we have the final draft of the design figured out.

We went to Jerry's (local Home Depot) and thought we would just "pick up" some can lighting for the basement as we'll start this project next week. Luckily, super knowledgeable Kim was there to help us out. Thirty minutes later, I am just beginning to understand most of what Kim keeps explaining to us. Who knew? Guess I have not paid enough attention to the intricacies of these things. We finally ended up buying a box of 8 and I also bought a few "samples" of the colors we have picked out. I'll try and get them up on the wall tomorrow.

Trees

Worked on the trees today with our friend Mike the arborist. Steve finished putting up the stairs this morning and they are great. A full to-code 6'6" of head room. Nicely done. Now he is back over there working on the electrical. Tomorrow we'll spend the day cleaning up and getting everything off the floors. The floor guy is coming next week.

Cancer

Totally off the subject - but on my mind. To all you courageous people out there that are giving this disease a good fight - we love you and think of you every day.

Part Deux

We had two guys at the house today installing the new windows. They aren't completely in, but mostly in - which is good because it will NOT stop raining. We already have had twice the avg rainfall for May. Luckily we did have a few hours rain free - so the guys weren't soaked. I like them (the windows and not the installers) - one is smaller than the original to accomodate the counter and one is larger (over the sink) and I think they make it quite nice. We used Integrity windows by Marvin which are a recycled material that can still be painted. They are double hung like the originals - but, unfortuantely, don't look old. The other sad thing is that the old windows were cracked and broken when they were taken out.

Steve spent the whole day taking the stairs down. He got them down and the landing cut back. They are sitting on the floor and hopefully will get put back up tomorrow. (Right now he is getting a back massage from the kids so he can go back over and work some more.)

I worked on paint colors today and think I have them all. Because of the "openness" of the house I think we will have the same color in the living, dining and kitchen. Hope it is not too boring but a 40s house is hard to find inspiration for while keeping a feel of the 40s without being too "kitchy" (unless you go contemporary). Who knows, color is sooo hard.

Windows & Stairs

This weekend was a non-working weekend. Steve was at the hospital (a lot) and my dad and Terry were in town. We had ballet performances and brunch and birthday parties instead. Steve and I started prepping today to put in the new kitchen windows and to move the stairs back about 10 inches. The stairs have to be moved because they were built for very short people and I even have to bend my head sideways to get down. It shouldn't be as involved as it sounds but we did have to demo this hodge-podge closet-ey thing that was built up against the stairs. Not at all sorry to see it go, but the people we bought the house from thought it was very charming, so I feel a bit guilty. I will show the updates tomorrow. Also, the rain will not stop and it is killing me!

Plaster & Elec. Photos

Here are some photos to show how nice the plaster and electrical are looking. These are all the skim-coated walls and the kitchen electrical.

Wednesday

I finished the wallpaper walls! All the walls are now ready to be plastered. So many small steps that seem so minor yet hold up each progessive step. Steve is over there doing more wiring. If you can just imagine him over there with a textbook and printouts from the internet on wiring.

End of the day

Steve is still over at the house putting up the kitchen lights. He has them all rewired and tricked out in a new three-switch panel. Very impressive. He has worked on this all day - again. I spent the day finding lights and looking at cabinets and talking to the cabinet guy. The only other thing, and I will have to post a photo tomorrow, is that while I was talking with the cabinet guy the kids decided to open a window in the bedroom and crawl out. Usually not a big deal, but this is the window on the wall that was just skim-coated with plaster yesterday. Now it is all messed up AND muddy from those shoes that have been playing in the garden. Hope that guy can fix it.

Chicken update

So, the only other thing that happened yesterday was that I had to spend some time shoring up the coop. On the chicks second night out, a tenacious raccoon spent much of the night trying to chew the door off. I did not know this about raccoons and all I can think about is how terrifying this must have been. Doesn't look like he came back last night though. I wonder if we are doomed to be bird-less.

Plaster miracle

So the plaster walls have caused so much heartache. Seems nobody knows how to fix them anymore - I found two guys who are retired and didn't want to come out of retirement to help me. But the walls are in such bad shape that a painter said he wouldn't paint over them. I then researched and researched and figured the way to repair them is to buy several grades of white quartz sand and mix it into a plaster type material and then try to mix them to the consistency of the texture on our walls. Sounded like a surefire recipe for a terrible day. So, this guy who works for the company that helped us put in the new door is one of the few left in town that does this kind of work. He is going to skim-coat the entire bedroom that was wallpapered since there is so much damage. It only took him about 45 minutes to do one wall! It is funny how the things that you don't anticipate to be a problem can turn into the worst of the bunch. Pretty happy about it all.

Steve is still doing electrical work and trying not to drink too much Ninkasi while he is at it. He took this photo the other day when he was on break.

Sunday

Now that the weather has improved I don't think that any of us are still having thoughts of hating the new house. The sun really does do wonders. Steve worked both days this weekend but was able to put in several hours working on the electrical. He has to puzzle out how and why things were done originally and then how to update it without tearing too much of the wall down. Slow work but pretty cool. I am STILL working on the lasting effects of the wallpaper. Glue. I smell like vinegar and have lots of dots of glue balls in my hair that resemble lice. I also get to attack a tremendously overgrown plant once in awhile with the "lobsters" as Donovan likes to call the loppers. Steve has the next two days off.

Day 45

The Furnace is done! After all this time the van finally drove away. What an ordeal - and on such a beautiful day who cares about heating? It is not as cute and little as I had hoped, but it is out of the way and is updated and should be very very efficient.

This week saw Steve working on the electrical and a guy plaster in all the damage we have done so far.

Today was a glorious glorious day and so I am adding some photos from the yard. We also plan on letting the new chicks spend their first night in the coop. Let us hope they are not pecked to death in the morning. I guess there really is a "pecking order."

Plan

Well, this day did not go according to plan. Will we move into a house with a kitchen or not? Hmmmm.

OK, so I will add a bit of backstory - but reluctantly since I am still so steamin' mad. While Steve was gone for 5 days, and for us to stay on-schedule, I had to hire someone to move a door. This meant cutting out the new area and framing it in. So, the dude showed up and started in to work. No matter how many times I went by to talk to him he never had any questions. So, this dude, decided that all the wiring in the wall (5 major circuits) were unimportant and so he cut them off as short as he could and then shoved them into the ceiling or wall or floor as far as he could. He then proceeded to frame in the door.

Therefore, Steve spent the entire day that was meant for other work, pulling out the new framing and tearing apart walls and floors and ceilings to find all these circuits. And I mean ALL day. Awesome. I wonder what this dude is gong to charge us?

Back from the weekend

OK, after a few glorious days off - we are back. Let's see what we can get done today.

Kitchen

So the world is revolving around the kitchen. Found a really great cabinet maker. The kids and I hung out with him in his workshop the other night and he dazzled us with the art of cabinetry. Who knew? I'd love to take some photos of his workshop - maybe next time. We have a door being moved so that we can commandeer more space in the kitchen. That should be done tomorrow. I am learning about windows (found out there are cheap windows and very very expensive windows!) because we have to replace the two in the kitchen. I hope we are getting a countertop made of maple from our friend Mike who is an arborist and the floor guy came by to do a quick once over of the kitchen to see if it could be salvaged. It looks like they will be beautiful fir floors except for two long cuts across it from when someone installed the linoleum back in the 40s. All in all, looking like it may come together.

Thought I would end by adding an image from Steve's day. Ahhhhh.

Slow May

We are stagnating a bit. There has been too much work and a birthday and a visit from my mom. Making some minor progress but not much to talk about. The only funny thing is that there was a man complaining to our old-timey neighbor that "those people who just built a fence have fenced in some wild turkeys!" Luckily, the old-timer is knowledgable about these birds and explained that these birds can fly 50 feet up into a tree to roost and so we probably didn't capture anything. Happy Birthday Steve!

End of April!

So 1 month down and 2 months to go!

These last two days have been heating and cooling guys taking out the old system and starting to install the new "cute little box". While Steve has been trying to figure out how to deal with plaster walls and I have been tediously (did I say tediously?) trying to remove wallpaper glue from the bedroom. We also tried to figure out how to get cabinets and are surprised that they do not seem as expensive as we feared. Appears that it really may not be a bad time to do work on a house. Also found a floor guy to do the floors.

All this seemed as if it would be so easy. But I kid you not, every person that comes to give us a bid for something will say, "my way is the ONLY was and anyone else is wrong!" and then the next person comes in and says the exact opposite. And then, the third guy comes in and messes it all up by suggesting a completely novel idea - and his way is the ONLY way to go, of course. So, we end up learning a helluva lot about HVAC, floor finishes, plaster walls, wallpaper, etc.

So, final note. These photos have no relevance to the current projects. Except the story about D. Appears that he is loving learning about climbing trees. The other day he was way up in a magnolia tree and, as Steve looked on, a limb broke and D started to fall upside down. A few feet from the ground his feet caught in the crook of a limb and it held him, hanging in mid-air. Steve was convinced he had broken his ankles. But, D tells this story with those mischievous eyes and seems unfazed.

Day 27 - Wall Demo

After a million "I don't know what I am doing" comments, we took down this wall. The plaster and lathe construction is truly incredible. We took a truckload of lathe and frame to the recycling center today and it all looked as if it was new and not 70 years old. It almost hurt our sensibility to take down such a well-built wall. BUT, we did it.

The only problem is that it is REALLY setting in that we do not have a master plan for this project. We don't know what to do next.