Priming update

Sherene's doing this night owl thing of priming after dark, now that I'm starting to shift more school-planning back into the hours of the day. So it's a little hard to say how many days of priming we're up to exactly...

If all goes to plan, those windows you see should start getting popped into walls next week, with restorations happening soon thereafter. Then: paint!

Priming, day three (after a day off)

Ceilings, touching up uneven patches in the hallway + front of house. Sherene already started in one of the back rooms. The score, roughly: five rooms down (counting hallway and laundry room as one space), three to go. I'd guess two days of priming work left. Which means, once the windows are replaced/restored, two coats of paint oughta take the two of us ten days? We're going to need to get a couple cases of beer and some friends over.

Update, 6pm: Did two closets today, too!

Priming, day two

Not sure how thrilling it is to make movies like this every day, when the process is basically: Turn up stereo, dip roller, slap on primer, repeat. In any case, here's what today looked like:



Doing the math: Two days of primer = Four rooms and a hallway, no ceilings. I assume that however long the priming ends up taking, painting will take twice as long—two coats, right?

Eight brand new windows showed up today, finally. (They'd been on order for weeks.) They'll get popped in next week, after which point we should be able to start painting on top of this primer. Although after all the time we've spent living with raw drywall around, even primer looks nice.

Priming, day one

Haven't done any painting in at least four years, so we have to shake some rust off. But once you get the hang, there's nothing to it. We were going to pay somebody else to do this?

It's especially easy because the house is still so damn raw. No dropcloths needed! (Yet.)



Music: The Heptones, Do Good to Everyone

The "angel window"

This is the one we call the "angel window," for its funky shape. Picture a glowing human figure, cloaked in robes with long wizardy sleeves draping down and arms extended as if to say, "Peace be unto thee, my children"...See it? See it?

It really extends all the way to the floor, which is quite something if you ask me. In the short run, I'm thinking some indoor cacti can go in front of this window, perhaps on a table or perhaps not. (In the long run, I'm talkinbout a baby grand piano, baby.) The wood that frames it needs some sanding, repainting, etc. Its restoration is one of the next steps, because we want to get that out of the way before too much painting gets going. (And more on that process soon. Tomorrow, if we get off our asses like we plan to.)

Here is the single pane of glass that needs replacing, along with a view of our gorgeous front yard, or at least a patch of it:

There are four other outsized windows in the house that will be kept and restored, but they are all rectangles. None of them are angels like this one...

More big tree paraphernalia

Incredible to think that such a huge mamajama could come from something this tiny:

Yet, it did. And these pretty little onyx-lookin' suckers come out of these funky curly-q's:

Still haven't identified genus & species...

This is only a test

No primer underneath, applied with brush so kinda streaky, and photographed with an inaccurate camera...but here are some test patches of color Renie started slappin' around today from a couple sample jars we had. Painting is one of the next steps, and the biggest one so far we will (hopefully) accomplish ourselves.

If the price ain't listed, you can't afford it...

...But my goodness, these floorboards made out of reclaimed wood from wine barrels look pretty:

Millsmont ascent

A quick trip up the ridge behind us. Our slice of Oakland is called Millsmont.



I'm lookin' scruffy.

Dear loved ones,

Folks have started e-mailing us about the clips and pictures we've put here so far, with encouragement and great ideas. Thank you, thank you, thank you...that's one of the chief reasons we're putting this stuff up here. It's for you guys to help us talk this project through to completion!

We're also having fun documenting the whole process, and at least for the rest of summer vacation we'll try to keep it up if only for our own mementos.

Can we ask for one favor? Please feel free to leave comments right here on the site, as long as you're inclined enough to send an e-mail. We'd love it if plenty of conversation could go on about the progress of our blank-slate old-but-brand-new home, so if you've got a thought to drop, don't hesitate to drop it where everyone can share.

Love,
Renie & Charlie

Concrete solutions to concrete problems

Katie,

Thanks for sending this idea! Don't know if we'll end up going with it or not but it's good to know all the options we might have at our disposal.

Cracked concrete gardens...

Succulent inspiration

For the front, we're thinking succulents and cacti will probably figure heavily in whatever arrangement we come up with. It's still too early to start going out and getting pots etcetera, but it's easy to get inspired with beauts like these growing all over the place. It's gorgeous stuff.


Photograph from California Cactus Center

Name that tree, cont'd

First stab at tree research with this site didn't help.

Whatever it is, it's quite common around here. They're all over this neighborhood:



I'm not sure why I need to know the genus and species, but somehow I do.

Name that tree

This tree dominates our whole house, above and below ground. We do not know much about it.

We'd like to know what kind of tree it is in the first place. Dad...? Are you able to help us here? Hint: in addition to copious leaves, it also drops these little brown fuzzballs all over the place. The ground is covered with them.

Also, we'd like to name it. Her.

Guts and glory

Here's some back story to follow up on the guided tour video posted earlier. (Wherein I stressed how big a deal it was that the new walls were complete.) We are really getting into this new blog idea. And why not? It's sweet, sweet summer.

Note: Better to watch this one in full screen mode. I made the subtitles kinda small.



Music: Hank Jones playing Bluesette, from Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Vol. 16

Meet the yard

Better audio?

At the turning point

You could say this is where our story "begins," now that the walls are done. Those were, of course, a very long story in themselves.

Before I got the idea to start this here digital scrapbook for us to play with, I did some writing about the house on another site:

• The First Steps Toward a Greener House
• The Night Crew
• My First Night in the New-Old House
• Not a Wombat
• The Walls Keep Coming

Big bad ass tree

Yard demolition

Reminds me of playing out in the forest, chopping stuff down when I was a youngun.

The Monadnock Way

Renie,

Here's the site. You should be able to post on it.