Its Gonna Be Bamboo

Charlie and I have decided to go with bamboo flooring for the house. Initially we wanted rosewood or oak but the beauty and value of bamboo cannot be beaten. We save $2000 with this choice—installation will be limited to the living room, dining room, and hallway. Kitchen tile is still up in the air.

Angel before and during...("after" still to come)

Angel window, August 30, 2009

Painted angel, August 27, 2010

And to put it in perspective: Tomorrow's our third wedding anniversary. I love Renie!

Now let's paint s'more.

Window restoration progress

The angel window is underway. Blue masking tape and cheap newsprint bathes the living room in a stained-glass lighting effect, which I find kind of amusing...

Bohemian Rhapsody

Five rooms to go. Guest room # 1: French Lavender, Guest room #2/office: Russian Sage, Master bedroom (a repaint): Natural Wheat, Bathroom (a repaint) : Fairfax

It won't be boring - we can promise you that.

Its About Quality Of Life

This is what I'm going to do with the space in the back - there are two rooms. This one's mine and the other belongs to Charles. I know I can't afford to have as much glass and wood back as in this picture, but it represents the overall vibe I am going for. What I most look forward to is hanging out with my homies or just chillin' back there during holidays and after work. I've earned it. Creating a tub room is not as arduous as it sounds - we've got a new contractor (yay!) - he'll have to insert plumbing from the house to the in-law, rebuild the roof, and walls. Not sure which tub I'm going to go with yet - any suggestions are welcomed. This room along with a red wood deck built to the right of the tub room will be completed no later than June 2011 - just in time for summer! I promise not to waste too much water.

Beyond ceilings

Eagerly Anticipating

This fridge that will arrive at Monadnock in the next couple of months. Inspired by Amy Crawford's cutie pie fridge -its stainless steel with french doors and a bottom freezer.

Our Final Choice

Our final choice for granite in the kitchen and breakfast nook is Granite Expo's "Black Galaxy". Black goes with everything, plus it can also take lots of wear and tear without looking busted. Ideally,we would get this stone without bullnose edges but I'm willing to go with this one even if we can't. All appliances will be stainless steel.

More night-time rollin'

Renie works best after dark.

Two rooms, one coat each.

Windows and pre-kitchen

First week of school almost over...No work done recently on the painting, tho' that is about to change. Meanwhile, window restoration continues apace:

About to start taping ceilings so while I'm off preaching at the masses, Renie can do the kitchen walls.

Which reminds me: The bottom picture in the previous post wins. No Ikea for us! And here's a sample of the counters:

Featuring shimmery shininess that sparkles in the light!

Which kitchen plan ends up the more prescient?

The one I tried most valiantly, most geekily, to work up on the IKEA kitchen-planning web app? The one you can boot up in-store and show them exactly where you want your Bløöp—on top of your Sketå and next to the third Lampke on the left:

Or the one made by the guy who just came over to place a bid on some work—who's designed tons of kitchens before and memorizes his plans as he writes them? He sketched this, tore it out and handed it to me for keeps, telling me that he's got hundreds of kitchen plans stored in his mind and no longer needed the written reminder:

Time'll tell.

Painting update, mostly ceilings

It seems absurd, but it's true: Tomorrow is my first day of the 2010-2011 school year. So things are going to slow down for me considerably when it comes to the painting routines. Renie's got a few weeks of sanctuary left and she'll be holding it down with the rollers while I'm typing up syllabi...



Music: Rollin' Blues, by John Lee Hooker

By the way, the nasty kitchen ceiling vent in this video was clogged up with plenty of seed-pods from the big tree out back (who still needs a name). I thought it was a mighty cool Darwinian trick that a tree could sneak its DNA all the way into our kitchen. Through the roof, the ceiling, and everything! Talk about a will to survive.

Bigger test patches

Bigger test patches tonight, with colors we're now pretty sure we're runnin' with...Pretty sure!

Lavender for the corner room...

Burnt-orange-brickiness for kitchen/nook.

Let the paint begin (and open the windows)

Three or four ceilings cut, and dining room ceiling done, first-coat-wise. Still some light left; can I at least get to the smaller breakfast room before dark?



Music: Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, Take the Coltrane

Priming pop quiz: how many coats?

Guy in the hardware store said we'd only need one coat of primer. Carpenter (who also does painting) tells us we should do two. We're doing two. So it's time to rinse and repeat up in here! Should be able to manage another coat before I go back to work; I'm doing cutting and ceilings and Renie's doing the walls. Accept sudden but small setback, roll up sleeves, and continue.

Meanwhile, window sill trimming and door restoration is under way! As usual, our hired nailgun-slinger is putting together some fine craftsmanship.

All together now: What are we doin'?

Block party!

National Night Out, August 3, 2010. Met some lovely folks and even had an old friend and former colleague of mine who lives with her husband up the road come down for a spell. Nice evening! ("Damn balloons" notwithstanding.)

New windows, old windows

Still no moldings/sills, and not all
new windows are popped into place,
but here's progress at least...

And speaking of guts...

This is why you do the floors last...

...So that if a ginormous puddle of primer appears down there somehow, you can just dip your roller and keep it movin'.