tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86887372008612364332012-02-16T09:18:29.939-08:00Being a blog where we can document our efforts to renovate our 1912 Craftsman fixer in Portland, Oregon and share our ever-changing plans and notes of what we're up to.Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.comBlogger6461100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-63249389627210101132012-02-15T21:29:00.000-08:002012-02-15T21:29:10.780-08:00

Sharon and Jeff have been slowly preparing the master bedroom for staining. It seems to be taking forever! Sharon patched cracks and holes in the plaster. Then, Jeff went through and filled holes in the woodwork, of which there were many—especially on the header of the windows. Then, Sharon followed behind, the next day, and sanded down the excess wood filler which smeared onto the adjacent

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-25169954478529868982012-02-11T16:19:00.000-08:002012-02-11T16:19:48.298-08:00

Sharon's still debating about what to do for the backing, but the pieced quit top is done! Alas, we really don't have any piece of floor large enough to lay it out, so there won't be a good picture of it until after it's quilted and bound, if ever.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-64450657546708752022012-02-07T18:27:00.000-08:002012-02-07T18:27:04.854-08:00

When Sharon's stepmother was here, they went cruising around to a number of thrift stores—for kicks! It's often fun to see what you can find. Well, Sharon made a lucky score! A tapestry cushion for $5!! Sharon tried today to exactly date the design. It sounds like it may have been designed by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones who worked with William Morris. But, in any case, it was certainly

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-37599990192524793492012-02-05T20:47:00.000-08:002012-02-06T17:31:44.706-08:00

After spending a while working on the master bedroom, vacuuming dust and patching the plaster in preparation for staining, Sharon decided to spend some time this afternoon working on her quilt. We have a layout. Update on the next day: All assembled. Now it's time to get to work on the borders.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-62384530247320177992012-02-04T21:51:00.000-08:002012-02-04T21:51:08.351-08:00

Sharon's father, Lloyd, helped us install the new toilet in the basement bathroom. We're considering this a temporary install because we haven't gotten around to finishing the wood or installing the flooring. But this will work out for a while for those midnight emergencies. And we can also get an exact measurement for the sink cabinet shopping. Jeff and Lloyd also installed weather stripping

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-29353301116567779082012-02-01T22:02:00.000-08:002012-02-01T22:02:40.440-08:00

When Sharon's father visits, we typically manage to undertake "scary" projects. Taking apart cabinet doors qualifies as "scary" in our book. Carefully prying off wood moulding Carefully prying off wood moulding Success! Moulding saved and glass removed. Now that we've removed this leaded glass panel out of the cabinet door, we can determine what size Y-channel lead caming to order

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-12561929956128695852012-01-31T18:11:00.000-08:002012-01-31T18:57:54.756-08:00

While our plan today had been to clean the main living area for a visit from Sharon's father, we got sidetracked cleaning the basement. We should have taken a "before" picture, but in truth it was so very cluttered we wouldn't have wanted to post the photo anyway. We had a lot of recycling piling up all over the place and plenty of  disorganized piles of "stuff." After spending many hours today,

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-80064818514639570962012-01-30T23:30:00.000-08:002012-01-31T18:30:39.077-08:00

The rest of the blocks have been assembled!! Alas, Sharon needs to build a couple more blocks to replace the last two. The Michigan Beauty square was difficult to put together and it didn't turn out very well. Sharon may just make a different square to replace it. Also, the St. Louis Star was a disaster. Some of the pieces must have been cut out wrong, or assembled wrong, because the center

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-3448655909240825752012-01-25T12:06:00.000-08:002012-01-27T23:57:32.478-08:00

Sharon is very pleased with the quality of the furniture. Though, it would have been nice if the pieces had arrived closer to 30 days as originally advertised, rather than three months. We were also pleased to discover all those cushions pop right off, so it will be easier to clean and replace the fabric, when necessary. We're probably going to do more rug juggling later today or tomorrow.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-51980108989374568402012-01-22T22:42:00.000-08:002012-01-24T18:59:46.222-08:00

Sharon made good progress on her quilt squares this weekend. She finished the last 10 of the filler squares and then 10 of the historic blocks. The going has been fairly slow at the beginning because she is going through and cutting all the pieces of a particular fabric in descending size order. She builds squares as she finds she has all the pieces cut. Sarah's Choice, ca. 1906 Mrs. Lloyd's

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-51760726734652263382012-01-21T17:58:00.000-08:002012-01-28T00:08:15.368-08:00

We received our replacement bird cage today! Even with the mistake, the folks at Designer Aviaries were lovely to work with. We're quite happy with the new cage. It took some coaxing to get Mia inside, but she'll get used to it soon enough. Sharon also got a message that our living room furniture has finally shipped.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-447275458516973932012-01-15T21:46:00.000-08:002012-01-15T21:48:51.081-08:00

After spending a couple frustrating hours stripping paint this morning, Sharon decided to take the afternoon off and do something fun. So she spent this cold, snowy afternoon preparing for sewing her historic quilt blocks. She went into full organization-mode and printed out the rolling cutting directions and templates for all 43 blocks and organized them in a binder in plastic sheet protectors.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-65206661249068531102012-01-13T19:36:00.000-08:002012-01-16T20:11:19.430-08:00

Sharon has been trying to decide how much paint stripping to do in the master bedroom. She spent another 14+ hours this week carefully going over half the the woodwork in the room, scraping and digging paint out of nooks and crannies. But there is always the decision about how much is enough. There are some spots that refuse to strip clean without removing the woodwork. The paint is

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-51773544502784354472012-01-13T17:00:00.000-08:002012-01-15T19:31:10.383-08:00

Sharon mostly finalized the quilt design for her historic reproduction block quilt, with some possible future tweaks along the way. Here is the pallet of fabrics for this project, except for the one she ordered for the backing. Sharon got started in earnest on this project this week. She made 30 of these blocks for the repeating squares between the historic blocks. Only 10 more to go.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-21207159954559087032012-01-11T21:49:00.000-08:002012-01-12T00:33:08.347-08:00

Sharon finally started paint stripping in the master bedroom again! It turns out the key to getting going again is—audiobooks! She only allows herself to listen to the books when she is working upstairs either stripping paint or sewing. (She's been working on the quilt too, but that's another post.) We thought the master bedroom was basically done, but then Sharon went all perfectionist and

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-46886697124436172122012-01-07T21:27:00.000-08:002012-01-09T12:28:58.301-08:00

When Sharon ordered the rug the other day on Overstock.com, she found this inexpensive Tree of Life tapestry, which she ordered. Today, she made it off to JoAnn fabrics to buy an inexpensive cafe rod to get it hung up. This particular tapestry design was done by John Henry Dearle, of Morris & Co., in 1910. On another topic, isn't that plastic thermostat controller ugly? That's thanks to our

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-23699152936200116572012-01-07T14:41:00.000-08:002012-01-07T21:53:49.465-08:00

Sharon has been saving and storing rug images for a while now and she thought it was time to share some of them. Again, excuse this post if you have no interest in period research. There are lots of great opportunities out there to get less-expensive rugs in an appropriate style, if you're familiar with what rugs looked like back in the early-1900s. Like today, they actually had a large

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-65948861922210723112012-01-06T12:42:00.000-08:002012-01-06T13:54:07.641-08:00

We swapped out the rug in the dining room—again. This is the third time. We just kept trying different rugs in the room, trying to find one that worked best with the colors. The latest burgundy and tan rug was not working—the colors were not working with the cherry-stained woodwork and the green fabric seats of the chairs. Hopefully, this new rug will be the last time! Over the holidays Sharon

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-48606882394331800752012-01-04T21:30:00.000-08:002012-01-07T00:11:55.230-08:00

Sharon decided to make some new potholders—our old, dead potholders are pretty scuzzy looking. She was planning to make boring, square potholders—then Jeff intervened. He decided it would be cool to make Reuleux triangle-shaped potholders. These are constant width, which seems like a nice feature, but the points give a nice place for the thumb, with the opposite side flatter for the fingers.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-68918521867232987222012-01-02T21:15:00.000-08:002012-01-04T21:51:28.880-08:00

Jeff designed a pieced pillow cover and  Sharon sewed it up this morning. For any math buffs out there, this visually demonstrates the Pythagorean theorem. I.e., the large square is on the hypotenuse of the right triangles (which are all the same shape and size), and the other two squares are on the two legs. A little thought shows that the sum of the squares of the legs have the same area as

Jake Vortexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04996432167988254419noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-50998958008797437312012-01-01T23:46:00.000-08:002012-01-02T00:27:26.531-08:00

Sharon doesn't intend to turn this into a quilting blog, but that is what she is working on right now. She put together the sample every-other square for the historic quilt. She is reasonably happy with the colors of the square, but not so happy about the beige fabric being slightly twisted so the striped pattern isn't straight across the piece. She may have to play with the fabric a bit and

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-9379962533489126792011-12-27T21:19:00.000-08:002011-12-27T21:28:47.603-08:00

Look what we got for $5 at Target! We're pretty happy with our score. Even though we don't celebrate all the rituals of Christmas, we do miss having a tree. Sharon has been storing different urls at Pinterest for ideas for making ornaments. We're planning a big Winter Solstice/Anniversary Party next December! Jeff put together a few cookie plates for our neighbors. It pretty much cleaned

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-38176423595213608022011-12-23T23:34:00.000-08:002011-12-23T23:34:50.180-08:00

We pretty much cancelled Christmas about a decade ago and have never really resumed celebrating it. When we moved down to California in 2006, we donated the bulk of our Christmas decorations and the meager few things we still possess are buried in storage. Other than a cute wreath Jeff made at a master gardener meeting, our house is pretty much devoid of seasonal decorations this year. We do

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-15542172460790147522011-12-21T15:21:00.000-08:002011-12-21T15:50:22.176-08:00

When we ordered our new living room furniture in late-October, we were told it would take 30 days. Sharon presumed 30 days + shipping time. Well, it's been nearly eight weeks and they haven't even contacted us to let us know the pieces are shipping. They must have gotten lots of orders for the holidays. Though there really isn't a lot of reason we need the furniture sooner, Sharon is starting to

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-48110976470302611182011-12-19T16:58:00.000-08:002011-12-21T10:45:31.477-08:00

Today is our 24th Wedding Anniversary! Hard to believe it's been that long. We didn't make any big plans to celebrate this year. We had thought we'd be headed down to California this week; but that effort sort of sputtered out somehow. It's hard to leave the house these days! We are having a very low-key day. We ordered Jeff some Muck boots at a local gardening store and did a few errands.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-19637537678175124902011-12-14T16:59:00.000-08:002011-12-22T13:17:15.396-08:00

Our kitchen pantry was quite the mess, and really not useful the way the stuff was stacked in there. While, we had big plans to build in shelves, it became obvious that it wasn't going to happen in the near future. We still don't own a table saw and the other tools we'll need to cut the wood down to fit. So, instead we decided to figure out a temporary solution.  We bought this

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-17458288298069571162011-12-10T22:22:00.001-08:002011-12-10T23:29:26.744-08:00

It's a good thing Jeff is still doing stuff. (Sharon has not been productive this week.) Jeff installed the new locks on the doors in the basement. We actually had those doors taped shut. It is so nice that they finally latch (and lock)! This morning we drove out to One Green World Nursery out in Molalla, Oregon. We bought two apple trees—a Liberty dwarf apple tree and a columnar Scarlet

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-14512511758499823852011-12-09T22:55:00.001-08:002011-12-09T23:57:09.149-08:00

We finally got copies of photographs from Craftsman Design & Renovation. Sharon was sort of appalled by the stuff they put out throughout the house—way too much mid-century stuff—but since they hired the photographer, they could put out whatever they wanted. Anyway, here are Sharon's favorites. Main Floor Bathroom Jeff loves his BlueStar range. Sharon loves our soapstone sink.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-80230139570457130002011-12-09T00:36:00.001-08:002011-12-09T16:49:52.763-08:00

Sharon got pretty excited tonight when she was cruising through her Craftsman Magazine pictures and she found this photograph from the February 1913 issue (p. 582). Modern Tapestry for chair coverings, designed and woven by W.M. Baumgarten & Co. -- an unusual combination of rich coloring with whimsically decorative designs. This is extra exciting because we have been debating about what to

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-40188246656481119262011-12-08T14:10:00.001-08:002012-01-28T00:09:15.926-08:00

Sharon finished making the pieces for her very first piece of furniture in woodworking class—a plant stand! She made it from douglas fir to match the rest of the wood in the house. This hasn't been glued yet because she is planning to stain it first. She's hoping to sign up for another woodworking class next quarter to continue to work on her meager skills. Next up may be a mission style

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-20942243669656604572011-12-06T13:49:00.001-08:002011-12-06T21:45:51.443-08:00

The City does its leaf cleanup this week, so Jeff has been hard at work hauling our neighbor's leaves into his now-huge leaf pile in the backyard. Hopefully, this phase of fall is finally over. We didn't get a permanent covered chicken coop enclosure built this year. So, instead we're trying something a little more temporary. We saw this deeply discounted gazebo at Home Depot at the end of the

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-3327503138302163742011-12-05T23:32:00.001-08:002012-01-15T11:00:35.873-08:00

We've spent the last couple of days mucking out our basement "apartment." Even after two days of cleaning, the space is definitely not photogenic. Sharon sold the old living room furniture we bought right after we moved in. Since we've ordered new furniture, we decided it was time to let the couch go, but when the buyer discovered the couch was part of a set, she really wanted the other two

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-62495293967912403412011-11-30T17:05:00.001-08:002012-01-27T23:55:24.631-08:00

Have we ever mentioned how much craigslist rocks?!! =) Managed a couples scores this week. First, this Stickley Rocker. Jeff decided he wanted to trade his Bentwood oak rocker for this one. The upgrade cost a couple of hundred dollars, assuming we are successful at selling the old rocker for something close to our asking price. Stickley Henry Ellis Oak Rocker w/Inlay Close-up of Inlay

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-55962076386970787802011-11-30T12:21:00.001-08:002011-12-14T23:38:05.276-08:00

We apologize in advance to our friends who have little interest in bungalow research, but we have received so many hits on our exterior house color posts that Sharon almost feels a responsibility to post all of the color house kit pictures she has in her "collection." It seems that having your blog hosted by google raises the number of hits on google searches. Please excuse this post if you're

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-54085255406903871162011-11-29T14:44:00.001-08:002011-11-29T15:43:38.581-08:00

Over the long Thanksgiving holiday, Sharon made the mistake of signing onto Pinterest. Boy, was that ever a mistake—what a time sink! But, in the process of "pinning" stuff, she basically got thrown into bathroom research mode again. It's probably going to be at least a year before we get around to remodelling our upstairs bathroom, but it's still a good time to look around for inspiration for

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-86195394830046893442011-11-22T23:11:00.001-08:002011-11-23T00:12:24.646-08:00

We had a LOT of rain today. The good news is, the rain gardens worked (mostly). The bad news is, the basement foundation did not. We made a bit of a mistake building those large berms in our front yard without also building up the soil level around the base of the foundation; they directed water toward the house. Combine that with the contractor sealing the hole for the new waterline with an

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-68990020456966237612011-11-22T13:31:00.000-08:002011-11-22T14:33:17.855-08:00

The architect and kitchen designer swooped in on the house this morning with big boxes of stuff. They moved furniture around and dispersed a bunch of Japanese and southwest decor. Definitely not to our taste, but whatever they want. (It was very amusing that our kitchen designer went and bought a whole bagful of low wattage incandescent lightbulbs to temporarily replace the CFLs, because they are

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-11448287310943504242011-11-21T17:39:00.001-08:002011-11-21T18:15:54.756-08:00

Our contractor has hired a photographer to come out tomorrow and take photographs of our main floor remodel. Unfortunately, our new furniture has not yet arrived, so we'll deal with our current furniture, such as it is. We've been rearranging furniture to try and stage the rooms for tomorrow. We moved the white metal bird cage down to the basement. Sharon even went through and touched up every

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-27348785024868118052011-11-21T10:27:00.000-08:002011-11-21T21:02:29.674-08:00

Just a quick note today to let folks know about a new line of William Morris reproduction cotton quilting fabric that has just been released. Barbara Brackman has another gorgeous line, called Morris & Company, and it is available as a Moda fabric.So far, Sharon has only found it at one US online fabric store, Hancock's of Paducah, but she's sure it will pop up at more of them soon. She needs to

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-42718080621023534072011-11-20T08:17:00.001-08:002011-11-20T15:17:01.571-08:00

We stripped this bedroom door in early-March and had the unwelcome surprise that one of the edges had a really bad patch. We hired a woodworker friend to remove the old strip of wood and replace it with douglas fir, which he did. But unfortunately the bad edge had the mortices for the hinges, so we couldn't hang the door without some extra work. We asked our friend to rehang the door for us, but

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-14580446451182780652011-11-17T12:38:00.000-08:002011-11-20T10:57:37.455-08:00

While it could use some more tamping to drive more sand into the joints, the sand is so wet and clumpy that it's not really possible to finish this project completely until we have a few days of dry weather. Perhaps a couple weeks of rain will help do the job.We therefore declare the path done enough to walk on and it should be fine until we get some dry weather.Jeff still has some more work he

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-89454097675014981562011-11-15T11:46:00.000-08:002011-11-16T14:18:34.831-08:00

Sharon finally got around to finishing the side door...mostly. She ended up putting on three coats of varnish. We are still messing around trying to clean the mortise lock hardware. The brass under the paint is in poor condition. We haven't decided if we're going to replate the pieces with new brass, which adds up pretty quickly, or just clean them up and call it good. Or maybe we'll try spray

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-79891783071644264632011-11-14T12:41:00.000-08:002011-11-14T13:12:58.462-08:00

In August 2010, Jeff signed us up for the Audubon Society of Portland's Backyard Habitat Certification Program. But once we got planning and remodeling the house, the landscape and habitat certification project got put on the back burner. It didn't make much sense to spend effort planting plants that were just going to get damaged or destroyed during the remodel.But now that we're back on the

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-49943232862957478572011-11-12T16:36:00.000-08:002011-11-13T16:31:38.758-08:00

When we purchased the house last year, there was this chimney that extended all the way up through the house from the basement and quite a bit taller than the house. It was the chimney that was used for the cooking stove when the house was built in 1912. Well, we're not so strict about being "period" that we were willing to back up to a wood stove, so this chimney was superfluous. So we removed

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-91421110789337381242011-11-11T17:00:00.000-08:002011-11-12T08:47:59.936-08:00

Jeff and Sharon both had unfun birthdays this year. In June, on Sharon's birthday, we were organizing the garage. Yesterday, on Jeff's birthday, he got to cut and pound cement. Though, on the bright side, he got to use a big manly tool.The plan was for Jeff to cut a line in the cement so that when he broke the section next to it, it would break along that line. It mostly worked.Then Jeff went

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-22271455511821838132011-11-10T18:12:00.000-08:002011-11-10T18:18:33.855-08:00

A few weeks ago Sharon ordered a set of reproduction lace curtains from Cooper's Cottage Lace. They finally arrived today. We wasted no time in getting them hung up. They are so pretty.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-7312566131765201662011-11-09T12:32:00.000-08:002011-11-12T18:43:24.332-08:00

Jeff had a volunteer teaching gig today at noon, but he still got lots of digging done before he had to leave.Shasta was extra cute tromping around in the dirt with her booties on. (It's funny how she walks when she's wearing them.)Sharon appointed herself the task of calling around for the best prices for the gravel and sand and for the tool rental. Most everything should be ordered today and we

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-91484791476630705052011-11-08T12:55:00.000-08:002011-11-14T13:35:46.194-08:00

If the weather cooperates this week, Jeff is going to put in the new front walk. Today we worked on layout and figuring out the amounts of gravel and sand we need to order. Hopefully tomorrow, he can start digging. We still need to clean a few grey bricks, but we're real close.We're actually planning to remove the existing cement and run the path all the way up to the front steps. But we need to

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-29427888344297739822011-11-07T17:45:00.000-08:002011-11-09T15:22:29.666-08:00

Sharon spent virtually all day stencilling. She was trying to figure out the colors for the new stencil. First she practiced on paper...Then she practiced on fabric...Then she just went for it. It's pretty hard to blend oil paints exactly the same way three times in a row so there are subtle differences between the panels.Strictly speaking, these are temporary curtains, so Sharon won't be

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-25129644371585425622011-11-06T20:10:00.000-08:002011-11-07T17:58:40.518-08:00

Sharon applied the first coat of the varnish to the side door. We ended up using Man O'War Marine Spar Varnish because, frankly, we had a can on hand and it didn't require any more shopping! The plan is to apply a couple more coats of varnish, as recommended by This Old House, over the next few days. Jeff did another long session of leaf gathering this afternoon. Our neighbor actually came out

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-48035273073129133132011-11-05T16:19:00.000-07:002011-11-06T09:20:14.706-08:00

After staining the side door this morning, Sharon stencilled the last two living room curtains this afternoon. Since the stencil paint takes many days to dry, it will probably be a week before she can start embroidering again. She needs to remember to apply the stencils well before she's ready to embroider.We're planning to change up the stencil in the parlor area; Sharon's getting tired of

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-65231964056396063232011-11-05T10:03:00.000-07:002011-11-05T16:54:26.479-07:00

Sharon was determined to get some stain applied this weekend! She decided to do the side door as a "practice" warmup for the master bedroom and is really glad she did. The Jel'd stain has a texture somewhat like shaving cream and can make quite a mess onto adjacent surfaces. Much masking is definitely going to have to happen.After this door dries, Sharon will go ahead and apply a finish. Though

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-24727709935652167392011-11-03T09:41:00.000-07:002011-11-03T18:15:09.610-07:00

Sharon finally finished embroidering the two curtain panels for the living room porch window!Here it is again, close up.Jeff had a special challenge rehanging the old curtain hardware because the screw holes were all stripped out, so he had to first refill the holes before he could try again to hang the hardware. Thanks Jeff!Sharon sewed up these curtains out of wide linen and then stenciled the

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-50173684697681304392011-10-31T21:40:00.000-07:002011-10-31T21:43:04.976-07:00

Wow, wish we could do something like this!Happy Halloween everybody! This is probably our favorite holiday, but we were just too busy this fall to get a party put together. Hopefully it will be a bigger deal next year.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-87561869696899927072011-10-31T16:47:00.000-07:002012-01-27T23:55:46.567-08:00

Well, we made all the decisions for the living room. Everything is ordered and due in about a month. Now we just have to wait.... We ordered two loveseats and one cube chair.Sharon agonized about the fabric some more. The lighter fabric really matches the different colors in the room and has a nice William Morris-feel to its design; it even has a pomegranate. It is also cheaper than the purple

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-12325279574139236082011-10-30T20:05:00.000-07:002011-10-31T00:03:27.560-07:00

Sharon went off shopping today to find some fabric that would go with the plum upholstery fabric. Her current plan is to upholster the two loveseats with the same fabric and then use a coordinating fabric for the chair. This was her initial fabric selection.But then she saw this fabric, which threw the whole plan into disarray. It was lighter colored and matched the Craftsman colors very well.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-5792101090654890182011-10-29T18:00:00.000-07:002011-10-29T19:23:30.559-07:00

The great fall leaf migration has begun! And many of our neighbors appreciated our afternoon efforts as we mostly cleaned up their yards. (We don't have trees in our front yard yet.)The chickens love to dig around in the pile.Jeff had an exciting morning climbing a tree. See his post here.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-77338312964004398662011-10-27T20:06:00.000-07:002011-10-27T20:52:55.469-07:00

We're hoping to install a fence in this side yard that spans the driveway.Today we came up with a preliminary fence plan. It might be way-too-complicated for us to build ourselves, but we might give it a try anyway. (Excuse the bad sketch work; we've never gotten around to learning a CAD program.)We're gathering prices for the wood now and we're also shopping around for tools.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-28671773526714493972011-10-26T14:32:00.000-07:002012-01-28T00:09:37.511-08:00

Sharon has been looking literally for months for living room furniture on craigslist, but the good deal craftsman-style pieces get snapped up so quickly in our area, that we just haven't been successful, despite Sharon diligently checking craigslist every single day. So she has been weak the last week or so and has been seriously considering buying some new living room furniture!! (It's very

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-73386206959334193482011-10-25T13:37:00.000-07:002011-10-25T16:57:18.345-07:00

We have been so overwhelmed by the many projects we've taken on lately, that it's been hard to really stay on target on any of them. So, over the weekend, Sharon spent several hours trying to put everything into a list. It's huge, when broken down into smaller individual tasks. But maybe not so bad when you look at the overall tasks (in no particular order):Buy woodworking toolsFinish planting

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-10268122733899769082011-10-21T16:34:00.001-07:002011-11-09T15:24:08.878-08:00

When the casement windows on the front of the house were stripped of paint, we found this hardware buried under the paint. Sharon just recently figured out this is hardware used for hanging spring roller shades. So, now she is exploring the options for putting roller shades back on those front windows.One option would be to buy traditional style roller shades from a company in Portland, Handwerk

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-79425448386471314362011-10-21T15:54:00.001-07:002011-11-12T08:52:56.337-08:00

Holy cow, these gray bricks are hard to clean!! Now we know we didn't get our money's worth. Sharon spent several hours cleaning bricks today and cleaned 39!! Seriously, only 39. This is Sharon's tiny "finished pile."We think the bricks are actually made from cement and they've got lots of pores that hold onto the failing mortar very well. Ironically, one of the best ways to clean the mortar off

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-32011759244385538862011-10-20T18:14:00.000-07:002011-11-12T08:52:43.123-08:00

Obviously we love cleaning bricks, because we went and got more! We bought 300 gray bricks, still with mortar, from someone on craigslist today. Our poor pickup is groaning under the weight; it was maybe a bit much to transport in one load. We probably paid too much given that they still need to be cleaned, but Sharon went and got her heart set on having a pattern like this one for the path and

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-31479531321539941122011-10-19T18:24:00.000-07:002011-11-12T08:52:15.481-08:00

Jeff worked hard today finishing up digging the last two rain gardens on the side of the house. He's almost there.Unfortunately, this huge rosemary plant was a bit of a fatality. Though, we are planning to root quite a few cuttings to plant elsewhere in the yard.While he worked on that project, Sharon slowly chipped away at the brick pile. She removes the mortar much more slowly than Jeff can,

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-46935577824509247052011-10-19T00:22:00.001-07:002011-10-19T00:38:02.850-07:00

Inspired by some pictures she saw online, Sharon decided to try sewing an empty chicken feed bag into a tote bag.She mostly followed the steps contained in this set of instructions. Though, after she made handles out of the strips out of feed sack, she attached them in a similar manner to the canvas bags she normally makes (instructions here), because she believes they'll be a bit stronger.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-70046769711727714912011-10-18T11:19:00.000-07:002011-10-19T10:47:45.904-07:00

In Multnomah County, rate payers pay quite a lot for stormwater management (our last bill was more than $20/month). Our goal has been to disconnect from the storm drain in an attempt to save money through Portland's Clean River Rewards Program.There are quite a few useful online resources for how to build rain gardens in your own yard. The one we are primarily relying on is published by SeaGrant

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-84500422936736191092011-10-17T17:15:00.000-07:002011-11-16T00:01:48.477-08:00

Sharon picked up some Brasso at the store the other day and has been on a binge the last couple of days trying to clean up old brass-plated hardware throughout the house. She had been thinking about buying some new curtain hardware, but most of this old hardware is cleaning up satisfactorily. The hardware is definitely not looking "like new," but is achieving a nice, mellow aged look.This is one

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-63151580423744464462011-10-17T17:05:00.001-07:002011-10-21T09:49:22.409-07:00

Jeff got right to work this morning finishing up the front yard planting.While he did that, Sharon laid out the plants in the backyard rain garden according to the plan.A few hours later, Jeff also finished planting the plants in the backyard. (Go Jeff!!)We still need to track down a few more plants for the basin. We need a plant that will tolerate shade and wet roots—perhaps dense sedge (Carex

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-1202266071230116142011-10-16T16:15:00.000-07:002011-10-17T18:59:03.433-07:00

Today was finally the day we got to go pick up our 55 plants from the Audubon Society Native Plant Sale. We spent quite a while juggling around the plant arrangement then Jeff got to work planting.He got most of the plants in the front rain garden planted, but he had to stop and leave for a meeting this evening. Hopefully, the rest will make it in the ground tomorrow; we're hoping the decent

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-84398779581285056342011-10-12T21:51:00.001-07:002011-10-12T22:14:14.851-07:00

Sharon has been enjoying her beginning woodworking class out at Franklin High School. She finished her first project tonight. It obviously has issues, but was a good learning experience. (She definitely needs to work on cutting correctly along the lines on a band saw.)

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-47895414088846352402011-10-09T22:44:00.000-07:002011-10-09T22:56:33.474-07:00

Jeff attended the fourth and final class in lead came stained glass. This week we started with soldering which goes much faster than when doing copper foil because you only need to do the intersections. We used the mini-phaser to dial down the soldering iron to 70-80% power -- enough to melt the 50-50 solder, but not quickly melt the lead came. Gel-flux cleaned the surfaces where we wanted to

Jake Vortexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04996432167988254419noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-32852100419705284452011-10-09T22:09:00.000-07:002011-10-12T11:23:16.333-07:00

Jeff is having a friend visit for a few days next week so we needed to change direction this weekend on our task list and turn our attention to cleaning! Too bad; it was nice weather this weekend to work outside.Anyway, Sharon is bummed she didn't take any before photos, but she didn't think to. We have finally unearthed the study/guest room again. It had become the dumping ground for all the

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-75669595282385558142011-10-07T19:04:00.000-07:002011-12-07T14:59:41.514-08:00

Sharon is a research junky and has found lots of FREE early-1900s books online (this list just keeps growing and growing). Most of these date from 1900-1925, as it is the period we're most interested in emulating, but there are three kitchen manuals from earlier. Anyway, in case others are interested, Sharon thought it would be nice to share the links: Advanced Projects in Woodwork (from Google

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-63715936482241706612011-10-06T12:52:00.000-07:002011-10-06T13:11:32.156-07:00

The main floor plaster repair was all hired out and done by someone who had a clue. But now that we've reached the upstairs, the budget has run dry. Almost everything we want done is going to have to be DIY.After we stripped off the wallpaper and removed the wood structure in Jeff's closet, we found some unfortunate holes and cracks. Sharon finally summoned enough courage to give plaster patching

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-8966467156411965832011-10-04T19:12:00.000-07:002011-11-12T08:52:29.690-08:00

Continuing his amazing productivity trend, Jeff (with some schlepping help from Sharon) spent about 3 hours scraping mortar off bricks today. We finally found the right tool and it makes this job much more doable. The package says it's a "Brick Set," which is basically a chisel designed for masonry. We think it's intended to break the bricks, but it works well at knocking mortar off them as

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-77480230736332456692011-10-01T21:48:00.000-07:002011-10-01T22:35:18.922-07:00

After creating a good right-angled base we started building out our pattern with U-channels on the edge, and H-channel between pieces. We learned how to make three different kinds of cuts using angle cutters. And there was a cute little hammer for "attitude adjustments". To bend lead came around a curve we used a fid (which evidently is a handy Scrabble word). All assembled ready for

Jake Vortexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04996432167988254419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-60105833256955363892011-10-01T18:19:00.000-07:002011-11-12T08:49:43.978-08:00

Well, at least a start anyway. Here is how the area behind the house looked the other day.Two free ads on craigslist and an hour later the two hutches and the gutters are gone.We're keeping the wood and bricks for future projects. We still need to rebuild a side fence, or hire someone to do it for us. It's been a real pain not having a fenced yard since March. This morning, Jeff almost finished

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-7497630885615052662011-09-30T13:42:00.001-07:002011-09-30T21:58:42.791-07:00

Yeah, it's only a start, as there are still eleven more panels to make, but Sharon was happy to finally finish her first curtain panel today. Progress slowed way down when she stopped working on the project all day and only worked on it at night in front of TV. It took nearly a month for this piece. At this rate, it will probably be the end of 2012 before the rest of these curtains are finished!

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-63532767275938353672011-09-29T08:56:00.000-07:002011-09-30T09:02:46.268-07:00

We are really struggling with the mud in the backyard. Every time the dog goes out, she comes back in with mud-encrusted feet. We don't have good technology for dealing with muddy shoes either. So, we've been casting about for at least a temporary solution before all our rugs get ruined. We had been thinking about buying straw or bark dust. But then Jeff got the clever idea that we should check

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-27216249769052722562011-09-28T15:35:00.000-07:002012-01-28T00:10:00.081-08:00

While we've still got more than half the storage space to empty once the master bedroom is finished, Jeff decided he wanted to sift the space and dig out our dining room furniture and whatever living room furniture we could easily find. Turns out all of it was packed way in the back! Luckily Jeff and his moving helper, Don, were able to clear a wide aisle down the center and pull the stuff out.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-24035529110062568622011-09-27T15:12:00.000-07:002011-10-18T15:42:50.442-07:00

After the pouring rain yesterday, and some slight water infiltration at the back of the basement, we were quite grateful when the gutter guys showed up this morning. At the recommendation of two other local blogs, we hired Great NW Gutters.We only got one downspout installed, the rest of the gutters have rain chains. We may end up regretting the one on the back corner, though, because it is so

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-73129485191699605022011-09-24T16:21:00.000-07:002011-09-27T13:47:18.349-07:00

The stains have been purchased and Sharon was determined to finish the paint stripping on the master bedroom today! There will probably still be some sanding on this doorway once it thoroughly dries, but we are now ready to move to the next step which, by the way, is plaster patching. Then staining, then painting (if we follow the same steps the professionals used on the downstairs rooms).As for

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-68455201783810099512011-09-24T09:00:00.000-07:002011-09-25T13:24:42.127-07:00

Jeff's second week of lead came stained glass class covered cutting and grinding glass. After an overview of the tools and techniques we spent a little time practicing. Then we started in on the glass for our project. Jeff learned that he has picked up a couple "bad habits" that he worked on breaking: keep his wrist straight while scoring, and move his arms (not wrists) to snap the glass. He also

Jake Vortexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04996432167988254419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-35465341116769051072011-09-23T19:23:00.000-07:002011-10-17T19:02:28.523-07:00

Besides watching too much Castle, the last couple of days have been spent putting together shopping lists.First, plants: We need dozens of plants for our new rain gardens and the Audubon Society has a Native Plant Sale coming up in just over a week. We have been combing through the plant lists trying to match water tolerance with location in the rain gardens. We're also trying not to order too

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-73174601861849077022011-09-21T19:14:00.001-07:002011-10-17T19:03:18.104-07:00

Jeff has been busy this week digging rain gardens. On Monday, he dug one for the backyard.Today he worked on the front yard. For more information about the process, see his explanatory blog post. For this rain garden, he's built a berm along the sidewalk.There are two more small rain gardens to go for the gutters on the side of the house. Unfortunately, one of them needs to get across a driveway.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-4196697648798743722011-09-20T20:57:00.001-07:002011-09-20T21:38:34.091-07:00

Just a bit of detail work and some sanding, and it's done. We could have finished today—but we got distracted watching the first disk of the new season of Castle from Netflix. It couldn't be helped.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-481215996130525072011-09-19T21:35:00.000-07:002011-09-20T11:22:30.188-07:00

Sharon found herself upstairs this morning and was clearly channeling her inner perfectionist as she found herself going back over the woodwork again removing spots of paint in crevices. She also decided the door jamb probably wasn't going to look good once we stained the interior of the bedroom. We had removed part of the paint, but had left some of the exterior hallway side still painted. But

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-19699758451944530172011-09-17T09:00:00.000-07:002011-09-17T13:54:40.604-07:00

Jeff started his Leaded Glass Class yesterday! Here is a quick summary of the process they taught him for preparing the pattern. First he chose a pattern and used carbon paper to trace two copies of the pattern. One was on regular paper, the other on heavy paper that can stand up to water from the glass grinder.Then he got to go pick out glass from the scrap box. Always fun.Next he cut one of the

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-37303789593559924852011-09-16T23:00:00.000-07:002011-09-16T23:38:47.745-07:00

We've mostly finished the paint stripping in the master bedroom, but somehow we've gotten stalled on the sanding. We're lacking motivation to spend several hours finishing the project. We can't even blame the weather, because there was perfect cool weather this week. It must be time to buy the stains. Once the stain is sitting there waiting, we'll surely find the motivation to resume work on this

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-88161799900633809912011-09-16T17:31:00.001-07:002011-09-17T09:24:34.984-07:00

Our basement bathroom remodel did not go smoothly. Nothing in the room went as planned. Before the remodel, it was this tiny nook in the back corner of the basement. It was dark and a little gross.Here are the before and planned after floor plans. Once the chimney was removed, the bathroom could expand into the original square space and we would punch out the shower into the basement proper. That

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-82905991084768813572011-09-15T16:57:00.001-07:002012-02-15T21:02:46.864-08:00

We're having a friend drop by this evening for a visit which finally proved to be enough motivation to clean up the dining room. Unfortunately, the light is not good today, so the colors do not look great. But at least the room is finally clean! The light fixture is the Cascade from Rejuvenation. We paid extra to get the uplights wired separate from the downlights and we had the electrician

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-53031186690036005562011-09-13T21:07:00.000-07:002011-10-17T19:24:19.506-07:00

This afternoon while working on our landscape plan, Jeff couldn't resist the temptation to go play in the mud. He "needed" to see how the yard was sloped and how to get the water to flow to our planned backyard rain garden location. You'd think a level would do the trick—but playing in the mud is much more fun!He also started shifting some of that huge dirt pile to build up dirt around the base

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-26019070008820528182011-09-12T16:46:00.000-07:002011-10-17T19:06:33.029-07:00

Our backyard is a disaster. Apparently digging a stairwell out the back of your basement combined with several months of rain is detrimental to your landscape. We didn't actually take any before photos before the remodel started, but here are a couple taken during the several months before the job began.Unfortunately, this is how it looks today! All the visible dirt has a hard crust on it.And to

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-26474592450994179682011-09-10T16:55:00.000-07:002011-09-10T18:50:54.040-07:00

Despite the heat, Sharon finally found herself back upstairs working on the master bedroom. She's basically trying to take doorways that look like this and make them look like this.This is good enough! The stain should cover the white traces of paint in the crevices. If not, we'll touch them up.After finishing the closet doorway (the final door jamb), Sharon got to work sanding. She mostly

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-27526257583920202972011-09-07T10:01:00.000-07:002011-10-19T01:25:38.620-07:00

Sharon tried to reinstall our front door hardware. Though her father and three brothers have all worked as locksmiths at one time or another in their lives—there clearly is no lock gene which she shares with the rest of her family. After about 30 minutes of fiddling with it she finally gave up. Jeff had better luck, or umm...skill!! It's just a little change—but it's so nice to be able to go back

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-54927923199536618692011-09-04T23:46:00.001-07:002011-09-04T23:53:22.105-07:00

This morning Jeff and Sharon spent a while stripping paint in the master bedroom. But once it got too hot to hang out up there with the windows open, Jeff took off to play in his new kitchen and Sharon finally got started on her embroidery project. She sews pretty slow at this point. After about 8 hours of stitching, she really only got this much done. This project is going to take a while! At

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-70400810696746687842011-08-31T22:31:00.000-07:002011-09-13T08:35:50.115-07:00

The exterior painting has mostly wrapped up. There is some touch up, and some clean up, and then it will be done. Here are the most recent pictures:These are the before photos:These are the inspiration photos:This wonderful picture is from the Old House Colors website. We used Colonial Yellow stain for the body, which is mentioned by name in the 1910 Sherwin Williams Catalog.This photo dates from

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-54722996319328362772011-08-30T17:33:00.000-07:002011-08-30T21:36:53.467-07:00

What are we doing today? Yes...SO HAPPY to be moving in! It's like a puzzle as we figure out what goes where in our new cabinets. We keep juggling items around as we continue to open boxes. We've run the dishwasher like 5 times since yesterday evening because we are putting most of the dishes through before we put them away in the cupboards. The dishwasher is very quiet—but oh, so slow.

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-69686633884555188062011-08-28T09:24:00.001-07:002011-08-28T22:23:57.097-07:00

We've been trying to work out the exterior finish on the front door. Had Sharon realized it was purple to begin with—she would have left it alone! But, alas, Sharon didn't notice until too late. She doesn't regret stripping the door since it is really nice to have the interior side stained rather than painted white. Sharon asked the painters if they could restain the door purple and they did

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8688737200861236433.post-83150771005298263522011-08-27T18:34:00.000-07:002011-08-29T18:17:39.790-07:00

Sharon is delighted with her purple screen door! The light blue on the ceiling is being auditioned for the job. Not sure that's the color we'll use, but it's a blue our painter said is traditionally used for porch ceilings. Unfortunately, this is the closest thing we have to a before picture. We obviously never got around to taking a picture of the front door.The rest of the doors are being

Shasha Kiddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204757096377140896noreply@blogger.com1