42. Lots of Progress

I had a great title picked out on the way home, but at this hour it escapes me.  I was going to wait until tomorrow to post these, but since my neighbor decided to serenade me with Mexican music at 3am I decided "what better time to update my blog?"

Don is almost finished with the wall construction.  Here he is using the skid-steer loader to put dirt back inside the wall.  It's important to let the concrete cure before you do this - for obvious reasons.  That wall is solid - I don't know all the lingo but there is concrete going up, down and all the way around the top.  I may have them help with the driveway, asbestos removal and painting of the house when I apply for that City grant I mentioned way back when.

Here's the view from the top - there is a little bit of the wall left  - and then the fence can go on top.  It's turned out to be a nice sized back yard for the dogs and barbecues and a swimming pool - well, probably not the swimming pool.  Wouldn't mind having a hot tub out there though... just a thought.

Now for the part you've been waiting for:  today was the day the siding goes up!  Here we have the front door removed, a couple of studs added in it's place.  The wiring for the front porch light, foyer light and ceiling fans is complete.  You can see the first board in place on the bottom - and Roscoe is officially the last one in 100 years to ever use that opening as a doorway.

And yes, my mystery guest did show up - this is Dave.  If you remember a few weeks ago I mentioned him a few times, he's the one at Superior Trim and Door that helped me locate a supplier for the siding.  It just so happens that he started out in his business as a trim carpenter, and ran a crew for many years.  When I heard that, how could I help but ask?  He was happy to volunteer and we had a fun time working together - an 11 hour day!  He is earning a free room if he wants it for bike week and speed week, which he attends every year.  It's a win-win situation.

Of course Roscoe wanted to be right in the middle of everything - all covered with saw dust and taking a nap on the chop saw.

I still have to finish the trim on the window - I'm actually going to repair the sash cords first, and get as much of the paint off of it as possible.  Then do the same for the trim - I may break out the heat gun in one of the upcoming episodes to get the old paint off.  I just love it.

Thanks to Dave I didn't even have to lift the framing nail gun I rented at Home Depot for this project - I would probably have my arm in a sling by now if I had to do it all myself.  I actually had a good laugh thinking about the fact that I had planned to do this project without any help - once we got going I saw how ridiculous that would have been.  I made Dave the boss for the day and I was the assistant.  I have been so excited to get to this point - to see the front finished like this.  Sometimes I am amazed at how well things work out - all in their own time.

The Mexican music just shut off so I'm going to try to go back to bed.  I'll leave you with this parting shot.

41. Boardwalk and Park Place

The term "day off" is really a misnomer.  Ok, I didn't tear anything down or wire anything up - haven't even gotten sweaty enough to take a shower today.  But I've been busy!  I have a lot of catching up to do around my own house - the grass is so high some visiting kids last week were making a game of "which patch of grass is the tallest".  My weed eater has been on the fritz, and I haven't had time to mow.  I don't know why I brought that up because I didn't do that today either.

I spent the day hitting the thrift stores - gotta see what's out there that I might have missed.  I know I mentioned waaaay back that I would be talking about colors and I'll touch on that here.  All during this process, I've been toying with color ideas in my head - I need to pick a color for the exterior of the house and a front door color.  I have to decide what color to paint the walls on the first floor, and how to treat that cool ceiling and all those beams - do I paint them an accent color, leave them white, what do I do!?  I have a few ideas, and I'll share a little of the progress with you here.

This is a page from a Pottery Barn catalog I got in the mail recently.  I will never buy anything from it, but it has pretty pictures!  And in it I saw the color schemes I want to use in the bedrooms.  I've already decided that one room will be "Boardwalk" and one will be "Park Place".  The Boardwalk reference is obvious - beach, 1920's, Daytona Beach Boardwalk.  Park Place refers to the street I grew up on in Sea Cliff, Long Island NY, just a couple of blocks from the beach - and that is the room I am going to do in this theme.

Pale sage green, lavender, sky blue, cream, white and natural accents - 'shabby chic' and gardeny.  This will be a more girly room, and probably the one I will stay in when I am there.

The other room, which is the smaller of the two, will be "Boardwalk" and done in darker blues and dark woods, maybe a little nautical motif here and there.  This picture will give you an idea of what I am going for.

When I am shopping around, I think of these themes, and it helps me pinpoint things that I might be able to use.  Right now I am picking up random bedding, curtains, and accessories that I think will fit in either room.  That being said, I want you to know I am not into shells, lighthouses, or fish nets with starfish dangling from them etc.  No Gorton's Fisherman lamps.  If there is any "beachside kitsch" it will be the odd item, and it will have to be something really special.  I would like those of you who do the thrift store circuit to keep an eye out for something for me though:  I would like to have artwork that represents marine life, but more of the zoological kind - I've been hoping to find an old biological illustration print of a horseshoe crab, and things like that.  Maybe I'll draw one of my own.

I found these three small framed goodies today - the sandpipers are a signed and numbered print of a watercolor, and the flowers are dried and pressed.  The other is cutesy, but I just liked it.

Today was also a beach towel bonanza day - sometimes I see none, but today I hit the jackpot.  On the left below is the pile - this isn't even all of them.  Underneath is a bed skirt I may use in the Park Place room.  On the right is  some more misc.  Some really nice waverly valances with blue hydrangeas and polka dots on them.  Also a fuzzy bath rug and really nice cotton sheets.  The clock is one I already had - of course it has to go to Grandview!

I also picked up some mugs and glasses - have I told you how much I love Goo Gone?  I use it to take off stickers and any other unidentified sticky stuff, and the grease pencil they use to price things at the thrift store.  If you've never used it, you should try it, it works on skin, clothing and everything.  Plus it smells orangey-good.

Last but not least, I'm not big on schmaltzy coffee cups, but I liked this one.  At the bottom it says "Apache Blessing" which might be BS but I wish this for you all anyway! 

Balance Forward:  $213 

$49  lots of misc.  

Remainder:  $164

40. Little Buddies

Today is my daughter Alli's birthday.  Guess what she got?  The one with an 'A' is for her, the 'S' is for Steven, the 'M' is for me, and the 'G' is for a guest.   Dave helped me by cutting the keys the other day at Superior - we had some fun figuring out the key machine and the hieroglyphic instructions scrawled on it with a sharpie.

Steven and I arrived today around 10am, and after inspecting what the guys were working on in the back, he suited up for work, which in his case means removing clothing I guess. So ladies, I can safely say my son is hot, without being totally inappropriate. We started by tearing off the trim from the door and window, and then went to town on that siding you see there.  It wasn't bad, once we got the hang of it - we each had a hammer and a pry bar.

In a couple of places I used the reciprocal saw (mmm, power tool) so we wouldn't break the window sill as we pried the wood off.  Steven took all the nails out that were still in the studs, and we cleaned up the almost 100 years worth of funky mystery crumbs that had accumulated in every crack and cranny.  He piled up the used siding by the side of the house, to be used for any patching I might need when I uncover the rest of the siding on the house.  The porch is the only place where the cypress lap siding was painted - the rest of it (covered for  40+ years with asbestos shingles) is stained red!  When the asbestos comes off, I'm hoping to find the cypress well-preserved and ready for it's first coat of primer and paint.  Won't that just be fantastic?

This is the wall all cleaned up, and some of the wiring re-done.  I didn't completely remove the door, so I could shut and lock it.  When I go back with my mystery guest to put up the new siding, I'll remove the door and frame up the opening, then run the necessary wires through that opening, for the exterior porch light, exterior GFI outlet, the ceiling fixture in the foyer/sun room, and the ceiling fans in the living room.

Part of the wiring process for today was to put a pancake box (a flat round junction box) for that foyer light I mentioned.  I found the center point and gave Steven the pry bar to take one piece of the bead board down.  He was thrilled when a "waterfall of bug poop" showered down upon him.  I let him hit the shower and take the rest of the day off after that.  There wasn't much else to do - I ran as many wires as possible so I'd be ready for my next day's work.


I'm so excited about everything we got done - thanks Steven!!

Don's chihuahua "Little Buddy" (which was also my nickname for Steven when he was a lot smaller) spent some time with us inside today.  He immediately started collecting Roscoe's bones from around the house - they played a little "hide the bone" until Little Buddy decided it was time to get on Roscoe's bed and take a break.  Sorry big guy!  They were having a good time, but I eventually had to separate them because Roscoe kept stepping on him by accident - he really jumps around a lot.

This is the house as we drove off... a little naked in the front, but not for long!!