…so I thought I’d post about the sweet finds I scored today at Rejuvenation for our 3 new upstairs bedrooms, staircase and back dormer. I found 8 gorgeous light fixtures on clearance + got an additional 25% off on most of them.

The master bedroom will sport two Turner swing arm wall mounted fixtures as bedside lights in Antique Copper ($72.75 down from $165 each),

and a Willis fixture in a matching copper finish ($55 down from $119) that has an old fashioned cloth covered electrical cord for a ceiling light.

The staircase that leads up into the back dormer/sun room will be lit by this funky fixture called Mock’s Crest in Burnished Antique ($100.50 down from $259), which harks back to when electricity was a new invention and nobody knew if it was going to replace gas (hence the double lights, one powered by electricity and one by gas),

and the back dormer will get two Mt. Angel fixtures in the matching Burnished Antique finish (regular $133, discontinued at $38.25 a piece).

The girls’ bedrooms will each have a Thurman light in Burnished Antique ($42 down from $80).

We still need glass shades for all of them, but that can wait for another day!

And yes, this means that the upstairs is *this* close to being move in ready! The walls for all the rooms are up, drywalled and mostly completely mudded. They still need priming and then they will wait for us to win the lottery, so we can afford to have American Clay earth plaster installed everywhere.

The old growth fir floor is going back in as we speak (well type), and will be refinished in the next few days. There’s still lots to do: framing in new closets in the kids’ bedrooms, trim work everywhere, and finally the huge undertaking of adding a 2nd bathroom upstairs.

But, at the very least, we plan to move into our new master bedroom by next week! So exciting!!!

Today we had a small army of men working on the house! I think I like my house being touched by 4 or 5 strange guys! When you have time, maybe you (yes, you Dan!) can touch it too…?

Here’s what the house looks like currently. 1/2 of it is gorgeous! The other half, with flaking paint and rotting fascia, not so much. I don’t know when we will paint, but I’d like it to happen sooner rather than later. Then again, I’d like the upstairs to be done too sometime during this decade.

The shakes are pretty much all up, just waiting on new all wood Marvin windows for the 3×5 ft (enlarged to legal size) windows for the kids’ bedrooms-tobe:

Here’s Miguel installing shingles outside our breakfast room window (notice we still haven’t painted or primed since we tore down the wall paper back in…ummm… March?)

our contractor, William, up on the roof

and the gas company guys installing our gas line (maybe we won’t freeze our asses off this winter??!?!)

Other than that, the retaining wall is almost done and the front yard is pretty much leveled. It still looks like a messy construction zone around here, but things are finally getting done! I am sure (well, hopeful) that Dan will update with more entertaining details soon.

all sorts of stuff. huge stuff. construction rubble, demolition debris scattered amongst the ground, tens of tons of things to carry and stack.

lets start inside, where things are nice and calm… and pleasantly lit, after a series of splendid finds in the Rejuvenation clearance area (read: we justified purchasing a shitload of new lights, because of the “clearance” status).

the living room went from a seriously classy oak veneer and wicker ceiling fan, to this craftsman style piece:

the brothel chandelier was next. not that there’s anything wrong with a piece of lighting that looks like it came out of a turn of the century lady of accompaniment parlor… because really, we all know nothing says class like that (not even a oak and wicker fan)… but the feeling that any moment the madame of the house would appear, was getting a bit odd.

couldn’t leave outside untouched… the spider web encrusted (and it turns out, wasp nest infested) 1950s glass light was replaced with this bit of sweetness… complete with mica shade, giving it some awesome light at night…

there’s also new kitchen lighting, which appears to not be on my camera. i could get up, walk the 15 feet over to the one out of 3 lights that’s installed, take a picture, come back and upload it (probably in about as much time as it’d take to write this explanation as to why i’m not)… but i’m not.

ahh… now for the real mess progress!

start with digging. lots and lots of digging. luckily it wasn’t me doing the digging… though i’d not mind taking credit for it, the digging was done by a couple friends. i was almost ready to be content with just the trench… toss the garden hose in, fill it up… get some anwry guppies and call it a moat. a quick draw bridge, and we’d be set…

but then this arrived:

roughly 30k pounds of dry stack block, concrete and gravel.
the wee one looked at me and said “do you want to play blocks with me? i help you!” we spend some time playing with legos… it was pretty cool that she put it together in her mind that these huge things are like huge legos. huge legos that weigh 65 pounds each.

with great luck, i had lots of help.

it’s not quite done… but already worlds of difference. now there is visible PROOF that something is being done! that huge f’ing mound of dirt looks less like a prehistoric ant hill, and more like a temporary mound (despite having been there for the better part of a year).elsewhere on the house, we’ve hired a contractor. it was admittedly a bit tough for me to accept the fact that i can’t do everything by myself, i don’t have enough free time, and i need to hire someone to pick up where i’m failing. may not sound like a failure, but it kinda feels like it… at least a pretty good hit to my pride. but… on the plus side… a bunch of stuff is getting done, which should make everyone happier.

• the cedar shingles are being pulled off the house, to be replaced with #1 shake.
• the rear chimney is being pulled down and rebuilt, as there was worry any time a bird landed on it, the chimney would come tumbling down.
• the side chimney is getting strapped to the house, so it doesn’t come tumbling down
• the house is getting wrapped so it has an actual vapor barrier
• all new marvin dual glaze, low e, argon filled all wood windows are going in the upper floor. 3×5′ double hung for the bedrooms, 2×3′ double hung for the bathroom, 2 casement and 1 picture on the front dormer.
• finally, those new shakes are going on… all nice and treated

we also decided to ditch the biodiesel furnace in favor of a natural gas furnace. permit in hand, gas company scheduled to come install a meter, 80 some feet of black pipe and tons of fittings ready to go in… now just to figure out what furnace we’re gonna get. it’ll be NICE having actual heat this winter!

i changed my schedule at work a bit, so i could have more time at home… 7am to around 4pm. might try to do 6am to 3pm in a bit… but the 7am is already kicking my ass… not to mention it’s after midnight right now and i’ve gotta be at work in well under 7 hours… shower, sleep, get up and ready for work… work… by the time i get home, i’m f’ing beat. time to stop playing around blogging, and do that sleep thing…

…to make a note of what I want my kitchen to look like:

(Images are from this gorgeous restoration by Craftsman Design and Renovation)

2. at least it’s not raining.

not a lot of progress has actually taken place to the house. summer is here; we’re busy doing fun stuff on weekends. work kills most of the weekdays. doesn’t leave much time to work on the place… but think i’m setting aside the next month of weekends to work on the upstairs, hopefully enough to complete framing it all in. i’m really thinking of bringing in a sheetrock contractor because they can knock that stuff out fast.
the driveway may just end up getting poured this summer, assuming i actually remember to call the guy and schedule a time with him.
the front wall is on the horizon, as well…

new driveway gate… now it needs the pergola over it, with some kinda vine. (oh, and a driveway poured/stamped under it).

much too hot to be creative with the writing, today. it’s 10pm and the temp inside is in the high 80s. we’ve been here long enough to have acclimated to a cooler climate… so once it gets close to 90 inside, it’s f’ing hot.

hopefully… with some luck, determination, lack of laziness and some fine BBQ nurishment, there will be more to post about the house in the following month or two. for now, i’m going to go get a couple cold beers and lay down on the floor. not even gonna bother drinking the beer… just pour it on myself to cool down.

the sun has broken through the drizzle for nearly a week straight! the eco lawn (actually fleur de lawn) has come in reasonably well, with only minor patches that failed to do much of anything. it’s had the first mowing and seems to be doing well…

it sure as hell beats the prior landscaping… mud.
the yellow car is my newest project… a ‘72 volvo 142e. 2 liter 4 cylinder ohv (not ohc… pushrod motor), 4 speed. cool little thing, with some entirely ancient electronic fuel injection… runs beautiful, though.

rebecca’s garden is giving tons of lettuce… and some other cool stuff, like the baby carrots:

summer is kinda-almost upon us.  it’s about damned time.

the back yard’s eco lawn (fleur de lawn, to be exact) is coming in quite well.  nice to have some color other than dirt back there.

the driveway has it’s 5 cubic yards of 3/4- gravel laid out.  it still needs tamped, but it’ll do for now.  think we’re gonna hold off on pouring concrete for a while.  the gravel is a HUGE step up from the mud that it replaced.

hauled home a ‘72 volvo 142e. the second cheapest car i’ve purchased in my life. it’s a project car that’s not too far off from being my daily driver. cool little thing, it is.

other than that… not much else done to the house: have been working on other projects and basically feeling a complete lack of free time… which partially explains the lack of posts, and the diminutive size of this post.

damn, i’ve gotta be at work in 8 hours. wish i could afford (and justify) a vacation.

0ld paint is an evil bitch. no nice way of putting it. the stuff on this house is lead based, so not only poses health and some environmental risks… but it’s damned durable stuff, despite it’s age. i feel somewhat relieved that it appears the house has only been repainted once in it’s 95 year life… because getting more than 2 layers of this stuff off would surely suck exponentially worse.

our first experiment was with an infrared “noiseless” paint remover, made from a space heater. this actually pulls off everything down to the bare wood surprisingly well, albeit a bit of a slow process. ok, very slow. one test area done (on the front of our house- poor choice in hind site), we decide to get some quotes on having the house professionally stripped. now… i’ll mention again that i was a contractor… and have had houses stripped in the past. with this knowledge, i fully expected it to be well into the thousands… but not into the tens of friggin thousands. super high quote? no.. that’s about what they all were.

next idea. after hearing some good reviews about Smart Strip, we decided to give it a try. i picked up a gallon of the stuff at the local Sherwin Williams paint supply yesterday. well knowing the silly high price of the stuff, i made sure that it was returnable if it sucked.

upon getting this cool new stuff home, i chose another test area; again on the front of our house… in full view of the street, all passers-by and visitors. (gotta remember to do this on the side of the house where nobody can see, next time). following the directions, i laid a 1/16″ layer along the test area.

now… before getting to the results, i also did more of this yesterday:

have 5 cubic yards of 3/4- gravel… the base for the concrete driveway. fun.tonight, after returning home from dinner at a friend’s house (where there were some killer home made tortillas… always a winner), i did a scrape of the test area. $54 per gallon. one gallon covers approximately 45 square feet. we’d need approximately 15 gallons to strip the clapboard and trim. did it strip the paint off well enough to totally justify the cost? i’d have taken a picture, but my disappointment was proof enough for me. it took off a great deal of the newest layer of paint (estimated at 50 years old)… but that’s it.
i’ll try a second test area, as well as a second application over the first test area… but so far the first impression: not so hot. that’s not to say the product is bad. i’ll keep open minded about it until the other test area results are complete… but if they have similar results, this stuff goes back. it’s supposed to take up to 4 layers at a time… so we’ll see.

Pros:	Cons:
non-toxic no harsh (or any) odor easy application doesn’t burn the skin	doesn’t appear to actually do much

over the past few weekends, some progress has taken place in the back yard!

built a cedar fence to cover the neighbor’s hedge…

the 4 foot by 4 foot raised beds are starting to grow food…

a 15 foot by 14 foot cedar chip filled play area (a play structure will eventually go in it)…

eco-lawn seeded…

also made some kick-ass escabeche… jalapeño, carrot, onion and garlic goodness.
just so i have this somewhere, the recipe:

10 large green jalapeños

2 carrots

1 small white onion

6 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup braggs raw apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon sea salt

slice jalapeño, carrot and onion… peel garlic cloves. sauté all of this for 10 minutes, until jalapeños begin to soften. add remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. put it in a jar, close the lid and refrigerate once it’s cooled. the longer it stays in the jar, the better it’ll taste (assuming the jalapeño was cooked well enough… it gets a funky bacteria growth if not, that kinda blows the flavor). hot damn is it good… basically had that and jalapeño onion bread for dinner.

made 2 of our 4 rain barrels today, also. portland has a pretty good storm water disconnect program going on… $53 per gutter drain that is diverted from the sewer + a reduced sewage bill.
we’re using 55 gallon barrels to store rain water, then use it for irrigation when needed: basically a barrel with the gutter down spout running into it… a hose bib at the bottom… and an overflow tube leading to an area that’ll absorb the excess water. we’re putting one on the carriage house, two on the back of the house, one on the front of the house. the barrels catching the rainwater from the house should fill pretty quickly given the size of our roof.

back to the work week, now. the weekends pass much too quickly. at least it’s light outside until 8:30 or so, which makes me feel like the entire day isn’t blown at work : )

posting more than once a month!
accomplishing things!
hot damn!

right when i got home from work today, i planted a plum tree. minutes later, i changed the oil in the car (sadly, it’s been put off for a while). then, as a triumphant finish, i put the license plate on the car (that’s been sitting in the glove box for a few weeks now).

now we have, as far as trees (and actually in the ground!):

• 6 in 1 espalier apple tree
• 3 in 1 cherry tree
• dwarf pear
• dwarf plum
• one very old and rotting away fig (the only thing left from when we bought the house)
• 2 japanese lilac trees street side

the apple tree f’ing blew my mind. 6 different apples, from ONE tree? the branches grow horizontally, three per side? an absolute trip! there was a bit of a numbness when rebecca told me of them, as my brain was having a difficult time processing this amazing… almost too amazing information. it’s good i was told about the espalier tree before seeing one, ’cause i’d have made a damn fool of myself (i’m good at that), by yelling “HOLY SHIT! LOOK! HOLY SHIT! LOOK! HOLY SHIT! LOOK!” over and over, as if aliens were landing a spaceship in my front yard. i suppose in retrospect the concept of grafted and trained branches shouldn’t be so wild and on the edge of utter disbelief, but wow is it ever craaaaazy man!

the espalier apple is between the windows on the garage… the cherry in the back corner… 4 raised veggie beds that rebecca built (soil-less gardening!)…

temporarily bordered future play area… we’ve got 2 cubic yards of chipped cedar waiting, and need to procure a play structure suitable for the size.

plum and pear trees. not sure which is which.

chicken coop…. about 90% done. needs a bit of trim, two more drip rails, and UV protection (same thing we did the deck with)

the run is 4′ tall, 13′ wide and 3′ deep. it still needs the roof section (currently has a sheet of OSB sitting on it), and a bit of trim.
overall, the coop about 8′ to the peak of the roof.

finally, the driveway. sad as it may be, this is the best it’s looked since we got the house! it’s a bit tight, but once poured it’ll be fine to get a car up it and to the carriage house. at the chimney, the driveway is a bit under 7′ wide, the rest is about 8.5′ wide. pretty reasonable, i suppose. the section that’s currently soil is 64′ long… going to bring in 2″ of 3/4″ gravel that’ll be the underlayment (yes, that’s a word) for the poured concrete that’ll eventually go in. for now, the gravel will be a hell of a lot better than dirt…

the carriage house is green. not the color, the… ahh… movement? dunno what it actually is… guess “movement” works well, as the garage is also moving, along with self composting. yes, it’s returning to earth… the entire back wall has studs that are completely rotted and literally composting: a mound of what used to be 2×4 stud and shiplap siding is actually warm to the touch and looks like soil! lovely.
i’ve got grand plans to renovate the poor carriage house. ok, not exactly “grand”… but plans none the less. i suppose “renovate” might be pushing it, too. basically, i’ve got plans.
4×4 pressure treated skid foundation, as the poured foundation’s footings are crap and the floor is only 2″ thick (and broken). the floor can be drop/framed in with 2×4 PT, wide side down, 12″ on center, 3/4″ CDX subfloor, commercial linoleum tile (cheap). keep the side walls, double sill on top of the 4×4 skid. new rear wall. new front wall. gable roof. walls and roof 24″ on center, 2×4… a 10.5′ span doesn’t need much. a random commercial single glaze fixed skylight (they run about $24, used), larger multi-lite side windows (sometimes free, if’n ya keep your eyes open), an exterior entry door and real carriage doors. exterior walls sheathed with some exterior “t&g” plywood, stained, cleared or painted (don’t really know or care). interior walls sheathed in OSB. bare rafter ceiling (no sense in worrying about insulation).
best part about all of that: all up to code, and a skid foundation non-living space without plumbing… isn’t a permanent building. can’t be taxed on it : )