the attic (along with the majority of the other projects) has been on hold for the time being. bunch of unfinished projects in a home restoration? start more!

the horrible vinyl flooring in the kitchen and bathroom just scream “i sucked even when installed in 1985!” add that to a growing curiosity to what may be under the vinyl… and we now have a mess in the kitchen and bath!

the bathroom has vinyl over what appears to be original linoleum. i’m pretty sure they sanded the linoleum, because the vinyl is actually adhered to it well. the linoleum looks as if it was laid over bare tongue and groove fir, like the front bedroom. now, the front bedroom was a complete fucking nightmare. 7am to 11pm, two days in a row, working all-out the whole time. the tar/asphalt/who knows what based mastic that held the linoleum to the bare tongue and groove was a mighty foe. one it appears i’ll be facing again.

douglas fir flooring in the bathroom? yes… the linoleum is likely going to be a major pain in the ass to remove… but the thought of matching fir in the bathroom makes it seem worth the pain, blood, sweat, tears and emotional turmoil involved in stripping down to bare wood. can then sand the hallway and bath together, then stain to match… a few layers of urethane, and it should make for a fine bathroom floor.

now, the kitchen… the kitchen floor is vinyl on top of 3/8″ particle board (no, not MDF… low grade particle board). the particle board is nailed like crazy to… more linoleum over (i think) bare fir. i know for sure it’s more tongue and groove… not positive it’s bare. some areas of linoleum came up at the edges with no difficulty, and the wood appears dark… so there’s a (mild) chance that the floor was at one time finished, then had lino laid over… which would make removal so much easier. for now, we spent an hour or two pulling up the particle board to reveal what i think is some pretty sweet linoleum…

having the entire lower floor all matching fir would be awesome… think the kitchen would look great with wood. if it’s all there, then we can refinish it… saving a lot of work compared to stripping down to the floor joists so we can tile.

spent a couple hours with a shovel and a chainsaw, removing the horrible english ivy which has been taking over the yard. this stuff actually had stumps, about 3″ in diameter… and a lot of them.

most of the time was spent with the shovel…

more shovel time…

done, for now… the ivy was covering about 2 feet of the driveway, roughly 100 square feet of yard/planter space, and growing across parts of the house.

we need to get a large dumpster for stuff like this, the carpet that was pulled from the house (which sits stacked on the front porch, ghetto style), and a lot of other growing piles of miscellaneous junk.

going to trench for the curtain drains and gas line… then build the retaining wall to level the yard and wrought iron & cedar fence and gates… sprinklers, sod, moving the camellia bushes (trees?), tons of landscaping… need to find a lawnmower that can actually deal with damp grass (48″ of rain per year, here), and some other toys… i mean required equipment.

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the bathroom also received a bit of attention (to which esmee approves)…

sign of the crab tub filler/hand shower combination. we searched high and low for a salvaged original, with sad results. this thing cost more than my first car (and not much less than my current car’s purchase price)… but it sure is pretty… and it’s very nice being able to take a shower, again!