See, it looks a little different

We worked on and off in the yard this week, and then Hobs came over for a marathon gardening session on Sunday.  We:

• buried the drip hose (thanks Mary!)
• planted my birthday apple tree (thanks Dad!)
• added a ton more topsoil as things settled
• moved the big hydrangea
• moved the lavender
• moved something else that I don't know - perhaps a lily
• leveled out the yard
• set a path using the bluestone we found under the concrete
• planted jasmine, thyme and clover seeds.

After all that, we're in a really good place for the ground cover to take off (hopefully!) and make the back stop looking like a dirt pit!

Springing it in with a vengeance

The backyard had a concrete path that led to nowhere - it was basically a sidewalk down the middle of the yard.  Since the path to nowhere bothered us, we decided to rip it out.  We rented a jackhammer, bought some topsoil to replace the concrete, and bribed friends with the promise of steaks, beer, and the use of a sledgehammer if they came to help.

Jackhammering was too much for me (I'm too short for leverage, and don't have the weight to overcome my height), but luckily our taller friends ruled it while Jaimee wielded the sledge to break up the pieces: 

Once the pieces were broken up, everyone pitched in to load them into bags and carry them out front.

I managed to avoid this heavy labor by spending my time building a "litter box" for Loki, as well as a compost box for the results of the dog-litter-box.  The team then filled the trench with topsoil (we need to get more), and covered it with weed fabric so we don't accidentally create a feral cat litterbox, and we re-routed the drip hoses for full yard coverage.  At the end of only a couple hours, we were done!

I know, it kind of looks exactly the same, since the weed cover is running where the concrete was.  But the ground cover seeds are growing well, and I've ordered some supplementary plants, so hopefully planting will take place soon and change the look!  We also discovered a lot of slate (and a mini-boulder) buried under the concrete - we saved it, and will figure out something to use it for.  Suggestions welcomed!

Maintenance March ends with a swear

...Maintenance is boring.  And sometimes frustrating.

To end up the month (there are still lots of tasks to do, but they'll just have to be worked in), Jaimee got a new garbage can, and labeled our garbage and recycling with our address.  I took my phone apart to replace the cracked screen, and managed to break the replacement screen while putting it back together.  Sigh.  Waiting for the replacement for the replacement (good thing Jaimee had a spare phone so I'm not totally out of touch).

I'd like something a little more exciting - so we're on to Spring it on April.  I started some groundcover seeds to replace the grass and the sedum that didn't handle Loki well.  In a couple weeks we're going to tear out the concrete path that's still back there and get the groundcover well started - hopefully!

March theme

Apparently my unofficial theme is to be late in announcing each monthly theme, but hey.  Onwards.

Settle in February went well.  The murphy bed got fully attached to the wall, the legs and headboard were painted, and it got its mattress.  We hung shelves for Jaimee's media center, and moved my bookshelf into my office.  More pictures and random hooks got hung, we dropped stuff off at the thrift store, and basically just found homes for piles of things.  Most importantly, we hung the door that will separate the guestcave from my office.  The pictures and saga on that (why must we pick the world's heaviest door?) will follow in a later post.

But we were talking about March.  Sometimes it actually feels like spring around here, and between that (gotta do prep work!) and the messes of the past couple months, this month has become Maintenance March.  In addition to continuing the work on the murphy bed and the door, so far I've:

• spent a couple hours repairing the backyard fence
• ordered the seeds (after research and consultation!) for the lawn replacement
• patched and painted the multitude of holes created in the walls during the frequent hunt for studs in the past couple projects.  In the process, I discovered that rubbing alcohol removes latex paint from clothing.  Thank you interwebs!
• taken care of 3 old cans of paint (related to the above)
• put window bars up in the basement window over the deck
• and hung a new backyard solar motion detector light (creepy backyard intruders of the block begone!)

Next up - fixing the wobble on the downstairs toilet and patching and sealing the spot in the basement that the cat keeps staring at.  The excitement never ends over here!

And it's up!

As the settling in continues - the murphybed is up!  It was not without its drama, but with only two minor injuries caused (sorry about that bump, Max ;)), it counts as a win!

Last week Dar helped me construct the majority of the bed, following the plans that came with the hardware from Rockler.  Over the week, I stained it and put on the first coat of poly.  I completely forgot to take in progress pictures - so here it is right before the attaching:

And here it is after it was attached to the wall!  Well, sort of attached.  I apparently have amazing studless walls - in the entire span of the bed, I could only find two studs.  The plans recommend attaching at four points, so I'm going to attach a board to the two studs I could find, and then attach the bed to that board as well.

It's tilted into the case at the moment - once we put the mattress in I can attach the stops that will prevent it from going back so far.  I need to still paint the legs, and put on another coat of stain.  But - as soon as we put the mattress in it will be usable - so big step forward for settling in! 

Feb theme

Yeah, I know, February is nearly over so why am I bothering?  Well, better late than never.

January's theme was get-it-out Jan.  It was pretty successful, even though it has bled into Feb.  We got rid of:

• extra green marble tile
• two pairs of boots
• a pair of sneakers
• a pair of snow pants
• unnecessary construction leftovers
• Dad's iphone
• some random clothes
• an entire drop ceiling

Still to go - a spare tire, a pair of skis and boots (anyone?  Bueller?), a few more random items to ebay, and a thrift store dropoff. 

Getting rid of things always makes me want to organize and declutter more, and especially with repurposing the upstairs we've moved into...."settle-in Feb".  There's a murphybed in progress for the guest room/game cave, as well as plenty of little projects to organize and store things better.  I finished one of those little project last night - we added another level of pan storage to the kitchen.

A small change, right?  But it had a large effect - the kitchen seems much more open now that the pan clutter isn't so close to the counter.  (Yes, I had eggs for dinner.  Don't judge.)  It also gave us enough hanging room that some of the clutter in the random pan cabinet could be hung, allowing us to put away more random items (salad spinner, I'm looking at you) and not have them out on the counter/shelves.  Onwards!

Up and running!

The new ceiling fan came in, and after switching the light attachment it worked fine.  Perhaps the old one just wasn't completing the circuit?  But it's up and working!  I hung the curtains (I've now hung the one in the dressing room 3 times, thanks to my inability to get those stupid wire "rods" from Ikea taut enough), and we moved in!

There's plenty more to do in the room itself (some molding to patch, some to put up, a floor spot to stain and seal, outlets to swap) and a ton to do in the rest of the upstairs, but so far it really looks great!

Fell at the last fence

We're so very close.  The last coat of paint is on, the brick is done and looks great, the ceiling fan is hung - and stopped working after 10 minutes.  I checked all my connections and everything was still attached, but when I used the tester it seemed like power was not exiting the remote unit, so perhaps the remote unit fried itself?  I hooked the fan up directly to the ceiling without the remote, and the fan worked when connected but not the light.

Argh.  There was some angry kicking of cardboard boxes, I confess.  Jaimee's ordered a new fan, so hopefully it'll be working tomorrow....

Shockingly, progress continues

The house does tend to get angry about large projects, and this time it vented its spleen by having the dishwasher spring a leak - soaking the joist below, a bit of the floor, and half of the island back.  The joist and the floor should dry without damage, but the island back is mdf and will need to be replaced before it molds.  I'll tackle that next week.  It looks like the water supply line just worked itself loose; has that happened to anyone else?  Dad?

But, there was a lot of positive progress, even though some of it was expensive.  The electrician came to center the light fixture box, leaving us with one junction box that I think we can easily disguise and a trustworthy attachment for the new ceiling fan (which should be arriving soon).  We booked a mason to fix the chimney as he was very reasonable in price and could do the work today (I think he was so reasonable because he was grateful to get a last minute job that he could do even though it's freezing since it was inside!) 

It also turns out Jaimee is much better at sanding joint compound than I am.  And applying it, really.  Thank heavens.  Because of her hard work, the walls were ready to be painted as soon as the ceiling was sealed.  I tackled the sealing with satin polyurethane, and Jaimee started painting once the sanding was complete.  The ceiling is sealed and the walls have their first coat!

It's hard to easily see the color, but this room is sort of a sky blue.  Tonight we'll will tackle the second coat - and begin the extensive cleaning required to get rid of all the demo dirt.  Weirdly, I find the cleaning much more fun than the sanding.  Or perhaps that's not weird at all - after all, you can see progress when cleaning!

This is the tedious part

After hours of working last night, we got the small room painted

and another coat of compound on the wall repairs.

This is the part of home repair that always drags on and on for me - the wall patching.  Ugh.  Can't wait to be done with that!