Life's Little Distractions

Sandwich happiness at Lardo

2011-07-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

As most of you know I'm serious about eating... I love it. It makes me happy. And I love sharing good food finds (and warning of not-so-good food finds).

Within the past month I've had two stellar and one just OK sandwiches at Lardo, a food cart located at the cart pod at 43rd and Belmont in SE Portland. If you see either of these first two on the menu give them a try! The third, well... maybe not.

grilled asparagus, farm egg, arugula, fresh ricotta and crisp prosciutto

Really good, excellent bun, great contrast of textures. Seeing this picture makes me want to recreate this one at home... immediately!

pork meatball banh mi with Sriracha aioli, pickled vegetables, and cilantro

The pork meatball is well seasoned and the pickled carrots add a nice fresh zing... one of my favorites at Lardo.

broccoli rabe, sweet roasted peppers, olive tapenade, capers, mozzarella

Now this one I'm not totally sold on. It was just too bitter for me. I brought half home, scraped off some of the olives, and added an over easy egg and I thought that helped.

Car Porn

2011-07-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

If you have even the smallest appreciation for beautiful cars, and you happen to be in Portland, then you must head to the Portland Art Museum before September 11, 2011. The Allure of the Automobile exhibit is amazing. A great grouping of truly beautiful automobiles... from an era when cars were actually sexy. These were my personal favorites.

1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, the paint color was amazing, and I happen to think Gus and I would look perfect in this car... don't you :)

1961 Ferrari 250 GT Comp/61 Short, had a great blue racing stripe down the middle

1957 Jaguar XK-SS Roadster, No. 713, leather straps hold down the hood!

As a bonus, every Saturday classic car owners (different category each weekend) park their cars outside the museum and you can get up close and personal some some real beauties. Can't make it to the show, check out a slide show of the cars here.

I'm back!

2011-07-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

After a break of almost exactly two years I'm back to the blog, which I've decided to freshen up a bit with a new design, etc. Life has been good (with only just a hink of bad), and I'll try to bring you all up to speed with some highlights from the last two years mixed in with new news in the coming weeks.

Glorious Summer Days

2009-07-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

This week has been glorious! Started out with a kick ass BBQ at my house on Saturday, an awesome neighborhood bike ride with Katy, Nick, Jen, Ben and 20,000 other Portlanders on Sunday, then a lovely afternoon in the backyard with cocktails, pizza and friends Sunday evening. Yesterday I spent the day out on the Willamette River... can you beat water skiing on a Wednesday morning with zero boat traffic, glassy warm water and a boat full of friends? Love it!

The BBQ

Sean and Becky - smooth water on the Willamette

The garden has been turning out some great zucchini and carrots, and my green beans are just days away from a first harvest. But now that I have the back yard fairly under control I have to turn my attention to my front yard, which currently is looking a wee bit shabby. I have several plants that I want to remove, many that need to be cut back, and whole area that need to be dug out in an attempt to get rid of thousands of invasive day lilies. I have a feeling that will be an ongoing battle... arg.

My carrot trials yielded interesting results. Same amount of seeds, same area, planted the same day, big difference. From left to right; Red Samurai, Napa Hybrid, Rainbow Hybrid, and Bolero Hybrid.

Moved in, and loving it!

2009-07-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

The last six weeks have flown by, and after talking with a few of you I realized that I haven't posted any new pictures since the end of May, which is before I moved back in! My apologies.

Since the remodel is nearly complete the blog will make be transitioning into a record of my day to day adventures in gardening, travel, cooking, eating, work, time with friends, and outings with Gus... and of course the on going projects around the house (upstairs is far from complete). This time we'll start with garden and end with house pics.

My zucchini have really taken off in the week. There are dozens of giant orange blossoms, and as of today there are several baby zucchini in the works, with more to follow I'm sure.

Gus loves the new lawn and each evening he trots outside with me to inspect what's new in the garden.

I thought I had killed this rose bush when I had to transplant it during the construction of the garage. It was looking seriously sad for a while, but it has made a full recovery and is now full of flowers!

I started several tomato plants from seed this year and they are now completely out of control. Like MASSIVE. I'm not kidding when I tell you there are easily hundreds of tomatoes on each plant. I'm going to have enough roma tomatoes to keep me swimming in sauce until next summer!

Another plant I'm happy to say survived the remodel is my lovely wisteria. After a major pruning prior to the remodel, it has grown vigorously the past few months and is flowering for the second time this summer. The thick green foliage and beautiful clusters of lavender flowers provide much needed shade on the deck.

You know, I'm not really sure what this plant is, but the giant clusters of pure white flowers
sure are pretty!

Snap peas! Yum!

The latest completed project happened this past weekend thanks to the help of Mom and Del! This is the sandstone from my old patio, which Del laid in concrete. Then Mom and I smoothed out the joints and scrubbed the stone of concrete residue. Let's just say I wouldn't want that job for a living.

And now for the interior! This is a before picture.

Cute, but really dark (one light fixture with exposed light bulbs), and the back entryway was tiny and really drafty.

This is the after... as of yesterday.

Same amount of counter space in the kitchen and I even have a place for my stool and under counter garbage and recycling! Woo hoo!

The sitting room. Gus enjoys hanging out in here as much as I do.

It's great to have a place to hang coats and store shoes!

The large deck outside the sitting room is like having a whole other room to use (at least for 2/3 of the year). And I love, love, love my built-in bookcase. I desperately needed the storage and display space!

Isn't my new bedroom lovely! Loving the hardwood floors and the cool breeze from those awning windows at night.

I can even get all three pieces of bedroom furnitre in here now!

Plus Gus has his own little nook for his bagel bed.

And in the end I have a decent closet after all!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

2009-05-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

I love before and after shots, so here are a bunch of the exterior/yard.

The back entrance to the house, taken October 2006, right after I moved in.

February 2009 - The foundation for the addition is framed here.

Today, May 31, 2009 - The addition is where the old deck used to be, and the new deck is where the overgrown secret garden used to be!

October 2006 - Some pitted grass, a makeshift slate patio, and a much smaller laurelwood hedge in the back.

May 31, 2009 - Flat lawn, trimmed hedge, and veggie garden.

February 2009. You see the side of my neighbor's garage and shed, then the foundation of my garage, then the massive piles of wood on top of my poor raised beds.

May 31, 2009 - Super cute garage, raised beds with veggies, new sod, and my firepit!

October 2006 - Side yard is over grown waste of space.

May 31st 2009 - This area is now home to my favorite spot in the yard (the lawn chair under the trellis), shaded by my beautiful wisteria and bamboo. I fired up the grill for the first time last night and had dinner on the deck.

Advil anyone?

2009-05-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

My back, my legs, my shoulder! Staining the two decks this past weekend took its toll on me. But they sure do look good! I made some good progress on exterior painting as well and I now have three of the eight areas I'm doing finished. Yesterday a lot of work was going on inside, installing the baseboards, reinstalling my appliances, attaching window hardware... lots of little things. And on the outside the landscapers were there tearing up the remnants of my old lawn, tilling, leveling, adding super smelly compost. Today they will be back to lay new sod and place some stepping stones I bought over the weekend.

I spent two days staining the decks... you would think Gus did the work by how pooped he looks in this picture! I did the first coat with a waterborne neutral colored base, and then a clear top coat finish.

Lovely new exterior light fixtures.

Cork floors are in. We are having a few issues with the installation of some of the tiles so it looks like they are going to have to come back and relay some pieces.

Painting... sucks!

2009-05-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

I've been painting, and painting and painting. And it may seems like I've made very little progress, but I promise you I have! I'm pretty much done with siding except for a few areas on the garage, and now I've moved on to trim. Inside, they have been working on installing the new electrical stuff, and I think the day after tomorrow they are laying the cork floor in the kitchen.

The inside of the garage. This is going to make a nice home for Red Sail! There is paper over the concrete floor to protect it and they've done the window trim since I took this picture so I've got to prime and paint that as well.

Getting there on the garage. Nothing that is white will stay white. I've got five trim colors still to do!

Driveway side just needs some work on the trim. The upper is going to get done later by a pro.

This corner is almost done too!

Have to touch up the trim and then next week landscapers are coming to lay some new sod and bring in some fresh soil for a flower bed under this window.

My pendant lights are up... so cute!

And now my dirty dishes will be very well illuminated too!

Kitchen Progress

2009-05-12T13:31:00.001-07:00

My beautiful Pratt & Larson (made in Portland, OR) tile is in place... well almost. There was a mix up on the edge pieces so instead of 1" liners, 4" showed up. Not going to work. So a rush order was placed and the tile company is footing the bill since they made the mistake. Sadly that means waiting 10 days for the tile to be made. So in the mean time they set the remaining tile with a wood spacer. The liner pieces will outline the herringbone area and will run along the top of the blue subway tiles. My lovely Blue Peacock granite counters are in too! Very excited about that!

Tile backsplash.

Close up of granite counters. Blue, gray, golden brown.

Weekend Update

2009-05-11T08:28:00.001-07:00

Thanks to three days of sunshine I was able to get a good amount of the siding painted this past weekend. On Saturday Merrill helped out for three of the eight hours, and on Sunday I cranked out another seven hours of work on my own. The walls shown in the pictures below all have two coats done, so that is satisfying. We are supposed to have nice weather this upcoming weekend so I'm hoping to tackle the remaining lower siding, and get a start on the brown trim around the windows and doors.

The color is the exact same color used on the old siding, so any variation is due to ten years of weathering and dirt.

I really wish I had put those raised beds about 2 inches further from the garage. Had to get creative to reach the top three rows of siding.

Yeah, I'm not doing the upper part of this section. Calling a pro!

This area is looking really good. Have to stain the decks ASAP too!

Love it!

2009-05-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

The interior painting is almost wrapped up, and the kitchen looks great! Can't wait for the plastic sheets to come off the windows so the light can shine it! I think they still have the stairwell to do, but otherwise they are almost done, yippie! Only 24 days left and it's all coming together outside as well. Concrete is poured, garage doors are in, and the decks are almost done.

Kitchen

Entryway (they will rehang basement door when they are done painting)

Can't wait to take the window cover off!

My garage is so cute! And the interior paint looks awesome. The walkway outside the door will be slate.

New backyard entrance and my old fence is back in place!

Driveway, fence and garage! Gus even signed his name in the concrete :)

Trim is in!

2009-04-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

Finish carpentry, check! Yep, all done (well just a more pieces once the flooring is in), and it looks awesome. Now I've got to prime and paint the trim upstairs and in my bedroom, and the pros will take care of the kitchen!

How nice, a window over the sink that I can open... and doesn't fall open on its own!

Very excited about my bookcase, and these doors. Light, storage! Hooray!

Views of the lush backyard, and windows that open!

Doors, glorious doors.

So much better! Love how much bigger it feels in the kitchen!

My bedroom closet actually looks pretty!

Here and there, and the road ahead.

2009-04-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Progress is being made all over this week, but even though things are moving along it seems that we still have a long way to go. My best guess is that we are 5-10 days behind schedule (boo hoo). What's left? All the interior trim work (which is a lot), installing cork kitchen floor, the granite counters, the tile in the kitchen, interior painting of new kitchen and stairwell area, priming and painting interior of the garage, painting new cabinetry, installing the 18 new light fixtures and switches inside and out, pouring the concrete driveway and floor of the garage, pouring the footings for the decks and fence, finishing the fence, setting the garage windows, installing the person and mechanical doors in garage, all of the exterior painting, building of stairs on both decks, installing latticework on base of both decks, staining the deck, installing the rest of the security system, cutting intake vents for the attic fan, reinstalling all my kitchen appliances and sink, sanding and staining of my bedroom floor, and installing all the window screens and hardware. That's all I can think of off the top of me head. I'm sure I'm forgetting something!

The stucco process is sort of a long one. First the wire mesh, then the first layer, then the textured layer. Think it will be about two weeks total.

My lovely trellis.

Three sides of the garage are done. I may even start painting the siding this weekend. The mechanical door will be one of the last things to go in.

The area outside the second floor bathroom window. Not Exactly sure how I'm going to paint up here. Actually I may end up getting a pro to do this.

The new back door is here!

Upstairs window all trimmed out. Really well done.

Upstairs bathroom window all trimmed out. I need to finish painting in here.

My bedroom windows are trimmed out. Love it!

Gus admiring my painting in the bedroom. This picture doesn't do it justice... the color is so nice! I'm actually painting the interior of the garage the same color. The still have to put in the picture rail and the baseboards, and the floor isn't finished yet.

Coming together

2009-04-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

With an estimated six weeks left, things are coming together nicely. Despite some recent wet weather they have been able to make good progress on the siding and exterior trim, and inside they have done some preliminary painting and installed the two custom built-ins. As I type the stucco guys are over there getting that done. This weekend I plan to make some progress on the exterior priming and painting... woo hoo!

This new cedar siding will be painted green so match the rest of the house. When I have the funds I'll reside the whole house in cedar siding... someday.

Love my doors. The black part above them is going to be stucco.

This built-in separates the back entry way from the main area. The bottom will be painted white and the top with be stained to match the existing built-ins I have in my living room.

Built-in shelving will be painted white. Finally have a place to store all my cookbooks!

Subflooring is in. Cork floor will go on top of this.

Golden yellow walls with a ceiling color two shades lighter. Once the trim is in place you'll hardly see much of the wall color!

My closet floor. Trim yet to be done.

New hardwood floor in my bedroom. Still has to be filled, sanded and finished.

Bonus pic. The other day it was raining and cold, and I couldn't find Gus anywhere. Then I heard a sigh and realized he was in my bed (I've only let him sleep in bed maybe a 20 times the 2+ years I've had him.) I didn't put the covers on him like this, he nested in this way himself. He managed to make himself comfortable on my pillow as well. Thankfully he didn't drool!

Windows!!!!

2009-04-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

Mom priming the wood on the garage.

Slider is in. I love it!

Picture window flanked by two double hung windows.

New casement window over the sink.

Bedroom pic. Walls primed.

Bedroom pic. Awning window in. This is high because there is a deck landing on the other side.

Bedroom pic. New double hung window.

Garage drywall nearly done.

Garage pic 2.

The disaster area and the tarped work area. Rain, rain go away!

My sweet deck!

Drywall and Decking

2009-04-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

Drywall has begun and now the rooms have truly taken shape... slightly smaller than I had imagined. The small feel might have something to do with the fact that I go over there at night, that there are no windows, and each room is illuminated with a single bare fluorescent light bulb. Not exactly ideal conditions for creating an bright open atmosphere. Windows are delayed until mid-April and light fixtures are nearly two months off from being placed, so I'm stuck using my imagination for the time being. Outside, the deck is progressing, and they have started to lay the decking on the kitchen side.

Outside the sliding door. A set of stairs will be to the left of the laid section.

The cutout that Jeremy (the carpenter) built to accommodate my very well established Wisteria.

My Bedroom... looking especially small because you can't see the other window in this picture.

The stairwell to the basement.

The opening to the basement on the left, and the back entryway on the right. The entry to the basement will have a 5 panel stained wood door, which matches the other interior doors in my house.

The nook.

Color Inspiration

2009-03-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Just a few pics of the fabrics I'm using for color inspiration, the basement staircase solution and insulation progress. I think the inspector is coming out today, and once they get his OK they will start drywalling. Last chance for in-wall time capsules!

This is the herringbone tile that will be behind the stove. The rest of the wall will be in subway tiles in the grayish-blue color of this pattern. The color of the glazes found in this blend are reflected throughout the new kitchen... in the granite counters, the floor, the cabinetry, and the curtain fabric.

These are the colors in the new kitchen. Grayish blues, golden yellows. I'm going to make curtains for the windows in there with this fabric.

This is the new color scheme for upstairs. Gray, soft yellow, Merlot. I think it's going to be really nice up there when I'm done with it!

The drainpipe staircase solution. The black pipe will be in a space that will eventually be a laundry room so I don't really care that it shows.

The base of the stairs. You can see the drain pipe now angles behind the staircase, but back in to the same hole in the floor.

The basement stairs. New side wall on the right, and no more pipe running through a tread. The inspector came out and said we are up to code, yippie!

My bedroom.

The kitchen extension. Hopefully some time within the next two weeks a window will be here!

The section that is open will be an access door to the storage area and crawl space.

A fully insulated garage will make working out there much more pleasant.

Tortoise pace.

2009-03-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

It seems like not much has been done over the last week... but I know they've been working away over there. It's hard to get too excited about progress which includes weatherproofing paper and electrical outlets after seeing leaps and bounds made with framing and roofing weeks before. Just this past week I really started to miss my house and garden. The more I want it to be done the slower it seems to go! Ug. One big issue this last week was the stairs to the basement and their relation to my bedroom closet. In order to bring the stairs up to code we had to get creative with the closet floor. You'll see.

This is a view of the stairs from the basement. Notice the black drain pipe that currently runs into the stairs. That has to be rerouted.

This is a view standing at the top of the basement stairs, looking at what will be a sloped ceiling and a box in my closet. There is that black pipe again. That is the vent part which they are hoping to move out of this area to create more room in the closet.

This is a view of my closet from the bedroom. We had to raise the floor in order to get the head height on the staircase. In the back is the heat and A/C to upstairs.

This is the "box" they built over the stairs to that I can get some hanging clothing in here. See black pipe all the way on the left of the image.

This is the lower part of that same area. This was the only way to get the freaking code head height on those stairs. Stupid code!

My old bedroom window used to be just the top half of this. Now it's twice as large to be an egress window.

Framing on the main deck has begun. The deck is accessible through the sliding doors from the the new kitchen area.

Framing on the small deck outside the mudroom door has also begun.

Interal Medicine for the Home

2009-03-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Looks like they wrapped up the roof over the weekend, and inside the main focus is bringing the electrical up to code. They've also been working on a new staircase to the basement. In other news, my neighbors are loving these guys. The neighbors that I share my driveway with want to hire Right Angle to do an addition on their house. And the neighbor on the other side of them stopped me on the street today and said they've been watching the progress from the second story of their house and they are very impressed. Both people have commented that the guys show up at a decent hour, they don't disturb anyone, the work looks really solid, and they have been all-stars about cleaning up. Yeah! Happy neighbors!

New electric in the wall behind the stove. Hooray for being up to code! This area will be getting a super nice tile job next month.

New electric on the other side of the kitchen. The open area will be drywalled and painted.

Bye bye basement staircase. Not exactly sure what they are doing here, but my crappy death trap stairs are gone so that's a good thing.

The heat and A/C now run up the back of my closet to the upstairs.

The new skylight upstairs will really brighten things up. This will have a shade attached eventually.

New wiring in the floor of upstairs.

Old knob and tube wiring.

On the back side of the addition I had a hot and cold water faucet installed. Now Gus will get his baths outside!

The new roof is on. This window is being replaced by one slightly larger, so once that is done they will repair the stucco.

They've started wrapping the house in this breathable weatherproof paper called Jumbo Tex.

No so good.

2009-03-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

Had the first "set back" of the project. Looks like most of the wiring in the house is not up to code, and any room that is part of the remodel has to be brought up to code. Ug. This is not going to be cheap, boo!

This is old knob and tube wiring that is in the ceiling of my bedroom. At some point someone spliced into this and ran other electric off of this... no bueno. This has to go.

This is the sub floor of my bedroom. They pulled up all the yellow painted flooring that used to be under my carpet, and they will lay the new hardwood floor on top of this.

This is the subfloor of the kitchen. At some point someone cut out part of this (see striped green/black, and did a crappy patch job, leaving a hump in the floor. This needs to be leveled out before they lay the new cork flooring.

The counters and lower cabinets have been pulled out for the most part so they can get to the floor, and have access to the walls for new electric.

The white and black tile on the wall is now gone and you can see the multitudes of colors that the kitchen was once painted. So far I seen evidence of purple, orange, yellow, green and blue. The holes in the floor were how the stove was hooked up to gas and electric... not to code either. That has to be in the wall.

My kitchen looks pretty sad right now!

Upstairs, they have pulled out the old shelving in the wall and pried up the remnants of the white cabinetry.

No more ugly toilet!

No more ugly sink and cabinet!

We've got a completed roof on the garage! Just need some gutters!

Wall and ceiling framing

2009-03-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

Hooray for more framing! The kitchen area dimensions are much more apparent now that the guys have framed the other small walls in the space, including the entry to the basement, the side wall of the mudroom area, and the ceiling of the nook. By the way, I think they put off the re-roofing later this next week. We are supposed to have a run of sunny days so that would certainly help!

The framing for the ceiling of the nook area, at it's highest point it is 9'9".

The entry to the basement is on the left, and the mudroom is on the right.

The mudroom is a pretty small space, just enough for a small bench, some cubbies, and a few hooks for jackets.

In order to keep the basement stairs in place (thus retaining maximum head height), there is a step down to a landing from the kitchen. Right now you can see through to my bedroom, but that will get closed up, as will the side wall facing the mudroom. You can also see they opened up the walls leading down to the basement.

A little progress in a lot of places

2009-03-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

Lots of new pictures to show. Over the last few days progress was made on my bedroom, the roof framing of the garage, and the a little bit in the kitchen. They started removing the roof on the house yesterday, and thankfully today has been fairly dry. I met with my architect and contractor yesterday and they are predicting a late May completion. Just in time for summer BBQ season, hooray!

The old backyard facing wall of my bedroom was removed and now you can see the precious few extra feet I'll gain in there. Four feet makes a big difference when the room was only 9 feet long before! An awning style window will be on this wall.

The window on this wall will be twice the size since it has to be an egress window. No more purple walls either. Any suggestions for paint colors?

This is inside my bedroom closet. They are opening the wall and back portion to run a vent upstairs.

They've finished up the framing of the support wall.

The wall from inside the kitchen.

This corner is coming off next week, I think, when the cabinet guys comes out to rework the corner area.

Thought I'd share some photos of upstairs. They are doing some of the work, and I'm doing some other stuff. This bathroom cabinet is going bye-bye.

I tore up the rug, and removed the old cabinetry with my sis' help. The contractor will dry wall this area so it will be sealed up once we get heat and A/C up here.

This window is being replaced, and a skylight is going in this area.

The roof framing on the garage is done. And look at the pile of crap that is my backyard!

More garage.

Inside the garage.

A sense of space

2009-02-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

The framing for the garage has arrived and they should have that done by early next week.

Standing in the kitchen looking towards the extension. They removed the window and have busted through the wall at the end of the counter. The cabinetry at the end that is next to the doorway is going to be removed so that the opening into the new space will be twice as wide.

Now if you walk to the beginning of thew new sections and look up you'll see the completed roof framing. The ceiling in this room with be vaulted when complete.

Just below that peak, is the framing for the window that will face the backyard.

Turn to the left and you see the framing for the mudroom door. Just to the left of that you can see into what will be the extension of the bedroom.

Turn to the right and you see the framing for the sliding glass door. So much light!

Now walk into the space and turn around. The ladder is in front of the area the wall that will be removed and replaced with a floor to ceiling bookshelf about half the width (we needed some support here). All the way on the right you see the basement stairs. Soon this area will be framed out with walls and these will be enclosed by a door.

Taking Shape

2009-02-23T18:04:00.001-08:00

The kitchen and bedroom extension have really started to take shape now that the roof has been framed. Although the sides are completely covered with boards on the exterior, on the inside you can see where they've framed for the windows and doors. So far, they've only worked on roof for the house, no progress on the garage.

The kitchen/mudroom bump. Sliding glass doors with be on the left side, and three windows on the wall facing us.

To the left of the garbage can will be a door to the mudroom, and to the right, a long, high awning style window in the bedroom.

A view from inside. You are looking at the framing for the large window that will face the backyard.

A view from inside. This is the framing for the sliding glass door that will lead out to the deck.

We've got walls!

2009-02-19T22:27:00.000-08:00

After returning from my four day trip there has been quite a bit of progress. All of the walls are framed out and some of the boards are in place. I can really get a sense of the space now... it looks like it will be quite a change!

On the right you can see the extension of the bedroom and the kitchen, and on the left you see the garage.

The garage.

A close-up of the the siding. You can see the old wood lap siding under the current exterior asbestos siding.

Bye Bye Back Door

2009-02-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

Adios back door! Yesterday they knocked off the existing back entrance to the house, and did some work in my bedroom removing trim and the closet racks. We've officially moved into the boarded up house look... eek!

We already pulled up the carpet from my bedroom, so now you can see the subfloor. New hardwood floors are going in here. They pulled the trim off the walls since that wall with the large window is going to be removed soon as well.

The old racks from the bedroom closet are gone to make room in the back
for a heat vent to run upstairs.

Boarded up kitchen.

The back entrance is gone and now I'm rocking the abandoned building look for a while.

Framing materials arrive!

2009-02-11T18:01:00.000-08:00

Those forms were indeed for the concrete walls that completed the foundation. With that done, today they finished up with the back fill and had the smooshing/packing device out there compacting the gravel areas in and around the garage. Eventually they will be pouring a concrete walkway, a garage floor, and the driveway section closest to the garage door. Not sure that will happen, but happy I was there today to point out that they are supposed to leave a dirt section for plants... otherwise I would have a massive concrete slab! Later in the afternoon the wood for framing arrived, so that process will start tomorrow.

A view from the back corner of my property. The plywood is in the middle.

The ground is level again after being back filled. Framing material in the foreground.

No more dirt piles!

Progress Continues

2009-02-05T18:52:00.001-08:00

I don't know what this stage is called exactly, but progress is being made. Today they built some wood forms on top of the concrete they poured the other day. More concrete to come? You'll know when I know!

Looking at the garage area from the back yard.

The back of the house. The wood forms they built today are now almost
at floor level with the rest of the house.

A view of the wood forms built today.

The garage.

We've got concrete.

2009-02-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday they poured the concrete and now it has to cure. Temps are in the low 50s so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well! Framing should start a week from today.

The bedroom and kitchen bumpout.

The garage.

Getting into Position

2009-01-30T14:48:00.000-08:00

The digging is done and they have started building the forms for the concrete foundation, which they are hoping to pour early next week. I didn't realize how much dirt they would have to remove (3 dump trucks full), and how much they would save for back fill (and subsequently pile on top of my plants). The yard is in a very sad state right now, and the lawn is a complete goner. My raised beds are covered with the wood from the old deck, but I'm hopeful that I will be able to move them into there new positions by the time I want to get some seeds and starts in the ground (late March).

The outline of the garage.

The outline of the kitchen bumpout.

Point of Reference

2009-01-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

The remodel is finally under way! Officially, I started this process on April 4th 2008, with my first meeting with Emerick Architects. After months of design, and redesign, and then reality checks, I finalized the plans in December of 2008. After the snow from "Arctic Blast '08" reluctantly melted away, it was time to get to work.

In early January my friend Katy (who by far takes "best helper in the world" award) and I took down my fence and deck, and moved some plants and other yard stuff to be saved. Then there was the removal of all the trees and bushes that my mom and I had dug up in November to make way for the new deck (thanks for the free labor Mom, and the use of your truck Sarah and Thor). And last but not least, last week my sister helped me take down the trellis and cut back the wisteria... all of the windiest day of the year... a great time to be up on a ladder!

All this to make way for the "real" work, which started on Monday, January 26th. The deck frame is gone, the porta-potty is in place, and today they started digging to remove the existing concrete pieces in the yard, and to make way the the foundation for the new garage and the bump-out on the back of the house. Without further ado, here are some "before" photos of the yard for a point of reference... and some pictures I took earlier today.

View of the backside of the house, the deck and trellis.

My backyard, before the demo began.

Where my deck used to be.

The earthmover, and chunks of torn up concrete.

Digging out the concrete slab from a preexisting garage (which was knocked down about 15 years ago) to make room for the new garage.

The remnants of the trellis and my wisteria hanging on for dear life.