arrival of the w/d

need we say more.


after buying our w/d in august, before we closed on our house, we pushed back our delivery date about six times...since we had no laundry room.

what a glorious sight! and need i say...clean clothes!

painting & wainscoting

wanting to get this laundry room project done, we decided to double-team today. we will work in tandem like a...a tandem bike. andrea will paint, and i will put up the wainscoting.

the start.


look a that green color. awesome.


i had to break out the team tris shirt for today. we. will. conquer.


andrea was staring to pass me up. she painted all the walls and started in painting wainscoting before i had finished putting it up.


needing to finish up quickly, andrea said that desperate times call for desperate measures. then she handed me a paint brush. i'll try not to let her down.


she turned around and asked what in the world was i doing. i had no reply.


she does a way better job painting than i do. thankfully.

grout.

since i was sore from laying tile yesterday and grouting this morning, andrea jumped in to wash down our newly lain grout.


we just noticed that we do not have any outside faucets. add that to the project list. i guess the bath tub will have to do.


grout? done.

happy thanksgiving day... tiling!

that's right, what better way to give thanks then to wake up at 7am to tile your laundry room. this has to be quick, guests arrive at 2pm for dinner and i still have to cut the edge tiles.

i'm sure the neighbors love me! cutting tiles outside at 730 in the morning. i was going to cut them in the garage, but then remembered the mess we had when i cut tiles in the basement of our previous house.

breaking in the new rotozip!

i walked in to tell andrea that in order to be finished by dinner, i'd need help laying the tile. she asked if i had looked in the mirror lately. i had no idea.

three hours left until dinner and i'm just starting to lay tile.


almost done,



done!

10 minutes left for a shower.

selecting and dry-fitting tile

andrea found an amazing deal on slate tiles: universal granite and marble in auburn, wa.
scored 12 x 12 slate tile for two bucks a square foot.

andrea selected each tile for their respective location on the floor.


we spent the evening dry fitting the tiles. i guess that's what happens when you turn 30. instead of going out to parties, you stay home and dry fit tiles. it's well worth the time, we'll have little time for error tomorrow.
if you need stone tiles or counter tops, head down to universal granite and marble and see sunny!

dry wall...sweet, dry wall.

although i very much dislike sanding dry wall, i don't mind slapping the mud onto the wall.
progress.

please. i beg you please.

don't ever do this.

don't be a cheapskate. buy a 89 cent junction box.

you.have.got.to.be.kidding.me.

raw.open.wires.

i'm glad i didn't try to cut the lath out with the sawsall!
i'd of joined the mouse in the crawl space.

a new day has dawned. i feel like a new man. the sky's the limit and the day[night] is filled with all sorts of possibilities!

i shall crack open a stella and toast the beauty of plaster and lath.

truly, when it comes to old homes, love and hate, nothing takes the prize like good ole plaster and lath.

this is my picasso. who came up with this? who needs a zen garden; i shall gaze upon my lath.

progress: round 1

i'm sure this is only the first inception of the wiring. it always takes me like three times to get it laid out right.

chew on this termites! this'll keep you busy for another eighty years!

laundry/pantry demo day!

demo days get me excited for only one reason; the surprise of what you might find. i was hoping for something old and cool. it would have given me a charge, and distracted me, if i would have found an old random oddity. instead, i found just about everything that a home renovator hopes not to find. here's the run down:

knob and tube wiring. this was expected. but i didn't expect for the wires to run outside, be cut off, bare, not wire capped [heaven forbid a junction box] and i certainly didn't expect them to be hot! good thing i've been jolted before and wish never to repeat that experience again; i didn't touch them.

and old abandoned sink drain and vent pipe. ok, maybe i should have expected this when i was removing a sheet of plywood that had been used for drywall [sheetrock if you live in WA].

i certainly didn't expect to find a mouse nest! good thing i found the little sucker dead in my crawl space...although i think we both surprised each other.

so this sink drain/vent pipe is like the perfect storm. me being andrea gail, i tried to out run it, but it wasn't going to let me. read: leaking vent pipe, mold behind drywall and...and...AND termite damage!

i.am.thankful.i.had.a.few.beers.tonight.

good.night.

new laundry room

after moving in, and ready to get a new stackable front load washer and dryer delivered, we realized that we should have measured the mudroom. seeing how we like clean clothes, we had to act fast. we quickly decided to make use of the random [huge] half cluttered half empty pantry.

this will become the side for our laundry room.

stay tuned...

1032

home sweet home...for now.

here we sit on the steps of our 1920 cottage located in seattle, washington.

about two blocks away is an old downtown area filled with restaurants, a bakery, an ice cream shop, coffee house, and all the daily necessities.

it's a good house; well worn...feels lived in.
it needs a little work, but has good bones.

one of the best points of our house is the view from the front porch. see it?


look a little closer.


on a clear day mt rainer stands about 60 miles away; although you would swear it's closer.

you'll be seeing more of our home, it's progress and the community.

stay tune!

updates are being typed

we'll be back very shortly...please be patient.