Did some watering and trimming around the yard. We have a big Black Locust and had several smaller ones that we've removed but we have endless sprouts. I am just barely keeping them at bay. We have two that have grown into full size trees that we'll have removed soon (before we paint) and I shudder to think about the new growth that will inspire all over the yard. Hopefully they'll stay contained in the back and not decide to 'venture forth' into the front when we cut those down.

I have the two paint colors picked for tomorrow. I will not go get a sample of the last new one. I will NOT! I'm going to go with SW Nautilus in the hallway. The ceiling and trim will be Snowbound. If I don't like the walls, I can repaint those.

I forgot to tell the handyman that I want him to put in recessed lights in the hallway that he's painting too. I'll text him in a bit. He's done lighting for my inlaws, so I know it'll be okay. Just want to give him the heads up (and I hope he's got enough time set aside).

Working job#2 for a bit today and must do a ton of laundry. I haven't decided if I'll have the inside of my built-in closet/cabinets painted. Yikes! That won't be fun to unload if I do. If I don't, then do I have him paint the inside and outside of the doors, but not the walls/shelves? Or do I just have him paint the outside of the doors and leave the inside to match the inside?

Christina - your kitchen is so CRISP looking! Lovely.

Oh, my.
Love those hostas! It shouldn't surprise you that I have well over 100 different hostas. Yesterday I treated myself to an ebay order. I am in love with the hybrids that are coming out with red stems or petioles, so I picked up a few I don't have. LOVE them.

I'm going to dig out some boring hellebores (cream colored) and put in some dark purple hellebore seedlings. In with those, I'm going to put some of my gorgeous hosta. I'm also limbing up a 'Golden Dawn' redwood and a 'Vintage Gold' false cypress to create hosta gardens under them. Too many of my hosta need shade, which I don't have. What's a chick to do? Make some.

I'm moving towards some of my gardening goals, surprisingly! This morning I laid cardboard in my front bed and put 4 wheelbarrows of wood chips down. Sure, I have a ton more to do, but the sweat was killing me. I'm going to move a bear's britches to the center of that garden to be the focal point between two, sun-loving red, Japanese maples. Yeah, baby!

I also had an electrician friend walk through the house to see if he's interested in the job of finishing up my electrical needs. Yes, "needs." (I hate that advertising phrase.) But I'm to the point where if that's done, painting the MBR will permit me to empty another room now and move forward. This is monumental for me. With the infrastructure 99% completed (we're not going to discuss plumbing right now) I feel like there is light at the end that isn't the train.

Anyway, he's interested. After 30 minutes of this and, oh yea, that, he said, "There's not that much to do." I almost fainted.

I go to work at 4:00.
Cal_quail, paint it all now. You won't do it later and you'll wish you had.

Christina, lovely.
Shicksal, you are a true detective. I can't imagine how your winter heating bills will be effected, let alone the humidity issues! Great job.

Greenhaven, You sure fit in a lot in the time it takes to boil some darned water. Steroids? Crack? What gets you moving so fast!?

Luv you all. :)

Beautybutdebtfree I have hosta envy! They don't grow here and I love them.

Here's a list of what we got my father in law. Hostas and daylilies. In the picture above, that one hosta with bluish tint that is the biggest one has leaves about a FOOT AND A HALF big! That tree is about 2 1/2 foot diameter.

DAYLILIES:
Apache Uprising
Arctic Snow
Breezy Silhouette
Cinnamon Sunrise
Creature of the Night
El Desperado
Hyprion Elite
King George
Mark Janssens
Nosferatu
Romantic Bouquet
Totally Awesome
Tuscawilla Tigress

HOSTAS:
August Lily
Blue Angel
Blue Cadet
Bressingham Blue
Ellerbroek
Francee
Guacamole
June
Night Before Christmas
Paradigm
Sum of All

---

Cal Quail: I actually love laundry in or near the kitchen as it makes perfect sense to be doing loads while one is also puttering around in the kitchen. I've never understood wanting laundry on the second floor. Whenever I do laundry I'm also doing other things, and I want my laundry where the most action is, so I can run loads AND do other stuff in the down time between switching loads. I don't want to have to remember to run back up the stairs and switch loads!

MGMum: that yard slopes down around counter-clockwise and on the other end is a 12 foot drop down to concrete pad below, so there's definitely danger there for teenage boys!

Christina - looks beautiful, the backsplash turned out fabulous. Love the arched doorway.

--

Here are the first seven assemblies of the new railing, minus their top caps. I told my other half I'm making a man-sized crate. BWAHAHAHA!!

That's a lot of railing! It looks like a cool screen turned on its side.

@CEFreeman - even though we're in the hot and humid south it does get cold sometimes. Did I mention that I removed the old 8' ceiling in the family room right before the lows dropped into the teens for a while?

Today I
... drafted up a message to the woodworkers about what I'm looking for with the doors (will follow up with a call tomorrow)

... found something REALLY cool on ebay for the place but can't post a link because the auction isn't over yet!

... Threads on Houzz asking about ceiling planking color in the family room, and another about grasscloth wallpaper. My name there is the same as here for all the stalkers out there.

Doors, the ceiling and wallpaper are the big things still left to do so that's what I'm focusing on. They're holding up the show now.

This post was edited by schicksal on Sun, Jun 22, 14 at 15:24

Shicksal: can't wait to see the ebay treasure, hope you win! And the choices for the other elements, too. And what it is REALLY a lot of is screws! The railing came with ten pounds of stainless screws just to attach the pickets, not including all the other hardware. Two bags like in the picture (like my scale??).

I thought, "There's no way I'm going to go through all those screws!" Well, I'm about halfway assembled, and have used about half of them! And each one has to be forcefully power driven into a channel, they are not bolts but screws that thread themselves into the channels.

But, it's going to be a stout railing when all is put together.

Someone sniped it. Their loss I guess, it was weathered and they ended up paying not much less than what someone is selling new in box ones for. I already have one in satin brass but would like another for the inside of the front door. It's one of these

CEF - I talked it over with MIL, I'm going to just have him do the doors. I'm not afraid to paint, I just don't want to deal with the high ceilings and trim. So if I decide I can't live with the interiors not painted, I can do that myself. Might be a good way to occupy myself while my kitchen is torn apart. And since it was her idea, I'll enlist her for help. ;)

bbdf - I just like the scale. :)

schicksal - We ordered our door (via our window company) from Simpson. (We got the 49906, the one with three squares aligned vertically). They have many similar to Crestview's. I didn't hear good things about CS for Crestview and since the window co. deal with Simpson all the time, we went this way. The style was a compromise between DH and I. I like it, but it wasn't my first choice. (I was working at the new HS in the district the past two weeks and drooling over the doors and sidelights and lots of the architectural details.

Here is a link that might be useful: Simpson doors

I've looked at Simpson some but haven't found pricing yet. I think a big factor will be shipping cost since for something door size and weight it could be significant. Millwork Market is a new supplier of doors that might also work out. It sounds like you read the same that I did about Crestview.

I did manage to play with drywall some this evening. It's HARD to get it completely perfect around cove lighting. Every little thing shows. Maybe it will come together tomorrow...

Here is a link that might be useful: Millwork Market

this morning i wrote a long email to a custom cabinet builder. it really should have been super short. something like this is my budget and i need this many linier feet of cabinet, shall we make an appointment. instead i meandered all around telling him much more than he needs to know at this point. my weird issue has been my disatisfaction with standard kitchen cabinets and not being able to make a decision. i have the counter ordered and tomorrow is the first of the appliance deliveries, but i still don't have a contract for cabinets. rediculous! do people often get stuck on an item that holds up the whole show like this?
yesterday (Sat) i finally managed to paint the ceiling in the new laundry hallway. i'm sixty with various issues so it's a very big deal for me to accomplish physical things that i used to love to do. tomorrow the plan is to finish the paint job in the laundry and move all the equiptment to the upstairs bath so that i ccan do laundry on tuesday.
please keep this series of posts here. i would never find it on conversations.

kaylarus - we went round and round on small-ish details on cabinets before we ordered (which is why they're still two weeks out, rather than being here last week like I would have preferred, summer-wise). And good on you for getting some painting going. Do what you can when you can. Congratulate yourself, and don't over do if it's over doing, you know?

I got some weeds pulled and bought a Crape Myrtle (petite orchid) and a Buddleia Davidii (black knight). I'm going to try to screen the neighbor's shed and not block my view. I wanted to wait to plan a whole border and new lawn, but I was inspired to go get some plants today...so I did. Something to do while the guy is here tomorrow painting...plant. I need to go get another buddleia.

shicksal, they make those cool things new still? I love it. What a piece!

cal_quail, I have 2 Black Knights and 2 Royal Reds together. They are gorgeous. I never pruned them, just letting them get really big. With the incredible cold we had this winter, it killed the branches. Actually it killed back most of my evergreens. Anyway, I took the opportunity to cut the Buddleia back to the ground. Now, 2 months into summer, they're putting out incredible growth. When you plant them, remember they'll get 10'x10' so plan plenty of space. Their fragrance is incredible!

Beautybutdebtfree, those hosta are really beautiful. It's important to plan for how huge some of those are going to get! If I'm not mistaken, Sum of All can take some strong sun, which is a bonus!

kaylarus, painted a ceiling? My nightmare. Good job.

Ahhh. well. Tomorrow starts 3 days of 2-8. Morgan goes to the vet Wednesday to see if the meds are helping her. I hope to be a bit more productive. I am almost (not quite) embarrassed at what I slug I am in the face of you superpeople!

KD came Last Thurs to measure for the cabinets! Drywall sanding happened on Friday. After all of the dire predictions about dust, I was amazed that there was actually very little. I had some cleaning to do, but not nearly the amount I expected. Plaster work starts tomorrow. We have holes all over the place. But the plasterers will also be building the new wall in the closet in the bedroom we are using, which means I may actually be able to use it again in about a week. Progress indeed.

Yesterday DH and I spent most of the day working out tile schemes for the new bathroom so we can go select the tile next weekend. I worked on some garden work today, weeding, watering. Saw where the d--- deer are sleeping in the yard, and saw once again, we will have no daylily flowers. Some plants that are heeled into temporary space have been eaten to the ground. I love to garden, but it is getting harder and harder to be enthusiastic about it with all of the deer damage. I envy all of you with lovely gardens.

CEFreeman - they exist only in second hand shops and online. There are a lot out there that must have been leftover stock because they come in the box and are like new. I bought one three years ago and it was relatively inexpensive but they've gone up since then. Good luck finding two in the same color - I settled for satin brass on one side and satin bronze on the other. The only drawback that two doorknobs and deadbolts are needed because I'm only using half of each of them.

Schicksal - is that a mid-century door accent, or what is it? I think what has me confused is where on the door it is placed on that picture.

Kaylarus - the BEST part of this thread is that encourages us to get even the smallest piece of progress made, that's why I like CEF's idea of this thread. Sometimes doing anything is just hard, and it helps to have others plugging along with ya!

CEF - There are 7 acres of space for the hostas, so no worries there!

---

UGH. Need to light a fire underneath myself and go make a reaming jig, today. Time to channel my Inner Bad Self... Wish me success, co-warriors! Happy Monday, all!

Knock 'em dead, BBDF! You can doit!

Yesterday I made an impromptu run to a resale place with DIL and had tons of fun poking around! Came out with a cute little sink for my half bath for fifteen bucks and a roller stand for wood working for 24! But still no luck in finding a sideboard or cabinet for microwave/storage.

beautybutdebtfree - The way it's supposed to work is that it goes around the doorknob. You use a 5" extension and make sure the hole is drilled in the right location and you're good to go. The deadbolt goes where it's normally installed. I'm not exactly sure what the person in the picture was trying to do with theirs... it looks like they may have added a dummy knob and just have this just for show because the thing in the upper left is not a deadbolt. Since I'm putting in a new door/jamb/sidelight I will just drill everything like it would have been 50+ years ago for this type of hardware.

You can do it! Channel your inner Larry the Cable Guy and get-r-done! (be sure to use less duct tape)

Now I'm second guessing plant placement. Crape Myrtle should only get about 5' tall, which is about what I want. Buddleia will get bigger, but it'll be leggier, at least at first. I want to block the shed next door mostly. Yeah, I see the train and freeway, but I kind of like that. (pic is taken from my spot on the couch...could have cropped in a bit more)

Initial thought:

Maybe I should switch them? Crape Myrtle is fuller now, but eventually it won't matter. I put the third pot out there because I feel I need to put in something else now too. I was thinking of flanking the CM but I think that's too much.

My plan (or lack thereof) is to do a low border around most of what was and will be grass. Really just want a spot of grass for the dogs and to make it feel not so desert-y.

Ah well, something to distract me from my thoughts of changing paint colors again before the guy gets here in an hour.

ETA: Nevermind, don't answer that. I planted them as is. I started digging the holes the other way, but it didn't feel right. I figure the crape myrtle is the year round interest (somewhat) and the buddleias (got another for other side) can be more easily controlled, size wise.

This post was edited by cal_quail on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 14:45

It looks really dry over there - I thought crepe myrtles needed a little more water? Yesterday I...

Worked on the ugly drywall spot above the cove lighting. It's new drywall and I didn't do it so I have no idea what's going on there. Nothing will drive you crazy quite like uplighting on a wall. One light coat today to touch up a couple of tiny bubble spots should do it.

Heard back from the local place about doors. No word on cost though, but If they can match what they would run shipped and I get installation out of it I'll chalk that up as a "win." I've put in a ton of doors before but there are too many other things going on at the moment.

Got yelled at because somebody has a friend coming over today and the place isn't clean enough. It probably would be if they would put down the iphone and laptop and participate a little; expecting someone to rebuild the place and keep everything neat and organized while the other person plays on facebook seems a bit mismatched. :)

Figured out the ceiling planking color. White (or nearly) with a low gloss instead of ceiling flat. Now I can order the stuff, and the baseboard material after I figure out how much to get.

This is the place for little celebrations, right? Finally started stripping the frame around a doorway in the kitchen. It's something I should have done three years ago when the room was demoed, but it didn't happen.

So I taped the crap out of everything adjacent. The first coat of Peel Away went pretty well, but it will need a second. Nice chestnut behind three layers of paint now peeks through.

And we have an OMG LOOK AT THAT!!!!!

Two of the old roof joists are an inch away from the wall that's supposed to be holding them up. It's not the "real roof", because they added a steeper roof a while back, right over this one, but it's what's holding up the lath and plaster.

I'm in for a long day.

Yikes lazygardens! Hope it's the least bad it can be.

I don't remember a day when I've gotten so much done! It was my first true weekday of summer, so any school teacher knows that adds some extra oomph.

Lots of yard work besides planting those and a few more plants. Some work inside the house too. I know I had a busy day in and out of the house because the dogs seem particularly tired from following me around. Oh, and I'm sore. ;)

My first 4 recessed cans installed (in hallway where there used to be one anemic fixture) on a dimmer (which isn't working yet for some reason), taking down interior shutters in the bedroom to be paint and lots of patching in prep of painting today (by the handyman).

However, the A/C stopped working yesterday (probably when the power was switched off) so I need to trouble shoot that today.

We have beautiful June Gloom. I need to do some more outside.

Crape Myrtles are absolutely bursting around here. They need some attention at first, but then they just need occasional water. I don't know if I said but I'm planting a border around what was once grass to make for a smaller spot of grass and to block the neighbor's stuff.

Chesters_House.
Step away from the flesh eating chemicals.
Step out of the protective space suit.
Step into HD and get your bad self some Citristrip.

You need 1 coat, applied like frosting. Press plastic grocery bags into the stripper to hold it against the wood. (Because it bubbles up in ribbons.) Now the hardest part:
Leave it alone. "Alone, I say!"

in 8-10 hours, come back. lift the plastic off, top to bottom and the paint ribbons will come with it. Use a plastic scraper or scrubbie to wipe down anything left. No metal, because the stripper being on so long can soften the wood.
If you want to remove stain, apply 1 more coat. Neutralize with water.

I've done 15 antique doors, 1 a weekend. The only sanding I've done is when totally dry, wiping the pieces down with 180 to 220 sand paper to smooth the raised grain. I'm back to raw wood on 100 year old doors. Don't get me started about stripping all my cabinets in place, or in the MBR in front of the TV!

When was the American Chestnut blight? the 20s? I can't remember. I really look forward to seeing your end result. Please post a close-up of the grain?

Shicksal, It's difficult to feel appreciated when someone doesn't even take time to notice, let alone comment, on progress. Hopefully when the company comes, "That Person" will point out details you didn't know "That Person" noticed. Hopefully "That Person" doesn't say "the work We've done."

How did you bend the drywall in the cove? I know of two methods that had me saying, grunting, probably) "HUH?" One cannot "HUH" without it being a grunt, so I really hate that. HOWEVER. Sometimes it's an instinctive response to HUH?

Cal_Quail, you're so right about CMs! Once established, you can call them names, ignore them, taunt them with the watering can, and generally take them for granted. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I have red ones. My gardens in the late summer/fall are spectacular with all the red flowers and changing JMs. I prefer the Whitney series because I don't like pink. My purple is 'Velma's Royal Delight.' yummy grape.

Ok. About me! :)
Yesterday, Monday, I attached the face frame to the last kitchen cabinet. Last in this round of cabinets, really. now I can start to hang them. I have to work from both ends in, because I suck at measuring. This way they'll be evenly spaced an any gaps I can close with a filler. You'd think since I can quilt with pinpoint accuracy, that I could measure some darned wood. But noooOOooo.

Speaking of nooooOOOOOoo, lazy gardens, have you ever viewed your home as a car engine that's been steam cleaned? Cleaning removed all the gunk that held the engine leaks closed. I swear people with less fortitude than you would have been running down the road, waving their arms, screaming, "NoooooooO, OMG NOOOooOOOo"
I really look forward to seeing the end results.

I go to work at 2:00. Boy, work is such an interruption in my day.

So hang in there, everyone! We're doing a great job.

How well did the stripper work? A rental I own is a 1920 craftsman with the woodwork intact, but painted over more times than I can count. In one room I blasted it with a heat gun at a temperature well below what lead will vaporize at, then scraped the bubbled up paint. That took forever but worked ok. Tenants move out on 8/1 and I would like to do more woodwork.

I'm not sure what was behind the drywall problem To me it looks like a seam gone wrong. It's not so much bent... if you look up on the wall between the front and coat closet door you might see it... the LED strip shines up the wall from below so every imperfection (shadow) becomes really obvious. Otherwise it's super cool and I absolutely love it.

If I can get the drywall finished and primed, and install the pulls I will be happy today.

I did have Citristrip around, but at least the version I have is faster to work but a step up on the toxic scale. When I've used it for other items it seemed a little drippier than Peel Away. I will be using Citristrip for the big, heavy chestnut exterior door, since that has at least 4 coats of paint some of which were applied with a trowel. Getting the sucker down and then back up will probably be the hardest part.

I'll get a grain picture, but it probably won't be until next week.

After that I'm done with stripping woodwork. I did a good amount in a house I used to own. I was using a heat gun mostly on fireplace mantels, and then decided to take on a stairway. Hasmat suit stuff, heat guns, all of it. This one stupid bit of stripping is the only bit I'll ever do again unless I can remove the piece to set it up on sawhorses.

Lazygardens: I was especially grateful for gutting the kitchen in the house with the bit of stripping. Turns out all that was holding up the bath above were the sturdy site-built cabinets and air. The whole thing got reframed.

Pulls are in. Also the annoying drywall problems are finished. Being able to open your cabinets is underrated in my opinion. The warming drawer also has one instead of the handle, and I plan on doing the same with the dishwasher. It isn't hard to open.

If anyone is wondering about finger pull placement on cabinet doors, I spaced them so that the gap in the middle (double doors) is the same width as one pull. I never could find any guidelines for spacing them, and this seemed to work best.

With my Snowbound ceiling, I didn't think about the fact that my ancient 'white' track lights aren't really white. I'm not sure what I'll do about them though. They fit exactly between two beams and they're plugged into outlets attached to the beams. (1947 house). The outlet boxes are this unique shape. They're very off-white (you know, like old switchplates). I was going to get new heads for the tracks with LEDs, but now...I don't know what to do. I glanced at Home Depot's website and it looks like they're a meter long. I'm willing to bet, that's night what I need.

I have never tried to drywall. schicksal, you make me think I should try. My office has tongue and groove wainscoting half way up and the top of the wall just aren't that great (I pulled a few layers of wallpaper off years ago.) If there was a room to try it on, that'd be it. There are only two of those walls because 1 wall is exterior (masonry) and 1 is all built in cabinets/closets. It's a long skinny room that always felt like jail to me when we had casements. With the 2 double hung, not so much. Maybe some day...

I planted some more in the border I'm building. My rule is I can only buy a few plants at a time because it's hot and if I don't get them planted, they'll die. Today, 3 lavendars and a leonotis. I also got a couple bigger pots for some houseplants. One's really neat. A turquoise with a texture like the Moroccan prints, with some of the clay/pottery showing through...almost like a glaze.

Handyman got a new dimmer installed on the recessed lights in the hall, one coat of paint in the hall, and the ceilings in hall and dressing room. It's the first time I've ever had anyone paint for me. I am not thrilled with his prep. I'm glad I'm testing him out in rooms that aren't 'focal points'.

Drywall is something that gets easier as you do more of it. It's also something that you usually don't mess with unless something bad happened. But, it's good to know how to at least patch it because calling someone over can get really expensive.

If bad comes to worse maybe the track lighting could be removed and spray painted white?

Schicksal, things are really moving along!
Lazygardens!! Yikes!! Hope they solve that problem for you.

Monday I went on a field trip with my youngest son all day, then hit the eye doc.

Yesterday I weeded my side "garden." We have a raspberry, blueberry, watermelon, cucumber and rhubarb planted in there. The blueberry is looking a bit leggy probably due to the harsh winter, but there are berries on both it and the raspberry bush. So, yay!

We have a bunch of herbs in pots as well.

Back to work today, then we are heading to Indiana on Saturday morning.

Schicksal, LOL, I saw the silver knob in the picture and my brain couldn't comprenend two knobs I guess so it read the brass knob as golden glass. That's why I couldn't see what that thing was!

Your cabinets are looking better and better - the pulls look great on them and I totally agree it would be too hard to penetrate that gorgeous veneer with holes!

---

This Bad Self worked quite a bit on her railing. I have one simple picture that tells a much longer tale. I made a precise jig for my drill press and worked out a system to perfectly drill out the existing holes OFFSET (that's the hard part) for the monga upsized anchors. Then I did some drilling of more post plates and laying out of post locations and test drilling of the concrete put in one test post. It doesn't look like much, but it's perfectly set and level, and a hurricane would break the post before those anchors would budge! So I'm happy with my progress getting my systems worked out. Now I wait for a few parts to arrive, then go after the project.

My new living room sectional is being delivered today - we ordered it in December. Hallelujah!

Post pictures! A 6 month lead time on a sectional = in my mind it must be pretty awesome!

today i really did finally finish painting the laundry area. i slowed myself down by splilling about 2 cups of paint... i had created a creative ceiling with clouds. looked awful. so i had to repaint that. that's 4 times i painted the ceiling including the layer that sealed the plaster.
in my last post i mentioned regretting writing a long email on an initial inquiry to a local cabinet maker. well it turned out good. he got right back to me. he said he thought my project sounded interesting and he likes to do interesting projects.
i've decided that i have to scrap a big part of my kitchen plan and create a separate area for the mini fridge and microwave with french press coffee maker hot water....
area. it was in a good place functionally but when i saw my idea in a 3D program i decided it looked awful. so today during painting breaks, i'm trying to research beverage centers or something to get ideas.
i love reading what everyone is doing!

Two of the old roof joists are an inch away from the wall that's supposed to be holding them up. It's not the "real roof", because they added a steeper roof a while back, right over this one, but it's what's holding up the lath and plaster.

Contractor has poured a re-inforced concrete footing across the area and will jack up the joists and slide a new 2x4 framed "wall" under them and drywall it. He's rebuilt old adobes before and it's the usual fix unless you are ripping the roof off and can rebuild the top of the walls.

We'll lose a few inches of space, but the chances of waking up covered in lathe and plaster is decreased.

=======
I got busy and removed a funky construct in that room that made a hump in the old carpet. For some screwball reason they ADDED a threshold and then built a ramp down into the room. And then covered it with padding and carpet.

I'm down to the really worn down original threshold (12x8 mesquite log!) and can fill it and install a proper threshold.
============

CEFreeman - Much of what we are doing is backing out the poorly thought out cosmetic things and taking it back to something closer to the 1880s, straightening out some shoddy repair work, and catching up on wall repairs. A major attraction of this place (besides the stellar location) was that it was not badly messed with.

That's because when the walls are like this - 14-18 inches of mud brick covered by plaster - there's a limit to the messing you can do. Adobe is passive aggressive: it just sits there and does nothing.

Planted some ceanothus, a flower carpet rose, some euphorbia and I've got a few more things to get in today still.

Had the AC repair guy out. (The AC stopped working yesterday, then we thought it was working, then we realized it wasn't.) He just cleaned out the outside unit and said that was it. I have had him show me how to do it a couple times, but when it comes time to do it I'm just too scared to do it. I'm afraid I'll get something wet that I shouldn't etc. etc. So he's going to call and come out in the spring each year. We felt the cold air and heard everything working. He left. And...it never really cooled down. He has to come out again tomorrow and clean out the innerds of the inside unit. De ja vu...this happened a couple years ago. Complete with two trips. Last time he treated us well because he should have caught it the first time. Hope this time he does too. It's pretty darn miserable in here.

Handyman finished the walls in the hallway and the dressing room. Just trim tomorrow...but there's a LOT of trim.

Thank you GWebbers for keeping me on my toes. Yesterday in the heat and humidity I cut down a row of bushes that had overtaken the front of the house and started cutting down a row of yews that are overgrowing the front sidewalk. I know I'm getting old- I used to be able to garden for days straight, with not a care in the world. This morning my body was really aching so I did a couple of small things in the kitchen. I finally got around to staining a kitchen window we put in years ago! Also put up a piece of filler on a cabinet. If the weather cooperates tomorrow I can stain the pieces of cherry I need
and they could get installed over the weekend. (I'm dreaming BIG) Keep up the great work everyone!

countryatheart, I'm with you. I spent 2 days cutting down mulberry, choke cherry and brambles. I'm still not done. The clean up was far more difficult than the chopping. (God bless my reciprocating saw!)

Lazygardens, that's just plan interesting. I hope for more in-progress pictures.

Today, Thursday, was very productive, but incredible frustrated.
I went to Leesburg, VA today to pick up a Craig's List dresser for which I have absolutely no need nor place. But I loved it. Morning DC beltway rush hour traffic kept me crawling for over 45 minutes. Returning, I got into N. VA roadwork. Missed my exit and had to go down through DC. Not really an issue, there.
However, going out of the city onto the BW Parkway, there was more roadwork and a 14 minute drive too me almost an hour and a half.

So, from Leesburg to Annapolis, which should have been an hour? maybe and a half? Interminable.

But, got my dresser.
Got my paint for my MBR and its ceiling.
Got my LR paint and its ceiling.
Got a BM sample for the front bathroom.
Got the painting equipment for my friend, who's a pro and is going to help me.
Stopped at BJ's and got steaks, litter, and cheese.
Went to Wal-Mart and loaded my money card.
THEN
My MidAtlantic Gardening board (GW) peony friend came over with her son and dug out 5, huge hellebores and about a gudzillion Siberian iris. I have a whole garden free now. Gonna plant some sun tolerant hostas. I'm really into the red hybrids. These and maybe red Japanese Maple. I'm thinking Inaba Shidare or a small, Red Pygmy. The garden is my oyster.:)

Tonight, when I pry myself off the computer, I'm going to clean up so my friend can just come in and give me orders.

In the morning, I go to the friend's house again to have my windshield replaced, then she's coming with me. She hasn't been here before, so I'm kinda dreading the shocked look. I don't see the crap everywhere, nor how I live.

A friend/electrician might have time for me tomorrow, too, and come to put in some light fixtures, a few switches, and some toekick heaters.

I am SO excited to PAINT, even though I HATE to paint. I'm going to have a real room. I'll need trim, but am happy to say it's 99.9% complete.

I'm all a-flutter.
What are you doing tomorrow!

Toe kick lighting is in. OK... Just under half of it. The hardest part has been screwing in the clips under the toe kick because there isn't enough room for a screwdriver.

Would you type more but I'm really tired.

CEF - we needs a picture of THAT dresser...

Schicksal - I need to do that under my bed so I don't trip over German Shepherds at night...

===

This Bad Self is making good progress on the hammer drilling and setting of railing posts. Aerosolized concrete is dirty work! Too tired to post pictures tonight, will update tomorrow. Waiting for some more parts to really go to town on the railing.

Then it's either installing a new bath door or stripping my hardwood floors, next...

You all have accomplished so much this week! I've been busy with my newborn. I've forgotten how much work pups are! We brought him home last Friday, and life is now changed. What were we thinking getting a pup before this remodel is done? Anywho, we're adapting, but everything takes so much longer. He is a great pup, very smart and a delight!

I did trim "one" bush and it took several hours being so overgrown. My back can't do it any longer, so DDs BF is coming to trim tomorrow. I really hoped I could spend time in the garden once I retired...I hope my back cooperates.

Still have some finish work on the island I hope to have done by Monday, and order my new sectional tomorrow. It will take 6 weeks-I can't imagine 6 months!

Here's my new boy, 7 wks old!

I pulled the trigger on a wall color for my kitchen and dining room1 This is HUGE because I can finally get finished to the point of ABB and get this monkey off my back1

Puppy!

That toe kick lighting is really something!

I didn't get a lot done that sounds like a lot, but I found some things that I had been looking for that were kind of big. And I went through many piles of stuff in the process and sorted and tossed stuff. Good times. I also made a phone call I'd been dreading because one thing I was looking for, I couldn't find. I finally bit the bullet and found out the reason I couldn't find it was that I never received it. Doh! It worked out pretty well because I went through more stuff than I'd planned while looking. So just less work later when I get to really cleaning out my office.

Handyman finished today. I think. I hope. We actually left before he was done.

Will spin in a 360 degree circle at some point this weekend and wave at sjhockeyfan. We'll be in the city for a few days. Only thing on the agenda besides eating, walking, and enjoying the weather is that DH wants to get a wok somewhere specific in Chinatown. I'm sure it'll be the first thing used on the Bluestar when it's installed.

Bbtrix - So cute! I want one!

+++++

This Bad Self is hot, sweaty, dusty, sticky, and happy. Been slingin' the hammer drill a couple days now, and I now have most my posts mounted and leveled (two more on the way because they arrived with finish damage). As far as I know, the hardest part of the railing install is now over, and what's left won't be too difficult.

Uh. Yeah. Ignore that ugly parge coat. It has issues.

This post was edited by beautybutdebtfree on Fri, Jun 27, 14 at 16:03

Today has sort of been one of those days. I did finish the toe kick lighting for the first half of the room and cut channels for the other side. Also the ceiling planking and baseboards+casing for the entire area I've been working on are on order. They'll be available on Monday and then I can get started on that.

On the other hand I'm out of local options for the doors that I need - interior and exterior. I will have to order the interior ones online, but will try and do as much of the house as possible all at once if I can save on shipping. For the exterior door I'm deciding between the two sources vs. making it myself. Since I can get a blank door to try my skills on for $60 vs. over $2,000 otherwise I'll have a go at it myself first.

It's a very lonely feeling sometimes, wanting modern in this part of the world. Nearly everything is a challenge and you're basically on your own.

Looking similar to yesterday, but it's all the background work you can't see that takes so long to do.

Jeepers - I wrote a long post but apparently forgot to submit.
Lots of great progress from lots of folks. Hard to remember as I scroll down - but those toe kick lights are neat.

Beauty - I am sure you DD is loving your plants. I have several hosts in my yard - but don't know what they are as they were gifts from friends. Some have large leaves and are quite nice. Someday, I will have to hunt them down.

Right now, I am in an Epimedium search for some cool ones that can go under trees.

Schicksal (sp)- love what you did so far - can't wait to see more!

In the mean time, I took control of my front gardens and they are mine - weeds, small saplings, etc are gone and mulched - I am sure the weeds will return as I have some pretty aggressive models - the good news - no Poison ivy/oak in the front. Now for the south side.. Ugh

I also entered about 50 entries into the GardenWeb Location - many more to enter before posting.

OldBat - you were amazing with getting rid of all of your trees!

bbtrix - so cute!

Let's see - what else happened today. I baked a strawberry pie - my mom used to make them but I never baked a strawberry model before - it was good but I need to tweak the recipe a bit - it was not mom's but an internet search.

The big news - we have a new retractable awning. It is a monstrosity but covers almost half the deck. I even coaxed DH out for strawberry pie under the awning. I hope to put a pergola on the other half of the deck but it wouldn't work for the entire deck. (Our deck is about 40x12 but offset so not totally linear). If I can, I will try to snag a picture when the lighting is better.

Beauty, great work on that deck railing! Those teens will be safe soon.

Schicksal, the toekick lights are cool. I see you have refrigeration, now!

A2, the weather was perfect to sit outside today! I didn't have a strawberry pie though. :(

Today, I ran some errands and returned some extra stuff from the kitchen reno. I made two kinds of granola/power bars, though the one didn't turn out that well, it's very crumbly. It tastes good though. I got some of the baking supplies situated where I want them to be in the kitchen, did a bit of re-arranging of what is where.

My son's grade 3 class went for a walk today and they came by here so I gave everyone freezies and they looked at our raspberry, blueberry and rhubarb plants and ate some chives, basil and mint. They sat on the swing and ran around the yard. They had a great time and the teacher had a tough time rounding them up. Today was the last day of school. Full day, poor kids!

Tomorrow we are off to South Bend, IN for a soccer tournament for my older son. We've never been there, so it'll be fun.

That puppy!
Nothing shows joy in life better than a kitten, a puppy or a toddler. So sweet and what lovely chocolate!

a2gemini, I have a yellow epimedium. I used to have a lovely red, but it didn't survive. I'd still love to find it again. It gets pretty big/wide, so plan accordingly. :)

shicksal, keep plugging along. you'll be a shining star in the land of um, er, Not Modern! LOL I don't know where you live, but you're really going to have a fabulous house. Did the company come?

Oh, my day.
I went out at 8:00 am to get my new windshield. Why, when they say between 8 and 12, do we waste time getting there first thing? Well, at 10:30, he showed up and I have a perfect, brand new windshield. Safelite gave us a nice discount for not showing last week, so my $270 windshield was $209. Cool.

Then my friend, who has been a pro painter for years and years, came over with her son. He's also a pro and has been painting with her since he was 15. That was 18 years ago. :) They whipped out the 1st coat, including the ceiling in about 2.5 hours, with breaks. My friend is a cancer survivor, so she tires easily. It's a big room; it would have taken me 2 days.

My MBR is now an really gorgeous, soothing Glidden 'Natural Wicker' with the ceiling 50% lighter. Matched at SW. It's very subtle but I am shocked at what a difference paint makes on my lovely, finished drywall.
They're returning in the morning to 2nd coat everything.

That's all I did.
I have to put in a toe kick heater, move the cable outlets, and actually install my the cabinets (vs. just stacking them). Then, shy of trim, I have one room finished. In my whole house. I can actually put things in the cabinets and get them off the counters and floors. I cannot imagine a clean, flat surface!

Wow.
To bed, I think, and tomorrow is another day!
(Edited to add photo I forgot:)

This post was edited by CEFreeman on Fri, Jun 27, 14 at 23:40

Yeah. "That's all." Lol! That is a LOT! I bet it looks great when you are all done, please post pics!

No more puppies for me. No way, no how.

Today I mowed my hiney off again then drove to Indiana to help my kids move into their new home. They closed today, we put up curtains, shades and a cat door and I played with my grandson. I love that he knows who I am and these are the things I cling to when I am feeling sorry for myself regarding our move.

CEFreeman - They did come and they weren't put off by the boxes I'm waiting for recycle day to take out and other construction "stuff" going on.

I'm in Charleston, SC. Most custom builds move in the direction of more ornate - something I would describe as more colonial-southeastern for lack of better words. I'm not knocking it, it's just a completely different taste from what we want. Most who do modern here do it on a money is no object type of project, and that's not where we are.

a2gemini and MGMum - thanks for the kind words. The lighting is easy to put in, except for trying to screw clips into the underside of the toe kick where you can't see anything or get a real screwdriver in there. I'm still not sure what to do about the fridge. I designed the kitchen for a 48" counter depth one and planned on using the 3.5 year old one we have until it quit and then replace it with one that fit the hole properly. Side to side it looks generally ok, but I forgot the height difference. I'm either going to have to get creative, or sell the one I have and put in a new one sometime. I'm still not sure but... probably the later. I'll deal with it after the construction is wrapped up.

I'm at work today. Afterwords I'll either prep the area the vent hood will go into and do other miscelaneous indoor stuff if the weather cooperates (rain), or go buy the new front door and have a look at grasscloth wallpaper while I'm at the local friendly big box (no rain).

I need to find the right mix of having materials ready + motivation and neither are really there right now.

BBtrix! I forgot to mention how cute your puppy is! More work than a newborn if you ask me! LOL What's his name?

CEF, bet you can't wait to have that room done, and your own!