Another Week Gone

Well, here it is Friday again! 

We finished painting the family room on Monday (no picture) 

On Tuesday we started the last phase of fixing up the walls in the hall.  A closet, the laundry room, a bedroom, and a bathroom are all at the bottom of this little five-step-down hall area. Craig has done some drywall repair and has replaced all four of the doors.  Before I could paint, we needed to spray the repaired drywall areas with texture spatter.  It is really a messy project.  We needed to paint the walls with primer first, spatter, and then paint with primer a second time.  

I put plastic over the new doors and floor. This area will be getting new baseboards, wood trim around the doors, and new carpeting after we get it all painted. 

The light is just above where I was standing for the first picture looking down three steps.  The hall leads to the living room, and these steps go to my sewing loft and a bedroom. 

I painted the ceilings here and down in my former studio today. Craig was also busy. 

Craig had his record collection in a bookcase along the wall to the right.  Speaking of which, nothing has happened with the guy who said he was interested in the record collection.  I guess we have to give him a nudge or start thinking about other possibilities.  For now they are all still in the living room!

In between painting projects, I have been able to do a little creative sewing.  Last year, when we were at Crater Lake I bought a long sleeve T-shirt on our last day at the park.  I guess I didn't really believe I would be able to keep the weight off, because I bought it in the XXL size without trying it on until we were back at home.  It turned out to be a men's XXL and it fit me like a huge sack.  I didn't want to throw it away or send it to Goodwill, but I didn't want to wear it either.

I have found a style and cut of shirt that I really like.  After  a bit of searching I found a pattern for just the cut I wanted. 

Although the shirt was XXL size, I could not use the sleeves because my pattern has a different kind.  But, I had a nice black tee shirt that was also too big for me that I could use.

Me and myself in my remodeled shirt

I'm really happy with the result, and may be making more shirts for myself in the future!  Now that I'm a retired artist, I will be enjoying new creative outlets.

Finally, on Valentine's Night it was not quite cold enough to have a fire in the fireplace, so we relaxed to the crackle of a fireplace app on our iPad.

Craig in colorful PJ's that I made for him.

Tomorrow we go to the dump.

OH BOY!

A Little Done Every Day

Nothing exciting going on around here.  I've written several blog posts, but have deleted them because they either didn't make sense, were boring, or I was whining.  

We keep getting something done every day.  

Not huge jobs, but something. 

I'm back to painting again.  

Rooms that I didn't do last year or the year before. 

I finished the upstairs bedroom, and have started on the family room. There are five doors, and one stair doorway, plus a large set of windows, so there is a lot of detail work to do. I was not going to repaint the ceiling, but we noticed some cracking around one of the inset lights. Now that it is fixed the entire ceiling needs a fresh coat of white. Craig is going to "pop" down the 17 lights so I won't have to mask around them. 

The walls will be very easy to paint because I am just going to do one coat using the same color that is there now.  I did all of the lower edging today. I expect the room to be done by the beginning of next week.

I also worked on filling nail holes in the studio room.  Many many nail holes! Craig is our nail hole "expert" and he will do a second pass before I prime and paint the walls. They will have to be primed because there are splashes of things no ordinary paint will cover. 

We have decided to take the shop lights down in there.  There is also an old heater on the wall that was part of the original heating system for the house. It has not worked for years and was behind one of my work benches. It will probably be a few weeks before I can paint in there, but we are moving in the right direction.

We have also removed the sink and vanity in the bathroom that's on the same floor as the family room and former studio. We found there was no tile under the vanity, so we will have to do something to the floor before we put a new one in. I don't want to retile the bathroom, but the top of the old vanity was done with a similar, but smaller terra cotta tile. I think we may be able to use it as an edge if the new vanity doesn't cover all of the presently untiled floor. I'm sure we will figure out what to do when the time comes.

In addition to helping me, Craig has continued to fit and install his new baseboards and wood trim around the doors he replaced.

Slowly, but surely!  It WILL GET DONE!

Craig is working hard!

There just are no "little" jobs to do around here!

While I was in San Diego, Craig started power washing all of the cement driveways, stone walls, retaining walls, deck railings, and decks. He continued last week while I did my jury duty, and will finish this weekend.  Two weeks of power washing!  He has done the same complete job in the past, but there has been some build-up of moss and black algae. He sanded and stained the deck railings a couple of years ago, and the decks a few years before that. So, much of this job is required but deferred maintenance.

Two years ago I bought a product that is supposed to prevent the growth of the algae and mildew, called Wet&Forget. I did a test spot, and it is still relatively clean. I have sprayed it on the walls, and am waiting for an order of two more gallons from Amazon so I can do all the driveways as well.  Hopefully this will help keep them looking nicer thru next year without having to redo the power washing.

Much of the wash time has been spent on the zillion upright 2x2's of the deck railings.  He will sand the railing tops and the deck floors, but he doesn't want to have to sand the uprights. 

We have large decks, and many railings!

I was on a jury for three days, but was able to get one little project done: a wall. I painted the garden wall after Craig had cleaned it. It is very rough stucco, and the painting was not easy! There are more railings along here too.

I'm not sure what the next step will be.  Some sanding I suppose. When he gets to the stain application I will be helping.

We are currently planning on taking a trip in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure exactly when or were other than to go to Yosemite National park  Sept. 18-22. I have reservations! Hopefully lots of people will stay away because of the hantavirus, so it won't be crowded.

We want to go down to LA first to get a small repair done on the Alfa at Alfateers and also to get an oil change at the Freightliner where Alfateers sends that kind of work. I'm not sure how that will work out yet, but I'm looking into interesting things to do near there for the week of September 10th.

Any "Must Do" LA adventures you can suggest?

Another Monday

As I write this, a door man is installing a new door in the tandem garage.  I'm going to wait until next week to paint the exterior wall, big interior wall and the door, because I want to be sure I have enough paint for the painters to do the exterior area above the dining room windows.  They were supposed to do it the Saturday before we left, but it was too windy that day.  We have rescheduled it for this upcoming Saturday. I have two full gallons of the pink exterior color, and I think between the two jobs I might need more. Better it be my job that runs out.


The Alfa has been sitting over at the repair shop for a week.  We wanted the brakes checked, and since we weren't going anywhere were OK with the wait.  (Well I was OK with it, Craig was anxious to get the coach back because there are some things he wants still in it.)


They say the brakes are OK.  There has always been a squeak, but it is louder now. But according to the mechanic, they are not bad. The squeak is caused by having been overheated.  I'm sure our drive down Hwy 1 contribued.  A front brake job would run about $1700.  As long as it is not a safety issue we will wait for a while.  


Craig would like to take it somewhere else because he feels this shop overcharges for everything.


So, as soon as the door man is finished, we are off to bring our Alfa home.  (Update note: it was too late on Monday to go get her, so I guess it will happen on Tuesday.)


You may have notice an absence of pictures lately.  Two reasons.  First there is nothing notable to photograph, and second, my little camera has died.  I'm going to take it into a camera shop and have it looked at, but if it can't be fixed I'll get a new one.  What I want is small.  Craig can carry around his big heavy camera.  My pictures are just to help "tell the story".

Progress!

We ARE making progress on our house, but none of it is smooth and easy. 


I have heard of marriages that end when a couple builds a house together.  We considered doing that once, but quickly came to the realization that we would not survive!  I just hope we can survive the repairs needed on this place!


Progress:  the painters come on Saturday to finish the overhead painting outside the dining room windows.


We hired a real company, with insurance and workmen's comp to do it.  They say it will only take one day.  It had better, because we will be driving the Alfa away on Sunday!


Progress:  The entry wall to the tandem garage has been replaced. 


A little history here:  in spring of 2011 I reached a "breaking point" when I was consulting with our handyman on the replacement of this wall.  Craig and I had different ideas about how it should be done.  This is a garage size space that has been used for random storage up till now.  


One wall is a former outside wall of the house and has redwood siding. One wall is the pass thru to the main three car garage, and has a flip-type garage door.  One wall is a cement block retaining wall that is the current outside wall of the house, and the fourth is the wall we've recently replaced. 


The original construction of the 4th wall was shoddy compared to the rest of the house.  The studs for the wall sat directly on cement, and got wet every winter. The basic wall was sheet plywood that had rotted out on the bottom, with a half sheet as a swinging Dutch door.  It was falling apart! 

Craig tore it all out a few weeks ago.  I didn't get a before picture. 


So this is the wall as we're starting to rebuild it.

The new wall is now on a nice cement foundation so the water will no longer rot the wood.  Craig has done the trim with ironwood ("IPE") because of the water. 


A new garage door has been ordered.  It is not a cheap one from a "big box store".  It is a custom door with decorator windows, that matches the doors on the three car garage.  It will be installed and painted after we get back.

The wall toward rest of the house had a window and an old air conditioner in it.


In February Craig removed both and re-drywalled the interior wall. This left holes in the exterior siding in the tandem garage.  He removed a bit more of the siding so the patch would look better. 

We had new redwood boards custom milled to match the old.  The patch is white because the wood was  primed before it was up.  We'll paint the wall in August.  (That will be my job!

At this point the space is still very much just a storage area.  But it has definite possibilities.  If you look beyond the junk, you can see that it has a large loft area in the back.  We will be clearing it out, adding some lighting, and possibly using those old interior doors as a couple of work benches. I'll take a picture when it is cleared out and made nice.


I will probably use this space as a studio when my old room is being restored as a bedroom. 


My studio will be the LAST room to be remodeled, but if it takes some months to sell the house after it goes on the market I want a place I can work!


We are so ready to take a few weeks off from this.  We are both looking forward to some ALFA time! Four more days...

Master Bedroom is FINISHED

Well, almost. 

 I still have to clean the free standing cone fireplace and give it fresh a coat of high temp black paint, but that's another project and may not happen for a while.

I left the tape up on top so I can make a plastic tent when we spray paint it.  Before we had the roof redone water dripped down the pipe and there is a bit of rust that has to be cleaned of

But everything else is done!  

I ended up deciding to save the light sage green color for another room and go with my own custom mixed color.  

I had tried three different sample quarts of paint and none of them were right, so I took some white paint and started adding a bit of bunt umber and a bit of burnt sienna until I got the color I liked. 

 Then I  added more white to get it to the correct shade. 

 I took this to Sherwin Williams and they almost matched it.  Their sample match was still to dark so I had them mix it at 75% saturation for the gallon and it was just right.  

The new color is very much like the background color of the Blogger Dashboard! Neutral, but a good color to bridge between the barn wood wall and stone wall.

On Sunday we carried the big brass framed mirror into the kitchen and I spent a couple hours polishing it with Brasso.  Craig had gone off to the store while I worked, but when he came back he did some rubbing too.

Wow, it came out like new!   

The entire room has been transformed!

You will never confuse me with "Susie Homemaker."  I hate to clean, and rarely do housework, but my recent painting has been very rewarding.

As I work thru each room I become more and more motivated to keep them nice. 

The good news is I won't be doing any more renovation for at least the next two weeks.

 I have a couple of sculpture orders to get done this week, and next week I have to get stuff ready for the Flea Market on April 2nd.

  I've been stashing stuff in boxes in one of the garages for several months.  Now I have to haul it all out, sort it, price it, and decide what should go to the market, what should be kept for storage, and what should go to the dump. 

Craig is no help in this. Whenever I bring it up he makes "unhappy noises."  I don't know if thats just his way of getting out of dealing with things. 

So if I don't do it, it won't get done!

Well, at least it's not painting!

Groan!

The ceiling need a second coat!

Last Wall

Today, Saturday, Craig helped me take down the heavy brass mirror over the built-in vanity so I could get the wallpaper off the last wall in the master bedroom.


He had to remove the paper from the kick-space in the center. I can climb step ladders all day, but I just can't get down into little low places like that!


Unless something comes up, I will start painting the ceiling on Monday or Tuesday.  I still have to decide on a wall color.  I'm torn between a pinkish brown that might go with the stone and wood wall, or a very light sage. 


The operative word is "might."  I've already bought three sample pinkish brownish paints, and none of them are quite right. I know the sage would be safe.  I guess I'll get a sample quart and try it out.  I hate making these kinds of decisions! 


Someday this will all be a distant memory!


For today, I got to check off "remove wallpaper from master bedroom" in my to do book.

Wallpaper Removal Day-5

I guess I'm just scraping by these days.  Scrape, scrape, scrape!

Except that it is a very tedious process, the wallpaper removal is going well.

Today I started the hardest part.  The ceiling:


This house has many little "interesting" details.  In this room the ceiling is a normal eight foot height, except for a 4' X 15' section that is arched from 9' to 11'.  The rest of the ceiling is painted.  This section was wallpapered. 


To me there is nothing worse than removing wallpaper from a ceiling!  I got about half of it scraped off, but not washed today. 

The bit of the wall showing is a rustic barn wood wall that goes with the retro cone fireplace and corner stone wall.


This is the top half of a "before" picture I took last week.  I had to cut off the bottom because it showed all of the "stuff" we had piled up in there and I found the mess embarrassing!  


Anyway, half of me wants to paint the wall, but Craig likes it, and maybe the "character" of it will appeal to a future buyer.  If not, painting it will be easy for them to imagine doing if that is their preference.


So, thats today's update.  I did walk today, and as soon as I post this I'm going out to see if I can pick enough Miner's Lettuce for a dinner salad.

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill, 

2 miles Tuesday

Total walked = 324 miles  

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Next Room Decided

I decided which room to tackle next on Monday when I successfully peeled off the first piece of grass cloth wall paper in what is considered the master bedroom. We actually sleep in a different room. (It's another story.)  It took a bit of scratching at the bottom edge, but I found once started the dry paper came off in floor to ceiling strips.  A fuzzy paper layer remained on the wall.

I knew that before I worked on the paper I wanted to clean the stone wall behind the little cone fireplace.  It was really ugly.  Over the years I have passed a webster over it a few times a year, but didn't do much else.  I started the cleaning process with a very thorough vacuuming with the soft brush attachment.

Next I washed the stones.  Starting at the bottom I used a spray bottle with 50% water and 50% vinegar to drench each stone.  By tucking Sham-wow cloths under each row, and towels on the floor,  I was able to catch the run off as I went.  I figure I used about two gallons of liquid.

It took two days to do, but it came out quite nice.  I will be cleaning and repainting the fireplace as well.  It's a rather retro feature, but can be quite pleasant.

Then I started ripping off wall paper.

 I  also  cleaned off the under layer of paper and glue with DIF, a scraper, and a three step wall washing process.

I've finished getting all the paper off and am about 1/3 of the way thru the removal of the under layer.

I'll probably be at it most of next week.

Tomorrow, Saturday, I going to preview a local monthly Flea Market.  It is said to be one of the better ones, with fewer really junky vendors.

You have to apply for a spot a month in advance.  I sent in the paper work for the first Saturday of April.  If I don't get a spot for then, I'll try again for May. But I want to take a look at what people are selling, their pricing, and their display methods.

It is supposed to be a quite nice day weather-wise.

Didn't walk today, but I'm really tired from scraping and washing.

Finished

I wasn't going to post anymore pictures of this room until it was all put back together and the new sheers had arrived and were hung, but Craig said it is only fair that he get to take a couple of shots of me painting too.

So here they are:

I am on a ladder!


We will look back at this someday. 


Hopefully from a warm sunny beach. 

Next Wall

Before I get onto the subject of my current painting project, I have to say how sad I have been for the people in New Zealand.  Their latest earthquake was quite devastating. 


We experienced quite a bit of damage and loss here in the 7.1 Loma Prieta quake of 1989. Seeing and hearing about the one in New Zealand brings back a lot of memories.  It makes my work here  seem so very trivial!


That said, heres the update on the dining room:
I finished the door and window sections, and Craig helped me move the plants, table, chairs, organ, and sideboard over to that side of the room.

I had already taken down all of the small pictures, and he helped me take down the moose. 


Good-by Moose. 


Well, not exactly Good-By,  We just put him in the garage. 


 I sent an e-mail to the president of the Moose Lodge last week, but haven't heard anything back.  I really do want to send him somewhere, other than the dump.  


The plants in the foreground of this picture are part of the four large ficus plants that are usually in front of the windows in the dining room.  They started as one, or two small plants in our last house 25 years ago.  I almost killed them many times by not watering them.  About twelve years ago Craig took over responsibility for them and they have flourished.  We have discussed the fact that they to will have to go when we put the house on the market.  They take up to much room and block the views from the windows.  Craig seems to be OK with that.  I hope so anyway.

This is the before picture on this wall.


I edged and painted it today.  Turns out that the high point in the dining room is not as high as the living room, so I was able to reach it by myself from my 8 foot step ladder.

If you look in the left corner of this picture you can see just a bit of the new blue color on the wall!


I considered just painting around and as much behind the hutch as I could and finishing the wall when we moved it out, but Craig wants me to "do it right" and paint the wall behind it now.


To do this we will have to move the hutch.  To move the hutch, I have to empty it first.  It is two separate pieces, and is chained to the wall.  It fell over in the earthquake we had in 1989 and just about everything inside came out and broke!

It will be a good opportunity to do a "first round" removal of things to be sold or otherwise gotten rid of.


The china stays.  We will need it and the glassware at Thanksgiving. 


 I have a few things from my grandmother and my mother that will be kept in storage or at my daughters.


I'm really glad never collected many nicknacks.  I have a few, but they will be easy to part with and will go down to the flea market box.  I'm not going to bother with E-bay.  I have a couple of picture plates that I found for sale on E-bay.  Highest price was $8.00.  Not worth my time to list them.  I will ask $10 for them at the flea market and accept $7.00. 


Well, that's about all for tonight.  Progress is slow, but any progress is good.


Hopefully I'll get some walking done next week!

Before pictures of the Dining Room

Before I get into pictures of my next big project, I want to go back for a moment to the spider's potty place.  A few hours after publishing my post yesterday I Googled "Spider Poo."  I was very surprised to find other people have asked this question.  I blogged about it just for  "comic relief" although I  wondered if that was what the tiny spots were.  My conclusion is that yes that's what they were.
Spider poop.  Would you believe there is even a video of a spider pooping!

CAUTION if spiders creep you out don't look at the video


Now the before pictures:
In getting ready to paint the dining room, I moved the table, chairs, and plants to one side.  I'm going to paint half the room, move everything again and then do the other half.

 

I have decided not to paint the ceiling.

  Craig thought I should, because thats what we have always done, but since we don't smoke anymore, it's in fine shape. 


 I should get up there and dust it, but that is just part of a normal good cleaning.

The room has two doors, a patio door, and five large windows.  


Lots of cut-in to do.

  The windows have brown metal vertical blinds. 


 They are rarely pulled, but when the sun is bright on the hottest days of summer, the blinds keep the heat out.  


The little rods above and between the windows are for the sheer curtains that are being replaced.


I have chosen a very light blue paint color.  It echos one of the colors in the area rug that is below the table. 


The room itself is about 15' by 25'.  I can do most of the painting, but like the living room there are places  I cannot reach from my step ladders, and Craig will have to go up the extension ladder to paint them.


Perhaps when I'm finished I will to try to do  a panorama room!  It would be good practice. 


If it works out, I'll post it of course!  

Nice Sunset

Nothing much happening today.  Did a little prep in the dining room.  Craig fixed a couple of cracks and I went down and got the first gallon of paint.  I'm switching brands, to the best  Sherman Williams.  It costs a lot more, but maybe I'll be able to get better coverage.

This evening I was sitting with my back to the windows when Craig told me to look at the sunset.  It was gorgeous.

 So I grabbed my little camera and went up the hill where I can see it a little better.

 There are to many trees at house level.  We can't even see the sunset in summer when they all have their leaves.  (The neighbor owns them so there is no hope of trimming!)

Hope all of you who have Monday off enjoy yourselves.

I'll be painting!

Pretty, Plus Painting Progress

I took some time this afternoon to take the picture out of my camera and file or discard what was there. I ooh these in the last few days. I find I  reach for the camera more often now that I blog.

 I like to see pictures in blogs, and usually they say more than a lot of words could.

There are many flowering fruit trees,  wild and in orchards, blossoming right now.

I have always just taken them for granted.  This year I am seeing them!

Another sunset from the deck. 

 Although the color in this one is not a vivid as in some of the others I shot that night, I liked the way the bare branches are silhouetted against the sky.

  (That tree in the center is about 150 feet tall!)

And last weekend's painting progress:

Craig did the cut in trim painting I couldn't quite reach from my 8' step ladder, and

painted the  part of the stair well to the downstairs that could only be reached with the extension ladder.  I painted the lower part on Wednesday.

AND ...  I have started walking again.  I let myself be lazy for awhile!

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill, 

1.5 miles Wednesday

2 miles Thursday

Total walked = 314.5 miles  

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Living Room Update

I came close to achieving my goals for January.  I had wanted to get the living room painting done. 


 I almost did. 


There is a little bit of touch up along some edges to do.  The paint color was so hard to see that it is only now, when I look at the dry paint in a different light,  that I can see a few missed spots.


 And the edging at the highest corner that I can't quite reach from the eight foot ladder. Craig will have to do it using the extension ladder.


I had not included the stairwell to the family room in my January plan.  Although it will be the same color paint, much of it needs to be done from the extension ladder as well.


When I took  the drapes and sheers down in the living room. I thought that  the sheers could be saved.  Unfortunately they were two far gone and shredded while being cleaned. 


 I'm almost happy about that.  It has pushed me into taking action on ordering new ones. The old drapes were also to bad to put back up. Now that the walls are clean, new drapes are a must.


I found a web site that sells customs drapes, and hopefully I can find an acceptable fabric, for an acceptable price.  
I have several samples coming in the mail.


 Their prices are pretty good, and they are also doing a 50% off  sale right now.  I'm trying to get the order together before the sale ends.  I talked to someone on the phone yesterday, and he was a bit vague as to how long the discount would be offered.


The drapes are manufactured in Hayward, California, which is just up the road from here.  I like the idea that they are American made, even if the labor is probably done by illegal immigrants.


 I didn't ask, but I think I may be able to go pick them up when they are done, and save the shipping costs. 
 (I could batch it with a trip to Berkeley Bowl!)


I'm pleased with my progress on sorting thru "stuff."  I agree with a comment that Heyduke left on one of my posts.  Something about "layers" of stuff.  I have found that by going thru and getting rid of the top layer,  it has become easier and easier to sort thru related things. 


I do wish Craig were more involved in it though.  I guess I just want to be sure he is OK with not keeping some things.  




On another note:

We are flying down to San Diego for a Super Bowl Party weekend with our daughter.  It should be a lot of fun, and of course we always enjoy seeing our grandsons.

Where are you watching the big game? 

Who do you think will win?

or

Painting the Living Room

Today, Saturday, I go back to working on painting the living room.

The biggest part of doing the painting is all of the "cut in" or "edging" work. I started some of it in the hall area at the beginning of the month.

Before I started, I took pictures of the room and the hall.  This was before I took down the pictures or put way any of the "stuff."  As you can see, it is a complex area.

facing pocket door to kitchen

Two closets to the right of kitchen door

Round the corner (two more doors, one to the Master Bedroom and one to the Bathroom)

Going from the hall into the living room

Another wall

The wall above the six large windows.  The highest point here is twelve feet.

And finally, the door way into the dinning room and another pocket door entrance into the kitchen.

It is presently a cold white.  The new color is taken from the fireplace stone.  It is very close to white, but hints a bit of golden pinkish glow.  

At least I don't have to do the ceiling!

The drapery is another depressing problem.  It is very old, dirty, ripped in one place, and has some water stains.  When we moved in here I couldn't quite afford to buy new drapes, so I had these relined.  By now, they would fall apart if they were cleaned!  I had Coit do them a few years back. They don't take them down, and just steam them where they hang.  But they still looked pretty bad after that.

Several years ago I got an estimate for replacing them plus the ones in the dining room with similar custom treatments.  

The estimate was close to $10,000!  Since I was already starting to think about selling the house, I said "no way" to that.  I knew by the time we got the house on the market they would no longer be new, and I just couldn't spend that much.

A few weeks ago I went to JC Penny's and found some drapes that might work for a lot less!  The current ones are 96" long, and the maximum length on ready mades is 95".  

We can use the current rods and be a bit short, or move the rods down one inch! 

 I should be able to do the job for less than two thousand.  They may not be the high end fabric, but they will be clean. 

 But I have decided to wait until the house goes on the market to get new drapery. I want the realtors input.  

I think I can mend the ripped place  so it is less noticeable. 

Having this type of drapery in this room is essential.  We draw them to keep out the sun in the summer daytime, and the cold in the winter night.  They also are important to the acoustical nature of the room.