First Meal, New Kitchen

Really I can't blame them for looking so pissed off. Every day, there's a new order of business in here, and I try to at least keep the first feeding consistent in terms of location. Hugo snarfs his food, especially if he's nervous. Angus nibbles, especially if he's nervous, so we run into some issues of competition and territory with the feeding.

All in all, they're great dogs, and relatively adaptable to the contingencies of renovation. They like the tradesmen and assorted other visitors. Angus in particular, excels at meeting, greeting and learning all about what the electrician/plumber/painter/carpenter actually does, up close & personal. But, like me, they're sensitive to upheaval, so I think this weekend I'll whisk them off for a few days at the family manse in Baltimore. Upheaval, yes, but they'll enjoy the steady stream of affection and those with more generous hands when it comes to treats. Well, I could use a little of the same, plus some time with my family to recover a bit from the drone of constant work in my own house.

Lucky for me, my parents completed a big kitchen renovation fairly recently and they are basking in the glow of it. My mom bakes like she never has before, and it's just a pleasure to see how she and my dad are using the reconfigured space in unexpected ways. Like my house, theirs was built in the 1920s, and so the kitchen redesign is tricky for so many reasons (link and essay forthcoming) Also like my house, the reconfiguration of just a couple windows and doors made a tremendous impact on the use of the space, and also on the way light behaves in the room. Here I wish I had a better camera (better photographer too!) to demonstrate that point. It's astonishing to me how much it changes a space when you move a window up just a bit. Well, this will link into a whole new topic, because in the end, it's all about light.

Sweat Equity

And I've got the laundry to prove it!

Well this relates also to my earlier post (or wag of the finger, if you will) that I could have titled "Do as I say, Not as I Do."
Physical labor will wreck some clothes. The mud has been particularly unkind to shoes, socks and towels. Figure in extra laundry and some Clorox.

Praise the Lord and Pass the Sunscreen

Without getting into issues of religious faith, let me just say that the recent period of unusually heavy rainfall has led me to wonder if this isn't God's way at getting back at me for trying to be handy around the house.
But take a look at the sky today. We'd made tentative plans to tighten up some structure and add decking later this week, but this felt like a "make hay while the sun shines" moment, so I made an executive decision and enlisted Paul to head up the effort.
In a small house, tearing off even a tiny little porch has a big impact on how things work inside. With the rain delays, the inside of the house has become increasingly hard to manage, since I don't even have a stable area outside on which to prop, say, muddy boots or a broom.

That's me, a few days ago, looking down trying to figure out how to get out of those boots and into the house without falling into a mud-filled crater. You'll have to use your imagination, because I was not able to photograph myself trying to catch two slippery mud-coated terriers on their way into the house in order to administer eight little footscrubbings each time. (Just so you know, I am not a full-fledged neat freak, nor do I have delicate, light-colored Aubussons in the adjacent room to worry about. It's just that little bits of upheaval add up to a lot of discomfort quickly, and light at the end of the tunnel felt like a necessary stage to achieve at this point.)

This feels a lot better:
(and please note the re-installation of the broom-rack--a lifesaver, in my opinion.)

Hugo is done with his inspection. The new deck meets his criteria and he feels comfortable enough to go inside and relax. Me too. Finally, I feel like I can relax at home again! Better yet, I can relax at home on the back porch. Now that's something I have never been able to say before!
There's a lot of work left to be done, but having a stable place on which to do it makes a world of difference.
Now that old blue tarp serves double-duty, since it keeps us protected from the sunshine while we work. It's given me all kinds of ideas about a future pergola which allows some control of shading. Having a sort-of ceiling over a space like this actually makes it feel larger, which is worth considering.
Paul was kind enough to let me work alongside him today, and he even taught me a little technique with the drill. I'm getting better at it. In fact, I managed at least 500 deck screws, give or take. Paul did the tricky ones near the edges. My arm hurts. Luckily Paul advised me to ice it so it won't hurt so much in the morning. It's a good feeling though.
Sherman kept telling me how putting on the decking was going to be the fun and easy part, and now I feel a little badly, because she's laid up with a cold, and to be honest, this part was a lot more fun and easy than the framing. Of course, God graced us with perfect weather today. So now let's all say a nice little prayer for clear skies and good health all the way around (before I start waxing on about well-known carpenters from biblical times.) And thanks to everyone who's helping to make it happen.
Peace.

At the heart of it, clean dishes

So, dear reader, you might be surprised to discover that the genesis for this little (and rapidly expanding) project was the desire for a dishwasher. Today Jessreal is here to rough-in the dishwasher I picked out yesterday. Angus tries to help with any tradesman, but he's especially fond of Jessreal.
It's a little tricky to work modern conveniences into an old and idiosyncratic kitchen, especially when one's tastes veer towards expensive things like panel fronts and smaller sized appliances. But after much consideration, I settled on a simple WhirlPool model that almost looks like it has a panel.
These old metal cabinets will look a bit shabby next to the new ones on the way, but they'll do for now. The sink is a classic: an old American Standard cast iron porcelain with double drainboard. It's sturdy and I like its looks too. I'd like to replace cabinetry underneath, which may be feasible. We'll have to find out just how much that sink weighs...

Two Sheets of OSB: Priceless

While I was making my order at the lumberyard, I decided to throw in a couple of sheets of plywood--just in case something prevented us from getting decking on in a timely manner. (persistent rain, for example) Running with the theme of asking vendors to direct me to their "finest, cheapest" product, I went with OSB, which is not too heavy, not too expensive, and suitable for temporary walking surface, assuming you screw it down securely. For under $10, I've got a path from the door out to the garden, which is particularly important for Hugo, the elder of my two dogs. He's not nearly as nimble as Angus, who is happy to skip across the tops of the joists.

More About Mud

Well I think we've established my love-hate relationship with red clay. Love it on a tennis court, hate it in my house. The rain came this weekend, and it keeps on coming, so in the meantime, let's talk a little more about red clay. Housekeeping is a particular problem when you live near the red stuff. Erosion control at construction sites is something I'm interested in at the moment, but mostly because I'm trying to limit the impact on the housekeeping.
Forgive me, dear reader, because this is a little gory (and do bear in mind I took the first photo after cleaning up a fair bit.) But take my word for it that it was much, much worse.
Yesterday, Tim and Sherman and I decided to continue progress on the deck construction in spite of the forecast for rain. We rigged up a tarp overhead to offer a little cover, and it did just that: it covered us, a little.
I do wish I had photos of the mess while we were working, but it was difficult enough to keep hands on tools given the slippery nature of the mud. See how the tops of our posts and that band got sloppy from us trying to grab onto them. Just handling the lumber became a bit of a challenge, not to mention handling small and sharp things like nails and joist hangers.
Today I lined up the straw bales in an effort to hold off the tide of red clay that flows down this slope. Tomorrow, I'll clean up more red clay in the house. It gets worse before it gets better. But the important thing is that it gets better!

How many architects does it take to....

Well before I make a bad joke about a light bulb, take a look at today's progress. Lucky for me that Tim and Sherman came today to do some heavy lifting and bring on the power tools. Up to now, the only power tool I've used is my much beloved Milwaukee drill. In order to get this porch out of the scene and make the roof hold on, we needed not only some power tools, but also some serious thought as to the structure.

Here's Tim thinking about it with Sherman.

And here's Tim thinking about it some more. But wait a minute. The posts are gone! Presto-change-o we have new structure! So now Tim's thinking about how best to deploy that new SawzAll to get the rest of this debris out of the way. See how we've used a long 2 x 6 to carry the load across to those 2 x 4 posts. It's just the temporary framing that will allow us to remove what needs to go and frame what's coming next, while keeping that little old roof intact and where it belongs.

It's funny with an old building, you never know what you'll find. We felt very lucky to find a good ledger under the porch, which will make things easier from here out. Mostly, I feel extremely lucky to have friends who will lend their brains and brawn (not to mention the tools) to my little project here.

Really, I looked out over this pile of mud this evening and as upsetting as it is in some ways, it feels like good change, and when you have good friends holding your hand through the process, you actually learn something. Something other than "I don't like upheaval." I still don't like upheaval (who does?) but I think I'll be able to make better choices in the face of change now that some incredibly kind and generous friends have walked me through the first few steps.
Oh, don't get me started on the steps! There are none, but we'll adapt.

Things are easier when they're less scary, and they're less scary when you jump in with both feet. These feet are muddy (but you really ought to see how muddy Tim and Sherman are...)

Thanks guys! I couldn't (no, I wouldn't) have done it without you!