Nicey-Nice from now on!

It is a glorious day in the wine country and I am covered in sanding dust, and dirty grime. We have removed two more windows, casings, frame and all, from one of the second story guest bedrooms and bathrooms, taken them completely apart, and with heat gun in one hand and a sander in the other, preparing them to be free of paint and grime and back together almost purty as new.



Now wasn't that a nice and gentlemanly way to open my blog post for today?

If you happened to see the comments on my post last week you might have seen this one...

Anonymous said...
"Why do you even care what others think about your life and your home? People don't come here to read your negative bitter rants, we want to see and hear about your progress the good things. People talk, if it's not relevant just don't listen. You sound just like everyone you go off on."

All right then, she or he don't know me very well, but I will try it. From this point forward I will be nicey-nice, and tell you all about the wonderful, amazing, lovely, and beautiful things that happen in our splendid wine country home.

Today we went to Ace hardware, such a wonderful environment for families to shop for power tools while the young-uns play with the baby chickens. I needed to buy a hammer and spent 3 hours going over the pros and cons of each of the possible new soldiers that would join our holy battle. All the while I was surrounded by happy shoppers that smiled at me, in that small town loving way, as they perused the isles looking for their favorite brand of kitchen cleaner. I recommended a few brands to JonDarnel, since she seemed so perplexed by the number of possible brands. It is so uplifting to be helpful!
This morning, before we left, little Johnny threw up in his cereal bowl at breakfast and I had to run quick to get the camera to take a picture because it was so sweet to watch him eat his cereal despite the fact that he just threw up in the bowl... ADORABLE to say the least.
Oh... Suzie just made a poopie in her nappy, the precious little dear. Let me show you how to give the nappy a Martha Stewart look by tying it with a beautiful ribbon, which you can get at Costco for a song. When you tie it up like this it is so cute when you throw it in the trash and every time you open the can to use it you will be reminded of the blessed moment when Suzie made that little pooh, the precious little dear, and, think of the happy smiles on the faces of your guests when they open the trash and see that adorable gift left so lovingly in the can...

 

 

YEAH RIGHT!

Even when I try to write nicey-nice I fall into that wicked sense of humor trap, but I tried.

To Anonymous I kindly wrote...

"I prefer to find funny little bits to incorporate into my writing to make my readers laugh. Humor is the only way to survive what we are doing and quite a bit of humor comes from outside our doors. It would seem that you have not read much of my blog and if all you want is progress, well, walk on by and point a finger or two."

By the way, the reason that the diaper bit popped into my head is that a couple of days ago we were forced to stand in our yard and look down at a lovely gift someone had left us. We circled it, expressed numerous expletives, all the while poking the package with a stick, and playing rock-paper-scissors, to decide who would remove the soiled baby diaper to the trash... sometimes people are disgusting!

Progress report for the day

The staircase has made leaps and strides in the last week and I want to share a couple of pictures with you.

Remember this?

 Now we have this...

Not finished yet, but looking so much better, naked of paint and ancient finishes.

More to come as we continue installing wood finishes in preparation for plaster, which we begin on the 23rd.  Eeeek! I am running out of time!

As I sign off today, don't forget to leave me comments and let me know if you prefer the "nicey-nice" writing style or my usual "negative bitter rants".

Hee Hee Hee Hee Heeeeeee

We are always getting the finger

That is the finger we have started to notice a lot lately. Groups of two or more in cars, or walking by our home, and if you happen to look out a window you get the finger. I can only imagine the conversations that are going on behind the finger. Sometimes I do hear snippets of the chatter.

"Sure looks like things have slowed down, they must have run out of money"

Ah, come on folks... we are working solely on the inside of the house, the part you can't see from the street, but I know you want to! 

or...

"they raised it 20 feet in the air because it was collapsing in on itself"

Well, kinda but not really. Every finger seems to know all about us and what we are doing, or at least they think they do. Not one single finger ever comes up to the house to ask what the true stories are, they just point and jabber away.  On the other hand I suppose its nice to be a topic of conversation, I think...

We continue progress inside the house. We are focused on preparing the remaining rooms on the first floor for plaster. One more window casing and completing the crown moldings and we will be ready. The casing moldings that are to be reapplied around all of the doors and windows can wait, but baseboards are virtually all reinstalled along with their decorative cap. We plan on returning to the world of veneer plaster the middle of July, so we need to shake some proverbial legs!

Remember the Dining room before?

Now we have this...

You can see the beginnings of the crown which is made up of five different moldings. Two have been installed so far in the dining room and the living room. The other three are being made as I write and will soon be added to the stack.

Bay windows and Crown molding... not my idea of a good time!

The baseboard and the doors have gone back into the center hall. We are currently so enamored with the five doors that we keep them closed all the time so that when you enter the house from the front door it all seems so mysterious, hmmm, which door leads to where? At any moment you expect Scooby Doo and Shaggy to run out of one and into another, followed by a group of maniacal monsters chasing them.

Phillip has been hard at work of a medicine cabinet that was recently given to us by our friend Clifford. The cabinet was built in 1901 and came out of a home in San Francisco. It also had been painted ten to twelve times. Slowly he is removing one hundred and ten years worth of paint. I hope this cycle does not begin again once the cabinet graces the first of three guest bathrooms.

So many pictures for this post.

Here is one more for the record. A few days ago I was bored with the projects I was working on and I had that itch. You know the one. The Itch that makes you want to do something that you know you shouldn't do yet, but you have been dying to tackle it. With hammer and wrecking bar in hand I headed for the center hall. I took one look at the staircase, and started prying away the trim, slowly and carefully I removed the first sixteen spindles, that's when Phillip walked into the hall. Ouch. Lets just say he was not very happy with me. We have a slightly different view of what needs to be completed within the year so that we can refinance our mortgage, and the staircase did not fall into his  scope of the needed items. 

The single spindle has had its finish removed.

Now I am only allowed to work on the staircase on my own time, whenever that is.
So next time you drive or walk by, using the finger, and you see me working on the staircase, you will know it is "whenever that is"

hehehehehehe

If the shoe fits

The latest issue of California Home and Design hits the street today, as well as launching their brand new web version of the magazine. The story of our home is in the July issue as well as on the California Home and Design blog. They are both fun reads and definitely make us both seem like we are crazy... well, if the shoe fits!

There was a small chance we would make the cover of the magazine, but this did not come to pass. But it does not really matter as the journey has been fun and it is great to see our home in print, even as rough as it is now. There are also beautiful reprints of Tania Amochaev's photographs that were taken before we bought the house.

Read the magazine story here

Read Mary Jo Bowling's blog post here


And you can see more of Tania's work on her website here

Photo Art by Tania Amochaev

Andale! Arriba! Arribe! VIVA LA DIY'ERS!

NEWS FLASH

Rumor has it that a "crew" descended on 227 North Street a few weeks ago. Local gossip has confirmed that a photographer, an art director, and a Magazine editor, were holed up in the old house for hours. As this goes to press we are still trying to find out who, what, when, where, and why... so stay tuned for more details that will surely follow. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog entry.

* * *

The over the fence chatter is true. Let me take you back to the beginning of the story. I am waving my hand in circles, in front of your eyes... circle "you are getting sleepy" circle "sleepy" circle "you cannot keep your eyes open" circle "when you awaken it will be Sunday morning the 15th of May" circle.

Ugga Bugga stuff!

May 15th was the Healdsburg annual Home tour. For the second year in a row our home was the special attraction. "Special attraction, indeed!" Roughly five hundred people were led by eight of us, acting as tour guides, through the house. Followed by a thank you tour guides, Sunday dinner della familia. We had such a great time and all that toured the house seem to find it fascinating and intriguing. Except the guy that I almost got into it with over single pane glass windows... but that's another story!

Drassa Frassen idiot who has been swayed by big window manufacturers.... arg!  Ooops, story for another time...

Monday morning I received a phone call from the editor of California Home and Design. Mary Jo Bowling had been on the tour and she was so impressed with the DIY nature of our home, from design, through construction, to decorating, that she wanted to do a feature article on the house and our journey, focussing on our Kitchen.

Andale! Arriba! Arribe! VIVA LA DIY'ERS!

Speedy Gonzales 1953

We first did a two hour phone interview, followed by a five and half hour photo shoot. I had been around the film industry for years, but I have forgotten the amount of time it takes to set up, get approvals, and then take the picture. It started with a tour of the house, and then discussions of how to set our Kitchen for the best shot. Something that would show the not quite finished edge to it, and yet make light of its beauty at the same time. Then the focus turned to the two of us. We had cleaned ourselves up that morning and dressed casual, but nice, in preparation of the dreaded camera. The Editor and the art director took one look at us and asked, "is that what you wear when you are working on the house?"

Suffice it to say that wardrobe swooped in and a costume change was made. Out came the ratty jeans, the faded T-shirts, and the shoes with holes in them. Two setups of the Kitchen, and two different rounds of the two of us, and they swept out of the house and were on their way. The Magazine comes out latter this month and there were small hints that our Kitchen may, and I mean may make the cover.

Mary Jo waving for my Iphone.

My snapshot of the first picture. Note that we did indeed uncover the raw wood floors.

My snap of the second shot, more unfinished bits and a few props... hehehe

It feels really amazing to know that we are being published, guess we're not quite the hacks we thought we were, and keep your fingers crossed that we end up with a cover shot.

Plastered again, or we should be

We were sittin out on the front porch last weekend a rockin away, when this here gentleman comes meanderin up the street. He was pushin a wagon that had big scrolling letters painted on the side of it.

Well I suppose we could use some of that, so we flagged him down. Like a whirl wind Mister Kennedy set up his little ole scaffolding, brewed up his buckets of mysterious powders, and with trowels in hand he marched us into position for our lessons.

 

Let the fun begin! Mister Kennedy ready start the Kitchen ceiling.

 Plaster is by no means an easy thing to do. It is physically exhausting. Trowel on a thin layer and then double back troweling and smoothing, compressing and and working the surface until it begins to set, then wet and smooth again, all the time hoping to have enough material to make it to a good stopping point. We chose to leave the plaster natural on the ceilings and tint it with pigment for the walls, this way we have the option of leaving it as is when finished, or prime and paint the entire surface.

Along the way we had great help from friends, Thomy and Janine who are new to Healdsburg, were willing to lend much needed hands to the process.

Janine threw her hands into priming woodwork to protect it from the plaster, while Thomy mixed the brew and kept everyone's tools clean. It was an eventful two days, and we learned so much. We still have much to learn but some progress was made with the Kitchen, the breakfast room, and half of the gallery plastered and ready for finish considerations.

A Coronation is occuring

The Days of Spring are flying by and we move forward as fast as we can. Longer days and Sunshine allow us to work longer days... yeah!...    I think.

With the exception of the addition of drywall over the shear wall in the dining room, the ground floor has all of its walls complete. We have indeed moved onto the second floor, and the first of the four guest rooms is getting walls at last.

Plywood shear wall over rigid foam insulation, awaiting the addition of drywall.

I know its not the most beautiful picture you have ever seen, but it's exciting to see secondary rooms get attention. The rigid foam insulation is indeed doing its job! Keeping the warm in, the cold out, and with the two inch air pocket behind it, the siding is able to get wet and then dry out! Each piece of rigid foam is carefully fit into each bay and then calked around....

Hang on a sec, there's someone at the front door...

OOOH... it was a special delivery. Our friendly boarder runner is back again with beautiful products for our floor. It is so exciting to open the front door and find her standing there. Today we received lovely tongue oil floor finish. Now I will warn you, do not open the can and pour out a big bowlful for your kids to eat, apparently it will kill them.

 

A simple tongue oil finish will give our floors that old world look, and yet they will not look as if they have been dipped in plastic. We can't wait to begin the application, but we have to get through the trim work, and plastering first.

And speaking of trim work.... Crown!

At the same time that the second floor is being sealed up we have stepped back to more completed rooms for another round, or layer of finish work. Crown molding, baseboard cap, and casement moldings are the name of the game. We have never installed crown before and boy does it screw with your head. Making sure that each cut is done at the correct angle, and the correct length is enough to make you run screaming from the house. All in all though, I think we did a masterful job for our very first attempt.

The baseboard cap and the casement moldings are replications of the original moldings that were in the house when it was built. Removing the paint from the original moldings has proven to be incredibly time consuming, unhealthy, and horrifically expensive, only to be left with a beaten and tired molding that is now free of paint. We have to draw the line somewhere. However... we will be selling shabby chic 227 picture frames very soon, so be sure to get in your size requests!

 We chose to keep the crown in the kitchen and the breakfast room on the simpler side. Although it is large, it is just a one piece application that does not overwhelm the space. It also allowed us the chance to learn how to install it while only dealing with one piece of lumber, as opposed to the sample picture below of the five piece crown that will go in the larger more public rooms.

Five piece crown for the living room, dining room, study, and library.

Lastly today I want to show those that I call our little soldiers. All lined up and free of their former drab and beaten dress, they stand proudly naked awaiting their next direction in life. Each of them has spent roughly forty hours apiece under the scraper, the sander, the planer, the chemical stripper, to reach this stage. They still have filling, more sanding, hanging and finishing to go, but right now they are beautiful as they are and will serve well for a few more generations.

 
These four doors bring our total to date to ten interior doors that have been stripped and sanded of their former paint, that's ten out of twenty three.... SIGH.... so now I will leave it to you to figure out if we are cup half full, or cup half empty kind of boys.

*NEXT CHAPTER IN THE 227 SAGA*

The boys learn to plaster... or get plastered, I can't remember which.

OMG, someone might see my Boobs

The spring switch finally was flipped a week ago. All we saw was rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, and oh yeah, did I mention Rain! For weeks, and months, and years it has been doing nothing but raining... well maybe I am exaggerating, but I think you get the drift. But on Monday March 28th spring arrived. It did not trickle in or come slowly, it just was, and it is glorious. Winter blues are lifting, the days have grown longer, and we are pulling out of our shell and working ever harder.

The name of the game has been veneer board and re-trimming the first floor. We now have solid walls on the first floor and some original casings and baseboards stripped of paint and put back where they belong.
To remove the torture of the years, layers and layers of paint, and horrid abuse by folks who did not care, we are again relying on our planer. Yes it dulls knife blades something terrible but it is so much safer for the environment and us that it is worth it. To strip with chemical would produce gallons of toxic waste the would end up in a land fill. and we would still have to sand off the final faux paint layer as the chemical does not seem to cut it. Three or four passes through the planer removes ninety five to one hundred percent of the paint.

They will still need sanding and filling, so much abuse over the years, but as they go back in they are looking great.

We used the same treatment for the window casings in both bay windows, as those particular casings needed to be put in prior to the drywall...

The Living room with solid walls. Note the original window casings in the bay window, striped of paint and reinstalled.

In removing the paint I made an interesting discovery. Holes... nail holes, screw holes, staple holes, thumb tack holes, hole after hole after hole...

So many holes. And what are they from you may ask? Window coverings! Years and years and years of window coverings.

OMG someone might look in and see my boobs!

So get those windows covered. Maybe its a Healdsburg thing, cause if you start looking around at the houses here everyone has their blinds down or their curtains draw. Windows covered with no hope of daylight getting in. Maybe this whole town runs around nekid inside their homes all day and night and they are afraid someone will look in and see their boobs. I don't know, it's a mystery that I just don't get. Come on Healdsburg... open em up, let the sunshine in! Let your boobs out into the daylight. 

Of course we have no window coverings which may explain why cars slow down at night as they pass by. But go ahead and look, and if we see ya we will flash our boobs at you!






















Room by room we are sealing up the walls. When a house like this is completely bare of plaster with only its studs showing, it seems so big. Now our rooms are closing in on us, getting tiny. The Living room (pictured above) is twenty four feet by fourteen feet. That seemed enormous when open and bare, but now it feels so closed in, how will we ever live in such a small environment? how will we get by?

The following pictures are some of the rooms on the first floor that now have solid walls.

The breakfast room.

The Library bay window, still some drywall left to do above it. Note the original baseboards, minus paint.

The opening from the Library into the study. Phillip has actually moved his office into it.

Study doors closed. Yes the pocket doors now work. I begged to be shot while installing them, but they are in.

The Study door leading to the center hall.

The center hall from the back.

The center hall from the front.

Now that the center hall has walls I am thinking of tackling the staircase. I think its time. But every where I turn I can say the same thing. Now that the walls are solid I really should tackle...


So drive on by sometime and give us a wave. Granted you won't see much boob in this house but we will definitely wave back.

And finally today I want to give a shout out to my new followers.... "Hey new followers" Yeah, thank you for joining us on this crazy journey. Give us a comment sometime and don't forget to show your boobs!


PS... In case anyone wonders... the wall board, drywall, veneer board, or what ever you want to call it is actually called Kal-Kore or blue board.  It is naturally a grey blue color, and is meant to have plaster applied to its surface. It is grey blue in color to distinguish it from regular drywall.