Our Back Room Renovation is "Mostly" Complete

I know, I know.
Given that it has taken me another 2 months to update you with progress on the back room, you would expect it might be actually done. But no.

Very close though. And when we manage to organize and hide the tv and DVD cables and get a new back door, there will be a couple more pics. Don't hold your breath.

Before:



After:

Sunday Brunch... Danish Style

What better time to try out my new Ebelskiver pan than a snowy Sunday morning?
A breakfast of Danish, filled pancakes with neighbors sounded perfect after playing with Marley in the yard and watching Osman diligently shovel the front walk.



A good excuse to avoid doing laundry...





Buddha looks quite comfortable in a shroud of snow!



It's all fun and games until someone gets cold feet.



Lemon curd and cream cheese stuffed Ebelskivers...



Followed by chocolate and strawberry Ebelskivers.
Complete with home-made warm dark chocolate sauce and fresh strawberry sauce.

Which One is More Domesticated?

Just when I thought it would be a boring day...

I looked out the window to see a deer in my neighbors yard. Curious, since we don't normally get deer in our yards here and also because Marley had just come in from outside and he didn't smell it? Hear it? SEE IT???

I headed out with my neighbor, Doug to watch it tear into his shrubbery. Marley came too. He took a position, stealth-like, amongst the evergreens, atop of the back yard.



Despite his best efforts not to obvious, the deer spotted him and came over to chat.
Marley stood his ground, tail wagging, not wanting to venture closer than 3 feet!





They gazed into each others eyes a few moments then the deer moved on to my front yard, for some "fall clean-up". Only then did Marley step forward to sniff the fence where the deer had been.

Dog Day At The Pool

Of the 3 of us, it is Osman and I who probably look forward to this day all year... but it is Marley who has the most fun!

Every year, as the swimming season draws to a close, Scott Carpenter Pool, in Boulder, opens for a dog-only weekend. As you can imagine, the Labs and Golden Retrievers dominate the pool, but let's not kid ourselves... their owners (and anyone in the general vicinity) are going to get soaked too!

This pretty much sums up our 2009 "dog day at the pool"...


Who needs a diving board when you can walk on water?


Happy to retrieve that ball over and over and over again.


Check out those paws. With toes spread and tail acting as a rudder, he cuts through the water!



Perhaps a little over-enthusiastic at times.


You know it's time to go home when he can no longer pull himself out of the pool.

The Best Laid Plans

Just when I thought I was 2 steps from finishing the back room... they tell me the flooring (which is supposed to have arrived today) has not passed inspection yet.

Yeah... that was the explanation I needed too!

Apparently inspection is the step before shipping. Meaning my flooring is still in the north-east!
Are you kidding me? Nobody wanted to mention that this could happen as they were taking my credit card details??? What? Did they think I would forget about time and just be happy to see it whenever?

Not happy.
Parents arrive next week and the back room is "mostly done", showing off a gorgeous orange linoleum tile (circa 1950's) and doubling as Osman and my bedroom floor while the folks are staying.

Where is my beautiful stranded bamboo floor???!!!! arrgghhh!

More Progress...

It has been 5 days since my last post. Essentially things are coming together, but I'm at it alone now so it's waaay slower!

Here is a run down on the last few days.

Friday August 7th:

Josh and Brian are back. The walls get a light texture and the slate is installed around the fireplace.

I was able to prime the ceiling and walls (and floor?!) on Friday afternoon/evening. Made entirely possible by the great new lighting and the vodka cocktail I consumed at a friends house warming party during a "break" from painting.

Saturday August 8th:
My neighbor/friend, Donnie, joined in to help paint the walls after I had finished the ceiling.



Sunday August 9th:
If memory serves me right, I spent most of the day trekking back and forth to Home Depot for painting supplies, light bulbs, dimmer switch, window trim and crown molding. It was Donnie to the rescue again as I struggled to maneuver 14' lengths of fairly bendy trim and molding through the house!

Monday August 10th:
As fate would have it, Josh and his team (Eric and Brian) had one more day to give me.
They worked hard to have the tile grouted, the woodwork completed and the trim installed. I love my custom mantle!!! Thanks Josh! :-)

The Last Truly Filthy Day

Friday August 7th: Yippee!
Most people hang out waiting for the day the project is finished. Not me. My favorite day is the one where we stop making the house dirtier and can begin the clean up. That day is here.

This morning the drywall got a thorough sanding (very dusty/dirty work) then a light coat of texture.

From here on in the work will be mainly painting, trimming and installation of flooring. I can begin to dust, mop and vacuum my very messy house and maybe, just maybe I will be somewhat composed when our couch-surfers arrive tomorrow!

Here is the room with 3 coats of joint compound and ready to be textured:


Here it is post texture, and getting ready for the fireplace slate:

Moving Right Along...

Wednesday August 5th:

It began like any other day really. First I hiked with Marley, then I bailed a neighbor out of jail, had breakfast and worked on some contracts while intermittently looking into the back room. I can call it a room again now that it has walls and ceiling!

Josh and his crew speedily, but skillfully, installed the last of the drywall...




...and this afternoon it got it's first application of "mud" or joint compound.



I am going to have my work cut out for me this weekend when it becomes ready to prime, paint and trim! :-)

What Was I Thinking?

My day really should start with some sort of addiction anonymous meeting...

"Hi, I'm Dallice... and it has been, umm, zero days since my last DIY fix".

Damn it! Not in recovery at all?


So, Osman left for his "national tour of family and friends" 6 days ago. As he prepared to leave, he looked me in the eye and asked what I was planning to do while he was gone. I answered "nothing" and that was genuinely my intent at the time.

However, 3 hours later I had a change of heart. Three weeks of eating dinner alone, with only work to keep my mind sharp... I needed something more. What could I tackle?

Of course it had to be the back room. With 200+ square feet of nasty carpet, wood paneling and worst of all, the drop ceiling just waiting to be torn to shreds. Who better to call for advice and reason than our good friend and craftsman, Josh? Lucky for me he had some time to help out the following week too.

Friday July 31st:
Before the project begins



Saturday August 1st: Preparing to act.
I find a little French Doors bargain on craigslist.com, borrow a truck and brave 95 degrees without A/C to get those puppies home. My neighbors and their friends help me move the heavier furniture out of the room.

Sunday August 2nd: Let the mayhem begin!
I begin removing trim, ceiling and carpet with pad, then gear up to paint those doors. At the end of the day I'm left wondering why I felt the need to re-caulk the bathroom today... and now have 3 more hours before I can shower away the filth that has been trapped in the ceiling - with mice - for 50 years!



August 3rd: The cavalry are here!
Josh and Brian arrive and the wall paneling is removed, along with the insulation in the ceiling and walls. While we are at it I decide that if we took the fireplace mantle off and removed 4 rows of bricks I might actually have room to put art above the fireplace ... brilliant!

I spend the day working like true home-owner and the next 8 hours hacking up black mucus and trying not to scratch at my arms and face, which now itch and burn as a reaction to all the rock-wool contact. But it's worth it!



Tuesday August 5th: Thank goodness they came back today, bright and early too.

The end of today sees the electrical outlets re-wired, the recessed lighting in, the ceiling re-insulated and dry-walled. The temperature is immediately lowered in the room and although the house is a disaster I feel like we reached the "it couldn't get worse" point and are making our way back now. And on top of that, my wonderful neighbor Donnie, has rescued me with an invitation for dinner at her place, where I shall also be self-medicating with a great bottle of wine!



Oh yeah... and the French Doors are in too. But as you can see, I never quite finished painting them!

Squirrel Picnic

Taking a break from work I decided to plant some flowers out front. After deciding that too was indeed work, I took another break. This time going in search of my little back yard critters. Where could they be?

A little food enticement later, this one crawled head first down the tree to score some tiny little rye bread,with caraway seeds. Yum. Osman had said it was only a matter of time before they started eating right from my hand, and he was right.

Greed has a funny way of overpowering fear!

Meanwhile, back at the apple tree...
The sun was shining, his belly was full. Time for a nap.
In the last couple of years this guy has been caught scrounging for food "commando style" on the ground several times. On first glimpse he appears to be paralyzed from the waist down, but if startled, he jumps up and runs for the nearest tree.
Conclusion: He is just really, inappropriately lazy!

Yes, it appears I have developed a rather unhealthy attachment to our backyard squirrels... especially the baby ones! What's the big deal?

For Me? You Shouldn't Have

I had a problem...

Sneaky Smokey Joe, hidden in the garden was systematically picking off song birds as they pecked at the bird feeder (in a tree), unaware of danger.
The solution was to move the feeder to under the arbor.

I had another problem...
The squirrels now discovered that if they chewed through the cord, they could drop it to the ground on the patio and clean it out in a matter of minutes.
The solution was to feed the squirrels, so they weren't so hungry. Right?

The next problem...
After putting critter food out in a bowl in the yard I noticed that Marley was now gorging himself on peanuts and dried corn.
I was running out of solutions.

I went in search of a (dog-proof) squirrel feeder.

Knowing that feeding the critters is not the most popular past-time in the neighborhood, and I met with all the expected resistance associated with finding a feeder too. But I emerged triumphant from McGuckins Hardware store on Sunday morning and went straight home to secure it, then fill it.



"For Me? You shouldn't have! But I'm glad you did."




"It's great! I love it! Now just tell me... how do I get the food out?"

Actually this little guy was at the feeder before I had even moved 3 feet out of the way. It took him maybe 5 minutes to work out that he had to stand on the front, then lift the lid. He spent the next 4 hours practicing this. At first eating as much as he could, as fast as he could. Later he was found to be taking his time and only picking out his favorite nuts and seeds!

Spring Has Sprung!

The weather may not be cooperating right now, but the flowers indicate spring is definitely here.

The tulips on Pearl St are gorgeous... or at least they were yesterday, but today's brief winter storm may have changed things!






(Yes, I couldn't resist tweaking this one... )

Chris and I spent yesterday afternoon at Paradise Bakery, watching street performers and little kids in tutu's and fairy wings dancing on the mall.

Happy Birthday Osman!

Osman celebrated his birthday on the beach at Waikiki this year. It was warm, the food was good, the sun shone and not a work day in sight. You get the picture. And Im sure he will post about it later tonight too.

Meanwhile... I had a plan of my own.

My husband deserves only the very best. And recently I had decided that this office was definitely not the best!





Twelve days seemed like enough time to get the job done...



Meet Robbin. Skills and energy for every occasion! But no-one was happier to see that carpet go than me.



Of course, all that "stuff" had to go somewhere while we worked. Besides, I had no time to watch TV anyway.



Bye bye baseboards.


New paint and baseboards... it was already feeling better!


Windows painted, crown molding up, ceiling painted, light fixture updated, closet re-organized.


The new ergonomic chair had arrived, was assembled... and I speak from experience when I say its COMFY!


Let's just say the furniture assembly was "trying"!


Making progress... I begin to put all that "stuff" back in there.


Curtains are up, speakers work again...


Lighting, check. Original art, check. We are good to go, with a day to spare.

Sshhh! Don't tell Osman... It's a surprise and he will be home in a half hour.
(Stay tuned for the look on his face...)