Dahlquist Art

My original piece from Chris Dahlquist back from Labor Day 2007 finally got some friends. And just in the nick of time. These are created by a Polaroid print onto a sheet of aluminum, and they stopped making Polaroid film! What a drag for Chris. However, this will surely squeeze out another creative medium from her.

Being on aluminum, these are not exactly easy to photograph so be sure to check out her website to see what these are really supposed to look like.

More Dining Room Art

While waiting for the paint to dry during the Labor Day project, I took a bike ride downtown to Art in the Pearl, where I had found the "Imagined Forest" piece the prior year. From what I was told, there are 900 applicants to this show and only 90 are chosen, so you can imagine there is some pretty darn good stuff.

One particular artist caught my eye, not because her media was presented on metal and I like shiny things, but because one of her pictures was of trees, similar to the "Imagined Forest" that I just purchased. It turns out she is good friends with the artist of "Imagined Forest", Jim Brown. Not only that, her and her husband were at the University of Kansas the same time I was. And to think I never ran into her in the drab engineering hall...

So here it is. There is no title, but it's of a monastary in New Orleans. I think it compliments the "Fiddler's Light" pretty well, which hangs at the opposite wall in the dining room.

The picture is actually a photo transferred to a polaroid, then split off with heat and attached to a sheet of aluminum, that is raised off of another sheet of aluminum. I liked that extra dimension that gives, so when I hung it, I raised the picture off of the wall, giving it yet another layer. The darker border around the picture is the same aluminum sheet except that it's sandblasted. What's really weird is that the border matches exactly the color of the dining room wall. Though the picture is small for the large wall, I like it for now but I'm thinking this picture would also look great in the upstairs bathroom, with the shiny metal against the dark aubergine walls.

The artist is Chris Dahlquist. She has a lot of other great stuff so check out her website.

New Chandelier

The new chandelier from Hubbardton Forge in Vermont arrived yesterday. Based on the comments from my mom, dynochick and one Ted Morgan, the result is a simple cast iron 8-light chandelier. This does it for the dining room remodel for now. There's nothing more and it feels great!

Fiddler On The Wall

It's a pretty sure sign that the dining room is close to completion when I start hanging pictures on the wall. But it's actually not quite complete. I have been searching high and low for a chandelier for the last week and haven't quite got there.



I picked up the Fiddler's Light yesterday after work from the neighborhood framer and hung it within 10 minutes of stepping inside. Then rehung it, and rehung it again.

Window and Door Blinds

Several years ago, I came across Hunter Douglas honeycomb blinds through my friend Chris Berg. I remember how excited he was and he went on and on (which Chris sometimes does) about how great they were. Chris has good taste, so that sold me. Ever since, I've used them whenever I need window coverage. Some of the perks are that when retracted, they hardly take up any space so all the more light can enter. They also have a "top-down" feature (shown below) and has a good insulation factor with the honeycomb design.

Chairs For The Table

For part of my weekend, I was able to obtain the chairs for the dining room. They're nothing fancy since I've already gone a bit over the top on the table, but I'm surprised how well I like them. I didn't want to go with a wood look since I already have the doug fir table on the doug fir floors. So, I opted for the black painted wood chairs. The table has plenty of black markings from what I believe is oxidation, and the black chairs really bring that out more in the table, as well and match up with the woodstove. All in all, it exceeds my expectiations of how well it all looks together.

Dining Room Painted

Last weekend I painted the den walls, the panel wainscoting in the dining room, the den ceiling and finally the dining room walls. It was a long arduous weekend but I had to act on the motivation the newly refinished floors gave me.

Here's the dining room so far:

The color is called "Tankard" and is more of a brownish-gray, in case it appears different on your monitor. It's a Miller Paint color, but I had them mix it in Benjamin Moore. I selected the color on a whim, and I'm surprised how much I like it.

Floor Grilles

I had posted something before regarding the new floor vent, but just had to show the finished product with the new paint job against the newly refinished floor. Here is the cold air return at the opposite side of the dining room. It's cast iron from Reggio Registers.

Fiddler's Light

A few years ago, I came across this photograph and instantly loved it. I love the beam of light, the two gents laughing in the back, and the irish pub feel with the abandoned glasses on the piano. When I decided to take on the dining room remodel, this photograph came to mind that it would need to go on one of the walls.

While I was getting my floors refinished, I needed to be out of the house. Since it was spanning over a weekend, I took advantage of some time off and a good plane fare to New York City to explore the streets, subway, and feel the beat of that great city. I had been in contact with the photographer of "Fiddler's Light", Jill Freedman and was proceeding with the order and 'ship to' address when it occured to me, that with her New Yorker accent, she was probably IN New York. Duh. That's when I bagged the shipping idea and met with her. She's a wonderfully fun person with a great wit to her and very kind. If you get a chance, check out her photo website. Jill's got some fantastic photos.

Floor Refinish In Dining Room

This last weekend and part of the week before, the dining room had a big jump in progress. I had the floors refinished by David of Boardwalk Floors. He did a great job and I highly recommend him.

See for yourself.

Before:

And after:

Exterior Painting Complete

With the dry weather this past weekend, I was able to complete the exterior painting for the dining room section. I had it primed and caulked to protect from the weather shortly after the door was installed, but somehow, someway, I wasn't able to finish the actual painting part of it. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I dread painting. I better get over that dread because I've got a lot of interior painting ahead of me.

Here's the door view from before

And the after....

Chimney Base Cover

It's frightning to think that my 20' high brick chimney is supported by this wood frame work, but it must be doing the job correctly, since it's supported it for over a hundred years.


One of the last details is figuring out how to cover this. I can't use drywall or any other combusible material, so I decided to use leftover tin ceiling material, particularly the filler since it's a simple design pattern that shouldn't be too distracting.

Here it is after being primed and installed. Hopefully it won't look as stiff as is it does in this picture after I get it painted. Incidently, just today I obtained several paint samples to decide on the final paint color for the dining room.

First Coat of White Paint

This is definately a delayed post since the first coat of white paint was put on the panel wainscoting well over a week ago but I figured I better keep the blog moving along. I'm just going to paint one coat for the time being until the floors are redone.

The door in the middle of the room is from a purchase awhile ago and it's getting it's share of paint. I'm using Behr, the Home Depot brand mainly because I had left overs, and that's what I started painting the trim with back in 1998. I actually like Behr because it's nice and thick, but I have a feeling I'll still need to apply 3 coats.

Priming the Panel Wainscoting

This past week I have been priming and caulking the panel wainscoting in the dining room. It's not much to post, but there has been progress. I'm taking my time since I have a few weeks before the floors are going to be refinished, but I know it'll be here before I know it.

So here's the first few stages of the priming:

I even primed my dog, Scully. Actually, she just sat on a drop cloth.

Making Feet

From my earlier post, I mentioned that I am designing the feet for my table that I'm having made out of reclaimed timber. To make it easier on everyone involved in the table building, I thought I'd create a template of the foot.

I drew up the idea on AutoCAD of what I wanted then printed it on 1 to 1 scale. Hopefully, my fellow coworkers who may be reading this blog won't report me to the appropriate corporate authorities for using work related tools for fun house crafting projects. Anyway, I cut out the shape on paper, as shown here.I then traced the outline of the shape of the table's feet from the paper to 1/4" plywood, which came as support in the shipment of the tin ceiling panels.
Putting my $20 jigsaw to use.
And the final template....
I actually have to modify this template (or redo it) a bit to make it work with the reclaimed timber that is available, which is just decreasing the height by 1/4". Since the table top is so heavy, Dennis (the table maker) also felt making it a few inches wider would be a smart thing.

The Table Top

On Saturday I met with Dennis at Brave New Wood to discuss the 'new' dining room table design and to take a look at the top for the table which was completed recently. I am having a dining room table custom made out of reclaimed timber, which is old growth douglas fir probably from some old building in Portland. My intent is to get a thick sturdy table that has a 100 year old feel, but without having to find exactly what I'm looking for in an antique store.

I really like what I see so far. There is plenty of character with the knot holes and bolt holes, etc. It will be 'roughed' up slightly, as well as oiled so it will lose that slightly butcher block look.

The next step is to design the feet for this massive top, which is really heavy. I worked with Dennis on ideas to "engineer" a base, as it will definately need it. He's a great guy to work with and I highly recommend him.

Oak Tree Tile Trim Complete

The oak tree tile trim pieces finally were ready last Monday and came out surpisingly okay, so this past week has been spent installing them. I just got done grouting them last night, so a little bit of clean up is needed. Other than that, I'd say another chunk of the dining room remodel is complete.

It wasn't a cut and dry install as the surface I was working on wasn't exactly level. In the picture below, it shows how the cap would have looked if I just used 1/4" spacers under each piece. This was fairly hideous, obviously, so I ended up using all different thickness of spacers to get it all level.

The Dining Room Table - Embryonic Stage

I've been working on this dining room remodel for a year and a half now, though 6 months of it has been the oak tree tile mural, and today was the first day to meet the table. My intention is to obtain a table that is at least 100 years old, or at least seems like it. I hate shopping and the thought of wandering from antique store to antique store to find some thicked top rustic table seemed more of a chore that hanging drywall, or even painting. Besides, who knows how over priced that ideal table would have been.

Then I had an idea! (yeah, I get those from time to time)... a custom built table from reclaimed old growth Douglas Fir timber.

I came across Brave New Wood through the Architectural Heritage Center in Portland, came up with quick design, and finally met him today where he had sanded one of the boards that will become the tabletop.

It's going to be a trestle type table, like the table I ate dinner at as a kid. Here's a CAD sketch of it, though it's probably going to change slightly for ease of manufacturing:

White Tin Ceiling

This past week I have been priming and painting the tin ceiling, removing it from it's shiny status. From what I understand, the tin ceiling concept was utilized as an economical way of recreating the fancy plaster work found in the more upscale homes. With that, it makes sense to me to have it painted white.

This project would have been completed a day earlier had I used actual PAINT and not primer to do the final touch ups. Label reading prior to opening is so understated.