Cabinet Hardware

The drawer pulls finally arrived which means the drawers don't have to be opened by pieces of tape anymore.

I copied the drawer pull from the antique table that my mother left for me so I have some consistency.

An opportunity to include Scully in the blog. 

Butcher Block Table

I was originally going to have a custom made butcher block table built to a specific size with an integral knife block and separate cutting board and all that jazz but it turned out to be way too expensive. I ended up getting this online for about half the price of the several bids I got. It's a bit smaller than I'd like but it's great to have.

Scully giving me that look. She's either waiting to go to the park or eat.

Kitchen Ductwork

With the pantry door installed and the drywall next on the list, it was time to get heat to the kitchen. Heat will help the drywall guy in faster drying times with the drywall finish. There's not a whole to running ductwork but I still felt like a hack. Fortunately (and surprisingly), no blood was shed in dealing with the shards of metal. Previous ductwork projects sent me scrambling to the band aid department.

I buy my goods at Vinje & Son. Nice folks but spendy. They are also 2 blocks from me which is kind of handy. I had them fabricate 3 boxes to connect the round duct to so it speeds up the installation and it's all custom made. I actually screwed up and forgot about the extra reinforcement I did in the bathroom floor so I ended up "rebuilding" the box as shown here.

Scully. Spying on me:

All done. Shiny duct work.

Snow!

For about a week, Portland got it's share of the winter blast that the rest of the country went through. Though it's a bit of a pain, looking back it was a quite fun. I spent more time on Mt Tabor than ever and even got to snowboard down the east and west face, not to mention the roads! It's always best when it's in your backyard.

Scully got her share of exercise too. Here she is, trudging through the 2 foot drifts. Check out the video of her playing with her neighbor Sophie.

Of course snow is not all fun and games and being on a corner lot, my arms got a bit of a workout. I don't even own a snow shovel.

The West Fence

Having a somewhat decent garden in front, with a crazy chocolate labrador retriever that likes to tear it up from time to time with Sophie from across the street, I thought this would be a good opportunity to separate the back from the front. I had the east part of the yard taken care of quite a while ago. This is the west side of the yard

Setting of the posts...

Scully giving an expression of concern realizing upon completion that she won't able to utilize the ENTIRE yard....

This type of fence is so easy to build. I think I got this done in 2 hours.

And the final product, all painted to match the house trim.

Antique Clock

As I mentioned before in an earlier post, I travelled to St. Louis where my family is based. My mom had gotten this clock when I was just a little kid from an auction, and wanted to pass it along to me. She believes it's from 1843 and made of walnut. I think it looks great in the den. What's interesting is that I had been thinking about getting a clock for this room for some time, but never acted upon it. I even remember thinking as a little kid that this was a pretty cool looking clock. Now, I just need to get it to work.

It will go for about a minute or 2 then just loses it momentum. I'm sure I've winded up to it's max point too. Next stop...clock repair shop.

Wood Stackage

This rainy and cold afternoon in Portland was spent outside chopping wood to smaller more usable firewood for the woodstove. After being on the road from St. Louis to Portland for 4 days of driving, it felt great to get out and get some exercise. As I write, it's burning away. Well, sort of. It's a little wet.
Here's the remaining part of the half cord of wood that I split with my neighbor:
And here's Scully with her "cousin" Dooley, just moments before she had to spend the next several days on the road. She did great and was quite the trooper.

Leak From The Sink

On Saturday morning I woke to a fairly large puddle in the downstairs bathroom. Such a drag. Fortunately, I didn't have any solid plans for the day so I was able to tackle the problem quickly. Here is the culprit - the connection point from the galvanized pipe to the copper.

Why they chose to use a 6" galv extension instead of extending the copper, or using longer flex lines to the sink is beyond me. Perhaps they liked the rusty water flavor it provided when not used for several days?

I have little experience with plumbing, so I gathered as much info on my situation on paper and headed for, not Home Depot, but a local plumbing store, George Morlan. They immediately had a much better solution than I had in mind and I was out, back home, hacking off the valve and galv pipe right at the copper line.

All I needed to do was install the valve right at the copper line, using compression fittings so I didn't need to solder. Then I ran the flexible pipe from the valve to the sink and that was it.

After Inspector Scully approved my work, the hideous sink-cabinet was back in place and I was done!

Den Revision

Lately, the focus of the blog has been on the dining room remodel. In fact, that's actually the reason for creating the blog - a means of relaying the remodel accomplishments to my ever so curious family in St. Louis. But since the dining room is just about done (chandelier arrives in a few weeks), and I want to keep this blog alive, here's some work that has been going on in the den, or the front room.

Before, the den had tan colored walls, and with the light carpet, the white canvas uphosltered furniture made the room fairly bland. I decided to give the room a little more kick and painted the walls a greyish-blue, as well as the ceiling a light yellow. I am very happy with how the wall color goes with the new floors. That blank wall in the picture below will soon be filled in with some art that I'm waiting for.

Oh yeah - and I also got a new TV. Since none of my friends come over anymore to watch games because I'm the only one with an outdated TV, I had jump on the HD wagon. Though I'm not a big TV watcher, I'm really liking it.

Here's what the den looked like before:

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.

Floor Refinish In Den

Here are some more before and after pictures from the floor refinishing, but this time of the den/front room/family room:



Last Wednesday after the floors had the first sanding, I was able to stop in and take a look. It was looking great with only a few small issues, the biggest being this stain which happens to be the first thing seen after walking in the front door. Fortunately, it sanded out the second time around and is hardly noticable now. It is believed that the stain is actually lamp oil due to how the color changed after the first coat.

Can you see the "hill" on the floor?

Jumbo Peoneas

Kaboom!

This is a great plant that was in the garden prior to me living here. Peoneas are fairly common in Portland and grow well (like most things in Oregon other than cactii). This particular one is unique and blooms much earlier than the more common peoneas and the flowers are HUGE.

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.

My Favorite Chair In The Whole Wide World

This last Friday, I had the day off and what a perfect day to not be in the office. I woke up earlier than I have in months, in anticipation of the near 80° weather and bright sunshine. Even after the hike up to Mt. Tabor, both Scully and I were well overheated. I can't speak for Scully but I already miss the rain.

I made full use of the day and at the end of it, got out the outdoor furniture for a fresh coat of oil. I never though I would enjoy this Adirondack chair as much as I have in the last few years I've had it, but the placement next to the waterfall, along with space to throw the ball for Scully makes it pretty difficult not to love it.

Check out the birds eye view:

Hiya Spring, Nice To See Ya Again

I particularly like this time of year not just because it gets warmer (duh) but also because it reminds me of when I got the keys to my house 12 years ago (March 8th, 1995 to be exact). In fact, I distinctly remember moving stuff with great excitement in the back of the house where the 2nd picture of daffodils was taken, and those same daffodils were blooming at the time.

This shot is of the daffodils in the front of the house. I'm digging the slightly out of focus house siding in the background.
Interestingly, I'm not sure Scully is liking the warmer weather. At the park, where she fetches the racquetball after I bash it into space with my stick, she tends to get too hot too quick. But that's kind of why I built the waterfall.

Here's a shot of the first clematis bloom of the year.

I think there'll be plenty more from the looks of those buds.