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 Since none of my friends come over anymore to watch games because I'm the only one with an outdated TV, I had jump on the HD wagon.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:

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.

The Little Lilies

As I was waiting for the floor refinisher a few Wednesday morning's ago, I had a chance to see and capture the miniature lilies blooming in the front garden. Of course, I must take the classic shot with the house in the unfocused background. After all, it IS a house blog.

The Dining Room Table - Complete

The reason why I love my house as much as I do is because of all the character it has: the many corners, the funky roof lines from with inside. When it came to obtaining a table for the newly remodeled dining room, I wanted something with equal character. Last night I picked up the table that I had Dennis at Brave New Wood build out of reclaimed timbers. I don't think this table could have any more character, and it really looks like it's 100 years old - just the way I wanted it. I also really like how the feet turned out. All that cutting and template making was worth it.


Now I just need to get a chandelier and some chairs and the dining room's a wrap.

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 Entry Room

In the front door entry section of the house, there is an oak parquet floor. This turned out great with the floor refinish because the parquet is made up of various species of oak and shows different colors. Of course, you can't really see it in the after photo, so you'll just have to take my word.

Floor Refinish In Office

In continuing the floor 'before and after' series, the office floor probably saw the most effort in the refinishing of the floors. This is because half of this room didn't exist when the house was first built so there was a completely different floor on the north side that had to be completely removed. To get the new boards to match, reclaimed floor boards from another building in town were needed, since old growth has a much different look than new growth Douglas Fir.

David at Boardwalk Floors explained that he had to use several thicknesses of plywood below in order to shim to get the floor level. My neighbor also explained that David was there before she left in the morning, and worked well into the evening. I highly recommend him, if you're in Portland.

This is a little closet in the office:


Yesterday, I came across this post, which made my day.

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?

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....

Gettin' the Garden Mo

This past week I took full advantage of the good spring weather and got my garden, landscaping, and yard off to a good start. Check it, yo:

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.

Country Cat

Ever since the opening of Bipartisan, the local coffee place in the little business district just 2 blocks from my house, there seems to have been a buzz about all the new stores and restaurants opening up. One restaurant that has particularly made a big buzz with lots of interesting rumors is the "Country Cat". It's taken them quite awhile to convert the old Dickson drugstore into the restaurant, and I began to wonder if it really was going to materialize. However, within the last few weeks it's been budding out as if it was just waiting for spring. Suddenly, a new brick wall facade appeared, a new sidewalk awning, new mosaic, and the most exciting- a big new sign. Last Friday, I noticed several people standing outside and as I worked in the yard, there seemed to be a lot more people walking by my corner. This was an exciting evening. The Montavilla Business District has come a LONG way in the 12 years that I've lived here.

I ate there tonight and was most impressed with the service, decor, and a most tasty pork chop. They have been surprised by the amount of business they've been getting within the last week. I hope it keeps up.

Here are some related articles:

Portland Food and Drink
Portland Mercury
Portland Food
A Neighbor's Blog

Willamette Week

Portland Food and Drink

Oregon Wine Press (thanks, Hilary!)

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.

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.

Two Dogwoods

For the past five years or so, I've been wanting to add something to my planting strip that is a little more interesting than grass. This year I finally made it happen. On Sunday I headed to the local Seven Dees nursery and purchased a couple of dogwoods. The first one (below) is a tri-colored with white flowers, and I've been told this tree looks most dramatic in the fall. The second one is the typical pink dogwood is the more common variety.

There's something very fufilling about planting a tree. I think I figured it out - the fact that the tree will be there 50+ years after you place it in the ground. However, after I told a few people about the new plantings, they asked if I got a permit. I didn't realize a permit was needed so I now need to look into it. I know there is a suggested list for tree plantings and since the dogwoods won't grow more than 20' tall, I should be okay.