long time, no post

where did the month of october go? let's see... robby is now, Robby Blyth, LEED AP (go robby! LEED certified), i attended 4 weddings (3 to photograph, 1 to drink all the champagne), and well, then there was that election. it was a crazy month. 

but we're back, and we're busy. we've made several small improvements since the last post. photos below to tell you what...

here is the front of the house last saturday... robby had done some repair work to the front where some of the old wood siding was rotten. the painters came that day and put their first coat of peel bond on... it is tinted the color the paint will be so we can get an idea of if we'll like the color or not...

and here it is with the peel bond. it rained here yesterday morning so they couldn't come prime it all. but it already looks better. the foundation will be a dark charcoal gray. white trim. i can't wait to get it finished!

the metal fabricator came on friday and installed the gutters on the back of the house... the rain collection box is bigger than i thought it would be, but necessary for the amount of rain coming off the house at that point. 

close up of the gutters...

here you can also see the big old aqua-hut is gone.... the plumbers installed the new Renai tankless water heater this week... it is much more energy efficient so it should save us some money. and it looks A LOT better!

inside we're making progress, too. robby is finishing up the windows in the kitchen, instead of standard trim detail we decided to go back and let the sheetrock die into the glass giving a cleaner look. robby is so handy... he can do it all. 

a close up of the work on the windows... just the first coat. still needs sanding and more mud...

i love the close proximity of the work in the kitchen to the morning coffee... just a little sheetrock in the coffee. 

we also got the can lights over the bar installed. i LOVE them. 

and robby installed the pendant over the kitchen sink. we like it a lot, too... and once we get a 40W bulb for it, it will be even better. 

and this weekend was landscape palooza... we bought some new plants at the farmer's market and are making new beds here and there to make the backyard look a little better. 

gutters on the other side of the house and a new bed up against the house for hydrangeas... my favorite. 

4 white camellias that will one day get big and provide a little barrier between us and the neighbors. 

here's how close we are to the neighbor...

and robby made and installed doors on the shed... very handy and now a secure place to store the tools. 

and one last little fun shot... looking out over our neighbor's yard it's hard to tell what year this is.... sort of a timeless little neighborhood we're in. we're loving our first fall in our house. 

 

looks like progress

my dad came down yesterday and got busy the minute he arrived. he started and finished priming all the new siding! it looks so good... and it's only primer! it has made us very excited to realize how great it will look when it's all done. hopefully just a couple more weeks to the outside looking a little more like we want it... here are the updates from yesterday and today.

first a fun random pic i took... i love all the chaos of materials and stuff everywhere... 

yesterday afternoon i came by the house to leave a key for dad and the siding had miraculously been finished! 

then when i came home a few hours later priming had already begun...

my dad...

and today.... look how great it looks! i thought i was sad to see the natural wood get covered up, but it looks so much better now. more unified and modern, for whatever reason. 

i am very proud of robby's hard work on the siding. in this picture you can see how well he matched up the new siding to the old. it lines up all the way around... he knows every detail matters.

i really love it... it looks so good. and it looks so big in this photo... i swear it's not that big!

i can't wait to get the whole thing painted! next week we've got guys coming in to restore the old wood siding (light pressure wash + scrape old paint off) then prime it. painting might take a little longer, but we'll get there soon. then maybe we can start the bathroom before ringing in 2009... 

thanks for your help, dad!!

hello, 1938

so i came home today from charlotte to find this:

no- the house did not catch on fire while i was away (thank goodness)... but we did get some help out here to rip off all the old aluminum siding. what was revealed is, quite honestly, a little scary to me. it is the original wood siding of the house. we were so thankful to find it under the aluminum, and i knew it would look like this, but it is just a little overwhelming to see it. and to see how much work it is going to take to get it looking good.

we uncovered some nice surprises, like tongue and groove wood in the porch ceiling...

 and some not so good things, like mold and mildew around the door and some windows... 

robby is having to repair the shoddy work of the cheap window installation  done earlier this year by the previous owner...

a little residue left near the roof from the fire here many years ago...

and my favorite uncovering: the marks left by the old house numbers and mail box. 

some of the wood is in great condition, like this area...

and other areas have a serious "crackle finish" to them... for those of you out there that love the shabby chic look, this is how nature really makes things age. i guess the house at one point was painted red.

there are some weird crackle patterns... tree rings?

so, we hope to get it power washed and scraped and painted very soon. more photos to come as that progresses. 

LABOR day

check out the rest of the weekend progress... all because robby is a rock star. sookie sookie it's feeling like home.

siding: (i did cut 17 of those long pieces... a small, but worthy contribution)

cool picture i snagged of robby in action... love the shadow of the hammer.

LOVE september. it has been my favorite month for a very long time. this blue sky and slightly crisper day reminded me why. 

and (ahh ahhh ahhh ahh ahh ahhhhhhh - angels singing) the CLOSET!!! i admittedly have a shopping problem and should get rid of some of these clothes, but i seriously love having a place to put all of them. in one place. at one time. FABULOUS.

there will be another long break in work as we are collectively gone for the next 4 weekends in a row... fun places to go like boston and boone and a cancer benefit in charlotte, but it's going to be hard to not have weekends to work. this weekend should tide us over for a little while, though...

kitchen update

we are running at 95% in the kitchen.... besides some trim work and toe kicks, a little more organizing, and the cabinet hardware, the kitchen is unpacked and fully assembled. robby hung the upper cabinets this week and worked on the finish panels for the cabinets. so last night we worked hard to get the boxes unpacked... finally. 

here are a few pics from this morning... 

the pot rack from IKEA that fits the space perfectly (literally within 1/4"). it is taking some getting used to for me to see all the cookware out, but i think i will like the function of it.

we're hanging siding today and tomorrow trying to get it finished this weekend. we'll see...

we are alive!

we have just been busy with other things... like a quick vacation! sorry for no posts in ages, but we really haven't gotten a lot done lately. 

we do have a kitchen at 75% function... the range is in place but still not working, and we still have no upper cabinets for the kitchen. we're going to IKEA to this weekend to remedy that. we also started working on the siding. we managed to get one small side finished last weekend. remember the story about "how do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time"... here are the newest little bites we've taken. 

the other side of the kitchen not previously shown... the range is beautiful sitting there. i just can't wait for it to work! (we need a gas line... it's a sore subject at our house)

the rest of the bar cabinets filled in... still no hardware. 

and the beginning of the siding. robby finished that entire side by himself from this point... my computer crashed that evening (blue screen of death) so i never made it back outside to help. he is really good at working alone!

the finished result, for the most part. still some trim work to do to this side. and obviously we need to prime it soon. 

for now, that's it. 

i know you're jealous of my hardware...

...especially if you like blue tape.

progress occurred today and i am here to show it. we have a kitchen sink! (never underestimate the need for a kitchen sink. i am so happy to have one again.) the dishwasher is in and works... and we have cold filtered water dispensed from the fridge now... a day i have long been waiting for. my dependence on fossil fuels in the form of plastic water bottles has just decreased significantly. for those of you who know me well, this is BIG.

anyway... what you're here for: photos. (see the blue tape? i learned this trick from a very smart lady.)



the faucet...we lost our first faucet. (how do you lose a faucet?) home depot saved us, though. who knew they carried cool hansgrohe faucets for a decent price? let's hope it holds up.


the dishwasher. the lights match the cabinet hardware.




and one more...