Thursday: Furniture and rugs (4/26/12)

We're having a hard time moving back in.  For one thing, it's an enormous relief to be able to just live in the whole house again.  Secondly, the furniture we had was all bought for previous houses (only the sectional sofa was bought for this house, but for a smaller living room, and the black one - that needs more discussion) so we clearly need to be staged.  So we just threw some stuff in.

We totally can't figure out how to make these two couches work together.  They're both obviously really just dog beds (can't sleep comfy without a pillow...) and the section Reuben's on here has been pretty trashed by him leaping off it to go bark at...  anything.

We put one of the Gabbeh runners in front of the hearth, and I think the color works pretty well with the concrete.

We bought this sofa before the space in the living room was well defined.  Got it at an art deco/vintage modern sale at the local community college.  I still totally love it, and it's crazy comfortable, but it was purchased rather prematurely.  We're having a hard time making it work with the other sofa.  And my grandparents' rug is one of my all time favorites.  Have to find a place for that.

This doesn't show the runner very well, but we put the other runner (they both used to be in the bedroom hallway) in the new hallway.  Don't know, but that might work.

And we got three barstools.  The third had a finish issue and is going to be refinished or replaced.  And check out that barrel cactus in the dining room!  Thanks, Irma!

Saturday: Finally back to the garden (4/21/12)

And our heads were somewhat cleared of fretting every day about house details, and we realized, "OH!  We have a garden in the back yard!"

I'll see if I can circle around, somewhat in order.  With carefully placed yellow decor (dandelions), we see the Weeping Norway Spruce (?), and the now-huge table-top pine that Jack's parents so graciously bought for us.  :)

Underneath the pine we have some fuzzy pulsatillas...

Then the wisteria bonsai, which has seen better days.

Itty-bitty irises...

A really huge arisaema...

A primula and epimedium (checked Wikipedia to make sure I spelled that right and came up with this:  ..."also known as Rowdy Lamb Herb, Barrenwort, Bishop's Hat, Fairy Wings, Horny Goat Weed, or Yin Yang Huo")

A cypripedium...

And another...

Orchids (?) and a primula...

A funky flower I can't name...  (although I'm kind of wishing I could call everything a Horny Goat Weed...)

Delphinium...

Polygonatum...  (and an ancient hellebore)

Primulas...  (which are apparently making a certain nearly-naked woman very sad)

A bog flower I can't name....   /moraea?/

Other itty-bitty irises...

A yellow spiky thingy...

And a white iris.  *phew*

Monday: Chimney proportions (4/16/12)

We came to the revelation quite a while ago that the chimney didn't match the proportions that were intended in the original drawings.  The width matched, but it appears the builder read this to mean that he should match the original chimney height, which is understandable, but nowhere near the height indicated in the drawing.

The first photo shows the drawings from straight on and the actual photo adds perspective...  So all you can see from the other side of the street is the chimney damper.



When you go off to an angle, you can see a bit of the top... but this does match the original height of the chimney.

So the architect did some sketches and we're considering a chimney cap that will cover the clay flu and damper and get back the proportion that was originally intended.  A couple of guys came to try measuring out a prototype.  Should be interesting to see this come together...

Wednesday: Renovation lessons learned (3/21/12)

OK.  Jack was right.  Putting things in see-through bins was an excellent idea.  If we really wanted to go looking for something, we could find it.

Jack was wrong.  The plastic bins didn't keep the mice out.  They actually only got into one bin - the one with the semisweet chocolate.  And that's the only thing they ate.  I guess the semisweet chocolate slowed that guy down enough for the trap to get him...

And it was really a bummer having to throw away almost every single pantry food item because they had been packed away for 14 months.

Friday: Transformers... (3/2/12)

On, no!  Reuben has sprouted human arms!!  Look, he's shrieking too!  Flee for the hills!! 

Friday: A linear gas burner (3/2/12)

They just installed the chimney damper on the top of the chimney flu (must get a photo but it's raining right now).  I'm not sure I'm entirely sold on the visibility of the handle.  We may need to work on this.

The burner is supposed to eventually be covered with a brushed stainless steel plate with a slot down the middle for the flame to peek through.  So this places the shiny silver damper handle directly in the center of the black opening, directly over the flame.  Thinking this could use some improvement...

Holy incendiary agent, Batman - it works!  (We're still trying to figure out if this is really working out the way we wanted it to...)

Thursday: The kitchen goes full-on! (3/1/12)

We finally pulled all the protective film off the cabinets, got the dishwasher running and re-fully-installed (the top came immediately unglued from the counter piece, so the whole thing would rock forward when you opened the door), and started moving our stuff back into the kitchen.

And the old front hallway where we have the second sink:

We also decided that we should bite the bullet and have the old restaurant sink moved to its most efficient location in the pantry, which meant moving the hood as well.

This means the plumbing underneath the sink doesn't need to travel 5 feet, which is good.  And the room just makes more sense this way.  It's not plumbed yet, but I think it'll be great.