WOW!! WE'RE IN . . . AND IT'S COZY.

I guess that can be taken two ways.  One ... it's just small and the other is ... it's just cozy.  :)  While it is a lot smaller than what we have been use to, I have to say that, overall, I'm not missing all the extra space (and the extra cleaning and maintaining).  At 1000 square feet it seems to fit most all of our needs.  My studio space could be a little bigger but then, in all honesty, no matter how big my studio was, it wouldn't be big enough!  :)  Most people coming in for the first time are surprised at how big the space does feel.  The high ceilings and open concept seem to have done their jobs.  I think we do have a few friends who have been in our past homes and are maybe not quite as enamored as we are, but ...

I would have been back sooner but I needed to get serious about my own work and get my studio organized (somewhat) so I could meet a big deadline that I had coming up.  That deadline is now behind me so I can now think about a few other things.  :)  Since a LOT has been accomplished in the last two and a half months I'm not even sure where to start. Let's see. How about the main Bathroom ...  

We'll start with the bad news.  If you remember, we used Pennies for the shower floor.  Well, when done laying all the pennies I went to the store and SPECIFICALLY told the Hardware 'EXPERT' what I was doing and that I needed a waterproof sealer to put over the pennies.  Long story short ... he sold me the wrong product.  What do I know?!  Within a week after installation the whole floor started turning white.  The finish he sold me was NOT waterproof.   Below is Glen having to scrape off the whole finish . . .

                         

You can see the design from the pennies embedded into the scraped off finish below ...  :(

                           

The shower now has a Resin finish over the pennies which is what should have been on there in the first place.  Major work.  Major aggravation.  Major want to pop someone in the nose.  

                                            

You can see the old, small barn door we cleaned, varnished and used between our sinks and the toilet.  It's fun. It just adds that bit of whimsy you so often look for.  

                                              

We opted for what are called 'Farm Sinks' for our bathroom.  Part of the bowl sits below the sink and the other half rests on the counter.  I had a friend ask if this was to give us more room under the sink in the cabinet.  The answer is no as these are nice sized sinks so nothing is gained under the counter.  I was going for 'the look.'  :)

                         

Toilet in the above photo is just to the left of this door.  This is one of our New Barn Doors.  We left all of our Pine the Natural color and just sealed with a clear varnish.  Over time it will yellow with age.  Just behind this painting is the wall for the Shower.

If you remember from a previous post we attached a reclaimed barn door to the wall for our headboard.  We sold our actual bedroom set before we left Wenatchee.  It was a Craftsman Style set but we knew we were going to want to do something a bit more rustic here.  As I type, my son John is outside working on a footboard for the bed ... also out of a reclaimed door.  I'm anxious to see it completed.  :) 

Glens side of the bed.  :)  Note the old rope handlle on the left used to close the door when it was still being used.  

This is my side.  The round paintings on the right were a Baby gift to my Mother when I was born.  They are prints by Bessie Pease Gutman for those of you that are into Antiques. Hmmm... does that make me an Antique too?  :/ 

These are the doors to our closet ... also a reclaimed door which we cut down the middle.  I love how these came out when I varnished them.  They swing back and forth like the old Saloon doors.  A nice plus when you have your hands full.  

Another one of our Barn doors.  This one goes from our Bedroom into the Bathroom.  Down in the left corner is the edge of a large Pine Dresser we have in our bedroom.  

Voila!! Guess what just got done?!  Our Footboard!

I love it!  I think it finishes the Bed off nicely. 

This is the other side of the door from the Bathroom into the back Hallway.  Note the Special K.  When the door is closed you have full access into a Pantry that is built into the wall between the studs.  When open, (as in photo), it covers 3/4 of the Pantry.  It's right around the corner from the Kitchen so very accessible.  Small means utilizing all available (and sometimes, not so available) space! 

On the very left of the photo above you can see some Trim.  That is the doorway to the 'Library' aka the second bathroom.   We've always had a guestroom and/or hallway in which to display older Family photos and tchotchkes.  Now our Guestroom is our 'RV' so no real place for some of these favorite items in there.  So, I eleceted to utilize some of the space in this bathroom.  I mean, what better place to show off your favorites then where you have a captive audience?!  :)

The Wooden boxes on the Wall we found in the Attic of the Garage that was on this property when we bought it.  The Gentlemean in the photo is Great Uncle Charlie (on Glens side).  The story is he was in a card game, there was gun play, and he wound up running across the Border into Canada for some silly reason.  :/  When you look at the photo full on you can see where Glen got his looks. ESPECIALLY the eyes!

We originally had a White Pedestal sink that was suppose to go in this Bathroom but with all the delays and drama for the first 6 months the sink wound up getting cracked somehow while in storage.  We didn't realize it until we went to install it.  Glen never liked the idea of the Pedestal Sink in there to begin with - he thought it should be a deep sink.  (See where I'm going with this?  The sink just 'happened' to get cracked)  And, as luck would have it, Bob just 'happened' to have this Stainless Steel sink he could put in instead.  So, that's what he did, and he built the Cabinet surround while at it.  He really did a nice job and I guess I have to admit, it probably is a lot more practical than the Pedestal sink in there.  I now have a place to wash my Paint brushes and Glen has a decent sink to use for whatever when he comes in from working outside.  Note the Stainless Steel Towel Bar.  I'll tell you more about that later.

                                        

This is the only door (besides the closet) that is not Barn door Style.  There is no room to the left at all and just that short wall that you can see on the right side.  No place for a barn door track.  This is a Bi-fold that Glen built to fit the space.

Has it ever happened that you have an idea and then someone comes along, takes that idea, runs with it, and then does a better job than you did?!  Well, Gina and Bob took the penny idea, and re-did the steps going up to the second floor in their home and I am so envious.  (Of course, they did learn something from our mistakes!  :)   There was carpeting that desperately needed to be replaced so off it came.  Bob had to put all new kick-plates in and new stair treads.  Gina did all the kick-plates with pennies and then they stained the stair treads to match the bannisters.  Below is the fnished product.  I thought it turned out great!  It certainly lightens the stairwell.  One more set of stairs going down to the lower level to go!

I'm going to end for today.  I have photos for the rest of the house but this will never get out if I try and fit it all in tonight.  I will try and get to the rest sometime within this coming week.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

CHARLEEN

WELL ... ITS BEEN A MONTH.

AND ... A LOT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED!

Walls are all up, painted, the trim is done, the floors are stained  AND SWEPT as per instructions from the Inspector. (Is that a little power trip or what?!) That all had to be done before the Plumbing/Gas Inspector would come back for his last inspection when he would (hopefully) unlock our gas meter so we could get some real heat in the house.  

We passed.  Well, sort of.  He unlocked the meter but wants two of the 4 sink traps replaced.  Because of their positioning under cabinets, the fella's used two accordion style traps.   Evidently they are not legal in Idaho.  They sell them in Idaho but they are not legal in Idaho.  ??  How does that work?  Anyway, he said to replace them, take a photo and text it to him.  Then we are done.  Hallelujah! 

Kitchen sink is in the island.  You can see some finished/painted walls behind it.  I LOVE the sink and the faucet!  

This is our bedroom (walls finished but no trim on the windows yet) and that's Glen and Ernie attaching an old Barn door to the wall for our Headboard.  (Many coats of varnish later!) You can't see it in the photo but there is an old brass plate that says 'Private'  right in the middle behind Ernie ~ it was on the door when we rescued it :)   It has great shades of old barn red, brown, black and even some white paint on it.  There's even an old rope handle. Unfortunately, I just wasn't able to capture it in the photo.

Electricians have been back and installed 'most' of the lights.  These two are over the island. 

These three are over the kitchen stove and counter area.  

Installing Medicine cabinets in the main bathroom.  Lights are up.

Done!

Next, the cabinets.  We went with Hickory for both this bathroom and the kitchen.

Yes.  That is pennies.  This is the floor for the shower.  I did the penny work  (and, in case you are wondering ... never again!)

When Glen suggested we do the whole bathroom floor that way I 'politely' told him he was welcome to go ahead anytime and do it.  You will soon see how far that idea went!!  :)  I covered the whole thing with about 6 coats of an oil based polyurethane floor varnish, and no, it is not slippery.

  

The rest of the shower finished.  Those are galvanized steel panels that have been made into a shower surround.  (Thus, the industrial part of Rustic Industrial.)  :)  Bob did the majority of the work on this and he did a great job.

Cabinet above microwave is in.

We spray stained the concrete floor.  We used two coats of a white-wash stain, two coats of a midnight slate gray and 3 coats of a high gloss varnish (which turned out to be not really high gloss).  They suggest you use a weed sprayer to do it, which we did.  That takes some practice   :/  We practiced in our closet.  We won't be giving tours of the closet.

A close-up of the floor.

For the most part, the floor actually turned out great.  Well, lets say it has its own personality.  But when you realize we had no idea what we were doing when we started the project it's not too shabby.  The floor catches everyone because they are not sure what it is when they first see it.  (PLEASE NOTE: no pennies :)

Bob and Ernie working on putting in the 'mudroom/coat rack' area.  If you go back and look at the photo of the kitchen sink, this is on the wall that you see just beyond the sink (with the rag stuffed in the electrical hole).  :/

This is our grandson Sean, taking a break and having lunch up in the small loft above our bedroom.  He has claimed this as 'his room' when he comes up and visits.  :)

These photos have been waiting for me to do something with them but I have been VERY busy packing, and now, unpacking..  Two weeks ago tomorrow we moved.into the house.  No, everything is not done, but it is livable.  As soon as I get the rest of the photos re-sized, etc. I will be doing another Blog and can show you the progress we have made just in the last several weeks.  

Unfinished or not, it feels great to finally be in the house!

See you soon!

LET'S ROCK AND ROLL !!

Well . . . Rock anyway.  :)  And we literally have tons of them! You might remember,  I mentioned that this area is called Boulder Canyon . . .

So . . . I thought, if you can't fight them, use them.  There are soooo many that I just figured I might as well make my own Riverbed which, when done, will 'flow' across the front of the house and all the way down one side.  This is the start of it here.  As late in the season as it is, I was lucky to be able to still get a few plants in so it didn't look completely naked.  Next Spring the plan is to get more plants and ground cover in.  Our Sidewalks, (below) are on the City's schedule to be replaced in the next year or so ...  :)

There is so much that has gone on this last month that I'm not sure where to start.  I really need to write more often so each Blog is not a book in itself.  :/  Reminder to self:  Procrastination ALWAYS catches up to you.

How's this for a Step ladder!  That's a 14' ladder.  I 'might' get up on it but I'd probably never get down! :/  The Electric is in!  A few trials and tribulations, (like not hearing before a weekend if the inspection passed the previous Tuesday, so we could move forward with the insulation. You are not allowed to cover ANY of the wiring before an o.k. on the inspection).  In the scheme of things though, that becomes minor compared to some of the other shenanigans we've had to deal with.  The electricians will be back to hang the lights and finish the rest off once the ceiling and walls are in.

That's my son, John, making some temporary steps for me to get up and down to the RV.  Could have really used them at the beginning of the season but we've learned, you take the help whenever you can get it! 

The Kitchen Island is in!  Sides to be finished with Beadboard ~ but, how do you like the Top?  That's the top from our 'Solid Oak' Dining room table.   (Don't cringe ... it turns out o.k.)  We actually have two tables, this one, and a Beautiful Round table made of Parawood. (Also called Rubberwood.  Parawood is from Southeast Asia and these trees are where latex and natural rubber come from :).  Both tables have had various uses in various rooms around our home.  Since we are downsizing we had to make the decision as to which one stayed.  We decided to keep the round table because, without its leaves, it takes up less space.  So, yup, decided to take the top from our Oak table and turn it into the top for the island.   My girlfriend and I found this table in an Antique store in Cashmere, Washington.  (They have the best Antique stores there.)  The tag said the table was Oak.  The top was Oak, the legs were Oak, and the underneath was Oak.  It was Oak.  It was Oak UNTIL we cut out the hole for the sink.  Then we found out that it was just a veneer over press-board on the top AND a veneer underneath.  Who would have thought there would be a veneer on the underside?  Well, it certainly made it look like it was solid Oak.  :/  Needless to say, we didn't feel nearly as guilty cutting in to our tabletop once we realized it wasn't the solid oak we thought it was!  But, it still looks pretty!  :)

Plumbing is in!

Gas Fireplace installed!  Gas Water heater installed!  

BUT THEN, YOU KNEW IT ALL WOULDN'T BE THAT EASY . . .  

The gas company came, dug up the street, ran gas to our house, patched up the street, put the gas meter in, and then they lock it until the State Inspector says all is o.k.   Meanwhile, the Heating Company came and installed our inside gas lines so we would be able to use our gas fireplace, gas hot water heater, gas stove, gas barbque, etc., etc.  Then they called for the Inspection so the meter could be unlocked.  

What we didn't know was that the State Gas Inspector was also the State Plumbing Inspector.

When I came a few days after the inspection was suppose to have taken place the meter was still locked.  AND, ... the plumbing (?) was Red Tagged.  Where did the plumbing guy come from??  I called the Heating Company who told me they didn't know why the meter was still locked ~ they passed inspection, and they didn't know anything about the Plumbing (even though they would have had to let this person in because they had the key.  How does that work?)  But, I was told they would check and call me back in  a few minutes.  No call back.  Called again.  No call back.  Its now after 5 on a Friday night.  I called their personal number (What can I say. . . it's that New York thing again  :/  )  Still no resolution though.  Would have to get back to me.  Glen calls the personal number the next day (See... he's learning!) and is now told that the State Heating Inspector is also the State Plumbing Inspector and, of course, while he was there inspecting the gas lines, he also inspected the Plumbing.

He didn't like the Plumbing.  His Red Tag comments were not very nice. :(  They led us to believe that we were going to have to tear up our concrete flooring and concrete patio and redo all the lines. All we could envision was money and time flying away laughing as they went.  Glen was not able to get a hold of him until Monday.  The weekend, to say the least, was complete Stress.  The phone conversation on Monday did not go much better.  (You know, some people should just not talk on the phone.  It is not their friend.  This person is one of them.)  He would be up Tuesday and go over everything in person.  Glen had to take that night off from work so he would be there in the a.m.  

Tuesday morning did not go as bad as expected.  Much better one on one.  No, we wouldn't have to tear up the concrete.  He could make us but he wasn't going to. : /  But, we would have to dig up across the whole backyard and partially down the driveway.  Forty-two inches deep  (the city of Mullan Water District only requires 36 inches ?)  There goes the two truckloads of gravel we paid to have hauled in so we wouldn't have all mud out there this winter :(  But, water line is now changed and comes in through the bathroom floor instead of the kitchen floor. A few other minor 'violations' on the inside, easily correctable are scheduled to be worked on next weekend.  What the heck, it's just time and money.  

 So . . . back comes Scott and his backhoe and the digging begins.

  

Of course it rained and everything turned to mud and required 3 changes of clothes for the day.

But, we got the 42" and that part passed inspection.

I did get a few more Boulders for the 'River' out of the deal though . . . 

(these can only be moved with a backhoe so not quite sure how this is going to work . . .  :/  )

  

Oh yes, the lock on the gas meter . . .   Seems that won't get unlocked until after ALL of the insulation is done, ALL of the sheetrock is up, and AT LEAST one coat of paint is on the walls.  Evidently the state doesn't allow the gas to be on while you are working on the place.  (No one we've talked to seems to have heard of that rule before . . .)  So the heat we thought we would have while we worked on the place is isn't going to exist. (29 degrees last night)  When we questioned the reasoning behind that we were just told to get an electric heater. :/  Now, call me silly, but I would think that a company that installs gas lines, gas furnaces, gas water heaters, gas fireplaces (need I go on?) in new and existing construction, would have known that.  And, call me even sillier, but I would have thought that they just might have mentioned that to us before we went to all the time and expense to install these items at this point in time when we probably won't be able to use them for several months.  Just thinkin' out-loud here mind you.

You know, even when it rains, water or otherwise, there is still a beauty to life that can't be ignored.

til next time . . .

Charleen

WHO WERE WE KIDDING . . . ?

Ourselves of course. 

At some point we thought we just might have our new house 'somewhat livable'  by the end of October.  Well, tomorrow, October will be saying Good Morning to us and we are not even close to where we had hoped to be. The antics of the Construction Company (and a few others) literally put us two months behind where we thought we would be by now.  I guess this isn't all that uncommon when building your own home and you have to rely on others for a major portion of the work.   I still find it sad though that when People give their word it is not quite what it used to be.

But  . . . first things things first!  As soon as the patio was in my 2 Blue Strawberry pots came out of the clutter in the yard and onto the patio.  A little sad looking right now but at least they have a home and will look lots better next Spring!

The electricians arrived 2 weeks ago and installed the electrical panel.  But . . . we are still on temporary power.  :/  That means all lights, tools, garage light, and the lights, etc. in the RV are all running off an extension cord (or two!).  Not what you would call an ideal situation.  Definitely no toaster and microwave at the same time!  Actually, it doesn't even take that at times to lose power.  We have these mystery power-outs in the RV, usually when it's dark, and then Glen has to make these treks across the yard over piles of rocks, lumber and mounds of dirt with just a flashlight to find that somehow the cord has worked itself loose from the temporary panel on the temporary pole . . .  Good news is that the electrician called today and said they will be there either tomorrow or Thursday.  Fingers are crossed.  We can't go any further with the walls until the wiring is done.   

Finally found a different Plumbing/Heating Co. who came (expediently) and gave us a bid to install the gas pipes for our Fireplace, Stove and Furnace (and water tank and BBQ . . . :) AND . . . as of yesterday all the pipes have been installed, Inspector came today, and now we are all ready to be hooked up.  One of my neighbors (Flossie, my 90 year old neighbor!)  called me and said that the Utility  Co. was there today tearing up the street and sidewalk :/ to run the natural gas to our house.  We are actually making real progress!

  

Interior walls are now all studded in. The lumber on the floor is in the kitchen.  Behind the orange chair is the bedroom  :)

That's our granddaughter Katie taking a break up in what is to be the attic.

And here are the boys  ~ not quite sure what they are all doing here!  :)

The floor in the Attic space is now in.  It's a small area over the two bathrooms which will have 8' walls.  The rest of the house will have  12' walls and open ceilings.

When done, we are aiming for a 'Rustic~Industrial feel to the house.  This is an Old door (one of several) we resurrected from a yard sale.  As you can see it needs a little TLC but we do have plans for its use.  :)  You can barely see it, but there is a line across the bottom 6" or so that it is about to be cut off.  We will definitely show you the finished results.  :)

Pull down stairs to the attic installed!  'Our Supervisor' (Ernie) had several real good suggestions helping with installation.  Every job should have an Ernie.  Besides being a great help to Glen he is a wealth of information on the history of the area.  Just one of the many nice people we have met since making the decision to move here.  When we mentioned to the owner of the Heating Co. that we have met so many nice people since being up in this area, he said 'Get used to it'.  That's just how they are here'.  

How can you not smile about that . . .

til next time

Charleen