House Made

Beth here.

Merideth and I are paint snobs.  When we first moved into the house, it was the cheap Home Depot brand all the way, because paint is paint, right? It only took one gallon of Benjamin Moore to convince us that we would never, nay, could never go back to the cheap stuff.

Being addicted to Benjamin Moore, I was especially excited to see that they had a relatively new eco-friendly line named Aura that they used on This Old House’s green Austin project, and we decided to try it out in the dining room (AF-155 Weimeraner).  And now I’m going to have to continue using even MORE expensive paint because it could not have been more fabulous.  Luckily, the paint covers really well, so I ended up using way less than I usually do.

The paint itself is rich in color.  It took two coats, but on some of the walls, it could’ve been one if I didn’t get lazy about coverage.  Something else I really liked was how well the paint that was brushed on (around the trim and ceiling) blended in with the paint that was rollered on (most of the wall).  This can take some finessing, and I was pleased that I didn’t have to do any of that with this paint.  Best of all, clean-up was a dream.  The brush I used looks like a brand-new brush.  For clean-up once the paint is dry, Aura’s website promises that all of the finishes are washable, matte included, but I haven’t tested our eggshell paint yet, nor do I ever think I will on purpose. 

The only downside for me was the smell, which was kind of…funky.  It dissipated in 24 hours, but I actually kind of missed the smell of new, more-toxic paint.  Then again, I enjoy the smell of gasoline and bleach (not mixed together or anything), so perhaps my nose should not be trusted.

All in all, two thumbs up for Aura.

project killer

Meet the nemesis of all house projects. The Nintendo Wii. Yes, it’s just that awesome. We are crazy. We stood in line at Circuit City in the freezing cold fog and rain on the slim hope that they’d get a shipment of consoles. We were number two in line. They got nine. You’d have thought we won the lottery.

We play CONSTANTLY. We played so much the first weekend we got it that we were too sore to DIY. Later that week, I made my shoulder so sore with Wii tennis that I couldn’t put our stick-shift in reverse. It was sad. I really have no idea when we’ll start working on the house again. Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe when we’re both “professional level” (according to the Wii ranking system) at all fake sports. You never can tell.

Beth here.

It’s time for more product advertising for companies that do not pay us. (I can never decide if this makes us more honest or just kind of dumb. Anyway.) We are currently four days in on the new toilet, and we are both giant fans of the Cadet 3 by American Standard.  It came highly recommended by the two Home Depot employees who were helping us (I know!  TWO guys helped us out!  It’s unheard of, but extremely welcome.), both of whom had been very impressed by the Cadet 3 commercial which featured a bowl full of golf balls that flushed on the first try.  Indeed, the packaging tells us we can throw away our plunger, but I think we’ll keep it for the other lesser drains in our household that cannot effectively rid our lives of those pesky golf balls.

Truth be told, my germ-fearing self was more impressed by the Cadet’s anti-microbial surface that purports to clean itself.  This will not stop me (or our housecleaner) from regularly cleaning our Cadet, but it’s nice to think we have a little help.

While I do not wish toilet troubles on my worst enemy, the Cadet 3 is a good choice if such a plague occurs.

Note: That’s not our bathroom. But how nice does that toilet look on wood floors?

power washer

We’ve been working on a lot of little projects and doing prep-work. While we certainly need to do those things, you don’t really see progress they way you do when you’re actively building, installing, and repairing. Wow, that stack of wood sure is drying in the dining room. Those nail holes in the door casing really are filled and painted. Hooray: a list. You know what I mean.

A diet of only that kind of stuff just kills my motivation after awhile. Needing to see some clear progress, I broke the Christmas (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) pressure washer out of the box. Helllooooo satisfaction. Pressure washer = payoff. I took it to the garden walls we’re planning to stucco and got instant gratification. Slime, lichen, dirt, loose paint: gone! It’s like a before and after photo unfolding in real-time.

Satisfying and remarkably motivating.

tile from the salvage yard

It’s a wonder we get anything done. We get sidetracked by neat stuff and neat places and that goes triple for the salvage yard. The salvage yard might as well have a neon sign that says “Hey M & B, lose your weekend here!” That place is a giant slot machine that keeps us going back with frequent little wins (salvaged bricks) and occasional jackpots (two mid-century chairs). In fact, here’s a conversation that will never happen:

B: Hey, you wanna run by the salvage yard?
M: Nah.

Here’s a conversation that will:

M: Hey, you wanna run by the salvage yard?
B: Let’s take the truck.

So all that is a long way of saying that we went to the salvage yard where we found this box full of awesome tile for the bargain price of 8 bucks. What will we do with the tile? No idea beyond something garden/landscape/hardscape-y.

Now we’re just looking for our next hit. We can handle it. Really. Just a little one.

Since we got the truck in May, it’s hauled this:

25 cu f of manure and compost
76 feet of trellis
7 boxes of books for library donation
14 bags of everything for Salvation Army
1 sofa
2 arm chairs
5 windows
1 christmas tree
300 lbs granite pavers
300 sf saltillo tile
72 f of talavera tile
240 f of trim
bags of grout
bags of concrete
2 trees
15 bushes
3 wood doors
1 crib (Don’t get excited. The neighbors borrowed the truck.)
25 lbs of apples
lawn mower
a load of gravel
30 f pvc pipe
35 f gutters
countless sheets plywood
beadboard for the bathroom
respect from guys at home depot who normally assume that women are just there for window-coverings
and of course, Ikea

In other words, totally, totally worth it.

salvaged door

Our “hallway,” if you can call it that, is like the set up to The Lady or The Tiger. Five doorways lead off a landing that’s basically big enough for you ro turn around in place…if you keep your elbows in. So in the past, someone replaced SOME of the doors with hollow-core doors and, everyone’s favorite, gold-tone door knobs. Puuurty.

This situation prompted a trip to the salvage yard where we picked up three solid wood, paneled, interior doors. We’ve been working on them mostly as fill-in projects. We’d do a little sanding while waiting for trim to dry, a little hole filling while epoxy was setting…you know. So this weekend Beth, who, as resident door maven, has been installing all the doors, hung the last and most difficult one: the bathroom door. Added coolness: it has a keyhole lock you can actually peer through in manner of old-movie-spying. Don’t worry, privacy is preserved as long as the key is in place.

So now all the doors, while not matching exactly, definitely look like they belong to the house. Next up, paint. We’re fixin’ to paint all the trim back there and decided to do the doors at the same time. I know, we should have painted them while they were flat, but frankly that’s a pain in the ass. And no one wants to live without a bathroom door any longer than necessary. See dog regarding trash and toilet-as-waterbowl.

universe talavera

In fact, the tile should be here tomorrow if you can believe it. (I can’t.) We ordered Spanish-style talavera tile in a traditional pattern called “universe” for the risers of the front steps. Initially we were going to use several different patterns (one pattern per step) as we’ve seen that done to great effect on spanish style houses. Instead, we decided to simplify. The multi-pattern idea seemed a little more elaborate than our modest little casa warranted.

So the tile should be here tomorrow at which time we’ll begin a week of looking at it longingly since we won’t get to the installation this weekend. The Dwell on Design show and putting in the new back door will be about all we can manage in the way of big projects. I might get the back door’s trim painted and installed which will pave the way for hanging the back gutters. But the excitement of laying tile must wait. Sigh.

new sofa
Originally uploaded by merideth.

The sofa of Beth’s dreams arrived and filled her heart with happiness. Beth is not good with waiting for suprises, so you can imagine the antsyness when we ordered the sofa and were given the delivery date 7 weeks out. Oh we knew it would take that long. But knowing didn’t help lessen the antsyness.

Fortune smiled upon B. The sofa was ready 2 weeks early. And then the delivery guys hauled it up our 2 flights of stairs 2 minutes in to the 2-hour delivery window. That’s a good day right there.

And what perfectly complements the new modern sofa? The coffee table with its fresh, modern, java, no-longer-hated-by-beth finish. Beth finished it just in time and it looks great!

And if that didn’t make things awesome enough, Gladys the kick-ass truck proved her worth by hauling the old sofa over to the consignment shop. Now, I forgot to take a photo of that, so I had to fashion something. It’s not perfect as I did it in like 2 minutes, but it looked pretty much exactly like this. I’m not sure which part of this day rocked the most.

truck
Originally uploaded by merideth.

Well now my life has two of five things necessary to the quintessential country song (as per David Allen Coe): a momma and now…a TRUCK. Not just any truck, a freakin cool old truck! It’s a 1980 Ford F-100 stepside with an ‘84 F150 straight 6 engine. Look at it. Feel its awesomeness. Yes it has some quirks. But mostly it’s just cool.

Here is its list of chores:
go to home depot
go to ace hardware
go the nursery
go to the rockyard
go to ikea
go to the dump
go to the Alameda Flea market
go to the lumber yard
go to the stucco company
go to the salvage yard
go to riccochet (large item consignment store)
and whatever else I can think of

Truck will be busy. I think I will name him Henry. Or possibly Floyd.