House Made

New light and mailbox
Originally uploaded by merideth.

This weekend has been about getting stuff to do other stuff….well, this weekend starting after Thanksgiving on which we gave thanks then ate a delicious feast. Oh, and starting after the day after T’giving on which we went shopping and drank coffee and enjoyed the cheerful holiday atmosphere.

So anyway, after all that, we got various screws, accessories, xmas lights, decorations, drill bits, advice from Laurel Hardware (excellent folks), power tools (new table saw), Mexican food, and more coffee. We used some of these things to mount one of our two new, and if I do say so, swanky dahling, front porch lights and one of the two motion-sensitive flood lights in the backyard. The second front light will be mounted as soon as I fix a problem with a mounting bracket that seems to have been installed and then promptly corroded into an unusable state in the early 40s. Once done, new light will grace the porch. But for now, the one that’s up looks GREAT and casts a lovely, warm, welcoming glow and automatically comes on at dusk and turns off at dawn. Ahhh.

Below said beautiful new light is the mailbox that replaces the tin box laying on its side on our front steps that our mailman has had to use since mid July. I think this new arrangement should work much better…and just in time for xmas cards to start arriving!

We rejected all our potential trim colors so will trek back to the paint store tomorrow to try again with a new bacth of sample sizes.

So next up…we start the trim! And hopefully stain and install our new door.

I really dont have time for this ridiculouse “job” and “going to work” brouhaha.

color_done
Originally uploaded by merideth.

And it was all yeellloooowwww…HOORAY!!Normally I don’t so much care for that Coldplay song, but today it is thoroughly stuck in my head.

The stucco color has cured and I couldn’t be happier. It’s officially a camel color that looks fantastic. The house finally looks right. If there was a stucco boogie of some kind, I would be shaking my ass down the block doing it. I’m just so pleased, as is Beth.

Sadly, we won’t be able to keep the scaffolding up a bit longer. We were hoping to keep it for a little while so we could replace/repair windows. I guess we’ll end up doing some Cirque du Soleil style dangling, balancing moves later this season. Should be good winter fun.

In the meantime: Dude! Stucco. Done. Wheeeee ha!

And here’s why the worry
Originally uploaded by merideth.

Today is a fall day…full on autumn. If you said to yourself, man, I could really go for a nice crisp fall day, today is what you’d get. It’s sunny, chilly, and windy enough to stir all the dried leaves left on the trees and create tornadoes with the ones in the gutter. It’s perfect. I want a bowl of chili in my hands and a fire in my fireplace.

The last coat of my stucco is going on right now. Try as we did using swaths of sample colors painted in big test blocks on the side of the house, I’m currently not happy with the results. It’s too light (I wanted more vibrant) and too tan (I wanted more yellow). I’m trying to not get sad about it as we’re pretty much stuck with it. I’m also trying not to get sad about it before it cures and dries and the true color comes out.

Right now, right this second…I’m sad about my blah tan house.

oranges fabric
Originally uploaded by merideth.

You know, discriminatory opinions of women and minorities aside, some dang cute stuff came out of the 50s. For example, this AAYdorable fabric that Beth is going to use to make our kitchen curtains.

Dude, it has ORANGES on it! That’s so cheery and breakfasty. It couldn’t be cuter if it hopped around like a little bunny. I love it so.

pretty pretty nummmmbers
Originally uploaded by merideth.

As I am officially math-phobic, I am never made happy by numbers. They freak me out. They are threatening.

Rule exception: My new house numbers ROOHOHOHOCK, ROCK so hard. I LOVE them. They were beautifully crafted by Laura at Ravenstone Tiles (Go there. Buy things. www.ravenstonetiles.com). They are going to look so great on our soon-to-be colorfully mudded house. I cannot wait to hang them. I also cannot wait to hang the mailbox and the porch lights. I also cannot wait for Christmas, but that’s a different problem.

rug with conehead
Originally uploaded by merideth.

We got a gor-gee-ous new rug for our dining room. It’s no great hand-knotted heirloom quality piece. Just a little pickup from Home Depot, but lordy it’s pretty and it looks great in the room. And thank God it looks good. Home Depot did a dance of ineptitude that taxed our patience and Beth’s dialing finger.

Most important thing learned from rug shopping experience: Never purchase any service that really matters from Home Depot. It would be more fun to poke yourself between the toes with hot irons.

Oh yeah, and Dixie is a cone head because she wagged her tail so hard that she broke it open by slapping it agains the kitchen cabinets. The plight of the happy.

I was hoping to have photos of our completed stucco project last weekend but sadly our entire work crew showed up on Sunday to find that the material hadn’t been delivered. No material = no work= no photos for post. It also equals a disappointed Merideth over unfinished mud work.

But, alas, this weekend we should be back on track. Cross your fingers. And then there will be new photos and timely postings.

doorbell
Originally uploaded by merideth.

JOY! Something for the house that was cheap!!! It seems like no matter what we need to have done (aside from the giant zillion dollar stucco project), it costs $2000. Just when we get a little ahead in the ole bank account, something comes up that costs $2k. So imagine my excitement at finding a simple, lovely little doorbell for a mere $20. Especially considering that when I started looking at all the cool craftsmany ones I was thinking, “Geez, we’re going to have to pay $70 bucks for an effing doorbell?!” Ahhh. Twenty dollars. 20. Two less zeroes than I’m used to looking at. I say again: Joy!

The message of the day: watch out, ye of narrow mind.

Best Bitch-slap: Pete Coors and his “no to gay marriage” campaign in Colorado was officially handed the message to stick to making swill.

Most exciting dude: Barack Obama…thank God there are people like him in public service.

The awesomest (you love it, Scott and Brit) reminder of where we are: Quote sent to me by my friend Hal,
The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.
Dr. Martin Luther King

I’m strangely optimistic today.

Oh yeah, and for those of you who just want to know about a little renovation, our house has a kitchen that’s fast filling up with water as the early fall rains, and yes folks hail, continue to batter our roof. The stucco is progressing and looking great but I’m anxious to get it up so things can be made watertight.

Turns out it’s a good thing I left the South and Beth left the middle of the country. Narrow-mindedness reigns supreme there. Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, N. Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah and Mississippi all voted to support discrimination against gay marriage. You’d think at least the Southern states would say to themselves “Hmmm, we looked like jackasses for making interracial marriage illegal…maybe we should be forward thinking….” But no.

And four more years of Bush. Sigh.

It’s a dark day.