Amending #89

In my list of 101 tasks to perform in 1001 days, number 89 is to get rid of 5 big items:

• Kitchen cabinets
• Old sewing machine and ironing board
• Old books
• Foosball table
• Doll house.

Monday I added 2 more items to the list: apartment-sized washer and dryer,

Washer and dryer in The Cottage are apartment-sized models.

then I promptly crossed them off: washer and dryer.

The dryer looks good and still works but it is OLD!

Although I like having a washer and dryer in The Cottage (which one day soon I hope we’ll rent out) the dryer in particular was at least 30 years old.  The washer had been left by a former tenant over 10 years ago so it, too, was a relic in terms of energy savings, reliable usage, etc.

The dryer was lighter than the washer but still awkward to carry alone.

Our son is “between laundry machines” at the moment so with Charlie’s help he took them out of The Cottage.

This would never happen on the top of my car.

They strapped the washer to the top of his car .  .  .

If these appliances last for 6 months of laundry it would have been worth the move.

And shoved the dryer into the back seat.

I’m planning to clean, paint, and hang the cabinet in the corner.

If I decide to replace these items it will be with updated models but for now I’ll just enjoy the emptiness.

The Cottage laundry is now just another storage spot but the purge has begun.

But the space fills up quickly. Urgh.

Would you strap an appliance to the top of your car?

The Rosemary and Lavender Took

Two weeks ago I tried my hand at propagating 2 of our woody herbs: rosemary and lavender.

The shallow pan is filled with vermiculite (perlite and peat moss would also do).

I filled a 9-inch disposable aluminum pan (from the pantry) which came with a plastic lid with vermiculite.

My biggest problem will be looking too soon — impatient I am.

It’s been difficult for me not to check the rooting everyday but since the plastic lid acted like a mini-greenhouse I could see everything was still moist.

The roots had begun to grow.

I took a look at one of the rosemary sprigs and it had some short roots.

It took 2 weeks for the cutting on the left to grow roots.

I asked Charlie if he had any small pots so I could plant each sprig in its own pot.

The new tiny plants look healthy.

When I came home from work he had planted them up.

As they grow I’m going to try to train these little plants into topiaries.

From the 10 original cuttings all 5 rosemary made it but only 3 of the lavender are in good shape. Hopefully they’ll continue to grow.

Do you think this would work with olive tree cuttings? Any other suggestions?

The Outside

Recently I’ve been looking at photos of the outside of The Glade.

The Glade from the west side.

I’m reminded of a few things that really weigh me down since my plan is to get the interior finished then work on the exterior of the house.

The front of the house needs work: painted siding, painted shutters, painted doors, and landscaping.

But should I all of a sudden (insert hysterical laughing) get a notion to work outside I have a definite order to the things that need to be done and unfortunately that means some items will look undone for a long while.

The round window gets no shutter but the others do: center bottom kitchen casement window is shorter than our sash windows.

For instance we removed shutters to accommodate the renovation.

We’ve been storing the shutters in the shed.

In fact we still have these shutters — they need to be painted and some need to be cut down to accommodate new window sizes.

The back of the house needs to be powerwashed then painted.

The outdoor list looks like this:

1. Paint the exterior.
   

   Sandy Hook Gray by Benjamin Moore

   (I’ve chosen Sandy Hook Gray by Benjamin Moore.) All the shutters will actually need to be removed for this to happen.

2. Prime and paint the white wood trim.
   

   The original wood fascia needs to be primed and painted.

   Not necessary to paint the Azek trim.

3. Paint and hang shutters.
   

   The shutters will needed to be scraped and painted.

4. Paint doors. (This item can actually go anywhere in the list.)
   

   Paint front door.

5. Paint porch ceilings.
   

   Blue Heather by Benjamin Moore would look nice on the porch ceilings.

6. Plan foundations plantings and lay them out.
7. Lay pea gravel or decomposed granite paths.
   

   Love this gravel pathway from the Inspired Room.

8. Plant foundation plants. (Check out my Pinterest board for inspiration.)

This list of items has a few enormous tasks which will be tedious and need meticulous concentration — not my strong suits. I am a big picture person –  I see the forest. I pull together details but am not really great at managing minutiae.

I think I’ll work on the landscaping plan by printing put this photo and drawing on it.

Gratefully Charlie painted the entire house about 10 years ago and will probably do it again. I painted all the shutters once before and never want to do it again. Our carpenter friend has access to artisans who will be glad to ply their trade at The Glade.

Do your lists overwhelm you or settle you down?

Held Up by Chores

Saturday morning I always strip the bed, wash the sheets, and remake the bed.

I like the bed made with freshly laundered, odor-free bedding.

Yesterday I added to my list cleaning the bathroom floor (I hate this job) with a broom, a mop, and a steam mop.

Our garden hose is stored like a snake on the ground. It’s always in the way.

Not wanting to waste a Saturday without starting something creative I began working on two projects simultaneously: the castle dollhouse and a hose holder for Charlie.

The castle sits on a grassy base on which has been painted a watery mote and needs a finished edge.

The base of the castle needs a new edging as the original one had splintered off.

Screen door bead is a small and neat trim.

I started by mitering some screen door bead then painting it green (Bunker Hill) on all sides. This will go on the base of the castle.

Graduated wood squares cut from various widths of lumber.

I also cut 3 squares of 1 by lumber to stack up on the top of the hose holder. (I found a finial among our stuff.)

I plan to put the white painted end into the ground.

Charlie found me a long pressure-treated 4 by 4 which had been a gate post in our long-ago fence.

I tied these two projects together because everything is getting painted the same color.

I painted everything Bunker Hill green.

Bunker Hill green is my go-to garden paint.

With tickets for the “Music of Led Zeppelin” concert at the Baltimore Symphony along with a block party that’s all I accomplished.

Productive weekend?

The New Masthead

For years I’ve been updating the header on Let’s Face the Music with similar shots of the house as it has evolved.

The original header for the blog before any construction was started.

The Glade

The first photos were from March, 2011, when Let’s Face the Music began.

The Glade – Header Fall, 2014

The view from the east end of the street.

A  more recent header shows the east side of The Glade with the new additions.  From the front the house hasn’t changed much.  The major changes have mostly affected the back per our agreement with the historical commission.

The Glade in 1993.

The mailbox hasn’t moved and therefore is a point of reference for before and after photos.

Recently I found a 1993 photo of The Glade online.

The Glade in summer of 1997.

The front of The Glade in February, 2015.

I didn’t move in until 1997. The tree on the right in the 2015 photo is the same one in the middle of the 1997 photo.  The pictures were taken at slightly different angles. The smaller diameter tree, a dogwood, is also still there but unfortunately seems to be dying.

The Glade — 1993 and 2015.

The newest header is a combination of the earliest photo I have of The Glade (1993) and a recent shot from almost the same angle.  By the time we purchased the house in 1997, the large bushes near the corners of the house had already been removed. Over the years most of the fence posts had rotted away so we removed it also.

Do you have photos of your house before you lived there?

Casing the Joint — Conservatory First

When our pal came over to begin trimming the openings and doors that had recently been installed the first thing I had him do was trim the toe kick on the kitchen island.

The dining room opening (from the conservatory side) may one day get French doors but for now is being cased.

Then he and I went to work deciding exactly how the large opening between the conservatory and dining room should be cased.  One by six lumber was cut to size to create a jamb in the unfinished opening.

The frame was tacked together in the yard and carried into the house.

Before installing, the jamb was ripped down to the exact width on a table saw using a fence set to the measurement.

Pre-primed and painted lumber was ripped to the width of the opening.

Then the 3 pieces were nailed together outside and brought to the doorway as a unit and nailed in place.

Corner detail of the jamb.

We worked on the conservatory side because the paneling on the dining room side needed a special cutting tool.

The lumber stopped flush with the top of the opening inside the jamb.

One by four lumber was used along each side of the opening.

Notice that the top of the closets on the perpendicular wall had also been trimmed to see if we should carry that line around the room. We decided not to.

Across the top we used 1 by 6 lumber.

This is how the corner — before caulk and trim — comes together.

On top of the 1 by 6 and overhanging it about 3/4 inch on each side was a 1 by 2 (which we had specially ripped) lying flat.

Simple and almost finished.

Under the 1 by 2 was a piece of cove molding.  The tiny returns were attached with caulk to keep them from splitting. After the dining room side is also trimmed we have some trim pieces planned to hide the seams.

As you can see, I’m a tremendous help. (I was sitting on the sofa ohing and ahing how nice it looked.)

In the mean time we also finished trimming the closet and bathroom doors in the conservatory.

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.

Before the renovation began — January, 3013.

After the porch was demolished and the ground was graded.

The green lines mark the interior wall plans.

October, 2013.

We thought this looked good back in February (2015).

Progress.

After.

I mused out loud who first thought of adding trim (since it makes such a difference).

Tra la la!

Our carpenter said: “the Romans”.  He could be right.

What is the last museum you visited?

Waterproofing the Shower Pans

A year ago we had Schluter shower pans installed in both the conservatory and master bathrooms.

Conservatory bathroom is ready for waterproofing and tiling.

The plan is to have curbless showers so the subfloor was built up to meet the level of the shower pans. (Our bathroom progress is here.)

The waterproof membrane is like non-woven paper.

Yesterday the team of 2 came back to waterproof these pans with Kerdi by Schluter.

Pre-mixed thinset is used to hold the waterproofing in place.

First they put down thin set as the adhesive for the Kerdi which is flexible like paper.

Thin set is troweled wherever the Kerdi is going to be applied.

It went up the wall about 10 inches.

Because the shower pans are beveled toward the drain the edges sat slightly above the floor and needed to be leveled.

Any difference in height between the shower and bathroom floor was leveled with extra thinset.

The difference in levels (most noticed on the right side of the photo) has been leveled out.

The waterproofing came out into the room about 2 feet since we’re not planning to have curbs on the shower.

I’m fairly sure the bench in the shower is supposed to be waterproofed.

A different kind of membrane was supposed to be used to go up and over the seat. When I got home from work the seats had not been finished.  I’ll be contacting the installer because he also has our drains which are not supposed to be installed until the tiling begins.

The conservatory bathroom is much smaller than the master bath.

This must set for at least 24-hours and even then we shouldn’t walk on it since any small hole could ultimately cause a leak.

The master shower waterproofing comes out onto the floor of the bathroom.

I asked the installer to give us a proposal for the tiling itemized by floor and walls. (We’ve purchased the tile.)

Next step: floor tile.

Have you tiled a room? If so, what is something one should absolutely not forget?