The Elusive Rooster

Perhaps you have been questioning the existence of the rooster. He's quite the mover and shaker, so it's difficult to get a picture of him. Here he is: blurry, but proud.



Our across-the-street neighbor, Daniel, informed us that the rooster is actually ferral. He belongs to no one. He enjoys our street because Daniel puts out bird feed in the evening for the pigeons. The pigeons scatter when he swoops in, so he always enjoys a hardy meal.

Tape that!

Our contractor finished texturing the walls, so painting walls and ceilings is next. Chad's an expert taper, as well as pole sander.

Pole Sanding

Chad said that "Sand the Wall. Make it Smooth. Eat its Flesh." was too obscure of a reference to Lord of the Flies (and too creepy to boot) to title this entry. But that's what we've been doing for the last three days. Not eating flesh. Floating and sanding dry wall (with the assistance of our trusty, stilts-wearing contractor and Mike, Greg and Dad). Through this process, we have discovered that Chad is a downright talented pole sander. There's not a bump on the ceiling that's safe while he's around.

Here's the west wall of the kitchen... all mudded, sanded and sealed up. Maybe you can also see our new can lights. Normally I'm not a huge fan of the recessed lighting, but it makes a huge difference in opening up (and brightening up) this low-ceilinged room.



And here's the east wall of the kitchen. See the holes? Those will be behind cabinets, so we don't care!



And here's one of the former closets. Again, all mudded, sanded and sealed up.



And finally, here's the new porch that brothers Mike and Greg and my Dad constructed on their busy weekend of construction fun. It's a much more manageable size than before, doesn't have termites (yes, they were eating the porch, too!), won't encourage future termites (no wood-to-ground contact), and was lovingly constructed with spaces for potted plants to reside. Chad and I feel so fortunate that they decided to spend some of their vacation helping us work on this project. We got so much more accomplished this weekend than we ever could have without them.



Tomorrow the texturing begins.

Lots of work. . .

Dad, Greg & Mike (brothers) are in town and helping out. Among many other things, today we floated and mudded dry wall (no gaping holes!), installed can ligths, and started a new deck.

No more rotten floor. No floor, really.

Tomorrow the foundation will be leveled, and the rotten floor has been removed in anticipation. We've hired a contractor helper. It's so luxurious to have work done for you. He'll be back tomorrow to replace the floor and shore up some rotted joists.

Piers!

It's taken over a month, but we finally have new piers - 25 new piers. The footings went in on Wednesday, and the piers went in today (Saturday). Once they've set, the leveling begins, and we can start reconstruction....




Which is a good thing, because we've basically finished deconstruction, and we're getting anxious about all the work that's ahead of us.

*PS - We finished de-popcorning operations today. The remaining ceilings (kitchen, bath, and hall) were some of the most difficult we faced. It's the first time I was ever thankful for all the warrior & side angle poses in Ashtanga. Without them, I'm pretty sure my arm would have fallen off.

**PPS - We're re-thinking Dover White. Crisp Linen anyone?

Death by Popcorn

Contrary to popular belief, scraping popcorn off your ceiling is not fun. But I am freakishly good at it.



The kitchen, hallway and guest bath are all that's left.

Paint

We also spent some time this weekend shopping for paint.



The three contenders: Cotton Fluff (bottom), Dover White (right top), and Crisp Linen (left top).



And the winner is . . . Dover White! Cotton Fluff was definitely too stark. And the difference between Crisp Linen and Dover White was minimal. But in the end, Dover White seemed to be the most white without being too white.

You see, this is what remodeling is all about - spending hours finding the right white.

Who knows? We may still change our minds!

Independence from walls and ceilings

We find these truths to be self-evident:
The rain keeps pouring. And while the rain pours, the concrete can't.

* The good news is that the forecast for the next five days calls for sun. AND - five days is technically enough time to pour the new footings and piers. *

While it rained, rained, rained (except on the weekend when the foundation folks don't work), Chad and I declared our independence from the following:


The kitchen wall. We finally made a decision to take the whole wall. Chrissy helped take it out. She has some mad hammer-swingin' skills. We're going to install base cabinets to divide the kitchen from the living room. Oh - and we made some final decisions about the cabinets and countertops - Ikea birch cabs with a dark grey Numerar counter.


The strange box-like top to the office closet. The only way to get rid of the remnants of the closet was to take the ceiling in the corner. Kurt helped with that. Boys are strong. Chad and Kurt had lots of ceiling in their hair by the end.


And the guest room closet (also thanks in part to Kurt). The reciprocating saw got her way...



Popcorn Ceiling, we will be declaring our independence from you this weekend.