Snowpocalypse 2008 Continued...

Merry Christmas! Here are some pictures of the snowpocalypse 2008 as seen from our house in Tacoma.

Snowpocalypse 2008

Here are some pictures from the new North Pole (Tacoma, Washington) Winter 2008. We're expecting 2-5 more inches tonight. Happy Holidays!



Our pond is under there somewhere. Just looking at it makes me cold!

The perfect match

I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and when I get my mind stuck on something, no alternative is good enough. This can be a good trait and a bad trait, depending on what you're trying to accomplish. If you have a real affinity to do things right it can be great, but sometimes when you just need to get something done, it can be your own worst enomy.

I've been laboring over the stain color in the house for some time now. Which is right? Light, dark, medium? What type of stain? Should we shellac over it, or just use a linseed oil? perhaps a nice wax finish would be good.

The pieces of furniture we rescued from the house slated for demolition simplified this decision making process. No way were we going to strip these amazing cabinets and try to refinish them. The color was splendid, and they had the patina you only get with time. So, the decision was simple -- we'll just stain all the wood in the house the same color as the cabinets. Next step, match stain.

Finding a way to match stain when you're a perfectionist is not a simple task. First, Kurt visited with a number of woodworking shops, and they all referred us to their sample books. The problem was that we were not finding a match close enough to call it good. Then came a suggestion Kurt got from someone at work -- contact Dalys.

Dalys is amazing. It's a Seattle based company with an interesting history that makes stains and other wood finish products. And guess what else they do... THEY MATCH STAIN! You can go in and look at their samples and pick from their pre-mixed recipes, but lets face it, stain color is all about the wood it is applied on, and you'll rarely find something that's an exact match. Dalys will do a custom stain match for the very low price of 20 bucks. 20 BUCKS! Hell, you can spend that at Starbucks in less than a week.

We took a peice of wood in from our cabinets that was the color we wanted matched. We also took in two peices of unstained wood -- douglas fir and western hemlock. In about 4 days, Dalys called us and our custom match was ready.

Because the stain color we're matching is so rich and pigment loaded, Dalys had to go with a two step process. The first layer is a pigment loaded dye, which is the first coat you apply. The second layer is a stain, which is applied on over the dye. We purchased a gallon of each, and we're told that's enough to stain approximately 400 sq. feet. That should get us pretty far into our project. Our plan is to use this color on all the wood trim, the wainscoat, the boxbeams, etc.

Our first application was the new 3 panel door Kurt installed in the dining room that leads upstairs. He finished the door jamb, and the trim that goes around the jam. It looks really terrific and we're happy to have the color peice of the puzzle solved.

Restoring a house is a chore, especially since real craftsman with expertise in their field are hard to come by. If you too need to match stain color, I highly recommend Dalys. We need more local independent businesses like theirs. Be sure to check them out.

Driveway removal project postponed

Call it cold feet...

We've decided to hold off on the driveway removal project until next spring. The economic turmoil has us a bit dazed and confused at the moment, so we've decided to hold off on non-essential projects. Having the driveway removed now would satisfy my desire to have this project complete, but it isn't a necessity. In fact, having it done in the spring has its benefits. This way, we're not stomping around in the mud all winter long.

Are others delaying house improvement projects until the economy stabilizes or improves?

BREAKING NEWS: Driveway removal scheduled

That's right, the driveway removal has been scheduled with Evergreen Concrete Cutting. If you've been following this blog for awhile, then you're probably well aware of the infamous driveway. Basically, our property is 75' wide and 200' long. The driveway runs the entire length of the south property line. Since the day we looked at the house I knew the driveway was going to have to go.

This summer, Kurt and I spent long hours breaking about 10% of the total driveway by hand. I convinced myself that we'd use the broken concrete to build landscaping walls. Well, plans change. We're hiring this job out and we're having the concrete hauled away.

On October 16th, they'll be breaking and removing a 90' long section of driveway. That'll open up approximately 1400 square feet of open space. In that space, we'll be adding a vegetable garden, building an outdoor dining room and planting a small orchard. That'll be a lot nicer than a huge swath of concrete. It may solve some of our water problems since the water can actually go into the ground!

We're leaving a 50' section of driveway at the front on the property. This will easily allow for the parking of three to four cars. Who needs more parking than that?

Stay tuned for pictures of the disappearing driveway!

The year in review

Wow, 2008 was quite a year. As far as I'm concerned, the landscaping season has come to a close. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the winds have started to pick up, the clouds are rolling in, and the sky is beginning to leak. I'm not one to give myself much credit for getting stuff done, and I rarely look back on what's been accomplished, but this year I can't help but look back. I think writing the blog forces you to make the trip down memory lane. It takes so many mini projects to get something greater done. Last night, as I was standing on the deck, I looked out and saw a total transformation. For just a minute, I didn't see all that we hadn't done, but rather what we'd accomplished. I must be getting older. This is what I saw:

As a comparison, this is where we started this year. Not exactly from the same vantage point, but you get the idea. I don't even know where to begin to quantify the time spent. I'm not even sure I want to know. What I do know is that all of this work keeps the therapy bills low! If I'm busy, I'm happy. If I'm not creating, then things aren't so good.

Looking back, here are some of the things we accomplished this year:

• Remove ALL of the garbage that the previous owners left over (thik 3-4 truck loads)
• Remove fence from around deck. Deconstruct fence panels and salvage panels.
• Square off deck and make it rectangular as opposed to a half-hexagon.
• Tear out first 25% on contrete driveway.
• Build pond and add Koi.
• Haul in and install 10 ton of basalt rock.
  
• Build big pond organic filtration system with UV clarifier.
  
• Install approximately 100 foot of waterline and run underground cables for irrigation control.
• Lay 100 to 150 foot of new paths out of crushed brick.
• Move winter drainage creek so fence can go in.
  
• Build first 50' of Craftsman fence along property line.
• Rotate shed 90 degrees and move it 8 feet back.
• Haul in 10 cubic feet of dirt and have it moved around.
• Remove brick planter box from front of house (75% complete)
• Remove boat from front yard.

That's all that comes to mind, although I'm probably missing something.

Not to worry, the blog won't be ending. Next up is a remodel of our upstairs space. We'll be turning one giant uninviting room into a 'quaint' bedroom and a television/entertainment room. As for the rest of the house: Kurt will be working on the kitchen, and we plan to continue stripping the woodwork.

The low bridge is in

First the high bridge and now the low bridge. Pretty soon we're going to start installing overpasses.

When I designed the landscape (and yes, all at this was drawn out before being implemented, which is a MUST), I took into consideration the vast amount of rain we get during the winter time in the Pacific Northwest. The specific area we live in was once a vast wetland, and every year it tries hard to revert back to its wetland-self (hence the ducks that show up every winter). This is primarily the reason we're installing so many raised beds. On any given day during the winter when you walk across the yard, water squirts up out of the ground. It stays saturated all of the time. Thankfully, we have a creek that runs alongside our property which runs constantly during the winter months. Without the creek, I'm pretty sure our property would just float away.

This was a concern when we built the pond. In goes the water falling from the sky -- the water line goes up -- and the pond eventually overflows. I built a low-spot in the pond which will acts as a spill over. The spill over should (if it works as planned) run into the rock creek bed I've designed that runs under the second low bridge. So, in the summer months the creek bed will be nothing more than a dry rock bed, which has a certain aesthetic quality to it. Once more of our concrete driveway is pulled up, the little creek will run over into the big creek, and the water will be whisked away. If this doesn't work, we may all drown.

I sure hope the ducks show up again this year. One needs something to look at to get through the gray months!!!