Dogwood Tree in Full Bloom

It's an early spring for sure.  In 2011, the Dogwood first bloomed on May 11th, almost 2 weeks later than this year.  The garden has put on an amazing amount of growth this year in a very short period of time.  It's going to be a great 2012 growing season.

Pacific Northwest Woodland Garden

The last couple of weeks we've been working on the woodland garden on the North side of the house.  The concept for this area is a walk through the dense forest of the Pacific Northwest.  We're featuring many of the plants one would find on just such a journey.  The one plant we wanted the most was not available from Woodbrook native plant nursery in Gig Harbor, but they called me back to let me know they were able to locate it.  We went back today to pick it up.  The plant is Devil's Club.  It has a really cool name, and the plant looks great.  It gets approximately 3-5 feet tall and equally as large in diameter.   This has to be one of my very favorite plants found in the forests around here.

The picture doesn't really do this area justice, partly because of the large propane tank which is really an eyesore.  The plan is to cover it with a willow or bamboo fence so that it isn't as noticeable.  In this area, we planted 15 different native Northwest plant varieties for a total of 90 plants.  Some of the plants include, Devil's Club, Cascara, False Lily of the Valley, Vine Maple, Sword Fern, Deer Fern, Lady Fern, Maidenhair Fern, Salmon Berry, Bunch Berry, Evergreen Huckleberry, and the list goes on.  Most of the plants were pretty small in 3.5" pots to help control cost.  When we landscaped this area and installed the path, we built a low area, which you can see to the right of the path in the above photograph.  This is a wetland area where water collects from off the roof of the house.  This makes it an ideal location for Devil's Club, Cascara and other water loving plants.  Some of the plants in this area are still in their pots because it is much to muddy to plant right now.  

Spring has Sprung

The garden is alive and well this year.  This weekend we will be planting the North side of the house with native Pacific Northwest shade plants.  Pictures of that project to follow soon.  The following are some pictures from around the garden.

Nectarine tree in bloom.

Pear tree in bloom.

Pond sedge grasses spring to life.

Lupines (front-center) in full growth mode.

Mantle Refinishing Photo Montage

We recently completed the work on our living room mantle.  The following is a photo history of the process.

Finished mantle after rebuilding and staining/finishing. 6-Apr-2012

Picture of the mantle from the original MLS listing before we purchased the house. 20-Aug-2007  

Horrible process of stripping the paint. 8-Mar-2008

Mantle after a stripping the paint. 16-Oct-2011

Process of sanding and refinishing the mantle. 4-Dec-2011

Mantle after installing leaded glass doors and tiling fireplace. 10-Mar-2012

Original 2nd hand cabinets we salvaged the leaded glass fronts from. 24-Aug-2008

March Project Progress

March has been a very busy month.  We have been blessed in the Pacific Northwest with monsoon-like rains that have forced us indoors.  That means more projects getting finished indoors!  Here are a few of the most recent.

Framing Windows

Existing garage structure

We've invested a lot of time fixing the house since we bought it 5 years ago, but the same is not true with our garage.  This space has been critical for us to work on all the many projects over the years, but it isn't an attractive structure.  Our garage is capable of parking 4 cars and was originally connected to the street by a driveway that ran the full 200 foot length of our property.  We had other plans for this space, and have since pulled up most of the concrete and installed a greenbelt for gardening, an orchard, and an outdoor dining room (1500 sq. feet total).  Our long term plan is to covert the space into a workshop - the front half being an art/creative space and the back half a wood shop.  To see this vision through, our plan is to remove the double-wide garage door and install doors and windows in its place.

In-swing casement windows

Custom milled sill stock

We located a set of 8 in-swing casement window sashes that we really liked.  We purchased them several years ago with the intention of using them on the front of the workshop since they match the style of our home.  Unfortunately, they weren't framed, so that left us searching for instructions on how to build frames.  We came across wood shop plans for casement windows in Robert W. Lang's Shop Drawings for Craftsman Interiors.  We recently completed milling the window sills out of 2x6 dimensional cedar.  The bottom rail insert was custom sized for these particular windows.  This was a pretty fun project and required a custom jig to be built for the bandsaw to cut the sills with the appropriate slope to shed water.  In the coming weeks we'll begin cutting the side rails down to size to complete this window framing project.  Once finished, we will have two sets of 4 foot wide double casement windows, and a single 1 1/2 foot wide single casement window.  These will be combined with a double in-swing set of french doors to replace the existing garage door.  That will be a big step in converting the garage into a workshop.

Framing in the Dining Room Buffet Cabinet

We bought an original arts and crafts era built-in buffet cabinet that was salvaged from a home being demolished to make way for a parking lot.  While it is a sad story, it did give us the opportunity to salvage the cabinetry and build it into our own home.  The cabinet did not have finished sides since it was originally built into a wall.  We recently enclosed the top of the cabinet when we sheet rocked the ceiling, and gave the cabinet new sides made from clear vertical grain fir plywood.  In the coming months, we plan to finish the sides using a frame and panel look, and stain it to match the rest of the woodwork.  The cabinet is beginning to look like it was always a part of our home.

Dining Room Light Fixture

Refurbished dining room light fixture

We recently completed rewiring this light fixture that we found on Craigslist and have installed over our dining room table.  We were able to salvage the original Edison GE "Fat Boy" sockets, which date back to approximately 1905.  New wiring and new insulators, and the light is as good as new.  We ordered interesting replica Edison light bulbs which have yet to arrive.  We are still working to complete the fixture shades, which still have all the original slag glass.  It's nice to finally have a ceiling light fixture over our dining area.

Tile Installation

The tile work is complete in the kitchen and in the living room.

Kitchen:

We went with a simple subway pattern and an integrated medallion with song-birds by Motawi.

Fireplace:

Lee Green 4x4 field tile with an integrated raised diamond in gold.  Tile by Motawi.

February Living/Dining Room Progress

We're making progress on the living room remodel project.  The tile installer was here and dry packed the floor in front of the fireplace.  The tile is another 4 to 6 weeks out from being delivered.  That puts the delivery estimate in late February early March.

We are progressing on the replacement of the living room ceiling.  At some point in the 60s/70s the ceiling was replaced with a popcorn ceiling.  There was a time when we thought we could just get use to the popcorn look, but we ultimately decided that it needed to go.  We looked at having contractors do the work, but we either couldn't get them to return calls, or the price was prohibitively expensive.  We did all the drywall in the kitchen ourselves, so we decided to do the same in the living room.  So far, we've raised all the panels and have started taping and mudding.  The plan is to finish mudding and sanding in the next two weeks.  The walls, which are still in pretty good shape, will remain the original lath and plaster.  We boxed in above the built-in cabinet in the dining room to give it a more finished look.  We will finish the sides of the cabinet with frame and panel wood.

We've been pouring over the Shop Drawings for Craftsman Interiors book by Robert W. Lang to figure out the construction of our frame and panel wainscot to be installed on the back wall of the living room and dining room.  We finalized our drawings, calculated the lumber list and have started collecting the materials.   We ordered six sheets of finish grade fir veneered MDF core plywood that's been loaded into the workshop.  The current plan is to begin cutting this down into the appropriate size panels and stain before installation.  The vertical frames are being built out of 3/4" reclaimed vertical grain fir lumber that will be milled down to the required 1/2".  Seeing the lumber material in the workshop is getting us very excited about this project.

There are no shortage of misc. other small projects in the works.  We have pulled most of the baseboard and misc. other bits of trim that need to be stripped of paint, sanded and stained.  Stripping paint has to be one of the most torturous home remodeling activities ever!

More updates coming soon.