86'n It

Well at least it feels dramatic. I spent the weekend installing a cool exterior light for the back porch, and prepped the stud wall for the screen.

Also, I added another outlet on the porch. Check out the green light again!
Now let's check in on my coworkers:
Marc is hard at work on the blocking for the floor. And here's Tuna, SLEEPING in my closet!

We bought this cool credenza probably 2 weeks ago, but I forgot to post about it. It's from the 40's and is solid walnut. Really nice & heavy. The top has a pull out shelf that makes it sort of into a desk. We aren't sure where it will end up, but we bought it because lord knows we need furniture!
Mom, here is proof that I've started to study for my licensing exams: the books & flashcards!

We were on a movie team for the 48 hour film fest where you have to write, shoot & edit a movie in 48 hours. We drew a 'sports' theme movie. Here's the link on youtube. It's 7 minutes long and really really ridiculous!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4ty4W8hpz0

Marc and I were gone for 4 days to Northern Michigan and Tuna was PO'ed when we got back, but also very very happy. If you don't know this already, Tuna shows her love and appreciation in liquid form. Specifically in drool.

The picture shown was taken approximately 20 seconds after Marc picked her up. See all those stains on his shirt? That's Love Drool. He also had it down his back, on his pants, and there were spots on the floor. Seriously.

It's sort of gross, but also nice in a way. She's a bitchy cat, so when she drools it sort of melts your heart. Plus, Marc looked it up and apparently it means she had a good relationship with her mother. Which made us both really happy because she was found as a stray and we always thought she had some tragic childhood.

Ok, I'm going to shut up now because I'm starting to feel like this is akin to a discussion on how cute your baby's poo is.

This photo pretty much sums up what the 86' in it blog is all about, in both meanings of the phrase.

The first original Chumley's meaning which had to do with leaving a speak-easy bar out the 86 St. exit to avoid the cops as well as the restaurant meaning which is usually the title to a list of things they are out of.

The photo also shows what we, like restaurants, are currently 'out of'. Wall sheathing? Nope. Insulation? Nope. Drywall? No way. Cap for loose wires? Heck no.

Seriously, this doesn't seem like much by the photos, but I am the MAN! I'll explain: We needed to insulate (and put a plastic vapor barrier) in the crawlspace under the kitchen because there is minimal heat in the kitchen and we are trying to be all green with our energy consumption. Problem with this is that this is no normal crawlspace, it is more of a 'slither space'. See Photo #1:

For full disclosure, my dad had been partially under there already. This was before we knew about the dead cats and he the only opening he had to go thru was a small part of the old floor that we had ripped out. So really, my dad is really way more awesome than me! He didn't have my snazzy suit or the high-voltage work light. Kudos to Dad, the ORIGINAL MAN. Check out your daughter, following in your footsteps (or I guess "Belly path" might be more accurate a term).

Anyway, here's a little photo of me in my "Devo" gear, as Marc calls it. (I am from Ohio after all). This ansemble consists of my Tyvek jumpsuit, men's knee socks, 2 belts (one a tie, the other duct tape), cut t-shirt sleeve over my face (Marc was so nice as to put the "pit" side on the back of my head), safety glasses, and gloves duct-tapped to my suit. I really know how to bring the Klassy to the construction site, no?
(Also, wonder why there are big shadows in the picture? Because it was dark out when I finished! I was under there in the DARK! and there had just been a thunderstorm. I soo earned bonus points. Then again Dad was inches from cat carcasses.)

In case you are wondering why I had to do this, instead of Marc, the answer is because he can't fit. Not only in the 'slither space' but thru the 12" spaced joists on the porch (now I see why he didn't want to make them 16"!) So add this to the list of things that suck about being sorta skinny. I'd put it below both having to always sit on the hump in the middle of the backseat and using your narrow hand to fish things out of the garbage disposal.

So last week we sat down and hashed it out. This is what we came up with. I really like it. It gives us a really 'open' feel while still having good traffic patterns and a bar seating area. (click on the pic to see it bigger) I'll do some elevations later to give you a better sense of what it will be, but for right now, it just feels good to agree!

It's really awesome and really hard to be married to another (intern) architect. It's great to get all geeky excited about design stuff and have a person be open to doing wacky stuff, but it is really hard to agree on this wacky design stuff.

The Debate now includes the kitchen and back porch designs. Marc has been hinting about using marine grade plywood and I dismissed it until yesterday when I got the new Dwell magazine. Check out how cool this stuff is.

So if we stick with that idea as the flooring and back wall of the porch (instead of wall & ceiling as in pic) and still integrate a "slat" type wall in front and around the corner made of nicer tigerwood, IPE or cedar, I think we can save $ and have it look awesome too. We are thinking about staining the plywood orange before sealing it. Seriously awesome. So it's like a combo of these two ideas:

Very lazy Saturday actually. We spent 6 hours on the French Broad River tubing. Longer than planned, but a ton of fun. It was really relaxing and beautiful (you float right by the Biltmore Estate).

Sunday we got down to business and framed out the opening above the kitchen. So both walls are ready for sheating and finishes. Well, mostly.