86'n It

Marc and I have been very busy the last couple of days. First, Marc finished sanding and staining the floors. They look TERRIFIC! We weren't sure how the heart pine would accept a darker stain because the rest of the house's pine has a natural finish, but I love the contrast. Here it is with 2 of the 4 topcoats on it. These photos don't even do it justice.

Specifics: rented sander from home depot, minwax english chestnut with as black die as they can possibly put in (at sherwin williams) and the topcoat, Waterlox, is a linseed oil based varnish.

Then Marc completed the drywall finishing and then put up the new picture rail and the shoe mold on the base to get ready for me to paint. I got busy painting. Here's a before and after:

Paint color is Ben Moore Kalamata (like the olives) and the ceiling and upper wall is decorator's white. This photo gives the most true-to-life color representation:

Then, Marc put up his speakers in the dining room and we are currently pulling speaker wire to the parlor where his receiver lives. Well, very truthfully we are currently taking a nacho and tecate break, but work will resume shortly! My cool sputnik light will be hung between the speakers soon too.

On the plate for tomorrow is clearing out the dining room and assembling cabinets in there for me and building the custom cabinet bases for Marc. Fun!

Marc also got the floor stain and did some tests. This is the one we are going with (middle-left).
I'm very excited to see it on the floor. It will be even more contrast-y and semi-gloss after the top coats.
I just finished up my massive 2 weeks of crazy get-the-project-out-the-door work 13 hour days at work, so I'm going to have lots more time to spend on the kitchen too.

Marc was hard at work patching the floor under the future bar seating with oak to match the dining room and sanding the heart pine floors of the kitchen. After our fiasco with the floor refinishing contractor, Marc felt confident that he could DIY this too.

Looks great right? I can't even tell you how great it feels to have all those layers of cat and dog pee and food droppings and lord knows what sanded off to reveal fresh, clean wood!






Our cat, Tuna, is again feeling the pains of living in a renovation. In addition to breathing and licking far more than her fair share of wood and drywall dust, she is now gets custom "mud bath treatments". I was petting her last night (read: she was sitting on my face while I slept) and I noticed that she had drywall finishing compound all dried on her belly.

Poor kitty. Don't worry, when I finally get a dishwasher, you'll get a new, clean food bowl that is not 6" from your litter box. We can dream of the day together Tuna, because sometimes its the dreams that get you through the rough patches, even when those rough patches are matted into your fur.

Marc is now on the kitchen full-time, so expect some serious progress.


Here's the update:


-We now have +1,000lbs of cabinets in 51 boxes in the living room waiting for me to assemble them.

<-- check them out. I am really excited to put them together. It is sort of an illness, but I love putting furniture together. Something about those ikea diagrams really gets me!


-The gas piping has been installed for the gas cooktop.


-The nephews are coming this weekend. I hope to take full advantage of their tiny little fingers to hold small parts and cabinet screws. :)

More updates coming soon! Stay tuned!









We are klassy and wrote our New Year's party invite on the wall. If we don't have the wood planks up by the party, I want to have everyone sign it. Just think, in 20 years when the new owners are renovating the kitchen (and cursing us) they can find this Easter Egg!

Easter egg is an intentional hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, computer program, web page or video game. The term draws a parallel with the custom of the Easter egg hunt observed in many Western nations.")

I got these today at Target. (In the boys department!) I need an XL, not L though, so I've got to go back. Other tricks include: blankets, lots of blankets; thermal curtains (which we bought by haven't put up); & Great Stuff big gap filler (for all those weird cracks and holes).