The Steps Are DONE!

With the steps primed and the risers and trim painted Andy set to work to tape off all of the treads.  We wanted to make sure we had perfect lines along each edge.  I missed this fun task but it took him over three hours.

Taping around rounded edges is tedious work!

The first coat of paint went on quickly.  We picked Stone Lion from Sherwin Williams.  

At first glance it looked great (although just about anything was an improvement over what was there before!). But after looking at it from the living room for the evening I knew it wasn't the right color.  It was too light. 

We brought out the runner and our visiting critic (4 mo old Rocky who is visiting for a few weeks) to check out some new color options.

We didn't hate it -- just felt it was too light.

So after looking at more swatches we went back to Sherwin Williams the next day and got a new paint color.  Some of these pictures distort the new color but we were very happy we made the change before it was too late.

After about a week to get all of the painting, sanding, and more painting done it was time to install the new runner.  Andy removed what was left of the old carpet (hooray) and all of the tack strip.

He measured and cut new carpet padding for each step and lined them up with the laser level.

It took a lot more planning to get the very top started (we wanted it slightly recessed behind the new carpet in the upstairs hallway) but once we got moving the carpet went down quickly.

We needed two runners because of the length -- I think cutting the rug was the most nerve wracking part of the entire process.

It took a little more planning to get the patterns and width to line up right but we are please with the end result. 

Now we can finally hang some pictures and art on the big blank wall!

A Shore Thing

It's a sure thing that no matter how much planning goes into a project at the shore something won't work out as planned.  The house turns out to not be very level or square which adds to it's character but also to the worker's frustration.  After Andy and Kyle got the cabinets hung in May it was clear that we had an issue with the ceiling.  You can see in the photo below how the top cabinet on the left touches the ceiling but there is a significant gap on the right.  The floor and ceiling aren't level and to keep the counters and cabinets level we ended up with this gap that made the room look unfinished.  Despite Andy's wishes to take some time off from the renovations this summer he and Kyle worked up a plan to level the ceiling and add some white-washed paneling.

 

In July SD, LD, and I white-washed all of the boards.    

Later in July, Kyle and Ashley came back down for a long weekend. First, Andy and Kyle located all of the studs and ran level string lines.

With the lines in place it was time to start lowering the ceiling with 2x4s, 1x2s. and shims.

The ceiling looked crazy with all of the shims in place, but it was time to start hanging the paneling.  

With the ceiling placed there was no more gap! One step closer to being finished!

One Step Forward

We are ever so slowly finishing up some Phase 1 projects.  We really want to get the steps done -- we plan to paint the treads and risers and add a new runner.  Andy cut out some of the carpet awhile back and a few weeks ago he finally had enough time to sand and degloss all of the existing wood. Since we're putting a new runner down we decided not to paint the entire step.  

 

The sanding and deglossing was a dirty job, but after everything was cleaned up Andy started priming all of the bare wood, including the banister.

I promise that it will look better once we get the two different colors of paint in and get the new runner in place but this is a good start.

And tonight Andy started painting!

Garden Update 2013

We are currently attempting our third year of vegetable gardening.  Year 2 was more successful than year 1 so we have hopes that this year will be even better.  We are learning what we can grow and what we can't, so hopefully we'll make better use of the space.

Back in April I planted two tomato plants in the tomato teepees.  These helped give us earlier tomatoes last year so it was worth trying them again even though I planted them later this year because of the cold, wet spring.

We also had some success with snow peas again this spring, but I grew a different variety that I didn't like as well as the Dwarf Gray.  Early attempts at brussel sprouts, garlic, and onions didn't do well this year.  I had some great leaks that wintered over but I didn't pick them soon enough and they went to seed.

We had some great lettuce.

And some rainbow chard and spinach.  The chard is still going strong but the spinach bolted early.

I've given up on growing bell peppers but have success with sweet banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, and the sweet orange peppers.

We also have success with cucumbers.

 

  

I have several different types of green beans that are doing well.

And even a few purple ones.  They don't stay purple when you cook them but they are still fun to grow.

This will only be our third oriental eggplant for the year.  One of my favorites.

The tomato plants look great but we haven't picked many tomatoes. All of the paths got a new layer of mulch that we got delivered with the pine bark mulch for the front yard.

A few early ones got eaten by birds or chipmunks. But we did eat this one with some fresh mozzarella and basil.

We have a ton of green tomatoes on the vine so hopefully we will get some more.