New Laundry Room

Ta-da!  Here's our new laundry room!

This might not be very impressive, 

but for an impromptu renovation project, I am delighted with the outcome.

I was already loading pantry items into boxes when I thought I should probably take a "before" picture.  The main things I want to point out are the bats of exposed insulation and the flooring material which is nasty, stained carpet.  Why would anyone ever think carpet is a good idea in a laundry room?

Under the carpet we found linoleum tiles 

and a patchwork of underlayment material of varying heights.

 Here is the photo of the real problem.  The dark patch is waterlogged particle board.  This was caused when our washing machine began leaking water out the bottom.

And, by leaking, I really mean flooding.

The repair man said our problem was the most expensive kind.  And because of the way the washer was designed, it would be cheaper for us to buy a new one than fix our existing one.  It was only 5 years old and we were not happy about being in the market for a new machine.

Because of our very teeny tiny space, we have to use what is called a "laundry center" where the dryer and washer are stacked and actually connected for compactness.  So not only were we out a washer, but we were also getting rid of a perfectly functional dryer.

After removing all the underlayment, we dried out the sub floor with our space heater.

Jonah and I did all the demo up to this point...

including spending hours pulling out tacks and nail heads.  

It was at this point that I called in the expert.

Jonah and Richard began cutting out our new plywood underlayment.

Our house was built nearly 90 years ago and the porch (now enclosed) was part of the original design; every measurement highlighted the home's age.   Richard was very patient dealing with all the cuts as not a single corner was square.

Plywood floor installed.

The handymen.  Say, "FUN!"

We decided to finish the project we inherited from the previous homeowners and cover up the exposed insulation using beadboard.

Jonah helped paint the original coved siding....double-handed.

Our new washer/dryer unit was arriving soon, so I would work after kids were in bed between 9pm and 1am.  Once the painting was done, I installed the new vinyl flooring.

I chose a black and white checkered pattern which I bought in Portland at Linoleum City.  I think one of the worst blunders that homeowners make is using contemporary design in older homes.  It might look fresh and hip in the moment, but inevitably goes out of fashion.  I prefer to stick to simple, era-appropriate choices, so even if the style is not fashionable, the house stays true to its classic roots.

Like any project with an old house one thing leads to another....
This is the laundry room window view from outside.
I didn't know much about old windows, but I do now!  If you can look beyond the horrible paint job (another "who on earth..." moment) you can see that the glazing is almost completely gone.  The glazing is the putty that holds the panes into the window frame.  It seemed silly to me to have insulated and painted everything without also tackling this.

Inside view.  I got a quote for having someone else do the work and $160 seemed absurd.  So I went to the hardware store and spent $28 on glazing putty, glazing points, and a special glazing knife and did it myself.  There is a bit of a learning curve---so I can see how one could get a project done much quicker with someone experienced.  The glazing itself probably took me a little over 2 hours.  What really took a lot of time was stripping the windows (the lead paint test was negative), sanding and prepping the wood, replacing the bottom rail of the window (thank you Richard!), scraping old paint off the glass, and repainting.

I think it was worth it.

Since this is a picture window and doesn't open, I plan to install a permanent storm window so we get the R value of a double-paned window.
Why not just put in a new window?
Well, for starters, aesthetics.  Second, I believe the research (here, here, and here) which suggests that old windows are superior to modern products in many ways.  And finally, the greenest choice is using/refurbishing something that already exists.

Ready at last for installing the new laundry center.

The photo sequence makes the it look amazingly simple,
 but the reality was less magical...it was raining,
and we had to take the door off the hinges for it to fit,
a special gas line had to be ordered,
duct-work had to be customized,
utility sink reinstalled....
Another big thank you to Jesse and my Dad for this bit.

We learned a lot through this "little" project.
It did not occur to me that checkered flooring would be a nightmare to install in a room with no straight corners...until I was trying to do it.

After being burned by Sears and the Kenmore brand too many times, we broke the bank by splurging on a SpeedQueen machine.
It is made like a tank---425 pounds!  Longest industry warranty; built in the USA.
You see them mostly in commercial applications like laundromats.
Here's to many years of hassle-free laundry washing and drying!

I'm so happy to be done!
I love my new laundry room!!

Garage Project

This is our garage.....mid project.  

Prior to Jonah's birth in 2011, we decided our detached garage offered some very valuable work and storage space.  We spent months thinking about what needed to be done and making a budget.  Over the summer we got our building permit and began the unglamorous part of renovation: structural stability.

To appropriately capture the entirety of the project, I must rewind a few additional years to 2007.  That's the year we bought our house and also the year my sweet husband re-roofed the garage.

As you can see from this photo, the roof was in bad condition.  Several patches lined the north side as well as abundant moss.

Essentially, the garage was unusable until we fixed this problem.  You can see the rotten wood in this photo.  

Jesse scraped off several layers of asphalt shingles as well as the original cedar shakes.  There was pretty extensive rot in areas, so we took the whole roof off down to the rafters.

There's always a point in every project where you think, "I hope we can do this."  

This was that moment for me.

I am so lucky to be married to an engineer.....a very patient engineer.

When it comes to house projects, we have the same philosophy: a job worth doing is worth doing well.

We don't often have prior experience when we take on a project, but we read tutorials and run ideas by friends and then give it a shot. 

And, a few days later...we have a new roof and know how to put one on!

Whew!

Like any project, there's usually secondary and tertiary projects which must be completed to finish the original project.  Which leads us to The Shed.

This is our "shed."  Or, I should say our future shed.  This covered area attached to the south side of our garage is where we store our firewood.  In order to utilize the garage space as efficiently as possible, we decided that we should enclose the wood storage area so we could also keep our lawnmower, chainsaw, garden supplies, etc in a secure shed.

The shed is actually the tertiary project.  Prior to getting started on that, we needed to put in a natural gas line to the garage.  The line would travel under the shed floor.

This is our driveway.  Tarps covering some kind of pile of sand, gravel, or wood has been a familiar sight all autumn.  

We rented a trencher to dig the path for the gas line.  Even with our rocky soil it worked great!

The gas line was installed professionally.  It will be nice to have heat in there next autumn.

After filling in the trench (Jonah helped with his little shovel), we could finally get started on preparing the shed floor surface.

We opted to use 12"x12" concrete pavers for the shed floor.  Again, our driveway is full of pallets delivered from Lowes.

We spread 5" of sand across the space and then Jesse used a plate compactor to pack down the base.

Lining slightly unsquare pavers up in a slightly unsquare space, was a challenge right up my alley.  It was a fun puzzle and one that I could have easily worked on way too long.  Fortunately, Jesse reminded me that it was the floor of a shed.  

Once I finished, my little helper came to help me sweep more sand into the paver cracks just to lock everything in place.

With the shed floor complete, our attention refocused on the garage.  We discovered that the garage wasn't square.  One of the foundation beams on the north east end of the garage had rotted away and the structure had shifted lower to fill in that void.

We borrowed a couple of jacks from our neighbor and replaced several supporting beams and pier blocks.  And by "we", I mean "Jesse."

This was a common image.

Totally un-fun.  But now we have a squared up garage!  Which is going to make all the subsequent construction much easier.  Once that was done, Jesse started framing up the walls of the shed.  Note that the old garage windows have been removed (the shed encloses them so they wouldn't look out on anything).

We decided to side the shed with Hardie Panel which is a cement fiber composite. It will last much longer than wood especially when exposed to moisture.

Even though I was reluctant to cover over the original garage siding, I acquiesced knowing that it would resolve our issues with existing gaps in the siding and also match the shed.

Hardie panels are very heavy, so Ryan came to help Jesse hang the sheets over a rainy November weekend.

We still have a long road ahead.  But it starts getting more fun.  I have visions of finishing trim, painting everything white, and even a clematis-covered trellis.  Oh yes, and a shed door would be nice too!

As you can see, we have been busy.  We're taking a little break now while the snow flies and the holidays are here to enjoy.
xoxo 

Our Hammock

Now, doesn't that look inviting?  
Summer is in full swing here and with it comes grilling outdoors, harvesting yummy tomatoes from the garden, and seeking shade beneath the trees.

We have eleven beautifully mature trees on our lot and it was their presence that made us fall in love with the property.  Our hammock is strung between two oaks.  The hammock hooks were inserted decades ago and now the trees have healed around them such that the bark has engulfed much of the hardware.

We have an arborist, Patrick, who comes to check our beauties every few years just to make sure that they are clear of dead wood and growing strong and healthy.

He does a wonderful job.

This is the view looking up.
Our indoor space is so small, that being able to live well outside is important.

And we do....we know these trees so well they are part of our family now.

This glorious canopy of summertime shade makes cleaning up autumn leaves totally worth it.

The (not-so-weekend) Weekend Project

Like many projects, staining the deck has been on my to do list.  I pressure washed it several weeks ago (after my dear husband did the roof of the house and siding) and have been patiently waiting for the prefect weather window since.  We finally had the dry and windless forecast that I had been hoping for over Mother's Day Weekend, so I went to work preparing my canvas.

The spacing on our deck boards is just a fraction too wide, so lots of debris falls in and jams up the space.  Step #2, is getting all the material out between the boards.  My tool of choice for popping out acorns is a tapered metal file.  I do this several times a year and every time, I mutter my grievances to the people who installed the deck.  I don't think I would have ever given deck board spacing a second thought, but if I ever install one, you bet I'll be very particular after this experience.

Our deck is bordered by a wrought iron fence.  And the plan has been for Jonah to play here this summer while I am working in the yard.  After running my hands along the boards to test their smoothness (and getting multiple, deep splinters), I quickly realized that I should probably sand the deck too and remove all the burs if I wanted Jonah to be able to play barefoot.  So the whole deck got polished with 60 grit and then 100 grit sandpaper.  That would be Step #3 if you are counting.

Lastly, came the stain.  I choose a semi transparent stain in the color Russet.  Here's my little deck model showing off the end result.  You can see the in-progress difference in the photo above this one.  The staining part actually took me 4 days.  My husband got sick which meant that I could only really work on this project while Jonah was sleeping.  So I would get up at 5:30am and put in an hour in the morning, work again for a couple hours during his afternoon nap, and then again in the evenings between Jonah going to sleep and the daylight fading.  My knees hurt like crazy on day two, but by day four, I hardly noticed them.

I am so happy to be done with that project!

Could there be a cuter cause?  I think not.

Jonah has really taken to his wooden car this week.  I talk about the artist here.  

It is clearly his favorite.  Without any coaching he "vroooms" it all over.  I am honestly shocked at how intrinsic his sense of play is.  

He even makes the appropriate noises.

Perhaps this is photo overkill, but he was really cracking me up.

Here's one more view of the finished deck.  You can see the Columbia River in the background and the hills of Oregon on the other side.  Our purple Clematis is also blooming which is quite a spectacle.

I did a lot of planting the first year we moved in and this vine has been getting more and more impressive each year.

The blossoms are huge!

Last one....

Hope you all have a good week!

xo