where we spend our days

just a few scenes from the place where hal and i spend most of our time these days, contemplating the future of this blog and other heady topics.

a blog in search of a niche

when i first started this blog, i was interested mainly in blogging as a creative outlet, and so my posts were all over the place, with only the slightest whiff of a theme (cooking and crafting) to keep them together. when we moved to portland and began the mother of all craft projects, our house renovation, it made sense to blog about that, especially since so many of our friends and family were 3000 miles away and not able to keep up on the day to day (or even month to month or year to year) changes to our little bungalow. so butimeanwell.blogspot.com became a house blog. and happily so.

now i find myself once again in search of a creative outlet. craft projects have necessarily taken a back seat to this little project. (and frankly, i'm realizing that i'm much less talented at executing projects than i am at conceiving a need and then googling instructions for them. which isn't to say i'll stop making things, but the world probably does not need to see the set of onesie extenders i made last week.

so i'm ruminating about what to do with the space. link to various stories about humanitarian outrages and wonder, rather anemically, what i can do about them? post my favorite etsy shops? crafts i'd make if i had but world enough and time (and talent)? cool projects others are undertaking? the latest in zoo baby preciousness? marvel over hal's every milestone? or our discovery that this is hilariously, riotously true? maybe a little bit of all of the above....last night's leftovers*, indeed.

*last night's leftovers were, in fact, really tasty. i adapted this recipe, replacing the chorizo and fish with trader joe's seafood sausage, and adding corn and tomatoes with diced chiles for an extra kick. it's nice to cook again...

as promised...

... the fairly complete before and after in photos. these span the period of march 2007, when we first put a contract on the house, to june 2009, when we left to return to baltimore. we did all of the design (with wonderful insight from designer friends), and drew did the majority of the work himself, with occasional assists from me, and terrific help from our parents, neighbors, and friends. where we sought out professional support: on the major structural stuff - the dormer additions to the second floor, reversal of the staircase, reconstruction of the front and back porches, and roof installation; window and furnace installation; and hardwood floor and wall refinishing on the first floor (the latter was mostly because we ran out of time). itemizing all that we did to the house would no doubt bore everyone to tears, but here's a laundry list of the most significant projects and their timing, as best as i can remember it and in no particular chronological order:

exterior front

installed new roof (fall 2008), new cedar shingled dormers (fall 2007), new front door (spring 2009), new porch floor, rails and stairs (spring 2009). removed vinyl siding and painted original wood siding (2007-2009). dug new front garden beds and planted trees and shrubs (summer 2007).

before:

after:

first floor

reversed direction and entry point of staircase so that it rose from the dining room to the second story rather than from the kitchen (fall 2007); installed new windows (summer 2007); installed new lighting and electrical (2007-2009); repaired, skim-coated and painted all walls, ceilings and trim (spring 2009); refinished floors (spring 2009); gutted bathroom, installing new marble hex flooring, subway tile shower surround, sink, medicine cabinet, lighting, hardware and fixtures (early 2009); gutted kitchen, sealing up one door, installing french doors to the back porch, and replacing all appliances, cabinets, countertops, flooring, sink, lighting, hardware and fixtures (spring 2009).

living room before:


living room after:


dining room before:




dining room after:


dining room ceiling before:

dining room ceiling after:

kitchen before (previous owner):


kitchen after:





first floor bath before (previous owner):

first floor bath after:

second floor

120 SF dormer addition, including new windows and skylight (fall 2007); built new bathroom with all new insulation, plumbing and electrical service, new lighting, hardware and fixtures, marble floors, salvaged clawfoot tub and stained glass windows (June 2008); added combination walk-in closet and laundry room (fall 2008); finished staircase with oak treads and stained banisters (fall 2008); sanded and painted softwood floors (winter 2008).

before (previous owner):




second floor after:

exterior rear

removed porch enclosure and added wide porch stairs (summer 2007); built new fence (summer 2007); planted trees (summer 2007) and added professionally tended vegetable garden (summer 2008); refinished porch floor and rebuilt porch rails and columns (spring 2009)

backyard before (previous owner):

backyard after:

i'm no doubt forgetting something major here, but you get the gist - big project, big fun. now we're off to an even bigger project, building a person rather than a house, but it seems unlikely that this our last major renovation, even if we'll be on hiatus for some time. after all, we have a gaping hole in our bathroom ceiling right now - we just can't seem to buy a "turnkey" house...

i could list all my excuses for not blogging SINCE APRIL...

but i think everyone can pretty much knows them. needless to say, it's been a while. but here's the good news: i've lots to share - much too much for one post - so you can count on at least a few in the next few days, with an accompanying two million photos. i'll start by answering the question on every dance fan's lips: how did the Portland house turn out?

well, click here for a slideshow of shots taken our last few days in the house, and then by our realtor once it was, yes, professionally staged. (oh! and it sold - today was closing, though drew was in washington state and i was in maryland when it happened, so it was a bit anticlimactic.)

a few highlights:




the exterior finally painted, with help from drew's parents, our neighbors the palmer-moyers, and eileen and paul andersen. apparently, it takes a village.



the kitchen, all dolled up


our lovely refinished floors, and repainted walls, courtesy of an amazing crew of friends/volunteer painters (and perhaps more importantly, tapers)

basically, it turned out pretty well, thanks to a ton of help before AND after we left for our big cross-country trip - where else but Portland would you find neighbors willing to do hard labor (literally cleaning the house, clearing trash, and painting the porch steps) in exchange for a few Adirondack chairs and a hearty thanks? speaking of before and after, stay tuned for one of the house. remember this?

curb appeal

so, we've got a few changes to report around here:

we have no kitchen:
Drew and his dad pretty much gutted it, drew ran new plumbing, electric and lighting (recessed!), and then he and our wonderful friend stephany installed drywall. this week d finished painting the walls that won't be covered by cabinets (not a lot of square footage there). The paint is my favorite new dove gray, which is essentially the color of unpainted drywall, so it doesn't look like much of a change in the photos:



drew turned up the original 1915 linoleum when he pulled out the lower cabinets. unsalvageable, but a cool artifact nonetheless, to be revealed the next time the cabinets are pulled out:


the kitchen isn't the only thing missing these days: for a while, we didn't have a front porch. our contractor Majo and his team are replacing the front porch and stairs, and cleaning up the back porch, to enhance the all-important curb appeal:
Since this photo was taken, they've replaced the porch floor, roughed in steps, and started rebuilding the columns. i know, i know - i should take pictures. i figure i guarantee another post, and soon, if I don't, however.

My own personal front porch is looking a bit different now, as well:

time for my quarterly post, apparently

i'm trying to think of really good excuses why i haven't blogged in THREE WHOLE MONTHS, but they just aren't coming. well, maybe we've been a little bit busy?

first, there was christmas, new year's, epiphany, etc. then, my mom came for a fantastic, too-brief visit, and we were too busy skiing, eating, and watching the inauguration.

then, there was hawaii - four days on kauai, including a stay in a treehouse-like cabin up in the hills, and an incredible hike on the na pali coast, where we encountered i guy who'd been hunting overpopulated goats all day with his bow and arrow:

after that, we had a visit from dear san francisco friends - again with the skiing and eating.

and there was this, our gorgeous new downstairs bath, courtesy of one drew derrick (i was no help at all on this project, or any other of late, thanks to a frozen shoulder and other, ahem, developments:

for a moment, i ask you to recall the "before" photos of this space (before we even moved in), and shudder:

and then drew's parents came. you guessed it; more skiing and eating, especially since betsy cooked up a storm the whole time they were here. they left this morning, and we're pretty sure we no longer know how to shop for our groceries, cook our own meals, or do our own laundry. and the house is totally transformed, thanks to their industry - new french doors in the kitchen, lots of installed woodwork and trim, and even a bit of exterior painting. while they were here, we spent a couple of days at a forest service cabin in the shadow of mt. adams, in washington state. it's a 2.5 mile ski in to this rustic little place with propane lights and no running water. lots of fun topography to explore, including a series of collapsed lava tubes and ice caves. a highlight was discovering just how much huck enjoys woodstoves. he'd literally stand with his head nearly IN the stove, until his eyes must have felt like raisins and he was too hot to touch. heaven for a skinny guy like him, i guess.

now we've got no more (planned) visitors, and we're on to one of our biggest and most exciting projects, the complete overhaul of the kitchen. no big whup.

we've had quite a bit of this this week:

now going on day four of being at home, inside, staying warm and catching up on things i can't believe i thought i'd get done WITHOUT three snow days off from work. like actually wrapping presents.

i've also been living it up in our fantastic, loft-like master bedroom, where we're finally sleeping. Pictures can't really do it justice.

We'd been in there three nights before I decided the sitting room needed more accessorizing - enter a new rug and lamps, and a new layout. Still a work in progress, but what a lovely change from dingy downstairs.

just when we thought we hadn't really come very far

i uploaded some photos tonight of our newly installed stair railings, tagging them "stairs" in our photo gallery. turns out we had a few other photos tagged "stairs." to wit:


whoa. what a trip down memory lane. we've come a long way, baby.
now, thanks to this:

and this:

and a lot of this:

plus a lot of staining (steep learning curve there), we have THESE (please supply your own drumroll):

not too shabby, right? just wait until my next trip-down-memory-lane post, featuring scenes from before we moved in. wow.