Loving all the plants in bloom! and really loving all the flowers I have to put in vases.
the mulch was washed away at the edges with the torrential down pour Saturday night
Steve was tired of looking at all of the weeds growing in our planting
strip. He took out the old butterfly bush a month or two back and other
than a few transplanted flowers and the elm, it was crazy weeds. What a
contrast form the rest of our garden. Anyways, he took out all of the
weeds and we hauled them off to yard waste on Saturday. We came home
with a yard of dark mulch and threw it down to keep the weeds at bay
until we have the time to plant the strip.
My dad stopped through last Wednesday night on his drive up to Alaska. He is a crazy outdoors man and is driving to Alaska in order to canoe down the Yukon-a 2000 mile paddle! He did it back in the 70s and is going for it again. Not surprising after climbing Aconcagua a few years back and summiting Everest just 2 years ago! Ben loves time with his grandpa!
The taping off required for the basement staircase took probably more time than the actual demo...and when you add clean up to the prep, well, time consuming. No wonder why contractors charge so much for demo when it requires taking Lead precautions. So pretty much, the whole basement staircase reminded Steve of the E.T. plastic sheeting/containment thing. I agree.
After giving me the middle finger when I asked him to pose, he was nice enough to pose again with his E.T. finger. Oh, and, ignore the partially unzipped fly, sexy, I know.
All taped off. and nowhere to go.
it was extremely tedious to tape off between the joists
There it is in progress. Lots to see from outside-some kinda sci-fi plastic.
Mid Demo.
Steve found these hidden in the wall Not too old. Maybe added in when the upstairs was re-carpeted in maybe the 90s
Nice feeling to have the first phase of demo complete. We can't decide if we should make a small trip to the dump this weekend or keep the sealed bags in the garage until we demo the whole kitchen and then just take one big 'ol trip. We'll see what we feel up to. Probably the latter. Cuz we're lazy like that, seems like a waste to take a half load and it's Steve birthday weekend. :)
This is the view at the top of the basement stairs, behind the door. This is the back of our dining room buffet. We were so relieved to see that the buffet appears to have been built separately from the house. The grey you see is the mirror. It should be relatively easy to move the buffet to make room for the new staircase leading upstairs.
Feeling like watching E.T. like me? Undertaking any home improvement projects that remind you of a movie scene?
I have put together a bunch more pictures of Craftsman staircases (with the help of Sharon-thanks :) that do not have winders of any sorts/start in the living room or dining room and go straight up. Looks like our new stair layout plan could have worked for an original design. Here is the other "research" I have done.
I also spent some time tracking down a few pictures of how staircases end-as in what kind of newel post is at the bottom of craftsman staircase and how far the bottom stair juts out.
I like this idea for the top of the stairs...the newel post is nice and beefy
Are you like me? Do you scan google images and pinterest for "research"? Do you also reference any bunglow book you can get your hands on? My favorites are the ones by Jane Powell-especially love Bungalow Details: Interior and Bungalow Details: Exterior. However, right now my fav of hers is probably Bungalow Kitchens-so much great info.
*most of the pictures were find way back when on pinterest or google images so I do not have links. Also many were from old old issues of Craftsman magazine. A couple are form Portland's RMLS. Enjoy!*
