Chipper Days!

Marin County once a year will let you put a massive 4 X 4 x 15 foot pile of greenwaste out to be chipped and removed.  We tackled a few of our privets.  I recently read an article about how privets are one of the most  invasive ornamental plants.  They sure are in our yard.  The birds spread the seeds, and before you know it there are small trees.  If left unattended soon you have huge trees.  We had had at least 10 massive privets when we moved in and have slowly been taking them out.  

The privets that we got today were crowding a few trees that we like, a liquid amber and a redwood.  Now they have more space, and a fire break between.  We hauled the trunks to the curb, got as many of the branches as we could in our greenwaste bin and compost bin.  And the rest will get in the compost bin next week.

After

The stumps, one of the few places I use herbicide, otherwise they grow back faster.

The pile at the curb

And the mess left for next week

Painting

It's been a bit since we've blogged.  Because we've been painting walls.  They look white.  And blank.  It takes a lot of work to touch up the sheet rock.  Sand.  Prime.  Sand.  Touch up mud again. Paint.  Sand.  Paint again.  And at each step the walks look white.  And often we're finishing up late enough that the light is bad.  So, even if the light is flat, here are some pictures of white walls.

Mother nature's contributionl

Last fall as we regraded the back yard I spread mulch and wildflower seeds to provide erosion control.  They are now glorious.

I wish I'd kept a copy of the package that said what was in the seed mix.  First to Blume were a red clover and orange poppies.  Then red poppies and bacheor's buttons.  For a while we had a politically appropriate segregation of red and blue flowers.  Now that's been joined by a sea of pink and purple.  

As I've weeded out the undesirable burr clover and hitchhikers, I've noticed a lot of lady bugs and bees.  And we have woodpeckers nesting in our tree in front for the second year in a row.  We're starting to get an ecosystem.

Ian's progress

As I've been sanding the ceiling.  Ian has been hard at work on other odds and ends. 

He's built plinths for the posts in the entryway, that are ready for low voltage footlights and tile.

And he's made progress on exterior power.

Oh what a feeling, when you're sanding on the ceiling!

For most of April we were busy building a platform over our stairway so that we could reach the ceiling.

Then for most of May as much of the weekends as I can handle have been sanding the ceiling.  We want a beautiful wood ceiling.  But our contractor didn't handle the lumber well so it's dirty,  stained, and written on with sharpies.  But sanding removes the dirt, sharpie marks, and most of the stains.Its hard on my shoulders and lower back, so I do what I can each weekend.

I hope to finish this weekend so we can move on to the next phase.  

Note the darker unsanded wood on the left, and the lighter sanded wood on the right.

Marching onward

I realized that we didn't blog in March.  But we are moving forward.  We moved into the master bedroom, and moved my home office out if the closet.  It's nice using more space as intended.  We then shifted gears to anything in the attic over the kitchen.  Pendant lights and under cabinet lights.

and surround sound speakers

For the last two weeks we shifted gears back to fixing the staircase.  It wasn't framed straight or level, so Ian is doing a painstaking job of re-engineering it one step at a time.  We finished the lower half yesterday, and moved onto the top half today.

Busy Working and not Posting

We spent the start of the weekend hauling debris left over from the contractor we hired down to the neighbors. They are also working on some projects so we shared a debris bin. It looks like we should be able to clear out all the junk we were stockpiling. Woot!

In addition we got the pendant lights for the kitchen island installed. As with everything, there were a few surprises and it took longer than expected but they are up and working. One more bite. Woot!

One More Room

We are basically wrapped up with the painting in the master bedroom. Cheryl got a number of outlets installed as I painted the two remaining walls. We also managed to get the ceiling fan in. Step by step.

The Deluge is Coming

The forecast calls for multiple inches of rain this coming week! Luckily, we got one of our plugged downspouts cleared out when the sun was still shining. Our neighbor refuses to maintain trees that are a fire danger and requires excessive maintenance of our rain gutters and downspouts on their side of our house. We keep trying to get them to do the right thing, but we have not had any success so far. 

In positive news, we dealt with touching up a lot of the trim and siding on the front of the house, so curb appeal increased significantly. We also made a huge amount of progress with the master bedroom. We cleaned up many of the defects that the sheetrock contractor left and have a first color coat on the ceiling and most of the walls. We are looking forward to having the bedroom as a usable space instead of just using it for storage. As we have said too often, "One bite at a time!" 

Transitioning Ceiling and Wall Color at a Bullnose Corner with a Laser Line

Another Milestone

Over the weekend we got the final piece of siding up. There are still some cleanup details, trim painting, and other bits to complete. Needless to say, it is nice to have that ticked off the list.

Almost There

Done

 

Incremental Progress

We finally, after a lot of bureaucracy, got permission to operate our solar system. Yay! It is nice to be able to actually use the installed equipment instead of letting it sit idle. In addition, we got the final pieces of siding installed. 

One bite at a time!

Before and After

 

Before

After

Enough said.

And on the the first Saturday in January

We kept going on siding on New Years Eve, New Years day and today to the extent that the weather permitted.  We finished the siding over the porch and got a bit more over the door.