Holiday Break

I hope everyone had a great holiday.  I was so busy during the break, but I did manage to relax a fair bit.  Christmas day was spent with my family and the rest of the week I was in and out of the garage.  We've had unseasonably warm weather!  I did get some gift cards and of course, spent them all on getting the remainder of the decorating work done in the Apache.  I don't know how people apply countertop vinyl without actively going insane.  I must have pulled up and adhered the paper over the galley countertop about 4 times before it is to where I'm just giving up on it and leaving it as it is:  not perfect and definitely with some minor imperfections that will bother no one but me.  

I cannot destroy this air bubble for the life of me
Yes, I poked it with a pin first

I DID manage to get this wrinkle out and cover that exposed part at the top of the sink

I also realized that once you remove T-trim it is impossible to get it back to its original dimensions, so the trim around the swing counter is about 1/2 inch shorter.  Does this bother me?  No.  Okay, a little, but mostly no.  Not enough to drop fifty bucks on new T-trim to cover an area that won't come into contact with anything.  

See what I'm talking about?

Otherwise, things are moving along quite well.  I spray painted the table support because I'm just not a fan of the original stainless when the whole thing is set up because it looks too cold, but it's still drying so that'll have to wait.

I cut a hole in the rug that goes under the table so that the table support can go through, mostly because I wanted a long rug there. I initially purchased a smaller rug but it just got lost when the table was set up.  Now that there's a hole in it though, I have to figure out a way to keep the rest of it from unraveling.  I have a solution which will be implemented this week.  Four more months until camping season!

Cover Me!

The covers for the dinette cushions arrived and I couldn't be happier.  They're simply beautiful.  I chose an outdoor fabric for the covers for their ability to withstand some abuse, as well as their ability to shed some water if one of us spills something on them. Waverly's Sun n Shade Ulla Charcoal.  

Ulla Charcoal

As I mentioned before, I had an upholsterer sew the cushion covers from measurements that I provided.  There was a snafu that was completely my fault; I must have measured one of the smaller cushions twice, and then completely NOT THINKING, I sent those measurements to her.  Without double-checking.  You know what they say:  Measure twice, cut once.  I totally didn't do that and while another larger seat cushion cover is on its way, I've learned my lesson when it comes to being hasty.   

Love it!

I'm so pleased with how the Apache is turning out.  I received an early gift for the holidays, so I've been picking up little things here and there--mostly dining stuff.  All of that will be revealed in good time.  

It Ain't Over 'til it's Oversprayed

As much as I love the light and airy look from the last post, with its white cabinets, rug, and off white cushions, we get dirty when we're camping.  If we just sat around for a week and took a leisurely stroll on paved campground roadways I'd be slathering some white paint on every surface of the Apache.  When I say we get dirty, I mean it.  We wander off on 4-hour hikes and more often than not, Garrett is laying on a bed of mulched forest floor (or mud) taking macro photos of fungi.  I have a penchant for taking breaks on fallen trees and mossy rocks.  Sometimes we're canoeing through a bog and we've got those small flecks of "swamp things" on our clothes from getting inadvertently wet.  Sometimes it's as simple as soot from the fire getting on our clothes.  Do I want to transfer that to pristine white cabinetry?  Heck no.  

My canoe bow in the Barnum Bog, Paul Smith's VIC, New York

I mentioned before that the cabinets have the appearance of wood, but are metal.  Over the past few weekends, I've been painting the cabinets without removing them first.  Actually, I've been spray painting everything that is brown, with the exception of the couch under-storage area, which no one will really see anyway.  

I've been using Rustoleum's Universal All-Surface spray paint in Gloss Black for

the cabinets, and for the furnace, which needs a more specialized paint, Rustoleum's Ultra High Heat paint in Black.  I used the same Ultra High Heat in White for the stove lid. 

I taped off, put some paper on the floor in the dining area, and I taped the old grey curtains together and used them as a drop cloth since they were the best way to cover the entire floor without having to cut my usual drop cloth.  The weirdly-shaped items that needed to be covered were protected with aluminum foil.  I could only paint for about 15 minutes at a time, taking the rest of the day off.  The roof of the Apache is taller than the track of my garage door, so ventilation was not as good as I would have liked.  I did manage to open the door a couple of feet, and I left the entry door to the garage open as well.  

Despite laying down the drop cloth, The first time I painted I did not anticipate that the tiny paint particles would make everything sticky.  So as I worked backward, I was unaware that part of the drop cloth stuck to my shoe!  The result?  Areas of flooring where those tiny particles settled.  The fix?  A light sanding with 220 grit sandpaper buffed the noticeable discoloration away!  There was one corner that really got hit with a blast of paint, but that also sanded off tolerably well.  Here are the befores:

That's gonna leave a mark

 

That's not a shadow; it's overspray

Once the weather climbs back into the 40s, I'll finish sanding the floor.  For now though, back to seemingly neverending snowfall and prepping for the holidays.

Two Weeks Later...

And I still haven't closed yet.  It's down to one signature on one piece of paper so that we can finally close.  The person to whom the signature belongs was out of town until yesterday, so I'm hoping he/she signed that paper and popped it into its return FedEx envelope so that I can at least get in the house by the weekend... not that it'll make too much of a difference, as I'm working all weekend... but still.  I can get SOMETHING into the house.

All of this delay has had a tiny silver lining, though.  I have come to find that the folks behind Home Depot's appliance delivery service are truly dedicated to making your experience the best it can be.  I've had to reschedule the delivery of my new appliances three times so far.  Everyone I've dealt with has done their utmost to make sure I've been rescheduled on the day that's most convenient for me, and they've handled my calls with kindness.  Sadly, it's looking like delivery is going to have to be rescheduled again, unless I close by the end of business today.

Speaking of new appliances, here's what I got:

Samsung 30 inch 21.8 cu ft French Door Refrigerator in Stainless Platinum

I really wanted a refrigerator with a freezer on the bottom.  The kitchen has black and stainless appliances right now (the range and the wall oven) which I'm keeping, so I needed something that fit in with the rest of it.

I'm probably far too excited about my new washer and dryer than I should be, but laundry takes up a vast majority of my time as far as daily chores go.  My bestie has a washer and dryer with a HUGE capacity.  She literally just dumps an entire laundry basket into her washer.  It spins the water out so thoroughly that it takes less than 40 minutes to dry completely.  She let me use it one day when my dryer was on the fritz and I was sold.

Maytag Bravos 4.3 cu ft washer

Other than packing, that's all that is new in my world.  The weather is getting decidedly colder; we've already had our first snowfall and it's cold enough to frost every night since.  That means that I have a very limited amount of time where I can hang my clothes out on the clothesline before they freeze solid out there.  It means I need my new dryer, in my new house... yesterday.  Ugh!  I can't wait to close!!!

UPDATE:  I'm closing in the morning!

Year One Down

Well, on Friday, I wrapped up finals week and my first year of nursing.  This year has been a whirlwind of early (4 am!) mornings, challenging skills to learn, and far more med cards than I ever thought possible.  I loved every second of it!

Now that break is here, it's time to get stuff done.

Today, I set the seedlings out on the back deck to begin the hardening off process.  We'll still be in danger of frost for another 5 or 6 weeks, but I'm hoping to get some cloches rigged up before then.  The seed potatoes have been sliced into 3-eye chunks and are scabbing over on the deck as well.  This step is important to protect them from simply rotting away in the soil, which has totally happened to me before.  At some point over the early spring/late winter... neighborhood kids cut down my sapling apple trees with steak knives (which I found in my yard).  I'm devastated, to say the least, but the one "stump" has sprouted buds this week.  It will never be a strong tree, but I'm hoping it can be used to either feed bees or pollinate another apple tree.

The fan I was using to circulate air in the dining room seedling central died and I thought I could get by without it... big mistake.  I've lost half of my peppers to damp rot (all of the hot ones).  I've planted more seeds, and the remainder are enjoying a slightly breezy day on the deck.

I also broke the hose... Well, one of the hoses.  It, however, is the hose that reaches the raised beds, so a new hose is also on the list.

There IS good news.  The peas and garlic are up.  The strawberries are doing well.  Hon Tsai Tai, spinach, basil, cilantro, beets, and carrots have all been planted (and some are sprouted).  I finally sanded down the little Moroccan side table I picked up at the antique mall last February.  I have a few options as to how it'll be painted, but I'm leaning toward something that'll look good on the front porch.  I've also figured out how to add my Instagram feed to the blog.  I took the girls to the creek for a photo shoot, and I'm planning on doing something with the results either in the entry or in the dining room.  Haven't decided, but I'm leaning toward the entry.

Oh, I did manage to finalize the front door's new color, and that'll be in the works soon.

It hasn't been ALL work and no play... I finished a book that I had started over winter break.

I really, really want it to be spring.

Is anyone else in a funk?  Tired of freezing your hind end off and not a lick of green to be found?

I'm right there with you.

A couple of weeks ago, we had temperatures plunge into the well-below-zero region and the water supply line to my washing machine froze.  I ran to Home Depot and picked up a heating cable and some insulation tubes in order to remedy that situation.  Of course, I forgot the heat-safe tape, so by the time I got everything installed we had a 40-degree day and the pipes thawed on their own.  A major lesson I learned in this case was to open the heating cable instructions in the parking lot (after I made my purchase) to find out if I had all of the components necessary to install the cable in the first place.  I also kept the faucets open at a trickle, and kept the washer on so that when things did thaw, there wouldn't be a buildup in pressure.

I did get outside on that 40 degree day to plant garlic in my frozen raised beds.  I simply laid garlic cloves on the frozen soil and covered it with about 4 inches of topsoil that I stocked up on at the end of summer.

German Butterball & Rose Finn Apple fingerlings

I placed my order of organic seed potatoes from High Mowing Seeds already, and those will arrive in April sometime.  I'm sticking with the All Red and German Butterball that I planted last year.  I didn't get a good harvest from the All Red, but that was due to a lot of rain and not enough sun.  I'm skipping the fingerlings this year for the simple fact that they're a bit out of my price range and we didn't get a high yield from them last year.

I'm pretty happy with the fact that my Brown Turkey fig has suddenly gone wild and is sprouting leaves like mad.  I brought it in before our last frost and all of its leaves promptly fell off.  It didn't look like it was going to make it.  I added some azomite and greensand to the soil, watered it a couple of times and left it under the grow lights.  Apparently, that did the trick and I'm hoping to maybe have a figlet at some point.  Fingers crossed.

Next month will usher in seed starting on a larger scale, most notably getting the onion seeds sprouted and I'm going to try my hand at growing them inside, in a container like this:

from Auntie Dogma's Garden Spot

That is pretty fricking amazing if I do say so myself.

The Swamp

This is the side yard:

That swath of blacktop is a tiny, private road.  Small cottages were built on the property at some  point, so one part of the yard is somewhat surrounded by tiny houses.  If you look closely, to the left above the arm of the swingset, there's a diamond-shape in the lawn.  I think at one point, this area used to be a driveway, and the diamond, a planter.  There are concrete bricks tapped into the ground there.  Quite likely the worst part of this bit of yard is the soggy nature of it all.  

The lawn dips for about 24 inches on the house side and creates the trough of no drainage.  What to plant, then?  This fall, the girls and I planted crocus and tulips in the diamond for some spring color IF the wet nature of the soil hasn't rotted them away.  Next, I'm going to plant 4 elderberry bushes here.  Elderberries will tolerate a number of harsh soil conditions, wet soil being one of them.  

In my spring garden planning, I also ordered 3 apple trees.  THREE.  Two of them are rooted to dwarf stock, but the other is a big mystery.  In fact, if anyone has any information about the root stock on the apple trees sold by Seeds of Change, I'd greatly appreciate it.  I emailed them, but still waiting for a response.

So, where were we.. 3 apple trees; 4 elderberry bushes; 4 Nanking cherry shrubs.  Wait--what? Cherry shrub?  That's right.  I was just as surprised as you probably are to find out that there are sour cherry-like fruits on a shrub.  There is even a Wiki on it.  Far less maintenance than one would have for a cherry tree, I'm all for the shrub version.  These were shipped bareroot, and after a long soak in a jar of water, they started leafing out.  I wasn't expecting them to be shipped until April, but due to a snafu, I got them last week.  Here they are, leafing out on my kitchen counter, before they get transplanted to pots:

Don't mind Henry.  He's chilling out in the grape hyacinths.

I'm anxious to start seeds, as I'm sure every Northern gardener is; but, I know better to do so in my zone 5a region.  In a few weeks, I'll start onions and leeks from seed.

On the "Money Pit" front, the range finally died its big death, so I had to break down and buy a new one; it arrives Thursday.  The dishwasher also decided to break down mid-cycle, but all that is needed is a new timing element, which is on order; it is still a perfectly good machine!

As it warms up, I'll be out on the front porch, painting over the terrible sea-green.  Hopefully, there will be a few stretches of warm, dry days so I can paint the front door.  I'm not banking on that, though.  Spring tends to be rather wet in these parts.

Things to Come

In the span of nearly fifteen decades, styles obviously come and go.  What was once considered the height of interior design can quickly become outdated, stale, and--let's face it-- flat out ugly.

Such is the case with my upstairs bathroom.  In the 1960s, aqua tile was IT, as shown in this photo by Pam Keuber of RetroRenovation.  I suppose it is fine if you have a charming ranch or split-level, but not so much if you have a traditional postbellum gable-front house.  Since I'm not ready to show you the entire horror that is the upstairs bathroom, I'll give you a preview:

You're looking at the ceiling above the toilet.  Yes, the ceiling is tiled... isn't everyone's?

This particular bathroom has some serious issues, other than the feeling of being trapped in an aqua- tiled box.

1.  The tiles in the shower have come loose from the adhesive mortar, causing tiles to sometimes fall off and break.

2.  The bathtub doesn't have a stopper.  This doesn't stop anyone from taking a bath; see #3.

3.  Old lead drum trap.  Old houses sometimes do not make any sense.  At one point, I'm sure the bathtub was a claw-foot tub, much smaller than the "standard" 5-foot tub of today.  When the bathroom was remodeled in the 1960s, the drum trap was never moved, and sits beside the tub (under the floor), about a foot in front of the drain inside the tub.  What does this mean?  It means that water draining from the tub has to make a 180-degree flat turn at some point, enter the drum trap, then gravity can take over and drain the grey water.  The problem with drum traps is that they're not self-cleaning as in modern plumbing.  Using drain cleaner can slightly improve the issue, but drum traps have to be cleaned manually on a regular basis.  At times, my tub has taken two entire days before it has drained completely.  The trap has recently been cleaned, so it takes a mere 2-3 hours now.  Here's a visual:

That there is almost accurate, except that when water immediately leaves the tub, it leaves in a straight, horizontal line, then makes whatever wonky turns it has to take.

4.  Nonexistent grout in some places.  Since I've lived here, I've been attempting to do something to stop the seepage of water under the tiles, short of ripping the walls out and remodeling.  When tiles fall off, I put some silicone adhesive on the back of it, press it into place, wait until it dries, and use silicone caulk to waterproof the seams.  I tried regular grout, but the cement backing just doesn't want to work with it.  It pops right back out within a week or so. 

5.  No modern ventilation.  There is no exhaust fan in the bathroom, but there is (lucky me!) a window in the shower.  This isn't as bad as it seems, unless it is winter.  In summer, I just leave the window open, but it is definitely not an option when it is 20 degrees (F) outside.  Steamy air just wafts through the upstairs hallway and I save money by not purchasing a humidifier.

6.   There is no heat in the bathroom.  

7.  The bathroom has zero storage. While there is a cabinet under the sink, it can only hold a few bottles of body wash, a plunger, and that's about it.

Don, my contractor, is stopping over today to update his bid with changes I'm considering.  Originally, I wasn't going to switch out my toilet for a new one, but I'm going to go with a 1.28 gal/flush version rather than the 1.6 gal/flush toilet that is currently there.  I'm also getting a bid on radiant floor heat versus a hot water baseboard heater; and lastly, checking to see whether a cabinet can be installed in the narrow space behind the tub.

Updates to follow, but here's a tiny preview of the inspiration for the new bathroom:

This print is by Mae Chevrette, and can be purchased at Mae's shop on Etsy.  I have several of her prints, and I just love her work.  Definitely check her out!

Iceberg, Dead Ahead!

A few nights ago, Lily started barking at the dining room door.  I don't believe in "things that go bump in the night," unless it has anything to do with someone breaking into the house.  Thankfully, this wasn't the case.  I opened the dining room door and heard a drip.  Then another.  I ran to grab my flashlight, since dripping anything + electricity isn't ever a good idea.  Shining the light on the ceiling revealed the worst-case scenario:  the ceiling was leaking.

We've had quite a lot of snow since December 23rd, to the tune of nearly two feet.  The roof over the dining room doesn't have a steep slope, so snow tends to just sit there.  I generally don't worry about it too much, especially since it hadn't leaked up to this point.  Suffice it to say that this particular roof is no longer a worry-free zone.  Small, dark stains started to appear in a linear pattern where the water dripped through the drywall seams in the ceiling.  I did what any sane person would do at nearly midnight:  I cleaned up the water in the dark, put down towels, and several buckets to catch the drips until morning.

the next morning

By morning, the small stains turned into a slow, dripping leak over stretches of drywall seam, in two different places.  The harsh winter sun revealed the issue: we had an ice dam on the roof. 

Ice dam at roof edge

Ice dams generally occur in homes that are poorly insulated.  The edge of the roof that overhangs the house houses a wall of ice when the roof below heats up and water attempts to drain off the roof.  Eventually, the water backs up, filters under the shingles and into your house. Eventually, your ceiling turns into this:

Water damage

Note how the water extends to the light fixture.  While no water dripped into the light, we cannot be sure that the electrical housing wasn't affected.  We won't be using that light until the electrician looks at it.

So, how did we get the leak to stop?  

A trip to the folks at This Old House for some much-needed DIY advice did the trick.  We cut off the legs of a pair of pantyhose and filled them with calcium chloride salt, knotted the end, and tossed them on the roof so that they hung over the edge of the ice dam.  We're lucky that we can access the top of the roof via a small window in the alcove upstairs, and we pushed the tube o'salt into place.  Experts recommend that you safely remain on the ground and toss the tube onto the roof.  

None of our local home improvement stores had roof rakes in stock, but we plan on getting one so that we can keep snow off of the roof and avoid ice damming completely.  Alternately, there are calcium chloride "pucks" (called Roof Melt) on the market that can be thrown onto the roof safely from the ground.  These run about $30 for a 60-puck bucket (including shipping on Amazon.com), but I couldn't find any of them in my area, either.

According to This Old House, another way to get the water to stop is to get into the attic and blow cold air at the area where the leak is coming through the roof.  This will freeze the water, stopping the leak immediately, allowing you to get the salt working on the ice dam so that the water drains off properly.  

We're not using the dining room until summer, so the ceiling will have a chance to dry out completely and we can begin to gauge how best to tackle fixing it.  One thing is for sure, though:    Insulating just moved to the top of the To-Do list for spring/summer.

Seven Weeks In...

We arrived on the 4th of July to an empty, musty-smelling house.  Immediately, we surveyed for damage, noted the clean kitchen that our good friend was kind enough to get into shape for our arrival, and threw open all of the windows.  Since both electricity and water weren't going to be hooked up yet, and the movers were coming in the morning we sped off to our lovely friend Lola's house.

The next morning, all hell broke loose.  

The water department guy turned on the water main in the house, and it rained in the basement.  Not good.  We had the house winterized, so no pipes should have split, but according to our plumber, cast iron pipes have a thin side that can fail when water decides to shoot through them.  In our case, there had likely been a very slow leak started just before the water was turned off, and ripped through the pipe when the water was turned back on.

See the rusty line there?  That's the crack in the pipe.

Two days of plumbing work (for under $400) and a very large PVC pipe later, the leak was fixed, and we had both water and electricity.

And gaping holes in the drywall in both the bathroom and the kitchen.  Overall, though, it was a lovely glimpse into what the original kitchen somewhat looked like.

One of the plumbers didn't close the basement door completely, though, and for a couple of nights, we had a bat situation in the house.. they came right up through the small space left by the new PVC pipe created, and out through the bathroom/kitchen escape hatches.  A couple of small mammals swooping about your house isn't quite the most comforting feeling, but I opened the front door and it soon flew right out.  Since the basement door has been closed and the holes temporarily patched up, we haven't had an issue.

While on the list of things to do, remodeling the kitchen wasn't high up there.  In fact, it wasn't even in our top  ten.  It has moved up by leaps and bounds, though, and it's just after the garden prep, fixing the furnace, and the upstairs bathroom remodel.  I really hated the birdhouse and potted plant wallpaper that was in the kitchen, so this is the perfect excuse to get rid of it:

Seriously ugly wallpaper, and a seriously large hole.