Days 16-18: Kitchen remodel

Mud... takes... a ... long... time... to... dry... in... a... house... with ... 100-year-old... and... wildly... uneven... walls.

Painting starts this weekend.

Day 15: Kitchen remodel

Mud's up and the walls and ceiling are starting to look like they should.



It's all filthy, and fans are blowing everywhere to help dry the mud sooner so we can get on to painting.

Day 14: Kitchen remodel

Nailing inspection down, taping and mudding under way.

Amy's birthday

To celebrate Amy's birthday, we hit the road Saturday morning for wine country, a secluded hilltop bed-and-breakfast and an escape from the mayhem that is our house lately.

A leisurely drive down involved a few stops for wine tastings along the way before reaching Youngberg Hill.


The view from outside our room this morning, on the wraparound porch overlooking one of the vineyards as the fog burns off.



The birthday girl, as we strolled around the grounds after breakfast.


The pond, from which a brigade of frogs serenaded us all night long. It felt - and sounded - secluded and peaceful and perfect. And they have great wines on site, too. (Which I blame for not seeing the lunar eclipse last night.) Plus, I'm a sucker for staying anywhere that has a remote-controlled fireplace in the bedroom.

All in all, it was a great way to clear our heads from all the chaos around us lately. We got back early this afternoon, picked Wiley up from the boarder, did a little yard work and then had a tasty birthday dinner with the gang at a fun Mexican restaurant Amy likes in Northeast. The weekend was a nice reminder that even when things seem most crazy, we're lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country, to have such a fun, good group of friends and to simply have each other.

As our buddy Erik said once or twice tonight, "Feliz!"

At last, a first

Six or so years after moving to town, and a few months after finally moving - at least temporarily - to working days - I made it to what's known as First Thursday. It's an art-gallery walk in the downtown area that has been so successful various other Thursday night art walks have sprung up elsewhere in town.

Quentin and I met up after work (Amy was at the restaurant late) and headed to Springbox, where a friend, Jim Torson, is showing. Amy and I met Jim and his wife, Sally, on our trip to Morocco. Jim's an artist, and he's created a beautiful collection of paintings from scenes and memories of his travels. In addition to seeing Jim again, I got to catch up with a few of our other Morocco traveling companions.

The show is well worth a look. For me, it brings back lots of wonderful memories of our trip. For others, it's a striking glimpse of what makes Morocco and its people so special. We just might have to find a way to get one of Jim's pieces for our house.

He's showing at Springbox throughout March. After that, his show comes to North Bank, on Vancouver's version of First Thursday in April.

Days 12-13: Kitchen remodel

The end of last week was a little crazy. So to make up for lost posts, here goes:

Good news. Deconstruction is done. Now we're on to putting the room back together. First up, drywall.


And, below, the ceiling with some of the many holes where lights will someday go.


Tomorrow should be the nailing inspection, then on to taping and mudding. Next weekend, if all stays on schedule, we should be painting.

Day 11: Kitchen remodel

Leak solved (knock wood). Electrical inspection passed. Drywall starts in the morning, which means there should be something to photograph tomorrow night.

Day 10: Kitchen remodel

No pics today. But we made the final countertop choice -- it's the one we posted a link to the other day -- and they isolated the source of the leak. Next up, electrical inspections and then drywall can get started.

Day 9: Kitchen remodel

Today the insulation was installed in the area where the sink will and main cabinets will go.


As did the recessed lighting.


One setback: With the rain the past few days, a small leak has turned up after last week's plumbing work. That has to be solved before drywall can go in.


Still trying to make a final countertop choice. Finalized all details of the cabinets this weekend. They're going to be beautiful.

Funny thing about fame...

Amy and I were flipping channels tonight, debating whether to watch a movie, when we paused on the start of "Law and Order."

I know, I'm getting old when a Friday night can happily involve channel surfing. But I did a serious double-take when I noticed someone I went to high school in the introductory credits.

Same goes for Amy, who is regularly stumped by the fact that one of her high school classmates is in a very popular rock 'n' roll band these days.

We never would have imagined Norman High's class of '95 and Deer Creek High's class of '97, respectively, had it in 'em. Go figure.

Let me start by saying that back in Norman in the mid '90s Milena Govich, who now plays Detective Nina Cassady, didn't look like this.

Milena Govich, "Law and Order" cast member and my former classmate

Had she, I'm quite sure the football stars -- and every other guy (and a lot of the girls) in school -- would have paid a whole lot of attention to the young woman who, if I remember correctly, was a gangly, bespectacled, braniac into theater and singing. We had a class together here or there, and I remember always thinking she was one of the smartest people in school. Stories from back home on her newfound fame report that she moved to New York right after finishing college and has been doing well since on stage and screen.

To hear Amy tell it, Chris Gaylor, pictured here on tour with the All-American Rejects, very well might have looked about this goofy back in high school.

Chris Gaylor, All-American Rejects drummer and Amy's former classmate

Apparently the guy who became the drummer in a rock 'n' roll band that probably has groupies wouldn't have been a front-runner in the race for homecoming royalty. In fact, it sounds like the band's name could be based on some of his high school memories. But no matter what you might think of the group's music, several Top-10 hits are one measure of success that's tough to make fun of 10 years after graduation.

The funny thing -- to me, at least -- about both of these instances is how they illustrate the foolishness of expectations so commonly, so easily and, often, so unfairly pinned on kids in high school.

Here's to defying those.

Day 8: Kitchen remodel

Not much change today. Tomorrow we make the final color and door-style choices on cabinets.

One week in, and I'm so very ready to have a kitchen back in working order.

Day 7: Kitchen remodel

No pictures today. But we, however, did make progress.

The new plumbing work is done upstairs. And, we're happy to report the toilet up there is now officially -- and finally -- secured to the pipe. Looks like rough electrical is all wrapped up. And Amy narrowed down our countertop options after finding a very cool new product and color.

Day 6: Kitchen remodel

Today was more electrical. No pictures. Just fewer wires sticking out of the walls everywhere when we got home.

The unexpected plumbing work starts tomorrow. As such, all the lathe and plaster has been cut away from the bathroom pipes that run down through the kitchen. And upstairs, in the office, there's a large hole cut into the shared bathroom wall and everything is tarped off.

Here's hoping it's our only unplanned part of this project.

Day 5: Kitchen remodel

Today: Rough electrical starts, meaning wires are running and hanging all over the place.



Here, an old switch (at the top of the picture) is taken out. Its space will be plugged. The space for the new switch (at the bottom of the picture) is added on the wall going into the mudroom.

Plus, the estimate on plumbing repairs upstairs isn't as bad as we feared. All in all, better Tuesday than Monday.

Day 4: Kitchen remodel

No pictures tonight. Today started with a call to report that the toilet in our upstairs bathroom isn't properly installed, meaning it could fall right off the pipe that's above our kitchen -- and conceivably through what's to be our new ceiling. Also, some of the extremely old and formerly leaky pipes up there are lead.

Bottom line, it's all gotta go.

Also, we learned the original kitchen ceiling was wildly unlevel. So we've taken some steps to correct that. Plus, the cabinet guy came in and took some measurements, we shaved a few inches off the island plans and are preparing to write yet another check.

Helluva Monday.

Day 3: Kitchen remodel

Cross framing goes up, running perpendicular across the uneven beams, to level out the ceiling before new drywall goes up.

Day 2: Kitchen remodel

More demolition, this time tearing the ceiling down to the studs.




And the only way to get that ugly faux brick backsplash out, apparently, was to cut down to the studs, too.

Kitchen remodel: Day 1

Today's task: Demolition



This is the view looking up at the remnants of the ceiling, where we knew there long ago had been water damage above the drop ceiling (the bathroom is directly above this spot). We had the contractor crack into the lathe and plaster, creating that lovely hole, to see if the pipes are OK. So far, so good. Minus the fact that if you look closely, you can see the floorboards of the second floor.

Cheers, and happy Valentine's day. Clearly, we love this old house.

Kitchen remodel

It begins tomorrow.

Here's how the kitchen looked on our Last Supper night before for the long anticipated remodel gets under way.




Since then we've emptied the cabinets, removed the lights and torn down the ceiling. In the morning, full-fledged demolition begins.

We'll try to post after each day of work as the project unfolds. And 10 to 12 weeks from now, we'll have a First Supper night when it's all done.

Lily and the light rail

Our niece Lily during her holiday visit to Portland. Finally had some time to go back and see what's on the camera these past few months.