open floor plan

last weekend we finished taking down the old and putting up the new kitchen wall! it was uber exciting to see the finished product - i love the way it opens up the room and makes it look lots bigger. i think it's going to look SO good!!

here's my dad nailing the king stud to the 12' beam that will span the length of the room.

once we had the king studs attached, my mom and i stood on the saw horses and lifted the beam into place while my dad anchored the king studs and added the headers. (that thing was HEAVY!)

with the beam all snug in place, we could take the brace walls down.

the finished product! - the small section of wall in the left of the photo is where the fridge will be, then the breakfast bar will extend 6' out from there. the one 2x4 in the right side of the photo marks the corner of the pantry which will span the entire lengthe of the wall to the door.

woooooo-hooooooo! yippee for visual progress! : )

snow day...

yesterday we'd planned to rip out the front steps and repair the dry rot, but when we got to my house it was snowing buckets! so we changed the game plan and got to work on the inside.

last weekend we got rid of the rats nest that i found in the wall behind the hot water heater...

so now it's time to get to work on the kitchen wall.

this is the wall that we are taking out. basically what we're doing is building a new wall where the current opening is, and opening the section where the wall is now.

the wall does bear some weight, so we had to build a support wall on either side to hold up the ceiling until the new header and wall is in place...

brad, a friend of the family, came by and helped with the electrical. He removed all the outlets and light switches on this wall so we can take it out.

we had to take out the flooring where the new wall will be, and found this layer of funky linoleum...on top of a layer of fabulous parquet flooring...

there was also some amazing wallpaper behind the kitchen counter...

slow and steady...

i haven't posted in a while because i've been really busy with work and volleyball. here's some pics of my girls at our tournament in yakima... : )

work on the house is going much slower than i expected or that i'd like. i've come to realize that my estimation abilities are not very good. from here on out, i should take into account that everything is going to take twice as long as i think...

luckily, we've had some good weather in seattle lately, so i've been able to do some work in the yard. i've knocked out the fence in the middle of the yard, and now you can really tell how big the lot is...

i removed the built-in bench on the deck - a great idea, but the whole thing's gotta go as a lot of the wood is rotting. it will be replaced with nice paver patio...eventually...

also, i tried my hand at pruning...but didn't do so great of a job. this bush now looks like the jabba the hut when he's being strangled by princess leia!

the puppies went bye-bye! (i saved one that i'm going to frame and hang in my bathroom as a homage to the house's history...)

this is how the seller patched up a hole that was in the drywall in the other bedroom. for crying out loud...how much putty did they shove in there!?

the second bedroom/office is all gutted and ready to go...

naturally, i had help...thanks jed and julia! you rock my casbah...literally! (jed, you didn't sign your wall!)

also, my parents, as always! : ) that's my dad...putting back a beam that i tore down. note to self...determine if it's load bearing before you take it out!!

gardening co-op!

Now that I have my own place, I want to cook more and use more organic ingredients. Are any of you fellow gardeners/cooks interested in starting a gardening “co-op” in my back yard?

Initially I’ll need some help setting up the terraces and planting. After the garden is up and running, we’ll just need to do weekly weeding/maintenance. I’ll take care of the daily watering, etc.

It will depend on space and the number of people who are interested in being a part of the fun, but here’s some ideas of what I would like to plant (some will be container...I'm also considering building a mini-green house):

Herbs – basil, Thai basil, dill, rosemary, thyme, etc.
Apples (have one well-established tree and plan on planting another)
Asparagus
Broccoli
Carrots
Chives
Corn
Cucumbers (for pickling)
Garlic
Grapes
Onions
Pole beans (a friend has an awesome stock, and he’s willing to give me seeds)
Potatoes
Pumpkins

Rhubarb
Snow peas
Spinach
Strawberries
Sunflowers
Tomatoes
Zucchini

I’ve purchased a gardening almanac to help with planting, and mason bees to help with the pollination.

I also want to plant some dahlias, tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths, so there should be lots of flowers!

Let me know if you’re interested!!

Erin

plans...

my dad and i had fun drawing plans last night.

here is the house as it is now:

all those weird symbols along the walls are the outlets and light switches. i needed to map them all out because my uncle is coming in a few weeks to help rewire the whole house. we're going to rip out all the dry wall and old wiring and he's going to run all new wires (amongst other things).

here is what the floor plan will look like when we're done...

basically we're going to open up the kitchen so that it's more of an open floor plan, and add a bar because the house is too small for a full dinning room. we're also going to relocate the water heater and install a washer/dryer hook up in the 2nd bedroom/office.

pretty awesome!!