osodecanela | Jun. 15th, 2017

T'was a busy day today.

David (contractor extraordinaire) crashed here last night. I enjoy his company, plus saving on the drive time from Lakeport to our place means that much more time he has to get things done. I made chicken fajitas last night, and it's nice to actually hear someone praise my cooking. I also got b'fast prep done before I went to bed.

This morning I had b'fast for three ready in 15 minutes. I'd put steel cut oats up last night with cinnamon, raisins & vanilla, so all they needed was a fast reheating. The veggies for two personal frittatas was cut and ready. All I had to do was beat the eggs and into the microwave. LJ had toast with avocado and queso fresco which is fast, and the lattes were all set today brew. Then all three of us went into action.

David attached the bathroom. The painting is done, the toilet now in. The sink is affixed to the counter. The shower floor tile got laid out and is ready to be set in the morning, with grout in the afternoon. (Knock wood) The window is done. I need to get picture wire in the AM and the mirror will get cleaned up and hung. The back of it also needs to get closed up. Since I've done framing in the past, I know what to do. I'll be making that my AM project. David's going to be gone all next week so there's a lot to get buttoned up in the n ft 48 hours.

LJ continued to work on the rebuild of the front steps. He's not done yet and he's not fully satisfied with the job he's doing. I brought back con heart redwood 2x4s from the lumber yard yesterday. He's happy with the wood (& what man wouldn't be?), but I screwed up the screw order; right gauge, right head, wrong length. My bad.

I was in door world today. I started with the front door, flipping it over to finish the cleaning process, and managed to get two coats of varnish on that side of it during the course of the day. Then it was on to the pantry door, which got sanded, then painted multiple coats today, I finally put the hardware back on it. It's now ready to be rehung, once the casement is ready for it. The first coat of varnish went on that casement today. By midday, that entry door should be ready to go back up as well.

Fading here. I'll finish this post in the morning.

I have just settled onto the porch swing, as the sun is sinking low in the sky. I've got my back to The approaching sunset, otherwise I'd be unable to sit here right now. My husband is napping & David is cleaning up, having tackled one of the more challenging jobs left, the shower floor.

LJ finished the initial phase of the repairs he was doing on the front steps. I was up early and out of the house first getting a final coat of varnish on to the kitchen door, and then get in the plants watered before coming in and making breakfast for the three of us. I'm really enjoying David's presence here; his calm and good humor go a really long way to reducing stress levels here and I'm thrilled with both the quality of his work and the speed with which it's happening. Further, he's a delight to work with, when you're working alongside him. No question is too stupid on how to get something done. He's everything our last contractor wasn't.

So, I managed to finish the kitchen door and get it back on its hinges. I managed to reinstall the entry door knob and it's working better than it had been before. The deadlock is proving more challenging, as it's refusing to go back in in the same way it came out. I have some work to do on it, shaving down one of the metallic supports inside the door in order to get everything sit just right.

David suspects that the door dates to the early 50s, which would correspond to a remodel we think was done in 1950. I'm really pleased to save this door. Junking it would have felt absolutely wasteful. The colored glass now that the door is it's original wood color actually looks kind of attractive. All in all, it's been a satisfying experience.

Late this morning I turned my attention to the mirror which in a few minutes we're going to hang in the bathroom. We've done some recycling with things within the house. The pedestal sink which was lost in the old master bath is now in the new smaller bath upstairs. The door (along with its jam) between the master bath & bedroom is now the door to my closet, not far from its original location. This mirror was in the upstairs powder room. The vanity it hung over was hideous, and having taken such an intense dislike to the vanity, in my mind's eye I had painted the mirror with the same broad brush. Guilt by association.

We had moved the mirror downstairs for temporary use a couple weeks ago. I noticed thereafter it really didn't look that bad and was kind of a match for the granite countertop on the vanity there. I decided that the mirror warranted some work to save it, at least for now. Fortunately, I've done some picture framing in the past and so I knew what was required here.

The frame of the mirror was basically in sound condition though it's backing was gone. I took a damn cloth to the frame to clean it up, then some Windex to the individual mirror panels. After scraping the back edge a little bit, I coated its edge with a thin layer of wood glue, then cut a swath of construction paper we've been using to cover the floors, and draped it over the back of the mirror to adhere to the frame. Once dry, I took a sanding block and lightly sanded the edges, giving a perfectly sized and shaped backing for the frame. I took a water mister to dampened the back, left it in the sun to shrink the paper, giving a tight back sheathing. Since this is going into the bathroom, once dry, some Aqua Net hairspray, essentially aerosol lacquer, got sprayed over the backing to give it some better moisture resistance. I reattached the eye screws, added some heavy duty picture wire, and it was ready to rehang.

David finished laying the tile on the shower floor today & mañana, grout awaits . The painting is done, the 'throne' is in, though the water supply isn't hooked up (I got the wrong hose at the hardware store), the mirror is up, the outlets above the vanity are in & working and the window is finished. While we'll still be showering upstairs for the next week (David's doing a building project for the place he went to high school next week), we'll be using the bathroom for everything else. I need to make a window treatment happen (& I've got clear thoughts about what I want) while he's gone and figure out how we want to decorate the room. However, that there will be a working john down the hall in the middle of the night, rather than using the patio's toilet or going upstairs is a boon, as will brushing my teeth in the bathroom rather than the kitchen tickles me no end. (Gotta get your thrills where you can.)

The kitchen door in situ:

Before