Well, all hell is set to break loose sometime this coming week: We got "The Call" from our contractor!!!

They will be repairing the damage done to the stucco by the roofing crew last year -- this isn't the same contractor, by the way.
Also repairing/replacing any rotten barge boards and battens on the entire house. Previous owners had "repaired" rotting battens by simply wrapping them with brown aluminim flashing -- the ol' "out of sight, ot of mind" fix.
That, coupled with the heavy handed roofing tactics, and the lack of flashing led to an impressive and horrific Niagara Falls-ian effect over the winter. And Spring. And two weeks ago. And any time the rain hits the east side of the house, come to think of it...





That's the main reason we haven't pushed forward with Hell's Kitchen. Why bother adding more insulation and drywall if there's a chance it could all be turned to mush and ruined by water damage?

Contractor will also be adding eaves to the kitchen roof so water will drip away from the house, and not down the side of the walls. Hmm... Novel idea, eh? The eaves will also allow for soffit vents to be installed so the roof can breathe.

We're replacing three windows on the back of the house, two on the front. Having the front porch posts rebuilt. Right now, the bottoms are completely rotten. We pulled away the trim on the bottom to check the integrity of the center posts, and --Oh?! What's this? No center posts of any kind? You silly, silly people! What were you thinking?

They'll also be painting. Sweet, sweet paint. That, I think will be the most impressive improvement of all. We're changing colors slightly. More of a putty-ish grey beige for the body, and a cool slate green/blue/blue/green/grey/blue/greenish color for the barge borads and battens...

More to come...

The backyard that wants to "scaped"...


This is a view from the very back of the yard taken the day we closed. The Silver Maple on the left has to come down, and sooner than later. You can kind of see where a rather large branch has fallen off, and the tree never quite healed properly. That section is very punky and loose, and there are branches dying off in the upper canopy (or what's left of it).

In this view you can kind of get a sense of the scale of the house in relation to the neighbors' houses - it's not tiny, but the others are much bigger. That's why I refer to it as a tudor/bungalow/cottage. It has elements of all three of those styles.

That big mass of foliage by the garage was two trees that were completely obscuring the front of the house that Kelly's father cut down for us - also the day we closed (what-a-run-on!). Kelly came from downtown with the keys and paperwork, and there he was, chainsaw in hand!

We're trying to plan a woodland/shade garden with a mix of hardscape and lots of ferns and hostas, Columbine -- woodsy type flowers. That won't be untill after the kitchen.
Damn kitchen...

Home, Sweet Home...

Hell's Kitchen. Here's the gut a little further along, complete with dust cloud.
The ceiling goes up about 16 feet or so, and really adds a lot of, well, space to the space.

We've got to sister up the rafters so we can get some decent insulation in there and have room for those pink baffle things. Ceilings will be beadboard with box beams running down the angled hips - Roycroft Inn style...

I wish I had time to do more projects like these.

The Stickley influenced maple magazine stand was built out of curly soft maple that I found in the racks at Home Depot. Yes, I said Home Depot.
It took far too long to make - about 9 months. Spare time is a precious commodity.

The Roycroft Little Journeys Stand also took about 9 months.

A little Sunday afternoon mud action.

This will be the new master bedroom, and is just about the only room we haven't really touched since we moved in. Previous owners left the window open for what must've been a month or so, and all the plaster deteriorated, the paint peeled from the sill, and actually caused the damage above the L-Room window, which is directly below.

Mothra...

I found this gigantic moth in our driveway one morning, about 3 weeks ago. At first I thought it was a dead bird because it's so huge...

Three of the reasons why I love this neighborhood...

These three Frank Lloyd Wright houses are within a 2 minute walk of our house.

The fenced up one is the Darwin D. Martin house which is currently undergoing a VERY extensive restoration. The terra-cotta colored one is the Gardener's cottage for the Martin house complex, and the other is the Walter Davidson house, which is privately owned.