Moving In

We officially moved in just before Thanksgiving and celebrated a festive holiday dinner meal with friends around OUR table.

Kirk bringing home a Craigs List purchase.

Tim and Kirk hauling in the beds.

Several girlfriends came over and helped me clean two years worth of grime and concrete from the windows. Their help was invaluable, it would have taken me weeks to accomplish what we got done in a day. Sally shines through.

Judy goes at it.

Jeannie and Judy working in tandem.

Donna and Barb, first diners.

Donna attacks the staircase with Linseed finish and rag.

Another champagne day. The trailer vanishes. Fortunately this piece of real estate sold much faster than out house in Junction City.

Walk-In closet in the master bedroom. We had no trouble filling it even after several Goodwill runs.

All the Trimmings

In December we were blessed with the most beautiful weather and moved the sunglasses tools and materials outside.

Kirk planing trim.

Sarah finishing doors

View from the top looking across to neighbours fields.

View of our young trees. The long poles are for hops.

Kirk nailing in door trims.

Outside the bedroom deck. What a gorgeous day!

Tiling kitchen back splashes. We managed to use left over bathroom tile and liked the results.

Above the dish washer.

Window trim, close up.

Kirk made and hung all the window frames, Sarah sanded and finished them.

Master bathroom.

Baseboards and a beverage.

More Floor

Once we ran out of reclaimed fir we purchased pre-finished oak boards and Kirk went to work in all three of the bedrooms.

He painstakingly marked out all the tracks of the radiant floor heat first to avoid hitting the water coils with the pneumatic nailer.

Laying floors is very hard on the knees. Complaining helped!

Working ourselves into a corner.

Fine form.

Tim actually moved into his room at the beginning of Sept 2011. It was pretty spartan with sub floors and only roughed in windows, but he was very happy to have his own space.

A month later he moved into the kitchen so that we could lay the floor.

Tim's room with finished floor.

Tim moves back in to his finished bedroom together with new bedroom furniture.

Master bedroom ready for occupancy on Nov. 10th. Wa-hoo. Worth the wait and loving it!!!

Joining Two Storeys (Eng.)

At last it was time to take out the temporary stairs and build one that meets code. We were very fortunate to find Ryland Thompson who worked a miracle, especially as he had to meet Sarah's needs who in the beginning was clueless about what she wanted other than her emphatic "I don't want a bloody great post at the bottom". His patience paid dividends and he designed a work of art incorporating wood and metal.

Beginning stairs and risers in oak with cherry inlaid randomly into the risers

Break time!

Ryland setting the post at the top to attach to the handrail.

Bottom newel set on second step.

Ryland was practically our room mate for a few weeks. His sense of humour helped our sanity more than once. We were still roughing it in the trailer. Did I mention frayed tempers:)

Balusters in metal and oak.

Beginning structure of handrail on the landing of the second storey.

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Finished staircase and handrail. We used Tried and True natural Danish finish on all of the oak

View from second storey.

Thank-you Ryland!

Terra Firma

The brains and skill behind laying and finishing all the hardwood floors on the first floor was Trevor Storch www.storchconstruction.com This series of photos shows the true art of a master craftsman.

This Surfer Dude is not Trevor.

Kirk and Tim boring out what were the original bolt holes from the original bleachers.

Trevor sanding the floor in preparation for the finishing coats. He fastidiously sanded all the floors three times.

Sanding the dining room.

The first of four finishing coats.

Finished floor prior to sanding.

This picture shows the filled bolt holes. We chose black walnut as a nice contrast to the clear vertical grain Doug Fir floor boards.

Just finished and drying.

Finishing touches.

The upstairs landing.

From High School bleacher boards to......

......beautiful hardwood flooring