Before we knew it would take 6+ years to design, permit, and build our new house, we thought it might be nice to have a room that would be appropriate for a live-in Au-per as we had just had our third child. We figured anyone in that position would appreciate having their own little kitchenette,Read more about Basement guest room kitchenette[…]
We had another great holiday season in our house. This year, we invited two families to join us on Christmas day dinner. We again made Beef Wellington, which we’ve decided is now our Christmas dinner tradition. We even tried out the thermometer that came with our oven. This thermometer will monitor the interior temperature ofRead more about Our second holidays in the house[…]
It’s a common theme across a lot of the US these days – humans and wildlife interacting more and more. As cities push out farther, or forest grow in towards cities more, humans and wildlife are in close proximity. Squirrels Of course squirrels are common, and our dog loves to chase them. They can beRead more about Critters[…]
We learned some hard lessons about sewer problems when we had a sewer line clog and and overflow in our basement. We had another close call last month when our neighbors were having their sewer line replaced. The contractor ground out the tree roots blocking the line, in preparation for a trench less replacement, butRead more about Sewer proofing the house[…]
We planned a craft room for the kids from the start. The idea was to contain the mess stuff to a single room where we didn’t care as much if paint got spilled, etc. When we finished construction, the room was unfinished. In the last month, we built out the room with Ikea cabinets andRead more about Basement craft room[…]
One of the projects we punted on as we reached the end of our new house build and landscaping was the landscape lighting. Absolutely everything on this probably was taken down to the dirt, except two oak trees, an old fireplace, and 6 palm trees that were already here, but got moved around. So whenRead more about Landscape lighting[…]
It’s been about six months since I’ve updated our blog, and about 8 months since we received our final sign-off from the City. As with any project, there are always little things left to do. We did pull back some small items towards the end as we had construction fatigue, which also accounts for ourRead more about Continuing the journey … more new from old[…]
So far, we’ve made an outdoor dining table and bench from some of the redwood we recovered from the house we tore down. Here is a picture of the 4×6 beams that were in the living room, sitting room, and guest room of the old house. Here is the table and bench. We just askedRead more about More wood recycling[…]
It was finally time for us to wash the outside of the house; it was actually a bit past due. We wanted to wait until the end of all landscaping work, so we were past any activity that would dirty up the outside of the house again. And our house was filthy, from all theRead more about House washing[…]
We saw this nifty faucet in a newly remodeled Starbucks on a road trip a few weeks back and I thought it was interesting enough to blog about. It is somewhat hard to see, so let’s here is a better picture from the manufacturer’s website This is a single wash bar that has motion activatedRead more about Completely integrated faucet[…]