I almost forgot

Other things happened recently too.

Like late this afternoon, when we were in the kitchen. We heard a series of little pops, followed by a HUGE cracking sound.

"Fireworks," I thought. "Those are supposed to be illegal here."

Well, not fireworks so much. Instead, it was a humungous tree on Sharon and Kathy's wooded lot next door, which decided it had had enough of this standing-upright stuff. So it chose to fall down in our yard.

I went outside to investigate, and heard Kathy yell from across the lot: "What are you two doing over there?" with a laugh.



Anyhow, they're going to have their tree guy out to get rid of the junk. And luckily that was where we already had a busted-up fence after another part of it fall last winter.

When Kathy was over, we showed her our new berm/swale. We're hoping this will keep most of the water out of the window well from now on. D&B Landscaping to the rescue again.

Bedroom

All that needs to be said.



The bedroom is done. And the weather is absolutely amazing.

So happy.

Catching up to do

OK, OK, so we haven't been as diligent lately about updates. That's partially because there's been so much going on, and not all of it is incredibly visual.

First and foremost, there is a mulberry tree right on the edge of our lot, near the wooded lot owned by Kathy and Sharon next door. That means lots of delicious fruit, but in a place where it doesn't become a nuisance underfoot. And that meant time to harvest a big ol' batch...



...and make a mulberry clafouti.



This is about as bucolic as it gets -- at least inside the city limits.

After bucolic, though, came flood. Not to get into the gnarly details, but we had a flash flood. The window well filled up, and we took on a LOT of water in the basement.



Crisis. 'Tis OK -- we have a plan to re-landscape part of the back to make sure this won't happen again. Plus, part of the problem was that the window well had no bubble cover on it. That's taken care of now too.

Eventually, we'll block this window up and put a new one in the north side of the basement. It was really a very, very stupid place to put one in the first place, though the original owner planned to expand the house to the north -- leaving the east the only "logical" place for the window. Being a relative term, of course.

Jeff took the next day off to raise everything up off the floor, just in case this happens again. Unlikely, but he has us safeguarded.



After this view on the night of...



...it's nice to get to this one.



That's right. Hardwoods are in the process of going down upstairs!

Because of the layout of the hallway, it was necessary to start outside the bathroom door and at the back wall of the bedroom simultaneously. Difficult. Advanced, in fact. So that required a careful dry-fitting of the boards before installation began.



We actually got it wrong the first time, so a readjustment was necessary. The second try was absolutely perfect -- not even a millimeter off. We couldn't possibly be happier with how it ended up working out.

And once the floors are in, it's possible to install the doors. First time I've done this in many years, so it took a bit of trial and error. After a major bout with semi-obstructive perfectionism (Jeff didn't think it was really needed), I am just about as happy with the result as I could possibly be.

Both bedroom doorways are now done.



We love the closet doors.



Next, the bathroom gets its door. Then the bifolds on the laundry room (which we may investigate hiring out).

Then the trim goes in, and everything gets painted. Then knobs.

What next, we haven't quite decided. But we bought a bed from Crate and Barrel, which will be delivered this coming Saturday. And we got nightstands from Pier One.

Then it'll be time to load in all the furniture and go to sleep in our actual bedroom for the first time.

That'll be quite something, right?

Blue walls and Pinot greenio

It's amazing that now we're finished with the bathroom and laundry room, everything else seems like a total cakewalk. Sanding, smoothing and painting? Child's play!

OK, so we're pretty picky -- and that means this takes us a while. But at least it's something that really has a huge impact quickly. We love that.

This weekend was a heavy dose of painting. The bedroom is all touched up and just needs its trim to get a final coat. The blue is very relaxing.



We trimmed out the whole-house attic fan just to make it look more appealing and less utilitarian. I routed out the back underside of it to make sure the tabs that hold the off-season cover in place would be able to slide.



Then Jeff set about getting the first coat of white on the ceiling and walls of the upstairs hallway. They, like literally every other painted wall in this house, were an almond color. Taking them to pure white is almost unbelievably different and refreshing. It looks so great already, even though it needs another coating or two.



I also sanded the old walnut finish off the handrail going upstairs. It's just a simple piece of pine, but it isn't ugly (and in fact its simplicity is nice). And because it was installed in place before the walls went up, the only option if we didn't like it would be to cut it apart and add another railing in pieces -- because it's too long to get out of the house in one piece any more.



Tonight the very hot day gave way to a cool and relaxing night, so we grilled mahi-mahi and ate outside. Jeff got creative with the neon food coloring in our Pinot grigio.



We love it here more every single day -- because that day has gotten us closer to the beautiful home we know is hiding under the beige paint and dirty subfloors.