Monday, February 26, 2007

More Pictures


Look at my AMAZING island. WooHoo!!! One of the highlights of the kitchen for me. It is 5 feet by 5 feet, with a wine rack and an eating bar.


So the problem with my huge, lovely island is that it makes the nook smaller. Luckily there are lots of windows so hopefully it seems very open. Also there should be a mountain view from the deck so we'll eat lots of meals outside.


Here's our front door. I'm not sure if the window will be a blessing or pain. Blessing because of the light and the enlarged entrance. Pain becuase I can't avoid people coming to the door when I don't want to answer it.

If Darryl has any technical comments please add them

Monday, February 19, 2007

Some Recent Pictures

I'll post some recent picture here but leave it up to Darryl to add the details, as my details would be to basic as there is some wood on the roof, but no shingles. Anyway I won't continue to embarass myself. Here's the pictures.



Sorry it's sideways. These are the stairs going upstairs. We will having railing up the stairs and a skylight in the stairwell.



Here is the livingroom.


And the nook

Enjoy

Jenn

Monday, February 12, 2007

Progress? Hard to say

On Sunday evening Jenn and I were headed to Jenn's parent's place for dinner but before dinner we dropped Lucas off at their place and went to see the house. It's hard to say whether there was progress since the last visit I made on Wednesday, since I hadn't walked through then. We did last night and the entire first floor is framed. Interior walls and all. Also, the joists are up for the second floor, but no sheathing or rim joist. It's interesting to walk through when there is no drywall. Jenn has said and so has my Sister that it seems small. I'm sure everything is okay and it's exactly how big we expect it to be, it's just weird.

Pictures are on Jenn's new cell phone so I'll have to post again later tonight when I get a chance to get them off of it.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

A Few New Links to the Right

Just wanted to bring some attention to the links on the right. I added 3 new sites. The first two are blogs/podcasts I follow pretty closely. The third is a site with 24x7 streaming of woodworking shows (unfortunately no Norm).

Big truck in the way!

Went by the house on the way home from work today. Did stop, didn't take any pictures and there was a big dump truck in the way with a large number of workers, working on the crazy large bungalow next door. What I could see was that we have at least 4 walls on the main floor! I'm going to see if there are some cheap hardhats at a local store, Marks Work Wearhouse at lunch tomorrow or House of Tools. If there are, I'll be stopping by the house again and this time taking pictures.

You're probably wondering, Hardhat? When we signed the papers for the house, part of the building contract was that we need to wear hardhats when visiting the house. Now that it's past the point where the only thing that could fall from above is bird poo, it's time that we need the hardhats. Don't really want to pay a fine. Anyway, I don't really want to drive all the way over to the show homes to borrow hardhats when I stop by so I figure, doesn't hurt to get one of my own. Heck, may need it again one day right? Another house, or given my woodworking and construction background, maybe I'll end up working for a construction company in the future? Guess this is just the way I am, avoid the extra work and human contact. Guess that's why I'm a computer geek and like working in my workshop.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

One day's progress and a new topic

I'm a little disappointed, in the progress of Thursday and Friday this past week. Nothing was done on Thursday itself as I had stopped by the house after work. On Saturday afternoon, when the following shots were taken, there was then just Friday's work done which would have been the completion of the floor joists, which would have included the bracing between them and the laminated rim joist that was applied. Then almost all of the sheathing of the floor minus a few sheets and the trimming of the excess.





As the title of the entry suggests, I'm thinking of turning this into a dual purpose blog. To talk about the House of course, and to talk about my related hobby, woodworking. So without further ado, I'll put up some shots of the latest project and talk about them.







Jenn, late last year, posted a number of pictures of a mysterious project that I was working on in the basement workshop. A number of people made guesses as to what it may be. Though I am unsure of who was very close to the mark, these pictures, no doubt give away the answer. A 5' x 5' dining table made from knotty pine. When the leaf is removed it's 5' x 3' in size.

I've really learned a lot about knotty pine in this project, most notably, how easily it is affected by moisture and warping. In fact, I'm not sure if many other projects will be constructed by me in the wood without a jointer purchase for the shop. I like the look of the table, and it was designed and built with a rustic, well used look in mind, but it's frustrating when every time I make a cut, a couple days later the piece I just cut is not straight anymore.

It was a struggle but I guess it adds to it's character in the end. The next steps are to distress it (aka beat it up so it looks old and used), do a final sanding, dismantle it, then stain everything, apply a coat of urethane, assemble it (with wood glue this time), and apply another 2-4 coats of urethane and sand between coats. We're looking at least another month away from completion I think. I'll keep you posted.