Loose Ends

We're starting to come up on the end of the remodel (at least the major pieces of it, anyway), and a lot of unfinished projects are starting to wrap up. The second half of the rock steps went in tonight with Carlos's help. Now that the stone is in place, Rachael is going to fill in the gaps with rich soil and plant ground cover, which will hopefully help the rocks blend in with the existing dirt and rock walls to either side.

Great Northwest Gutters installed our gutters and downspouts earlier this week and did some excellent work. The stock brown of the gutters matches the roof so well that they're practically invisible against the house. We chose downspout locations so that we can feed water runoff into small bioswales/watersheds instead of into the storm drains in the street.

Chano and crew have been doing a lot of painting, staining and varnishing for us, and it's all really starting to come together now. In this photo you can see the unexpectedly delicious finish of the porch ceiling, which is stained a deep brown and varnished.

Bull Nose

Rude came by and framed in the window and top edge of the bathroom field tile with bull nose pieces. He did a little creative maneuvering and put in a slate windowsill and did some crazy tile cutting work around the window. This photo doesn't do it justice, but if you saw it in person, you'd be excusing yourself more frequently to use the bathroom.

Water Bead

This shot was taken this afternoon. We got a pretty heavy rainstorm last night and the water that hit the deck beaded up on the layer of sealer instead of soaking into the wood.

Freshness Seal

Here's a shot of the deck during the sealing process. There's an unfinished strip running right to left in the center of the photo. The sealer brings out the rich grain and color of the Ipe and helps keep the deck from graying too quickly.

Backbreaking

On Saturday, Stuart and I moved over a ton and a half of rock into place for the lower set of front stairs. We spent a great deal of time shoveling dirt and gravel, too. Add to that a nasty fight or twelve with some tree roots the size of our forearms (or maybe the forearm of Loki, Stu?), and we had ourselves a mammoth day. Rachael kept things interesting when she disturbed a yellow jacket nest and collected three stings, including one right on her eyebrow.

Freakishly coincidentally, the Neander Games were held this past weekend at Rocky Butte in northeast Portland.

The plastic hanging over the porch was to keep falling tree debris off the freshly sealed decking.

Matching Garage

Chano, Leo and Carlos were with us again Saturday, this time putting some fresh paint on the garage to match it to the house.

Power Wash

Last Friday night Justin power washed the deck. Rachael scrubbed it clean with a stiff bristled push broom and some deck cleaner/brightener/conditioner. Then Justin power rinsed it clean. Thanks, Nathan for loaning us your washer. We filled the tank with diesel for you (just kidding!).