Tiles

Man and Machine

 This past weekend, we got almost the rest of the drywall up in the kitchen and living room. Just a few more pieces in the kitchen area. Realizing unless we wanted to extend the stay of our dumpster for extra money, we had to be finished with it by Monday. Instead of wrapping up the drywall on Sunday, we took on the dreadful task of removing about 550 sq ft of ceramic tile. The tile was a bit uneven in places, so putting down a new floor over the top wasn't an option. We rented a power hammer for the day from Home Depot. It made the chore a whole lot easier than doing it with hammers and chisels, but it still was a long, dusty, tiresome task. Zachary ran the power hammer and I was on clean up duty as he moved along. It took about 6 hours

After the dust had cleared, we were real happy with the results. Makes a nice level base for the new flooring. Which we are still deciding what to pick...

We added pendant lights to the living room.

New blossom of the day. A lily of some sort, blossoming around the yard right now.

Yard Work

Here is some pictures of our front yard, since we hadn't shared them yet. Much like the backyard, the front yard needs a lot of work too. The plants are overgrown and snuffing out each other and the lawn itself is a sandy patchy paradise. We aren't going to do much to the yard in the short term, besides minimal maintenance and pruning until after we are moved in. The inside renovations are the priority right now. We did spend an evening mowing, pruning, and moving brush around; since it was looking really shaggy and we couldn't stand it anymore.

Here is Zachary pulling up one of the many shotty DIY irrigation pipes that are poking around the yard. It was poorly installed originally and not buried very deep, so they are popping out of the ground in pieces.

Brush pile and shaggy lawn.

View after trimming the small palms around the driveway and moving the brush pile by the road for the city to retrieve. Mowed the "lawn". At least the clumps and patches of "grass" is even now.

Our broken lamppost by the end of the driveway.

This is the creek/ditch/canal we have been referencing. We plan to do a lot of pruning between the driveway and canal. Maybe plant some hostas and small shrubs under the trees? I don't know, that is yet to be explored and an after we are moved in project.

The big dumpster is leaving us next week and we get our driveway back. Yay!

We have 3 of these cactus things in our yard. Cool looking but very sharp.

There is a tiny pond  by the garage that used to be a some sort of water feature before it was overgrown and forgotten. You wouldn't even notice the pond part besides the small patch of water lilies in the sand, like a mini desert oasis. Pretty right now though, the lilies are blossoming.

Creeper Craft

 In my second felting project, I decided to stray from using a kit and come up with something on my own. I was thinking nerdy homage. I settled on Minecraft.

Using wool from our own sheep we had a couple years ago that I had cleaned and carded into batts, I felted the wool into bases for all the shapes I was going to need. Taking something that is so light and airy and reducing it tight woven blocks takes some time. Besides the occasional needle poke, it was a relaxing activity to do while watching Netflix. Zachary even partook in the needling at times.

After getting the bases in the right shape and size, I bought dyed wool at the craft store. I felted on thin layers around the blocks. I picked the multicolored wool for the Creeper bodies to simulate their pixelated green skin. Once I had the idea of making one Creeper, it evolved into a Creeper family with a pet pig of course.

Why a Fez? Because Fezzes are cool.

We gave the baby Creeper a non-traditional happy face. Maybe baby Creepers are born happy-go-lucky, before they develop their explosive personality?

The pig's tail is my favorite

Next felting project? Hmmm... still pondering.

Walls and Stuff

 The past week at house has been mostly wall related activity. We pulled off all the car siding in the living room, and de-nailed all the siding boards. We kept all the good pieces (the stack along the back wall) and are storing them in the wave shed for now. Future project wood.

 Zachary has been doing wiring in the kitchen and living room, updating switches and outlets. Also while the walls are open, we are installing wiring for home audio and network.

 Picked up drywall today, in a downpour, but luckily got it indoors without it getting ruined in the rain. 36 sheets.

Zachary had the idea of installing a decorative beam in the living room, to save on wire length for the home audio and to avoid patching already textured drywall on the ceiling. Once we figure out a color scheme for the room, we will stain the beam a color. We also replaced the ceiling fan for a little bigger one, moves the air around nice. We will be adding pendant lights to the beam too, in the same place were the original secondary lights were before.

Still have to run more wire (waiting on the speaker wire to arrive from Amazon), some misc. electrical, and some minor plumbing and we will be ready to hang drywall. This weekend hopefully.

Bye Kitchen

 So after getting the keys to the house and seeing it empty for the first time, our original plans of redoing a bathroom first changed.

 And especially after moving the appliances out, we confirmed our choice. Kitchen it is!

 The cabinet bottoms varied from crumbling to sawdust. Not from termites thankfully, but from water damage from some time ago.

 Our plan is to open up the kitchen, pulling back the interior wall between the kitchen and the front door to the stairs, for more light and open feel. We are debating leaving the open space where the wall was for an island or space for a kitchen table.

Don't freak, it is dead! Found this feller in the wall, dried at a right angle. Sure gave us a scare though...

 We found areas of bad drywall too, from more water damage, behind the sink area. There was also water damage in the celing in the kitchen, from a leaky skylight a couple years ago. Nothing currently leaking though. We decided to tear out all the drywall in the kitchen in the end, so we can have a fresh clean base for  our new cabinets. We didn't want to risk any mold growth chance in the future.

 Where did the kitchen go?

We ordered new cabinets last weekend already, taking advantage of a Memorial Day sale at Lowes. They were delivered today. It will be a little bit before we install them. Drywall, flooring, and a little wiring to be done first.