Strubgrass Manor

Life is better with more chandeliers

2012-01-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

We ordered this one from West Elm. The old hanging lamp was ugly - it was dark, old (but not in any sort of antique, artistic way), and it hummed a little when it was on.

But now, you can enjoy a grand entrance with our fancy-ass chandelier in the front hallway. Plus, we installed a dimmer for it. I'm a firm believer in dimmers. If given the opportunity, always, put in a dimmer! It's the only way to increase the fanciness of chandelier living (to see what I mean, watch the video).

Installation was interesting. We had some outside help, but none of us are electricians. Which should be fine with a standard installation. But the existing fixture had more than the usual number of connections: 2 grounding wires, 3 white, and 1 black. We sorted it out with a voltage tester, but it was a mind-melting challenge. So far, it's been worth it!

(Fine?) Art

2012-01-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

In addition to working on Strubgrass Manor home renovation projects, I've been doing some painting. (This one made a convenient Christmas present for my mom!):

This is blog-worthy because the photo is of some flowers from our neighbors that I blogged about back in June:

Insulation: it's a Beautiful Thing

2011-11-29T15:35:00.001-08:00

Last month we got new foam insulation in the subfloor and the attic. Although there was insulation in the subfloor already, it was pretty halfass: fiberglass hanging down in many places. This was phase 1 of the insulation project. Phase 2 will involve having a guy drill tiny holes all over the exterior of the house to inject insulation, then having another guy come and fix those holes. Then, surely we'll need another guy* (or two) to paint over the patched holes and the pink of the exterior. We might even be able to do that part ourselves.

*Note: I say "guy" as a gender neutral term - even if the painter is a lady, we will most likely call her the Painting Guy.

Phase 2 of this project is a couple years and several thousand dollars away, but in the meantime, we're a little more comfortable inside with proper floor and ceiling insulation. The insulation guy said that the walls in our old house are butterfly walls (I googled that, but didn't have any luck, but I can tell you that a search for "butterfly walls" brings up lots of pretty wallpaper..). The Butterfly walls are supposedly hollow in the middle and allow air to travel, unfettered, from the ground to the roof, taking heat with it. The insulation guy said that although he couldn't fully stop the airflow without first making swiss cheese out of the whole house, he could help the situation by injecting insulation from the subfloor into the walls and decreasing the airflow.

While the subfloor insulation was being installed, I was in the kitchen making a sandwich. I guess there was a hole in the floor in the kitchen, because a stream of spray foam and vapor came shooting into the kitchen. This was smelly and unappetizing. But the good news is that the hole is sealed up now! As you can see in the above pics, there were quite a few gaps to seal in.

So far, we're keeping about 5-10 more degrees overnight, meaning what used to be 45 degrees indoors in the mornings is now 50 or 55 - not too bad! It's much easier to warm up the house to the desired 60 degrees of comfort that we're accustomed to.

And here's a picture of the Thanksgiving table, just so you have something nice to look at:

Applets!

2011-10-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

We planted this bareroot apple tree in the Spring of 2009 - and it's taller than me now! As you can see by the green patch at the base of the tree, we water it throughout the summer, but let the rest of the grass die off. So our Apple Tree buddy lives in a damp oasis during the dry months. Someday, we'll pull out all the grass and have a lovely gravel pathway to define the space, along with some landscaping. But in the meantime - at least we have some trees started.

Although this little guy has kind of a weird, gangly shape (plus some leaf rust or leaf creatures - anyone know what that is?). For the first time this fall, it's decided to grace us with 5 apples! No news on how they taste, yet - standby for an update.

Shut the front door, really!

2011-10-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

The new front door and transom have been installed, and we're looking forward to a winter full of no rolled up blanket under the front door to keep out the wind. The guys did a great job replacing all the old casing and installing the new frame and door. Of course, it took us forever to do the finishing touch - painting the trim to match the rest of the house, but we're all done now. So nice to have a little more light coming through the hallway, plus - zero draft (from the front door, anyway!).

Plus, the peephole works (it didn't on the old door), which is going to save me a lot of grief when the Mormons come a knockin'.

The patchy spot to the upper right of the door is where the porch light used to be, until we moved it down where it actually shed light onto the front yard. Someday, we'll paint the whole house and cover up that spot, in a color other than pink.

Nice backsplash!

2011-08-31T16:29:00.000-07:00

I just noticed that this $2.49 Million San Francisco house (above) has the exact same (or darn close to it!) tile backsplash we put in our house a couple years ago:

The SF house is gorgeous, but I don't know about the backsplash - it's a bit skimpy. Their kitchen would have been a real knockout if they extendeded the backsplash tile all the way to the ceiling - I'm sure they had the budget to spend an extra couple hundred bucks on tile!

Skunk Back-to-School Party Hangover

2011-08-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

A little nature in the city

There's a skunk who lives in the backyard/alley vicinity. There are also a few kitties and birds who pass through. So far, we have all lived in harmony and give each other plenty of space and respect. In general, Skunkie only comes out at night, so we watch out for him then. Once I was taking out the trash late at night and found him bumbling along by the Quince tree. He was cute and looked half-blind. I left him the hell alone.

Early this afternoon, the pup and I were doing one of our daily patrols and found something interesting (and disgusting). It was a pile of whole and half chewed worms, grubs, and berries, surrounded in something biley and jelly-like. If you think that sounds gross, just be glad I'm sparing you a photograph. Mattie was so entranced by the discovery, she tried to roll in it and got yelled at.

We found a few more piles of half-worm grossness that led to the big pile. Skunkie must have over-partied on grubs and worms last night and was feeling a little hungover this morning.

New Green Waste Bin Changes my Life

2011-08-12T16:48:00.000-07:00

*photo credit: Fred

I was going to blog about our new green waste/compost bin from the City, but my neighbor beat me to it.

I was reluctant about the green waste bin - I don't know why. I didn't to pay for it, or have it take up room in the backyard. But now that we actually have growing things in the yard, it's been amazing. I've already filled it up the minute they've emptied it! I love it!

We have a compost bin already - but the last time I stirred it, a mouse and I scared the crap out of each other. So I'm giving him some space.

Mid-summer Garden update

2011-07-21T17:46:00.000-07:00

Cauliflower a success! We've been eating cauliflower soup for days now, with plenty of it still in the freezer!

Delicata squash (a volunteer plant that germinated via the compost) is the healthiest thing in the garden.

The Zucchini is honestly a little puny. Any suggestions?

Interesting finds during front door demolition

2011-07-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

The house was only front-door less for about a day, which was an exciting one. We found some cool stuff while ripping out the hated old front door and gappy trim. There was really weird linen lining (for insulation? moisture resistance?) between the old front door trim and the wall. Looks like it was nailed in place on top of the original redwood before they put on the trim. I wonder why? I doubt it had any insulation purpose - if so, it failed miserably. But it's nice to see that under that is solid old-growth redwood, a little weathered and darkened, but holding up pretty well after 105 years.

Also notable were the rusty old nails that that came out when ripping out the old door casing. They're square-headed iron(?) nails. Look like they're handmade. One one hand, these are fascinating and historical. On the other, it's not all that reassuring to think that the nails holding together most of the house look like this.

There goes the neighborhood!

2011-06-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors have an amazing rose garden on the other side of our hedge/fence. We been making bouquets out of the little yellow flowers that bloom on our side, but they're nothing compared to this bouquet that Connie brought over today from their amazing rose bushes! Check out Fred's blog for a bit more on their garden, and a little bit of teasing about our dumb home renovation projects...

Backyard Planter Box Build & Installation

2011-05-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

The last two weekends have been devoted to acquiring lumber, building, and filling a couple of raised beds for growing vegetables. A project like this always takes a little longer than you would think (and is not without its highs and lows!)

Weekend I

We found some great instructions on "The perfect raised bed" in Sunset mag online. I liked how the plan didn't involve a ton of cuts, which was great for 2 reasons: avoiding excessive math, plus minimizing use of power tools that can take off your finger in a fraction of a second. The raised beds are a couple feet off the ground, which will keep the pups from running afoul in the garden, and keep us from having to bend over so much when planting & harvesting.

We bought lumber & supplies at Piersons, got a little help making the cuts (thanks, Papa!) and were pretty amazed at how easy it was to put these together. Not super easy, like sitting on the porch drinking a beer easy, but easy like: wow, we constructed something useful out of wood using power tools, and it didn't take all day! In fact, I'm inspired to build a deck later this summer. But more on that later...

By the time we put together the frames and speced out the locations, it was sunday afternoon. So our 9-5 (or should I say 8-6) jobs demanded we abandon our hands-on project for a few days.

Weekend II

After the suprise ease and simplicity of building the boxes, this weekend, full of mindless manual labor (loading and hualing several hundred lbs of dirt) ended up being the "oh crap that was a lot of work" suprise weekend.

It started with pulling up to Wes Green Landscaping in my dad's truck (sans the dad). The cashier took one look at us smallish women and said, "You do know you have to load the soil into the truck yourselves, right?" Bitch, puh-lease. Do I really look like that much of a princess? or maybe more likely I look like a shrimp.

Then we backed up the truck and shoveled, shoveled, shoveled what seemed like a billiondy lbs of shit into the back of the truck. And the truck complained as well, as we struggled with the heavy load to reach 50 MPH on the freeway.

Then, we unloaded the compost to find out yep, we were about 1/2 way there. Good thing we were so good and shoveling manure and didn't mind another trip (or 2) to the landscaping supply yard.

And did i mention that when we installed the boxes, we had to rip out the grass by hand, and that it was $43 worth of greenwaste? (that's the last time I take greenwaste to the dump in Eureka!)

Fast forward to the end of weekend, and after all the building, positioning, shoveling, and hauling, you can see that we have a couple of lovely planter boxes! And those zuchinni, green beans, and strawberries might look tiny now - but just give them a couple months and we'll be begging people to take the zucchinis off our hands!

Spring has Sprung at the Manor

2011-03-31T17:27:00.001-07:00

Shut the Front Door

2011-03-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

Our front door has always seemed ok. It's solid and has some beautiful historical hardware. And in the warmer times of the year, it's completely up to par.

But last Thanksgiving when my mother-in-law came to visit and was staying in our office/guestroom (which is nicely insulated), I moved my mobile office into the living room. It's a little chilly in there in November because there are high ceilings. But I didn't realize until I sat all day near the front door just how drafty it was. There was a full-on breeze coming in from the front door, and this is AFTER we installed weatherstripping to the bottom of the door. So I sat there working at the computer with fingerless gloves on, cursing the massive gaps and general crappiness of the front door.

The leaky front door explains why when I get up in the morning during the winter, the thermostat in the hallway near the front door usually reports a temparature in the low 50s, and sometimes in the 40s. The low so far was 42 degrees. 42 DEGREES INDOORS! Not that I'm complaining - I put on some slippers, crank the heat, and it usually warms up to a balmy 59 degrees in a couple of hours.

The door frame looks wonky as well. You can see in the photo that it's visibly crooked with an inch at the top on the right, but slopes to about a 1/4 inch gap on the left. We do the rolled up blanket trick to slow down the draft little, which helps. But not so much. Plus, after the quake of January 2010, an additional crack has appeared on the left adding to the depth and character of the draft.

And then there's ye olde historical window transom above the door. Even before we moved in, we noticed it had a crack in the glass, which detracts from the charm of the etched glass with the house numbers (that you can't even see from the street anyway). We bought the place anyway (suckers!)

So the big project for Spring: replace the front door, casing, and transom.

Today we ordered a new Simpson door with a built-in insulated transom on the top. Not to sound like a commercial, but this door kicks ass. It has a frosted, insulated window pane in the top of the door that's 3/4" thick. Plus, the door boasts "Maximum Weather Resistance" which sounds pretty good to me! So in a snappy 4-6 weeks, our contractor (the heroic Jake Larson and crew) we'll be on site to make this the beautiful, shuts-all-the-way door we've always dreamed about.

And a shout-out to my buddy Nick, who accused us of "putting on airs" by getting a new front door that shuts all the way and doesn't look like hell. What can I say - we're uppity, but we've earned it!

Increased security at the Manor

2011-03-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

So it's not exactly a beautifying addition to the house or one that is going to make us warmer in the winter, but adding a security system has been a significant upgrade. Although it's a great neighborhood... After hearing that a friend of ours a few blocks away had their house broken into and had to chase the intruder down the street with a vase (holy shit!), we decided a security system was a must. Motion detectors, glass break sensors, the whole deal. I'm already sleeping better at night.

Now, if I can only remember to disarm the system before letting the dog out first thing in the morning, I will stop scaring the bejeezus out of myself (and the dog!)

Choking out the grass

2011-01-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

About 75% of our 1/3rd acre yard is grass. It's green and lush, but incredibly boring and requires a ridiculous amount of mowing. We are gradually ripping out the grass and replacing it with shrubs, trees, and pathways. Digging out tough grass with a shovel is a ton of work and not my favorite activity. I can do it, but I'm tiny so it takes forever.

I recently read about an alternative method to digging grass out square foot by square foot. My architect buddy and landscape "coach" told me that he's had success with the method of placing layers of newspaper to choke out the grass/weeds. This method starves the unwanted groundcover of light while protecting the worms and happy compost creatures that live under the newspaper.

Trouble is, it takes a TON of newspaper to stand up to rain and wind for the several months it takes to choke out the grass. But I just read that cardboard works too, and is a lot easier to come by in the volume it requires to block out the light. So I'm testing this method in a small (2" x 15") strip alongside the foundation. I trimmed back the grass as low as I could, placed several wormy buckets of compost over the grass, then layered cardboard/newspaper over that. Then I covered it with mulch and bricks (to keep the cardboard from flying away). It should take a few months, but ideally in about April I can sweep back the mulch and cut through the cardboard, and then plant some shrubs (in this case, blueberries), then add more mulch. And never mow that area again!

Plastic wrapping the historic window

2010-11-14T11:05:00.001-08:00

The fellow we bought the house from 3 years ago was a house flipper. He did a ton of work to bring the place up to date, although most of what he did has a handhewn charm that wasn't up to the professional level we would have liked. One of the big improvements he did was replace the windows with modern, double-paned windows. Thank goodness.

For some unknown reason ($$$) he left 2 of the original windows. Maybe he thought they would act as a time capsule to demonstrate the historical origins of the house (which they do). But one of these beautiful, historical, woefully drafty windows is right off my office and is one of the reasons I am dressed in scarfs and gloves all winter.

In the Master Plan, the historical window and patio door will be replaced. We're going to knock out the entire wall they are on and fill in the side porch to create a dining room. So for now, it makes no sense to replace these windows. But... wrapping them in plastic wrap to reduce the draft is our low-tech solution to slowing down the breeze.

Eventually I see this beautiful window becoming recycled into yard art, or becoming a building block for a greenhouse.

Ye olde Koal-burning Hearthe

2010-10-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Part of the fun of having a historic home is having useless, yet beautiful items in key places in the home. Take for example, our nonfunctional coal-burning fireplace and chimney. When we bought the house, the chimney was vented with an opening at the top. This was odd, because my guess is that it's been at least 40 years since anyone used the coal burning stove for burning coal (or anything, for that matter).

When we replaced the roof we took the chimney down to the roof level and sealed it off. Given all the brick & chimney damage we could have had in January 2010 earthquake, this was probably a wise move. Plus, in October of the previous year, we had real live spooky spiders rapelling down the opening and into the living room.

The nonfunctinality of the hearth isn't a big deal. We place candles in the bottom and it's a nice effect. SOME DAY a nice gas (or wood?) stove that vents out the top would be amazing. And the heat would be nice too.

In the meantime, Mrs. Strubgrass has been refinishing the mantle, which is a lovely old growth redwood under about 7 layers of garish paint. She has removed most of the turquoise paint and "faux marbling effect" and is getting close to unveiling the original splendor of the Strubgrass hearth. When it's done, we'll spend the winter huddled together under blankets marveling at its beauty.

Front yard landscaping complete!

2010-09-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

We installed the back row of boxwoods (which puts us at about 150, phew!) and can say that we're done with the front yard landscaping project! The plants are still looking a little dinky, BUT the boxwoods are starting to spread out a little - hopefully to create a nice leafy border and dimension to the front slope.

So far, maintenance has been low key. We opted to go without weed tarp (thinking it would cause mulch slippage, plus - I kind of hate the stuff) and so far, so good. there are some sneaky fireweeds (my nemesis!!) and clover, but a quick sweep about once a week has knocked them out so far. It's so much better to drive up to the Manor and see happy looking grasses & herbs, instead of the dreaded dead grass eyesore that got me in trouble!

Front Yard Landscaping in Progress

2010-08-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

If anyone remembers "Church Ladies complain about my front lawn", they will be pleased to see that something is being done to reclaim the lumpy, weedy, mass that used to greet the neighborhood. Earlier this month, we hired some guys to come and dig out the fireweed, dandelion, and general funkiness out front. They hauled it all away and replaced it with composted manure.

Then we got to do the hands-on, fun stuff. Which included rounding up about 50 boxwood hedge plants (I think we bought all that were available in Humboldt), some lavenders, grasses, heathers (from Farmers' Market!), and twenty-three 2 1/2 gallon buckets full of small mulch. Then spacing out, planting, and putting mulch on the hillside.

Foundation planting

2010-07-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

In April of this year, we ripped out some of the lawn bordering the front porch and put in some foundation plantings. The idea was to reduce the amount of lawn (it now takes 10 seconds less to mow the frontyard!) and to create an organic buffer to the tall Victorian foundation skirting.

Ripping out the grass by hand (with a maddock) was a challenge.. let's just say it was a good workout and I got to skip the gym for a couple days afterwards. We planted Mexican feather grass, California poppies, Rockrose, Heather, and some dogwood.

Before/during (including canine supervision):

After:

I dream of a 3rd bedroom

2010-06-14T17:43:00.000-07:00

This is a detail of Phase 4 - the addition of the 3rd bedroom (red walls are new). Our architect did a great job of figuring out how to reconfigure the potentially wierd addition into a hallway with good natural flow. The new back bedroom will be about twice as big as the tiny 8x8 office where I spend at least 9 hours a day!

This new bedroom also includes french doors onto a private deck. Maybe something like this cedar soaking tub will make its way into the master Plan?

Master plan completed!

2010-05-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

After working with my architect buddy Julian off & on for the last few months, we've developed master plans for remodeling the existing house as well as a landscape plan for the sprawling backyard. The house plan is broken out into phases so we can do a little at a time (as time and $$$ permit).

The architectural plan involves several small additions. Phase 1 fills in the side porch to create a dining room and add some square footage to the master bathroom (btw: the current master bathroom is tiny, funky, potentially moldy, and despite bordering an outside wall, has no windows). Phase 2 is a small change that increases the size of the living room to accommodate Madam Strubgrass's grand piano. Phase 3 adds storage and a carport to the backyard off the alley, and Phase 4 adds bedroom 3 onto the back of the house. Phase 4 (adding a bedroom) might be the first project we complete for a couple of reasons. First of all, where are we going to put the babies (once we find out how to get them, of course) and also - resale value (for the house, not the babies).

We have no concrete dates for starting any remodel construction, but now that the plan is done we can move forward with landscaping (since we now know what areas of the house are going to expand, we can plan on not getting attached to anything we plant there.)

The master landscape plan really has me excited, especially because now we can get started on removing the lumps of dead grass that make up the frontyard. Plus - we can start to give shape to the huge rectangle of weedy grass in the backyard.

Goodbye, crappy dishwasher!

2010-05-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to some sweet rebate deals from PG&E, we have upgraded the (almost nonfunctional) Tappan dishwasher to a high-tech, super quiet, actually works Bosch dishwasher. There was no do-it-yourself this time. Installation was free, so how could we say no? At the risk of sounding like a total yuppie, this new dishwasher is amazing. Not only does it work and not make loud clanging noises, but it also matches. Now, I will fear no dinner party!

A Bounty of Parsnips

2010-04-10T14:46:00.001-07:00

Holy crap yes! It's Arcata Farmer's Market season again. There's nothing like the first Farmer's Market of the year. I was inspired to harvest the remainder of the winter parsnips that were in the gardern to clear the way for the springtime planting bug. I love everything about these guys, espeically the carroty-potatoey smell. Before moving here, I had never eaten one or considered growing them. But they're so easy! This is going to be a parsnippy week.

Church ladies complain about my front lawn

2010-03-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

Although I would like to take credit for the brown lump of dead grass that is our front yard, I would like to point out that it was like this when we moved in 2 & 1/2 years ago. The first year we lived here we were optimistic. We watered, fed, seeded, aerated, & said nice things to the slope, thinking it could be cured with a combination of lawn care products & plucky optimism. It showed signs of hope all spring until about June, when it became clear that our efforts were futile.

It didn't take long for us to give up the not-so-good fight. In year 2 of our residency, we adopted an environmentally-friendly attitude, and stopped watering altogether. We considered it a sign of green pride that we weren't wasting water on our lawn. This had the added benefit of letting it die off so we didn't have to mow. As you can imagine, it looked freakin' fantastic (not really).

Months later, I was at a "ladies tea luncheon" with my mother over christmas when one of the ladies politely (kind of) said to me,

"Oh! Your house is looking great! except for that lawn (tisk) - looks like you have some work to do! Have you thought about fixing that?"

I could be indignant and say she was being rude, but she's right. The curb appeal of the house is stymied by the washed-out dirt patch that greets passerby.

Now that we're on year 3, we are ready to realize our dream of drought-tolerant, slope-friendly, low-maintenance plants to replace the grass. We want something interesting, non-invasive, beautiful, yet hardy. Is that too much to ask? California poppies, sage, Ceanothus? Plus, what do we have to do to prepare the washed out soil for new plants.

Suggestions?

Death to weeds

2010-03-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

Just spent my entire lunch break plucking dandelions out of the lawn with my trusty Grandpa's Weeder. Pulling weeds out via this method is actually very satisfying in an outdoorsy, obsessive compulsive sort of way.

Kitchen Before & After: the Final Chapter

2010-03-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

Finally - some completed "After" photos. Here's what we did:
- New countertop
- New tile backsplash
- New hardware on cabinets
- New sink & faucet
- Painted walls & cabinets
- New range
- Added Multi-pure water filter
- New electrical outlets (no more 2/3 cut off outlets! I can now sleep at night!)

Kitchen Before & After: Part 4

2010-02-23T19:20:00.000-08:00

Tile Backsplash Installation

After drooling over Heath Ceramics tiles for several months, we decided that their colors, although beautiful, were just too earthy for the look we were going for. We decided on a gray and white glass subway tile with a random-looking horizontal pattern. You can see my review of the tile on www.glasstilestore.com.

Picking the tile was easy compared to the royal pain in the ass that installing it was. After viewing a few DIY Network videos on installing tile backsplashes and double checking that our math was mostly correct, we enlisted the help of friends & family (particularly my dad - who, poor guy, had no idea what he was getting himself into). We figured 2 & 1/2 days was more than enough time to complete the project (considering they said in the video that it would take a couple of hours). We underestimated a bit. Here's how it actually went down:

Day 1: Removed the infamous 2/3rds switchplates and outlets. Cut & installed backerboard.

Day 2: Placed 1-foot tile blocks in piles on the counter and figured out where they were going to go. Rented tile cutter.

Day 3: Took tile cutter back after realizing it was too weak for our beefy glass tiles. Rented new, more expensive tile cutter. Started cutting tile. Cut tile all day (thanks Papa!). Mixed thinset. Realized thinset mixed a little too thin. Re-read directions. Poured out thinset. Remixed to correct specifications. Started placing thinset, then tile on backerboard. Realized this is a 4 - 6 hands type of job. Enlisted more friends & neighbors.

Day 4: Finished placing tiles in 1-foot blocks along backerboard.
Note: glass tiles are heavy and like to slide down once you place them on a vertical surface. 2nd person needed to hold tiles in place while thinset dries.

Day 5: Grouted, grouted, grouted. Realized that fingers worked better to apply grout than any tools we had purchased. Sponged off excess, sponged off excess and then sponged it off some more. Applied band-aids to blistered and bleeding fingers.

Day 6: Cracked open a beer and enjoyed the beautiful new tile backsplash! I expect Dwell Magazine to be knocking on our door begging for a photo shoot any day now.

Kitching Before & After: Part 3

2010-02-19T17:34:00.000-08:00

Kitchen Mini-Renovation

Although it was exciting to have a blank slate, it was a tough decision to choose the material of the new counter. We wanted the look and feel to reflect the informality of a cottage kitchen, but match the Victorian vibe of the house overall. I also wanted the counter to be made from a slab that was one whole piece to create a solid feel.

Granite? Too trendy. Also, too cold. Butcherblock? Too much potential for mold/funkiness. Tile? Maybe.. but it was so satisfying to rip out the old tile, it didn't feel like a good permanent solution. Concrete was also in the running, but of course the artisanal, locally-produced concrete we wanted runs upwards of $4,000 for our modest kitchen.

The solution turned out to be PaperStone, a composite of recycled paper and nut resins. It's eco-friendly, warm to the touch, and comes in giant 5x12 sheets that are cut to fit with minimal seams. Plus, the installer can create custom beveled edges and grooves. The friendly folks at the Alternative Building Center in Eureka hooked us up.

A new range, sink, and faucet were also part of the renovation. A lucky trip through the Sears appliance section yielded a stainless steel Bosch gas range that someone had returned. The $1,100 range was ours for $450. Score! Thanks to Overstock.com, a new stainless steel sink and sweet Grohe faucet were also in the works.

With the fugly tile, backerboard, and mysterious 2/3 switchplates removed, we were ready for our countertop guy to get cracking on the Paperstone.

Kitchen Before & After: Part 2

2010-02-17T17:40:00.000-08:00

Demolition

Why is it always so much easier to take something apart than put it back together? Borrowed some crow bars and hammers from the neighbors and started chipping away. This only took a couple of hours. The tile practically fell away from the backerboard (it must have known how ugly it was).

If you look closely, you can see the black mold to the upper left of the state-of-the-art Tappan dishwasher.

Kitchen Before & After: Part 1

2010-02-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

When we moved in the kitchen was a charming yellow, which over time became a sordid, dingy yellow. Whoever installed the tile countertops did a pretty half-assed job. There were gaps where food and water could get in, leaving areas of frightening slime mold that I tried not to look directly in the eye. The tile itself had a "granite effect" in which the manufacturer stamped faux granite-like ribbons which mismatched to create a dizzying optical illusion.

Interestingly, the tile installer before us had brought up a partial backsplash which cut into the region where the electrical switchplates should be. Instead of cutting the tile to go around the electrical outlets, he cut the bottom third off the switchplates. I'm not sure how this passed inspection - I guess there was nothing really wrong with this. You be the judge.

First Things First

2010-01-21T16:27:00.000-08:00

The Inspector said there were weak spots in the roof. The kind of weak spots where water, debris, insects, slugs (my personal "ew" was for the slugs) could get in. Plus anyone walking on the roof could fall in (the Inspector seemed personally invested there). So the rush to replace the roof before a Northern California winter was on.