remembering still feathers

Near the end of working on one side of the Good Bones remodeling project, a cedar waxwing crashed into a kitchen window.

It hit the window so hard that some of its feathers stuck to the glass of the window.

feathers left © 2011 Toni Matlock

feathers still © 2011 Toni Matlock

I turned to a fellow artist, Stephanie Frostad, for solace and she made a painting in honor of the sweet bird.

Hapless Waxwing © 2011 Stephanie J. Frostad

Stephanie currently has an exhibition of her art titled 'Natural Circumstances' on view in Seattle, Washington at Davidson Galleries until September 1st.  Be sure to visit the show in person if you can.

taking back the yard

the good bones house remodel update: 

Here's the view into the back yard from the second floor back porch.  Yep, there's two stories of back porches on each side of the duplex.  They are all closed porches with screens, lattice and windows. 

There were four large raised beds full of weeds and dead plants.

Finally accepting that the summer was getting away from me, I hired Jen Pledge Master Gardener to clear them out and lay sod.

The best bit of landscaping already here is a white hydrangea that thrives tucked under the dining room window in front of the old coal chute.

For more posts on the good bones house remodel, select the tag below or in the tag cloud.

acres of woodwork

the good bones house remodel update:

For weeks I've been scraping, patching, plastering, sanding, priming and painting.  This is what I look like most of the time.  I call it my Rhoda look.

paint-scraping maniac

I lucked out with some great help on this project, too.  Even though he's scraping in this picture, I nicknamed this guy Runs With Paint for how well he hustles on the job, especially when rolling paint. 

  

A big priority for this project has been the floors.  While solid, they were worn and seriously needed to be refreshed.  First on my list, I hired the wood floors to be refinished.  Then I dredged up the courage to yank out the linoleum in the kitchen.  Happily it was glued to a plywood under-layment and not the sub-floor which I have had happen before and is a hassle.     

The wood floor refinishing guys lent me this nifty long-handled pry bar called The Mutt to take up the old cracked linoleum flooring.  It made the job so much easier than a regular flat crow bar.  I slammed it under the edge, lifted the underlayment a wee bit, then slammed the mutt further in  and lifted.   After more slamming and lifting, it came up in large sections a few feet wide.   The bar does most of the work, as it should be. Almost a cake walk.

Then we used the little cat claw and pliers to yank out the hundreds and hundreds of tacks.

The linoleum in the entry foyer had a great pattern but was too worn and water damaged.  It was only tacked down on the edges without any glue at all. I got it all up and out in about twenty minutes. That's like a small miracle right there.    

The wood floor refinishing guys turned me onto a smart scraper to add to my artillery for removing loose paint from wood trim.  I've always used a chisel edged scraper but they showed me the advantages of this pull-action scraper, especially good for reaching tight spaces and applying steady force.  Their own scraper came as a promotional gift from a wood-flooring company and isn't available in stores. Here's a comparison of a pull-scraper type from the hardware store (the bottom one) and theirs (on top).  I really liked the long arm and lighter weight of theirs. 

Speaking of wood flooring, each unit of the duplex has 1640 square feet between two floors and they are all wood except for about 400 of them.  The skinny quarter-sawn oak on the first floor and mixed oak upstairs have all been being refinished by Cross Flooring, including two significant patches they blended splendidly.  

Ken and Mike did the first couple of coats. After that dried we put  rosin paper down to protect the floors while we continued to work for a couple of weeks. 

Today Nate buffed it and gave it a  final coat, so we won't walk on it for a few days so it can cure.

Meanwhile I will focus my energy in the kitchen which has had very little attention all these days. 

For more posts on this project, select the tag "good bones house remodel."

my bones need a break

good bones project update:

I'm typing now from bed.  I went to the good bones (remodel) project this morning after running a bunch of errands.  I swept and vacuumed up from the electricians, washed drop cloths, made notes of unfinished tasks and bought the weekend painter lunch, then just hit a wall and came home.   

 

I lied down to take a quick nap.  Two hours later I woke up. I figure it's a sign that my very long days of working on the good bones has caught up with MY bones and muscles and this afternoon needs to be break time.  I'm whipped. With Bruce's help I also discovered we are missing a wedding today.  I lost the invitation somewhere in a pile of mail and bills.  We still haven't found it.  We thought it was at 5PM but called mutual friends and found out it's at 3:30. Rats.  And we like them!  I hope they'll forgive us.  

 

It's just that kind of summer this year.  Cahrazy. 

 

Still in the prone position, I am opening a pile of mail, thumbing through production notes (um, yeah, we shoot a commercial during the next two weeks) and organizing bills and receipts.  I can do things as long as I keep my feet up. 

 

Meanwhile, Bruce is having a pre-production meeting with our intern, Cassi, going over the shot list and special effects for the commercial. Cassi is spearheading the commercial and I'll be sure to post updates and photos on it soon.  Briefly though, she is outstanding.  We lucked out with her.

 

Tomorrow, we have a new 'summer intern,' a teenager, arriving from New Jersey: Clementine.  She'll help with the shoot and hopefully enjoy a taste of Montana summer.  We are looking forward to it but also feeling a little nervous.  We hope we are entertaining enough and she likes us!     

gambling on your good luck

good bones project update:

Remodeling a house has all the thrills for me that many people get from a trip to Las Vegas.

The first time I walked by this backdoor (before I owned it), I was sure that behind this piece of plywood was a perfectly good door.  I can't explain it, I just knew.  I could imagine a number of scenarios for why it was there.  Dog scratches because some poor pooch had been locked on the back porch and bored out of its mind showed its frustration.   A domestic dispute when some meat-head tried kicking down the door and failed.  A burglar perhaps.  As far as the door is concerned, the worst case scenario would be cracks in the lower panels which looked perfectly fine from the other side. 

One day, even though it's the backdoor and low on the priority list while there are a million other things to scrape, patch, and paint, I had a head of demolition steam going and walked by it.  In my best Dirty Harry impersonation, I wielded a crow-bar and asked myself if I was feeling lucky.  

Well, do ya punk?   

Damn straight!   

It looks to me like the door had a slender kick guard at one point.  There are some shallow grooves along one part of the door under the knob, probably from the adhesive of the kick guard.  The panels have splitting paint and lots of dirt, but otherwise look great.  Yay!

It's a small thing, but these are exactly the kind of gambles you take when you buy an old house.  You look over the surface and guess that whatever is underneath is something you can handle - you can patch, paint over or replace. And whatever it is, hopefully it's something you can afford - physically, mentally and financially.  Happily, I cashed out on this one. 

To see a clip of the scene from the movie, Dirty Harry, click here.

the dishes on a tightrope

Here it is: the good bones project.  A 100-year-old duplex, built as a duplex with two almost exactly mirroring two-story apartments.  

Notice the satellite dishes?  There were five, yes five, on the house when we took the project on last Fall.  Even if both apartments sign up for such service, that only means two. Apparently when you order this service they don't bother to reuse their old dishes or take them away when you end service. They don't take them away ever, in fact.  I tried calling the companies to have them removed but they are not interested. It was one of the first orders of business to take them all down.

I realized that this is what nephews are for!

 

Yes, I made him use that ridiculous narrow old ladder we found in the garage.  He balked at first, cause he teaches safety at his work, but then he finally did it.  At one point I started to follow him up it but changed my mind as I watched it sway with his every step.  The rungs are skinny with barely enough room for his boot-size. He went one foot in front of the other tight-roping his way to the top.  We went and bought a better beefier ladder after this - his pick.

The dishes are a small thing but annoyed the crap out of me visually.  I looked up and my eyes went right to them as they poked out of the house's facade. I cursed every time. Taking them down was a good way to build momentum wrangling the decades worth of miscellaneous cables, wiring and cords embedded into the sides and underbelly of this place. 

**I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my sister/s publicly for having such great sons.  This one (his nickname is Indi) lives part-time in Montana and part-time in Alaska.  When he's in town he sure is handy and he's a really good sport when I'm hell-bent on a project!    

the big door sweep drag

Update from "the good bones project":

First, it's mostly been a demolition phase, going through one side of the duplex and systematically prepping for plaster patching, painting, electrical work and floor refinishing.

an exhaust fan will replace this fixture in the bathroom

All of the doors in the upstairs had weather strip tacked with nails and glue or a silicone caulk.  Argh to glue and caulk, especially when I found it in the keyholes.  Seriously?  Saving how many degrees do you think?  Any? I'm not sure how I'll dig that out yet.

Also every bedroom door has door sweeps on each side.  I've been sitting on the floor in front of each one, scooting along and removing them all.  It's one of the ways of becoming close to a space; getting down close to every surface and seeing it from every angle, including the lowest possible ones.  It's a closeness that comes slowly and without overtly trying or making it happen.  It just grows as you work, spending time and handling all the pieces.    

bathroom

Some good news is that this linoleum in the bathroom is in good shape, even along the edges, and gets to stay.

purple-trimmed bedroom outside of door

purple-trimmed bedroom inside

Too bad about the dog scratches that will need wood filler.  Notice the variety of door sweeps, though.  Who knew?

west bedroom outside

The drag of the door sweeps dig into the floors.

east bedroom outside

The tools for the job: a screwdriver with interchangeable bits (because every sweep has a different screw size, of course) and a little cat claw for prying and pulling tacks and nails also in the sweeps. 

door sweep drag disgust

Having a sweep on each side of the door makes a long tight sandwich to trap dust, lint and hair. And lots of it.

 

That just ain't right.

Stay tuned for more on "the good bones project" as I remodel a 100-year-old duplex in the University District of Missoula, Montana.

good bones

Last fall I embraced a new project:  a 100 year old duplex in the University District.

 

In the process of buying it, we invited a small parade of building specialists and subcontractors to consult on its soundness and potential for improvements. 

Repeatedly, the verdict was that "It has good bones."  

I'll be posting more about the joys and perils of remodeling this stack of good bones with the same tag if you want to follow its development.

More on the subject:
Houzz article: 8 Signs Your House Has Good Bones 

Kwika article: Look for a Home With Good Bones