Tocco's custom baseboards

So, the challenge was, after we got the floor leveled and new drywall up, how to hide the 1940's idea of a foundation which has a beam of redwood on top that can't be hidden by either leveling the floor and raising it up to meet the redwood nor by adding new drywall. The answer - after a few discussions with Megan - was let's build some custom baseboards that are going to wrap around the beam, while also covering them up. First I was hoping that there is something already built out there, since this is not the only house that is constructed this way, but no, nothing. Or you could do it the old-fashioned way - as they obviously did when the house was built - to just plaster them with a layer of stucco, and finished it looks like a boot, which obviously doesn't look pretty enough for our taste.

Ok, back to the drawing board. I needed to cover the 2 inches of redwood sticking out of the wall and the 0.5 inches sticking out from the ground. This means I need 2 inches for the distance and 0.5 inches in height. I could use a 2x2 inch square strip throughout, but this may not work, it gets a bit too heavy and quite tricky to mount. What I need is a kind of "L" shape, ideally in wood, with one part of the "L" that bridges the gap and the other part big enough to mount it against the board. But it also can't be too delicate and therefore useless because it may get crunched by the first touch of a vacuum cleaner. Believe it or not, as exotic it may sound, at the local hardware store they do carry something like that wooden strip in a "L" shape, each side 2 inches.

Then and now (a few more basement before and afters)

It was so dark and closed off before with the thick shaggy carpeting and wooded walls. eek. We still need to finalize a lot down here-- add the baseboards, organize all of our things, add shelves, artwork, cork and white boards, stuff like that. It'll evolve as we make use of the space, of course. Oh, and we need to still renovate the bathroom. But it's a colorful, cozy, warm, usable space now so we are pumped. (I kind of can't believe it doesn't look like the 'before' pictures anymore...)

We laid down a carpet last night- by ourselves. BAM!

The Adventures of Megan Leigh Blumenschein (post by Tocco)

House renovation is an exciting thing to do. Besides the fact that usually everything becomes much prettier than it was before, much improved, and you actually get to spend a lot of time at home without feeling the guilt of going out to a bar, the movies, or whatever else one can think of. 

Nevertheless, once in a while the process needs you to leave the house, to get new supplies, some paint, brushes, nails or any other tools you think you might need to make your life in this process a little easier. This is where Megan's adventures usually start. Not so much inside, but leaving the house to a supplier like - in our case Megan's favorite store - The Home Depot.

The first time my phone vibrated yesterday was when I received the first text message at 3pm. It was a picture with an old bucket of paint, that is our favorite color for the upper kitchen cabinets as well as for all the doors. The first gallon was gone so we needed a new one. Pretty straightforward one might think- Gidden, Antique White, Interior, Semi-Gloss - boom and done. We even had the old bucket to look it up. As I said - Gidden, Antique White, Interior, Semi-Gloss - as precise as it can get. Don't you think so, after another 20 minutes back and forth, I finally discovered that Megan actually left the house, went to a Home Depot store, to get this color, as precisely described earlier - Gidden, Antique White, Interior, Semi-Gloss... 

Only it was a total surprise to a paint specialist with a computer system where they can look up every imaginable color in the world that obviously means nothing, not the brand, the kind, the shade, nor anything else. I don't know how, but after another 20 minutes of back and forth via text messages, her discussion with the guys at Home Depot's color counter, they finally managed to pull a gallon of this color out - Gidden, Antique White, Interior, Semi-Gloss ... puh - I was sweating already, busy at work, trying to focus and get my stuff done in time, while trying not to let Megan down with her struggles, especially since she only went to Home Depot because she promised me in the morning. Not that she had to, I would have been fine if she would have skipped it, no biggie. Anyhow, finally the phone got silent again and I was relieved, thinking I can continue my work. Which lasted maybe 5 minutes before it vibrated again. After nearly an hour of constant back and forth these 5 minutes felt pretty long though.

The next image arrived, examples of different carpets, not that one could make out the difference via images sent through text message, but hey, at least it reminded me that Megan's promise to go to Home Depot was about getting the carpet that we wanted to lay out in the newly renovated basement. That is our current project, the one mentioned a few days ago, the one that led to my tennis arm. 

Ok, switch the mindset, back from color swatch problems now to carpet. The day before I had a marathon phone call with our local Home Depot about this particular carpet that we've chosen. They haven't had it in stock anymore, it was supposed to arrive weeks ago, but never came, or it should have been on today's truck, but it didn't, but it will be on the next one ... maybe. Luckily the lady on the phone was a nice one and she searched the entire computer system to figure that there is a huge pile in stock at one of their locations nearby. So obviously it seemed to be rare and I wanted to make sure we get the one we've chosen, thats why I asked Megan if she would mind to pick it up today. I know, I haven't thought it through though, a woman on her own buying a heavy 150 sq. ft. carpet in Fruitvale, Oakland, getting late in the evening, my apologies - I always tend to forget that we are in the US and that can be dangerous at times. All the more grateful I am, and a bit ashamed too, that Megan actually went there to try to get that rare piece of carpet that we needed. But guess what, don't think this was easy at all, because the reason why I got the text message was to consider an alternative, since - different than the computer system - the sales reps didn't know of the existence of the carpet of our choice. So we started the process of reconsidering from the new samples, and maybe we'll go with something more common that they have in stock. Luckily one of the sales reps was also a nice one and found a piece. But oops, that one was too small for us, which took them already more than half an hour to find, then, wow, he accidentally found the one we wanted all along- in the wrong aisle, between random toilet seats, refrigerators, and bath tubs ... - Fruitvale, Oakland - ...  and even enough of it, so we would be able to cover the basement with one piece of carpet of our choice ... finally done ... is what I was thinking.

But don't forget, that new carpet takes an additional hour to uncover, attach to the rings, and cut into the size we need. So naturally Megan uses this time to send me more text messages with random images that I need to puzzle together to get the whole picture.

  

  

Meanwhile I got an alert message from AT&T that I exceeded my data plan. Ok, happens time by time, it's 2 hours later now, since I got the first text message, and it doesn't stop ringing. Even the work I have to do doesn't go away, nor did I get anything accomplished yet. It's becoming dark outside, nearly 6 p.m., I'm still sweating, trying to multitask, which obviously is not my speciality. But all seems good now, Megan got the color we wanted, even though it took over an hour and the entire Home Depot crew, same for the carpet, all done, sounded great to me. I started to get excited to finally get my stuff done at work and go home to see the rug in person and start making plans of how to best lay it out and getting closer to finish project basement, yay!

These were my thoughts, not considering that the phone rang again and I got another image via text message. I had to look twice, since I thought I got that image earlier, but I didn't, it was a new one, even if it looks similar.

The text that comes with it was this. "This wont fit in the car. Holy shit" Next text message was, "I thought it would be thin enough to fold ...OMG, it's huge" "I don't think so ... wish me luck" - Megan is still in Fruitvale, Oakland, on her own, at night, with a car that is obviously too small to get the carpet in there. But thanks to 2014, I'm 100% updated and covered, every step of the way. Can't be before long till Megan is at home. 

Next text message - "Now the battery died" - What, I am thinking, what happened, no way, you must be kidding me. I wish, but the next couple of text messages arrived. "Nooo", "Dammit!", "I shouldn't have done this today, it's ridiculous" ... I didn't respond as much as I would have needed to, I started to feel guilty to be quite honest, why did I ask her, I shouldn't have. But it's too late, Megan did and is still in Fruitvale, Oakland, now late at night, with Gidden, Antique White, Semi-Gloss for interior, 1 gallon, and a carpet that doesn't fit in the car, nor does the car do anything at all since the battery died - holly shit, what have I done. Even though I have to giggle a bit, since it appears a bit funny too, the car has the tendency to die on Megan, it never does it with me. Next text message, "Totally miserable, I have to go to find some help now", meanwhile I try to figure out where the next Volvo dealer is to help her out and send her the phone number. Next text message,  "Are there jumper cables in the car?" - OMG, no, there aren't no ... :-/. "This rug is in the way", which means Megan obviously got it in there somehow, at least one good thing in all of this. "I need to find some cable, nobody so far has cables and they're sold out :(", I don't know who to ask anymore I could cry", silence on my side, what shall I do, what can I do, I feel guilty and helpless, but at the same time I can't help not to giggle ...

The next text messages arrive, "How to open the hood", I try to explain through a chain of messages, but the only respond I get is, "Agh! don't see it", the guy helping couldn't find it either, more messages, more images ... the scenery changed completely, it's not about paint, carpets or anything like that anymore, suddenly it's about darkness, Fruitvale, Oakland, Megan on her own, a car without power on an empty parking lot at Home Depot, I hope this wont get any worse ...

New text messages and pictures ... 

 

 

Finally, the first good news since 4 hours, "We got it running". Oh my god, I can't tell you how good this one felt, the first positive sign since over 4 hours - the car is running! Yes!

Long story short, I got picked up at the ferry on time, Megan was able to giggle about it, we had the car back to running, a monster of a carpet in the trunk and are finally on our way back home, all alive, some still a bit miserable but all overall, Mission Accomplished. 

Let's get a drink! Call it a day, tomorrow more.

Basement and Tennis Arm

Another project in the making, the basement. I don't know where the name comes from, a base and then they added c'ment and turned it into basement without a "c". That would explain the pain we had with this ground level floor/room, that is not really a cellar, nor souterrain, it's just a basic room, ground level with a lot of uneven cement to tackle. 

However, let's start from the beginning. The so-called basement. The project we wanted to tackle. This is how it looked before we started. 

Since we never intended to shoot 1970's porn movies, nor that we are or ever want to be a new trend that admires the look and feel or the lifestyle of the '70s, we thought this is not us, it doesn't even turn us on, so just lets get it transformed into something more suitable and less of an obvious statement. A nice room, light and bright, shouldn't be to hard, the walls were there, a ceiling, some doors and windows, a half bath, walls in place and even a solid cement slab under the carpet, this should be an easy fix. Some demolition to get rid of the 5 inch long fuzzy carpet, rip off the fake wood paneling, maybe some patchwork to do, paint it and done. This was before we started though ... ;-)

So let the fun begin, rip it all out! Which led to this huge pile in the backyard, tons of carpet, wood paneling and an assortment of what we found left behind.

Not too bad might one think, but this is only what we carried out, the rest that we found is still inside, and it's still a mess. Since I have to get used to the way they construct houses in the US, compared to Europe - or should I say Germany - where houses usually are made out of brick walls, built by a mason, here it's usually a wooden frame that sits on a foundation, covered on the outside with wooden boards, and the inside with sheets of drywall, that's it. Or to be more precise, in our case they covered the inside with a mixture of old stucco, quite a huge amount of big holes, which means missing pieces of stucco (drywall), since -  obviously in the '70s - one thought some fake, plastic wood-paneling might do the job as well, and this is how that looks like.

Welcome to the world of modern archeology! ;-) You'll never know what you'll discover, nor what it is or meant to be. Unfortunately there is no picture from the cement slab that I mentioned earlier, but quite frankly, it had some similarity to a topographic image from the Grand Canyon area, only in a smaller scale. Which means we only had difference of around 2 to 3 inches, which can be easily leveled with a 1970's 5 inch long fuzzy flokati rug- rather than something that can be considered as an even floor.

At this point we actually got a bit overwhelmed by the amount of upcoming troubleshooting, that we - for the first time since we lived in the house - decided to get some external, professional help. Just to avoid covering up holes again, maybe with some wallpaper or plastic bags and advise every visitor not to touch the walls if they don't want to fall into the crawlspace next to the holes.

Thankfully the helpers were able to help, and execute some necessary repairs as well as put some new drywall up, some more cement onto the floor, to make the surface more like the Bonneville (Salt Lakes, Utah) rather then the Grand Canyon. And they did, even though we had to convince them not to bother with any kind of texture, as they wanted to cover the walls with, which looked more like crocodile skin rather than a smooth wall.

They might have been disappointed in not being able to provide us with any more relics of the '70s style, but to be honest, we are quite happy with it and restarted the process of finishing it up by giving it it nice and bright paint job. Bright white ceilings - even though I still admire every painter who gets a consistent white surface under the ceiling - mine always differ a little, I don't know how those guys do it, but mine always have quite a variety of whites that I even never knew existed.

I think this is where the tennis arm comes into play. After I discovered that even after the second coat, the ceiling didn't appear in a consistent white, I tried a third layer ceiling color, this time with primer, but still didn't get it consistent white, so now it's white - yes - but more like the different shades of white you find at Lake Tahoe in the winter snow. I'm fine with it though ... ;-)

A coat of primer for the walls and another 2 layers of white for either, made at least them shine in the brightest white I've ever seen, nice job. Feels like we're getting close to calling this room/project done. Yes, there are some details left, the trim still needs his paint, so do the doors, but if nothing unforeseen happens - which I doubt - we should be able to finish the basement by the end of this week, let's cross the fingers.

As of now I call it a day, quite happy with the accomplishment, a tennis arm from 6 layers of paint, now ready to get some rest. Tomorrow we'll tackle the rest, we'll post when done, hoping it turns out as nice as we're hoping for. A first glimpse of how we envision it below.

Over the Weekend

We had a great weekend! We finished painting the basement...

Enjoyed the new, less glowsticky, kitchen view...

Had a little dinner party, which began and ended with this lovely Humboldt blue fog cheese, which is now my favorite ever...

Like a little cake.

On Sunday, Tocco and I pulled ourselves out of the house for some fresh air. This is the San Andreas Fault, on the way to Half Moon Bay, which has become our favorite weekend escape. Every once in a while the air smells so summery on this road I instantly think we're back on our big summer road trip a few years ago. We even went through this same spot then, so it makes perfect sense.

When we arrived at Half Moon Bay I left T on a bench and took a jog around the beach neighborhoods. It's hard to do much running because I always stop to take pictures. I found this sweet small turquoise house and love it. We're always playing around with which place we'd buy if we could have a beach house, and I'll add this one to the list.

It sat right on the cliff's edge, facing the Pacific Ocean. The mailbox even had our red VW Nalu bus on it, so it's kind of perfect.

Beachy plants. The air was really clean and misty.

Ran back and Tocco wasn't where I left him... searching, searching, follow my eyes to the ocean, down the cliff, and ahhh... of course.

My little beach bum. ;)

Tocco told me to just jump, like he did. I managed not to break anything, and the lady next to us gave me a beer with a laugh.

Back home, I started messing around in the backyard. The guys who helped with the basement took the old shed that was rusting in the back off our hands for free. I love them. I was so psyched to get rid of it. It looks so much fresher in that back corner. I can't wait to start planning out what to do back there. 

Already found fresh mint. Helloooo spring salad.

Going, going, gone

Today I want to escape.

Photo by Max Wanger's Life Book

This morning we finished painting the basement... hallelujah! Tocco did most of it, and he's no complainer, but let me tell you, it was tough. Mainly because yesterday he put 5 full coats on it in one day (2 ceiling, 1 primer, 2 wall color) and gave himself tennis elbow/body. I did the edging. Then we hosted a dinner party with great friends and laughed and relaxed, which was so good, and necessary.

To celebrate another room nearly done we are getting out of the house today, and turning ourselves over the the beach. It has, nearly overnight, turned into 100% Spring here. The birds are chirping. It's the kind of weather where you have to be outside soaking it up. I hope it's warming up where you are too. We are outta heeere.

Basement Blues

This week has really been all about the basement-- and it's been awesome. We decided to let someone else do some of the work!

 Aside from having the hardwood floors sanded (the week before we moved in) this is the only place where we did the demo, looked around, and said, "You know what? No. We don't wanna. Let's hire somebody." It was kind of weird to leave our home in someone's hands, but also incredibly gratifying to come home to work completed.  

Before: 

So charming.

After we ripped everything out:

The previous owners updated the electric in the basement (yay) but didn't repair the walls and just plastered the wood paneling on top of the holes (boo). This made the basement very chilly and in need of a lot more work. Calling in the contractors.

This week we came home to this: 

Holes gone, walls patched!

T admires the work. He can spend an hour looking at I don't even know what down there.  :) 

It's so much warmer down there! Huge difference already. Now, we finish it up ourselves and get the floors leveled and carpeted.