The One With the Live Tour

The One With the Chickens

This is not The One With the Chick and the Duck. Just two friendly chickens and the cutest coop ever! Introducing Paprika and Ginger:


This is their home:


The Larsons helped deliver the coop and then Seth put the thing back together in the dark. Here is the first look at the coop in it's new backyard. Isn't it adorable? It was made by Heath DeWallace.
I am surrounded by amazing people!
I can't believe it, it's been about a month ago now, but I got a text message from Lacey (who lived in the next neighborhood up from us) asking if we wanted their chickens and coop because they were moving away. The same chickens and coop that used to belong to the Ortechos before they moved away. It only took me a nanosecond to say YES! and then wonder why the hell I do this to myself. You see, I was leaving to go to Washington for Sarah and Benjamin's wedding. And wouldn't be back for four days, just in time to do a little packing before working all day and moving into the new house the next. Becoming a chicken farmer really wasn't in the schedule. But there was no way I was turning this down! I had two days to prepare the jungle back corner where we would put the coop, which basically consisted of a quick effort of leveling out the ground.

But I have chickens! And, boy, do we have eggs! They seem to be very happy, well-adjusted chickens. I thought they'd probably have their feathers ruffled (ba-dum-ching!) and not lay any eggs for awhile because of the move, but these chickens are very easy going. In fact, the very first morning I went out to collect a beautiful, perfect, brown egg. I love my little ladies!

The One With the Yellow

As you know, I was concerned about the exterior paint color I chose from a very tiny swatch for a very big house. And the fear was totally founded. When I give people directions to our house I simply say, "Turn down the street and come to the yellow house." No further instruction, no house numbers required. Works every time.

We call this MoFo Yellow.

The One Where We're Moved In

I know, I know... I've left y'all hanging for far too long. And this is all you're going to get for now, but here is a view of the living room on one of our first nights together in the house.


Shortly before I took this photo I walked up the sidewalk and attempted to take some shots of the exterior, but it was too dark. As I was ready to give up and head inside, one of these seemingly innocent ladies opened the front door and mooned me. Mooned me! Seriously. I'll let you guess who... Never a dull moment living with a full house. I love it!

The One Without Carpet

The very first time I saw the house it had this carpet:

Jim ripped out all of the carpet in the house
to reveal these lovely wood floors:

And now they are being sanded and will look beautiful soon:

Funny story about the guy who is refinishing the wood floors, Little Eugene who works with Alex. I guess he's called that because the plumber's name is also Eugene and he's super tall, because Little Eugene is not a little dude. Anyway, Little Eugene was at the house during the framing stage and he was there when the windows were installed and now he's my floor finisher. He's always super hard at work and I've never so much as heard him say a single word, so I assume he doesn't speak very much English since most of these guys are from the Ukraine and their English is a bit spotty. One night after work I went home to drop off my stuff and I went through the back fence, as usual, which puts you behind the garage of the new place. I get about three steps in and realize there is a construction worker peeing right there behind my garage! So I turned around startled and said I was sorry and Little Eugene says to me in perfectly clear English, "I'm sorry for watering your garage." So I replied, "No, I'm sorry for not having a bathroom for you to use." All while he's still peeing. And we're dialoging about the peeing. Needless to say, he doesn't even make eye contact now.

The One With the Butcher Block

So, there is this family that lives just a few blocks over from us whom I adore. I'm always welcomed, even when I drop in unannounced, which is one of my favorite things. They are super encouraging, fun to hang out with, and have a couple of the cutest kids on the planet. Plus, they feed me delicious food and I, in turn, like to feed their children sugar, and the kids like to come over and feed Louie (my fish). I'm so glad we get to stay in the neighborhood and they will always be just a few streets away. Caleb has all these crazy carpenter skills tucked away and offered to install my butcher block kitchen counters. Look at how beautiful they are! I love them with an everlasting love.

The One With Color

All of the walls are painted! Thanks to wonderful friends and their paint skillz once again. (This house is a community house already - it's taking a village to put it together!) We even painted the concrete floors in the basement. We did a lot of prep work Friday night: sweeping, vacuuming, mopping. It was previously painted with oil-based paint, so we had to put the same on again - and boy does that stuff stink! It was like spreading glue on the floor, but it went quickly. I started cutting the edges and Molly rolled. My co-worker, Heidi, joined us in the smelly basement and soon enough Jeanne joined in the fun. Everyone wanted in on the paint fumes! No pictures since we can't walk on it for 48 hours, but you'll have to trust me that the floor looks like a gigantic swimming pool full of chocolate pudding. I hope they turn out well... the suspense is killing me!

Betsy's room is pretty wild and we decided it's the color of a J. Crew sweater.


And then there is the living room. Electric! But I like it a lot!



We still have doors and window frames to paint in the basement, plus both stairways and the doors of the main floor. Oh, and the cabinets. But the house just looks so much more livable with a fresh, clean coat of paint on the walls. I love it!

The wood floors are going to be started tomorrow. I can hardly wait to see how they turn out!

The One With the Tile

Bathroom tile is complete - YAY!

The One With No Time

I just want to throw up a couple of quick photos for y'all. No time to write... lots of work to do!
Basement family room painted in a soft seashell color. All of the main living spaces are painted with recycled Metro Paint.

Laundry Room

Molly's Bedroom

Lindsay's Bedroom

Dining Room (my favorite!)

The One With Paint

Another long day of painting! Dad and I each spent 27 hours at the house this weekend. That's 54 hours of labor, not counting the many people who came to help. That's insane. I need to go to work just to get a break! I wish I had pictures to post, but it was dark when we finished, so no pictures. But it's nice to finally see some color on the walls!

Sara came back this morning to paint ceilings. And my co-worker, Tammi, the self-proclaimed professional edge painter, worked all morning, too. After lunch we had Bob and Leah drop by to paint the family room. Molly and Betsy tackled a bedroom while Dad and I did the other. Then we had to get more paint for the bedroom colors, but Betsy finished off the basement by painting the laundry space "sweet corn" yellow while we got paint. We also got a coat of paint on the attic ceiling, which is no easy task over the perilous stairway.

I'm so thankful for everyone who came to the house this weekend. We got so much accomplished! Woohoo!

The One With All the Primer

My dad flew in yesterday. He's here to help with the enormous task of priming and painting EVERY ROOM IN THE HOUSE. INCLUDING THE CEILINGS. It started out very slow this morning with prep work and getting everyone's stuff labeled (I'm lucky enough to have friends and co-workers loan me their tools so I don't have to buy them!). Plus it was just Daddy and me, and I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be the two of us all day.

Thankfully, a couple of future occupants of the lovely new basement, Molly and Sara, came to work. Even K-Ro stopped by for a couple hours of painting fun! We primered our little brains out! And tomorrow I'll be even more especially thankful that Jeanne came to paint... she got her second wind after dinner and pushed us all to primer the living room after we tackled the dining room. We got so much accomplished. The attic and entire basement are primed. I can hardly believe it.

The One Where I Want to Quit

The drywall crew came on Saturday and put up all of the sheetrock in one day. I couldn't believe it! They finished today, so we're going to start cleaning tomorrow and we will be ready to start the primer on Saturday.


Look at how great the wall turned out between the kitchen and living room. I couldn't be happier! I absolutely love this new wall. Jim, the son-in-law of the woman who lived here previously, came by to take a look this weekend and he really liked the new wall, too. He couldn't believe how much work we've gotten done in just three weeks.


These cabinets are going to be the death of me. We've been sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding and I'm ready to give up. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to give up, so these are the cabinets we're living with, but I'm really tired of sanding.


Notice we took down the paneling that was on the soffit. There is a gaping hole next to the fan. Kinda wish we hadn't taken that awful paneling down just so we didn't have to deal with one more thing (but don't tell anyone I said that).

Have I mentioned that I'm tired? Because I. AM. TIRED. I really want to be done. Everyone keeps reminding me that there are only three more weeks left. Which seemed great until I realized it's only been three weeks and it seems like seven... I still have that much more to go? And I'm exhausted, so I have three more weeks to go after being into it three weeks. I'm cranky and fighting back the tears every other minute and I don't want to make any more decisions. Ever again. And I want to be able to garden and actually make meals again and maybe catch up on laundry or see a movie.

And then I think of these kids. Geez! I need a little perspective.
(And some sleep.)

They live in such a different world. I miss them.

The One With the Change

I made one minor little change when I found a light fixture I wanted in the main bathroom. I asked Alex if it was a big deal since it would be one box overhead instead of two on the side (which had already been put in place). He said it was no problem.

But the problem was that we were in the basement when I asked him about it, and we walked into the bathroom so I could show him what I meant. I repeated a few times that I didn't mean the basement bathroom. Only the main floor bathroom would be changed. I bought the light and put the box in the main bathroom, just so it would be super clear that I wanted that fixture changed.

I came home to the basement bathroom being changed and not the main bathroom. Ugh! Something so simple has turned into a pain and I feel really bad about it. But the light is so perfect for the main bath! And the others were perfect for the basement! I'm totally being a brat about it, but I really want it the way I want it. Just wish I had seen that darn light fixture before they started the electrical. Oh well.



Today was insulation and setting the windows in place. The insulation wasn't completed like it was supposed to be because the truck that does the blown didn't show. Hopefully they get it worked out before the inspection tomorrow.

The One With All the Work

Looking from the basement through the new egress window.


Concrete window wells for the two basement bedrooms.


Plumbing!


Basement shower pan.


Wiring in the kitchen wall where the range will live.


Electrical panel in the basement laundry area.


Patching to fill in some of the major imperfections
of the siding before painting.


French drain that Scott is putting in around the perimeter of the house.

The One With Walls

Look! I have walls! There will be bedrooms... with real closets! And plumbing - I have plumbing!




Today was a really great day. I got to walk around the basement and feel the rooms that were created. And they are just as I had envisioned. I am so pleased! And after an extremely hard day yesterday, it was nice to come home and be encouraged by all of the progress that was made.

The One With Photos

I'm having a little trouble with this slideshow business. But I think if you double-click on "full screen" at the bottom of the viewer it will take you to the photos. These are just a few photos of the progress we're making on the house.

The One With Wetsy and Gassie

Tonight we borrowed Pete's supercharged monster truck to bring home some them fancy indoor plumbin' toilets. I introduce to you: Wetsy and Gassie.


What... your toilets don't have names? They're so cute! And environmentally friendly, of course. Press one for liquids and two for number twos solids.

The One With Aleksandr

The new routine when I walk home from the train after work is to stop by the house and see any new progress. Tonight, Alex, my general contractor, was there and he told me all about his extended family and about the rice he is in charge of cooking tomorrow for his mother-in-law's birthday. Alex is good people and I'm glad he's working on my project! He has a great heart and it's fun to decipher his Ukrainian accent. He has six (!) children and I've met the four youngest, all boys (!), during the bidding phase. Slavic comes with him most often and I try to bribe him with homemade cookies so he'll like me but he's super shy. He's helped me measure refrigerators and stomp on the floors upstairs so I can hear how much noise they make, so I think he likes me a little. Alex says at the end of the project he will bring his family and his big wok to the house and we will eat rice together. I can't wait!

The One With the Hooker

Just as I was rolling a wheelbarrow full of plaster around the house an old man started walking into my front yard. He was hollering over the sound of saws and hammering so I stopped to talk to him. He introduced himself as "The Godfather of Greenwich" and proceeded to ask if I knew that there were a couple of hookers living across the street. Then he pointed and said, "that's my house, I'm Bob Hooker." He went on to tell some stories and ask about what we were doing to the house. He called me Cindy a couple of times and I asked him who Cindy was.

"You're Cindy."

"I'm not Cindy, I'm Katie."

"Oh. Well, who is Cindy?"

"I don't know Cindy."

"I don't know Cindy either."

"Okay then."

"Welcome to the neighborhood!"

The One With Demolition

Today was a BIG day! The demolition went great. So many people came to help, and I can't believe everything we accomplished.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Actually, we ended up taking out the whole wall on both sides, but I don't have a picture of that. But you get the idea of what it will be like. That single change makes all the difference in that house! The basement looks amazing, too. You wouldn't believe how much stuff came out of there, for a seemingly unfinished basement.

Betsy and Jojo were animals tearing down the basement ceiling and bathroom with Scott. Sarah Larson came over for a couple of hours of work before she had to get to the bakery. She did a great job of filling the dumpster! Sara Vulgan took the mantle down and we found more brick behind the paneling! She also took all the "tiles" down in the main bathroom and got the cabinets out with Heath, who also disconnected the toilet and got that bad boy outta there! Caleb was the professional of the day with his very official tool belt. He completely dismantled the wall between the living room and kitchen - and it looks AMAZING! I took down all of the window coverings (and folded the curtains and stashed them in the garage for Mom and Betsy to sift through the fabric later!) and Caleb let me take the first swing at the wall! Then Sarah Gregory and I spent a good portion of the morning hauling the destroyed lath and plaster around the house to the dumpster. Then we went to town scraping the tile adhesive off the wall in the main bath. Matt stopped in for a few hours of labor, mostly in the basement and putting his muscles to use hauling out big, heavy items. Benjamin came by later in the afternoon to help out after he finished building with Habitat all day! He helped Caleb frame in the new wall. And the guys pulled up the kitchen countertop and they just so happened to discover the oak floors in the kitchen. Oak floors! Oh, and they are in the bathroom, too! Molly pulled up the nasty tiles to discover hardwood. Such great surprises! Even Pete and Katie stopped by to lend a hand for a little bit between work and shows and showers. The generosity of my community is incredible.

Molly made us a huge taco lunch complete with margaritas! And we picnicked in the backyard sunshine. It was hard to get moving again after that, but it had to be done. Everyone worked so hard. It was even harder to work after dinner, but the guys pulled through. I still can't believe we accomplished so much! There were definitely some overwhelming moments and a whole lot of noise that made me cringe, but I kept thinking to myself that these were the sounds of love. Friends loving me and giving up their day off to help build this house into something beautiful. I am so grateful.

Up tomorrow: sanding and sealing the basement walls.

The One Where I Freak Out

All summer on my way to and from the neighborhood taco shop I passed by this one green house. I love the color green they painted this house. The only flaw was that the trim needed to black. Black would have made the house really pop! So when I bought a house I just figured I'd paint it this green with black trim. Only, my little Cape Cod house just didn't really seem like the green and black type. Then one day, coming home from The ReBuilding Center, I found this yellow house that stopped me in my tracks. At the time, I couldn't find my camera, and now I can't even remember which street the house lived. All I know is that it was kind of a brown mustard, if you will, and it was stunning. So I found a paint swatch that I thought was close and gave the code to the painter. Apparently he had to go to several stores to get enough paint for them to mix because this particular color of yellow needs a special base paint, and apparently they only sell this base paint in small quantities because it's only used as a trim color. Perfect! I totally picked a horrible color to paint my house. WHY DO THEY MAKE PAINT SWATCHES TWO INCHES BY AN INCH AND EXPECT YOU TO ENVISION A WHOLE BUILDING IN THAT COLOR? Anyway, with April being the wettest month recorded in Portland's history, they haven't painted the house yet. And tonight I sat at the food carts on Mississippi with friends and looked at the awful yellow building across the street. I'm terrified that the yellow I picked will look like the awful yellow on this building. And I just have to wait and wait and wait to see how it turns out. This is my first time picking an exterior color... I'm scared and I want a do-over!

The One Where I Jump In

I'll write the back story at some point, but for now I want to introduce this diamond-in-the-rough:


Isn't she a beauty? Every time I go to the house I am so full of joy. It's full of potential and so peaceful. I love being in every room. I love being in the backyard. I love being on the front steps. I love being there and dreaming of all the possibilities in the neighborhood, wondering who will live there with me over the years and the people we'll have over for dinner, and the food we will grow and conversations we will share.

More than anything, I feel so well taken care of through this whole process. From the encouragement and possibility from my parents, and my roommates, friends, landlords, my Realtor, broker, and even and especially the sellers. This is such an incredible time and I'm trying to take in as much as I can. I can hardly believe that at the end of the week I will own a home.

And a 30-year mortgage.