Sunday, August 21, 2016

Countertops!


The countertops arrived on Saturday and were installed on the new side of the kitchen even before we arrived.  They were still working on the old side.  It was so neat to see the stone while in process of being cut for the countertops. You could see some slight veining while they were cutting the pieces.



We chose soapstone because it was available in the era the house was built.


But once the guys got them installed and applied sealant to bring out the color, I absolutely fell in love.


 The sealant gave them an amazing sheen and made the veins pop.


But, alas, for the time being they will be covered with plastic while the work in other areas continues.


There is a lot of sawdust.  Larry claims he has no idea how this happened.


This week the refrigerator arrived. We are keeping it at Mom and Dad's house until WBC is further along.  To save money we skipped delivery and Mom and Dad picked it up themselves.  Miraculously, they avoided every thunderstorm between Houston and Sealy.  However, we still had to figure out how to get it out of Dad's truck and into the garage.  Easier said than done with two retired people, a shrimp, and someone who recently had back surgery.  We wound up sliding it down two boards that sat on the tailgate.  Mom and Dad were walking it along the skids; Larry and I had a rope at the top of the fridge to keep it from tipping over.  (If you've ever watched the Smithsonian documentary on the secrets of Easter Island, it was kind of like that only scarier).


We managed to get it down safely, but let's just say we are paying someone to move it to WBC.


Finally Larry and I made more progress on the cistern paddock. With the rain came a litany of weeds to pull.  Larry calculated 515 shovels full of mulch over 19 trips with the wheelbarrow.  The new mulch we added is darker because it was wet.


And while we were at it, we found a new friend, who we named Sampson.


Sampson is a 2-foot long checkered garter snake, who we hope goes far far away and doesn't return.

That's all from WBC for now.

~Christy

Sunday, August 14, 2016

When your day starts with "Honey, grab the fire extinguisher"...


Because we will not allow the clothesline to beat us down, Larry borrowed a grinder so we could try to cut the poles below ground level and cover them up.  The down side:  sparks. Lots and lots of sparks.


But it ultimately worked. The one by the chicken coop took a really long time because there were two layers of pipe.


And there was some serious hootin' and hollerin' when the one by the cistern house gave way.


Fortunately, we only had one near-miss...


I was also planning to use a blow torch to burn off the leftover cheesecloth threads that held up the old wallpaper.  Epic fail.  So bad I didn't even take any pictures. I couldn't get the blowtorch (which is designed to make creme brulee not than burning old cheesecloth) close enough to the threads to burn them without also scorching the wood.  So that plan got scrapped. Instead I helped Larry haul off the concrete we previously jackhammered, and fill in the holes where the concrete used to be.  Now you'd never know a clothesline (and about 30 lbs of concrete) used to be here.


We also hauled more mulch into the rest of the cistern paddock as ground cover to keep weeds down.





We still have some work to do, of course, but we are certainly making progress.  


The rest of the house is definitely coming along too.  The exterior has been primed, and I think parts have been painted.






Most of the trim will stay white, but the window frames are going to be purple.  I just haven't found the right shade yet.  These are samples # 2 and 3, and I still don't think they're right.


And the bathroom floor tile has been started.  He didn't finish though because we ran short and had to order more.

Which is probably a good thing so the tile guy can come back and fix the one that broke the pattern.


With any luck the rest of the tile will come in next week.  The tub, sink and kitchen sink should also be back from being refinished by Wednesday.  The soapstone counters should be ready this week too.

And finally, the doors are now off their hinges getting ready to be spiffed up too.




That's all from Wisteria Bend for now.

~Christy