Buh Bye 70’s Berber in the Kitchen

Sometimes I wonder why we didn’t do a thing sooner. Like get rid of this nasty carpet in our kitchen. It was stained long before we took over dominion of this house, and it got exponentially worse with us living in it. There were many insults: muddy boots, manure tracked in, Gene occasionally peeing on it when something upset her, Gene spilling various liquids on it when she would try to carry away food bowls and dishes with fluid in them, and us cooking and lazily letting things fall or spill on the floor. I’m already unfaithful about regular vacuuming (and Kirk sticks to the claim he does not know how to operate a vacuum ). And it’s not like the vacuum could even come close to addressing what was wrong with this carpet. Stylistically or cleanliness-wise.

 

The Hammerhead II: Like Butter

This house is the second historic home where I’ve installed salvaged vintage fir flooring. The first time I did it, and also when I first started working on the upstairs for this house, I borrowed a pneumatic flooring nail gun from my friend Giang. And oh my goodness, that nail gun was like butter. Giang is one of those friends who’s great to know because when he buys a product, he does tons of research. So if I decide to buy the same product, I’ll just choose the brand Giang did, knowing I can trust his choice!

Since we have quite a bit of flooring left to do, and may also employ a flooring nail gun in the barn loft, we decided to buy our very own gun. It seems justified over renting or continuing to borrow Giang’s gun, knowing that we can re-sell it when we’re done and recover a portion of our investment.

So, we got it: the PortaNails Inc. Hammerhead II.

 

Sheetrock Taping and Fir Flooring Laid

We have been tackling some projects in our upstairs, which has been patiently waiting to be finished for nearly three years. We decided to hire someone to tape the sheetrock. It’s hard to do a nice job on smooth walls, we weren’t keen on doing the ceiling above the staircase, and we figured it would be nice to have this piece get done fast. But of course booking a contractor created other due dates for us.

 

Recycling Vintage Flooring

I’ve been pretty neglectful at working on interior  house restoration projects in the last year, favoring doing farm work outside. But, I was glad to get a nagging project crossed off the list in the last month!

I think it was winter-before-last when I first tackled the huge pile of reclaimed vintage fir flooring sitting in our upstairs. It had been salvaged from another to-be-demolished house in downtown Snohomish. I had even installed some of it, starting in our upstairs bathroom. But a large and unruly pile of the wood remained. It was not neatly stackable, because it still had all the nails in it. So, the first thing was to get the rest of it cleaned up and stacked.

 

Never Despise Meager Beginnings

A favorite quote from the Janette Oke book-series-turned-screenplay “Love Comes Softly.” A slightly corny Christian-values story about a homesteading family, not unlike Little House on the Prairie. But, as Kirk can attest, I love those stories, mostly because they are about homesteading. But they also contain a lot of universal themes that resonate with almost everybody- hardship, perseverance, resourcefulness, kindness even in the face of hostility, and hope and faith.

Given this time of year is one where we often think of the future and reflect on the past, I’ve been thinking of our meager beginnings and where they are headed.