Two Projects, Finished

One very impressive project, the neighbor’s barn roof, was completed this week. I assumed they’d put metal on it. But they went all out, with asphalt shingles- wow! I think it took the whole week to do this side. Here they are doing the final trimming of the edges on the widow’s peak fascia.

No biggie on the height there, eh? The worker men looked like ants up there, crawling around. It looks gorgeous now that it’s complete.

And, one slightly less profound accomplishment, I got the second floor coat finish done in our upstairs bedroom. Love that old growth fir!

 

Floor Finish Coat One

I got the first layer of finish down on the floor this week. Photos are a little hard, they tend to make the finish look more colored than it is. When it dries, it is actually clear.

I like to use a product from Germany called OSMO hardwax oil.

 

Floor Sanding

I haven’t written in forever about projects related to restoring our 1929 house. That’s because it’s been forever since we’ve worked on one. I’m renewing efforts in that department.

 

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.