Fitting In

The new found pocket doors have been replaced with a pair of 10 paned french doors from the Reuse People. The kitchen/dining room door fit perfectly. But the living room/hallway door was 2" to small. WL shaved a few inches off the old doors and placed a one inch edge to each side of the door. And a 1/2" piece added to the bottom. The hardware fit and we bought some new pulls. A coat of Fudge Truffle semi gloss and the doors will look like they've been there forever.

What It Will Be

Once again we found ourselves at the Reuse People out in Pacoima to search for doors. Lowe's and Home Depot did not have what we were looking for. Sure enough, we left with a pair of gorgeous spanish french doors. Ten pane.
We got home and stripped the doors of their high end hardware. I placed one of the doors in the kitchen so we could see what the effect will be. Nice.

New Doors Open

WL has been sanding down the door jams lately. Today, he noticed the crappy MDF board on two sides of a kitchen jam. And the added thickness piqued his interest. I was outside in the back planting our M. Jackson Memorial dwarf kumquat tree when I heard a yell from the inside. WL had discovered a pocket door in the kitchen. The same set up was in the living room as well. Now his insistence on a pocket door for bathroom seems prescient. We have two new original hollow plywood 1949 pocket doors with brass hardware.

Must Be Quitting Time

Morning Light

A few pictures of the early morning light coming into the house.

Stairs

The tile got laid on the steps yesterday. Today the tiles will be grouted and a concrete skim coat added to the fronts of the steps.

Windows Opened and Sills

WL opened up the last of the windows the other day. The space now is one of the coolest in the house. The air flow is impressive and by 3pm each day there is a nice breeze in the front room.
Now I feel that I have to strip the sills and protect them with some primer and paint.

Kitchen Floor

Louis flew back west and today he finished the kitchen floor. And after a few pictures, it was wrapped up until we are ready to move in the next week or so.

Stooges

I like this tool belt that Louis brought back from the east coast. I've felt like one of these guys many times in the last three months.

Your A__ Is Grass

Six days ago, I was tired of walking through the mud/dirt pile created from burying the electric conduit to the garage. I threw some grass seed down and today.... or last night, the seed sprouted. All of a sudden there is green busting out.

Painting

I painted the living room today. Two tone green while WL worked away on finishing the kitchen. Louis will be by tomorrow to finish laying the kitchen floor.

Making the Kitchen

Today the kitchen came together. WL came in and we placed the satiny finished countertop on the base. Measured the hole for the sink and found it was too big for our opening. A bit of shaving later, and WL jigsawed out the hole for our mighty deep sink. We placed the faucet in for a few pics to get the full effect. I have begun priming the walls of the living room. The musty old flesh colored paint is slowly being exorcised.
Remember what the kitchen looked like three months ago.....

Herzog Remembers

Tonight on PBS there was a preview of a conversation with Werner Herzog about his epic movie "Fitzcarraldo". The film is epic in scope and was daunting to make. He lost crew and actors but persevered.
"Casting Klaus Kinski, well, he was a substitute for Jason Robards. And I think he is much more than a substitute when we look back at the film now. But he was so volatile and so crazed and so hysterical that every single day, working with him was horrifying. But I had the stamina and the perseverance to domesticate the beast."
A new book about the experience will prove to be a must read this summer. Listen to the NewsHour interview here. Buy the book from Amazon here.

Progress

The progress on the house has been going along well. I'm in the process of painting ceilings and stripping and sealing the window sills. As with everything about this house, you scrape the surface and find a wealth of problems. The previous owners homemade sprinkler system has doused the house with years of water, damaging most of the wood around the outside. The sills I'm stripping should be replaced. But lack of funds means that I'm repairing them as best I can and then sealing them and giving them several layers of primer.
WL has been finishing up the kitchen counter and create a nice molding solution for the area around the bathroom pocket door.
The other big news is that Louis is back and has reconciled with Glendale beauty Amy. So we are hoping to get him to finish the kitchen floor and to skim coat the stairs in the back.
Pictures to follow.......

Grain

After weeks of applying layer after layer of polyurethane and many sandings, the countertops are ready to be put in. The stain has really brought out the amazing grain of the wood.

Milkweed

The light color green we picked for the kitchen is milkweed. Not very appetizing but the color falls into my fave green range.

New Lamp

I replaced the old fashioned lamp on the back porch with the orange Eames sconce WL recently painted. Matches the chocolate wall well.