Gardens

We had a nice warm spring with a good amount of rain this year. The plants have been going wild. Rock rose, smoke bush, japanese maple, and many others.
From the porch

Asian pear tree.

Steps are stripped of paint and the old cast concret finish. I still have to strip the old iron railings and paint them.

Fabric

Made a frame for some Marimekko fabric we purchased downtown. The large format and pefect colors struck us both as being perfect for the space. I also made some 'legs' for the school cabinet side table out of some old redwood 4x4's. The combo really enhanced this area of the house

Hallway

I decided to put down some reclaimed fir flooring for the hallway beside the kitchen island. I was able to get about 60% of what was needed from the ReStore a while back. The wood was in excellent condition because it had been used as a ceiling and was never finished with more than some oil. I purchased the rest from Dunn Lumber since they sell FSC certified wood.

Old ship lap sub floor



Tired after swinging the sledge for the floor nailer all day


1 coat of sealer

Fir and slate show off well

Grout & Seal

Chalkboards

After much ado, the slate is down. I purchased a number of old chalkboards that were salvaged from the old Tacoma Stadium High School from the ReStore last spring. After having to cut and clean old mastic from the surfaces, I ran into some problems with adhesion of the slate chalkboard surface to the thin-set. After having to pull up two sheets and chisel the hardened cement off the floor with a 1.5" cold chisel and a hammer for 2 hours, I swore I would never do tile/stone again. It looks like the instructions on the thin-set tell you to mix the stuff too thick, and with the dry porous slate surface contacting the dry thin-set, I could not get the adhesion needed.

It became clear that I was violating a number of stone installation rules:
Tiles as large as 42"x 42"
Very thin application of thin-set to have floor surface match up with the existing floor
Using old recycled slate blackboards with a very smooth ground surface for adhesion
Having to pull out warped slate with the thin-set adhesion




I now have to seal the slate so I can grout the cracks, seal it again, and we can move the island and stove back into position to have a working kitchen again.

Plants & Pinecones

Kitchen update: Installed the stainless plant shelf above the windows. The floor is now ripped up in preparation for installing the slate chalkboard. Hope to be done with that project soon.

Ventus

I finally installed the range hood this weekend. Not too bad of a job once the location was finalized. The hood was the most inexpensive island hood that exists (around $700) and it seems like it will do the job. There are of course some poor design issues mostly having to do with the details. I will have to sand off the terrible "Euro Kitchen) logo of course. It is definitely not the most attractive thing out there, but I have only been impressed with ones costing $2500 or more and that is just not where I am going to spend the dollars.
http://www.euro-kitchen.com/