Hack Rabbit

Before I met Neal, if you had asked me - "Rabbit or Turtle?", I'd have known without thinking: Rabbit.

Ha.

Compared with this Aquarian, I'm just a hack.  And he, at this (after dark, after hours) moment, is embodying bunny, bunny of the plaster.  Here's why.

 

Orange plaster in the bedroom?   Blue plaster in the bedroom?  These are early phases.

This was in late July, when two walls were transformed into the final finish -  a custom, sumptuous plaster.  One of the ingredients is melted olive oil soap, which makes a smooth, glass-like texture on the burnished areas. While "chocolate leather" may not remind you of walls, we find it hugely satisfying, and love what he's created.

Then he worked on the flooring, went to Hornby, worked a bit, visited with relatives, and this week took the girls to the mountains for a few days.  On his first day back we had a meeting about Uma's back-to-school, and I came home at 8:30 pm to find this:

A new pile dominating Neal's studio, which is part of our interior door order.

And a midnight plasterer (with his trusty shadow), finishing the bedroom.

In this video, the (just released) Bowie tune perfects the scene.

The photo doesn't begin to show the quality of the plaster...or the amount of sheer intention it takes to mix, lay up and burnish...but Neal pulls it off.

a little B & E in the morning

So, while Neal was back up on Hornby, I was - where? As usual, here on Lopez.  The cat was pleased.

But I did get in some solid tiling sessions.

Because the wood flooring had fresh finish on it, there was only one way to get in the bathroom:  through the window.  So I set up a ladder, and crawled in and out, in and out.  Here's a shot through the window that shows the kickstep for the vanity, and the primer that I painted on the floor.

These are the cardboard dams that I built to contain the floor leveling compound.

And here's why:  we're splurging on heating elements under the tile, for our damp and chilly (9 month long) 'temperate' season.  Here they are, held in place with a glue gun.  I did this on a Saturday morning.  And found out that one of the blue tubes the electricians installed in the wall for the wiring (look to the left in this photo) did not end in the wall box.  Uh-oh.  Now what do I do?

I ended up taping the wire to the wall, and waiting until Monday.  And finding out that the wire exits under the box, not in it.  Well, the upstairs bathroom will be easier.

Then, two bags of leveling compound.  Much easier to use than I expected...how often can we say that??

The travertine floor tile, fully installed (four sessions later) but not grouted.

Here's the shower pan with grouting complete on the left side.  Looks nice with grout!

And here's a photo of the completed floor, grouted and sealed.  The photo looks plain, the actual is fabulous.  We love it.

A BIG (gentle) Step

And why is the frig and bathtub in the entry? 

Time to tape off the doorways to rooms with tile floors.  Neal has finished laying the fir flooring.

 












He rented two sanders, a drum and an orbital.  For three solid days, he followed the things over the floors.  And over, and over.

  

He asked why the orbital didn't come with a bag to catch the dust it generates.  "They were combusting." he was told.  So he hooked the shop vac up to the sander instead.

I took the sanders back to the mainland, and Neal started applying layers of Waterlox, an oil-based finish that we used in the Studio and liked.  Three days and three coats later, we could peer through the windows at the beautiful floors.

The next morning, he left for Hornby.  When he came home, the floors were dry enough to be walked on (gently).

Color Blocking

No, not the summer issue of Vogue!  Our woodstove surround...

After installing the front doors, Neal stapled down the floor lining, and started on the fir flooring.  Notice that the window trim is installed and has finish. What a difference trim makes.

Then, halfway through the living room, he started a series of watercolor sketches.  We held these up in front of our faces and squinted, to make them fill the space behind the woodstove.  We choose our favorite, and then he made a plaster sample (see the panel to the left, on the floor).

Here is the completed fresco.  Now he can finish the ceiling molding and the floor.  In the meanwhile, I'm back on the tile in the downstairs bathroom.

Almost forgot. In the midst of things, we had to meet a semi between 11-2:00 on a street in Anacortes, to pick up our kitchen cabinets.

Not knowing how much volume the cabinets would be, or if it would rain, we rented a UHaul for a day, and borrowed a burly truck.  We drove up literally right after the semi arrived, and easily loaded the cabinets in the UHaul.  So easily, Neal decided to go pick up more fir flooring.

We got home, and then realized we had to unload before dark, to get the truck back in the morning.  Kenny, help!!  And he did.  Ken, thank you thank you.

Here's our kitchen, waiting in the laundry room and mud room for the floors to be completed.  We opened one box to see  -   can't wait to install them.

Where have we been?

I'm getting a sense from Neal (former track guy) that he's sensing the finish line is near.  It's not anything he's said:  it's just that he's ON IT.

If he's not rolling on another coat of paint, he's rustling through the trim pile, or comparing his latest plaster samples.  He comes back on-island with his truck full of wood; fir flooring, bead board, then gorgeous hunks of cedar and fir from Egg Lake Sawmill on San Juan.

Uma's room, with a few paint options on the wall
 (Benjamin Moore now has pints to check color: it's pretty much made for people like us)

And here's her finished room (notice that it's not blue), complete with trim!  It is the last of the alder that we milled from our land.  The live edges on the sills are particularly nice.

Here's the living room, ready for paint.

This is just one of the combinations we've tried.  You'll have to visit to see the final colors.

Neal at his chopping station, working on window trim.

Deenah, checking out the kitchen.  And, June is for the Gemini's!

Mom is first.  She, Dad and I met at the same
beach we've been going to for - how long - almost 50 years?! She showed me an album she's making of our house construction, a well-timed reminder of just how far we've come in the past year.  Thanks, Mom, it's wonderful!

 Uma's next...

then it's my turn.  Happy Birthdays!!

Tiny Pieces

Tiny, TINY pieces.  1/2" by 1/2" mosaic pieces, to be exact.  Yes, they come on 12" x 12" sheets, it's true.  Does that make it easy to install?

Having just gone through an enormous learning curve, I can tell you -   No!  It is not easy to install.

I think it's funny, in a human kind of way, that my first tiling attempt in the house was arguably the most difficult, and I didn't even realize it.  Happily,  I'm confident that I can install the rest of the mosaic tile...but the bottom half of my first wall doesn't make me proud.

Here are some shots that don't do the tile justice.  The glass/marble combination is marvelous in person.

Rubberized coating for waterproofing

First wall, with 12" x 24" porcelain ceramic tile by Pental, fun.

The white areas are where I removed tile in for re-installing (part of the proverbial "learning curve")

The walls are grouted: next are the 2x2's in the pan.

 

rock

So when Matthew left for Seattle, suddenly there were ceilings and all of the 12' panels were on the walls instead of stacked on the floor.

Then started days on days of sheetrock mud...and more sheetrock mud...
there was a day when Neal said "I finished putting all the tape on today."
and another when he said "I try not to think about how much is left to mud".

Yo Matt.

The entry with a finished floor!  The first one...

looking more like a kitchen

Looking at these shots, I'm seeing BRIGHT.  Has the cabin ever been Bright?  Don't recall it...

And how's it going?  More mud to go.