Done Den

Three coats of primer and one coat of flat "Anthem White" paint did the trick. The dark wood paneling is now white, giving the den the feel of a beach house. Now we're trying to figure out a color palate.

Now that the painting's done, I can rest my aching back a bit before I take off for Atlanta. I've been re-reading Arthur Sze's "Quipo" for color inspiration. Lots of golds, yellows, reds in that book . . . trouble is, those colors are already in the bedroom.

Boy, I've got too much time on my hands . . . HGTV is my friend.

Painting in Progress

I've been painting for roughly seven days now. My back's killing me. I think I've got sciatica. Sometimes my feet are numb, like they're asleep. I've pretty much been on my feet during all this.

We decided that our kitchen was far too dark. The previous owner had a fondness for yellow . . . only, in the kitchen, it with yellowish tile, the yellow on the walls looked sickly. So, we repainted the walls with a high gloss white called "Anthem White." We also had to take down all the cabinet doors. They had this sickly yellowish cream formica on them. Meredith and I peeled off all the formica which left behind a sticky film of glue on each oof the cabinet doors. I ruined four doors trying to pry the formica coverings off, so I basically had to make four new cabinet doors (yay circular saw and sander). Meredith and I then spent a whole afternoon wiping the cabinet fronts down with a solvent to remove the adhesives. I then had to wash off the cabinet doors and sand each one with a hand sander. We then primed and painted the doors. It took us five coats of high-gloss paint to get those suckers the shade of white we wanted. I think my first mistake was buying the discount primer ($19.00 vs. $79.00). Basically, touching up the kitchen took three days.

Now we're on the den. I'm not sure if you've seen the earlier photos on this blog, but refer to the fireplace pictures. The den's a little dark because the whole room's got this dated wood panelling. Meredith and I have spent the past two days priming the panelling. This time, we bought a better primer. Anyway, I predict the den will look much more open. In its former state, it was much to dark and enclosed. I'll post pictures when I can.

Also, sorry I've not been great with the e-mails or with blogging. Again, we're on dial-up here and since I've been in work mode, it's been difficult to get online. I'll be heading for Atlanta to visit Meredith's folks in a couple of weeks. I should be able to post a few more times on the blog before I split, but until then, ciao!

Home Sweet Home

I'm finally feeling settled in the new house. For the past couple of weeks, Meredith and I have been combing through the inspection report and have been checking off some "need to do" items. We also fixed up the landscaping at the front of our house. I've been travelling back and forth from Bellingham to our house trucking many bags of bark. It seems that the previous owners of the house were not invested in landscaping. To be sure, Meredith and I spent several hours pulling out carpets of weed (she did most of the pulling, I trucked the junk into the forest). We filled the new beds with about sixty cubic feet of bark. It now smells like cedar outside our house.

Additionally, I mowed about an acre of lawn. I'm not exaggerating about the size of the lawn . . . it's big and it had gotten out of hand before I started my mowing ritual. Trouble is, the push mower is starting to show wear and tear. Every time I turn a corner, something rattles. It kind of sounds like a jar of marbles being shook.

We also planted many flowers in flower baskets and flower pots on our deck. We went the cheap route and purchased seed packets: marigolds, etc.. I'm waiting for the first seedlings to pop up since the job of seed-planting was mine.

I also bought a set of cordless power tools. Nothing says "Homeowner" like a cordless circular saw. We've put them to good use. The first project for the new tools was to reassemble the shelves in the kitchen pantry. For some reason, the previous homeowners liked having slanted shelves in the pantry that were only good for holding bottles of wine. Now imagine a whole 3x3x5 pantry with mini wine cubicles. Meanwhile, in the other room, there's a functional wet bar. . . I mean, come now. So Meredith jig-sawed all the shelving out of the space and I re-sized all the shelves with the circular saw, since the shelves didn't fit straight-on (as I said, the shelves were slanted). I installed a four sets of shelving brackets with my new cordless drill. Voila. Functional cabinetry.

Lastly, I've found time to write again. I've been obsessed with this Tagalog Dictionary edited by Teresita V. Ramos. Also, Manong Jose has come by to haunt me again. . . I'm such a tease.

I have moved. Some observations . . .

1. It's really dark in the country.
2. I wake up very early now. 4:30AM this morning . . . and I wasn't tired.
3. Having no high-speed internet sucks, but I'm getting used to it. It's a good way to quit playing online video games, that's for sure.
4. Meredith and I have a lot of stuff. Where did it all come from? Does it spawn?
5. Jake has become his own dog. He inhabits a whole other sphere of existence, leaving the homestead for hours, and then returning soaked, hungry, and tired.

Anyway, I'll be down in Seattle this weekend for a reading. The information is here.