We moved into the house in late September and have been settling in over the winter. This is the penultimate post --- I plan one more set of pictures once the landscaping is done, but that might be in a year or two and is mostly "just for the record". In this post I'm going to start with the environmental photos, then show the few projects that have been done, and conclude with the occupied house shots.
Remember that you can click on any photo for the larger view.
The Seasons
In October we were graced by the visit of Charla's Aunts who managed to find our house using the most obscure route. That's what online mapping services will do for you! Left to right: Mary Helen, Charla, Margaret, Ruby, and Frances:
Early November brought the wonderful autumn colors.
The first really hard freeze resulted in ice being extruded from the mud. I'd never seen that before:
We got some good snowstorms in February. The bird feeders are very very popular in the snow. I've got thistle seed in the one on the right which the Goldfinches flock to, and black sunflower on the left for the other song birds.
And on the ground beneath there was a lot of activity picking up whatever fell.
March 1 brought a cold snap and fog, which gave the woods a cool icing.
The Projects
The main project I've been plodding away at is shelves for the closets. I used 3/4" birch plywood with a doug fir face strip tacked and glued on the front edge to match the doors. When I went to put a shelf in, I found out exactly how un-square everything is, resulting in much tweaking and trimming. I guess you could call this truly custom cabinetry since every shelf is different. Persistence furthers! Below Charla demonstrates my swing-shelf design in the living-room closet which allows you to put bigger stuff on the top shelf --- there is 4 feet of vertical space above that shelf: that is a guitar case standing up on the right.
The photo below shows why the closet shelves were a high priority --- we had a bit of stuff to organize! On the left is one of the open items on my punch-list: shelves for the cherry built-in bookshelf next to the closet.
The downstairs bathroom closet got seven shelves
The upstairs linen closet which has a weird offset shape was naturalized by the addition of five shelves on the left and three on the right.
The remaining project accomplishments were the dishwasher door and pot rack install which I'll point out during the photo tour below.
Photo Tour
Outside on a drizzly February day
Looking at these, I think "the porch seems to be a junk magnet." Externalization is great, isn't it?
Even so, it has served very well over the winter as a transition space to get your muddy boots off and keep the snow away from the door.
The dining room. The wall hanging pot rack (which has been with us since Palo Alto) found a new home and worked pretty well as a base for a much needed support bracket for the end of the nick-knack shelf above.
Living room with coat hooks between the windows. Eventually we will have a wood stove against that back wall.
Kitchen
Cooking area and pesky dishwasher in the corner. We got the wrong door delivered with the unit, and when I tried to get the correct one, the manufacturer was out of them! Finally in January they managed to find one in some warehouse. It's just an 18" dishwasher so it takes a very small load, but that is about right when it's just us two.
The cherry cabinets continue to mellow to a duskier color. Here is the Lazy Susan in the corner unit.
Looking to the hallway which holds our old hall bench:
Music room looking west
Music room looking south
Looking east into Computer room to mechanical room and downstairs bathroom.
Computer room looking west into music room
Computer room looking south into hall and music room
Venturing upstairs...
You might stumble into the Workroom, AKA Robert's office, AKA rat's nest. The unpacking is strictly on-demand.
Workroom looking south
From the workroom, you can step into the Laundry which is awaiting a table.
Then on into the West bath
Looking back into the walk-in shower and Landry door
Now on into the West bedroom
West bedroom looking west back toward the bathroom:
Along the upstairs hall
And into the East bedroom
East bedroom looking back west. We still need doors for the upper section of these closets and the bathroom nooks.
East bathroom
The view from the bathtub through the sunroom is very pleasant, and is especially striking at sunset.
The sunroom has robbed the winter of it's killing power
The sunroom today (March 8). Charla has her garden starts going and everything is budding out and blooming.
