another room painted, another floor done

This pine is newer than the barn board that is now in the master bedroom.  It was my old bedroom floor, but I took it up and flipped it over (it had a hideous brown stain on it).   I hand sanded this as well – which was a major pain in the ass.   It took about 5 times as long as bedroom which is twice the size.  And I’m not as happy about the imperfections because they aren’t as old.  However, the Osmo looks great and in general the floor kicks ass.  We leveled it out, and it beats that god awful pergo that was there before any day.

sanding sanding sanding

Not only did Moira give me the best birthday present (a whole day of her work crew to come on over to my house) she also joined team sand sheet rock for an afternoon. I am so close to finishing the upstairs I can taste it….

blown in cellulose insulation is sexy

Now that everything is ruffed in and the plumbing inspector FINALLY approved the stink pipe, the fellas from Ace Insulation came and blew in the cellulose upstairs. Gerard (the delightful owner) sealed up the cracks with a foam spray, then they put up plastic (that kinda looks like that heavy duty packaging tape) and made a super duper air tight seal – so tight the plastic was like a drum when you touched it, then they blew in the cellulose. It’s a recycled product from wood pulp (newspaper?) and is totally non toxic, too. They also used denim to seal up the tricky spots.

I decided to rip out all the plaster and lathe and sketchy sketchy rock wool insulation that was previously blown in (see demo pictures) so I could get the tightest seal possible. All that demo is not necessary, they can blow from the outside, but it since I was ripping everything apart to re-wire and re-plumb, it seemed like the more effective thing to do.

And it is one of the few “green” products that doesn’t make you fall off your chair with cost. It was only a little over $3, 000 for the entire house (about 1000 sq ft).

i love a square…the first new (old) window is in

So, my very first window is in (thanks Chicky and Paul) and I am elated. I spent an ungodly amount of hours on window design – and up until today, doubting myself through the whole process. I struggled with creating a passive solar design and something that opened up the dark spaces. I went with a 40×40″ window (that I got for $80 at Restore!) for the north facing wall – much to the chagrin of my radiant heat experts at Northeast Radiant Technology (sorry Rob) in jacob’s room and it is amazing. Not only because it makes the room look so much bigger, and lighter, but also the views are fantastic.

I really want to thank Michel Gaison (the architect I consulted with when I first drew up plans) for encouraging me to trust my photographic instincts on light and space. And also for just being super cool and sitting down with me and making me design, redesign, and design again. And for making me do cardboard markups. And for making me rethink how I use space and objects. And for giving me a roll of trace paper. And for not charging me a ridiculous amount of money.

So here are before and after shots – it’s been raining for days so not the best picture, but you get the idea anyway.

denim insulation is the bomb

After much research on insulation for interior walls, mainly for sound proofing, I settled on ultra touch denim insulation. I was initially drawn to it because it is such a cool product – insulation out of recycled jean scraps. However, it is expensive at about $90/100 sq ft. But let me tell you, this is the only project I have tackled so far, where I actually exclaimed to myself “Wow, that was easy”.

It comes pre cut to hang in sheets 8′ high and 16″ on center. I scored it with a utility knife and then tore, yes I said tore it to fit bays that were either too short or bays that were smaller. No staple gun, it just snugs right in. I used the little pieces I tore to fit around outlets. And because it is 100% non toxic, a dust mask is all you need!

another floor down

So, Jacob’s room has a new old floor thanks to Carl. This was the floor of my bedroom. I flipped it over, got rid of that nasty stain and faux old timey nails. I think if Jacob comes back he will be relieved to never look at pergo ever again and to not roll from the window to the door downhill.

jacob’s room as of April 7, 2008

Even though Jacob was a temporary house guest and has been gone for two months, I miss him. Chicky and I still call the guest room, his…