Uh oh...

We got quite a bit of rain over the weekend and now water is seeping through the foundation wall on the one side where the foundation is sistered. Sigh. I'm glad this happened now and not after we had finished everything off downstairs.

I talked to the contractor and he thinks we will have to dig up the dirt next to the foundation and re-seal it.

It's always something, right?

Second Floor

The porch floor is also done. We used Waterlox Marine Finish on it -- the gloss will tone down after a little wear and tear.

First Floor

The floor in the basement has been poured.

Rob has to 'water' it twice a day so that it cures properly. Who knew?

Erosion...the Good Kind

We really like this sink for our downstairs bathroom. It's a custom order, so kind of pricey, and it might be a bitch to clean...

Let Us Have Lettuce

When the lettuce in my clay pots went to seed, some of it sprouted in the yard.

This volunteer is doing better than the stuff I actually planted in my raised bed!

It's a Jungle Out There!

The tomatoes aren't the only thing thriving in the backyard. I dread having to dig out all these.

Of course, we also seem to have a bumper crop of compost wizards...

It's Supposed to Be March

I pulled these off the plants in the backyard and spent an afternoon making tomato sauce for a lasagne.

I hadn't been in the back in a while and we haven't had a lot of rain, so who knows when these got watered last. I honestly kind of forgot about them because they're last summer's plants. Remarkable. And delicious. This is my kind of time warp.

Sweet!

Sweet peas, that is.

I had to install some supports because these guys really took off. Of course, the one thing I planted that Rob doesn't eat would be the thing the charged out of the starting gate...

Let There Be (Porch) Light!

We were supposed to be looking at bathroom fixtures, but that's not very exciting, so we went for an ice cream and wandered into Early California Antiques.

We're driving our contractor nuts. First we wanted a ceiling light for the porch, but then we decided a wall mounted one would be better. There was a miscommunication and the guys cut a hole in the ceiling and ran electricity to it. They were going to fix it, but now we found this, so it all worked out.

I can't wait to see it on the porch -- it looks kind of silly hanging off a curtain rod in our living room!

Rube Goldberg

These steam punk looking thing is the "brain" for our radiant floor heat. Somehow it interfaces with our hot water heater to get the water to flow into the tubes in the concrete floor.

We got it from a DIY heating supply that our contractor found. We were supposed to install it this time last year, but then we had all those permit issues, so it's been sitting in a box in the back bedroom all this time. Let's hope it works...

Just in Time for Spring

These white tubs are for radiant floor heat.

Water from our awesome hot water heater will flow through these, radiate heat to our concrete floor, which will in turn heat our basement.

It's Always Something

When the guys put in the new porch floor, they managed to cut through the floor in Rob's office.

We think they were cutting the old floor out from underneath and didn't realize there was a bumpout.

That bump out has been quite the source of confusion. The engineer thought our foundation ended under the bumpout and not at the perimeter of the porch, which caused all sorts of issues (but ultimately meant a bigger addition downstairs.) Of course, that also means the porch is now the roof for Rob's office and the wine cellar...Sure hope that tar paper they put under the tongue and groove holds up!

Do Over!

The plumbing for the bathroom had to be moved since the staircase is going where the bathroom used to be. But it's not just a redo, we now have the venting for the plumbing, which we didn't have before.

Hard to believe it was June when this first went in. Our contractor and I joke the basement will be done in two weeks, "weather permitting."

Tied Up

They've made a grid of steel to reinforce our floor and tie the two sides of the foundation together. It's hard to believe (and not so hard to believe) that it's been a year since the walls of the foundation were poured.

First You Put Down Some Foam...

This foam will act as a vapor barrier between the ground and the basement floor.

We were originally supposed to use sand and plastic sheeting, but because we decided to install radiant floor heating, we had to upgrade.

Inside Out

We used the same tongue and groove flooring on the porch floor as we did on the ceiling.

The wood is breathing now, acclimating to our environment. When that's done, they'll clear coat it.

It's going to be gorgeous!

All In A Day's Work

Rob and I spent most of the day in the yard.

He made a path out of the bricks that came from our old fireplace. The path goes from the driveway to the porch, so we won't track mud everywhere anymore.

I spent my time pruning -- yes, pruning -- our mango tomato plant. I nearly filled a green bin with dead vines and, while the result is not pretty, the healthy vines have space now and I actually found quite a few blooms on them.