Week 30

As hoped, lots more got done this week, and we are indeed very close to being done!


Thursday

Doorknob on the door between the garage and new room:

Front of tub sealed and installed:

Hole cut into wall for recessed medicine cabinet:

Bathroom door hung:

The beginning of a replacement overhang that keeps the back steps dry in the rain:

Like a lot of the houses in this neighborhood, the house is two stories tall, but has no interior staircase. So when you want to go from the main living space on the second floor down to the garage to do some laundry, you actually have to go outdoors to do it. I think most people here (and our insurance company) consider this a one-story house, because the street-level story is not officially living space. Any way you cut it, having that overhang there sheltering the stairs is nice. Instead of keeping the solid one that was there, we are replacing it with a translucent material, to let light through.

Friday

They started putting in decking outside the French doors, to hide the drain and level off the pitched surface (it pitches toward the drain on either side):

Here is a picture from above, that shows how the way they are doing the planks mirrors the lines of the steps:

On Friday, I also got the ok from Mr. Bunkport to start moving stuff temporarily stored in the yard and in the house back into the garage!

Here is the yard when I started:

Once I moved that pile of stuff under the brown tarp, I was very happy to see that no rodents had nested in it, and very surprised to see that this lily planted by the previous owner somehow survived the year (albeit in a strange, albino state):

I also started refinishing the medicine cabinet, at the suggestion of one of Mr. Bunkport's guys:

They had to trim an inch off each side to get it to fit the space, and he pointed out that the wood looked like it might be nice, and that it might be worth stripping to find out. So I got out all my stuff & off I went.

Pickles, as usual, was not very helpful:

Basically, I spent the rest of the weekend completing those two projects. The wood on the cabinet did turn out to be nice, and it happened to have some wood filler in spots, which matches the effect of the reclaimed wood on the front of the tub and on the bathroom door. Here it is, ready to be put in the wall:

Meanwhile, our offices are almost completely clear, and that big pile of stuff is gone from the yard:

Having that pile of stuff sitting there on my vegetable garden bed for so long -- on and under plastic tarps -- had the effect of killing all the weeds off. I set those leftover tiles there to prevent weeds from seeding themselves again. The way the tiles warm up in the sun gives me the idea of making a dog pad somewhere in a sunny patch for Pickles to nap on.

Speaking of napping, once again, while I was hard at work all weekend, this was Pickles' contribution to the cause:

I did some more odds and ends, as well, including hanging the photograph Mr. Bunkport gave us last week downstairs, about a foot from where the picture was taken many months ago:

Lastly, I wanted to make sure to mention that AJ made this contribution this morning, as she was getting ready to leave for her first performance with her Taiko drumming troop (which ended up lasting about 12 hours, including setup, tear down, etc.):

Thanks, AJ!

Next up: decking should be finished tomorrow, along with (dare I say it...) the bathroom!