Filling the post holes

I came home this week to find the wood guys had been boring some plugs from an extra piece of flooring. The bleachers come with post holes that need to be filled. While marbles, toys, or bottle caps were an option (using epoxy), we chose simple wood plugs.  I enjoy piles and buckets of repitition; I thought you might too...

The bleachers

We debated on the floors for some time. We loved our old fir, couldn't imagine anything else in the house. But fir is so soft, what about future dogs or cats or kids or chronic furniture re-arrangers??  So we considered oak, which looks lovely in my brother's house. We went to ecohaus, to see examples of "green" options.  But we just couldn't get our mind off of fir - it's everywhere in our house.  Hammer & Hand came through with the perfect alternative: old fir.  Old fir bleachers, to be exact. They have a warehouse full of them, waiting to be converted into thick, sturdy, plank fir flooring.  This old fir is harder than the younger trees cultivated these days, and re-uses something that it still perfectly good.  And it is turning out gorgeous.  Best of all, we can't see our basement through the cracks in our bare wood floor anymore. And we have subflooring now - thanks, original wood floor, you are again useful!

How did they get this into our house?

Installation...

Can you tell we are choosing paint colors too?

Walls + other progress

 

 

The walls were put up some time ago, forgive the delay in posting. (And thank you, mom & dad, for the gentle prodding to post some pictures. Keep it up.) When the walls went up, the fear of destruction and WHAT HAVE WE DONE!!?! began to be replaced by anticipation of what will someday be. The drawings became three dimensional, and I was comforted by the choices we made. 

This whole area was a porch (read: uninsulated)

Mud room: we could feel the breeze under the door.

Like the mud room, formerly a chilly or hot place (depending on the season), due to its old windows, old door, and lack of insulation. We decided at the last minute to include it in the project, and now I can't imagine having let it be. Now we'll have a welcoming entry way from the backyard, with a bench, coat hooks, nooks for garden supplies, a closet.

Same corner, (+) one wall and (-) one window

I won't have to yell out "brrr!" every time I run out there to get food from the pantry. I won't have to run out there to get food from the pantry. It is starting to get fun, picturing our life in this new space. I picture Milo and Clara running in from the back yard after helping me garden on the weekend. Or our friends gathered around the dining room table, while I grab one last pot off the stove.  Or sitting at the counter while Eric cooks up a batch of soup, reviewing our work days and talking about nothing. 

But first, I will eat some more cereal out of one of two bowls not packed away, while seated on the couch crowded into the spare bedroom, watching TV on my laptop. Don't mind the dust.

New hallway, where eating nook was.