SEPTEMBER 2004
Now that we're living in the house, it's seems harder to find time to work on the remaining
construction. There is still so much to do, but we spend a lot of time unpacking and
organizing our mess of a life here. So many boxes deal with. We have been working on a
lot of the details like getting interior doors painted and trimmed, getting the ceiling ready
for the steel sheets, and finishing the kitchen cabinets. But I've been so distracted that I
hardly took any photos during the first two weeks. So the image gallery will be bit light this
month.
Oh, yeah... wanted send out a personal shoutout to my friend Elizabeth at SCC, who
apparently is addicted to this site. Yo, Liz!
HOME BACK TO AUGUST FORWARD TO OCTOBER
09.11.04- While we're working inside, the boys fend off bordom by building their own
dream house of cardboard boxes and masking tape. It was so cool. It had a sun room,
a living room and a garden window. They even laid carpet underneath and ate their
dinner out there.
09.18.04- Diana primes and paints the front doors, which have finally arrived after
3 months! We'll be installing them in a few days after they're all painted and sealed.
The boys hang out in the living room playing video games. As you can see, most
of the boxes have been unpacked or stored away, so it actually looks livable now.
We fashioned a temporary set of curtains for the front rolling doors/windows. They're
canvas painting tarps stapled to a 2" x 2" board hanging on hooks from the ceiling.
The master bedroom only has a few boxes left and the office has been set up with
my two Macs, new desks and chairs and the original display shelves have been
filled with some of my work. My first real home office.
And, tah-da! The kitchen and dining room. Still missing a set of cabinet doors, the
tile counters and the floor trim, though. But it's still stunning and spacious.
09.19.04- Floods!! A late summer downpour hits Sacramento and floods whole
neighborhoods. Land Park was flooded. Downtown was under 2 feet of water in
some places. The rain hit so fast and so hard that the drain pipes just couldn't
handle it. This is in front of the house. That water is halfway up our walkway...
... and two feet past the edge of the sidewalk. Fortunately, that was as high as it got
here and it was drained within 2 hours.
We were gambling that there would be any real rain until the end of October. That's
almost always the case. So we had not weatherized the house completely. I wasn't
surprised at all to see water dripping down the wall at the base of the dormer.
It's a good thing we were home to move the TV out of the corner.
Right when the rain started, we had just returned from the nursery with a bunch of
tropical plants for the entry planter. Here's Diana getting started on her masterpiece.
Meanwhile, Quinn watches the rain from the front rolling door...
...which were also leaking to no surprise. The doors are watertight, but the seal at
the floor doesn't fit tight enough yet, so Quinn helps soak up the wate with beach
towels. Diana finishes the tropical garden. Now we just got to get the paneling on.
09.21.04- The big storm forces us to focus on the exterior needs of the house before
Winter really comes to town. Which is funny since it's really only the first day of
Fall. More red metal facia section go on while steve continues to stain the interior
side of the front doors.
With the facia in place, Don Sr. works with Don to get the corrugated steel sheets
up under the eves. The dormer walls and the garage were always planned to be
painted along with the fence. But due to time and cost concerns, and the leaks we
just experienced, we make a drastic design and technical change — the dormer
exterior walls will be covered with the corrugated steel as well. You can see the side
of the dormer above the facia in the right photo. This, of course, starts a whole new
round of stares from neighbors and passing cars.
09.22.04- Don Sr. starts to put up the steel sheets above the front door. The metal
fits perfectly underneath the lip of the window frame and creates a great silver on
silver contrast effect.
09.23.04- Don Sr. begins to install the new front door jambs which are also painted
metallic silver. The doors are installed several hours later. When I saw this photo,
with the combination of concrete walls, palm fronds, powder blue and glowing
sunlight, it made be think of Palm Springs. It feels very desert-like.
Whoa! How COOL is that?! What a difference 3 days, some cheap metal, and new
front doors can make. The bookdrop/mailbox has also been painted silver. When
Diana arrived home, she looked at the front of the house and said, "It looks like we
put a motorhome on the top of our house!" Hilarious, but she really did like it.
The dark grey steel door frame on the outside of the new door jambs will also be
sanded down and painted silver to make the frame much wider looking. The exposed
wood posts and beam (and the area behind the white house wrap) will be encased
in red metal and the underside of the dormer roof will be in the corrugated steel.
And lastly, the light fixtures will be covered with custom steel sconces.More photos coming soon...
Also visit Don's portfolio site: www.designbutton.com
