This weekend we worked on closing in the closet. After Jeff put  Roxal Safe & Sound sound proofing in the cavity (you can see it on the left side of the picture), we put up the wall board. It will be great when we can move our clothes in from the trailer.  Since we had nice weather, Jeff did some thinning to the apple trees. (I held the ladder)  It looks like we will get a bountiful crop this year. Without the thinning however, we would end up with much smaller apples.

We also entertained guests this weekend.  Both two legged and four legged.

We got some more work done in the kitchen area. Hanging the upper cabinet and range vent.  This is a recirculating unit because we have no way to vent to the outside.

But the big news is that we got our “temporary” cooktop installed.  This morning Jeff was able to make his coffee in the house.  We are now one step closer to getting rid of the trailer.

5/12/2013  Update.  We have moved all the kitchen stuff from the trailer to the house.  We are now fully using the kitchen in the house.  It will still be a “work in progress” but nothing beats Home Cooking!

We are adding some bold color to the kitchen area by painting the side and back of the kitchen bar.  It is the same red oxide we are putting on the exposed steel arches and a nice contrast to the neutral wood tone of the counters.

Next project this weekend was to attach the sink and stove counters and hook up the plumbing. We are grateful to our friends Paul & Prudy, who gave us a great stainless steel sink and faucet.

We now have hot and cold running water in the kitchen.  HOORAY!  Jeff and I are really pleased with how the kitchen layout is coming together. It’s a wonderful open plan. We will have so much more counter area than we have ever had with lots of space for multiple chefs.

We take pride in the fact that Jeff and I are building this amazing house pretty much by ourselves.  But there are just some cases where you have to bring in a Pro.  I told Shawn from Radar Plumbing that he would be great at playing our favorite iPhone App called Flow, the way he was able to connect all the PEX line and drain pipes was nothing short of a work of art.  Not to mention that he had the right tools for the job.We did save money by doing  some prep work like having all the shut-off valves in place. The odd green and black objects in this picture are called “Pull Stop Boxes”  they are a slick combined shut-off valve and mounting base for all the fixtures. (In this case, the hot & cold kitchen sink and dishwasher valves.)  What makes them so cool is that once installed and finished, you end up with something like this…

Behind our bathroom vanity.  To turn off the valve, you simply push the button on the cover.  This will be especially nice for the toilet water supply.  No ugly valve!

But the Best thing about this day,…

We now have Hot & Cold running water!!!!

…Or just are really cool water heater.  This Rheem Marathon water heater is perhaps one of the best quality units available.  While building our house, we have made creative use of lots of recycled, reclaimed, repurposed and bargain material but there are sometimes when you just have to go with what is best.  Jeff has a favorite saying, “Price is what you pay, value is what you get”.  This water heater fits into that category.  Though it was fairly expensive, it is super efficient and because the tank is not made out of metal, there will be no corrosion issues. The tank as a rounded bottom which will flush sediment easily. This is especially important given our “rural” water source.  The tank also has a lifetime warranty.  It will be interesting to see how that plays out in a house that has an estimated life span of 900 years.   To top it off, it’s really cool looking with its curved shape.  Definitely fits in our house.   Perhaps Dr. Who will stop by to check it out.In preparation for hooking up the plumbing, we worked on getting the bathroom vanity in place.  The drain and vent lines are in and we set the shut-off valves which will be connected to Pex tubing running to the water heater and main cold line.

We also got the rough-in plumbing set for the kitchen sink and dishwasher.  (You can also get a good sense of the kitchen layout in this picture.  As soon as we get the framing done around the water heater, we will be ready for the plumber to come and hook it all up.

Greetings.  It has been quite a while since our last post. Between my son’s visit from Alaska and both Jeff and I getting that horrible crud cold that’s been going around, we have not made much progress. Butt…We did start some work on the kitchen area.  This framing is for the “Pony Wall” which will separate the kitchen sink counter space from the living room area.  An 18″ bar counter will be cantilevered off the top of this wall to create a standing, or tall stool seating area.  It should be a great place to hang out at parties.

This weekend we put up two of the three cool world maps.  They look awesome on the wall.  We also added our heavy rusty steel thingy, Object’dArt.  The Maps will some day move to the bedroom where there will be a wall large enough for all three. (Asia and Australia will need to stay in the box a bit longer)We finished installing the ceiling light fixture and outlets in the guest bedroom.  No more extension cords!  We also primed the plaster surface in the West end of the house.

Last week we  passed our “rough-in” electrical inspection.  This means we can connect outlets and light fixtures. (we had already pulled the wire through conduit and run it through the walls)  The first project this weekend was the light for the dining room area.  I salvaged some cool globe fixtures from the Nye Beach Hotel before it was demolished.  The base was a dark brown but I painted it with same rusty red color to match the steel I-beams.  We have four more of these fixtures so you will see them elsewhere in the house eventually.  For this one, we put in a dimmable LED bulb.  Not only is is super energy efficient but it should last a very long time.Another project we worked on was laying out the kitchen. One of the coolest features will be a round table centered under the skylight. It is at the end of the sink counter.  Our plan is to have the table be on a hydraulic lift so it can go from standard sit down table height, to kitchen counter height and up to “party” bar height.  Figuring out mechanics of the lift is going to be a fun project.

Here, Jeff is pointing out where the induction cooktop will go. There will be a wall oven in the corner behind him and the fridge will go where you see the small black step stool.

Jeff has three beautiful, framed, french made world maps from when he worked in a map store in DC. (Selling maps to CIA agents).  They have been in storage for a long time waiting for a wall to hang on.  We now have that wall but what color to paint it?  We figured we would try to match one of the colors in the maps so we took one down to the paint store.  After laying it out on the counter and comparing paint chips, we picked a sort of deep pumpkin color (from the mountain ranges).  But just as the Miller Paint guy was about to start mixing the paint, an artist walked in and said “STOP, you can’t paint the wall that color”  She then spent the next half hour explaining why we should choose a complementary color but not one in the map.  So we ended up with “Sedge”It’s kind of a Taupe color.  I’m not sure the pictures do it justice but it looks great!We also painted the area above the soffit in the kitchen.  It is a nice compliment to the “Twinkle Twinkle” cream walls  and rusty red metal paint.

I can’t wait to see the maps on the wall.

We also spent time this weekend preparing for a rough in electrical inspection.  We will then be able to finish the electrical connections to the guest bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.  Here I am installing the electrical box and wires for our future range hood.