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Earlier this year, I decided that we needed a garden. Our home included a 200 square foot flower bed that was moving steadily towards total reclamation by aggressive, thorn ridden, noxious plant life. People who know me weren't surprised by the weed cultivation -- I insisted for several years that the back yard was xeriscaped with native plant life prior to Nat ordering sod. I spent several weekends and evenings digging out the undesirable material, tilling in compost, busting sod, and removing galvanized sprinkler pipe with my trusty sidekick. We started with eleven 9 foot rows over approximately 24 feet of garden.

Technorati Tags: black raspberries, boysenberries, cole, garden, jalapenos, lentils, pumpkins, raspberries, red bell peppers, roma tomatoes, tomatillos, yukon gold potatoes

Continue reading "how does your garden grow" »

Posted by jack hattaway at 5:07 PM | Permalink

My buddy Chuck popped in for a few hours on Sunday last to set the tile on the back splash beneath the cabinets on the south wall of the kitchen. The results are impressive.

Previous to our back splash session, FedEx finally managed to deliver the cabinets for my island without destroying or losing them. The island is quickly becoming space which I long to use. Once the cabinets were in place, I realized I had room for a bar overhang on the east end of the island. Chuck converted some 8/4 maple into corbels for me. The corbels turned out great and will be even better once I figure out how to stain them. In the near future, Chuck and I will need to set the beveled edge pieces over the exposed cabinet cap (the perforated metal below the marble visible on the island).

On President's Day, my buddy Erik phoned for help moving a dresser he and Debbie purchased from a local furniture store. While waiting for some muscle to pull his order, I found and purchased the hutch below. It goes incredibly well with the rest of the kitchen.

back to the babble

back to the babble

back to the babble

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The kitchen is primed.

I am incapable of creating invisible sheetrock seams. The next floating job is getting hired out. End of story.

Posted by jack hattaway at 1:35 PM | Permalink

Floating sheetrock is not one of my favorite activities. Given the amount of time I spend dabbling in the kitchen, however, Nat and I are taking as long as the process requires to get the sheetrock seams as disappeared as possible.

Posted by jack hattaway at 6:42 PM | Permalink

And there was sheetrock.

Continue reading "kitchen in the rough" »

Posted by jack hattaway at 2:07 PM | Permalink

Nat observed that I had not taken any photos of the current self-inflicted house project as it progressed. I suspect my neglect is likely associated with the hours I've been keeping on the project.

Continue reading "the kitchen goes missing" »

Posted by jack hattaway at 1:17 PM | Permalink

I spent the last five days in a postmodern fugue of home deconstruction converting the loft overlooking our living room into a full fledged bedroom/nursery. We most likely have less than six weeks before the chap makes his appearance and I'd like the baby space to be in order before he arrives. I'll be taping, floating and sanding most evenings this week. I'm hoping to have the room nursery-ified by Monday, July 5th.

Deconstruction included removal of the single pane privacy glass near the ceiling on the east side of the house. The sheets were approximately 7' x 3' and have been replaced with framing, insulation, sheetrock, wafer board and tar paper. Siding will follow soon. Well, as soon as I get the remaining 23 sheets of wafer board installed and off the stack of siding. The new arrangement will hopefully reduce our heating and cooling bills a bit and permit sleeping in without going blind from the sun cresting the neighbor's roof.

I've uploaded some of the in process photos.

Posted by jack hattaway at 10:26 PM | Permalink

Number Six, Matt and I spent some quality Easter time mixing and pouring cement. The question, it turns out, is whether the master engineer can actually calculate volume.

Continue reading "how many bags of cement for this pad?" »

Posted by jack hattaway at 10:09 AM | Permalink