What else is new?
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Something that I never thought about being tricky took over two years. The house had been used as a business and had 3 phase electricity wires and this complex & dangerous old cupboard of antique fittings:
Now, moved high out of the way, with labelled mcb's top left and house alarm lower left
Hardly noticeable outside, the old four wires of 3phase are now one new. I mentioned H&S and contractors reluctance to work near the old cables on the phone, and a few .oaths later the power company changed it all free! -
Another thing we did over two months of builders work was change the ground floor layout which was so complex the Estate Agent hadn't provided a plan!
We opened up the two 1961 kitchen areas, the dining area, the extension that was an office, and the old entrance to the doctors surgery to make a huge difference
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@jon-nyc Kiddo has the PhD in Computer Science with focus on high speed and high volume, such as her work for the Argonne National Lab when they got their new supercomputer. Her work was key to making it possible to process far more data and with much improvement in the speed. From that, she wrote her thesis and presented several times at international conferences on the dime of the University of Oregon.
Now she works, and will also teach, at Nvidia. She already earns more than hubby and I combined. She's single and has her own 4BR house with two full suites. The primary suite is hers, the secondary suite is her fiber arts mecca (aka the loom room) with a walk-in closet full of fiber to spin and already spun yarns, a third bedroom is for guests, and the fourth is a combination of home office and home theater. The living room has an entire wall full of books and extra yarn, and the dining room is mainly wine storage. (Great vineyards nearby.)
We helped her select the house last year, and spent six weeks with her helping her shop for furniture and rugs, unboxing all her items shipped from her old apartment, and other fun things.
She's asked us to come to her place again this fall so she can take us to an annual fiber fest. My kiddo has picked up my love for all things related to fiber arts. This is so darn much fun. We have a blast with her. She still texts me about every other day, and it's such a joy to joke and be thoroughly silly together. I couldn't have a better kiddo to have fun together.
You're headed toward a similar situation with your kiddo, too, Jon! You're going to have a great relationship with lots of similar interests, and so much fun ahead, too.
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@brenda said in What else is new?:
She's asked us to come to her place again this fall so she can take us to an annual fiber fest.
Optical fiber or textile fiber?
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Another thing we did over two months of builders work was change the ground floor layout which was so complex the Estate Agent hadn't provided a plan!
We opened up the two 1961 kitchen areas, the dining area, the extension that was an office, and the old entrance to the doctors surgery to make a huge difference
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Our craft room was being used as a dining room even though there was still a hatch from the kitchen to the original dining room.
We blocked up one door from the hallway and put the fridge & freezer there. Had to put in a pillar for support when removing walls. Wanted to extend into the garage but it would have taken a £10k I beam and new 30k roof. We compromised.
Before rooms:
That's the hatch on the left in the original dining area
Doctors entrance door after we moved in
The office, originally added in the late 60's as an entertaining/party space -
@Renauda Interesting what you say of drywall corner beading. I’m going to re look at the front porch (which is covered btw). Where I’d really first like to put Trex on this house is on the front and back door Stair treads because they are exposed to snow and rain.
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No renovations to report but Mayla’s turning our back yard into the Peruvian Amazonia.
The patio:
The view of the backyard sitting areas from the patio. If you look way back where the table and two chairs are, that’s designed for a fire pit but I can’t really have one of those.
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No renovations to report but Mayla’s turning our back yard into the Peruvian Amazonia.
The patio:
The view of the backyard sitting areas from the patio. If you look way back where the table and two chairs are, that’s designed for a fire pit but I can’t really have one of those.
@jon-nyc Beautiful, Jon! That's a good use for entertaining and for the family. I was just thinking about posting the plan for our backyard. It won't get started until next year, so there is time for collecting more ideas. We have brilliant people here, and I know they will have great ideas.
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Let us know more about the canvas we have to work with @brenda!
@jon-nyc beautiful. I love my wife, but appreciate having someone in your life who has the vision and style for that sort of thing. I am mediocre best at, but certainly lead the design (indoor and outdoor) and furnishing efforts here. My wife fully would admit she doesn’t have the creative or vision talent so is usually there to help make a decision between 3 options I’ll give, but how nice it is to have Mayla’s talent around!
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@brenda said in What else is new?:
@Mik
Oregon. The Pinots are so awesome there!Closest thing to fine Burgundy, very consistent quality and a whole lot less expensive. Fantastic stuff.
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@brenda said in What else is new?:
@Mik
Oregon. The Pinots are so awesome there!Closest thing to fine Burgundy, very consistent quality and a whole lot less expensive. Fantastic stuff.
@Mik
We get some every time we drive home from Oregon. Last time, we had five cases of various wines, and our return trip was over Thanksgiving weekend. It got cold, really cold, especially overnight as we went back through Nort' Dakota, don'cha know.Told hubby we could NOT leave the wine in the vehicle (a Suburban). He said it would not hurt the wine. I said, "Yeah, but the bottles won't be happy! They're going to break."
He hauled five cases of wine into our hotel room every night, and out every morning, the entire trip from Oregon to Minnesnowta.
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Let us know more about the canvas we have to work with @brenda!
@jon-nyc beautiful. I love my wife, but appreciate having someone in your life who has the vision and style for that sort of thing. I am mediocre best at, but certainly lead the design (indoor and outdoor) and furnishing efforts here. My wife fully would admit she doesn’t have the creative or vision talent so is usually there to help make a decision between 3 options I’ll give, but how nice it is to have Mayla’s talent around!
I'll need to post my drawing that shows some of the design. It includes the retaining wall that will give some perspective on the grade change and such.
It will be interesting to get others' ideas. Our landscape designer thinks it's great, and wants to hire me. LOLOL
I think it's easier when you know the site and the style of the house. Also, we have been thinking about this for several years, visiting various public parks and such. We have been working on the plan in our heads for long enough to have many ideas, but more are welcome!
