The working week is nearly over and we are so far behind the installer's most generous estimates that it's not remotely funny anymore. Yesterday he decided we would be 2 boxes short on the redwood so I made an emergency call but the installer had to go get them as they are 7'6'' long and weigh a ton. So that took a couple of hours out of his day. Add that to the wasted day on Monday and I suppose we are lucky that we are about 75% finished and not less. It is starting to look really good though, and Steven is gloating continuously over his tasteful choice.

Outside, I spent the morning transplanting bushes in the sun. It has been the most glorious week since the hurricane passed through, warm and sunny and it's hard to believe that autumn is here. It's good to be working in the sunshine as it takes my mind of all the other work that needs to be completed before the bad weather starts. We really thought by now that we would have new windows installed and the guttering taken care of, but people come, take measurements and leave, promising to drop off estimates soon. Then they disappear for ever. Even when we get an estimate we can't seem to get them to commit to a date to start work, or they start the work, say the'll be back in a week to finish up and we never see them again.. The attitude is way beyond "manana", it's more like: this year, next year, sometime, never.

That's why they call it hardwood...

Ha ha indeed. We didn't get any flooring down yesterday as the wood is too hard!!! Apparently what Steven chose was harder than Brazilian Cherry and the installer didn't have a saw that could cut it, nor nails that could be shot through it. He ended up pre-drilling and hand nailing one piece and then left to get more tools and a blade with more teeth. This morning he turned up again with a huge circular saw and a very determined air. We shall see, but we lost a whole day yesterday.

Outside we are still cleaning up from Hurricane Ivan that dumped several inches of rain on us Saturday morning, caused flooding all over the area and turned our front into a swamp.


At one point the water filled the sunken bed outside the dining room and water poured into the basement. Luckily we were home and we ran with buckets to the sink and back until it stopped raining. Then I patched the hole with Dry Lock and started mopping. That took all Sturday PM and most of Sunday. after that we surveyed the damage. Our drive is 6" higher, thanks to the sand and debris deposited by the raging torrent that was Vineyard Rd. The other part of the drive is covered with leaves and pine needles where the water crested; apart from that the damage is minimal. We were lucky, lots of people had to go collect their drives from adjacent properties; we gained one. I'm hoping the Village will sweep it out but I'm not holding my breath.

Bamboo to you

Hurrah, we have bamboo flooring in all the bedrooms; the furniture is back in place; the beds are made; pictures have been hung and it all looks fantastic. There is a lot of colour variation in the bamboo so it has movement and the gloss finish makes the rooms feel much lighter. Because most of the rooms had recently been painted cream we will leave them for a while, it's neutral and clean looking. But we will paint Steven's office as we had to strip panelling and wallpaper there. He wants a cranberry colour but I think yellow or gold will work better. We'll see.

We also changed our minds at the last minute about bamboo on the landing. I felt it was too shiny and casual for that space. I asked Steven to go look at some Tigerwood that I thought would work but we would have to wait until November for delivery. He didn't much like the Tigerwood anyway (too yellow) but he saw some Brazilian redwood that was new in that day so he bought a sample home for the weekend so we could live with it. As the ceiling is redwood it tied the whole area together. It looks good where it joins the bamboo and against the teak banisters, too. The bonus of doing it this way is that there will be enough bamboo to floor the master dressing room and my office. By the end of this week it should all be finished and we can sit back and relax. Ha ha.

Taking in the view

An inspection of the trees on the property revealed that one was being eaten by termites, another had a large hole in the base and a couple more were in the wrong position or just too ugly to survive. Time to call in the tree guys.
Last year we had eight trees taken out and it really opened up the yard. This year we decided to take out eight, prune a bunch more and clear out the north side of the property that had been used as a giant dump over the years. As usual it takes a whole day and is as noisy and dusty as you can imagine but we also had a couple of "whoops" moments to contend with. They managed to let a large segment of white pine trunk fall on a 10' rhododendron; goodbye rhodie. More seriously a branch of the linden tree they were pruning caught the gutter on it's way down and bent it into an unusual shape, rendering it useless against the heavy rains that hit us last week. C'est la vie. It's over and the yard is cleared again. I'm just glad it wasn't the power-lines they took out.
Now I get to have a power struggle with the landscaper about the north side area. I want to put in lawn; it's light now and maintenance will be minimal. He says the snowplow will pile snow up there and ruin the lawn and shrubs with a bluestone path leading to a bench under a trellis would be really expensive, sorry, attractive. He's left me a garden design book and promises to bring photos of designs he has planted elsewhere. Luckily he can't start until spring so a get some time to plan my counter attack

Floors and walls

We're drying out and, apart from a wet patch on one wall that is probably caused by the air-conditioning system, Steven's office is done. It looks so much better than it used too, although if I was a pre-teenage boy in the seventies, I might think it was cool to live in a gold bamboo fort.


The bamboo floors are quite glossy and that reflects a lot of light around the room, which it needed. The old blue bedroom is also finished and hopefully by the end of today we will be able to put the furniture back in those rooms and then there will just be the pink room, the landing and staircases to floor.
The lights are causing a major headache.The first ones arrived with no problems except for the really nice one that is on back order. For the other upstairs lights we ordered from a different company and only half the order arrived and that was damaged. So I returned them and re-ordered other fixtures. But they failed to arrive (something about the salesman left and the order was never processed) so I just canceled that order today. Now I have to go and choose something else and you would not believe the junk you have to sift through before finding contemporary lighting here.

Flooded

I know this is nothing compared to what the people in Florida have been through, but we just got whacked with 4" rain in 10 hours and guess what? We have water pouring in one of the windows in Steven's office. Pete was in the middle of flooring this room when he left yesterday; this morning there was a lovely water trail all down the newly spackled wall and on the floor. I mopped up, effected a repair with duct tape and placed towels strategically. When Pete arrived he cleared out the gutters thinking that might solve the problem but the rain kept coming down and inside. So, muttering something about needing a new roof, he set off to track down some tin to form a bridge between the roof and the gutter. It seems to have worked but we are expecting more rain (this is very localised, really it's just over our house) so we will wait before we finish that room. I'm also now waiting on the roofer and the gutter guy. AAAH!

Setting stones

A lovely late summer day, a day to be spent on the beach or relaxing by the pool, and the start of Labor Day weekend so an extra day's relaxation to look forward to. Bliss. So what do we do? We look at the circular drive that we can now see from the dining room and den and decide that we need a fix for that flooding problem, and we need it NOW.

I had found a great stoneyard, Mother Earth, and so we went to look at the river rock and pebbles. our idea being that we could create a channel that would slow down the force of the run-off and cut the erosion. Three hours later a bin of river rock was delivered (this place has the best service) and Steven started to create. After a dip in the pool, two Alleve and several glasses of red wine he finally stopped complaining about the pains in his back and knees and fell into bed. The next day he quickly completed the job, and neighbors stopped to say how great it was we were tidying up the front. On Labor Day I transplanted some hostas from the backyard to the new riverbed. I hope that they will do well here as they'll get more sun and have more space to spread out. It looks so pretty that Steven wants to order another bin of stone and continue along the front of the property even though we don't have an erosion problem there. He must have forgotten how much hard work it was. We'll see if he still feels the same way next weekend.

We finished the holiday by removing the last carpet, which went much faster than the others. Either it was newer and had less dirt on it or we have it down to a fine art now and can go into the carpet stripping business. I slapped a couple of coats of paint on a bedroom closet and we are all ready for Pete to install the bamboo in the other bedrooms.

Let there be (more) light

Steven came home from work at dusk yesterday and couldn't work out why it was so light in the house. Eventually he got it and rushed outside to look at the new treeless landscape. It has made a fantastic difference, the house can now breathe and we have a view right along the street which makes it appear that our property goes on forever. The only downside is that the dogs have a better view too, which translates to more things to bark at. We will have to work on curing that problem.

Tree trimming

As I am writing this the tree surgeon and his crew are hard at work taking out some of the conifers nearest the house. The weather couldn't be better for this sort of job: sunny with low humidity. When they have thinned out the spruces we will be able to see out from the dining room, plus let a lot more light in. We have done the landscaping in stages, taking out a little at a time so that we maintain our privacy but still allow people to notice the house. Steven was very concerned about the loss of the firs by the front door but the tree surgeon convinced that at twice the height of the house they pose a considerable danger to the property and anyone in it should they come down in a storm.