There are a couple things I learned by the second week of construction. First, the combination of house chaos and being sick simply won’t work for getting up really early. As much as it’s good to have the contractors in at 7am and out by 3:30pm, adaptation to such a schedule just did not work for us given the circumstances. A work day from 8am to 4:30pm turns out to be much, much easier to cope with physically and emotionally, even if it’s only an hour’s difference.
Second, because we want to avoid dust as much as possible, we’ve had to seal up what rooms we do use: the existing bathroom, study and bedroom. The problem with that is ventilation. An air purifier helps in the bedroom. But things still get fuggy, e.g., dishes and towels don’t dry off nearly as quickly, if at all. We can’t really run any powered ventilation anyhow (fans or the vent in the bathroom), because half the house has no ceiling. The insulation and drywall won’t be installed until next month. So we have drafty days for a bit.
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Wednesday, 7 October 2009
The first week of construction had a lot going: All of the demolition, excavation for the addition, some initial interior framing, and forms for the addition. The addition — the future dining-living room and part of the new kitchen — will replace for the Ugly Back Room, at the same location but with a slightly wider footprint.
Onward to the pictures! As usual, more at the gallery.
A temporary “skylight” during the removal of the old roof tiles.
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Wondering what the remodeled portions of the house looked like before they were torn down? Go ahead and check out the gallery, but I’ve included some summary pictures here.
The back yard (outdoors) view of the back room that was torn down. This region will be replaced with a Newer, Better addition that’ll include the new dining-living room, and part of the new kitchen. In addition, solar panels will be installed on the roof of the addition.
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Monday, 21 September 2009
Finally got around to updating the online gallery, which includes:
With last year’s iPhone purchase, you’ll see the addition of lower-resolution images. The device makes photo spontaneity easier, but shakier in appearance, alas.
Honkshuzzzzz… (But taken with DSLR, not iPhone.)
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Seven years ago we tried to make tomato chutney, and I was so disappointed by it that I haven’t bothered to attempt it again, until recently. Madhur Jaffrey’s book, World of the East Vegetarian Cooking, offers several variations on this tart condiment, and encouraged me to try again. That, and a desire to use up more garden produce.
Possible uses: With cheese, on eggs, or in sandwiches. A ketchup substitute. Or even a tomato paste substitute, if you want something with more perk.
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Thursday, 10 September 2009
I’ve been stuck with a bug that is slow to go away. But I think I’ve found an edible weapon: rice porridge made in the cooker. Or, perhaps a better name might be not-quite-insta-pseudo jook. Either way, it’s easy and tasty.
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Saturday, 5 September 2009
I have neglected to post an entry on cookies for nearly two years. I finally got around to making shortbread, so I no longer have an excuse.
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We’ve signed our construction contract, and have about a month to prepare for the renovations. There are quite a few things to get done, such as:
- Removal of lingering debris in our yard, to make room for workers and materials. Likely to schedule a hauling service for this.
- Declutter our study, to make room for more, ah, stuff (e.g., furniture).
- Obtain building permits; actually will be done by our design+build contractor.
- Obtain construction schedule, relevant contractor and subcontractor contact information, etc.
- Continue to research fixtures and cabinetry quotes. (Tangent: I’d like to point out that I remain surprised that the cost of a sink and faucet costs more than a dishwasher. WTF? Oh wait, it’s ‘coz we want single-hole, two-lever faucets which are not in fashion, hard-to-find, and therefore more expensive. Yay, market economy. >:-( )
- Look into some “portable” storage we can have onsite, to store the stuff from the backroom, kitchen, garage (partial), and front living room (partial). PODS have come to mind.
- Actually move the stuff in #6! Note to self: Scrounge up boxes.
- Freecycle or donate items we no longer want or need which are useable. Like those fireplace irons, grate and screen.
- Possibly purchase, or rent, temporary kitchen tools: hot plate, small fridge… Open to advice as to what would be indispensable. 🙂
- Maintain (or attempt to) refrigerator, clothes washer and dryer, etc., in the garage during construction. We’ve got quite a bit of frozen and preserved goods we don’t want to lose.
- Research temporary housing options if and when we’d need to live offsite.
- Something else we’ve forgotten. Ha!
We’d really want to stay as long as possible onsite, for obvious financial reasons. However, at least one phase will prevent us from literally walking around: When the hardwood floors will be refinished; they require three to five days for drying of multiple coat applications.
Anyhow, if things work out, construction should take about five months, give or take.
Have a suggestion or related anecdote we’d find useful, or at least amusing? Do share! (And, again, thanks.)
At one of our favorite fanschy-schmancy restaurants, The Village Pub, I had a lovely zucchini soup lightly flavored with something lemony: lemon zest, lemongrass, or lemon verbena — I wasn’t sure which. But this got me thinking of another way to get through our large supply of zucchinis: make soup!
My recipe is an adaptation of Deborah Madison’s Zucchini-Cilantro soup from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I added spicing to make it more Mexican-like in flavor, and took the liberty of using chicken stock instead of vegetable stock. (But by all means use veggie stock if you’ve got some good stuff on hand; I didn’t at the time.)
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Wow! So we’ve got this complex project. How do we start designing it? What has been helping a lot is having a designer who offers sensible (and interesting!) options, as well as explaining jargon along the way.
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