Yes, and even the kitchen sink

Tricia did some great work converting some old craftsman cabinets (solid fir!) into ones that fit in our space. I think they turned out beautiful. We topped them off with an old slate chalkboard from Garfield High School in Seattle, and our new kitchen sink! I even got the sink to work without any significant leaks.

Here they are in place...


And cutting the slate... (measure four times, cut once!...)

And here it is - our new kitchen counter, complete with a sink!

Slowly, and almost surely...

Tricia and I have been working hard on the house this fall, and while the going is slow, the rewards are great. First a photo to remember how lucky we are...


With our tub in place, here I am getting the frame and concrete board put in place so we can box in our perfectly nice clawfoot tub. Bye bye claw feet....



Before the rains came we had to patch up the roof. Here's Trish checking out my "handiwork."


And my dad doing something with a big saw. I'm sure it was important. :-)

Summit Pictures from Baker

Carissa, Kathy, and Tricia - the three Vanderleest women - atop 10,770-foot Mt. Baker! Nice work ladies!


Tricia and I huddle to stay warm. Notice the great view!...


Garret and Carissa realize they are a long way from Baton Rouge...


Maria and Jim were our great (and patient) guides along the Coleman-Deming Glacier route. Thanks!

Making Home on Pearl Street

Fully recovered from Mt. Baker, we got back to work. Here I am stuck between a tub and a hard place, getting the final bits of cement board in our shower.


We also bought some really cool light fixtures from our local second use store for our living room, dining room, and kitchen.


And with our couch in, we now have a place to sit! Here's Tricia working hard.


I love this picture because you can see all the cement board in place, the tub in its final position, the shower trim rough-in in place, and even our towel hooks. Almost functional!


I forgot, we also got a really neat old craftsman style light fixture for our bedroom, which has a newly painted accent wall. The wall is a subtle olive green (since the picture isn't the best). Notice also our bedroom furniture all set and in use.


Slowly, but surely, we are making this house a home! We even mowed the lawn, cleaned up all the tools from our kitchen, and took a minute to enjoy/persevere the Blue Angels, who flew right over our house for SeaFair - welcome to the neighborhood...

Getting Ready to Climb...

Garret, Carissa, Maria, and Jim arrive at Black Buttes high camp. Tricia went down to help out, only to find out that they didn't need a hand (what a woman!).


Here we all are, setting up camp on the snow.


Home, sweet, home. Look at the great view!


The Black Buttes!


Kathy gets some shut eye before the big climb...

At Hogsback Camp

Friday brought Tricia, Kathy, and I up to about 6,000 ft. at the Hogsback Camp at the base of the Coleman Glacier on Mt. Baker.


There's Tricia. There's Mt. Baker.


And Kathy. Reading over how to climb a mountain.


Here's Todd, trying to look slick.


A beautiful sunset, and the last time we'd see sun for two days (well, almost).

Up to Mt. Baker!

On July 25th, Tricia, her mother Kathy and I began our climb of Mt. Baker. Here Kathy just had to put on the helmet for a photo op.

Here we all are dreamy-eyed and fresh before our 2400 ft. climb to our first camp.


We came from down there to up here. You can't see them in this photo, but the wildflowers were amazing!


Go Kathy go!

Go Tricia go!

Floors to Walk on

Before moving in we refinished the original oak and fir (and hemlock?) wood floors. Since we took out two walls and moved the front door out a few feet, we had a little patching to do. Here Todd makes a final trim on the largest section after we stitched in all the oak and fir in the main room.


With the new boards in place, Tricia taps in the nails so the sander doesn't get damaged.


Here she is, sanding all the old gunk off our floors. Turns out the "safe" sander takes a long time. Lucky for us we got to try the drum sander (for big kids) once we realized we (okay, Todd) put too much wax on and we had to REsand the floors and REapply the coating.


Here's the bare wood, once sanded.


And here is the finished product after Tricia reapplied the Osmo finishing product (a wax and oil based "green" alternative).


Notice also the newly painted walls, kitchen appliances, exposed beams, and even a few plants! We've been sleeping in our house (camping style!) for a few days, and it is really seeming like home.

Floors and Tubs

When you tear out a couple walls and move your front door out two feet, your floor looks a little funky. So we cut out some of our oak and fir floors, and will stitch in some new pieces to make it whole again. Stay tuned, the floor should be patched and refinished within a week!


Tricia's dad and Todd's parents came down on the same day to help in the final push to make our house livable. Here we are carrying our new tub from across the street to the bathroom.

We also tiled the bathroom with slate and prepared the kitchen floor for eventual tiling. Thanks Larry! Notice, also the fine plumbing in the walls -thanks to both Dads!


Doesn't the tub look nice?
Notice the paint on the walls, too. We painted all the ceilings, the bathroom walls, the kitchen, and the bedroom yesterday! Thanks Mom!


What a day or two!

I somehow left my memory card out of my camera, so missed all the great shots I took of me tearing down the front deck... Here's the after picture, though!


Here I am opening our front door with a screwdriver for the last time!

Now it locks!

The Long Awaited LaPush Photos

I can't remember if I posted these, so here are some photos of our trip to LaPush on the Olympic Peninsula to surf one last time with the Jamies. We drove through 4 inches of snow to arrive at the beach!


Proof. Snow and surfboards. Pretty hardcore.


More hardcore is Tricia's wound from her first session. Surf, snow, gnarly waves, and one fin into her knee. We took a little trip to the Forks hospital after this picture....


Here Corey shows his style as Christoph takes flight on the 9.0.


See. Snow. Lots of it. It sure made for a memorable trip!

We've Got Walls!

We have drywall! Here is our living room. The beam is covered up until painting is done, and the holes are supposed to be there... This area will be a desk/shelf eventually.

Here's the kitchen wall.


In our bedroom with the new closet. Through our door you can see our new door to the deck/backyard.


Here is the hallway leading to our bedroom door - to be refinished at some point...