Team AngelaIt's Like Extreme Home Makeover: Angela Edition!

It’s alleged that the first time Margie P. visited the house with Angela and their friends, before she even got out of the car she said, “You’re putting in a semi-circular driveway, right?” That hadn’t been the plan, but it is now. Margie closed me on the idea when she said, “It will take the place of a lot of grass that you then won’t have to mow.” Done! In addition it allows Angela to avoid backing out of the driveway, which can be harrowing in a neighborhood with so many kids, most of whom are used to playing in the street. Maybe just as importantly, it provides an enormous canvas for Diana and Cristina and Dante as they do large-format sidewalk-chalk work. There are “before” and “after” shots of the driveway here, and I have to say, it was an outstanding idea.

Drive before

Drive after

Last week John, our builder, said he was going to kill me, but I’m almost positive he was joking. You see he and Mike had started to install the baseboard, and the casings around the windows and doors; it’s all clear pine (no knots) to match the doors and windows. When I’d decided to use it, I had imagined it would have the same tight grain pattern that the clear pine doors have (important tip: imagining things doesn’t make them so). In the lot of lumber that we got there were a bunch of boards with thick wavy grain, which I’m not as wild about, and which the guys installed as casings. I saw them during my visit last weekend, and since I just like the tight-grained wood better, I sent John and Natalie a note asking if they could use the tightest-grained pieces for the main living areas (and maybe swap the lumber yard some wavy for some tight…). I then spoke to John a couple of days later and that’s when he told me he was going to have to kill me. But as usual he ended up doing more than I’d asked- he and Mike took down the wavy-grain casings and replaced them with tight-grained pieces (the wavy pieces went into closets, bedrooms, and upstairs). The result is, in a word, spectacular! And so far I’m still alive!

The concrete footings for the deck are poured in their cardboard sonotubes, so the deck itself can’t be too far off. We couldn’t wait, which is why there are two white plastic lawn chairs on the crushed stone that will sit beneath the deck. They also poured a slab that will hold the base of the wheelchair ramp that will run along the side of the house, giving Angela easy access to the yard.

Not too far from the end of the ramp is the core of our water-management system- our very own storm drain! There’s a picture of it with a white plastic drain pipe running to it under some dirt. It has two main functions: 1) it will whisk away runoff from the front and side of the house, and 2) it will collect an untold number of small items that the kids will drop into it to see what happens.

The red oak flooring is also in the house- you can see it in a big pile in our bedroom. I’m hopeful that they’ll spread it out a little before we move in.

This coming week there’s painting and then the flooring, and after the flooring comes the kitchen, and then finish plumbing and electrical. We are almost there!

Finally, I’m interested to know what you think about a critical design decision that we have to make this week: should we stain the doors and trim a light “natural” cherry color, or should we simply clear-coat them and leave them truly natural? Feel free to post a comment!