Finishing Trim and Moving In

For larger pictures, click on the thumbnails below.

	The cherry hardwood floors have been finished with 3 coats of BioShield hard oil, and 2 coats of BioShield hard wax.
	The "Taos Blue" trim in the laundry room sets off the yellow walls and pine door.
	The living room floors are finished, the tile and woodstove completely finished and the pine doors installed to laundry room and hallway.
	The kitchen range hood has been installed. This was made from a sheet of copper brought back from San Diego and fabricated by a very gifted metalsmith of aging years.
	These are window trim packages that Dion milled. Each package contains a redwood window sill, 3 sets of matching aspen tongue and groove casing and an aspen "mustache". The trim around the casing will be milled from left over cherry hardwood flooring by Dion, and installed later on. Except for one window in the bedroom, and the two office windows, window trim completion is not necessary until after we move in.
	The east patio being finished. The guys did a 150% effort on this, and were bruised black, blue, purple and yellow for weeks from laying down on the ladder.
	The bathroom sink is completely installed and functioning.
	The goal of moving into our house was not to get everything where it should go, but that it get moved from the mobile to *anywhere* in the house, so that the mobile could be moved off site. Phyllis had previously moved many, many baskets and boxes into the house attic, so the final move on about November 5th, was not so grueling. This is the minor chaos in the living room as we find places for everything. Since the living room was so spacious, anything that came into the house tended to stop there until sorting could occur.
	We use wire baskets for our clothes, having next to no hanging clothes except for jackets. This is the minor chaos in the bedroom as we populated the "basket wall" in the closet.
	The maple butcher blocks in the kitchen that serve as countertops had to be masked before the mineral oil finish was applied. Phyllis had lots of fun applying the mineral oil with her hands, the best applicator that could be used.
	The other maple countertop after being sealed with mineral oil.
	This is Phyllis's portion of the wraparound desk in the office.
	This is Dion's portion of the wraparound desk in the office
	This is taken from a different angle, and shows the window trim detail. The trim package seen above of sill, casing and mustache have been installed, and also, the beaded cherry window trim has been milled and installed. Once the office desk is populated, we did not want to have to install window trim, so it was done before we moved in.
	The top of the peninsula separating the kitchen and living room is a 2" x 12" slab of aspen. Here it is getting 4 coats of semi-gloss spar urethane, the same as the redwood window sills. Most of the wood in the house is finished with a matte finish, but a few items like window sills and the peninsula top are in semi-gloss to set them off a bit and create a second interesting dimension in addition to the specie of wood being different.
	This is the west walkway. We decided to surround the house with concrete walkways in order to be able to not have gutters. This will prevent soil erosion and mud during the rainy season. In the background, you can see the mobile we lived in for 10 years being dismantled to go to a Navajo family in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona.
	Here is the living room with much less chaos, as we have gotten most everything stowed away. The natural light during the day makes this a very cheerful room.
	Here is the kitchen actually being cooked in, right after we moved in. Again, the daylight makes this a very bright room with no lights needed to be on during the day.
	Here is the living room when it is tidy, looking from the east end of the house.
	A view of the woodstove and beyond to the kitchen window.
	Here is a view of the laundry room in use. The apparatus in the immediate right foreground is a treadmill which folds down when in use.
	This is a view of the laundry room showing the house's flywheel hot water tank. It is heated by circulating hot water from the boiler in the workshop, leaving all boiler noise outside the house. The shelves on the left are the "pantry".
	This is the first snow we have had since we moved in. This occurred Dec 7-8 and brought us 4 to 6 inches of snow containing 1.13" of moisture. Very much appreciated. This view is looking up Gifford Knoll and at the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. The reservation boundry is about 700 feet up the hill from the house.
	This is a view of the house from down the driveway. We are ecstatic about our new house. It is everything we had hoped for and more. It feels wonderful, and is warm and friendly. Here is hoping that you all are as happy as we are during this wonderful season.

Last Modified December 9, 2009