DIY Flooring Project: Wide Plank Pine Hardwood

We decided to pull the trigger on replacing the old carpet in my studio/office with hardwood floors. After a lot of research and contacting a bunch of different flooring outfits (Home Depot, National Floors Direct, Riverhead Building Supply), we decided we were up to the challenge of installing something ourselves with wide-plank pine boards from Lumber Liquidators. Youtube has excellent videos on the installation, and we had particularly good advice from our friend Brett.

Here we are at step 1: Pulling up the old carpet. This took us one evening to complete and was not too difficult, but very dusty. The hardest part was prying up the little strips of nails that held the carpet in place. We ran into trouble when we got to the built-in bookcase you see in the corner, we couldn't get the carpet out from under it.

I can't tell you how liberating it was to get the carpet out! Even the plywood subfloor looked like an improvement!

Here you can see that we decided to cut the bottom off the built-in bookcase. The goal is for a desk/counter to run the full width of the room, and the bookcase was in the way. We did this with a Multi Tool (or, as Brett says, a "silly saw"). Really we just cut the inside edge off the bookcase and left the back and outside edge where they were. This left us with an ugly and uneven wall situation.

The flooring we got from Lumber Liquidators really is beautiful! Unfinished pine boards that are just over 8" wide (we were looking for wide planks), and it was only $1.79/square foot. It was almost absurd how much less that was than anywhere else we had looked. We also ordered underlayment, quarter-round, and t-moulding for the doorways. We stacked the wood inside the house and left it for about a week for it to acclimate to the appropriate humidity.

After pulling up the rug we ran the silly saw around the edges of the room to create a little space under the moulding at the base of the wall. We also could have pried the moulding off, but we were worried we'd do more damage that way. 

After sweeping and vacuuming, we laid out the underlayment. This took all of about ten minutes. It had some adhesive along the edge, and we periodically hit it with the staple gun for good measure. You can also see in the picture above that I have started to put up white beadboard along the wall. This will cover the messy remains of the bookcase. I cut the beadboard panels to fit with the silly saw and was quite surprised by how dense and difficult to cut (and also nail into the wall) the beadboard is. Sturdy stuff.

Now it's time to lay boards! Note the fun tools: miter saw, air compressor, flooring stapler (rented from the Depot)... this was a gadget-heavy operation. Cutting the first board to fit in the doorway took some careful work with a circular saw.

Nate's pretty pumped to get this show on the road. It was a lot of prep. Once we started putting boards down, things went more quickly. By this time I had also put up the rest of the beadboard. I filled in the joints with spackle but learned later from Hank that I should have used caulk to avoid cracks.

 By Sunday night, the floor was laid! Apologies for the poor lighting, it makes the room look yellow.

I forgot to take pictures but there were a couple more steps before coating the floor. Upon Brett's advice, we decided to secure the boards to the subfloor with a screw and bung technique in addition to the regular floor staples that were in the edge of each board. We ordered a bung-cutter bit for the cordless drill from Amazon and put two screws in the end of each board, covered with bungs. It was a little tedious but has a nice, nautical feeling and makes us a little more confidant about the security of our 8" wide boards. The next step in the process was to sand the floor. We rented a floor sander locally for half the day and with such a small room, it went really quickly. The hardest part was getting the sander up and down the stairs, it weighed a ton!

After much deliberation and testing stains and sealants on wood scraps, we decided on a clear satin finish polyurethane. We applied it with rollers and used a brush around the edges of the room. We even attempted to pour it into a few knots in the wood, with moderate success. After 6 or 8 hours we did another coat, and then a third.

So. Weekend 1 we did prep. Weekend 2 the boards went down. Weekend 3 we sealed the floor. We're pretty excited about the results!

Studio / Office: Before

I have big dreams about my own artist's studio. A place where I can put all my art supplies, do projects, and not have to pick it all up because it's time for dinner. My dreams do not include an 80's sofa bed or a carpet that was once blue but is now a faded cousin of yellow.

Here's what I'm starting with:

Ok, I'm being melodramatic. It's not that bad. But it's not good.

Sewing Projects

My first sewing project:

Recovering the window seat cushion in navy ticking!

My second sewing project:

More stripes!

Covering the couch

This is a much bigger project than I anticipated!

My sewing table has a lovely view

I should warn that I don't actually know how to sew. As with most of my projects, I just got really excited, bought a sewing machine, and dove in! I'm loosely following this tutorial that I found on Pinterest (and when has Pinterest ever led me astray?)! I'm not using a pattern, just laying the fabric on the couch, pinning around all the edges, then sewing anywhere there is a pin. I turned it inside out and voila! It fits! It turns out couches take a while. A long while. And much more fabric than I anticipated - the first 8 yards got me through the frame of the couch and one cushion. Luckily another JoAnn's store had more of the same fabric and my mom picked up another 6 yards! In retrospect I would have saved money and a lot of time by just buying a slipcover. In the meantime I'm getting a crash course in sewing.

Our New House is Full. Of Stuff.

We are thrilled that the house is fully furnished. All the furniture is utilitarian (it was always used as a rental property before us), but it gets the job done and we can replace items over time. It will become our home.

The downside is that every cabinet and closet in the house is full. Of stuff. We have a lot of cleaning out to do. Here is the "keep" pile from the kitchen:

This was a nice gem. Sparkles! (Toss.)

Our friends are helping us break the place in!

A New House!

We're buying a house! Closing is scheduled for March 31! Guest rooms! Outdoor shower! Huge deck! Beautiful view! Sunsets! WOOHOO!!!!!


It all started on Tuesday when the house was listed, Nate and I both got the automated emails that there was a new house for sale in our area. I called our real estate agent as soon as I opened the email. We went to see it that night. We put an offer in on Wednesday and by Friday night (Valentine's Day!), in the car on the way to go skiing in New Hampshire, we came to an agreement. Yahoo!

Check out that back deck! Maybe someday I'll add a greenhouse underneath?

Thrilled about this big open kitchen/living/dining room with great light and views.
 That fake tree will be the first thing in the dumpster. That corner might be the best place for a wood stove?

Despite all of our excitement (lots of excitement!), and the fact that we are only going to be moving about a half mile down the road, we are really going to miss our little cottage on the farm. This wonderful place has been our home for 4 years (we moved in May 2010), and the idea of leaving is hard to come to grips with. Our homeowners Eric and Lisa have been beyond wonderful. The house is amazing. I will miss the sheep, the cows, Horatio the goat and Cheyenne the golden retriever who greets me every time I come home. I have loved the little garden on the south side of the house and the deck where I eat breakfast. 

Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes

The leaves are changing, fall is here, and I can't get enough of squash. Nate tells me all girls like squash, which is really his way of saying he doesn't like squash as much as I do. I tried this garlic-y tomatoey recipe to see if I could change his mind.

Adapted from "Spaghetti Squash with Cherry Tomatoes and Ricotta" from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook. Serves 4 (or in our case, 2 for dinner and then almost a week's worth of lunch for me!).

Ingredients:
15 oz ricotta cheese
1 TBS EVOO
4 garlic cloves thinly sliced (I used a dollop of minced) plus 1/4 tsp minced
1/4 tsp crushed red-pepper flakes (I used more like 1 TBS. I love these!)
1/4 cup chopped basil
1/4 cup chopped oregano
1 large spaghetti squash
1 large onion, diced (about 2 cups)
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp salt

This one has a lot of steps. It's better if you can do most of them in advance.

The day before, or the morning of:
1. Wrap the ricotta tightly in a piece of cheese-cloth. Put it in a colander over a bowl. Put a couple cans on top and stick in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Brush a baking pan with EVOO and place the sliced garlic on the pan. Bake 15 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes. As they turn golden set them aside.

3. Halve the squash lengthwise and remove the seeds. Bake on a lightly oiled pan with the cut-sides down about an hour, until soft.

Later:
4. Combine ricotta, red pepper flakes, 3 TBS basil, 3 TBS oregano. Cover with plastic and set aside.

5. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add EVOO, minced garlic, and onion. Cook, covered, about 8 minutes, until translucent.

6. Add tomatoes, wine and salt. Cook uncovered at least 5 minutes but it's better if you reduce it for a while. Stir in remaining basil and oregano. If you cooked the squash a while ago, reheat it while the sauce is reducing.

7. Pull the strands from the squash with a fork and transfer them to a bowl or plate.

8. Top with the tomato mixture, ricotta, and garlic slices. Serve hot.

Chili-Rubbed Steak with Corn Avocado Salsa

Based loosely on a recipe from realsimple.com, tonight we had steak with a corn salsa:

The rub for the steak is simple: 1tsp chili powder and 1/2 tsp salt. I rubbed it all over the meat then let it sit for about half an hour in a healthy pool of olive oil.

The salsa is half homegrown: I diced scallions and yellow tomatoes from the garden and added corn (one ear, steamed for 7 minutes and then the kernels cut off) and an avocado, diced. I sprinkled in lemon juice and a tiny bit of salt.

The asparagus was "marinated" for about 20 minutes (while the grill heated up) in olive oil, lemon juice, salt and balsamic vinegar.

Both asparagus and steak were cooked about 8 minutes- 4 minutes per side for the meat.

It was a big hit! The steak was flavorful but not spicy so we did not end up needing sour cream.

You can find the original recipe here: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/skirt-steak-corn-cakes-00000000060217/