Wired

It all started when our inspector said 'knob and tube'. I didn't know anything about wiring - but it sounded very old and hazardous. So it was from the beginning that we knew re-wiring was in the plans.

The hardest thing about remodeling a house with your spouse (or anyone for that matter) is agreeing on things. While I want to make things pretty and live in a nice home, my husband wants to tear down ceilings, walls, and outlets and make the house efficient (or as he calls it, new and improved). It's very difficult and constant compromise. Electricity falls into this category. Not because I didn't want new electrical outlets, especially ones that wouldn't make the house go dark when I turned on the blow dryer for more than 30 seconds, but it's just not that exciting.

We did agree that we would hire a professional to put in the electrical panel and while the guy was in the house doing the bid he suggested that one of his guys come back to show hubby the ropes.

The plan was to show him how to install new outlet boxes and run the wiring for six new outlets in the bedroom. Our plan was ultimately to add new boxes and replace all old - in order to prepare for new blown -in insulation that was scheduled to be done 2-3 weeks down the road.

Hubby's first wiring tutorial went well. Two guys. Six hours. Six outlet boxes. Almost no mess!

The solo work didn't go as cleanly - but it got done in time AND there were no trips to the emergency room! I didn't do any drilling, cutting, wiring, or tearing down of walls but I did take pictures!!If at first you don't succeed, cut another hole. Or kick a hole (that's probably not what happened in the picture below - but I wonder)Darth Vader. *AC, we will return this mask to you!! Promise.
Michael tearing out the ceiling in his room (basement bungalow) so that we could run wires to the new outlet boxes upstairs.

The new electrical panel! This thing seems more than twice the size of the panel we had before. Lots of pretty new switches that mostly mean that I can run the blow dryer and toaster at the same time. Awesome, right!?

Before & After

This is my second 'Before and After' posting. I bought this lamp at Second Use in SoDo (one of our favorite places to shop for house supplies). I think the lamp was $8 or $10. I really wanted a bright accent color in the living room so I bought a can of bright yellow paint at Home Depot and voila! I've gotten mixed revues of 'like' and 'not so much'...but I really love it. So there!

I bought a lamp shade to go with the newly painted lamp...but I'm not in love with it and am still looking for the perfect shade.

Oh...the chair and table that the lamp is on (which is now painted black) both craigslist finds. Chair $20. Table $10.

Sunrise on the Front Porch

It's a peek-a-boo view, but we have a view of the Cascades from our front porch and from the south side yard. When we moved into the house in March I remember seeing the sunrise peek up over the mountain and thinking what a great picture it would make. Finally, here's the picture. Fuzzy, but you get the point.

Back to Housework

After a short, but wonderful reprieve, it was back to house projects. While the weather was still nice we spent a lot of evenings outside pulling weeds and scraping and painting the siding to prep for the winter rains. We're not planning to paint until next summer, but there were a lot of patches of peeling paint on the south side of the house that needed to be primed so that the exposed wood siding wouldn't rot.
The house has a lot of white spots all over it now. The neighbors love it!