Back From the Wild and Scenic Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho

We are back, and it was amazing!!





Matt braving Tappan Falls


Liza was a champ!


One of Kev's better catches! I even got 2!


The beautiful and rustic town of Stanley Idaho surrounded by the Sawtooth Mountains


Now... back to our world of Dirt, LOTS of dirt...

Recap of the Exterior Demo

Untitled from siqi murphy on Vimeo.

Got Some (14) New Piers!!

After some serious dirt removal and drilling and a LATE JUNE rain storm in the SF bay area (when was the last time this happened?)we are 14 piers richer, think the appraisers would appreciate those as much as we do??

Never underestimate the power of a portable drill rig for tight hillside construction!


3 work days later, 8 12" diameter 8' deep deck piers and 6 18"dia 12' deep perimeter piers are ready for rebar and concrete!


Big Pour!! (4.5 hr)


And some new foundation for lower level too


Guess which one is concerned about the pour?

Summer is Finally Here!

This weekend we visited Jean and her family up in Roseville while Kevin went to a bachelor party in S. Lake Tahoe. We were able to squeeze in some pool time for the boy, you think maybe he likes it?






I think Robert enjoys dad's new phone as much as dad does!

Untitled from siqi murphy on Vimeo.

Unexpected Benefit of roof removal - Better Cell Phone Reception!

Progress note:
-Rough layout done
-Roof over Robert's nursery removed
-Freakishly large mirrors in living room and bedroom removed
-Stucco and wall downstairs removed
-5 truck loads of DIRT hauled away, our hauler told us that if we have anymore dirt they are going to come with "No More Dirt" picket signs.







And the most exciting find so far: A 25feet long SOLID piece of Doug Fir 4X12!!

Demolition is happening!

This is where Kevin and I differ, I can't contain my excitement, Kev on the other hand is in charge of putting it all back together at the end of it....

piles of masonry block and dirt to be hauled away



The old and rotten deck is getting torn....



A preview of the openness that's in our future at the new stair well:


Coming up:
Foundation and new piers!

Gone is the Chimney and some more...

A glimpse into our world right now and what is to come...






Notice the Temp post? the ridge beam turned out was not supported by a post like we expected!

Kitchen wall is getting opened up...

Rare Update : We've moved into our "shack"

We have finally kicked our remodel into gear, by moving into our temporary "shack" under our two car garage.

Following the one simple rule of not buying ANYTHING new (in fact the only items purchased (reuse) are the kitchen and bathroom sinks from Urban Ore) We are pretty proud of the result!

Here are a few before pictures for posterity sake:


And hours of hard work by a more than handy husband:







After some serious debating we decided to keep the shack unpainted. The space was "unconditioned" with exposed sheet rock and plywood floor and we reused all the funky half painted cabinet/drawer systems from the previous owners, we simply couldn't figure out where to draw the line on the painted/unpainted areas.
At least we still got a slice of the bay from the sitting area:

poor Robert, has to "suffer" his time in this sleeping alcove:


of course we can't all this a shack without an outdoor shower:


Think we can handle 8months of remodel under 340 sq.ft. of living space complete with dorm era furnishing??

Snow!

Check out the Entire Set