Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice. ~Henry Ford

Today we worked at the house ... again!  We both agreed however that the last few days, especially today have felt really good....it's so nice to "work" on our house.  We have really accomplished a great deal in the last 4 or 5 days.  Yes, as it has been stated by those that love us & don't mean any harm, "we have a lot left to do." ...but boy, have we come a long way too.
I think too, when you have a vision of "what" it will all become & look like, you can see it developing & changing in ways others cannot.

I guess too, it must be like a mother & father with an ugly baby, it's not ugly to them!  It truly is the most "beautiful baby" they've ever seen! :)

Scott finished up the accent wall in the bathroom & we are both very happy with it- so fun to have "personalization" in our home.  Tomorrow the shower floor Scott laid with beach stones by hand will be completed by our tile installer with grout. 

I finally got to put a color we have been anxious to see on the dining room walls (& I forgot to take a pic of it!) so, to come...but it looks awesome, its a dark bluish/gray called Anvil by MS.  Half the dining room will be this color- and its bold & perfect, it accents our half round wall- which is such a beautiful character of the house!

I also painted the front entry way walls, Tahini by MS, same as kitchen entry walls- looks great to see color!
(pic to come promise!)

Scott finished the last of (4) coats of Waterlox Tung Oil on our awesome wide pine kitchen floor- it came out beautiful & he was so patient & perfected the "feathering" technique which I was SO intimidated by! 

Tomorrow will be a GIANT DAY!  We are getting Certainteed fiber cement siding ON THE HOUSE!  Our neighbors will likely come out of their homes & sing joyously- & we will hold our head's high to no longer use the description for directions: it's the "tyveked house" 1/3 mile from downtown! YAY!!!!!  I have made the men potato leek soup to celebrate this event! joyous for all! (the best part of this siding is it comes painted!)



Olive is our color of choice...I can never say this without thinking of PopEye's gal, Olive Oil...







a flash back for us all!

We also went to visit Pete at his shop today as he called us to check out our counter tops, all glued up, final sanding happening, & urethane to go on them soon!  They are beautiful- they were originally cut in 1860 & put in a mill in Biddeford, ME!  They have so much character & natural beauty!  These are all separate boards that have been glued & seamed together, which you would never know, amazing woodworking!



the piece Pete is brushing off is our base island top, (the working top not the eating top), and the piece on the right is an amazingly long counter that will run along the back wall of our house and make the "L" of our kitchen....




So, as you can tell here, because they haven't been "cut" to length yet, 3 separate boards glued together to create 1 solid top.




It's hard to see it from this pic, but this piece, the island base top, is one of the most beautiful pieces we have ALL ever seen.  I said to Pete, "I'm so glad you chose these pieces to make the 'center piece' of the kitchen," as we view the island could be...  Pete replied, "It picked itself." & so it did, as so much of this project has, serendipity.




the master woodworker, at his craft.




Pete using an 'old school' scraper instead of sandpaper as this wood has so much turpentine in it, the sandpaper goops up quickly....this method apparently is an old method of 'sanding' before 'sand paper' cool!