Laundry Room (October 2020)

When we bought the house, we decided that in addition to tiling the kitchen, we wanted to do the laundry room ourselves as well.  So when we got back from Washington, we ordered our washer and dryer.  And now that we have gained some knowledge by tiling our kitchen, we are ready to take on the laundry room.  It has the washer and dryer hookups and plumbing for a sink, but that's it, no cabinets, no sink, no tile.

We ordered American Woodmark cabinets at home depot, and were able to get a perfect match to our existing cabinets.  American Woodmark is made in Kingman, AZ, which is only a few hours driv from here.  Steve was able to look at our existing cabinets to see how to connect them to each other.  Once we had them ready to hang, we screwed a level 2x4 into the wall to help support the weight of the upper cabinets.  Then I held them in place while Steve attached them to the wall.  The holes from the 2x4 will be covered when we tile the backsplash.

After the cabinets were installed, we installed some floating shelves.  They are super cool and really easy to install.  Now we just need to install the counter tops, backsplash and sink.  We've chosen our tile.  You can see a piece of it sitting in the foreground.  It is from Floor and Decor.

This is a larger format tile, so the counter tops will be easy with only one or two cuts per tile, but the backsplash and sink cutout will be more difficult.

Steve did a great job cutting around the electric outlets.  Since we used large format tiles, we used a leveling system to help ensure they were all flat.

Our completed laundry room.

With two successful projects down, we are feeling really good.  We have one more large indoor project that we would like to tackle, but it is a big one.  We are feeling very intimidated!

Kitchen Tile (October, 2020)

When we bought our home, we weren't fond of the tile options they offered for the kitchen, so we asked if we could have it built with no tile, just painted walls.  They said "No Problem".

We originally thought we would have the tile work contracted out, but now that we are back in Arizona, and the Covid pandemic is still going, we have decided to do the tile work ourselves.  For one, it's hard to find contractors right now, and for two, we need something to do that keeps us right here at home. 

It took us awhile to find tile that we liked.  We finally found it at Arizona Tile.  It is called concerto cocoa glossy.  We haven't done much tile work before, so we have been watching lots of youtube videos to get the best technique possible.  

Oven and refrigerator wall before:

Range wall Before:

Putting up tile:

Tile is up, just needs grout:

All done:

We are pleased with the way the kitchen came out.  It gave us some confidence, so now we think we are going to attempt our laundry room as well.  It will be a bigger project, so wish us luck!

Fans and Dimmers and Blinds, Oh My! (October, 2020)

There are so many things that have to be done when moving into a new home.  And some of them just disappear into the background once you do them, and although you enjoy them everyday, you never really think about them again.  

We left for Washington in such a hurry after moving in, so now the real work must begin.

We ordered and installed three ceiling fans.

Installed six dimmer switches.

Measured, ordered and installed 24 window blinds.

Had the plumbers out to put in our water softener and reverse osmosis system, as well as a new outside water spicket.

Installed our standing and hanging garage cabinets that we brought with us from Havasu.

Installed two overhead shelves in the garage, because no matter how much space you think you have, you will still have more stuff than the space to hold it.

Sealed the grout throughout the house, and ordered and installed all of our appliances.  All of these little things are beginning to make this new house feel like a home.

Raised Bed Planters (October 2020)

When we got home from Washington, Steve decided that our first project should be to build me some planter boxes so that I could get my garden planted.  So he found a great pattern on youtube and we started in.  The painting was the most time consuming part.

This is where they will live, at least for now.

Orcas! Steilacoom, WA (Wednesday, September 2nd)

It is now November, and we have been home for about a month and a half, but we have been so busy that I haven't had time to do any posts.  Our final adventure in Washington is truly blog worthy, and I wouldn't want to leave it out.

We woke up on the morning of September 2nd, and checked the Orca network to see if there were any orcas in the sound, and to our surprise, some transient orcas had been spotted just south of Steilacoom and were heading north.  So we jumped in the car, called our daughter and her in-laws who were in town, and headed to Steilacoom.  We got set up in our favorite neighborhood park, just hoping to get a glimpse of these elusive creatures.

The first orca made its appearance!

This is a sight that most people will never see in their lives, and we were just lucky enough to catch a glimpse.  They gave us an incredible show for about an hour as they made their way north off the coast of Steilacoom.  The perfect ending to an amazing trip to Washington to meet our new grandson, catch up with the kids, and enjoy this beautiful part of the country.

Mt. Saint Helens Sediment Control, WA (Monday, September 1st, 2020)

The eruption of Mt. St. Helens on May 18th, 1980 caused the largest landslide in recorded history, as seen below.

A sediment retention structure was built from 1986-1989 to capture and store the sediment and to protect downstream communities.  It is 184 feet tall and 1888 feet wide.  There is a loop trail that allows access to the structure, so we decided to take a hike.

A beautiful forest hike started us out.

When we left the forest, we walked across the top of the structure to see the sediment plain below.

Looking down off the the structure.

The view from down below.

We followed the loop trail the rest of the way back to the parking lot, and at the end there was a locked gate.  What?  There was no way to get through it, and we really didn't have time to backtrack over a mile back, so guess what?  Up and over we went.  When we got on the other side, the signs said something about government property...No trespassing.  What?  This is posted as a public trail.

Oh well, it was a fun little hike with lots of good information.