shameless plug for mother-in-law's mountain cabin rentals

If you're looking for a clean, quiet, affordable cabin in the north Georgia area, check out Brandon's mom's Rabun River Cabins located on the Tallulah River. (No, I don't know why they are called Rabun River when they are on the Tallulah River! But they are in Rabun County...).

There are two cabins, one large and one smaller. They are located right on the river, and convenient to lots of fun things to do (listed on the website and here, including the free and fun Tallulah Falls Bluegrass Opry every Saturday night).

Check it out!

time flies...

I can't believe we haven't posted since early April! I'm not able to post from work since our filters claim that the site is "pornography." I'm not sure how it determines porn from say, a houseblog, but apparently it has some sort of reasoning for it.

The twins are due next week and the current plan is for them to induce labor on Wed. May 20...if I don't go into labor on my own before then. The babies are doing well and are over 6 lbs. each right now! More updates can be found at www.babydiy.wordpress.com if you are interested.

We're going to be part of a city-wide yard sale this weekend, or rather, Brandon and his mom are setting up our sale in our yard and I'll probably be hanging out on the porch in a rocking chair, resting. More info on yard sale here: http://sites.google.com/site/eastpointyardsale/ Thanks to BITH for working on this...I promise we'll meet one day!! But I guess it will be after the twins come ;)

What to do about the doors?

Ok, so after some (more) discussion, we think we are going to go with our cedar front door instead of the one I have been refinishing. I still plan on working on that door, and maybe eventually using it, but for now it is easier to use the cedar. Nolan told me that it is only around $85 to have a door dipped and stripped; I would have thought that was a lot, that is until spending way too many hours and not even half-way finished with stipping with a heat gun. Does anyone know of a place near Atlanta that does this service?

I have my Spring Break next week, so I might be able to put the cedar door up then (or at least hold it up in the door frame to see how it looks). Hopefully I will be able to accomplish some other tasks next week as well. Who knows? Maybe we will have a new door soon.

A multitude of doors!

These are three of the doors we (I should really say me, Brandon) acquired for the house. The blue one is a Craftsman style door, but someone has ripped the shelf off of it. I am contemplating building a new shelf out of pine (the door, under the bright blue paint, appears to be unstained heart pine). The white door in the middle is a two panel interior door, intended for our guest bathroom, after we frost, or replace with stained glass, the glass panel. And, the third... this has been my side project all winter. Whenever I disappeared in the shop for a while, Nolan could expect to find me bending over this door (it was on sawhorses) using a heat-gun and paint scrapper to remove the layers (at least 3) of white paint that covered it. This is the perfect Craftsman style front door for our house, as it matches our windows (six panes on the top) and, I believe, that I can restore it to a deep, almost cedar red that will complement our house. The only problem, is that it has been damaged and poorly repaired along the doorknob side. Ah, I love a challenge!

This is a close-up of some of what I have accomplished with it:

One last door. See the big white door behind the brown one? That is the one we found last summer, which we cannot use, and apparently can't sell. It is like 89" tall, and can't be cut down that much. If anyone is interested, please make an offer (click on the link for more info)

Brandon's Update II

So, here is a list of the things I am trying to accomplish before the twins come in May (when we expect that non-essential work will be put to the side, at least for a while):

-Finish front door! I really want to finish this to install it soon.

-Clean up basement. We have a lot of junk, and are planning on having a yard sale in April, so I need to go through everything to clear out the, oh yeah, it is not junk, we have a lot of great stuff that everyone will want to look through and buy!

-Clean, sand, paint, and install two-panel doors on the bathrooms and the master bedroom. I have the doors, but they need a lot of work first. I have all the hardware (from my find from the house 2 doors down that was throwing away early-century massive 5 panel doors with Eastlake style door knobs and plates, with the mortise locks inside!). Yesterday I bought a two panel door from a guy here in East Point, in Jefferson Park, which has a window at the top, which we want to use for the guest bath (with window frosted, which needs to be done), that is in great condition.

-Install bathroom exhaust fans. I have already purchased these: one with a built-in light for the main bath, and a basic fan only for the second bath. I will need Paul's help with these.

-Install flood lights on the corners of the house facing the driveway. Once again, Paul may be required to do this. :)

-Re-seed back yard with Centipede grass. I may be a little late doing this, but hope it works.

-Build concrete burm at base of wall below the bonus room. This area has plywood all the way to the ground and needs to be replace with a short concrete brick wall. Not looking forward to doing this.

-And, my project that Nolan doesn't endorse, digging out a new room in the basement. Wait, this isn't as crazy as it may sound. In the spot of our old furnace (which is still there), there is a place that is dug out of the dirt and is at least 8 feet tall of space, and about 8 feet by 8 feet or so. I think this would make a great studio for me. I would need to level out the dirt, build a concrete block retaining wall of about 4 feet, then build in a stud wall above that, then finish off. Anyway, that will not get done before the twins arrive.

So, think I will get all this done? Yeah, not gonna happen, huh. I at least want to try. And, there are always more projects waiting!