Ebony Floors

So, here we are on my due date deciding what color to stain the floors. According to her grandmas, that little Miss Cupcake is waiting for her room to be finished. If that is the case, then little miss is going to be waiting quite a while.

Since we started this project, I have been obsessed with doing dark ebony floors. I think that they can be absolutely gorgeous -- when done correctly. I love the rich, depth of color and the the contrast with light walls and cabinets. We've been struggling to find the right stain, however. The color needs to be deep for it to be convincing. Otherwise, I think it looks kind of cheap and tawdry. And that's not exactly the look we're going for, now is it?

I think that the top picture is about where we're going to end up. It still has a lot of nice rich browns in it, but it's not black like the bottom picture. And it's also not too red or orange. We've been doing lots of sample patches upstairs underneath where the cabinetry is. I think we're pretty settled on Minwax Ebony. Tomorrow though I'm gonna go check out the Mohawk stain with die in it. How's that for excitement?

Movin' on Out

After all that effort, we have now rented a place down South and will be renting out our beautiful baby. We are petrified to do so, but it's what we've decided to do. I am also exactly 7 months pregnant again! That seems to be the marker for when I become inspired to pack up the whole house and move. Our departure is very bittersweet. Photos of the final house sans boxes to come, I promise!

The Final Inspection

We passed! Holy crap. We can't believe it. He was here for less than 1/2 hr. We feared it so much and now it's over. What do we do now?! It's been five years since we took out our first permit. Oh, boy.

Front Door in Progress

She's supposed to be done by Friday...

Doors in The Mission

Our current door

Other doors in the neighborhood

Here's the door we've finally chosen.

Of course, it's not a stock door. Even if it was, I'm sure that they wouldn't have it in the obscure size that our current front door opening has become. We've ordered it from this custom door place in Bernal Heights. It's the kind of place that has Pau kind of hours where the main guy that you have to talk to in order to order a door is only there during certain hours, but when you show up during those hours, he is never ever there. After four tries, J managed to connect with him and order the door. Three weeks was what he promised, so that probably means...6? We shall see!

Broken Leaf

Dear Devoted Readers (of whom I think there are three), I've missed you! It's been 4.5 months since I last posted. Once we finally moved back upstairs, most of the finishing details came to a grinding halt. We've just been enjoying living in a house with lights in almost every room and running hot and cold water. But now it's time to get back to business: our front door and the right door knob. It sets the tone for all the renovation that's happened inside, so I'd like for it to be right. I finally found a pristine entry set with Broken Leaf pattern that came out in 1887. Here it is:

Forgiven

The pods were delivered on Friday and then they disappeared this morning. Genius. Did you ever think this day would come? I have nothing but rave reviews for this whole storage pod business. It's awesome. As much as I love U-Haul, I love not going there even more.

Unpacking is going to be a breeze thanks to my superior labeling technique.

Queen M explores the contents of the pods.

Amazingly enough, Queen M appears to have forgiven me for the torment that we've put her through. She quickly settled in for a cuddle with us.

Both kitties also had a lovely afternoon nap in the sun. Those two have become better buds than either of them will ever admit. This is also a sneak peak at another Craiglist special -- check out those pokey chairs, my sweets. Yes, they are Twister meets Romper Room and I love them!