We Tried to Be Green

We succeeded with the paint. We went completely non-VOC and loved every minute of it. The color selection isn't limited and the lack of odor phenomenal. Who knows how much sooner we will end up having to repaint, but it is what it is. I don't feel like we had to sacrifice any quality.

The flooring, however, is a different story. I want a really dark floor -- like ebony dark. Not black, but pretty damn dark. I drug Josh over to the EcoHome store in Berkeley to look at their stains and the samples that they advertise, but let's cut to the chase: they look awful. The board on the right is the sample that the guy at the store did for us. I think it looks like someone crayoned the wood or did watercolors on it. Now, the left plank is full of traditional toxins with three layers of toxic polyurethain. I still think this one isn't quite right -- too much red and not enough darkness. But, hello?! Isn't it yummy and delicious? How can these green ones even be on the market? I suppose they might work for some very specific style of home, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what.

So, we'll be going the toxic route, but this pregnant lady will be sleeping elsewhere when the toxins are applied. It will also still be at least a month before we move in after the floors are finished. It is what it is. I tried.

Metal Panels for a Kitchen Backsplash?

I have always loved these old metal panels. In my dreams, we'd do the whole entry hallway up to the railing with this. I'd love to do the kitchen and dining room ceilings with this stuff. It is impossible for us to justify the cost for a ceiling that can just be painted though. We do, however, need to get a backsplash for the upstairs kitchen. By my estimates these new panels from Armstrong could actually be cheaper than the white subway tile that I was planning on. I think it's also a lot more interesting. They make all sorts of different styles, but I like this one this best. It comes in this white version which is paintable. Hello, excitement. The tile is also 60% recycled. Has anyone ever seen these used for a kitchen backsplash?

Non-VOC Paints and Varnishes

We are debating yet again about whether to paint the walls and varnish the floors before moving down into the studio. My hesitation is that it will take several more weeks and also that I will want to delay things even longer because of any potential fumes. I have heard good things about Yolo Colorhouse for paints and safecoat for varnish. I'm looking for products that are the safest (especially for a pregnant lady), will minimize the time we have to wait to move in and offer the nicest selection of colors. Does anyone have any good resources for this? Also, how long does a pregnant lady have to wait before moving into a freshly painted room with non-VOC paint?

Reno Update: After opting not to show on Friday, T made some good progress Saturday on the sheetrock and is at work again today. He has almost everything done except for the bathroom. J is busy moving the ceiling fan in the bathroom. We will be disconnecting the gas line to the stove today. I need to look for a microwave that will fit downstairs and hook up the camping stove. No joke.

Sheetrock

We are making slow but steady progress on the sheetrock. There has been so much in the news about that horrible Chinese sheetrock that was giving everyone respiratory problems and destroying their plumbing and electrical. Of course, this is something that we don't want to experience -- especially with the bambina cooking in my belly. I've had a really difficult time finding out which brands of sheetrock are OK. In the end, we're going with USG which is supposedly all made in the US. It's great that the news likes to report on all this stuff, but how about a little more information on what's safe?!

Reclaimed Barn & Factory Flooring

Me likey - especially the second one that is old factory flooring from the East Coast. Those crazies want 1k just to ship it here from Wisconsin though and they suggest ordering 20% more than you think you'll need to "accommodate the unique nature of this flooring material". These are all from Restoration Timber which you can order from Reclaim Home in Menlo Park. I know that we can't do this, but I seem to enjoy torturing myself by looking at all the pretty pictures online.

Floors and Drywall

I had the drywall guy out to give me an estimate this morning. I think it was pretty reasonable. He says it will take about a week to do the 500 sq foot studio. The hardwood floor guy came out to give me an estimate this morning too. He gave me what I think is a pretty reasonable price for a completely finished floor. He'll supply the wood, lay it down and stain it whatever color we want. And he'll do the perimeter border upstairs for the different rooms which I'm really excited about. It will take about 1.5 weeks to do the studio floors.

I want to go pretty light for the studio since the ceilings are low. The top pic floors are super light. I like how the plank width varies. The bottom pic is definitely darker, but I think it still might work for downstairs. That door is almost exactly like the door we have down there. Those windows, however, do not resemble our window. The flooring that I really want is from Reclaim Home. It's old barn wood that's been hand scraped. Gorgeous. No VOCs in the stain, etc. Super expensive though. Over $10 sq ft just for the wood. No installation. Should the planks go vertical or horizontal down the length of the studio? I don't know the answer to this question.

I really want to go darker with a wider plank upstairs. I love dark floors with high ceilings. We have amazing tall Victorian ceilings, so I think we can pull it off. Some day I want to do a parquet chevron in another house. I love those.

This appears to be a good time to hire people. They all seem to be available immediately which is kind of amazing and a little sad.

Photos from Elle Decor

The Greening (or graying) Is Complete

It's hard to believe, but the greening is done! It's kind of funny when I look at these pics because it doesn't look very green at all with all the baby plants and river rock. But that's our sweet little urban garden at the top and our neighbor's garden below it. That's crushed granite in between the curb and our little garden. It's required so that people don't trip when they get out of their cars. The trouble is that when it's dry it resembles cat litter. It was christened by a delightful ferrol kitty in the neighborhood last night. I'm thinking the river rocks will be a nice deterrent pooping dogs. We shall see, won't we?

Now we need to plant the area in front of the studio or at least plan for it. It's a tiny little space as you can see. I've been delaying it with all the work going on as I didn't want it to get trampled. I'm thinking a nice bright Bougainvilla along the fence and then a thicker little hedge right up against the fence to create a little bit more of a barrier from passers-by, but not taller than the fence. We'll figure this out in the Spring. In the meantime, 'tis the season to trim back all the roses in the backyard.

Neighborhood Greening

We spent yesterday doing more concrete removal for the greening of the Mission. Above is Josh with the concrete cutter which you use to cut the perimeter of the space that you will be removing. Afterwards, you jackhammer out the interior of that space. We had a bigger crew yesterday which made things a little faster, but still exhausting. I was the sweeper, the post lady and the caution tape lady. My favorite job was holding the Stop/Slow sign when Josh drove the Bobcat to the dumpster. Oh, how he loves to drive the Bobcat! I don't know if I'll ever be ready for the jackhammer. I don't get quite the thrill out of it that Josh does. We won't be planting anything until next weekend. Should look pretty great after that (aside from the fact that is definitely odd that we're planting in January)!

A Jackhammer, A Bobcat & Neighborhood Lovin'

Like much of the Mission, our neighborhood is a sea of concrete. The sidewalks are almost 15 feet across which is great for walking arm-in-arm doing Rockette-style kicks, but not so great for breathing in fresh plant-related oxygen. One of our neighbors motivated to get a grant to fund a neighborhood planting and actually succeeded. Luckily, she and a few brave others took on the task of coordinating the efforts of almost 30 neighbors. I have remained pretty much completely uninvolved with the coordination efforts up until this point since we have so much on our plate with our own little reno.

Today, our superstar contractor neighbor, Pat, and Josh jack-hammered out the concrete areas in front of 5 of the houses on our block. That's Josh in the Bobcat above moving the concrete to the dumpster in front of our house. Josh loves Bobcats. It's one of his favorite toys. We had to rent one several times when we redid our backyard. We removed over 200 yards of dirt. I hope I have that measurement right. Whatever it was, it was a helluva lot of dirt and that little Bobcat barely fit up the side of our house. I digress. After they hammered out the concrete today, the rest of us moved the concrete into the mouth of the Bobcat and shoveled out the remaining rocks from our clayish soil. It took 5 hours to do 5 houses today and we're supposed to do 20 more over the next 2 days...not sure how that's gonna happen. Party on.

Squeaky Green

I stole this copy of Squeaky Green: the method guide to detoxing your home by Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry from my dad at our gift exchange this year. Aside from making me feel like I'm a walking toxic waste dump despite my best efforts all these years, I think it's a really interesting book. I quickly ran out to load up on all the right green supplies for our house (which I'm sure was their intention), but was disappointed that Safeway doesn't carry all the green alternatives to the things that the Method boys complain about in the book. I was feeling toxic and paranoid enough that I would have bought every last item I could in a desperate attempt to save our souls from eternal toxicity. Safeway is missing out on a major revenue stream there when every reader makes a mad dash to the the store like I did. I actually think it's worth the $16.95 and you can get it from my favorite publisher on the planet, Chronicle Books.

P.S. Day 8 without any gas. Still can't boil water, fry an egg or do laundry. This is proving more challenging for me than no furnace for 13 months. It's obviously time to track down the camping stove.