Two Cats in the Yard

We’re Baaaack!

reverieinmaine — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 01:51:10 +0000

Or at least, we will be. Soon, I promise. There’s been some stuff going on in our lives, like this:

Baby #2

And like this:

We made it official!

So between nursing a newborn and planning a wedding, there wasn’t a lot of spare time for blogging in 2010-2011. But now Clover is walking, the wedding is behind us, and we are back to renovating. Pics soon to come!

Oh, Grate!

nick — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:31:31 +0000

We bought three of these iron heat exchanges at Nor’east Salvage in New Hampshire; the circular one was original to the house.

Room for Two

reverieinmaine — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:38:24 +0000

We’ve done a lot but have been bad about taking pictures. (That might change now that I’ve upgraded to my iPhone 4.) Anyway, still no baby sister, but here’s the dresser we just got for Sadie’s soon-to-be-shared room. We got it from the Mill Stores in Scarborough, which sells unfinished pine furniture you can then get painted or stained in any color. It looks great and it holds a ton of clothes.

The new double dresser for the girls' room!

Thumbs on Deck

reverieinmaine — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 01:17:45 +0000

Cappy took this photo of Thumbs hanging out on the deck. Look closely at the mildewy gutters, because after tomorrow they won’t be there! We’re getting our missing siding replaced, along with the old (useless) gutters. We’ll be sure to post photos when the deed is done.

An Olive Branch.

nick — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:16:51 +0000

After demo of second stairway, this patch remained.

We finally got around to some planting in front of the house. Beside not having planted a thing outdoors in my life, there were a few unusual obstacles as one might expect around Two Cats by now.

The plot of land I chose to plant Reeve’s Mother’s Day rhododendron plants was once the site of the second entrance stairs. The ground was hard and needed tilling, so I began by removing as many rocks as possible, including, it turned out, some that formed the foundation of the house. I discovered this when I suddenly was able to see into the basement from the outside.

After replacing the field stones and patching them with hydraulic cement from both sides, I recommenced the planting. Unearthed artifacts included several dozen rusty nails, many shards of glass, a few marbles, a rusty spark plug, a broken thermometer (hope rhododendrons like mercury!), and many many non-foundation stones which I used to border the patch. A few cubic feet of Miracle Grow soil and a spritz from our new hose caddy et voila!

We achieved our goal, which was to announce to the neighborhood that we are more than just another trashy East End family. That, Typar and rusty mailbox aside, we care about aesthetics and are committed to being a cute house someday.

Decked Out.

nick — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:40:46 +0000

This was our deck last August, about two months after we began demo. The vinyl siding is still completely intact, as we hadn't yet installed Sadie's egress window.

This was during the mending, scraping, filling and sanding phase.

Finally a day off without rain! I’m making the most of it by painting our once-sad little deck. The goal is to go from shabby-shabby to shabby-chic. Next step? Replacing the siding around the deck and painting our Adirondack chair. Oh and Doing some container planting and putting up a trellis in front of that neighbor’s window.

Our Biggest Fan.

nick — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 15:54:42 +0000

Well it took a couple of days and some monkey-like rafter swinging but we got our ceiling fan installed in the bedroom. And just in time for the hot weather! Sadie smiles and says “fayun!” whenever she looks up and sees it.

Do Not Adjust Your Monitor

reverieinmaine — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:30:25 +0000

This is not a test. The photos you see here are REAL. This is our actual bath tub. With tile. Not concrete backerboard. We have been taking showers now for nearly a month and it is blissful. Especially for this 7-months pregnant lady.

Before and After: Sadie’s Room

reverieinmaine — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:21:14 +0000

Lest anyone forget how far we’ve come at Casa Dos Gatos, let’s take a look at the evolution of Sadie’s room. All of the following photos were taken from the same angle:

Sadie’s room as it was the first time we saw it:

First glimpse of Sadie's room

After the previous owner moved her stuff out:

The carpet was soaked in cat pee.

Mid-remo:

New window (sized for egress) and closet wall. Floor not yet laid.

And now, one little step from completion (fabric roller shades):

Wow. We've come a long way!

Grampa Luke Spit-shines Sadie’s Room

reverieinmaine — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:10:00 +0000

Nick’s dad, Grampa Luke, flew out for a week-long visit and we had a trim party. He and Nick caulked, spackled, sanded and painted all the trim in Sadie’s room and our living room. It was a lot of work, hindered somewhat by the gloomy weather we had for the first few days of Luke’s trip. But the end result is phenomenal, as you can see here in Sadie’s room:

Next up: some fabric roller shades I plan to make out of this Amy Butler fabric.