Autumn is finally here!

Lately, we have been experiencing cooler temperatures. It’s starting to feel like autumn. I hope the rain goes away so that I can seal and stain the outside of the remodel before winter arrives.

Erika has been busy cutting all of the smaller logs. She’s turning into a real “Lumber Jill”. She refuses to admit it, but I think she likes to use a chainsaw. More POWER^^^^^^^^^^^^^^!!

I’ve been working on the hallway connecting the remodel with the rest of the house. Not much to show for all my effort since all of the newly installed flooring (tile and laminate) are protected with cardboard. The walls are prepped for primer and paint. The ceiling has been stained and clear coated. 

This is one section of the hallway leading from the bedroom to the utility and guest bathroom. This photo was taken before the walls were prepped for paint and the ceiling stained. Now. it's ready to go!

In between jobs, I have been painting kitchen cabinets and adding hardware. I built a couple of huge sliding drawers for pots and pans underneath the IH cook top. The under cabinet lighting has been installed and I’ll take pictures after the backsplash has been grouted and sealed.

These drawer slides are soft close and allow full access to the entire drawer. It's a nice feature to have.

Plenty of room for pots and pans. The sliding shelf is made of 28mm plywood. I could easily stand on the shelf and it would slide effortlessly. That's how strong and rigid it is.

Another job I just completed was painting the outdoor furniture. We’ve had the patio furniture for about 10 years and it desperately needed a paint job. I took advantage of the cool, still, morning air and repainted all of the furniture. First, I removed the rust and primed the bare metal. Then, I gave it a coat of satin black paint. The project took a few mornings, but it was worth the effort.

It's hard to tell, but on the left is the rusted old chair. The freshly painted chair is on the right.

Currently, I’m working on the guest bathroom. We’ll be tiling the floor and backsplash this week. The toilet area will have tile about a third of the way up the walls. This will take some time to complete as we can only install a row of tile at a time due to the weight of the material. I prefer to install the tile over cement backer board, but that’s not available in Japan. 

Well that's it for now. We are waiting for the weather to clear before the start of phase 2 of the remodel. More on that later...              George