Progress

7 months later, we’re finally ready to show some pics of the house and the basement.  While it’s still a work in progress, we’re really happy with how it’s coming along.

New front door paint – Sherwin Williams Cascades. It’s only temporary because when we get rid of the awful aluminum siding or at least paint it, we’ll need a new door color.

What you see now at the bottom of the stairs – refresh your memory by looking at the older post of “before” pictures. 

Ian’s room – bedroom #4.

Eric’s office; which now includes a window and a closet – so therefore bedroom #5!

And now the other side!  We love this space! 

The fireplace still needs some work, but remember what it looked like before?

View from the other side.  I’m loving the warm greenish, gray walls - (SW Grassland.)  Tanner told me he was tired of all the yellow in our old house, so I’ve been steering clear of the yellow – it’s been hard, though.  Fortunately, we’re doing his room in Purple & Gold, so I’ll get a little yellow after all.

New wet bar – we’re still debating what to do above it.  My vote is for open shelving, Eric wants some upper cabinets.  Hence, nothing.

  Amazing what a few coats of paint on unfinished oak cabinets can do – still need to add knobs & pulls.

  New bathroom, with 48” shower to the right.

Upstairs; no major changes other than clearing boxes and dust.  “Recycled” sofa & chair from Scott & Becky. (It saddens me to say it, but the pink couches are in the landfill – Goodwill wouldn’t even take them!)  Hopefully, we’ll get some wall color this winter.  I’m having a hard time finding the right warm, beigey, gray.  And hopefully I’ll get to take a sledgehammer to the wall the buffet is on one of these days, because that’s where my new gorgeous, kitchen island is going!

Dream, dream, dream

Raining in Cooperstown

Who would have thought that we would travel all the way across the country to have our games post-poned by rain - only in 2011!
We went 1-1 yesterday and were up 4-2 in the bottom of the 4th with the bases loaded when the game was halted. I am still sitting in my apartment back in town waiting for news. It is now 7 pm and we still need to finish that 11 am game and then play another game that was supposed to have started at 4:30. Crazy!!

Game 2 Heartbreaker

Our Richmond All-Stars lost game 2 by a final of 11-9 against North Central.  Tanner hit a 3-run homerun in the bottom of the sixth inning to start a comeback rally, but the team fell short.  We play again tonight at 6pm against Northshore.

Here’s a link to a local article on the game.  Richmond Little League All-Stars

Our All-Star Season Has Begun

As other district tournaments are finishing up, we are just now getting going.
Our Richmond Majors started strong yesterday with a win over RUG – made up of the Roosevelt, University District, and Greenlake neighborhoods of Seattle.
Tanner caught for 3 innings and played third for 1, in the 4-inning, mercy-rule shortened game. 

Final Score:  Richmond 22, RUG 1

(That would be 11 runs in the first!)

We play North Central at noon today.
Here’s a link to the bracket:  Major Baseball District All-Star Tournament

Basement Update Day 13

Framing is done; now we’re working on heating, electrical and plumbing. 

View to left from bottom of stairs.  It’s much more open now!

View from the other side of the room

View from bottom of stairs to the right – Ian’s room to the right, office to the left

Basement Remodel – Beginning of Day 5

To clarify, I am counting calendar days, not work days – because in our lives, that’s what matters.

Demo was completed on Friday.  Here’s a view of the basement as of this morning.  Framing started today. 

Ian’s room – that ridiculous “closet” is finally gone!

Fireplace – turns out the brick hearth was added later as well, and didn’t even line up with the fireplace wall.  So many options now. . .

Rec Room.  Like our jungle outside? 

Office & Laundry/Bathroom.  We’re going to put a window and a closet in the office so it can be considered a 5th bedroom. 

I spy a white basket, a brown door, and a black cat scurrying across the floor.  (Well, I guess Gigi doesn’t really scurry, she strolls.) 

Basement Remodel – Day 0

Here are the before pics of our basement.  We started yesterday on the demo.

This is what you see when you enter the front door and head down the stairs.  Ian’s room and Eric’s office will be to the right and the Rec Room is to the left.  Straight ahead (behind the wall) is the bathroom/laundry room.  Ultimately, we would like to move the laundry room upstairs, but for now it will remain down.

Future office/bedroom.

Ian’s room.

Fireplace is staying – the brick and paneling are going.

  Rec room.

Other side of rec room.  Still got those old pink couches, but I’m not sure they are going to survive 2011.

Bathroom.

Laundry doesn’t stop for a remodel.  We sold our old washer/dryer with the old house, but got lucky that a friend happened to have a pair in his garage!  (Thank you, Frank!) 

We are so excited to start this process.  We’ll keep you updated along the way.  

Champs – At Last!

Our Richmond Dodgers went undefeated through the end-of-season Richmond Little League Majors Tournament to take home the Championship Trophy.  Tanner hit a 3-run home-run to break things open and lead the Dodgers to a 9-2 victory over the Hawks.  In addition to his big hit, Tanner came in to close out the last inning and made the final out of the game with a diving infield catch.  (There was no way he was letting that ball hit the ground!)

Congrats to the Dodgers!  Now it’s on to the Tournament of Champions (TOC) in Ballard where they will represent Richmond LL and defend the league’s reigning championship. 

Sunny Views From Richmond Beach

There is so much to report for 2011 that I do not know where to begin.  But let’s start with this picture taken from the top of our hill.  No, we don’t have a view from our house, but the drive getting to it is sure pretty, not to mention the nice neighborhood views that we do have.

PS Warmest day in Seattle for 2011 – I think we might reach 70!