Mike and Jeff's New House

Low Voltage wiring, hooked to light switch. The finished product The heating mat duct-taped to the mirror just before installation. The shower now sports a shaving mirror with a low voltage heating pad mounted to the back, it's supposed to keep it from fogging up, we'll see... UPDATE: The heating mat works OK if one turns it on just before going into the shower, but it works great if one turns it on 5 minutes before taking a shower and it warms up a bit.

Our master bath is just about done....The glass shelves, main mirror and shower mirror were all installed this week.... We like it.......

One of the last things we did before putting on sheet rock was to pull speaker cable from where our TV was planned to be over to two location flanking the back of the sofa. This year Santa Claus brought a set of surround sound speakers from Aperion Audio. They sound great and we've been watching LOTS of movies. The installation looks very clean thanks to the already installed cables. Are you remodeling? Don't forget to pull some wires if you even THINK you might buy surround sound speakers one day. Mounting the TV onto the wall also helped to make it seem more like a movie house experience.....

Our next step in the master bathroom is to take off the round mirrors above each sink and replace it with a complete wall of mirror. Hopefully it will be installed within the next week or so. The same glass company is cutting glass shelves for the upper portion of the shelf `box' on both sides of the sinks.... And finally, we are installing the anti-fogging electric mat behind an 18x30 shaving mirror in the shower....

We had one HECK of a storm hit northern California in early January. Over 200,000 people were without power for up to a week...This pic shows the view of our redwoods from the third story windows as the wind was whipping them around....The wind gusts were measured at 70 miles per hour....It was kind of scary, we lost lots of trees and large branches in the neighborhood..

The answer to the question: `Are Redwood Trees brittle? is a resounding YES. The top 15-18 feet of one of our redwoods snapped off in the storm. Mike planted these trees 15 years ago and they were in one gallon pots....

We had a much beloved grafted fruit tree in our old garden. (It grew right about where the washing machine now sits.) It was a four way `Fruit Cocktail' tree with a white peach, a nectarine, a plum, and an apricot. We liked it so much that we went and bought one to replace it. This tree is a 5-way graft and it has 3 peaches and 2 nectarines grafted onto a hardy root stock. It won't produce much fruit this year, but watch out in 2009!

And into the planting hole it goes......

The Front yard finally has some plants in the ground. We are using two different types of grasses plus 3 flax plants as vertical design elements, they will be in geometric lines that will reinforce the existing architecture while also creating some distinctive movement in the landscape. Thanks to Fred R. for his help with laying out the design....

We finally got started on finishing our master bathroom. Jeff bought some solid core doors and milled them to fit into the two corners of the bathroom that flank the sinks....

Jeff came up with the solution of using doors as the frame around which we would construct bathroom shelving. It meant LOTS of careful measuring and detailed cutting as messing up would mean a trip to the door store to buy a new one. Thanks to Al B. for his help with the cutting and fitting process...

There are three light systems in the bathroom, flourescents on the mirror wall, spot lights for art, and low voltage for the glass shelves, all of them can now be preset and one switch will turn them on. It meant drilling through the wall and putting the master switch on the outside wall, it actually makes it easier....

We used IKEA cabinet bases for the shelving units in between the wooden doors.

Once the shelving `box' was installed by Jeff, Mike primed, sanded, and painted the cabinets. A little trick from our painters proved most helpful in creating a super smooth surface. AFTER the primer coat went on, the entire area was sanded with 220 grit sandpaper and rubbed down with a dust rag before the final coat went on, they are now MUCH smoother than after the first coat of paint. This photo also shows that the drawer fronts are installed. These are the same eucalyptus veneer drawers that we used in our bedroom and kitchen.

We went to the same tree farm as last year, but this time we came home with a tree that was just a bit over 13 feet tall....Who knew a tree that size would take so many ornaments....

We were thrilled to get our final 2007 electric bill from SMUD, our electrical utility... We achieved our goal and produced more electricity than we used. In other words, we paid zero dollars to the utility this past year... It's a good thing...