Rodent Musings & Fence Update

It's Saturday night and the fence has really come together quite beautifully. We're a little behind schedule as some unexpected rodent cleanup became an immediate priority. Thankfully, I was sleeping while this discovery was made in the workshop/garage and thus, this is the reason for no photos of Matt wearing a dust mask, gloves, and wielding his broom and shopvac. Matt was pleased to have bought the vacuum just the night before which we now know is handy for sawdust as well as clearing out old rat droppings.

Having a clean workspace, the fence project has moved along nicely and we were able to complete about 50% of the staining. Here I am brushing the first coat of "Dark Suede" onto the pergola beams before the baby woke up:

Sister Sarah arrived just in time to help with a bit of staining and a trip to get the last fence beam in her truck. The lucky 12 footer almost didn't make it home as it almost fell out the back along 1st ave.

Matt was very meticulous about coating the ends of each board to make sure we don't have to stain again for another 8 years (as promised by the label on the paint can).

This mitre saw was the real key to achieving this style of fence.

The happy accident that came out of the near traffic disaster was that Matt discovered this gorgeous renovated Vancouver Special (below). We were pleased to see the double-french entry doors beside single entry doors, as we have been contemplating the same idea. Currently, our house has 1 common entry door for both units. This picture proves that adding another entry can achieve our goal to bring more light and privacy into the lower unit without too much awkwardness.

So back to the fence, it's supposed to rain on Sunday so we'll finish up the staining inside and aim to install on the next dry day which might not be until Wednesday!

A Few Good Tools & A New Look

Sunday was not a productive day. We had a yummy brunch with our cousins Jeff and Lisa at the Alibi Room in Gastown which thankfully was kid-friendly and urbane enough to meet all of our needs. We then took them on a walking tour of our new neighborhood, Strathcona, before they headed back home to Sydney, Australia.

Today, we were back on track and Matt completed a couple more fence panels thanks to some borrowed tools. Our good friend, Dave Croft - a Vancouver Island carpenter and computer science professor - sent a load of amazing tools (including a Japanese framing hammer that I'm dying to use) over on the ferry to us. According to Matt, it made a world of a difference working with a chop saw and impact drill rather than the hand saw and regular old drill he's had since college. Check it out:

My husband has completely transformed from just a few months ago. He's turned in the wool Hugo Boss-vneck and DKNY slacks for a suede toolbelt slung low on his waist, a chunky knit hat and flannel workshirt. Matt has been quite philosophical about these past few days spent working with his hands, the wood lumber and all. It's been such a contrast to his time behind the desk developing financial models in Philadelphia and business school. He came home raving about a radio show he heard on CBC last night featuring Matthew Crawford and his book: "Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work". I think the title pretty much says it all.

So, the lesson of the day has been to gather up all the best tools you can find in advance. It probably would have saved us a couple of days if we had them lined up before beginning the fence. We will do a post devoted to tools in the near future.

P.S. We saw John Malkovich today at Costco!

January 2, 2010: A New Year & A Special New House

Wow, WE BOUGHT A HOUSE. A really, really ugly house. It's so unsightly, there's even a name for this type of house: a Vancouver Special. Crap, now what are we going to do? Since we arrived in Vancouver, BC 2 months ago, Matthew and I had the goal of buying a light fixer-upper. The dread is setting in as the first purchases were made at Home Depot this morning. Matt and his sister even went ahead and cut the pieces of wood for our soon to be modern-Dwell-magazine wannabe-japanese screen-like fence. So I guess we can't return those anymore. It's a done deal. We bought a house, now we're renovating it and there's no turning back. GREAT...

The Vancouver Special is truly a euphemism for a tragic moment in Canadian design history. Somehow my architect husband has convinced me of our house's supposed merits: an efficient floor plan, duplex zoning, and sturdy construction. Here is a rough sketch of how we'd like to amp up the facade.

Here are some inspiration shots for the landscaping:

The goal is to turn the front yard into a private, sunken garden filled with wooly, green, shade-friendly plants. This weekend, we'd like to finish building and installing the front fence/trellis/gate design. Here's a peak at some of the neighborhood inspiration:

Check back to see more details on how the fence progresses!