A Whole New World!
I am obviously not very good at keeping this blog up to date. Since the Coronavirus is putting our lives in a holding pattern, I am trying to use this time to nurture my creativity and keep my mind occupied.
Where do I start? So much has happened in the last couple of weeks in the world I really don't know where to begin. The work on our house started to pick up in February, we were just getting near the mid point when it all came to a halt this last week. We had planned on moving in April and then it got pushed back to May due to one of the companies scheduling. And now with shelter in place ordered by the CA governor, not sure when we can start again or when we'll actually move. In the mean time, I will catch up on what we've done with the house so far.
On the second day of the new year, we started the first of many projects on the house. We removed trees around the property to let in more natural light in all the rooms. One thing about the house was that the interior was very dark, the wood paneling on the walls didn't help (which we are keeping), and all the trees surrounding the house blocked out a lot of light. The bottle brushes blocked out natural light in the bedrooms and they get messy so they had to go. On the opposites of the yard, we had 5 redwood trees in varying sizes growing closely together, also blocking out a lot of natural light in the dining room/kitchen area. In addition to more light, I wanted more open and usable space in the yard. With 2 of the 5 redwoods gone, letting sunlight reach our house, it also benefits the solar panels we will be installing on the roof.
The tree removal company came out for 2 or 3 days, first to remove the trees, and then grind down all the stumps around the property. The root grinder was obnoxiously loud. I hope it didn't disturb our neighbors too much in this peaceful and quiet suburban oasis. We ended up with a mountain of wood chips in our front yard wondering how many weekends it would take us to spread out all the mulch around the yard. Luckily our contractor loaned out one of his guys to help us spread the mulch for a nominal fee. With the over crowding trees gone, the house already feel lighter and brighter, wait until you see the new dining room skylights, "A whole new world...."!
Where do I start? So much has happened in the last couple of weeks in the world I really don't know where to begin. The work on our house started to pick up in February, we were just getting near the mid point when it all came to a halt this last week. We had planned on moving in April and then it got pushed back to May due to one of the companies scheduling. And now with shelter in place ordered by the CA governor, not sure when we can start again or when we'll actually move. In the mean time, I will catch up on what we've done with the house so far.
On the second day of the new year, we started the first of many projects on the house. We removed trees around the property to let in more natural light in all the rooms. One thing about the house was that the interior was very dark, the wood paneling on the walls didn't help (which we are keeping), and all the trees surrounding the house blocked out a lot of light. The bottle brushes blocked out natural light in the bedrooms and they get messy so they had to go. On the opposites of the yard, we had 5 redwood trees in varying sizes growing closely together, also blocking out a lot of natural light in the dining room/kitchen area. In addition to more light, I wanted more open and usable space in the yard. With 2 of the 5 redwoods gone, letting sunlight reach our house, it also benefits the solar panels we will be installing on the roof.
This is a google earth view of our house. Top of the picture is the front of the house. On the left was where the redwoods were. There is also a valley oak tree in the middle of all the redwoods. It has a wide canopy and the leaves will provide shade in the hot Walnut Creek summers but still let in filtered light. On the right was the bottle brushes with the squiggly red line. That side of the house is only about 4 feet away from the neighbor's house separated by a fence, limiting the amount of natural light this narrow area receives. You can practically see into the neighbor's windows on this side of the house although I haven't tried. We met the neighbor already, she's an elderly lady, every sweet and got a great sense of humor. They are one of the OGs, they bought the house in the late 60s/early 70s to raise their family and never left.
The tree removal company came out for 2 or 3 days, first to remove the trees, and then grind down all the stumps around the property. The root grinder was obnoxiously loud. I hope it didn't disturb our neighbors too much in this peaceful and quiet suburban oasis. We ended up with a mountain of wood chips in our front yard wondering how many weekends it would take us to spread out all the mulch around the yard. Luckily our contractor loaned out one of his guys to help us spread the mulch for a nominal fee. With the over crowding trees gone, the house already feel lighter and brighter, wait until you see the new dining room skylights, "A whole new world...."!
I think they had already cut down one of the redwoods by the time I got to the house. These guys started early.
I wish I had saved a few of the tree stumps. Maybe I could've used them to make some furniture?
The redwood wood chips smelled heavenly. They dumped the whole truck load in my front yard.
I think this was after we had already moved a lot of wheel barrel loads of mulch around the yard. After a whole morning of work, it barely made a dent. That pile of wood chip was probably 6 feet tall by 8 or 9 feet wide.
Comments
Post a Comment