November Update

Most years Jeff and I don't take advantage of Black Friday sales but, with the move, this year was an exception. Our current dryer went kaput after only 8 years. (Which is a rant, I'll spare you.) We've also been having problems with the washing machine, but it is still limping along. So, yesterday, I ordered a new washer and dryer (and freezer and microwave).

I don't know about you guys, but I have had a dilemma about which brand to buy. Basically, there are no laundry machine brands that are designed to last and all are likely to fail within the first decade. So, given that, I decided to go with a lower budget line of machines. I figure if they make them to fail, then I'm going to spend less on them. Though, I still haven't figured out why anyone would want WiFi laundry machines.

I actually ordered them to be delivered to the new house in Prineville, so it should be interesting. Little stuff we'll continue to wash here in Portland and hang dry. We'll bring the huge stuff, like sheets and quilts, to Prineville and wash them there. LOL

In the afternoon, we found ourselves back at Portland Direct Tile & Marble. I often find myself perusing their tile pictures online and their staff are super helpful about bringing out pieces for you to look at. Yesterday, I found a room in the back I had never seen before where they had a ton of discontinued borders to choose from. I was super excited to find some that I thought would look good with the soapstone. Green is really not in style this year. Also, I am not excited about this year's encaustic tile trend. We have always tried to avoid trendy kitchen materials because we don't want to "date" our remodels.

We finally made a commitment on the border when we found they had enough remaining of this one.

Bath Soapstone Install

The soapstone is in!!! I am really excited. And I think it looks great. Like we did in the kitchen, we're planning on oiling it.

The installers were pretty speedy and they did a great job. I was seriously impressed when those two guys just zipped right up the stairs with that slab.

Dropping it in place, there was minimal wall damage, though there is one small spot I need to fill and touch up the paint.

During the process we had a total headache with finding a sink that would fit in the cabinet. Despite the delays in getting them a proper sink, Portland Marble Works still delivered on time. I doubt they are the cheapest stone fabricator (I didn't shop around) but I was very satisfied with the work they did in our kitchen so I just hired them again for the bathroom.

Soapstone Slab Transported

What a production I've turned this bathroom project into. I probably should have just abandoned the soapstone slab when I learned the new company owners didn't want to ship, but I want what I want.

Yesterday, Jeff drove down to Gold Beach, Oregon and picked it up. He borrowed an A-frame from Portland Marble Works and we ended up renting a trailer from U-haul and borrowing the Ford Ranger back from our friends we sold it to. (Thanks Kay and Robert!)

Borrowed A-frame

Soapstone loaded and strapped

It just barely fit in the 9' trailer we rented. (They had sent me the wrong measurements!)

It was another long day of driving for Jeff, as it was more more than 12 hours. I really hope this ends up being worth it.

I'm hoping to start demo in that bathroom next week. :D

Sadly, with our bad weather, I slipped into some some bad habits this week and spent way too many hours playing my stupid online game. Sigh. I hope I can resist once this project starts.

Sorting out Details

I've been obsessing the last week or so about getting our soapstone slab from Sacramento, California to Portland, Oregon. When we remodeled the kitchen in 2012, we bought a "remnant" from Teresina Soapstone that was enough for our proposed bathroom project.. At the time, we planned to get to the project sooner, but we all know how that went..... LOL

Anyway, fast forward two years and Teresina has been bought out by Sierra Soapstone and they don't ship soapstone. They did tell us they have a job next week in Gold Beach, Oregon and offered to bring our soapstone up there. So, now we are trying to work out how to transport it from Gold Beach to Portland.

We are getting quite the education. Apparently you cannot transport soapstone horizontally, but are supposed to transport it on an A-frame or on its edge. I researched the cost to rent a full size pickup and we're going to drive down to Gold Beach. We're hoping to borrow an A-frame from our local fabricator, but we'll build one if we have to. Once that slab is safely tucked in at Portland Marble Works, we'll start demo.

And I guess I better figure out the dumpster soon.

For kicks, Jeff and I have been goofing off with the idea of building a gaming lair in our basement that is inspired by this. It would be a fun way to use a bunch of the salvaged parts we have kicking around in our basement.

Kitchen is Done!!

Except for one vent cover in the toe kick and swapping out a couple of chrome hinges, the kitchen is done!! Well, OK, we still have to make the leaded glass panels for this one cabinet. We have a plan, we have the glass, we're just waiting for the leaded glass class in September.We LOVE the soapstone counters!
For those who don't recall, here is how it looked before the remodel.

If you want to know about products/materials we used, there is a post about them here.

Latest Kitchen Photos

We're getting there! We believe it's time to oil our counters.
We're looking forward to the appliance panels being installed.

Soapstone Counters are In!

Not much to write, but we're really happy with the new counters; we love the green! We plan to oil these counters, but haven't yet. They'll be a bit darker once we do. This is one of the seams between the slabs.FYI, for those who would like to know, these counters are Green Minas from Teresina Soapstone in Roseville, California. Sharon was adamant about wanting green soapstone and we could not find any locally. Though we took a risk buying these slabs without seeing them in person, we're glad we did. The folks at Teresina were really great to work with. They sent us large samples at no charge and were awesome at communication. Sharon and our stone fabricator have only good things to say about the experience.

Gorgeous Soapstone Sink!

The sink arrived today! It's so pretty and we're excited! The matching counters come tomorrow.
Sharon was mildly disturbed when Jeff invited Shasta to see the sink and she jumped right in! She is quite the jumper, obviously. We guess we'd better take care not to leave temptation out on the counters.

Soapstone Cutting

[Jeff here, stunt blogging today...]

Today we got word that the soapstone slab was being cut.

Jeff headed over to Portland Marble Works to observe the operation.
They have an impressive wet saw with laser guide.
It puts out a lot of water that mixes with the talc dust that comes from the cut.
The saw is operated by a hanging control panel.
A lot of care went into marking and setting up each cut.
The saw cuts all the way into the table which is covered with a gritty compound that actually sharpens the diamond coated blade. Every three weeks or so, the table gets a new coat.
Here is an "art shot" of the mirror surface of the water on the stone slab.
One rectangular piece ready for edging.
And finally, a look at the control panel.

Kitchen Progress

Last Friday the cabinet maker started setting the cabinets. The lower cabinets are in. Sharon just loves the flat sawn douglas fir wood; it was definitely a worthwhile upgrade as it matches the existing woodwork much better than the clear vertical grain (CVG) lumber would have.Jeff also got his pot rack last week.Yesterday afternoon Portland Marble Works came out to measure for the soapstone countertops. Today, we got to go see their proposed layout. It is so exciting to see the kitchen finally come together.Our kitchen faucet has arrived. It won't be unwrapped until it's time for install. This is the Newport Brass faucet we chose, in brass finish.