Lately Andrew and I been working on the back yard, which is why it looks like this:


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While I was out in D.C. this weekend having an awesome time at Intervention, Andrew finished the kitchen cabinets. Check it out!


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So we're finally tackling the kitchen fixtures. As seen in previous posts, our kitchen countertops are Seventies-riffic mustard-yellow laminate, and the cabinets are wood with a dark, lacquered finish. Andrew and I will need outside assistance to replace those countertops, but refinishing cabinets is something we can do ourselves. Which we know ( Read more... )

Now that the summer's almost over, I ought to post at least once more about the back yard. The big yard project, overseen by Andrew, has been trying to kill the lawn. It's solid crabgrass, and we want to destroy it and plant something else. Andrew has been dedicated in his battle against the crabgrass, but I sometimes worry that he's just ( Read more... )

In all my previous house updates, there's one room I've neglected to show you. Let's visit it now... yes... right through the foreboding red door...


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It's been a while since I posted house photos, but we've been hard at work on the vegetable garden in the back yard.


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The major house project right now is fixing up our terrifying murder basement. I'll post photos on that in the future; meanwhile, please enjoy Andrew chopping down the dead tree in the middle of our back yard. He was extremely manly.


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When we bought the house, every possible surface had been whitewashed years ago. It was easy enough to repaint the walls; much harder was stripping paint off fixtures where no paint should be. The living-room fireplace was especially tragic.


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I haven't posted any house pictures in a while, mainly because nothing too picturesque has been happening here. Recently, however, just in time for the Bay Area rainy winter, we (and by "we" I of course mean "our contractor, Mario, while we watched and talked about Doctor Who") succeeded in replacing a bunch of the house's aged windows. Look how ( Read more... )

Last summer, one of the favorite meals at Maison Shaenon et Andrew was something we called Tomato Dinner: a big salad of sliced heirloom tomatoes with sliced kalamata olives, basil, and feta cheese and a loaf of half-baked bread from Rainbow Grocery on the side. Tomato Dinner was delicious (especially with a bottle of wine) and easy to make, but ( Read more... )