the mist has rolled in...

It's been pretty wet and rainy in the Bay Area lately, and we decided to add a little Seattle Mist to our apartment as well.  We had been intending to paint since April before we moved in, but only got around to getting supplies last weekend.  Unfortunately, last weekend's burst of energy was not enough to power us through the project and this was the state of things on Saturday morning:

 One wall painted

 One wall taped

And one wall completely untouched

We tried out one of Benjamin Moore's Zero VOC paints, contractor grade (Eco Spec Base 1, interior latex flat finish, waterborne formula), and were happy that only one coat of paint was required.  Here are a couple "after" pictures from this morning:

Maybe because it reminds Lilli of home, but she has declared that she could gaze into the grey all day and has been inspired to add "paint accent wall" to her long list of projects!

Halloween on Ruby Street

Some rose from the dead, some disguised their head...

 

 Sesame Street's Yip Yip Aliens came by...

 

Even Marla gave dress up a try...

Best of all, we had pumpkins!

 

Street Tree Stand-Ins

Ruby Street lacks a lush street tree scene - disappointing aesthetically and a missed opportunity for air cleaning!  Between our small setback, and the utility pole out front, we don't have enough room for proper street trees in the sidewalk.  Solution?  Beautiful cedar and redwood planters made by our friend, Grant.

Before:

During:

After:

Ruby Street's Newest Resident

Introducing Marla Rocket...

House Warmed

We've had two lovely house warming events.  One local evening of ruby street greyhounds (fresh watermelon juice, grapefruit juice, vodka and a spritz of soda - delish!) and mac and cheese from homeroom (spicy recipe!); and one afternoon bbq replete with wonderful kids, a happy fetching dog, and rooftop twister!

CC digs in to spicy mac and cheese

build your own bruscetta

marla rocket takes flight with jeremy and hiroko

twist and shout!

homeroom's delicious peanut butter pie pre-plate licking finish!

eat mac & cheese

llh and i were pretty excited to learn that homeroom, a mac&cheese restaurant (with a liquor license!) will be opening up just down the street on 40th in December.  we met Erin & Allison at Eat Real this afternoon and are looking forward to welcoming them to the neighborhood!

before & after: garage

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

January 2010

April 2010

July 25, 2010

And more pictures @  http://picasaweb.google.com/carolynchoy/Phase2Garage?locked=true#

where the sidewalk ends

Today we worked on our downspout water management system.  The goal is to prevent the dirt in our landscaping strip from washing into the sidewalk, and we hope to achieve this by digging out a path of travel for the water and adding a layer of small pebbles and then larger rocks on top of that to increase filtration back into the soil.

In the process, we actually found the edge of our planting strip (i.e., the sidewalk)!  We also found some other interesting items while weeding along the planting strip... (it's a size 8, if anyone is interested.)

special request

This one's for Julie, a picture of the completed building--affectionately described as the milk chocolate bon bon by llh.

We will do our best to honor all requests!

Inspiration?

Before and After: Porch

new gate!

Add:

1. Murphy bed closet door
2. Badass hinges from Urban Ore
3. Old garage siding
4. Various pieces of trim

Cut and paste (and prune the hydrangea while you're at it), and voila!

Front

Back

evolution of a roof

Sorry for the radio silence, we've been busy around here!  These pictures are a little old, but I'm hoping you won't hold that against us.  They were taken over a couple weeks starting at the end of May (thanks mom, for photo #1!).

trunk follow up

in case last week's trunk sparked your interest, here's a project idea: rolling trunk bar from ready made mag.  the trunk is still in the driveway, but not for long (dump run happening soon!)

http://readymade.com/projects/article/have_drinks_will_travel

long weekend sighting

On the cusp of another weekend, here's a highlight from last weekend, found in one of the storage units attached to the garage:

And if you need to see that from a different angle, here you go:

phase 2

Not that Phase 1 is complete, but we're going ahead with the detached garage work anyway.

Fingers crossed that this picture will look very different in another month... (ask about our secret plans the next time you see us.)

email chatter

Date: Mon, May 3, 2010 at 5:16 PM
Subject: Fwd: There goes the n'hood

Better watch out:

The store next to remedy on telegraph is a new yoga and acroarts studio

Don't Go Over the Handlebars! Get your local potholes fixed.

Is there a pothole in your neighborhood? Oakland’s Public Works Agency is starting the second week of its “pothole blitz,” which aims to fix more than 1,000 potholes throughout the city. The week of May 3 will focus on central Oakland, and the final week of May 10 will hit North and West Oakland.  To report a pothole, use the agency’s online form or call 510-615-5566.

(Courtesy of Oakland North: http://oaklandnorth.net/)

know anyone looking for a 1-bedroom in the East Bay?

http://www.vflyer.com/home/home/flyer/3212310

Temescal 1-BR with original details, new kitchen and bathroom

Location: Temescal, Oakland

Newly renovated ground-floor apartment at Ruby Street will be ready for a June 1 move-in. The unit is a 1-bedroom apartment in a 1920’s building in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, conveniently located between the Telegraph and Piedmont shopping/eating corridors (Subrosa Coffee, Burma Superstar, La Farine Bakery, Bakesale Betty’s, and Geta Japanese are all within a 10 minute walk).

* 3 blocks east of MacArthur BART and free Emery Go Round
* 10 minutes to downtown Oakland by bike (20 to Cal, 10 to Emeryville, and 2 to Kaiser)

* 3-room apartment: large bedroom, sunny living space, kitchen with breakfast bar
* Original woodwork in the bedroom and living room
* New bathroom
* New kitchen with granite countertops
* Energy-efficient appliances and windows
* Garage parking negotiable for a monthly rate
* Charming, petite pets considered with a deposit
* 30-something owners recently purchased the building and live upstairs

sneak preview

Okay, so we aren't actually going to pilot a daring new two-toned stucco job, and that isn't even the final stucco color (if you zoom in though, you can see the Sepia swatch on the left side of the foyer opening, just above the bushes), but I thought you'd enjoy an external shot to see how close we're getting...

And here's a shot of the inside, a real preview of our "shoe management system":

oh brother!

Not that this weekend did not have its moments of exasperation, but this post is really about expressing appreciation for brothers.  Specifically, our superstar brothers.  Lilli's brother, Kevin, flew up from LA to help on Saturday and Sunday, and my brother, Ben, swooped in at Hancock St last night to help us transport a few awkwardly shaped items that didn't fit in our borrowed Honda Civic (thanks Alexa!  so many thank yous...) and to unload on the other end.  Thank you to both of you, we couldn't have done it without you!

stocked kitchen

This is what it looks like:

No appliances yet, they'll come next week, so in the meantime, that's an excellent place to store a couch!

moving day

[Warning: Long post, with lo-res photos taken on my blackberry phone...]

We knew that today would be a long day, but I didn't anticipate quite so many twists and turns... The day started off with the news that something had gone awry between the putty used on the hard wood floors and the clear coat that was applied as the final coat.  This meant two things:

1. The hardwood crew would have to rebuff the floors and reapply the clear coat.
2. We would have to move everything into one of the apartments today while one unit was being taken care of, then move everything into the other apartment tomorrow while the other unit was being done, and finally, half of the things would be moved back into the first apartment.  In other words, Moving Day x 3.  

With this information, Jonathan and I continued with packing up Hancock St.  We had basically started packing in earnest last night at 7:30 pm after watching the final episode of Season 3 of Mad Men while eating our final Little Star pizza (just kidding, though it was our choice as our final meal as true San Francisco citizens), but we made pretty good progress and felt good about where we were when we left the apartment just after 10 to pick up our moving truck.

Then we missed two different buses that could have taken us to U-Haul, and our spirits plummeted as we trudged along.  But out of the blue, the heavens parted, a light shone down, and I saw this:

That may not mean anything to you, but it was the acronym we came up with almost a year ago with our realtor, Carrie McAlister, when we decided to undertake this crazy project.  It was the only logical arrangement of all of our first initials, and so for a good six months, we received almost-daily emails that began: "Dear CLEJ, This is an automatic email sent to you daily as properties that meet your search criteria become available on the MLS..."  To see these seemingly random four letters etched into the sidewalk certainly seemed like an auspicious sighting!


And things took a turn for the better.  Our San Francisco moving crew was in top form (despite the challenges from our 100% natural latex mattress), and the apartment was emptied and the truck loaded in no time.  Thank you Kristy and Lucas, for your expert packing abilities! 

And thank you Cindy and William, for being pack mules, and for taking one for the team to help clear out the liquor cabinet!

Thanks also to Pete who came by to load up his car and transport valuables to Oakland, like Diplomacy and Boggle (okay, so it was more the random and oddly shaped items that wouldn't have done well rattling around in the truck).  Pete actually gets a special call out for helping on both sides of the bay, as he was also a part of the super duper crew (Amit, Josh, Alison, Robert, Kevin, and Mike) that got our truck unloaded and upstairs in less than 30 minutes!  

Strong work, all around.  And a delicious lemon cake from Alison to top it all off!  I could get used to living in Oakland...

24 hours, and counting...

Despite appearances, tomorrow is moving day...

But the floors have been sanded and sealed, and light fixtures re-installed:

Plumbing is in:

Yes the sink is tiny, and yes it looks even tinier cowering in the corner (below)!  But don't worry, because of the wonkiness of the building, Lilli's bathroom had a couple extra inches and got the bigger model!

And the stucco scratch coat is almost complete:

Roofing work is underway, and won't be finished by tomorrow...

...but we are definitely expecting this easy chair to finally be gone (as much use as it has been getting... that's a story for another post):

And for the eagle eyed observers out there, yes, those are test patches of the final stucco color on the column (we're sticking with Sepia, on the bottom).