My Fantastic Saturday with Kat

Many of you already know, if you read the blogs that I feature on my blog-roll, that my special visitor on Saturday morning was none other then the fabulous Kat from Low Tide High Style!!

Kat and I 'met' online, after I left a comment on one of her blog posts early this year.  We discovered that we only live a little over an hour away from each other.  Through emails and telephone conversations, I found that I liked her instantly, and we made plans to meet this past spring.  I went to her house, dragging my claw foot tub along for her use in her future bathroom renovation, and we spent a wonderful day talking and shopping, and eating, and talking, and getting to know each other better.

I came home from our first day together with this folk art house from The Vintage Source, which now lives on the pie safe in my dining room.

Since then, everything imaginable has conspired to keep us from meeting up again.  Everything from food poisoning, to weather, and plagues of locusts has forced us to cancel dates.  This time, we kept everything hush hush, trying not to get too excited so we didn't jinx it.  I just knew that the phone would ring early Saturday morning, and it would be Kat's husband (again!) calling to cancel and apologize.

Despite our superstitions, Kat's trip here was uneventful, and she appeared on my porch at the appointed hour.  This was going to be a good day!!  She brought along a bag of blueberries for me, which I've been eating by the handful and my husband used when he made his usual Sunday morning muffins.

One relatively tidy corner of my very messy office.

We hugged and squealed, the dogs insisted on hugs, too, and I showed her around the house,  We compared 'whole-house-renovation' stories as we went ... each of us fully understands the stresses and challenges of living in a house under renovation.  (Let's just say that it'll be a long time before I show some of the rooms of my house here on the blog.) 

The large dead patch is where I sprayed Round-up to clear the area where my next garden is going.

The weather was lovely, so we walked outside and I showed her all the roses.  We went all the way back to the barn, and she was snapping photos along the way.  (I didn't take a single one all day.)

(Photo from Amy's Cafe web site)

By this time, we were both famished, so we went for lunch at my favorite local restaurant, Amy's Cafe.  It's a great little place, in a fantastic historic building next to the Rappahannock River.  The food is good, and the atmosphere is perfect for conversation.

Our next stop was the Fredericksburg Big Flea.  Neither of us really needs anything, but antique/junk shopping is a disease we both share, and we set off to see what treasures were to be found.  I discovered this painting at the first booth we saw.  It's perfect to add to my budding collection of primitive rose paintings.

The painting was the only thing I bought.  I looked at other stuff, but I didn't love anything else enough to bring it home.  I'll let Kat tell you about what she bought.

When we arrived back here, it was time for Kat to get on the road and head for home.  We have already made a date for September ... that's the earliest day we can find our schedules.

Is there someone online that you think you'd like to get to know better ... someone you appear to have a lot in common with ... who has the same taste, or sense of humor?  Whatever the similarity, take a chance, make the contact, and see what happens.  You may come away with a lovely friendship.  I did!!

Flowers on Friday ... A Crabby Day

It's that time again ... the day when I share with you some photos of the roses that are blooming in my garden.  Today, however, the photos have absolutely nothing to do with anything that I say.  They're just filler.  Pretty filler ... but filler nonetheless.

"Not Mrs. Aaron Ward"

I haven't been able to get myself into gear today.  Ever have one of those days when you're just one baby step away from seriously crabby?

Ellen Poulsen

Dairy Maid

That's what my day has been like so far.  Nothing notable to cause the crabbiness, just a general slow, simmering, crabbiness that has dogged me all day. 

Champneys' Pink Cluster

Maggie and Champneys' Pink Cluster

I warned the Husband (who works from home), and he's been a real good sport about it. In case I haven't mentioned it to you before, he's one of the good ones!  I think I'll keep him.

Felicia

Radiance

After I finish here, I'm going to watch the news, fold laundry, and do the last little bit of tidying up in the kitchen.  I want the place to look nice, because I'm having company tomorrow!

Maria Stern

Innocence

It's someone most of you know, but I can't tell you just yet.  If I do, I'll jinx it, and I don't want that to happen.  She and I have already had to cancel two dates, and neither of us wants to do anything to jeopardize this one.  I'm so excited, I can't hardly stand it!!!

My mood is better just thinking about it.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)

Work Day Wednesday ... Installing Baseboard

Today, I'm going start a periodic series of features to teach you how to do stuff.  I'm not sure, at this point, how long I can keep up the momentum.  I'll start with this first one and see how far it takes me.

This week, let's put baseboard in the Basement Bathroom ... and I'll show you step-by-step how to do it.  By the time we finish here, you'll know how to do a Butt Joint, a Miter Joint, a Coped Joint, and a Return.

For this bathroom, to keep with the vintage feel of the design (and the vintage nature of the whole house) I decided to use a painted two-piece base, with a natural wood shoe molding.  The supplies I needed were:  1 x 4 poplar, base-cap molding, and oak shoe molding ... all of this is available at any lumberyard.

The poplar boards go on first.  They meet at the corners with a Butt Joint.  This is just a 90 degree straight cut ... the easiest there is. 

Set the miter saw to 0, and cut the board.

Board #1 in place.

Board #2, cut the same way, butts right up against it.  (I'll even up the two pieces when I nail them to the wall.)

Step One ... Finished.

The walls in this old house are really wavy in places.  The base cap molding will hide this gap and make everything look nice and straight.

Since I'm  painting the molding, and I will be caulking all the joints, I decided to use Miter Joints on the Base Cap.  The saw is set at 45 degrees ... one-half of a 90-degree inside corner. 

What a nice clean cut!

Piece #1, in place.

Turn the saw to 45 degrees the other way to cut the second piece.

Piece #2 in place.  See how this covers the Butt Joint, and makes everything look finished.

I had to do something a little bit unconventional make the base cap fit around the radiator pipe.

What to do?

I decided to make a notch in the molding to fit around the pipe.

It needs something on top of the pipe now.

I made the little filler piece using the miter saw to cut the angles, and the coping saw for the semi-circle.  Once it's caulked and painted (and hidden behind the radiator), it'll look great.

To attach the moldings to the wall, I used my pneumatic finish nailer loaded with 2 1/2" 16-gauge finish nails.  Make sure you are nailing into the wall studs!

I use wood filler to fill the nail holes.  This one is handy for the small holes in a job like this, because you can squeeze the filler directly into the hole, and smoosh it in with your finger.

Over-fill the holes just a little bit, so they're nice and level once they're dry and sanded.

My favorite tool for sanding small holes like this is a regular old emery board.  Knock off the majority of the excess filler with the coarse side, and finish up with the fine grit.

Apply one coat of primer, lightly sand everything with a fine sand paper after the primer dries, and caulk all the joints.  After the caulk dries, apply two coats of your choice of finish paint.  I'm using Valspar Cottage White, in semi-gloss ... I haven't done this part yet.  I'll skip to the next step and pretend I've painted, just to keep this post moving.

Shoe molding provides the perfect finishing touch! I chose oak molding, and pre-finished it with two coats of satin polyurethane. Since I can't use caulk on the natural wood to hide any potential bad joints, I make a Coped Joint for shoe molding.

I cut the piece for the first side of the corner the same way I did the butt joint.  The second piece for this corner is going to be cut and shaped to fit over the first piece.

On the second piece, cut a 45-degree angle to expose the contour on the front side of the molding.

Trace the edge of the contour with a pencil, so it shows up better.

Clamp the molding firmly to your bench ... I love these quick clamps and I use them all the time.

Use a coping saw to cut along the pencil line, angling the blade to make a slight back cut.  If you start your cut on the skinniest part of the molding like I did, you have less chance of breaking it as you saw.

The curved cut on this second piece ...

... should fit right over the first piece, making a perfect joint.  If it doesn't, you can fine-tune the cut with sandpaper or a rasp until it fits.

Instead of leaving a raw, cut end where the shoe molding meets doorway openings, I like to do a Return to finish the ends.  This is simple to do, and it makes your molding (any type of molding, not just shoe molding) look SO professional.

With your miter saw set at 45 degrees, cut your molding as shown ... so the miter points toward the back side of the molding.

Like this.

Turn your saw to 45 degrees the other direction, and cut a corresponding angle on a scrap piece of molding.

The object here is to cut the angled part off of the scrap piece, to create a teeny little wedge to fill the angle in the back of the first piece.  I like to do this with my coping saw, because the miter saw tends to grab little pieces like this and throw them across the shop.

Here's the piece.

Use whatever glue you have on hand, to glue the two pieces together.  I use a piece of tape to hold them until the glue sets.

Doesn't this look nice?  After I paint the baseboard, I'll use my nail gun to attach the shoe molding to the baseboard.

Done!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I'd love to hear if you have any suggestions for where this series should go.  Do you have any projects or techniques that you'd like to see demonstrated?  Leave a comment here, or send me an email, and I'll see what I can do.

I've been doing carpentry, trim, and most types of building and remodeling since I was in my early 20's (and I'm WAY past there now), and I've figured out easier ways to do LOTS of seemingly-complicated projects.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)

Monday, Monday

This morning was a good morning! 

(this was Saturday's sunrise)

The weather over the weekend was unbelievable ... 80's, low humidity, puffy clouds.  Perfect weather for working in the yard and getting things accomplished.  The husband and I worked outside all weekend mowing, pruning, weeding, and spraying, and things are beginning to look better.  I'm not anywhere near out of the woods, as far as weeds are concerned, but I'm energized and ready to take 'em on.

Speaking of weeds, look at this one that I found in the rose field.

Yep, it's Lantana ... must be a present from a bird.

Things are already starting to happen in the propagation pots.  The heat has killed quite a few cuttings, but I have other cuttings that already have roots.  Seeing this always gives me a thrill!

'Autumn Sunset'

'Dr. W. Van Fleet'

Over the weekend, I made a list of the last of the roses to take cuttings from this week.  If all goes well, I will have about 125 varieties available next spring ... cross your fingers.

As I was working outside this morning, I issued myself a challenge, and I'm going to tell all of you about it so I can't back out.  

I will have the Rose Field free of weeds, mulched, and presentable by September 1!

  This should be a very realistic goal, if I stick to it and chip away a little each day or so.  I'm making good progress so far, I just have to keep at it.

(Run over to my other blog if you want to see an update on my friend's dog TJ.)

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)