Bob and Emily's page

Unknown Warner Pics

2008-11-13T22:41:00.000-08:00

Bottom of this picture reads Sedro Woolley, WA.

Additional Pics

2008-11-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

The homestead at Warner's Prairie. Left to right, William Bishop, Minnie Warner Bishop, and Captain John Warner.

Minnie Warner's baby picture, circa 1865.

New Toy

2008-10-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

And it's called a CanoScan LiDE 600F with cool photo enhancing software. Click on the thumbnails for a larger image.

This photo was taken around 1918 in Vallejo, CA. In the back row, left to right, is William Bishop, Minnie Warner Bishop, George Bishop. Next row, left to right, Charles "Mac" McGinnis (Lottie Warner McGinnis' husband), Ellen Bishop. Next row, left to right, Nellie Bishop, Bertha Bishop, Jack Bishop. Front row, Lottie Bishop and Frank Bishop (my grandfather).

Bishop family portrait, taken around 1918 in Vallejo, CA. Back row left to right, Bertha Bishop, Ellen Bishop, Nellie Bishop, Jack Bishop. Front row, left to right, Minnie Warner Bishop, Frank Bishop (my grandfather), George Bishop, Lottie Bishop, and William Bishop.

My grandfather, the violinist, circa 1914.

Three of my grandfather's siblings taken around the same time period. Left to right, Jack Bishop, Nellie Bishop, and George Bishop.

This photo was taken around 1880. Lady on the left is my great great grandmother Ellen Thompson Warner, girl in the middle is their oldest daughter Minnie May Warner (my great grandmother), and the man on the right is my great great grandfather Captain John Warner.

Anybody Still There?

2008-07-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

Seems like we've taken a long hiatus from updating our blog with pictures. Our contractors finished about what seems like six years ago and we've been slowly moving our furniture downstairs and out onto the deck. During that time, I couldn't quite find the time to take the last set of pictures and update the blog with them until now so I apologize. In my defense, however, we also had the exterior of our house painted and the painters just finished that up a few days ago. So we weren't able to move all of our stuff out onto the decks until that finished up. But I've run out of excuses now so I figured I'd better get with it. So without further ado here are the last pics without any additional commentary.

Before and After

2008-05-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

As a side improvement project we decided to have our living room paint switched from the overpowering maroon colors that were on the walls and ceilings to a lighter more neutral tone. Unfortunately, the greenish tone does not show up in the new paint color in any photos I've attempted to take so you'll have to take my word for it that the new paint color has some neutral green tones in it.

One Week To Go...

2008-05-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

And we're finished with the downstairs part of project Phase 1. We're already begun to move our belongings downstairs and we got to install all of our window coverings as well.

As you can see we are nearing maximum capacity in our new storage room...

This is one of the new window coverings displayed on our office door.

We were playing around with different configurations for Bob's desk the other day and this was just one of them.

The ceiling of our deck is now completely done with the last task for covering the big beam across the middle being finished.

New shades for the office windows.

Carpeting is now in everywhere. This is a shot of the hall closet.

Carpeting on the stairs complete with a curious cat head at the top.

Picture of the bathroom vanity with the new knobs installed.

Picture of the new cabinet above the toilet.

Picture of the guest bedroom with the new carpeting and new light fixture.

New shades for the guest bedroom windows.

Let There Be Light

2008-05-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

That and paint. Here is our nifty blue office with the heavy cream ceilings and the recessed lighting.

Next is a shot of our (lighted) closet. As you can see the, the closet goes way back.

Still in the closet but now in the way back and turning the corner...

And now the very end of the closet way under the stairs.

Our square light fixture was installed in the guest bedroom yesterday.

And so was some flourescent lighting in the big guest bedroom closet.

There was a dingo that wanted to be in the shot of the downstairs hallway. I figured it wasn't doing any harm so I let it stay in the shot. Plus I didn't want to make it mad.

Shot of the (lighted and painted) hallway stairs.

Shot of our storage room. Sorry, no paint in here. But there are lights!

Kind of a dim shot of the bathroom but it was the first time we were able to see the linoleum, the quartz countertop and the wall paint all together. Will have to post a better shot of the granite later.

Shot of the bathroom sconces above the sinks. The mirrors will be mounted in between these next week.

Shot of the room where the toilet will go.

31 Flavors

2008-05-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

In honor of our favorite ice cream parlor we decided to paint our hallway bubblegum pink.

Just kidding.

This is what we found one day last week when we got home from work. It was quite eye catching and we had to finally ask the painter why the paint looked so different on the walls than it did on our color swatch. We could have sworn the color swatch looked like a muted greyish greenish color. So the painter looked at the paint cans and verified that it was the same exact number that was on our swatch so it had to be right.

Just kidding again.

Well the number was the same exact number on the paint cans as it was on the swatch but it definitely wasn't the same color. Miraculously when we came home the next day the walls looked greyish/green like we had hoped.

Now Brought To You In Color

2008-05-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

Probably one of the most anticipated improvements is the paint going up on the walls. It's still a work in progress, but there are a couple of rooms that now have paint. The first is the bathroom, the walls are called "Macadamia" and the ceiling is called "Heavy Cream".

Another shot of the bathroom. Unfortunately, the lighting is not great in this room until we can get our light fixtures in.

Third shot of the bathroom.

A new modern art design idea for our office. Not really. But these are the painted interior doors that are drying in our office.

Picture of the trim color around the windows.

Picture of the guest bedroom. The color is a greenish/bluish color called "Reflection".

More of the guest bedroom.

Picture of the guest bedroom closet. It's the only part of the ceiling in this bedroom that has the heavy cream color on it so far

Almost Done

2008-05-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

And here it is in all its glory. Well, almost. Just a coat of paint and a couple parts of the railing still need to go in and it's ready to go.

Shot of the stairwell looking down from the top deck.

Shot of the top deck.

Our hardwood floors are also done. The laquer just about knocked us off our feet so we had to spend the night elsewhere one night.

The exterior doors have now been hung that will separate the finished part of the house from the unfinished part.

Evolution Of The Pantry

2008-05-03T14:32:00.000-07:00

And this is how it all started--with some ripped out shelves and an industrial looking vent.

Then the carpenters rebuilt the shelves, added an additional shelf up on the top to make up for the space lost from the vent, and built a chase around the vent. We can almost reach that high shelf without the assistance of a step stool too.

Then came the task of texturizing the chase that was built around the vent and painting everything. And for some reason, painting always spurs on more paiting and we decided to repaint our laundry room too (not pictured) since it had the same color of paint.

Next came the painstaking task of cutting (and recutting) and laying down (and re-laying down) shelving paper and gradually restocking the shelves.

A trip to the Container Store left us with a couple of shelf extenders pictured on the right which have been really handy.

Fully restocked shelves. The only step left is for the linoleum to be repatched and then we can add the rest of the bulky stuff that usually sits on the ground back in.

A Potpourri Of Progress

2008-04-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

This is a random collection of pictures this week and it all starts with the new bathroom linoleum pictured below.

Our handrailing is now up as well. This is a shot of the handrailing for the upper half of the stairs.

A step was built in now to get to the storage area.

A shot of our storage area. Any idea of what we can store here?

The cabinet maker finished the cabinet and vanity this week as well. This is the cabinet that will be mounted above the toilet. Stacked next to it are the frames for the vanity mirrors.

This is a shot of our vanity. There was a minor catastophy when it was realized that the vanity wasn't going to line up with where the sconces were wired to be and therefore the mirrors that fit in between them. However, we decided to juggle where the sconces are located so that the mirrors could line up with the vanity instead of rebuilding a different vanity.

All The Trimmings

2008-04-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

We now have millwork around the windows and doors and the baseboards are well on their way. Never thought I'd post a blog with just pictures of doors and think that was exciting but here it is. This is the door into the closet next to the stairs.

Door to the bathroom.

Door in the bathroom to the toilet. And no. That's not the toilet.

This picture was taken from the office looking out of the office windows towards the second level of the deck.

Windows with trim in the guest bedroom.

Up close shot of the millwork.

Picture of the closet door. The left side door had to be sent back because apparently it was warped. So we're deciding if we can get by with just one door. Just kidding.

Picture of the office door. Door knob and lock are temporary until we get the one that we picked out.

Getting There

2008-04-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

There was a lot of visible progress that happened this week. Our dry wall is completely put up, mudded, and texturized. Our top deck now almost has a complete floor. Most of the siding around our new windows has been put up. We have a nice hardwood hallway floor. And our kitchen pantry is now complete with new shelves and a chase around the large air intake vent (but those pictures will have to wait until I can get before, after, and really after pictures once it's all been put back together).

Hardwood floor from the hallway going up to the guest bedroom and office doorways.

Composite cedar flooring on the top deck.

Shot of the hallway from the stairs looking towards the end of the hall.

Show from the end of the hall looking towards the stairs and the closet.

Up close picture of our textured walls.

Another shot of the hardwoods.

Drywall and mud

2008-03-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

We have all of the drywall up now and our first layer of mud over it all. There should be at least one more coat of mud and then some sanding and then the real finish work begins. This week the contractors tapped into our heater from upstairs so that they could attempt to dry the mud faster. It felt like a hothouse down there with all the moisture from the mud evaporating into the air. This is a shot of the hallway closet next to the stairs.

This is a shot of Bob on the landing of the new stairs. The lights are on now and it seems more than light enough on the stairs.

This is the large closet in the guest bedroom.

This is a shot of the guest bathroom. Both the corner shower and tub are currently covered so they are protected from the drywall work so it's hard to see what they look like. We do have the shower doors now so they can be installed any time.

This is the section of the bathroom that the toilet will be in. There will also be a separate door here.

This is the end of the hallway downstairs complete with a space heater for mud drying.

This is a shot of the office.

This is another shot of the office where the boxes of mud were being kept.

This is a shot of our "L"-shaped guest bedroom.

This is one of the wings of the guest bedroom.

This is the other wing of the guest bedroom.

The Walls Are Closing In

2008-03-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

We are very close to drywall now. On Friday the subs came in and put insulation into all of the applicable walls so it gave us a better feel of how big the rooms are going to be and how the light is going to work out. The first picture below are the joists for the flooring that will go into the storage room behind the master bathroom. Access to it will be from a hallway off the main hallway. There will be one step up into the storage area because excavating that area turned out to be against code.

This is a shot from the end of the hallway looking back towards the stairs that go up to the main level of the house. Next to the stairs will be the hallway closet for linens, etc.

This is the part of the office where Bob's desk will go.

This is the part of the office where Emily's desk will go.

This is a shot from the deck looking through the doorway that goes into the office. The door that is on there right now is only temporary. The real door has a full pane of glass in it for additional natural light.

This is a shot looking down the stairs towards the end of the hall.

This is a picture of the large closet in the guest bedroom. There seems to be a dog problem down here so we'll look into having someone out for that.

This is the fiber fab insert for our shower. It is a neo-angle corner shower. The doors are on their way and the faucet and shower head are waiting to be installed.

This is a picture of our basic soaking tub in the guest bathroom. There is a half-wall you can see at the end of it that has been framed.

This is a shot from the bathroom looking in to where the toilet will be located. There will be a door installed here going into that area.

This is a shot of the guest bedroom and it's two wings. The bigger section of it is where the bed will go. The smaller section (the one with one window to the right of the picture) can be for a desk or a smaller bed.

Another picture of the office. This is the door to the deck, this door is temporary and will be replaced by one that has the full pane of glass.

Along Came The Ceiling

2008-03-07T17:43:00.001-08:00

These are the beams for the ceiling. They have now been erected in the hallway, bathroom, office, and bedroom.

This is our evacuated pantry. The shiny metal thing is HVAC that comes up from the downstairs and will be for cold air return. The pantry shelves will be rebuilt during this process too. Right now we have pantry stuff stored in our family room and dining room.

Part of the wall and ceiling had to be removed in the garage for some plumbing work relating to the downstairs. This is additional venting for the plumbing.

The Writing's On the Wall

2008-02-29T18:52:00.000-08:00

Probably the only time we'll ever get to grab a Sharpie and start writing all over the walls of our house. Marking up all of the walls where we wanted backing to go was on our "todo" list last weekend. This allows us to hang things without having to worry about finding the wall studs.

Probably one of the more challenging parts of the project as far as carpentry goes were the stairs. There were diagrams scribbled in various places around the downstairs brainstorming designs for our stairs. This particular one was etched into the temporary workbench that they've built downstairs.

A pile of sheet metal that will be the ductwork that runs mostly around the ceiling downstairs.

The carpenters' best friend, or worst enemy, depending on how you look at it. We took at a look at it out of curiosity and it had too many pages and the font was too small and it mentioned things like "egress" and so we stopped looking at it.

This is the cutout area where the door from the office out to the deck will be. The door was ordered just this week. We're hoping it will be installed next week.

This is most of the wall from the deck where all the siding has been torn out along with a couple of old windows. When finished, it will have a door, and three large windows.

Not much progress on the deck lately but the beadboard ceiling on the deck is well underway and looks pretty good.

Perhaps the biggest accomplishment has been stair access from our main floor of the house. No more climbing up ladders or through windows to inspect the downstairs (woo-hoo!). This is a shot from the main floor of the house looking down.

This is a shot from the landing of the stairs looking up to the door to the main floor. This door use to lead into a coat closet.

This is a stack of our new windows. They are nice casement windows from Milgard.

This is a picture of the new way that the ductwork has been routed with the nice shiny sheet metal. The old way of doing the ductwork, which used that large black ugly plastic thing, can be seen below it.

Our closet has a hole in it, and other oddities

2008-02-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is what our hall coat closet looked like earlier last week. This is going to be the way to access the downstairs from the main floor of the house.

This is what our hall closet looked like a little later in the week. It was kind of strange to open the door and find workers in there instead of carpeted floor.

This is a picture of the same coat closet but from the downstairs perspective.

This is a picture of what the shower stall is going to look like in the bathroom downstairs.

This is the landing in the stairs going down from the main floor of the house. There was quite the debate over the stairs the other day when it was realized that the height from floor to the closet door was not high enough for the amount of stairs needed for this level. So it will end up that there will be two stairs in the landing that will be placed diagonally such that they will curve around the landing to the last set of stairs. It's impossible to explain and so there will be pictures when they have been built.

This opening here will be where the closet doors will go for the secondary bedroom walk in closet.

This is a shot from the master bedroom through the master bedroom door to the rest of the floor.

Work would be impossible without a set of plans down there somewhere.

This is a picture of the stair risers that go up to the landing.

And back to the deck...they were able to finish the waterproofing layer on the top deck last week because the weather was finally working with us. So now they can continue progress on the rest of the deck. This is a picture of the bead board that will go up on the ceiling of the second level of the deck.

This is the last layer of the waterproofing process. It'll blind you if you look directly at it in the sun.

Just Pretend There Are Walls...

2008-02-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

...and there would be rooms everywhere down here. Actually, there seems like there is more and more framing where the walls are going to go every day we go down there to inspect. So actually, these pictures are already a little outdated. But, since these are the latest and greatest pictures that we have, these will have to suffice for the time being...

This is where the future secondary bedroom will be located. This is on the east side of the house.

This is where the future master bedroom will be located. This faces the backyard on the south side of the house.

Another shot of the master bedroom. The area behind the framing on the far right of the picture is where the bathroom and closet area will be.

A view of the downstairs hallway. This would be the direction you would be facing if you just came down the stairs from the main level of the house.

This is where the future home theater room will be. This is toward the north side of the house. This part is completely underground and therefore can have no windows. It makes for a perfect movie room.

Just a shot of the whole expanse of the downstairs.

On Solid Ground

2008-02-02T21:04:00.000-08:00

We finally have a floor, sort of, that we can walk on. One of us was more adventurous than the other and so one of us stayed down in the storage area and took a picture of the other one up through the temporary hole that the carpenters are using to get up there by a ladder.

This is a picture through one of the windows that will be in our office. You can see the new deck out through it.

This is a picture of where our future media room will be located.

This is a picture of where the secondary bedroom will be located.

This is a picture of the storage area underneath the new downstairs floor.

This is a picture of the overall new floor looking out where the office and master bedroom will be.

This is a picture of where the master bedroom will be.

This is a picture taken from where the master bedroom will be out across through the office to where the secondary bedroom will be located at the end there where the window is.

Another picture of the master bedroom nook of windows.

The ladder that one of us climbed up to walk around on the new floor.

This is a picture of what our current duct work looks like above the new floor. This will all have to be moved eventually.

We are floored

2008-01-28T15:41:00.000-08:00

We have the beginnings of a floor taking shape in the basement. There will still be a smaller storage space below the floor that will be only about 7 or 8 feet tall, just enough for the storage door to clear, and then the downstairs floor begins. These pictures were taken standing at the level where the storage space will be looking slightly upward. The large cross beams pictured are what will support the floor once it goes in.

Many pickets

2008-01-26T16:16:00.000-08:00

A lot of our stair railings for the middle part of the deck have now been installed along with most of the composite material on that level. The top level has lagged because it still needs another coating of tar and that can't be accomplished until we get out of the 20 degree temps and the rain stays at bay for a few days.

This is the view from our lower deck facing south towards our backyard. It is the view that we will have from the new office. Had we kept with our previous deck, this view would have been completely obstructed by the (very vertical) stairs.

Haven't taken a picture of the overall deck lately so we thought it would be a good idea to show how it looks now with all the progress that has been made.

Bright ideas

2008-01-26T16:09:00.000-08:00

These are the lights that will light our top, middle, and underneath levels of the deck along with the stairwells. The uplights will be installed one on each level of the deck and two matching downlights (not pictured) will be installed in the stairwell of the deck. This uplight was installed on our side porch to replace a gross-looking brass thing that was there probably since the house has been built.

Concrete footings anyone?

2008-01-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

So all of those little boxes that were built downstairs now have been filled in with concrete. This entire process of building up the footings for the support beams apparently is a very important task as far as the City is concerned since an inspector had to be on hand during some of this work.

Oh yeah, and there's this little side project called the downstairs expansion...

2008-01-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

Work on our downstairs expansion has officially begun. When everything is finished, approximately 2300 square feet will be completed which will be our bottom floor of our house. This will include a big office, bedroom, bathroom, home theater room, master bedroom and bathroom, and a large storage space. For the time being, only "Phase 1" will be complete and this will include the office, bedroom and bathroom, plus the hallway and access from the main floor of the house.

Below are shots of the framing for the concrete footings that will soon be poured for the new support beams that will be moved in. One of the most fascinating parts of this project was all of the structural engineering that went into figuring out which of the existing posts can be moved and what new ones can be added and where. When all is said and done, we will have over 20 support beams downstairs.

Composite and Siding

2008-01-26T15:40:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting pictures this time. Progress still continues to be made. The composite material is now getting installed. We decided to go with the cedar color instead of the grey color like we originally were thinking we'd use. Cedar seemed to be more basic and we also won't be locked into a smaller set of house colors that would match the composite color if we chose to paint our house someday.

This is a shot of one of the bottom corners of the deck. New cedar siding is now being installed.

More shots of the siding. It will be painted the same color of the deck some day down the road when the weather permits.

From the profile, they look like stairs...

2007-12-31T16:59:00.000-08:00

... but alas, only the stair risers are in place.

Stairs

2007-12-31T16:54:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from about two weeks ago and have been sitting in my camera for awhile. So apologies that these are kind of old.

Tar

2007-12-08T17:01:00.000-08:00

This is not something you'd send your cats out to walk on. This black glossy stuff is a type of tar that was painted on the plywood that is sitting on top of the shims which are on top of the joists. So, order of placement: 1. joists 2. shims 3. plywood 4. waterproof tar stuff.

And it's glossy mainly because it's still sopping wet...

This picture was taken a day later and you can see that it isn't quite so glossy anymore. And therefore not quite so wet. You still wouldn't want to send your cats out on it.

View from the underside of the top level. You can see the plywood now. The electrician was also out that day and installed the four lights in the ceiling that will be the recessed lighting for the downstairs level of the deck.

Up close shot of one of the can lights mounted on the bottom side of the top deck,

No, this is not part of the deck itself and so therefore is off topic. But it was a clear day today and Mt. Hood had some late afternoon sun on it so it looked pretty cool.

Waterproof Deck System

2007-12-08T16:44:00.000-08:00

Check out the super long shims. These will be placed on top of each joist such that each joist will slope down towards our back yard. This will direct all of the rain water away from our house.

If you look close, you probably have to click on this one and view the larger image, you can see that many of the joists already have the shims on top of them.

This picture might give better perspective of the downward slant. The joists towards the top of the picture do not yet have shims.

More Progress

2007-12-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

Most joists are in place now

View from the ground level up.

Progress

2007-12-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

Would you walk on this? This is the make-shift scaffolding that is built on top of the halfway finished first floor of the deck so that progress can be made on the upper level of the deck.

View of the side of our house where new siding will be placed and where the top deck will join the house.

View from the bottom looking up at the first floor of the deck. All joists are in place now.

View of the deck in its entirety. You can see where the bottom deck is and where the scaffolding starts.

View of the concrete pad beneath the deck. You can't see it too well because it has been covered in plastic since it was poured.

Demolition

2007-11-13T20:54:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of demolition. The old deck is entirely gone and all of the pavers that are going to be pulled up have been pulled up. The picture below is a view from the main floor of our house down to the ground outside.

Although it looks like a door at the Winchester Mystery House, this is our back door from the main floor of our house that use to open out onto the top level of our deck.

Rotten LP siding where the deck use to adjoin the house.

View from the backyard.

Demolition

2007-11-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

Day 1 of demolition. These pictures are pretty dark because we didn't have a chance to take pictures before sunset. If you click on the thumbnail and view the larger image you can see there's a top deck that is now missing.

Deck before demolition

2007-11-12T18:22:00.000-08:00

View of the top deck. Floor boards are cracked and some have dry rot.

Up close view of some of the deck boards. Notice the ugly orange tint that was a result of a deck staining project gone awry.

Paint chipping off of the deck railings. We painted this entire deck since we've moved in and it already looks like an old paint job. Needless to say, all of the composite material that goes in will not be painted...

View of the underside of the top deck. Things loved to grow in this shady and damp location.

This is a picture of how the deck adjoins the house. The newer looking metal support bolts were added after home inspection on the deck before we moved in. Despite this, the deck is still not joined to the house correctly and there is still some old LP siding that needs to be replaced once the deck comes down. The bottom floor was also going to have to be lowered anyway to work with the downstairs addition.

Picture of the ground floor directly under the deck. The pavers seen in the foreground will be pulled up and reset after the deck is complete and a concrete pad will be poured in place of the dirt so that we don't have dirt right up against our house anymore.

Picture of one of the very vertical stairwells. The stairs go straight down from each level of the deck. Once the deck is rebuilt, there will be landings half way between each level.

Additional perspective of our existing deck from the street that runs behind our house.

View from the backyard looking straight up.

July 2005

2005-08-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

Pics From Our Glacier/Yellowstone Trip, May 2005 (Yellowstone)

2005-08-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

Pics From Our Glacier/Yellowstone Trip, May 2005 (Glacier NP)

2005-08-07T14:08:00.000-07:00

Pics From Our Glacier/Yellowstone Trip, May 2005 (Coeur d'Alene and Misc)

2005-08-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Yard In Which We Toil

2005-08-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

Our View From The Back Deck

2005-08-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

Our Fabulous Pets

2005-08-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

Bob and Emily's Wedding, August 7, 2004

2005-08-01T20:34:00.000-07:00