FLOOR SHOW

This past week we managed to get the upstairs and downstairs floors installed. After an extensive and exhaustive search for the perfect wood floor we chose a CRUSHED MULBERRY HARDWOOD FLOOR for 2 main reasons: (not this particular floor in this link, but we had no idea it was so sustainable and had many uses. you have to read this link.)

1. We loved the way it looks
2. The durability factor.

We brought sample after sample after sample home and put them to the test by dropping spoons, scissors, cans, keys among other things and did a scratch test with the legs of the chairs. The strand mulberry sample won hands down as the most durable. Yes, there we slight impressions left from the objects here and there, but they were hardly noticeable because of the pattern, which resembles cork. It's also a solid wood rather than a veneer which adds to the hardness.

We chose the Caramel color over the Natural because there is less contrast between the light and dark areas.

First time using a wood floor nail gun and the compressor. The flooring is so hard that when using the finishing nail gun, more bent than actually went into the floor.

Make sure to open several if not all the boxes at a time. Then pull from different boxes so you end up with a more random placement of color. Some boxes had a greenish hue while others were more orange.

The finished floor. Now all we need is the baseboards.

So John installed the Crushed Mulberry - his first hardwood floor install, while I stained the concrete downstairs - my first time staining concrete.

For the concrete I used a product from INCRETE SYSTEMS called Stone Essence. (note: I cannot find this actual product on their website unless you click here where you will find a .pdf with tech specs)

STONE ESSENCE is a unique eco-friendly alternative to acid stained concrete. (it does say in the .pdf to use an acid etcher though...but the concrete supply store said NO WAY). It is a concentrated water-based coloring system composed of UV stable, transparent iron oxide pigments and can be sealed with either solvent or waterborne sealers. We used their water based sealer called Ultrapel because it was the only one with a matte finish.

We decided on stained concrete for 2 reasons:
1. The concrete dried in an odd bi-colored pattern that was not what we had hoped for. We had planned on leaving it the natural gray color.
2. It was a lot less than buying wood flooring or tile. In all, it cost right around $300.00 for the stains and sealer. And we have plenty left over that we are going to apply to the exterior concrete lanai, and sidewalks.

I used 3 colors to achieve a mottled or weathered look without nasty smelling fumes.
1. Timber (medium brown)
2. Bronze (an orangey terracotta color)
3. Lime Green (more like and olive green than lime)

It took 3 days to achieve the results had hoped for. Day one was applying the Timber and Bronze with a hand held garden sprayer. I applied the Timber with the sprayer then soaked a rag with the Bronze and made larger puddles on top allowing them to run and pool together. I then tossed on some regular old coarse salt... the kind you get for the salt mill on the dinner table. Regular rock salt for melting snow and ice would work too. The salt leaves small spots with irregular edges, giving it a more natural stone look. I just thought to do that on my own. Let that dry overnight then lightly sponge up and damp spots and sweep salt up. Do not sweep until all the damp spots are dry, otherwise you will get streaks. Some of the salt will leave small puddles as it dissolves and others will not. Repeat. This time fine tuning and evening out some spots that were too contrasty. For this final stage, I put the Lime Green in which really brought it to life. We wanted this only as a small accent color just to give a little depth. Scatter salt on again and clean up the next day. Allow to dry one full day then apply the Ultrapel with a foam roller. Allow 2-4 hours to dry then repeat.

The concrete floor before staining. Notice the 2-tone effect that we had not planned on.

This is the first day right after the first application of the Timber and Bronze. ... hmmm. Is this really going to work? Looks like a mess.

Success. The main room floor after 1 coat on the left and 2 coats on the right. The 2-tone pattern did not totally vanish, but it's a marked improvement.

The bathroom floor before + after.

Detail of the 3 colors and salt mixing on day 2.

The salt working it's magic.

The salt cleanup. Make sure some puddles have large clumps and that the salt is not scattered in a uniform pattern.

A selection of detail shots.

BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON

Once we got the batteries and solar panels all hooked up, we could finally get to putting all the electrical outlets, switches and lights in place. The day they were installed just happened to be the full moon and we loved how the lights we chose mimicked the bright glowing ball of light in the night sky. The 3 round lights upstairs and the one downstairs we got at RESTORE/HABITAT FOR HUMANITY at a whopping .50 cents each. The others were a tad more, BUT we did get them at slashed prices. Everyone that sees the round globes automatically says how 70's they look, which is rather funny to us. We love aspects of the 70's but we find that the round white globes are just simple and classic.

In all we installed 8 exterior lights and 21 interior lights. Mind you, those are just the ones that are hard wired and we have several table lamps that will be unpacked for the first time since moving here 2 1/2 years ago. It will be so nice to have them shine once again.

Here are a few shots of the lights and the full moon.

So nice to finally see it coming to life. It's like it now has a heart.

Stair lights done. Now if we could only tackle and finish that railing.
Check out that moon to the right.

That tiny dot to the right of the reflection is the full moon. Pictures just don't do it justice.

This detail is a bit better.

The amazing full moon rising over the pacific. It's times like these we wish we could collect energy from the moon.

Stay tuned for more updates soon. We are almost done with the floor and hope to have that done by Sunday.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

About a week ago, this little guy/gal was found hunkered down under our propane tank. We had just had really bad rains with no trade winds so we thought it might have gotten disoriented with the weather. We at first thought he was sick or injured and whenever I got close he sort of made a low growl sound. He only wanted to hang out under the propane tank and on top of the water tanks. Propane tank ok. Water tanks, not ok. It's a sanitary issue with the droppings it leaves behind. So we have to shoo him/her away which sort of kills us being the bird lovers that we are.
We have not caught or held it, as we did not want to either frighten it or have it get too attached.

We found out that it is a homing pigeon and obviously belongs to someone. It has two tags on it's legs and we were able to retrieve the numbers after coaxing it close with some bird seed. NOW IT WILL NEVER LEAVE. Not that we mind, but it does belong to someone and we'd like to think that if we lost a pet of some kind, it would be returned to us. We have taken to calling it - HOMIE. We don't like shooing it away, but it's a bit of a sanitary issue and our water catchment. We don't really have a problem with bird droppings on our roofs and tanks at the moment and we'd like to keep it that way. We have left some food in low places away from the roof in hopes it will hang out elsewhere. Not really working. Homie is after all a roosting bird, and obvioulsy the higher the better.

So now it just loves to perch high on our roof. Why here? Where is it's real home? Did it get lost? Did it fly away from home? How did it find us? Is it on Holiday? Did it hear through the Coconut Wireless that our house is the place to hang if you are a bird? Whatever the reason, we enjoy it's company.

We thought that after regaining it's energy after a few days it might find it's way home. When not perched on the roof(s), it spends most of the day walking around the house and the lanai or following us around. It willow follow us into the grass and let us sit with it while eating... of course you know we love that. Late in the afternoon it perches on the roof, looks around and takes off for the night. Maybe Homie is not lost, but just likes hanging out here with us Bird Boys during the day and returns to his real home at night.

I have finally looked online in order to return Homie to it's owner and was quite impressed with the American Racing Pigeon website and the LOST BIRD section. Seems we did all the right things in the way that we have cared for it this past week. I have sent a few e-mails in hopes that Homie be reunited with his/her owner. We'll keep you posted.

This was this morning.

Homie likes to have a bite to eat, then perch on the nearest rock, or chunk of concrete.


And for those of you that remember how Kekoka would show up at the door looking for food, Well it's seems that he has been talking to Homie on how to get handouts as well. Here he'she is on the lanai looking in at John trying it's best to get noticed, and yesterday morning while I was having breakfast at the kitchen window, Homie paraded around just outside wanting breakfast as well. I mean really. Too cute.

BATTERY OPERATED

We finished this project a few weeks ago and are just now getting around to posting. These are a few ... ok a lot of pics showing the process of building the box that houses the batteries. We originally wanted to store them in the same room as the inverter and water pump, but found out that was not a good idea. The batteries omit a gas that could cause a fire or explosion from a spark from the inverter… sooooo we opted to build them their own external box.

Start with scraps of wood.

Build the frame. We left the bottom open so that any acid or water that leaks from the batteries has somewhere to go.

Next, dig out a spot for the box to be semi-buried. Then dig holes for the concrete blocks that the box will rest on.After the first block is level, place in remaining blocks and make sure they are on at the same level, side to side and front to back.

Then we lined the bottom with heavy plastic and a layer of gravel. This was done to catch any acid or water that overflows from the batteries, as we did not want it seeping into the ground. This way it will land on the plastic then evaporate.

Once the frame was assembled and primed, we set it in place to make sure everything was going according to plan. So far so good.

We then started attaching the siding. The bottom part that would have dirt resting against had cement board applied to it. three air vents were added to the back a well as one on each end. The back side pictured above.

With the batteries in place and enough room for 4 more batteries at a later date, it's time to attach the lid and call it a day.

The only thing left to do is fill in around the box and do a bit of landscaping.

Stay tuned for more VERY SOON. We Promise.

PRIME TIME

It's been one of those insanely crazy weeks here at CFC Headquarters.

Last week we had our friends Denise and Peter visiting and we took some much needed time off to act as tour guides... how sweet it was to be atop Haleakala for sunset.

Once they departed, we quickly kicked it back into high gear and started painting the interior of the new office. Floors had to be mopped and swept and mopped and swept, taking up an entire day.

We finally started priming and attaching all the door trim last Sunday and we still are not done.
We might be further along if we were painting at night too, but we have been glued to the TV watching PBS: The National Parks.

We are looking to be complete with the painting by Sunday so we can install all the lighting, switches and outlets on Monday.


The color of the back wall is called Vintage Map by Martha Stewart for Valspar.
We are also using Coastal Dune Grass on the Far wall with all other walls and trim being White.
The Desktop is going to be the small red swatch on the window sill... called Grenadine. Not sure I am totally loving the Vintage Map as much as John is, but we both Love the Coastal Dune Grass. We will also be using her Peony Red (which is a perfect match to the desk) for small accents on the bookshelves
The overall feeling will be something like this (the blue is a bit deeper in real life). Imagine the bed being a desk.

Stay tuned for the finished room soon.