bedroom #2 mood board

i am really thrilled about bedroom 2.  this is the smaller bedroom on the front of the house, it has had a few morphs pertaining to the interior structure but for the most part it has always been the clearest design in my mind.   i really wanted this room to be a kids room but still appeal to the grown ups.  if we use this house as a vacation rental as we are planning to i think it will be a great place for the kids!

durango is in the west, and often the interior design of the area includes some western flair, including bear and elk motifs. this doesn't really appeal to me but i wanted to pay tribute to a slightly woodsy- cabin feel but in a more sleek, contemporary way.  i was also inspired by the colors of scandinavian interior design- blue grays and whites dominate with pops of fun color.  you will see a lot more of this influence throughout the house as well.

this photo from house beautiful was the basis of
the design of this room

the dominant material for this room is the white washed blue stain pine that we are using for the north and south walls and the entire ceiling.  blue stain pine is actually a product of bettle kill infested pine trees, the beetles carry this fungus infecting pine and other evergreen trees creating a blue grey discoloration.  it is actually looked at as a defect in the wood however, when harvested the fungus is harmless and is cheaper than normal pine.  i liked the idea that by utilizing blue stain pine we were playing a small part in fighting the beetle kill that is happening all of the pine forests of the rocky mountains, devestating entire forests, plus i love the blue-grey color it has rather than a really yellow-y pine look.

i white washed this pine using minwax's pickling/whitewashing stain.  ( fun fact: you pickle oak and whitewash pine) i simply brushed the whitewash onto the tongue and groove boards and then wiped it off leaving a translucent white- grey finish.  

the boys put up the pine at the beginning of july and i couldn't be more thrilled with the results.  as for the rest of the room all of the trim is being painted behr ultra pure white in a semi-gloss finish and the walls are behr's sterling in a beautiful eggshell finish!  i think the paint color really helps the pine to stand out.

you will also notice the awesome structure of the bathroom transposed in this room, i think it adds a lot of charm and interest to this bedroom to be able to see the structure that is happening on the other side of the wall.  plus the tongue and groove truly accents this shape.  this is also the only room with a true closet but it is a large closet that i plan to put hanging and shelves into soon!

a view of the closet and the wall showing the bathroom
structure 

our simple window trim

for the furniture i purchased two twin antique spindle beds from habitat for humanity similar to the mood board photo above that i am going to paint black.  i also purchased twin comforters and shams ($59.00) from west elm in a grey and white stripe.  i am longing for west elms parsons desk in white ($349.00) to fit between the twin beds with a bright yellow gourd lamp from robert abbey to add some fun color!

i also love the playful papier mache taxidermy ( $69.99 - $199.99) to give a little nod to that cabin feel.  the galvanized metal shelf from ikea ($14.99)  will look great with some colored baskets and maybe a few little accent pieces and i purchased two small scaled upholstered swivel chairs from craigslist that i am planning on slip covering and one will live in this room

i think having a cute industrial looking reading lamp next to each bed will also be very functional and add another pop of black and the yellow chevron pillows found on joss and main would be a nice touch to reinforce the yellow accent!

what do you think?! i am really excited and bedroom 2 is quickly becoming my favorite room!

durango: just a happy little bike town

durango is a bike town... there is a long history of cycling and biking that all centers right around this little town in the mountains of colorado.  this little post is all part of my "get out here and visit" scheme so i hope it works.

first things first a little history lesson:

durango practically invented mountain biking.  björn might argue that he and his childhood buddies actually invented mountain biking in the 80's when they would ride their normal bikes on the dirt bike trails behind his house.  but really a man named ned overend kind of invented mountain biking, he started in the early 80's.  its even rumored that he once owned the house that björn's grandmother now currently owns as a rental property and it is in this garage that he built or modified the first mountain bikes.  im not sure about all this but it sounds good and i think he really did live there.

anyway he went on to be in the first mountain biking videos (they were videos back then) and winning many many mountain biking competitions.  he was even in the first mountain bike race video which is called "Battle at Durango: The First Ever World Mountain Biking Championships"

So mountain biking is pretty awesome here in Durango, we actually have sent a few people to the Olympics for mountain biking including Todd Wells who is in London now.  He placed tenth overall.

But what about road biking?!  well well well, let me tell you a story about a little bet two brothers made one day back way back when... better yet I'll copy this from the Iron Horse Classic website...

The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic was the brain child of Tom Mayer and his older brother Jim. Jim worked as a brakeman on the D & R G W railroad which had run the steam powered locomotive between Durango and Silverton since the 1880's. Tom was a young bicycle enthusiast who grew up alongside the tracks to Silverton. Tom challenged Jim to a race to Silverton. As the train came by the house, the steam whistle screamed and Tom climbed on his trusty steel framed 10 speed and pedaled up over the rim of the old volcano and descended into the caldera to the mining town of Silverton. The train takes a shorter and easier route, but with limited speed, so it is truly a race between man and machine. When Tom became strong enough to win, the bragging rights were his, and the whole town knew it.

suiting up for the race.., björn didn't even wear bike shorts, just his
camo shorts and a themal shirt

powdered donuts, the breakfast of champions

headed out on the trail on jake the snake, björn's kona crossbike
(he didn't even put road tires on...crazy)

michael looking like a pro

aunt kim and friends mike and joe road the quarter horse- 25 miles to purgatory
the ski resort up the valley

looking good but they have only gone about 500 feet

last high five for luck

citizens tour cyclists

the two winners (at least in my book) in Silverton

Pretty cool a race between a train and some bikes, and now every year for the last 41 years cyclist have raced the train to Silverton.  This year Björn and my Uncle Michael entered the citizens race.  Michael is an avid cyclist, he rides to work every day from Longmont. Colorado to Boulder, Colorado, so I would say he is in pretty great shape. Björn on the other hand had only riden his bike one time in 2012 before hopping on the saddle for the Iron Horse.   With over 6,600 feet of ascent and a total elevation gain of 2,756 feet its no easy race! 

Both of them finished and I was happy to drink a beer with them in Silverton! 

A recap of the 2010 race the 2012 race doesn't seem to be available yet

Durango also boasts numerous bike clubs, and groups throughout town from the kids Durango DEVO, a cycling development program to the church of the high pines, a group that rides every Sunday morning in God's church of nature. 

And finally, all of you might be able to see a little bit about Durango next weekend on NBC.  Forget the Olympics, NBC is covering the US Pro Cycling Challenge and guess where it all starts this year!  Here in Durango!

I have been told that you may be able to see a little piece on Durango on August 19th in the mid- afternoon- more details as I get them!

The US Pro Cycling Challenge is the premiere US bike race.  Riders must endure huge changes in altitude throughout the 7 stage race through the Colorado Rockies.  It is one of the most challenging races out there and certainly the most challenging in the US.  It has tons of excitement with the leader jersey changing hands daily and many thrills and upsets! The first stage starts out here in Durango, riding through town and up to the mesa which is home to Fort Lewis College, then down and out of town toward Telluride over one of the more challenging mountain passes, Lizard Head Pass.

route map for stage 1

There is of course a ton of excitement here in Durango this week leading up to this race.  There will be many fun events, bike races, concerts and fun!  Its pretty cool to be here in Durango during this time, I think Björn and I are just thrilled that our house is in such an awesome little town!

blitzkrieg updates: a tale of one city... and two really ticked off homeowners

June 19th

now that we had a working sewer system in place we could technically use our toilets...albeit third world country style...crouched over a hole in the floor with a bucket of water to "flush" everything away.  what we needed was WATER!  and if you thought the sewer was a problem wait until you hear about the water!  i did a little explaining here in this post about the city never putting a water main down our street.

we have known about this problem since the day we applied for our permit back in October...and since October we have been conversing with the city in order to come up with a solution to our lack of water.  what we found ironic was the fact that during our permitting process we paid over 15,000.00 in fees many of which were water plant investment fees and the like and to be told we didn't have water down our street...well lets just say we weren't thrilled.

here is a little play to give you the gist of what was going on.  please excuse my ghetto drawings but they will assist you in understanding.

the set  for act one- a lonely street with no water main to speak of

ACT ONE

US-  we have no water but couldn't we drill a well... yeah we must be close to the water table because the river is right there... it probably won't even be that expensive and then free water for life...yay!

CITY- no you can't drill a well within the city limits

US- but you didn't provide adequate service for city water 

CITY- yeah but its the rule so anyway.... you'll have to put in a water main down your street

US- okay how much does that cost

CITY- umm about $400.00 a foot

US- wow thats a lot

CITY- oh but if you have neighbors down the line that tap into it in the future you would get some money back

US- but we own the next (and only) building lot, but you, the city, own further up and we know you want to put in bathrooms so maybe some day you will reimburse us some of the money

CITY- uhhhh yeah no we wouldn't do that only private citizens, we are the government we would never do that

US- so great well we can get over this...so where would we have to tap into, it looks like there is a short little stub out water line going into our street

we hold out hope that there is a water main stub out in our street...but the city remains unsure

CITY- we don't really know, we don't actually know what is going on under our own municipal streets

US- great, okay we are going to ignore this problem for a month or two, but in the mean time, City, could you do some research into what is actually happening in our area so that when the time comes we can all make an informed decision.

CITY- sure

two months pass

ACT TWO

US- the city still hasn't done any exploratory digging or come up with any answers, and why is it that we are going to have to pay something like $25,000.00 just to connect to city water utilities?  maybe we should write a letter to city council expressing our concern.  they are after all, the people we as a town have elected to keep the government (the dog) on a leash.  certainly they would see that this is unreasonable.

we write a very passionate yet fact filled letter to the city council members...weeks go by...no  response.. we finally call the former mayor (we have a rotating mayorship here in durango)  

here they are team america...and by that i mean they can't get much  done

CITY COUNCIL- it sounds like it is what it is.... (implied) what do we care, we all have our own homes already and why should be feel sorry for you, you have two of the nicest building lots available in town and the only two on the river.

US- okay so that didn't work, what are we going to do....i guess we can propose a cost sharing measure to the director of parks and recreation...they want bathrooms at the end of our street, we need water, we could share the cost.

Director of Parks & Rec- oh that sounds like a great idea guys I will proposed it to Public Works and see if its feasible.

Director of Parks & Rec to Public Works- i proposed this idea to those folks on third ave. and they declined, i guess they don't want to share the cost of putting a water main down the street.

weeks go by....

US- huh... we haven't heard anything in weeks lets see whats up....hey city whats up

CITY- Parks and Rec said you didn't want to share cost, besides its not in our plan or budget anyway, oh and we still don't know what is going on under the road.

US- great, what are we supposed to do

CITY- maybe you should hire a private engineering consultant

US- you want us to spend MORE money...this is already potentially costing us upwards of 30,000.00 just to bring water to our house. water which you will then charge us for. how can you not KNOW what is going on here

CITY- yeah well...

US- how about we go through the city easement in front of our mom's house and then in front of our house and the even over to the empty lot.  we won't have to dig up as much street which is costly and we can do most of it ourselves.

CITY- whatever, we don't really care that much, but sounds okay

US- so where are we supposed to tap into

CITY- well maybe here, or maybe over here, or possibly even here

US- will you look into it and find out

CITY- sure 

US- great

weeks go by and no exploration or updates

ACT THREE

US- what the HECK is going on

CITY- oh, oh right we will get right on it

the city comes out and digs a small hole in our street where a potential stubbed out water main is located.  nothing is found in this location, they do make a bunch of pretty spray paint marks all over the street and yard of björn's mom's house (little red house)

CITY- umm the water line we thought was there, and that is clearly marked on the GIS map, is not there, you will have to go into 32nd street.

no water line in the location we had hopped.  looks like its into 32nd street for us

US- 32nd street that is like the 5th busiest street in Durango!

CITY- no its the 3rd, and we call it Malfunction Junction for a reason...good luck!

US- we can't hire someone to do this they will charge a fortune, we can do it ourselves I know we can!!

CITY- whatever, just get an excavator permit and a traffic control plan together.

US- okay

we get our excavator permit plus the bond for the city...its doesn't cost much and we already have the excavator from the sewer fiasco..... we also hire Traffic Alert to come up with a Traffic Control plan on the third busiest road in Durango.  then we get down to business.....

CITY- we have marked exactly where you need to cut in order to tap into the water main running down 32nd street.  everything is all marked and ready to go

US- great, maybe you aren't so bad after all

the plan on cutting day- we only have to cut through about 20 feet of road, so not to much in asphalt patching charges and we won't have to close the road for too long!

FINALE

we begin to cut across the street...

7am- 

traffic control sets up shop

just some of the cones set up to direct traffic,
 along with 4 flaggers and a supervisor = big bucks

8am- 

we finish the trench in the easement and begin the  street cuts

working in the easement

jack bear starts making the cuts through the street

björn supervises in the street- following the marking the city gave us

9 am-

we are ready to begin excavating the street cut, all is going smoothly

matt mans the excavator

starting to tear up the street

all of the excavated material has to be hauled off in a dump truck

i was a great road crew worker- these shovels and rakes don't stand
on their own you know

11 am-

the first dump truck load is gone and we haven't found the water main where it is supposed to be

the city locator comes out to try to relocate the water main

Noon-

the locator informs us that we have to make another cut extending about 12 feet to the left of the original cut location....all they have to say for themselves is ooops

more cutting is required

1:00 pm- 

we finally find the water main but the pipe looks funny in this location, the city then informs us that this is a connection and therefore we cannot connect to this location- cut 4 more feet to the left

2:00 pm- 

more cutting and digging, more hauling away of material, more time for the flaggers, MORE MONEY

we find the water main again 4 feet to the left of the second cut, again things don't look good

the city informs us that this looks like a patch in the pipe, and you can't attach to a patch, cut four more feet to the left and down of this third cut

this is when björn just about loses it

holy trench batman! orion and matt look on at the madness

what are we supposed to do?!

the city public works guys can tell he is losing it so they bring in the big guns- the vac truck

4:00 pm- 

the vac truck arrives and begins pumping out all the road base, rocks and dirt from our fourth asphalt cut

the vac truck

4:30 pm- the water main is once again found and the pipe looks solid, the city guys can make their taps- FINALY

we aren't allowed to make the taps but we did hire a professional plumber to make the connections on the taps through the copper pipe and to the easement

tapping into the water main

water tap connection

hard to see but these are the copper pipes running through our street cut

5:00 pm-

the taps are done and the copper is run the city guys go home but our day isn't over yet

we call to order the flofill to fill in the giant hole

we are also responsible for clean up of the street

5:30 pm-

the flofill arrives and we fill the hole.  we opted to use this more expensive material to fill in the trench because it is a lot more stable than just sand and dirt.  because the city holds us responsible for the road patch we decided it was worth the additional cost to ensure that the patch would be good

the flofill arrives from Sandco

directing the flofill, björn's shoes were toast after this day

6:30 pm-

we call it a day, the traffic control packs up and heads home.  we put plates on the still un-paved hole.  we will have to asphalt patch this area in two days to allow enough time for the flofill to set up.

covered from head to toe in mud and flofill and sweat but we did it the water lines are in!

all in all we ended up making four cuts in the street, hauling off two dump truck loads of debris, having traffic control for 11 hours including some over time pay, three of our guys working a 11 + hour day, three plumbers that we hired to do the connections in the road and at the curb stops

plus is was about 100 + degrees but we GOT IT DONE and while I am estimating the whole day cost us over $10,000.00 with all of the glitches (almost none which were our fault I might add) a contractor would have charged us well over $30,000.00. 

It was also ironic that the shape that we ended up with was reminicent of a giant question mark, which is very appropriate considering the CITY had no clue what was going on in this lovely little intersection forever known at Malfunction Junction!

the final results but we have our water lines

Epilouge- Two Days Later

After allowing the flofill to set up, and enduring the sounds of people speeding over the giant metal plates in the street, I swear don't people slow down for those things, we were able to patch the asphalt

you can kind of see the asphalt patching going on behind the excavator

we hired a company to do this, so once again the traffic control people were back for half a day while they patched.

the asphalt patch is pretty big due to the city's inability to know where their
utilities are...and yes asphalt is charged by the square foot

me walking the patch, you can kinds of make out the question mark shape

björn and i learned a great lesson working on this project.  well maybe we learned a few things, one is that we kind of hate the city government.  in the end the public works guys did help us out with the vac truck and staying late and all that, but really all the problems stemmed from the lack of knowledge on the part of the city.  had we known where to connect to the water main we could have saved at least $4000.00 im convinced.  between the added time for labor, the added material in flofill and asphalt and the added stress...ugh!  we don't hate the individual who work for the city they were great and i think they really felt for us, they were also really impressed that we did it, never having done anything like this before.

the second lesson is one we had learned before but this really brought it home.  there is no reason to be afraid of anything, especially in construction.  its not magic and anyone can figure it out!  that whole grab life by the horns saying...well thats what we did.

blitzkrieg updates: im back and we are putting in a man hole

blogging is no easy task, i never thought about how much time goes into creating a blog worth reading and i commend all of those creative and dedicated people out there that do produce amazingly interesting and quality blogs.  i on the other hand feel incredibly lazy about blogging but let me explain...

as you will probably notice the last time i blogged was back at the end of may when i told you about our excavation nightmares.  well also around that time the days got really long, with the sun not setting until well after 8:30 pm and what did that mean for björn and i?  it meant we were working from 8:00 am til well after 9:00 pm on most nights, and that did not leave me much time, energy or desire to sit down at the computer and produce anything worth reading.

i am thrilled that so many of you have asked "where's the blog" or "when are you going to give us some updates?"  i have also been thrilled to see that i continue to have readers even without any updates!  so many people have been interested to see the materials we used or the processes we went through and that makes me really happy.

its been almost 2.5 months since i last blogged and a lot has happened since then.  i am going to attempt to update you all quickly while still giving enough information on the details of our experiences.  so we left off with our huge excavation project in order to bring water, electrical and sewer systems to our house.  you can read about that here.

may 30 update

but it didn't end there, we also had to install our own man hole in order to house the sewer lift station.  once again we were faced with a huge problem and a huge potential expense, but as we have learned throughout this project its better to just go for it.  nothing is that scary once you set your mind to do something.  besides we could never afford to PAY someone to do this work so we kind of didn't have a choice.

matt and the excavator digging around the existing culvert pipe
which housed the existing lift station

the culvert pipe had to be removed and the lift station taken out in order
to dig a deeper hole for the man hole to sit in.

the concrete man hole was purchased from Grand Junction Pipe here in durango, which they delivered on a huge flat bed truck.  we had to rent a skytrak for the day just to lift these puppies off the flat bed and then into the 9' deep hole.

this bottom portion of the man hole weighed in at over 3,000 lbs.

the three sections of man hole were lined up along our street, including
the top portion with the typical man hole cover

it was then time to lift the pieces and place them in the giant hole

this bottom section really put the skytrak to the test.  the arm of the skytrak
had to be fully extended in order to position the piece while remaining stable
enough to lower it into place.

once in place matt adds the sticky rubber seal.  the next piece fits directly on
top.  the lift station will fit cozily into this hole.

the middle section, much lighter than the bottom

positioning the piece

finally the top section is put into place.  the entire man hole is about 8' deep.

After getting the sections of pipe in place all we had to do was drop in the existing lift station and hook it up to the new sewer pipes.  this involved cutting some holes through the concrete with a hilti drill.

matt using the hilti concrete drill to bore a hole for the sewer lines
that have to connect to the lift station

we also needed a few smaller holes at the top for the power line
and lift station alarm.

conquering this job was definitely something we never thought we would have to do but we are sure glad it over... just wait until you see what we have to go through for our water hook ups!