Showing off our shojis

Chris and my dad put quite a bit of work into building shoji doors to separate our master bedroom from bathroom. They used inexpensive redwood boards from Home Depot and heavy-duty hardware to make them slide easily. Kona Shoji designs sells real shoji paper from Japan. I think it really adds a touch of class to the room and it no longer feels like we have a tub in the bedroom. Once again, I am impressed by the skills of my husband and dad.

Hot shower, anyone?

I no longer worry about the cost and environmental impact of taking a super hot shower or washing dishes with hot water because we are now heating our water with energy from the sun. Our solar hot water system really works well and heats our water enough even on fairly cloudy days. We do have an electric timer set to heat the water at 5 a.m. if the water is not hot enough from the day before, which can happen on really rainy days, so we are always guaranteed a hot shower that rarely takes electricity to make.

The hot water system will end up costing us $1,837 after some kind of $1,000 rebate, a $1,000 discount for buying this system and photovoltaic from Poncho's Solar Service, a $1,837 state tax credit and a $1,547 federal tax credit, making this a really smart option in a place that has one of the highest electric rates in the nation and no natural gas.

The photovoltaic system is really the interesting part. Ten solar panels are supposed to produce enough electricity for our home's needs so we'll end up spending only $20 a month on our electric costs for a monthly fee to hook-up to HELCO's power grid. During the day we generate more electricity than we need and what we aren't using gets fed back into the grid and we get credit for that through a net metering agreement with HELCO. At night, we use electricity generated by HELCO and only have to pay for it if we use more than our solar panels generate. This way we don't need batteries to store the power we generate and we have reliable power even if it's cloudy or dark outside.

This was all installed, along with our new digital electric meter, about three weeks ago. Since then, we have generated 88 kilowatt hours of electricity with our 10 solar panels. We've used 94, so right now we owe the power company for six kilowatt hours. We've had hopelessly cloudy and rainy days lately, so I am optimistic that in the long run, we'll be generating enough power to accrue some credits and not have to pay for any electricity.

The photovoltaic system cost $12,100. We will also get some tax credits from this purchase, but I can't remember how much. I think we figured that if our usual bill of $140 is reduced to $20 then the system will pay for itself in about four years at the current electric rates.

So we're feeling very good about our purchase. It will save us money in the long run and is better for the environment, plus the panels were made right here in the U.S.A.

This readout shows the temperature at the solar hot water panels (117) It also shows the water temperature at the bottom our  water tank, which is 110 on the afternoon of a fairly cloudy day.

The two big panels on the left heat our water, the 10 photovoltaic panels on the right generate electricity. That small spot of panels on our carport should be enough for all our electricity needs. Crazy!

Our 10 photovoltaic panels have generated 88 kilowatts of electricity since this meter was installed about three weeks ago.

Bathroom Take Two

I tried posting this a few months ago with before and after video walk-throughs of our bathroom remodel, but the video upload took forever and I gave up on posing this until now.
Back in March, Chris really tore into our bathroom, which needed some work. It felt small, the shower enclosure was tiny, the wall had some rot, the counter top was crummy, etc.

To increase the sense of space, Chris ripped out part of a wall so that it would be a half wall. He removed the small shower and a tiny vanity next to it, removed another portion of wall that was doing nothing besides filling space, then he made a gigantic shower finished in travertine with super nice fixtures and a made in Germany rain shower head. It's really sweet!

Instead of fixing the vanity, he painted the old one, added drawer handles and finished the top in large granite tile and put a vessel sink on top. A lot of work and expense went into the project, but the bathroom is amazing now. We turned one of the home's eye sores into a real selling point, and every time I take a shower it feels like I'm vacationing in a fancy resort.

My husband's skills continue to impress me. My dad and Christoph were also a huge help.

Before

 

After

 

Our old shower enclosure was small, the shower head was broken, and the adjacent wall was rotten.

 

My dad helps install the shower bladder.

We're really happy with the linear drain.

Three shower heads to choose from, all made in Germany. Christoph helped install them using the German language instructions.

Now welcoming dinner guests

Except for a few finishing touches our kitchen remodel is complete. Chris has worked really hard this past year on home improvements, and he's especially put in a lot of effort this past month since we tore out the old kitchen.
Jordie Braugh with Original Craft built the cabinets using African mahogany with a clear finish. We are really impressed with the quality. Chris and my dad did the rest of the work, including tiling the floor, installing granite tile counter tops, painting, installing track light and the list goes on.
It doesn't quite feel like our kitchen yet because it's just so darn nice, but I'm sure it won't take long to get used to! It reminds me of the fancy houses I visit when I do write-ups for our newspaper's real estate publication. Now I should learn how to cook fancy food!

This is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in.
It's hard to tell from the photo how worn out the cabinets were or how the smelled.

One month ago today we removed the old cabinets and started smashing up the old tile.

Improvement Update
We ripped the carpet out of our living room last weekend and placed it under the house. It will be easier to store our surfboards and junk now that the rocky ground has been leveled out and covered with caret. Chris was supposed to ride his dirt bike in the house for a photo op. before we started ripping into the carpet, but we were so anxious to get working that we forgot.

Chris and my dad worked all week on leveling our very uneven living room floor and laying down 1/2 inch plywood so we can begin tiling. The whole house was shrouded in a layer of sawdust created by griding down lumps in the floor. Chris also started installing track lighting in the kitchen, and my dad fixed a damaged door frame. He had the whole living room filled with his tools. We are grateful for his talents and time.

My dad brought a whole wagon of tools over.

Chris painted our entire great room except for the accent wall.

Ripping up the carpet.

Warning: work ahead

Chris is going to be busy for the next couple of months. We have four crates of travertine tile for him to lay in the great room and kitchen. We also have new kitchen cabinets coming in a few weeks, so he will have the whole room ripped up. He has lots of painting and wall texturing to do, and he has a weird closet door to tear out, and track ligting to install. I am happy to help, but I offer only unskilled labor.

He and my dad tiled the lanai for practice this week with the same tile we'll use inside the house. It looks great! Chris bought some plywood to put down first that is supposed to make the surface level for tiling and the product is terrible. The boards are warped and won't lay flat and they had a hard time getting the tiles perfectly level. We'll use something different inside the house. It's also harder work than Chris thought, and it's taking longer. He and I worked on grout for more than two hours yesterday and only did 2/3 of the lanai. Yes, Chris is going to be busy for the next couple of months.

Chris installs plywood that's supposed to create a level surface for tile.


Tile is in but we're not finished grouting. What a difference it made to our lanai that used to be dingy, blue carpet.

More "year of progress" photos

A while back, we made a nice parking area out of grass blocks so that Chris would have a nice surface for parking his truck. It's also a good spot for turning around once cars come into our narrow gate. It took several trips to Home Depot to haul the heavy blocks, and more wear and tear on our gloves to carry the abrasive cement objects, but this area of the yard is now much improved.

I am also happy with the progress of our gigantic weed piles. A yard waste pile in the front yard was three feet tall, three feet wide and almost 200 feet long, but we have since removed the sprouting monstera roots from the pile, smashed it down with our dirt bikes and raked it into a very small pile about four feet by four feet. The other pile by the bananas also shrunk due to rotting, dirt biking on it, and finally using a chipper to get rid of a lot of the sticks. The chipped wood is now keeping our pineapple patch weed-free.


Our yard waste pile was pretty huge.


The waste pile today is much smaller and the area around the bananas looks a whole lot better as a result.


The new grass is growing through our grass block parking area.

Seventy-six pineapples

Seventy-six trombones are great for parades, but when it's breakfast time I'll take 76 pineapples anyday, and that's how many we have planted. I can't believe I haven't posted a picture of our pineapple patch yet because I'm so happy with it. Our friend who works at a hotel got us a bunch of pineapple tops, Duane gave us a few prized white pineapple tops, and I occasionally pick up a pineapple at the farmer's market or swipe the tops from decorative fruit platters at parties and Realtor events. We then dry the pineapples, remove the bottom leaves, soak them in water for about a week until roots sprout, then we plant them in good, muddy soil.

The result is our kick-butt pineapple patch. It normally takes two years to get a pineapple once the top has been planted, but we already have one plant with fruit and another with a flower.

Prickly Planters


Several months ago we finished putting in planters, now I am waiting for our first bird of paradise flower. The planter along the rock wall is 33 feet long and it contains 13 Tahitian tiare gardenia. The planter along the front of the house has seven bird of paradise and seven white bird of paradise, and the planter along the side of the house is filled with croutons.

Just clearing the weeds and digging holes is a chore in a place where weeds get 20 feet tall and the "soil" is mostly lava rocks. Once the ground was prepared, Chris and I made several trips to pick up black, flat pahoehoe lava to create the border for the planters and red, razor sharp a`a lava to fill them. The price for the materials was right and the planters look great, but Chris' truck and several pairs of leather gloves took a beating during our trips to the lava fields to pick up rocks.


Planters under construction


Planters finished.


Our gloves are finished, too.

A Year of Progress

Chris was looking back on last year's calendar and he noticed we rented a moving truck one year ago on February 20. When I look around at all the progress we've made on the house it feels like we've been here much longer. Listing off the projects in my head makes me feel good about the hard work we've both invested, and I am especially proud of my husband's skills and impressive motivation.

The biggest changes have been in landscaping and remodeling the garage. We've planted 45 areca palms, 12 fruit trees, a killer pineapple patch plus we added planters along the front and side of the house and brought in a few truck loads of soil. Chris has done lots of repairs like fixing water leaks and toilets, making a drain so the car port would stop flooding, fixing rotten wood on the deck where a tree had grown through, plenty of painting and power washing, replacing appliances, building a "housing" for the electric meter, installing a vent in the bathroom and closing off an existing doorway, installing countless lights, fixing the broken gate, insulating hot water pipes, repairing and replacing screens and sliding doors, caulking, scrubbing algae off of the roof, fixing a boarded up window, carpet cleaning, and the list goes on....


A Google Street View picture taken before we owned the house:

Less than a year after we moved in:

It's a girl!

Eight months ago I planted papaya trees from seed and I've obsessively watched the trees grow inch by inch. A couple of the trees are now taller than I am and the flowers are finally opening up. This is a big deal, at least in my little papaya excited mind, because papaya trees have gender and the male trees do not bear fruit. At my husband's advice, I planted seven groups of five trees. Two or three trees sprouted in each group. We'll keep the best tree in each group and cut the others down.

From what I can tell, about half my trees are female and half are hermaphrodite. I am pretty sure none are male, but one might be. So my long wait is paying off, I will end up with about seven fruit bearing trees.

The Hermaphrodite trees are actually preferred because they self-pollinate. Female trees must be pollinated by other papaya trees nearby, which means they can cross-pollinate with other trees that may be inferior. And their fruit is shaped funny. Either way, I am stoked that soon we'll have fresh, delicious papayas to eat and to share.


Hermaphrodite papaya flowers. Yes!


A blossom from a female papaya tree.

House Progress


It feels like we're really advancing on the house projects. Instead of removing, we're adding. Heaps upon heaps of weeds and unwanted vegetation has been removed and we've constructed planters all along the front of the house and along our curved rock wall. Pieces of flat pahoehoe lava form the border, and the inside will be filled with red a`a lava. We've hauled about ten truck loads up here from lava fields so far, but we need more.


My soil scientist husband tells me the soil in our yard is terrible and I believe him because he's really smart, and because many of the fruit trees that were here when we moved in were almost dead and the grass is patchy. So Monday, we brought in two truck loads of nice red soil and a also a truck load of gravel to create the pad for our future gazebo. We also rented a bobcat for two days to move the dirt around.


We practically spent our life's savings at Sunrise Nursery Saturday (a great place by the way, she had everything on our list except the sugar apple which I am told is pretty hard to find) Now our investment can thrive in good soil. Wow, digging holes for fruit trees is a chore in our rocky soil. A jackhammer would really be in order.


Chris waters the plants we bought Saturday: white bird of paradise, Tahitian tiare gardenias, croutons, seven orange trees, a pomegranate tree, a star fruit tree, a mango tree, a jaboticaba tree.


Ben spreads dirt where Chris plans to make a parking area with grass blocks.


I forgot to mention Chris refinished our front doors. It's too bad I don't have a before photo. What a difference it made!

What a great garage

Judging by the comments on a previous post, there is more interest in reading about our house projects than I thought. Come to think of it, I do like to hear about other people's projects. And it's good timing to realize that because we're moving past the stage of dealing with deferred maintenance and swinging machetes at out-of-control vegetation and into an era of actual improvements that would be more fun to blog about. (Chris just fixed our last water leak yesterday) On our wish list: a complete kitchen remodel, a master bathroom remodel, tiling our car port, building a BBQ gazebo, and lots of landscape improvements.

First and foremost, of course, was the garage. Before we even moved our stuff inside Chris, my dad, and Christoph fixed a boarded up window, completed the framing, hired Duane to do the drywall, painted, built shelves and workbenches, painted those, wired in new light fixtures, applied epoxy and glitter to the floor, overhauled the garage doors right down to the gears inside the electric garage door openers. (Why buy new when you can fix what you have?) Chris has good reason to be proud of his shop and he's open for business if anyone has a motorcycle or other device in need of repair.

BEFORE:


AFTER:

One Man's Trash

Chris and I bought a foreclosed house in February and our recreation time has turned into yard work and house repair time. We've accomplished a lot and for the most part we're having fun, but I haven't been blogging because I didn't want to bore everybody with, "we painted the garage, we cleared weeds," etc.

For some reason, I think this story is worth noting. We have cleared huge areas overrun by monstera by yanking it out with the Jeep and slashing it with machetes. This created massive heaps of yard waste, including one pile about 3 feet deep and almost 200 feet long. Then the daily summer rains came and the discarded monstera began to sprout, threatening to take over our yard once again. So Chris had the genius idea to put an ad on Craig's List for free monstera root and we had at least a dozen customers. They filled trucks, trailers, bags, boxes, and one guy even took a whole dump trailer full. They also raided our ginger and plumeria. I had no idea the world is full of friendly people willing to come take our garbage away. It was great!

Feeling Blessed

I was going to title this post "our acre in paradise" to show off the new home that Chris and I recently purchased that, in my opinion, really sits on one acre of paradise. But I decided the real story is in how blessed I feel and how apparent it is that we're really being taken care of.

On moving day, lots of church friends and some co-workers came to help us with the big project. We started at 8 a.m. and by 10:30 we were all moved out of the old house and all our belongings had been placed in the new house. Amazing!

Our new home met all our criteria: close to work (less than 15 minutes), big garage, big yard, and as a bonus, it has a pretty nice view of the ocean and coastline. We've been working hard, and we have a long way to go, but it feels like we really scored.

Living room is all set up but we still have a lot of boxes to contend with.

Our new house after hours and hours of weed clearing.



Moving day: with all the help we had, the garage emptied out fast.