We're finishing up some of the last, lingering projects here and are close to calling the house "finished" (after which, I'm going to have to find a new project… I've a completely disassembled vintage motorcycle in my garage that might serve well there).

In this case, our friend Sean surprised us with a "mind if I crash?" note a few weeks ago. I was thrilled to see him (and I don't use that word often), but we had just had TJ and Stefan over to demo the remaining part of the hall bath which left any guest shower-less. As they say, nothing like a quick deadline to get you motivated, and we hopped into action to finish off the bath.

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Bath and BeyondRead More »

We've done a lot of painting in the past few years — we're by no means "experts", but we've learned a lot. Of course, the old adage holds true: prep work is 90% of the job — something I learned the hard way when trying to skip wet-sanding when priming my first car for a re-spray (oh, to be sixteen again…).

Most recently, we've learned to make sure you invest in good product, choose that product wisely (the most expensive is not always the best choice) and be wary of label-claims.

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Cover the EarthRead More »

The locks in the house have been a bit of a mystery for a while. The original company, Sargent, isn't making home locks anymore (actually, they never really did) and the original styles are long out of manufacture.

We've found a Schlage lock/knob that's a good replacement, but the smaller bits and pieces are harder to fit together — for instance, how can my 40 year old sliding door handle lock work with this new Schlage key?

This is where Craig at Rex comes to the rescue. We worked with Rex in Berkeley for our old place and loved them and were glad to see a Rex literally "just down the street" at 3511 Clayton Road.

So, if you're a Concord Eichler owner, Craig is the one to see… he's a great knowledge of the homes and how the locking systems (and that remote entry system) work.