Plaster Man

Brian has now put a couple coats of plaster over the mortar. He'll probably have to do another coat or two on some spots, but it is looking good. One of these pictures probably would have sufficed, but he hates me putting pictures of him on this blog (and rarely lets me take any of him) so when I have a few, I have no choice but to post them all. ;)

Filling In The Holes

Brian decided to test his masonry skills today and slap some mortar on the exposed brick where the walls used to be. A quick trip to our friendly neighborhood Ace and $10 later, he was on his way.

Here's what it looked like before he started.







After he put the mortar on these two spots, he got all gung ho and decided to move the refrigerator and pull the last piece of the wall away that was there so he could mortar that too. Great job, honey. Now lets see what you can do with plaster.

And no, Brian, this does not mean you can now become a Mason.

The Results

Many apologies to Uncle Brad for the delays in this post. Here are the results of the bricked up window. We still have a little scrubbing to do, but all-in-all we hare happy with the results. It's pretty difficult to get a perfect match on these old houses. I am really glad we kept the original brick.

A Long Time Coming

After a year and a half of Brian nagging and nagging and nagging me to make some curtains for the office, I finally did. I opted for this striped pattern. It has black, greens and creams in it. I wanted something a little more masculine for this room.


Okay, okay, Brian didn't nag me at all. Just love to give him crap. What do you think?

Better Than TV

Today Skeeto spent half an hour standing at the window watching the workers outside. It must have been pretty interesting.



















First they took out the bricks that make up the windowsill. Then they took out all the half bricks on the sides. They had to mix the mortar with a special blend of colors to make sure it matched. They used measuring cups and everything.










Then they started using the old bricks we had from the demo on the renovation to brick up the window.

We don't have any pics of the window totally bricked up since they put this tarp with heated coils up to make sure the mortar would cure correctly. We'll be able to take the tarp down Saturday. On Monday, they'll come back to clean it up and make sure the patina and mortar look right.

When God Bricks Up A Window...

In order to build our nice big pantry -- well, big by Avenues standards -- we had planned on bricking up one of our old bedroom windows sometime in the next 4-6 weeks. The masonry company we hired was fully booked for at least a month so we gave them the go ahead and figured we'd do this sometime late November, early December. Yesterday they called and said they'd be out today after lunch. :)

They showed up early this morning to get a sample of the mortar that they will have to match as well as the brick that we have left over from the demolition of the upper part of our house. So far, so good. They seem thorough.

So...today while I was at work, Brian started by pulling off the window trim.






After that, he pulled the window and window frame out. Luckily, today's weather was quite pleasant and nobody froze to death.

After this, Brian went and picked up Izzypop just before the masons arrived.








This photo is only significant because if you look closely, you will see not only the apprentice to the head mason, but the much shorter, and younger apprentice to the apprentice. :) Cutie.










The first thing they did was put a layer of cinder block in. This will be the base for the outer brick that matches the house.


Then they put a thin layer of mortar on the inside portion of the cinder block. We will come back later and plaster over this to make the wall smooth again.


Tomorrow they will come back to put the exterior brick up. This will be the moment of truth. Can they make it look right?

Brian Is Getting A Little Excited

It is rare that Brian will take pictures for the blog, let alone demand that they be posted. His visions of a gourmet kitchen are getting the better of him. Today he ripped out the ceiling where the pantry will be. We have also decided to have the one window bricked up so we can try to build this pantry ourselves. It will be a long, slow, process, but at least there will be progress.

And So It Begins....Again

I suppose this marks the official beginning of the second phase of our renovation...the kitchen.

Our kitchen has been left in a torn up state since the first half of our reno was completed on the main floor a year and a half ago.

This is the remnants of what was our bedroom closet before we added the second story. Here's what it looked like at around 6:00 tonight.












Brian and I have really been getting the renovation itch again. I think now that he is out of school and at home more, Brian has had much more time to think about his dream kitchen...and to stare at what is now the opposite of his dream kitchen. I guess that would make it his nightmare kitchen.

There's a problem, though. We have no money :) But as Brian so aptly put it: "It doesn't cost money to demo." And since we have lived with a torn up kitchen for a year and a half, we figured we could live with a little bit more torn up kitchen for another year and a half.








After around 2 hours, the closet was gone. This space will eventually be our pantry. We'll have to have the window bricked up since the wall will go right in the middle of it so we can't quite build it yet. But maybe will do a little sheetrocking since we have some extra lying around in the garage.

And maybe we'll take a drive to Idaho for some lottery tickets.

The End Of An Era

Our sconces finally arrived yesterday. I ordered them about 3 months ago. They were on back order from Pottery Barn, but I had some PB Cash to redeem and I had been planning on these sconces for over a year, so I was willing to wait. It was well worth it. But things didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped -- as always. When Brian put the sconces up, he found that the electrical boxes that our contractor put in were too wide.


So, my wonderful husband spent the last two afternoons modifying the boxes, reinstalling them, spackling, sanding, painting and wiring these new beauties.

It Was Chandelierium!

After a year and a half of looking for the perfect chandelier...and a year and a half of Brian nagging me about it, I punted and bought one. It's not exactly what I had envisioned, but I like it all the same. Our bedroom is DONE!!!

Bistro de Bennion

For the past year and a half we've been looking for a bistro set for our balcony. We've had a rough time finding one small enough and that we liked. We threw the backyard patio furniture up there in the meantime -- BOR-ING!

The other day Brian said he saw a red set he really liked at Ace. I hadn't even thought about a color other than bronze, silver, or black. Red might be kinda fun...So, here is the before -->








And here's the after. We'll be enjoying it tonight. Great idea, Brian.

My Xanadu

I love my bathroom! I find myself wandering in there just to look at it. I also find that I spend a little more time on my evening rituals. Oilin' and lotionin', lotionin' and oilin'. ;)

In the last few weeks, a few things have been done. First of all, the tiles in the shower are fixed and the faucet has been installed. It was used once, after which, we noticed the tiles on the floor were discolored. We're waiting to shower in there again until the contractor can come back and look at it. I want to make sure we don't have any water issues that will cause problems later.


Another accomplishment of the last week or so was that the electrical has been finished. The sconce boxes are in and are waiting for the sconces that are on back order from PB. As part of the electrical work, Brian had the brilliant idea to put outlets inside the medicine cabinets. I've got my electronic toothbrush in mine and Brian has his toothbrush and electric shaver charging in his. Cool, huh? I hated those ugly things sitting on the counter 24/7 in the basement bathroom.












I have started to try my hand at accessorizing. I have found in the past that I am crappy at it. I think, though, that I have a good start here. Brian and I took a trip about town on Saturday and picked up these items for the countertop. I will admit that it is hard to go wrong with PB.

One of our stops on the tour was Bed Bath and Beyond. We picked up my oh-so-longed-for bathtub caddy. LOVE it! Also, I wanted to do something a little different with the towel racks. Instead of hanging a towel rack on the wall, we bought two to mount to each side of the sink console. Brian was kind enough to make it happen. My mom and dad gave me towels two Christmases ago intended for this bathroom. I was extra happy to get those out of their tupperware tomb in the basement. They look great.


I still need to get some accessories for the walls and (as you can see from this pic) put up those sconces, but even so, we are starting to really enjoy this room. It is amazing how much suiter our master suite has become!

A Nice Hot Bath

Oh, yes. I actually got to take a nice hot bath in my cast iron cutie thanks to Brian spending several hours putting the faucet together. It was not an easy task. There are about a million connections on that thing. It only took us 3 or 4 tries on the supply lines before we had it water tight.

I greatly appreciate all the work, though. It was heaven. I am going to enjoy it for many a year. Now if I can just get my hands on one of those bathtub caddies. With a good book and an ice cold drink, I'll never have to leave it.

Magnito's Fate

We have finally found a way to contain that dastardly villain, Skeeto the Small. We have imprisoned him in this glass cell where he will no longer be able to wreak havoc on society. Pots and pans will be safe in their cupboards. DVDs will be left untouched. Toys will remain saliva free. It is a good day!















Nevermind.





















As you can see, we got our glass shower installed today. No, that big hole in the tile is not an optical illusion. We had to change out the shower valve so the faucet I bought will fit. It'll get repaired this week. Something as good as the shower, even, was we were able to put the tub back in the bathroom. After a month of it sitting in the middle of our bedroom, it is now in its propper place. I have to say, I didn't realize how bad it was bugging me until today. Having our bedroom back to normal made me extra happy. I really hope we can finish this room up this weekend.