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!!!