Out of the Loop

It's been a while since we posted.

The fireplace project is temporarily on hold. See, I have this thing. I love starting new projects - before the old ones are complete. If there's a cure for this disease, please let me know.

I (we) started doing a bathroom "facelift". It's not a full-on remodel, because we have neither the time nor money to do it - but it will be part of the greater scheme we hope to begin next year. Anyway, I bet Parker that I could make a silkier purse out of the functional but ugly space for under $500 (thanks Joan Steffend). It was only going to take a weekend, and would require no help from him.

Long story short, I think we're into the 6th weekend of the project. I painted, and with Parker's help, I vinyl tiled the floor after removing the toilet, (mind you, this is our only bathroom) and made a vanity out of an antique dresser. My weekend time estimate did not include priming, dry time, wax rings, or compression fittings. The project is sort of finished (we can use the toilet and sink, but can't hang up our towels), and now I have a very large punch list to go through. So far, I'm pretty satisfied. I'll post the details of the project with pictures at a later date. Thanks to Parker for all his help.

Oh, and something happened this week that will prove to delay the project just a bit more. We brought our newest family member home. Meet TJ.

Happy New Year!

We hope you are all spending this day doing exactly what *you* want to do!

We are! We're working on house projects. We hope to tackle some low-hanging fruit today, and continue to make steady progress on others.

Fireplace Update:
To see the progress pictures, click on fireplace picture.

47 Ranch Dressing Fireplace Remodel

Our fireplace project is coming along great!

After a year in the doldrums on this project, we finally made significant progress over the last couple of weeks. The tile is set, and we are quite pleased with it! We did lots of research on the type of tiles we wanted, and collected lots of photos of some looks that we liked. We really wanted to stay within our limited budget, so while we love the tiles of Laird Plumleigh, we used some that were much less expensive. (I'll try to post a materials list when I get time). It was fun working with the tile layouts. But of course, in surfing the web looking at other sites I recently discoverd this fabulous resource of Batchelder fireplace designs. I'm kind of sorry I didn't see this before we started, but I'm really glad to see that we were on the right track anyway!

For next phase of the project Parker will get the wood for the mantle. I think he's basing much of his design and construction ideas on a book that I got him as part of last year's Christmas present. And I'm happy to note that this project has fallen victim to a little bit of scope creep. Parker has decided that while we're getting wood and setting up the saws anyway, he'll make the 'built-in' bookshelves in the living room and the master bedroom! Bonus! Stay tuned.....

Where the Hearth Is?

Having Christmas on a Monday has really thrown us off the past couple of weekends. We've had so many social commitments that we haven't had time to continue with the fireplace tile project. Parker got the face tiles laid, and they look great. I can't wait to see it once the grout is in. Laying the hearth tiles should only take a couple of hours, but we can't seem to get to it. Maybe once the gifts are opened and the turkey's in the oven...

A Work in Progress

Working on this house and keeping a running journal of the work is something we've wanted to do for a while. There's never enough time. We'll keep plugging away at it (working on the house) , along with our other "projects" (school, work, family) , and we hope to keep you reasonably up to date with our progress (at least with the house).