20 hours later...

Whew! That was a lot of work. I finshed this over a week ago and am just updating my blog now. Life has gotten so busy. This is the almost finushed product. I am going to be just doing some grout on the inside of the fireplace. Glass scratches, so I don't think I'll be putting any inside. I guess I'm happy with it overall. We ended up using the squares and went for a smoke blue-green color. Someone asked me if I used back splash tiles the other day. I tried to give it a more zippered look rather than just throwing up square sheets of tile but I don't know how well it work. I feel like it's really lacking the drama I wanted it to have. Oh well, it's still an improvement. Here are some more photos up close.






Now- for more exciting news. The floors on the main level are being refinished and polyed as I type. My promise to myself was to get these floors done this winter after I completed refinishing all of the woodwork on the first floor- which I did! Even more exciting, I purchased a gorgeous modular sectional to replace my hideous red couches. It's getting delivered this Friday and I'm so psyched. Here is a photo of the couch on the floor. It'll be in more of an L-shaped design at our place:



Last but not least, Quentin installed all of the lighting in the kitchen, and I painted it. What a difference the lighting makes. It really makes the kitchen flow more with the rest of the house. The lighting is soft and halogen vs. ugly flourescent lighting with a HUGE framed oak home made fixture. Here is a photo of the old light:



I'll post photos of the new lights once we are back in the house! Here are some photos of the fireplace before we touched it.


What a difference- right?

Did I say tiling was fun???

Well, I lied. Over the weekend, I began putting smoke gray blue glass tile going vertically on the face of the fireplace.... Ugh. I worked at it for 7 hours pretty much non stop on Friday and about 3 hours yesterday and I'm still not finished. This space is only 12 feet! The tiles come in a square foot sheet. I didn't want to just put the tile up there without cutting the sheet, because I thought it would look boring. I cut the sheets into strips and did a vertical pattern that alternates. It almost gives it a zippered look. Well, non of my spacers fit between the sheets (I got 2 different kinds) so I've pretty much had to eyeball everything, which has made this job more difficult than it needed to be.

Anyway, I am hoping to be finished with this project once and for all next weekend. I'll post some pics then.

Almost finished... but I just found another sanding project.

Well, I am almost done reassembling the baseboards and staining/ polying. The wood work on the first floor looks AMAZING! What a difference. I almost can't remember just how awful the old woodwork used to look. You would think I'm beginning to like sanding woodwork with this new project I've taken on. In fact, here is a glimpse of how dull and boring the old woodwork looked.

That is a floor grate made out of wood up against the baseboard in the dining room (which I've already refinished). BIG Difference. This is the new project I've taken on. I have pulled one of these apart already and plan on sanding it down this weekend. The floors on the first floor are sort of the last to do for us when it comes to woodwork. We plan on tackling those within the next month. Oy! 3 days of homelessness.

Here is a peak at how some of the other woodwork turned out:



Quentin also framed out the stairwell ceiling so that it matches the rest of the woodwork. We sort of assumed that it looked like this at some point before the gorgeous tiled ceilings we installed. Whether it's original or not, it's going to look amazing when it's stained and polyed.



This Friday we finish the tiling on the fireplace!!! Can't wait to have that complete!

We did it!

One final weekend of dust from sanding! We have completed all of the woodwork on the first floor. This has been bugging me since we bought the house 2 years ago. It's the messiest project, not to mention the dust makes us sick, but we're all done! We just have reassemble the baseboards and stain them as well as the doorway.

Here is the stain and first coat of poly on the last of the windows:




As you can see we still have some work left to do. The last dusty project is to refinish the floors. Hopefully they will be done within the next month or two.

Finally... Some Window Shades that Didn't Cost an Arm and a Leg

We are trying to get all of the loose ends rapped up with unfinished projects before our neighborhood progressive dinner on Saturday. So far we have completed the stain and poly on the front door and the front windows. What a difference! I can't wait until all of the wood has been refinished on the 1st floor. Once that is complete we will be refinishing the hardwood floors ourselves. I figure since it's just a sanding we should be able to do it. The upstairs needed so many repairs that it just wasn't worth our time and effort. Especially now that the dogs are becoming more and more potty trained with little to no accidents- It's just time.


Don't they look great!?!?

We are also waiting on a shipment of the glass tile we want for the fireplace, it's almost there!




Here are the new roman shades. Forget the $150 that I spent on the dining room shades. These were only $17.00 at Lowes. I think they don't look bad at all. They were the best quality roman shades I found at any of the retailers. Although the dining room shades do look pretty sweet:



Roscoe and Tito have been getting crated during the day which has been a huge help with marking. Check out Roscoe in his jail cell.

We're Just Getting Way Too Good at this...

This weekend Quentin finished the wood on the fireplace. I began staining last night. Look at how great it looks.



It almost looks like it was made for our home. This is such a differance from the boring brick that used to be on the fireplace. Of course this is just the first coat of stain so I am so excited to see the end result. We are hoping to finish the glass on the fireplace by sometime in the next 2 weeks before our holiday progressive dinner with the rest of our block. We have pretty much the best neighbors EVER! We'll see if we can afford the $400 it's going to cost for glass tile. Ugh! I swear the further you get along in your house projects, the more expensive the project. At the same time, the fireplace is now a focal point vs. an eye sore.

I also began sanding the front windows so we can finally get some new blinds and the front door. I'm so sick of dust from sanding. I will be happy to finish so we can stick with our schedule of getting our floors refinished this winter.

Tito and his little cousin Lola:

Just click on the thumbnails to enlarge. I think I finally figured this photo thing out.

Finally... A Weekend to Ourselves

We have been working and painting every single weekend for the last 3 months at our friends family home. We really could use the extra income and we are so lucky to have had the opportunity. We actually are beginning more work on their home in 3 weeks, so we are trying to get the fireplace finished before Christmas.

So far we are almost finished framing it in. I think it looks Sooooo much better. Image it with glass tile and stained. It will add so much more drama to the living room! Here is our progress so far.



And I just couldn't resist posting a photo of my little super model- Roscoe