change of color

Taken by Mom, who is holding down the fort while I'm away.
(showing the first coat of Kilz primer) So long putty brown...

Merry Christmas!

Floorz

We had the floors patched where the stairwell was on the 2nd floor)and
the treads on another staircase refinished. Both came out awesome! And
the final coat on the top floor. It's getting there!

Fredrick Bartley at 5 Highland - wherever you are, you're a GREAT MAN!
Thanks for the amazing seats!

a big week ahead

With the heat being turned on in an hour, we can resume the work that
has been postponed because of the cold weather. (painting, plastering
and flooring) Today Joe says he'll be "hackin and slashin" the old
water and waste pipes to make room for the new plastic ones. Rocky
will be buttoning up the kitchen lighting and outlets. Ma and I will
be somewhere in between. Floor guys come back Wednesday to begin the
entire second floor and touch up the third. Also doing the stair
treads! And I'm leaving for California on Thursday a.m. So the next
three days will be pedal to the metal!

Comic strip in roxbury building department.

Bought this stove off CL. Now we wait for the kitchen gas lines to be
turned on.

Ornament removal

This medicine cabinet which came with the house had a little surgery
last night... and now he's feeling much better.

A Sink!

I found this puppy at Building Materials Resource Center in the hood.
It's perfect because:
1. It ends my quest for a non-wooden surface around the sink area
(where was thinking concrete $$)
2. It's recycled
3. Stainless steel is clean and easy
4. That little pink sticker says $65

Sheet rock: up

Decided last minute to throw up some Sheetrock in our bedroom for a
nice clean slate (and liking the cool grey color of the sheet rock)
almost done upstairs? Maybe...

Mantle: in!

Where we exposed some brick in tge master bedroom, there now stands a
tall mantle that has hidden hookups for a flat screen tv. Not that I
condone TVs in the bedroom, but for some lucky bachelor/ette this will
be a baller pad!

You sexy thang you...

No not you Joe the plumber- the new high efficiency boiler is
installed! It'll be turned on next week- unless it goes back to 70
degrees in Boston.

Sheetrock stars

So were scratching the wallpaper idea. Instead the whole living room
will be sheetrocked. No more wallpapers!

Floors are being sanded

It's starting to feel like a home again! The Vietnamese and Dominican
tag team knocked out these floors in a day. The space feels so much
brighter without all that brown paint, I only wish there was a way to
keep the raw matte finish of the wood (in the last photo is them
adding a few layers of poly.) Maybe in the kitchen we should try that.

Finding more tin!

Above the old pantry on the first floor is a hidden section of tin
ceiling that's in great shape. While it might be difficult to restore
this one section, we could certainly use the crown pieces and tin
panels to repair the kitchen's tin ceiling where it has been damaged.

Don't stop till you get enough

Exposing some more brick! This time in the kitchen. We planned to
strap and plaster that far wall, but it's way easier to strip it down
to the bones. We finished installing a glass door and found a transom
window that fit perfectly above it. Both items came from Building
Supply Warehouse in Peabody for a great price. Stayed tuned for a
replacement window on the right hand side.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The new color!

It's name is 'Distant Thunder'.

White bathroom begins it's transformation

Kitchen Final?

Now that a couple weeks have passed since our kitchen overhaul, we had a chance to reconsider the galley-type kitchen in such a large space. We did a mock up and came to the conclusion that it would take too much work to make the large reclaimed table work, and all the peripheral space around the giant table became disconnected and choppy. So yet again, we pushed the cabinets to the peripheral walls, this time moving the fridge to an inside wall, which allows more counter and cabinet space around the sink area.

Here are the three major elevations to the kitchen. Our cabinet material is between a black-finished oak, or a painted black laminate. I think we're leaning closer to the oak, since it will be a material used elsewhere. The countertops are all maple butcher block, except for the sink area, which will be in concrete (potentially pouring the slab ourselves!)

In the corner to the left of the sink, we are installing pegboard, which can be used to hang a number of things. Might even add a low shelf or two on the pegboard wall for more common items, like drinking glasses and mugs.

On the fridge wall, we are still playing with the height of the backsplash, if theres any, and the size of the glass window to the right. we're debating whether it makes sense to install an old stained glass window as opposed to glass block.

On the dining room side of the kitchen is a 3 or 4 foot counter that would be used for breakfast and more prep space for cooking.

I think i like this layout the best. what do you think?

A closer look

Sunset reflection from the hancock tower

Bedroom cabinet After

In the middle of refinishing

Billy Masterson hard at work!

Bedroom cabinet Before

In the smallest bedroom (which at one point ajoined the master
bedroom) has a little cabinet that had glossy dark lacquer all over
it. Happy with how the other bedroom cabinet came out, we stripped the
finish off.

Finished refinishing the cabinet in our bedroo

A long week of running pipes pays off

Joe the plumber and I spent the last few days running pex tubing to
all the new radiator locations. What made it a whole lot easier was
using the old heating ducts as a chase for all of the pex, since it
runs from the basement to the top floor in one straight line. It will
also make the electrical work much easier.

Primative intercom.

Which will be fully functional once we blast the dust and crayons out
of them!

Ye Olde Number Three

Eventually, I'm going to restore the brass number on our front door
which was once painted with a '3' - what color should I have it painted?

Staying inventive is the key to success

Especially when eating Indian leftovers

Discovered some post and beam!

No wonder why the floors are so solid.

Stained glass window from the side

I think I found someone who could fix this window. Those dark squares
are where someone patched the holes with xrays of a skull. And it was
a daycare before we bought it. Hmm...

Floor repair

Started infilling the wood floor where the walls separated the dining
and kitchen. 'im thinking of reusing the boards I'm pulling up to make
a counter surface for that kitchen. What do you think about wood as a
counter material?

Nearly done exposing brick!

I am starting to imagine what the view from the couch will be like.

And some more.