Office Space

John got settled into his new home office this weekend. The burnt orange color that he chose for the walls was definitely a bit overpowering when there was nothing else in the space, but now that all the furniture has been added, it actually has a nice warmth to it. The lamp is a favorite from his childhood...so I'll be kind and call it simply "special."

A few photos of the newest completed room...

Consider this more cowbell…

John assures me there will soon be video to document our progress, but in the meantime, I’ll try to be as descriptive as possible to help fill the month-long update void. John and David have been logging very long and late Saturdays these days, with only the occasional break for Archie Moore wings. Really, the progress that they’ve made this past month has been considerable. If I had pictures or videos to post here, you’d be impressed…take my word for it.

I’ve been dreading the sanding and finishing of the floors since the day “I” moved all the furniture in. I understood why we were waiting (it just wouldn’t make sense to do the floors so early on when we knew we had so many potentially destructive projects ahead of us), but nonetheless, I envisioned towers of furniture, mounds of sawdust, and nausea-inducing fumes. Mainly, though, I was concerned about my own inability to maintain a sunny outlook in the face of clutter. Seriously, I don’t handle it well...

Actually, though, evidence suggests that perhaps I’ve matured a bit. Sure it was tough when I came home from grocery shopping last Sunday to find myself locked out and/or forbidden to walk in any room other than the kitchen…but luckily I had my US Weekly and a positive attitude to help bide my time while I waited for John to come home from the gym. Really, though, the anticipated sawdust was a non-issue, and even the fumes weren’t that bad. That said, John and David worked until almost midnight that night…they were two determined Capeces! And while they each insisted on pointing out any flaws that remained in the pretty damaged floors, I was quite happy in my ignorance. As far as I’m concerned, it looks shiny and warm and (did I mention?) shiny!

Not satisfied to have mastered the giant sander, this past weekend, the Capece Brothers revisited their trusty friend, the tile saw. This is because the long-neglected mud room (or perhaps pantry???) is getting a makeover. The details are still up in the air…including whether it will be a mud room or a pantry, but whichever route we go down, we know the space will include hooks, shelves and tile. It will be nice to have an attractive looking, easily-accessible storage area for all the seltzer water, match books and giant rolls of BJs tin foil that sadly don’t yet have a home.

Beyond all of this renovation progress, there has also been significant moving in progress. With the floors done, John has started moving the last of his things from his condo, and I was able to (yeah!!!) unpack my books. But you know, regardless of how many books we have, TV still rules in this household. John’s big screen made the trek to Smith Ave just in time for the Super Bowl (the Steelers won, right???). The TV has been joined in the family room by John’s couch and love seat which has been tried out in every possible configuration, only to have us settle on the very first set-up we tried.

So, if you’re lamenting the lack of videos and pictures, really, plan on coming by…you’ll really be floored.

Windows on the World

Holiday celebrations, sisterly visits, busy work schedules and illness (on John’s part) means that our updating to this blog is not taking place at nearly the pace that improvements are being made to our house. It is truly a completely different space than it was when we bought it. Then, if you had said, “Turn on the hallway light,” I would have spun around in confusion wondering what on earth you were talking about. Literally, there was no hallway. That has all changed. Credit where credit is due, I think it was Cousin Bill’s idea initially way back in the day to create a hallway. I have to admit, I nodded and asked probing questions to make it seem like I knew what he was talking about, but really I was baffled. You’re going to do what? But, at the time, I was enamored with the idea of a hallway, even if I didn’t know where it would start and end, or how it would be accomplished. Talk of this hallway has continued through all the projects that preceded it, and still I had no idea what this would entail or even what it would ultimately look like. Well, now I know…it looks like a hallway! But think about it…consider a space that has no hallway and think about just how you would go about creating one. It’s a bit of a mind bender, right? Basically, it takes a lot of sheetrock and a lot of vision, from as far as I can tell.

So, stay with me here…one space that included an oversized, enclosed room; a regular-size room that you needed to walk through to access the added-on family room; and a linen closet is now…a master bedroom with large closet; a guest bedroom; and an office (with a closet) off of a hallway that leads from the master bedroom down past the two other rooms, the linen closet and the bathroom into the family room. Really, trying to describe this is an exercise in futility, but I wanted to try to get it down because every day I feel like I’m forgetting a little bit more of what the original house looked like. Good thing John has endless video documenting the journey.

Yesterday also saw another long-awaited improvement. Our new windows were installed. John gave me the lesson yesterday in how to open them for cleaning. I’m not sure that I’ve ever cleaned a window in my life, and I’ve had some OLD windows…so, I’m pretty sure that these brand spankin’ new ones won’t need to be cleaned for a good long while, right!!??

Master-ful!

This entry is definitely begging for a picture…or better yet a video documenting the progress, but in the interim, let me just say that the master bedroom in this house has been utterly transformed. For those who didn’t see the original state of the house, this may be difficult to follow, but try to keep up. One BIG room (which clearly at one point had been two rooms, one having been added on to the original frame of the house) was broken up back into two rooms and a hallway. Ultimately, the newly created hallway will extend all the way (funny… “all the way” is a VERY relative term) to the family room, past another bedroom, which will be John’s office. So, for now, half the hallway is in place, with a completely finished, masterful master bedroom, with a big ol’ closet, beautiful “window treatments,” and freshly installed carpet. That’s right...we have our first finished floor! We moved John’s king-size bed in over the weekend, a little unsure of how everything would fit, but I tell you, it’s the nicest bedroom I’ve ever had. I love it, I love it, I love it!!! (she exclaimed in her best Molly Shannon impression) I also love that Amy is flying in tonight for Christmas and we’ve got her guest room all ready for her. Despite some real concern about the bed fitting in what can only be considered a “size-challenged” room, we figured it out, and now, not only does the room have a bed, night stand, rug and closet, it will even have a dresser. So, from “size-challenged” to downright cozy, I say.

Fix'n a Kitchen

Life of a Fireplace

Happy Thanksgiving

Our big milestone has been reached...after 8 weeks of working on our Home Sweet Home, John and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner for 14. And by all accounts, the house made a very positive impression. With furniture now in the living room (at least temporarily until the floors are tackled), our new majestic fireplace glowing, an immaculate bathroom, and an extensive (yet still intimate, I hope) Thanksgiving table, for the first time, 381 Smith Ave. felt like a home, not just a project. Mostly, though, I was just delighted to have a house full of people...people who really had very little idea what to expect when they walked through our doors, but they did it eagerly nonetheless. There were, of course, a few little hiccups...the new dishwasher was less than cooperative, and despite my "dry run" the day before, it turns out I just couldn't get everything to fit in the oven simultaneously. Oh yeah, and I accidentally served my father nuts and celery (though as far as I've heard, no Epi-pen was necessary). But why focus on the hiccups? It was a really wonderful and gratifying day...now let's get back to work! I need a bedroom! =)