Victorian In Bloom

Demolition, Day 1 & 2

It has happened. The point of no return has been passed. No turning back. Thanks to seven of our friends who turned out on Saturday for 5 hours of smashing fun :)

I literary do not remember ever being so physically tired in my life as after Day 1 of demo. I could barely lift my hands – I don’t even know how the dudes fared since they were actually lifting and heaving heavy stuff.… Read the rest

We’ve Got a Hole! Hooray!

Looks like we won’t have to take apart the chimney after all. Although it does indeed exist on the roof as well as the second floor bedroom, it was actually taken out in the kitchen! I wont count our lucky stars because who knows what surprises await us, but for now, this is definitely in the plus column.

Another plus? this was kind of fun (smashing things up almost always is) and took just a few minutes from start to finish.… Read the rest

Tin-tastic Ceiling

While we wait for the kitchen work to get underway, I have been working on cleaning up salvaged tin ceiling panels that we got at the brass knob warehouse before they closed shop last year (check out the stacks of ceiling tiles they used to have).

we have seen a number of houses in our neighborhood with the original tin ceilings still in place; they look pretty similar to these.… Read the rest

Demolition Talk

To save some money (the estimates for demolition were all over 1k) Sergey and I plan to do much of the demo work ourselves. Here’s the plan, which will probably take about a month to complete (and since it will take 4 to 6 weeks for french doors to arrive once ordered – the timing works), and should –hopefully–be all done by our 1 June start date:

1) Check to see if there is an old chimney concealed behind kitchen drywall.… Read the rest

Phase II Renovation Start Date

Well we’ve finally done it – we made a decision on contractors – the plural here is the key part. The short story is: it’s complicated – we will be working with several different outfits: a builder for structural stuff, an electrician for a heavy up, and a firm to do the rest of the actual kitchen. We have penciled in 1 June as the start date!

The long story is that its too expensive for us to hire one-stop-shop pro.… Read the rest

How To: Built-In Shelves (part II)

We have made quite a bit of progress on our built in shelving unit this weekend. The first word that comes to mind to describe is HUGE! I mean we knew the dimensions (obviously) before starting but to see it in person, is really awe inspiring. Anyway, back to the actual progress report.

We are following directions from This Old House on how to make built in shelves, and so far with very good results.… Read the rest

How To: Built-in Shelves (part I)

Yep still waiting on contractor bids. As in progress is sllllooooowwwwww. Under the original timeline we were supposed to be almost done with demo right now. we don’t even have a start date. sigh.is this normal? is it how it usually happens for everyone else?

there was some progress elsewhere though! the dinning room built-in shelves. we have purchased two Ikea kitchen cabinets that will form the base of the built-in.… Read the rest

Birthday time!

It’s my birthday, and I couldn’t be more excited for my presents this year ( well actually I love presents all the time and of any kind for any occasion, but I digress).

First up, is this special lady:

A Pink Flapper painting by Jenny Bellin. Not sure where she will go yet, but so excited to own my first ever piece of art.

Aaaand, Sergey has promised to build me a built in shelves in the dinning room.… Read the rest

Contractor Thoughts

We are this close to having everything finalized. We have had two contractors come out, two more are on deck.

Already I know we made (or actually repeated) a mistake with contractors. We want at least three, better four, good estimates to compare. Should have lined up 5ive to six names to call right away. Instead we had three-ish (one that came out to do a kitchen estimate awhile ago). So we have received two estimates, waiting for one more, and meanwhile now have two more builders come out this week.… Read the rest

Maslenitsa

Happy, happy Maslenitsa celebration. Maslenitsa is a Russian mardi gras – a celebration of the end of winter with blini (paper-thin pancakes, similar to crepes). Its an old Russian holiday; the celebration lasts about a week, with a different custom each day, at the end (this sunday) is the big end, with a bonfire where people burn an effigy of winter in teh bonfire.

Here’s how it went for us this year:

Otto helping with prep work