Articles with friends & family

The Otto Renovation – Check it out edition

Every week, Monday-Friday from 7 am to 6 pm Otto cat spends in our bedroom, because we made the decision early on not to mix cat and construction, particularly since workers go in and out of the house, and while he is allowed outside, we are still trying to figure out the best approach to take on that front and for now prefer that we know when he goes out. All of that is a long winded introduction to the new and constantly changing world that Otto finds once we get home and let him out.… Read the rest

Weekend Warriors

In between our awesome trips, hanging out and hosting- through the entire renovation process, really – friends and family, we continue working on our end of the renovation process. This entails mainly thankless tasks that are hard to get wrong – demolishing, stripping old paint, priming and painting, and of course endless of hours of research of how tos (plaster) and best products ( kitchen hardware has been the bane of my existence).… Read the rest

How to: Penny Tile Floor

Awhile back – actually way before any concrete plans for this renovation materialized –  I came across these pictures of penny-tile floors and thought – that might be cool thing to do at some point somewhere in the house. Sergey was totally on board. In fact, I think he actually sent me a picture of the penny time floor for inspiration. It’s not that often that we agree on a particular project or look from the very beginning so this idea was definitely filed in the “for sure, maybe” file.… Read the rest

Building Blocks for Adults – Ikea Kitchen

We have been plugging away at putting together our 18 building blocks of fun, i.e. our Ikea kitchen cabinets. (More on why we chose Ikea here). And by we I mean Sergey and friends. And by fun I mean until it starts being a total pain and is fun no longer (a fair share of time). Here’s Kirill -he’s actually been an all around super helper:

And Chris and Tricia dropped by Sunday:

And our dear friend Peter, just off the plane from London where he spent the last two years.… Read the rest

Construction days 20-24: July 4th edition

Hope everyone had a nice fourth – ours was great, we actually had about 15 people over to grill and watch fireworks. Our roof view is privy to a pretty spectacular amateur show in addition to the national display on the Harbor and the Mall.

Pictures by Sergey from 4 July 2011, please stand by for this year’s link.

Anyway, progress has been slow and steady on the construction front; Sergey is actually very pleased with the quality of the work.… Read the rest

Stripping Away

We are in a serious stripping phase – out with the old paint, in with the new paint. In between – a whole lotta effort with every stripping paint method known to man (well, almost).

First up we have the old/new bathtub, which had to make it upstairs before it could begin its rejuvenation process (thanks neighbors!):

I was worried for a bit that it wasn’t cast iron because it only took three men to get it up the stairs.… Read the rest

Demolition Day 6

I think we have reached the point where demolition, renovation, and in general the house — isn’t so much fun anymore, and in fact, we would like nothing better but stop breaking things and stop camping out and get on with fine living. Oh and blogging about this is also getting tedious. But show must go on. whine or not.and blogging will too, so i can remind myself in the future what it takes to do house.… Read the rest

Demolition Day 5

With our expanding plans, we are spending saving more money..on the demolition! Yep, it was time for the upstairs bathroom to come out. Our friend Kirill, who has been a superstar helper and hanger outer, came to lend a hand.

On Friday I cleaned out our bathroom, which actually give our tight space constraints already was a task in and of itself. Here are some before shots:

On Saturday, I took the first swing at the pinkbeige tile.… 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

Russian tea and coffee

The spread; unfortunately I forgot to get the picture of the actual pancakes

and of course the Maslenitsa doll, in all her glory and ready to end winter

Emily making the Maslenitsa doll:

  

Otto is done for the day!… Read the rest