Wednesday, July 30, 2008

some thoughts on the project.

no pics this time, just a quick post to say that life is moving forward at ourbrooklynhome. we're in kind of a transition phase, i think. we're all still settling in/getting used to having our own apartments, and cindy and i are setting up house for the first time ever by ourselves (this place was our second communal home since being married). the third floor apartment is 99% complete, and i will post pictures of it soon to prove it. it feels very nice, we love it. this weekend we ordered take out and watched a movie in our living room...it felt so normal and special and celebratory to be doing something like that in our own clean space!

spending the last month or so working on our own apartment has been an interesting experience. i feel really lucky that we got to design our own space, and pick out furniture and fixtures, etc., that we picked because we like them, they represent some expression of our personalities. at the same time, i've felt sort of overloaded by spending time and attention on material things; especially when outfitting the apartment with chairs, curtains, etc. i realized i've never spent this much time or energy on thinking about my shelter/housing before, at least not all at once the way we have over the past few months. i think a lot of this has to do with feeling shell-shocked from multiple trips to ikea. those of you who have been there, you know the exhaustion that no amount of cheap swedish meatballs can assuage. still, thumbs up for ikea.

we're gearing up for some demo work on the fourth floor in august. more on that as it develops. i'm recommitting to posting more frequently too.

Monday, July 14, 2008

new countertop


we installed butcher-block counter top in the third floor. we likey.
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4th floor tub

before i forget; we rented the duplex out! june 15th came and we successfully have renters in place. another reason why we've relaxed a bit.

but, not before we tackled the 4th floor tub. as you can see in the pics, the tub was in REALLY BAD CONDITION. yes, this was the tub our previous renters used. no, they never complained. and if anyone has been following this blog for a looong time, this is the same tub we tried to re-porceanalize. it didn't work at all. frankly, it was a bloody mess. so, we took it out and replaced it. of course, once we took the tub out, we found some gross pipes full of hair and gook, and a couple or disentegrated pipes.

no pics, here, but we did successfully install a new tub and retiled the area around the tub.

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the fence



here's some pics of the fence thabo and his grandpa built, that effectively gives our new tenants a bit of private backyard space. it was a bit of a quick fix, but it does the job and didn't involve any plastic fencing.
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a lull. catch up time...


so, this poor blog has been neglected for ages! no excuse, except to say that life in this house is constantly changing, and the past month or so has been one of change. as the pressure has decreased to get projects finished, other parts of our lives have pressed in, and on top of that, i think we've all just needed a minute to NOT think about house projects.

these pics are a bit dated now, but continue the progression. third floor apartment kitchen being installed, with paint done and cabinets being put in.

our friend greg stopped by to say hello from texas, and we promptly put him to work helping to move cabinets around. thanks, greg!
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