Brick Facelift

so we've got a decent amount of exposed brick in the house.  2 fireplaces, the entire east wall [from the entry to the top of the stairs] and one of the walls of the master bedroom [it goes up about 12ft too]

for years, the brick was covered in heavy plaster and mortar to hold it up.  the downside is that you couldnt see it.  the upside it that it was preserved in almost pristine condition the whole time.  so once we did demo, you could see the potential of what lay behind those old plaster walls.  just before they paint, the crew scrubbed off the remnants of the old stuff and brought out the true color of the brick.

it looks frikkin awesome.

all they have left to do is get a coat of polyureathane on the face to keep the brick dust from coming off and we're in business...i know, i know...i tried to not "over-do" it on the brick...but it just looks so damn GOOD.  it will go well with the painted walls [almost done!]

Our first "housewarming gift"

well....not really.

i got a call from my contractor Andre early one morning the other day.  which is unusual, since I'm the one who usually does the calling.

he tells me that there's a bunch of trash in the backyard next to the alley...so much trash that the construction crew cant get into the rear door [which is currently the only way to access the basement]

i tell him that I'll come over to check it out and make a beeline to see what all the commotion was about.

i can see why they were concerned.  there was a TON of trash!

mattresses.  desks. tables. chairs.  kids toys.  and a baby crib.

its as if someone was forcibly evicted from their apartment and they needed to get rid of their stuff so it got....

all dumped at my house.

motherfuckers!!!!

the crew wasn't going to move it, so i had to reach in and move it all solo....enough to at least un-block the stairway.  but before i did that, I called DC police, which, as you would guess, had nothing to offer to the situation.  i moved the stuff that morning and had a trash hauling dude pick it up the next morning.

i didnt really want to get it picked up so fast, because the culprit may think that this is a great place to put some shit and get someone to take it away for free.  but i also wanted to show my neighbors that WE MEAN BUSINESS  and wont tolerate that kind of crap.  it looked terrible, so we had an obligation to clean it up in a timely manner.

its a new day on Q street, partner....a new day indeed.  so....thanks, but no thanks, for the housewarming gift.

Prime-Time!

so, once the drywall is up, its time to spackle and prime.  get the old trowel out and spread that mud around dem grooves to make it all real smooooove.

i did happen to learn that theres a mixture of art, science, and patience when it comes to this stage of things.  you need to apply the mud, then let it dry a little....then put some more on...wait a little longer....etc. etc. etc.

so it takes a few days to get it right.  and they did.  so it all looks GREAT.

check it out here.  the ceilings won't  change much in color, but the walls will....they just got through with that today, so I'll post pics of that real soon [once I return to DC...currently in Cali-forn-ia]

next up: painting.  then wood flooring.  and THEN: we can actually start planning the move-in date

Betcha didn't know: we're also kitchen designers

so...we saw this kitchen in some fancy-ass magazine or something a few months back.  pretty cool open shelving concept.  but, like many initial ideas, they fall by the wayside as time goes by and the final decisions are made.  but not this one.  it kept its strong appeal up all the way, so we decided to find out a way to get it done.

upon showing this picture to several kitchen people, most of them said "ummmm....we can't do that....and we're not sure who can"

in our minds we're sayin' " SOMEones done this...why cant we?"  lets keep looking.

so then we got some quotes.  MASSIVE amounts of money.  and time.  no thank you, kind sir.

finally we decided: why dont we do this ourselves?  lets just find the shelves and mount them up on the wall.  maybe Jenny's Dad can give us a hand or maybe my construction crew can do it for us.

so we looked at Ikea, West Elm, Pottery Barn etc. etc. etc.  for some pre-fab shelves that can hold some weight and look good doing it.  easy installation is a must, too.

ummm...that wasnt going to work either.  those shelves are meant to hold pictures and candles....not plates and pots.  lets try again.

Jenny did some sleuthing and found a fella that actually makes these kind of shelves.  and they can hold a small automobile.  and they dont cost 50grand.  sold!

since they are custom, we needed to figure out the size of the shelves [length, width, depth, and thickness]

the pictures here show our process.  blue painters tape on the wall and a cardboard cutout to represent the stove hood.  low-tech, but it did the job.

so now the shelves are in production..we've even added lighting to the undersides.  they should be ready in less than 2 weeks.  check out the pics for a preview

Enter, this way

to date, the only way to get into the house is a whacky system that involves a heavy chain, a padlock, and a  rickety wooden door with a few strategic holes in it.  the previous owner used this system to keep the squatters out.  the chain wraps around the wooden door and the security gate outside of it.  a padlock secures the whole mess.  as the potential intruder tries to pull the outer door, the inner door shuts tighter.   kind of a neat little trick i suppose.

to get in [legitimately] you need to remove the padlock, untie the chain, and open the doors.  and thats how we've been doing it so far.

next week, that will all come to an end. we are going to [finally] get a big-boy front door with an actual door handle (!) that will allow us to enter in a more civilized fashion.

so here's an ode to the padlock and chain.  you will never be forgotten.

Drywallin'

so the time has finally come.  we. have. walls.

its kind of a big deal.

ok..it's a RELLY BIG DEAL.

the place is finally starting to look like a house!

very exciting.  the crew worked at lightning speed last week to get it all done.

I'm also very happy about how they left all the holes for my crazy wiring setup.  its all going according to plan, except, the downside is I'll need another whole weekend to do phase 2 of the wiring [wallplates, stripping etc.]  but that comes later

check out the new look of the interior here

UPDATE: here are the phase 2/final photos of the drywall too