Stress Induced Improvement

It's been a crappy day. Wife's stressed. I'm stressed. All kinds of things going on that we can't do anything about right now.

So I decided to start a project days before we have people over. I stripped, nay, peeled by hand, the paint from our mantle. YOu see, there are stains on it, and it bubbles every time we use the fireplace! It would seem that the original finish was that of stained wood. The previous owners painted right over it. So when it gets hot, it just bubbles! Yes, it's been driving me nuts. So tonight, out of an overwhelming urge to fix SOMETHING, I peeled the mantle.

It'll be a quick fix. Some sanding, some primer, maybe some paint over top. Honestly, I think the primer alone will do. Who's going to notice the difference between the white of the mantle and the rest of the trim (besides the two loyal Blog readers...).

It'll be fixed by Sunday...I hope...I mean I promise! :-)

Progress...of sorts

We remain bad at blogging. Sorry. In addition to our house and job woes, we can add computer problems. My computer only works by hooking up an external monitor. Seems my backlight is burnt out. Lauren's computer works, but it's really slow. So we rarely use the laptops anymore.

However, I FINALLY uploaded some photos!

Quick recap;

February we had a blizzard. It looked like this:

 

After the snow stopped falling, our house looked like this:

  

 

So some guys came to dry out the house...and then it looked like this:

 


In June and July, we got a new roof, followed by a new floor in the majority of the downstairs:

 

Now we've got work going on in the bathroom and it's really starting to come together! I'd show you those pictures too, but now it's getting late. It's been a long process, but really all the damage has been a blessing as far as the house is concerned. It's really let us make some improvements that we'd wanted to do for a while but couldn't afford. Thank god for insurance!

I know you're on the edge of your seats to see the improvements to the bathroom...that's going to be a whole series though... the demo, the prep work, the before & after... Ok, fine. Here's a sneak peek:

More soon....I mean it this time!

Progress Rescued from Setbacks

We have tile!!!
After a ... less-than-wonderful ... day, Lauren and I came home from work to find that the guys from Avalon Tub & Tile had laid tile in most of our kitchen and sunrooom! It's so nice to see it down. It's so nice to get an idea of how it'll look in the end.  It's just a relief to see it coming together.

We carried that good relief to a nice and relaxing dinner at Sarafino's in Crafton.  It's a BYOB Italian place.  It's amazing how a tremendous meal can simply elevate the spirit.  After the disasters throughout the day, it was just so nice to lose ourselves in a delicious Italian meal and some white wine.

When we got home from dinner, we found our neighbors and their wonderful children returning from vacation.  We were greeted with hugs from the kids and a giant piece of chocolate!!

Today had the potential of being destroyed from the very beginning.  By the end of the day, we're just content to see the floor coming together, to have happy stomachs, and to know we have some wonderful friends!! I can certainly go to bed content tonight!

New Beginnings!

It's our Two Year Anniversary!
Apparently we haven't updated this thing since October of '09. Well....quick update: December of '09 ... Tessa's birthday, followed by Christmas, followed by NEW YEARS 2010!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! WHEEE!!!

Which was followed by February 2010....Snowmageddon....it broke our house. Ice dams led to water coming in to the house which led to damage to the master bedroom, the master bathroom, the sunroom, the breakfast nook, the kitchen, the walk-in closet...

That's ok though. Now we get to remodel the rooms we wanted to eventually remodel with special funding from the insurance company...yay!!!

So where are we now?? Well...thanks to my cousin Rocco, we got walls and insulation over Easter. We are taking this opportunity to redo our kitchen floor along with the sunroom and breakfast nook.

Today is our Second Anniversary. Tomorrow we get a new floor throughout half of the first floor of our house! Suffice to say, the past few months have tested our patience and our nerve, but we've stuck together, worked it out and tomorrow we get new floors...oh and the new roof is going up soon as well. Honestly, this was a heck of a test so "early" in the marriage...but I'd say so far so good!!!!

The next project is the master bath, but we're still in the planning phase with our contractor.

Special shout out to both Jim and my dad for helping with the bathroom demolition! (I'll post some pictures soon.)

What else is going on? Well, I'm now 30. Special shout out to Jim for coming all the way in to Pittsburgh for my 30th. And major props to the wife for planning on awesome party. It was a great time!

Ok, we'll be better at this...more posts more often. In the meantime, Congratulations to Nate & Brooke, two of the best people we know, on their wedding this past weekend.