I bought this house in November, 2014.
Before Pictures of House
It is an incredibly charming 3.5 story house + basement in Old City. It was built in 1894, which is 4 years later than the house Don and I had in Fitler's Square. Unlike that neighborhood in the late 1800's, though, this one was on the seedier side at the time. There were pawn shops about a block away, and the houses were very small without plumbing. (If you've been in my house, the entire 1/3 of the house in the back where my kitchen is and the 2 bathrooms were not originally part of the house). The house has 2 chimneys and 5 fireplaces. I have it on my list of projects to make at least 3 of them functioning again - one wood burning and 2 gas. It didn't need any work when I moved in, but there were elements that just weren't very me - particularly on the first floor. So, now that I've had a few years away from dust and house projects, I've decided to start again on operation "Make This My Home."
My first project that I'm tackling is among the most messy... I'm going to expose a brick wall in my first floor sitting room area by removing the plaster.
Chapter 1: Back to Home Depot (a.k.a. I have no tools anymore!)
When I moved out of the Fitler's Square house, I thought Don and I did a very fair job of splitting things up and he certainly allowed me to come back multiple times for things I had forgotten. However, I definitely didn't take that many tools at all! I didn't even have a respectable hammer, and I am pretty sure I took my pink tool belt at least, but I can't locate that either. :(
So, on Thursday, I placed an online order for store pickup at Home Depot to get everything I thought I'd need for my wall exposure project.
Here is the haul (although the shop vac is borrowed from a friend):
(By the way, I love in store pickup. It saved me several hours, and I didn't spend time aimlessly wandering the aisles looking for obscure items on my list and buying another 30 pack of paper towels that I thought I needed).
Most of today was spent in getting my tools and prepping my area. This part took approximately 5 hours. First, I had to move everything from the room to the basement. Then, I also had to move the A/V equipment, including my internet modem and my Xbox (source to watch Game of Thrones) to the third floor TV. Let me take a moment to pat myself on the back. I am not gifted in the area of audio visual. Thankfully, Tim is my friend, and he generally takes care of those needs for me. However, he lives about 45 minutes away. I'm very pleased to report that I managed to get it all hooked up myself!!! I have internet, XBox, Cable, and Wireless. This alone was a huge enough accomplishment to me to just call it a day... but I didn't.
Now to getting the work area ready. The worst part of home improvement is the dust. I purchased the zip pole system and a fan for the window and enough plastic to wrap the world in to keep the dust out of the rest of the house. It actually worked really well!
I spent three hours chipping away at the plaster. In the end I had about a 3 foot by 3 foot area completed. My hands are not in crow bar shape yet, but they will get there. It feels good to be using my arms more again.
Here is my album of the progress so far today. I'm trying to get as much done this weekend as I can, because it appears my neighbors who share that wall are away for the holiday. We'll see how much is possible. Plaster removal can be slow going. It kind of parallels any struggle in life. Sometimes you give it a solid whack with a crow bar and the wall doesn't budge. Sometimes you take a tiny chisel and an eight inch square section falls off. This is very Zen work.
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