A Halloween Fire

Link to pictures from the last few days

I'm sitting in my front room, typing this on my Chrome Cast with "Haunted Histories" on in the other tab.  There is a curled up dog at my feet, an empty glass of wine (soon to be replaced with some bourbon) on the bench beside me, a brimming full basket of chocolate on my dining room table (since I had no trick or treaters), and most importantly - a crackling fire behind me and to my left.

After a year of living here, I owe this beautiful evening to a number of things - to Hearth and Stove for the chimney work, to Earthstone Tile Works for the beautiful tile and installation work (and to Allison for recommending them), to Nate for recreating my wall, to Jen and Jon for the massive assistance in getting me firewood, and to the interesting combination of my parents for the fire starters and for giving me the "determined" personality I have that doesn't give up on projects - even if it takes awhile and even if they sound a little crazy.

After all the time and money for this particular project, I'm very aware that it may seem ridiculous to some people.  After all... a fire can seem like a small thing, especially in the era where we don't really need it for heat in most places.  I have central air and gas heat.  I'm not going to freeze to death.

However, to me a fire is hospitality, warmth, love, and life.  It is where the creative spirit and the destructive force of the world unite.  It represents the core of what I hope my home is to those I choose to invite into it.

With all the legitimate and real problems in the world, it may seem trivial or even selfish to put energy into any of our personal projects.  I may not ever be able to do anything about those greater problems, but if I can share of myself and my home with people I love, it will be adding something to the cosmos and to my personal relationships.   The completion of this project helps me towards that goal.

Happy Halloween!

Day 2 - Fireplace Tiling Project

The quality of work is apparent when the worker even takes pride in the parts that will not be seen by most people.

At the day of day 2, the main body of the tile is setting.  Tomorrow, Jason will remove the wood frame and put the marble on the inside.

He is amazing!

Day 2 - Tile Project

Day 1 - Fireplace Tiling Project

I didn't sleep very well last night, so my 5:00am wake up call turned into 5:40am.  As a result, I ran into Jason in his truck as I was walking back from the gym.  It was still dark by then, so I'm sure he was a little freaked out by the sweaty white girl in a white fur lined hoodie telling him she had an unmetered parking spot saved for him.  He played it off.

It turns out that he didn't need the saved spot, because, as is the case with any good house project, he had to make 3 trips to Home Depot (or Lowe's... I'm not sure how he rolls), so he never violated the 2 hour limit.

Today, his goal was to unload the equipment and get the wall to the point where it was framed out the approximately 3 inches required to make the tile flush with the wood panel surround, and to have the cement board installed and ready for the tile.

Our first challenge of the day happened when he realized that the wall above the floor panels was all one solid piece!  He, Nate, me, and the Hearth & Stove guys when they were here doing their work all assumed that all of the panels just snapped off like the lower 2 did.  Not the case.  

He was able to remove the crown molding himself, but then called in Nate (the carpenter) to help him disassemble the rest.  This turned out to be a good thing, because Nate could see what he would be working with as he fitted the remaining panels around the tile and also how to reassemble it.

By around 11:30, they were finished with that and Jason started building out the wall.  (But first he made another trip to the store for plaster anchors, since the central part of the wall under the panels was solid plaster).

He made good work of that but ran out of framing wood around 2:30pm so he called it a day and will return first thing in the morning to finish the framing and start the install!

The whole project should be completed this week, and I'm very excited.  It will look awesome!

Here is my album from today of the build out work and the thoughts behind that.  I really like both of these guys.  They are great and easy going and really flexible when something doesn't go as planned.

Day 1 Album

Prepping for the Tilework

I had a very busy weekend, but it was a nice weekend.  I mostly focused on prepping the house for the first floor fireplace tile work that is set to start tomorrow and in running all the errands for the non perishables and liquor needed for the upcoming happy hour I am hosting in early November and the family Thanksgiving.  For the latter, I needed to make sure I had enough glassware, drinks, mixers, and a place for everyone to sit!  For the former I needed to remove and cap off two sconces and an outlet from the fireplace wall so that the remaining wood panels could be removed and the tile could be installed!

Many thanks to Bryan and Ethan from work for providing me with a refresher on electricity so that I could complete that work.  I'm always inordinately proud of myself when I do anything involving electricity or plumbing, even if it is the simplest project.  Those concept don't come easily to me.

Tile work starts at 7am each morning, so I'm not sure I'll make it through the entire Eagles game tonight!  That means a 5am wake up for the gym to ensure I get everything done in time so that Jason can arrive at 7am and I can start work after he gets settled.

I'm very excited for this project!  When I moved into the house almost exactly one year ago, I had many visions for the front room, and they are coming to fruition now!

Here is a very boring album of my electrical projects from the weekend.  I'd post pics of my liquor store and glassware run, but that is just embarrassing ;-)

Prepping for Tilework