Architecture, of all the arts, is the one which acts the most slowly, but the most surely, on the soul. Ernest Dimnet
I asked Dan to hang this chandelier in our entry hall for my birthday. It had been in the garage for two years. There were other projects that came first, it was not his fault! But one thing leads to another and now he has refinished and repainted the walls (twice) after having replaced some of the drywall because he found some mold that had been painted over by prior occupants.
The window and door trim has been sanded down and is being refinished and one of the doors is fitted and being finished to match. The tile is almost ready to grout. But geeze, he had to break out a lot of heavy, old, poorly installed tile and haul it out, level the floor so that it matches the room next to it for future tiling, and really, it turned out to be quite a lot, but, it is becoming more and more beautiful. When I bought this chandelier to match the other two and the rest of the lighting I had no idea what would transpire …
Like this project, which came first:
Or this one, where he custom built a deep pantry cabinet with pull out shelves and built in microwave, which meant he had to run wiring and made it possible for us to store more than you can imagine:
Or later when he installed this lighting in the kitchen:
The kitties like to keep track of what he is doing:
That door is new and will be stained to match the stairs and trim.
The tile is almost all in:
There are just a few to set on the risers and then the grouting will begin. That is a cat door he built that goes to the kitty boys private latrine.
Dan never has any projects. Really. So while he missed getting the entry hall done for my birthday on November 6th, I have no complaints. If you hear me complaining, slap me, please.
I nearly always agree with Ralph Waldo Emerson, but in this he is wrong:
“Art is a jealous mistress, and if a man has a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture or philosophy, he makes a bad husband and an ill provider.”
Monday 11-16-09 Update:
This is a really messy process, but all that mortar does clean up with water.
The wood trim takes multiple steps of measuring, cutting & mitering, sanding, staining, finishing, sanding, finishing, sanding, finishing and finally nailing and filling the nail holes so they disappear as much as possible. I am thinking that this will be done sometime this week. I hope.
Appetite, with an opinion of attaining, is called hope; the same, without such opinion, despair. Thomas Hobbes
Results FIRST posted 05-24-10
One of the reasons we wanted to remodel this area was so that we had a place that was worthy of this painting.
Click on any of these photos below to enlarge your view.
More About Remodeling Toad Hollow
Toad Hollow Journal 