You know how marathon runners talk of the last push to get to the finish line? (I say this like I actually talk to marathoners, which I don't. I'm waaaay too out of shape to hang with them. And I can't imagine running 26 miles. I can imagine eating 26 cookies though. And that, my friends, is a problem for another post.)
Anyway, what was I saying? So you know how they have to dig deep and just pull the energy out of their last reserves? That's where Mr. A and I are right now with the house. We're digging deep into the last reserves.
Moving out of the house to get the paint stripping done was really stressful. Mr. A had a crazy week at work, and the project I've been working on for my job for TWO YEARS finally launched in whirlwind of chaos. We also were dealing with some other stuff that I won't go into here, because believe it or not I do keep some things private. And all the while Audrey was teething and clingy. We didn't have to much wiggle room on scheduling though, so we reached our necks out and stretched for the finish line.
So worth it.
Take a look at the BEFORE:
And now the AFTER:
I want to give a special mention to the wonderful guys who did this work for us. I rarely plug anyone on this site (because you know, its all about ME, ME, ME) but Darrell and his brothers did a really fantastic job. They showed up on time, completed the project on budget, and were communicative and considerate. Their bid was significantly lower than others we got, yet the work was (as you can see) wonderful. They don't write up an elaborate contract or do fancy marketing. They just know their stuff. Which is why I feel compelled to market for them. Chicago Paint Stripping. 312-399-7813. Say Hi from the Andersons.
Ahead: New fence, staining, painting, and decorating!
Almost. There. Almost!!!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Paint Stripping: The Last Mile
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Hot
We're finally going to install a fence around our backyard.
I want to go on record as saying this is the sexiest picture of my husband, ever. 
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Just starting 27 weeks
Compare this to my 19 week pic, and wow.
And here's one for Beth...
(Also notice how nice the new stain looks on the wood door!)
Monday, September 01, 2008
Nesting (male version)
So you may recall we're in the last mile of our year-long construction project on the house. On this fine Labor day, I thought it would be appropriate to pay a tribute to my superhuman husband, who is, dare-I-say maniacally laboring on the house in order to get as much done as possible before the baby comes.
There's way too much to post here today, but here are a few highlights of his recent work:
1. Insulating inside the upstairs walls
2. Assembling my awesome new closet
3. New faucet
4. Staining the new back windows and door in the kitchen
Before:
After:
Plus a whole lotta other stuff:
The fireplace staining is by far his pièce de résistance:
Before:
After:
After all that, assembling a crib is so easy he only needs one hand:
Whew! Can you see why I got knocked up? Gotta keep this guy around!
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Thanks again, Mom and Dad.
Construction on the upstairs bedrooms is finally finished! To celebrate, I thought I'd share the photos below.
Years ago, my parents added an entire second story to our childhood home in LA. To this day, I remember how excited I was at the prospect of getting my own room (which is I'm sure what was going through my mind when my dad snapped this shot).
As excited as I look in this picture, I can assure you it is only now that I appreciate what an enormous ordeal that project must have been for my parents. Because here I am over 25 years later -- just as thrilled with progress on my own dream home, but in my head is "Holy crap. Yes it's great, but oy, we're going to be paying for it until we're 80, aren't we?"
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Yes, we're here. We're alive. Everything's OK.
We swear. It's just that shortly after Thanksgiving, our lives were thrown into chaos. We finally did it. We started the work on the house. Wanna see?
More to come. Soon. We swear.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
I *heart* Mr. Anderson
There are (obviously) a million and one reasons why I love Mr. Anderson. Tonight though, I especially adore and appreciate him. That's because this evening I learned this: cable and internet installation is a big pain the a$$. And in all our apartments/condos/houses over the years my lovely husband just handled it. Didn't say a peep.
Tonight at the new place I had to handle it myself. And I was clueless. So this wonderful man helped me troubleshoot my cable connection problems via *web cam*. Seriously! And then he helped me sort out what I needed to order to get it hooked up.
Mr. Anderson is the best.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Mind the gap
Now that the snow has melted our neighbors have the distinct pleasure of waking up to this view every morning...
Not pretty
It gets even more lovely when it rains. Mud flows down the street like a river.
In a classic move, Mr. Anderson decided that before we could call a landscaper he needed to understand what it would take to fill this trench himself. So he bought 800 pounds of dirt, brought it home, and began to fill the hole...
Here's the result of his work:
Needless to say, the professionals are coming in this weekend.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
High Risk Behavior
Friday night Mr. Anderson came home and decided out of nowhere that he needed to cut his hair himself. As you can imagine, that filled me with some anxiety. That was nothing, however, compared to the anxiety I felt Saturday morning when I saw this...
Sigh.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Architects
We've been interviewing architects so that we can begin the big kitchen project. It seems like such an overwhelmingly important choice. We absolutely love this house, but (on occasion) it really frustrates us. This person is supposed to help us transform it to the perfect house. They're supposed to fix it all. How on earth, after just an hour or two in an interview, are we supposed to know they're the one?
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Photos for a lazy winter afternoon
The weasels see snow fall for the first time...
The next morning...
Look! Icycles on the house...
This Yahoo slideshow on our snowfall has some local pictures.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Green!
We took advantage of the (likely last) good weather and painted the garage to match the house. Now all we need is some electricity so we can open the garage door.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Almost there!
I hope the neighbors are paying attention. Particularly the guy who lives across from our backyard. He currently likes to park his mini-van in the alley... and that's gotta change, buddy.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Awwwwh
Years ago, when my mom and dad remodeled their home in LA, they etched their names in the concrete outside. Every time I ever looked at it I couldn't help but smile a little.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Sunday, October 08, 2006
How we're getting rid of the wood
I doubt the people who designed the patio chimenea ever imagined one would ever take on just this much wood. 
But those people never met my FIL, R.
Those of you who do know R will immediately recognize this as a classic display of his pyromania God-given fire-building talent.
(Hey guys -- I'm not sure the flames are actually supposed to shoot out the top.)
In any case, in order to speed up progress on cleaning up our yard next weekend we're going to haul the giant heap of un-salvageable barn lumber and leftover trunk and tree bits to Homer G. and light up a proper bonfire in the woods.
My FIL is pledging it will be the biggest of the season. Which means the fine citizens of the HG (and its fire department) should consider themselves warned.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
What did Ringo do?
So we had an enormous storm last night. A storm so big it was one for the record books.
While the rain pounded down outside, we were curled up in front of the tv for a little Monday Night Football.
BAM!!!
At about 10 pm the we were jolted out of our seats by an enormous crash from the back of the house. The floors shook. The sound thudded in my chest. The rush of adrenaline hit me and thought "Earthquake!" (Hey, 30 years+ in LA will do that to a girl.)
I looked at Mr. A. He looked at me. And we both thought it. What in god's name could Ringo have just done? Did he knock over the fridge for Christ's sake?
In the kitchen everything was fine. I told J to check the back sun porch (half expecting that the thing had fallen off the house.) He swung the door open and everything looked fine... until...
a flash of lightening hit.
HOLY SHIT.
In brief glimpse of lightning we could see it: the beautiful old giant tree from next door -- flatly laid across our yard. Squashing everything in its wake.
A few minutes later we lost power.
Later we came to realize it took out a little chunk of our roof. And the patio furniture. And our grill.
In a situation like that there's only one thing you can do -- crack open a bottle of wine. Or two.
Truth be told that grill sorta sucked anyway.
More photos of the scene on Flickr.
