We are making progress. At least that is what we are telling ourselves. The kitchen is done. Well, I need to paint the new sill and Ryan will install the trim. Then it will be done. It's nice to have a place to cook and a place to clean dishes other than the bathtub or creepy utility sink in the basement.
The project that consumed this weekend was the fireplace insert. Last weekend Ryan hauled himself up onto the roof a handful of times to put in flexible vent pipes. I helped him by sticking my arm up the flue to pull the tubes in so he can connect them to the fireplace insert. This week it is about getting the mantle ready.
We bought a mantle off Craigs list a few months ago. It will be pretty once it is painted but right now it is dark brown and looks like it was built in 1960. Kind of ugly. As always there were a few bumps along the way and the design changed. To keep the mantle from getting too hot we had to keep it a safe distance from the insert and to keep Ryan from having to dismantle the entire brick fireplace surround to have access to the gas he had to place the insert out further, closer to the hearth. Now the mantle is turning into a massive structure. We stopped and looked at it this afternoon and thought that the scale was off. Small living room, huge fireplace. So Ryan thought to tie in the fireplace and surround he would make window seats to flank the unit. The fireplace installation gave birth to a new project, built in window seats. He made one in the West Seattle house but this one will be a little different. How, we don't know yet. But I'm certain that it will be cute.