The Man Cave

I asked MaryAnn to find a place for Pete's bull head (Willie) and his stuffed fish. And guess what?? After a quick scan of the condo, she opened the door to the back stairwell and said ... "out here." Ha! So Pete now has a man cave! Complete with a dumbwaiter turned bar.

Cleaning Machine

MaryAnn whips us into shape. She cleaned every inch of the house! She also decorated every room. Yay!



Breaking in the Kitchen

Rob and Pete with their first stab at steaming fresh lobstahs.  

The Great Wall

Meredith works her magic on the big wall...once again. 

The canvas

Laying out the photos

Moral support

A Fresh Take

The desk from when I was 8 years old was a little outdated. It was time for a facelift. Pete and I even built a shelf to make it a corner desk.

Painted the drawers one shade lighter than the main frame.

Fish...just for Pete.

The Survivors

The Giffords survived the condo in its original state. Ghew. Who likes bottled water and urine soaked bathrooms?

Mama k was hard at work over Thanksgiving ...

with the pilgrims at Plimouth plantation. Love you, mama!

Kaylyn and Justin visited for New Year's.

Painting buddies!

Kuhlmann got cozy on the couch in the middle of the demo. But we took him to a Celtics game to make up for it ... and he seemed to enjoy Pete's version of the Freedom Trail - The Drinking Trail.

James and Jo visited from D.C. and survived "european" bathing. What we called - soaking. No shower - just a tub and a sprayer. 

Jake and Kate came all the way from Geneva for the labstah.

Auntie Di, Ria and Thomas came to visit. We took an excursion to the Cape.

But the real troopers are ... 



I'm not sure what Osa would deem worse - the dusty, noisy remodel or the unrelentless snow. She ran straight to the pool in Florida when papa k and she arrived home at 2 a.m. You know it's bad when the dog is fed up. 



Quality time.


Five months of non stop, hardwork ... and papa k was all smiles.

We wrote an amendment to the contract for the shoveling. Or he's just an EXTREMELY great papa.



"My limit is 13 trips up and down the steps in a row." ummm, papa k, my limit is 2!

There was some relaxing.

I really miss my design consultant!

And the biggest non-survivor ...

Pete's clothes. But I hear being covered in paint is "in."

Progress

It's a good sign when you start to hang things on the walls. The "mudroom" was the first room to be dressed up with wall hangings.

Thinking about Grandma Anna with one of her paintings in the upper right of the collage.

Communal Love

The renovation has not been limited to the 3rd floor condo. The house has come together to slowly gussy up the common areas.

The crumbling wallpaper has been taken down and painted. The banged up wainscoting has been cleaned up with white paint.

Aluminum poles have been replaced with wood poles and railing out the side door. Nice work Brian and Pete!

New hallway fixture.

Pete is taking care of the yard. Thank goodness!

It's Just Like Christmas!

But instead of wrapped presents ... it's boxes and boxes and boxes from storage ...

Pete is excited to be reacquainted with our stuff. This is his Christmas morning face.

Finshing the Floors

We took the the floors from dingy white pine to sleak ebony black.

Striped and ready to go.

And the stain is on ...

The furniture had to go somewhere ...

 

and so did we. Very cozy!

Pocket Doors Get a Face Lift

We painted the molding white, and sanded and stained the doors Ebony.

Before

After