Dear Sister, Wish You Were Here

I have been working on a lengthy post to show you some of the things I have been doing.  But it is not ready yet, because I am so excited about what we are doing right now I can't stop working long enough to sit down and finish it.  This is just a quick peek at what I am so excited about because I can't wait to show it to someone!

When we dropped the shelves in today, I actually squealed and hugged my helper.  The helper just grinned.  By the way, when I say our or we, it surely isn't the absentee husband I am referring to. 

Now that I am looking at the photo I realize that I should have put all the trim back up.  We have all the trim cut, dry fitted and ready to attach.  It will just be easier to paint the shelves before they go against the new paint on the wall.

Dear Sister, Ima havin' a paint party tonight, wish you were here!

Just to refresh your memory, this is how the fireplace looked when we purchased the house.  It actually looks so much better in this photo than it did in person. 

Everything was cracked, drooping and very tired looking.  The ledge thingy pretending to be a mantle was about 5 inches wide and came to just above my waist when I stood on the little raised wannabe hearth.   I mean how can you properly decorate a 5 inch wide ledge!  The matching ledge thingies in the insets were too low to put a book shelf in and the top of them had been really messed up in the move, so you could not set anything on them.  The surround is 6" generic tile that look more like they belong on a bathroom floor.   The whole thing looked a little a bit like this.

Sad.  So sad.  Definitely needed some updating.

Tomorrow we should get the left side upper shelves pretty much finished.  That is if I get in there and get them painted!  Oh, and that lovely light is on its way out the door too.

Just to clarify the absentee husband remark.  M is very involved in a big project at work right now.  He is getting home in time to go to bed every nite and then back up and out the door a couple of hours before dawn.  Twelve hour days are the norm right now, 6 days a week.  Yep, Saturday's are not being spent at home.  He does try to help some in the little time left of his weekend but the man has to rest sometime! 

Before I go, just one quick photo from the kitchen.  (the kitchen is probably about 98% finished and I really am working on a long post about it but there is a lot to write about! )

Got these up to commemorate October.  They hang on the wall next to my baking area.....Mother's handwriting, peach cobbler and fudge!    Nuff said.

Going to paint.  Kitchen photos soon.  Promise.