In the Details

Bren and I came back to town eager to work after Oregon. The problem? A Summer that's shaping up to be Denver's hottest and driest to date. The result? We have turned into sluggish basement-dwellers on an all-popsicle diet.

But we have managed to make some progress despite the heat. First, we put base moulding in the living, dining, and bedrooms:



And register covers. In three places, older and larger holes were covered with odd-sized fixtures that I knew it would be difficult to find. I spray painted them with a metallic paint to match this one, and it actually worked!

In the bedroom, Bren installed a ceiling fan.



We got it on clearance at Home Depot, but the blades were really dark, so I painted them, too.

Incidentally, Bren has begun yanking old wiring out of the attic and replacing it. He's really gotten the hang of it! I'll let him expound, though.

I painted in the hallway between the bedroom and bathroom, and Bren installed a new light fixture (but we saved the original 1920s globe):



I want to cover this hallway in black framed black-and-white photos, so I was looking for a color that would make the pictures stand out and go well with the floors. This one was called "[something] Khaki." I liked the color OK for this purpose, though I normally eschew all things neutral, but I found that I was hesitating because of the name. Khaki...visions of school uniforms and a not-so-flattering Fight Club reference petrified me. Then Bren said that was silly and we bought the stuff.

As it turns out, the color looks more to me like Winnie the Pooh. I don't know what's worse...

In the dining room, the ceiling was the last of my plastering project I needed to finish and paint. It was still showing some ugly texture, but I refused to put up another layer. I hoped a few coats of primer and flat paint would mask it enough, but it was so hot and muggy the paint bubbled up and peeled off of the plaster. So we drywalled the @#%W#&% thing.



Drywalling overhead is ridiculous. But this job is our best so far. Now we've finished and put up double crown moulding:



Nice. I'm excited to start putting up some art. Tomorrow I'll begin work on the built-in bookshelves. 15 boxes of books are roasting in the bonus room.

I think I may have forgotten how to read...