another post?! aka the final lap

okay, so this doesn’t really have much to do with the house. except to prove that we do actually get out and have some fun occasionally…

last friday we went to see ingrid michaelson play at the great american music hall. (i bought tickets back when we thought we’d be done with the house by now.) ingrid’s one of my favorite artists. we even had dinner there before the show! mathew calls her “ingrid michaelperson” he wanted that to be the title of this post, but that makes no sense.

(left) this is a photo of the ceiling. this is one crazy, ornate building, built in 1907. (right) the opening act was matthew perryman jones, all by himself with his guitar. we’d never heard him before but we loved him unplugged, impressive guitar skills with a voice that sounded like bono. during the break i wandered downstairs to meet him and tell him i liked his performance. he was very nice.

and then ingrid and her band played: THE MOST FUN CONCERT EVER.

lots of audience participation, stories and zany performances. mathew and i were cracking up the entire time. we can’t wait till she’s back in town. here’s a taste of what she’s like on youtube (but a little more subdued since it’s a morning radio show.)

the next morning we had brunch at jennifer and doug’s. sorry no photos! but they made us yummy breakfast burritos and smoothies and we stayed a little too long, talking and catching up. (left) that afternoon our friend mae came over to help with some paint stripping. she didn’t want her photo taken. i was going to blur out her face but it’s so small, it’s already blurry. (right) mathew buzzing away with the sander in the kitchen.

that night after dinner mathew went back downstairs and tsp’d the kitchen ceiling. (left) here mathew is showing how dramatically different the ceiling looks when cleaned. (right) so shiny! doesn’t that make you want to get up on a tall ladder and bend awkwardly backwards and clean YOUR ceiling?

on sunday the parentals were back to help. (left) my dad filled around the new outlets with grout he tinted with yellow paint to match the “vintage” grout. (right) my mom, big surprise, did more sanding.

(left) mathew stained doors in the garage. (right) i sanded in the kitchen. sanding seriously goes on forever.

the kitchen coming together… outlet cover plates! when we first moved in, this kitchen counter had one electrical outlet. ONE. and everything in the house was on this circuit, so if you used the toaster the lights dimmed. if you used the coffee grinder the lights dimmed. you get the idea.

whenever i think i’m going to take a spontaneous photo of mathew doing something, he moves! (left) classic mathew working photo. (right) please hold still. thank you.

that door that mae and i stripped has a big glass window that mathew wanted us to avoid with our heat guns, for fear of cracking the glass. he used chemical paint stripper on one side. not only is it a gross, smelly, toxic mess, but it doesn’t even work that well. mathew is thinking we’ll risk it and use heat guns on the other side.

mathew took tuesday off work and worked on the house. (left) i found him in the garage polyurethaning 3 doors. i tried to get a photo of all three at once but couldn’t fit them in. (right) the bathroom door in place. it is possibly the narrowest door i’ve ever seen.

(left) really pretty ORIGINAL door knob plate that was hiding under 95 years of paint! sorry, the photo is blurry. (right) mathew filling and putting the finishing trim pieces on this kitchen window frame. looks like there was some sunlight after a crazy, rainy morning.