On Saturday, approximately 6:30 p.m. I cleaned the last bit of grout off of the last brick. I then laid down the cleaning rag and shouted WooHoo! And then I proceeded to giggle with glee. I am finished. I have spent the last year and a half of my life refinishing this fireplace (First removing white paint, and then re-grouting). Ok, so I didn't work through Christmas, the Summer, or School Holidays. I also had about a month last October where I was on crutches. And then in November, I fell off the ladder and it hit me in the nose. That kept me out of commission for a few days. (On a side note, I still can't breathe right anymore. I think I probably broke it. Maybe I'll have to get a nose job, like Brian did.) That's why it took me so long. I can pretty much say with absolute certainty that I will never grout anything ever again. There has been some talk at our house about putting down tile in the bathrooms. Guess what. I will not be grouting it.
I tried to get a picture of the entire fireplace, but it was hard. The picture above I took because it shows the pit, but then I cut off some of the side shelves. This picture I tried to get a straight on view, but the couch is blocking some of it. Maybe I should have moved it before I snapped the photo. Anyway, I am done.
I wish I had taken a before photo of the whole thing painted white. I'm sorry mom, but it was hideous. I know you went through that white phase, but this is sooo much better.
A tip for anyone who needs to remove paint. We tried every paint thinner, yucky smelling stuff out there, and nothing would get the paint off of the bricks. Then my mom found some magic in a bottle. It's called Krud Kutter, and I think it's acutally wallpaper remover, but it worked good on the bricks. Don't get me wrong, there was still a lot of scrubbing with wire brushes, and using razorblades to remove paint, but at least it worked.
On a separate note, Joe and Dallin cleaned my mom's basement and toy room so good today. Both rooms were pretty messy. I was proud because it was totally voluntary and neither of them helped make the messes. They even dusted the book shelves and vaccumed downstairs. Now, if I could just get Joe to do that at home. Joe also mowed Grandma's lawn today. He was my worker bee.
9 comments:
yes - that looks better! Nice job, kim!
Wow. That took some dedication.
I'm going to have to direct people to your blog just so they can see the FANTASTIC job you did. It looks AWESOME!
Great job, Kim. I agree that this is much better than the white. You're amazing!
Yes Kim you did a great job. I'm wondering what you are going to blog about next.
Mom
Wow, I get to see the infamous fireplace! It looks great. I was starting to think your "work" at your parents just meant playing with, and watching movies with the nieces and nephews.
If you only knew how many times "work" turned into that....
Wow! I am so impressed and excited for you to be done with the fire place.
Hey, Kim - what's the next big project??
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