Day 78, Ogden Enterprise

After a few setbacks (including a huge kidney stone and a lithotripsy), and the added inconvenience of having to get jobs and go to work for a living, we are still making progress on the Brick House! We finally have a few rooms that are finished enough to be able to sit down and relax in. We even had our first guests for pizza and a game night in our newly painted dining room. But first let me show you the outside view. The lawn has greened up, just in time for fall. I'm hoping the bushes in the back will get a little taller. By next spring I should have it just the way I want it:

 Remember what the living room looked like before? This is a shot of before we finished the floor:

And here is what it looks like now. I painted the bricks on the fireplace, and I'm really pleased with how they look. The flat paint makes them look very authentic, and I picked just the right shade (although the picture makes them look a bit redder than they really are). The wall is painted with Behr "Clay Dust," which is a nice neutral shade that is just a bit off-white. It's the first time I have used the "eggshell" finish, and I absolutely love it!
It took us a while to hang the curtains, because the wall is an outside wall and we had to find screws that would work in masonry. Just look at the difference!

Now, here's the other side of the room. This is after we had painted and the door had just been put in. Remember, I wanted a built-in window seat here?
 

I decided the project was beyond our skill set, so we had Chris at Architectural Impressions come and build it for us. I love how it turned out. It makes the room look so homey. And it's amazing how it makes the window look so much bigger and brighter! We saved a little $$ by doing the painting ourselves. The pillows came from D.I., because no way am I paying $30 a pillow, like they charge at KMart. I will still add a cushion to the seat, when I find my sewing machine (still in a box out in the garage!)

The top shelf on the right is waiting for when I find my set of Journal of Discourses. The cupboard on the left is filled with more books, and the one on the right has games and toys. Oh, yes, we also put in crown molding all around the room, which made it look more finished.









The dining room and the den are just about finished, but I'm still putting things away in those rooms, so I'll add pictures later.