Ready to throw in the trowel

Our friend Eric has nearly finished our fireplace:


He'll be back tomorrow to set the hearth stone in place, then Al will attach the mantel, and the fireplace store will put the front back on.

Special props to my friend Jim, who suggested the title of this post after building his own fireplace.

More buried treasure

After seeing the posts (first and second) about some of the interesting artifacts we've recovered while deconstructing the cottage, lots of people have asked "how much money have you found?" Visions of sacks of Franklins lining the walls helped fuel the actual demolition process. Quite frankly, Franklin, we would have been very happy with just a few C-notes.

Well, I hate to tell you the final results: we uncovered very little currency... and that's a real shame, especially considering how much we're paying for all these renovations!

Perhaps someone can tell me whether this aluminum coin is legal tender. Somehow, I doubt it.

Happy colorful new year

Almost a month has gone by since our last update. The drywall crew finished just after Christmas -- they were busy hanging, taping, mudding, sanding, texturing, priming... and reading this journal. What a small world!

Our friend Naomi found us a good deal on paint. The timing was perfect, for the walls were ready and Mrs. Yuhas had plotted out the motifs for each of the rooms. (Mrs. Yuhas now answers to "Queen Motifa.") Here's the kitchen after we got through with it:


Remember the pink room? It looked like this before we moved in:


Hold on to your hat -- it's no longer pink!


Here's the green room when it was still green:


... and today -- not a speck of verde! Alex had fun in this space:


I'm overjoyed by Queen Motifa's color selections, but feel a tiny bit bittersweet about the radical changes, because my former names for all the rooms will now be a little more difficult to justify. Those who have followed this journal since its early days can perhaps appreciate the angst rising within me prompted by all these changes (newcomers to the Cottage Archaeology blog can catch up by reading this post from August). So it's with a great sense of joy that I can announce that the blue room has become the "new hue true blue" room! Mrs. Yuhas updated the scheme to better reflect 2008's sensibilities, naturally, and two of the walls are a tan color. Here's Cassidy in the former vivid blue room:


We rang in 2008 with a makeover of the new hue true blue room:


Can you spot some of the other changes? There's a whole new door, and it swings the other way. This required us to move the light switches to the other side. But the biggest change is the floor is now several inches higher -- it now matches the height of the kitchen, and the deck outdoors. This little modification kept Al busy for a while. It's all in a day's work for Cottage Archaeology Man!