DIY

As Reid and I were stacking bricks on palettes for hours this evening, I kept reminding myself of how much $$ we're saving by doing it ourselves...
We filled a second palette of bricks (approx 250 bricks on a palette) despite me having stepped on a rusty nail and splitting open the rear of my pants!

Thanks Eileen and Jonathon for helping us with the first skid on Sunday!

New Electrical Wires

Reid feels especially proud that the old electrical wires are gone! You can see in the first picture that the wires previously attached to the building through the storefront - not a very attractive option. Now, they attach to the side of the building and Reid removed the old connections to the storefront for a much cleaner look...

Sweet Deal

Since the demolition brought down the 3rd story of the addition, we had to turn an old doorway into a window. Reid bricked up the old doorway and recently found 2 brand new, double hung, Marvin windows at the Covington reuse store that will fit perfectly into both the existing window and the new window opening!!! And, at $100 each, we've just saved ourselves approx $1800 in windows.


I love a bargain and I love supporting my neighborhood building reuse stores!
We'll install the new windows after the demolition is complete.

The View from the New Window

The mason cut out a new window on the 4th floor of the building. The new window adds so much extra light and will really make the attic space feel like a bedroom when it's complete.

The new window cutout is on the right on the interior picture.

The building under construction in the far right picture was historically part of the Kauffman Brewery. It was built to house brewery workers in the late 1800s. In recent years, it has suffered from fires and was condemned and slated for demolition. Fortunately, community activists and city council collaborated to save the structure. It is definitely a large and important contribution to Vine Street's facade and history.

one floor down, two to go

Demolition has begun

We showed up at the site today to find that demolition has started and most of the top floor of the addition has been removed. Now we have to sort through the rubble, stack bricks on skids and find reusable lumber.

The mason has started work. As they were attempting to tuckpoint/rebuild a chimney on the back building, the whole thing fell down - along with about 8 feet of the north wall. As we expected, there is a lot of rebuilding to do. I'm so glad we've finally started the work.

we're trying more paint colors...reid doesn't care for this one but i don't think it's that bad:) But we both like the dark brown for the storefront, and the stone color for the coins along the edge of the building. And we've decided on red windows. It's just a matter of what to paint the building...

The concrete wall in the very back of the vacant lot is coming down! All it has been doing is collecting trash anyway...

It's coming down!

The recent rains (paired with neglect over time) have brought ALL the wooden exterior steps down! It's starting to REALLY look unsafe.



The 1890s addition is peeling away from the main structure in a big way. Time to take it down...

Making room for construction

This past weekend we replaced the pedestrian gate with an 11 foot gate that can accomodate construction vehicles in the vacant lot. We got a load of gravel to build up the lot to the edge of the sidewalk and we're ready for work to begin! Thanks Dad for all your help!

Restoring the Original Transom Window

This past weekend we installed the original stained glass transom window above the front door!
The window was hidden behind plywood and several of the stained glass panes had been broken out. But Classical Glass on Main St was able to match the original glass shards and Reid reglazed, scraped and repainted the window! It's absolutely beautiful from the inside and now lets in so much natural light! We did cover it on both sides with plexiglass to prevent accidents during construction.