Campsie in August - some pictures!

Shiva Pauses

Late July and August have seen much progress at Campsie, but we've been so covered up that I've neglected to post pictures. Click here to see about all the hubbub, bub!

Hammer and Miters and Chairs, oh my!

Hi friends!

Sorry for the long quiet. Hard to explain the explosion of —well, let's see— work, vacation, hurry, weddings, construction, destruction, summer, and lots of etc.— that has kept me away from The Campsie Project. I will tell you this—it's not been due to a lack of activity on the house.

We are just steamin' along!

In fact, the upstairs is nearing completion. And as sure as I say that, I must be completely wrong. My fear is that—like moving—construction is one of those things where you think you're almost done, and the more it seems like you are, the more you're not.

This much is true: the upstairs is quite beautiful looking.

There's refinished floors; there's Lucy's great paint choices (we won't mention The Wall That Remains Unpainted, will we?); there's finish trim; there's the bathroom! The freakin' Bathroom, already! The room that was basically a big closet? Well, it's a bathroom now. My finish trim work nearly killed me. On the one hand I love doing this sort of thing. I can't explain why. Alright—confession. I think it's just the Miter Saw that I love. Something about squeezing the trigger and chopping things.. So far, not my hand or fingers.

Back to the trim work. At first, you think 'well, this is easy. 45 degrees this way, 45 that way…no problem!' Uh-uh. I cut all the bathroom baseboard trim and as I started nailing it together and seeing how much air there was between the pieces of wood, I found myself red-lining. Partially, it must be noted, this is due to the soaring summer heat that has accompanied us upstairs. Partially, it was due to this terrible realization: I can't hammer very well. Anybody who knows me will tell you that I'm as sensitive and girly as a red-blooded straight guy comes, but know this: My manly side is shamed at my incompetency at hammering.

Lucy said she'd never seen me so mad as the night I was stomping around in a white rage over my shitty nail-driving work on the baseboards.

Here's the good news: Lucy can fix it with caulk. She says so. And she better be right. We counting on caulk for a lot.

More updates to come. There's more demolition, there's the upcoming "Mick Does Electrical" saga; Much more, too! How will it all unfold? How will it pry apart? How will it get rebuilt? Check back with The Campsie Project to find out!

Screw David Hockney—our bathroom is nearing completion.

Behold the Campsie Bathroom upstairs! I've become kind of obsessed lately with photo-collaging, a technique which David Hockney mostly gets credit for. Well, let's see David Friggin' Hockney build a closet and install sconce fixtures, the bastard.

In fact—I like this collaging technique because it makes our work look more crooked than it actually is. So when you see it in person, you'll be so amazed that it's not this crooked.

Pretty smart, huh? If you dig Hockney (and I do, let's be clear) you may want to visit Artsy's David Hockney page.

Toe-tally rockin!

Hi peoples!

Lucy and I are back from vacation, and just didn't waste any time getting back to The Campsie Project. Does this have to do with Lucy being about to move in? You bet it does!

We got back to town and found that Plumber John had done as much on the house as we had. Or as Lucy put it: When you go on vacation, so do your contractors. Don't know what's up with that, but Lucy and I agreed that it was best just to drop it like it's hot. Movin' right along! John is now back on the job and claims that he'll finish with the upstairs plumbing tomorrow. Well, that would be nice...we'll see.

Really, we're doing pretty well. Things certainly ain't on schedule, but for the most part, The Campsie Project is chuggin' along and a move-in is imminent!

Also: While we were away, Pedro the Master Mexican Mason returned! Olay!

So this eve, Lucy worked on some paint priming and I worked on shoe molding or quarter round. Both those names are somewhat mysterious, don't you think? But the fact is, it's just the little piece of round wood that butts up against the floor. Yep, we're that far along. Amazing, huh?

So—engrossed in this endeavor, I spent the evening with Patron Builder Todd's glorious Miter Saw, cuttin' 45 degree angles and measuring, measuring, measuring… Next step: nailing. I am expecting this to be a bigger bitch than anticipated and am kind of wishing for a nail gun to rent, even though I've said this before about nail guns: I'm scared of nail guns like dogs are scared of vacuums. I just don't want to be anywhere near them.

So, we'll see. At any rate, next up on the docket: The Laundry Room (that is—the former upstairs bathroom!) Wow, how did we get to this point??

Oh yeah—lots of hard work, outside help, mysterious blessings and cold hard cash.