Something has changed

   Back in the land of reno we are putting the finishing touches on our phase 1 updates.  Just to re-cap, we took 3 bedrooms and made it 2, took 2 bathrooms and made it 1.  It seems like we are moving backwards, but we gained a huge closet for the current master, a bigger bathroom, a coat closet, and a big area for more living space and stairs to the second floor.
   Check out these before and after photos-

"Master" bath on the day we first saw the house.  This is not our mess!!

Please make sure your read the caption above.  That photo was taken before we owned the house, and although it wasn't our mess, shortly thereafter it did become our mess, as the house was in rough shape when we moved in.  You can see the doorway near the toilet where you could enter the other bathroom.  There was a stall shower near that doorway as well.  Dave took great joy in terminating this bathroom and the other one.  Here are progress photos...

See you later stinky bathroom!

Looking more like a closet, less like a laundromat.

 After the electrical was re-done and our plumber changed the heating situation in the room, we painted and added the recessed lighting.  We installed closet built ins from IKEA, the Pax model.
Here is the almost after:

It's getting there!

We still need baseboard trim, a door and new windows.  The window guru is coming today to give us some advice.  I can't wait!

One more look at the before and almost after:

Music Theme Day: Women from Boston who are Amazing!

The  Both, "Milwaukee"- This band is made up of Ted Leo (ok, don't know anything about him, but bear with me) and Aimee Mann (Boston rock royalty).  The group formed when both solo artists shared a tour.  Aimee Mann is an amazing songwriter, having written the majority of the songs for the movie "Magnolia."  In fact, the director of Magnolia said that he wrote the film as a story set to Aimee Mann's songs.   The Both's album is out now!

Juliana Hatfield, everything - As anyone who knows us knows, we love Juliana Hatfield.  She is a prolific songwriter, and I have followed her since her first band, the Blake Babies.  Since she has put out so much music it's difficult to choose just one song to share with you.   Some of the things that I love most about her songs are the references to other songs in her songs, the simplicity of the recording, the lyrics about confronting your fears of growing older (hello, self!).  Here is "My Protege" from the album "Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure."  This album was released at the same time as "Beautiful Creature," but they are completely different yet together they make up the perfect double album. 

 Juliana also has a new band with Matthew Caws of Nada Surf.  They are called Minor Alps, and here is the song "Waiting for You"

Kay Hanley "Galapagos"- As much as I love Juliana Hatfield, I love Kay Hanley, but not for the same reasons.  Where Juliana Hatfield made me want to be a better guitar player, Kay Hanley made me really think about lyrics. This is one of my favorite songs of all time...