*Craigellachie (or, the laying of the final piece of stone)

Withered, dry hands and mortar-coated clothing. The result of about 30 hours of work, measuring, cutting, buttering and tiling. It was feeling like we'd never *finish.




Earlier in the weekend, Sarah, Kelly and Neal spent hours with the painstaking job of installing the tile in the main bathroom. When I left for work, they were starting; I come home and they`re all done. Perfect timing.

Kudos to Sarah and Kelly for coming up with a great pattern for the tile. If Neal and I had tried what we were thinking. Let`s just say, the ladies were right . . . yes, the ladies were right.

What could be more fun then capping off the afternoon and evening then continuing our work on the fireplace, right.

Shhhh! Silence. A drum roll, if you please-----------------------------And, we are done!

What follows is our first before and after photos of the kitchen and fireplace:

We`re very happy with how everything turned out to this point, in spite of the huuuge investment into the stone, including spending hours scrubbing the mortar and brushing on the glossy finish.

Here is my wife with the big reveal

And a bonus pic for any Sarah 101 fans. It`s Kelly and Sarah with Tommy Smythe, the design sidekick for Sarah Richardson. He was speaking at the home show in Kelowna on the weekend. He`s a cross between Leonard on The Big Bang Theory and Charlie Chaplin. Very funny guy. And, he made the girls`day.