It has been nearly a year since we purchased this house and I've done a very poor job of keeping up with the documentation of the changes!

I'm quite possibly the most pathetic home restoration blogger. I take a lot (A LOT) of photographs! However, it will never be ready for a photo shoot so here goes, I'm throwing my fantasy of having a spotless home out the window, and I'm going to document this beauty as a lived in home.

First up - the end of the brick saga - you remember, the way the brick appeared when we purchased the house?

After a failed attempt at soda blasting (brick just crumbled) and an attempt at citrus stripping (which worked, but would have taken a year... we painted them (ahem, Jarrod painted them).

 And unless you are right up on the brick, you wouldn't be able to tell they had been painted. WIN!

To blast or not to blast?

We have a dilemma. Mother S1 decided some years ago that painting the fireplace within the mother ship would be a good idea. We disagree. If you ever buy a home with brick on the inside, PLEASE refrain from taking a paint brush to it! This is what the fireplace looks like now:

This is what it should look like:

Sadly, our options are few and costly. The first quote from a reluctant brick stripper came it at $4,500. Um, brick guy #1, we aren't sure that's in our budget. We await the second quote that would involve "soda blasting," a process that uses baking soda instead of sand to remove the paint.  We could consider painting the brick to match....thoughts???

UPDATE!  - We are hiring a soda blaster! He is coming from Greeley and thinks that they will be done in one day. EXCITED!!!