2007 Year in Review: Summer Renovations at 811

These are "before" and "after" pictures of the painstaking and often painful and time consuming effort Mark and I made for 811 all summer. Knowledgeable as we are in home renovations, we were not prepared for the curve ball ahead of us.

This was no ordinary renovation. This was a restoration of an 1929 hotel apartment interpreted in today's times. While the kitchen was already gutted prior to our taking over, no modernization can be done to the bathroom, and all paint from the old heavy all-steel doors (3 of them!) had to be removed to restore them to their glory. This task, in addition to compounding walls that crack over time, repairing wood floors that have been damagd by the previous tenant, a refrigirator that leaked and otted some kitchen cabinets, among others.

From June thru September, with a one week break in Disneyworld for my birthday, we juggled work, teaching, housekeeping and restoration. But it paid off and now, we are happy to showcase 811. A lot of credit is given to Mark who worked on the complexities of the plumbing, electrical wiring, compounding and painting and the placement of the art we have collected. All our artwork are showcased in the 2 apartments and we have 2 more coming in by the end of the year. A 6 feet by 4 feet 1934 reproduction of a European poster and an old mirror in a new wood frame selected by Mark.

What did I contribute? Me? I just posed for the pictures.