Ginny's New Look

Our beloved Ginny. Our Virginia Street home may be well-loved, but frankly she's been rather neglected of late. Our family has just been SO busy (Jason in particular) that there hasn't been any time for left over for house projects.

Well, this winter we decided that we needed to make a change.  In the cooler months, Ginny is drafty and chilly, especially in the basement, which is freezing.  This became particularly apparent during the pandemic when the girls couldn't work downstairs because of the temperature.  Everybody always wanted to congregate around the warmest heating vent, causing conflict about who had "dibs."

Thanks to a little extra pandemic spending cash, we decided to invest in working fireplaces for both the main floor and the girls's basement bedroom.  Before work could begin, we had to make sure there were actually enough functional flues in our chimney.  Yup!  Turns out there are four.  Just don't ask me how Jason got up there...

From atop the roof, Jason got some great photographs of our neighborhood.  Looking East.

The view facing north...

...and south.  It's fun to know neighbors each direction.

While we were ready to install fireplaces in November, the company was unfortunately far behind.  It was mid-February before they finally came.  To prepare for their visit, Jason had to take out the old unit and build up a base for the new fireplace to sit on.  Oh, and he had to redirect one of the gas pipes.  Good thing he's so handy!

Installed and functional!  The family immediately started to gather around it, especially in the evenings for family prayer and scripture study.

Speaking of which, our family has a quirky tradition of ending each family prayer with family star.  Occasionally Spark joins us.

Back to the fireplace, the only thing left was to build a hearth.  I always loved sitting in front of our fireplace in Omaha, so this was important to me.  Even so, we weren't quite sure how to go about it.  After all, matching 90 year-old stone seemed an impossibility.

Every once in a while the stars align.  We found  a huge slab of sandstone that was exactly the right thickness to line up with the existing stone.  The color is a little brighter at the moment, but as it ages I think it will match perfectly.  The hearth already feels like it belongs in our home.  Here's Jason laying the initial course of stone to support it.  Looking good!.

Ta da!  If only getting it placed were as easy as it looks.  Let me tell you, that slab is HEAVY.

At least we were smart enough to have the stone shop cut out the notches.  Their saw is much larger than ours.

Yup, I'm in love.  We actually got a new front that's even prettier than the first picture.

Only issue now is all the little people who try to hog it.  After all, this is Mom's spot.

Not to be outdone, the kitchen begged for some attention as well when the old white microwave broke.  Jason was super happy for an excuse to replace it with something that matches.  I like the new unit as well.

And there you have it!  Ginny is changing with the times, becoming more beautiful as she ages.  Thanks for all your handy work, my handy love!