Another Project Completed

A half bathroom is usually the smallest room in one's house, and our former travesty of a half bathroom was no exception. This room was as depressing as it was tiny. It really needed to be put out of its misery. This was one of those rooms that, when we first saw it thought, "well, at least it's clean." To call it an embarrassment would be like saying GM is "financially challenged." To say that it was outdated would have been like Erika going to work in a hoop skirt and bodice. Let's take a look at what we had to work with:

Three things kind of stick out. First, I don't even know what kind of floor this is. Is it supposed to look like cracked marble? Like little dingy interlocking stones? I have literally no clue, but it appeared perpetually dirty, no matter how much it was scrubbed, mopped or wiped down. Next, the tile on the wall was that classic 1970s harvest gold. It might have been a touch lighter than that, but you get the general idea. Here's a confession, though: I actually thought we could leave this tile and paint the walls a bright orange. Erika pointed out that this might cause either seizures or flashbacks by anyone confined to our bathroom for more than 2 minutes. So we took the tile down. Finally, you can kind of see the wallpaper, but you'll have to take our word for it when we say that all 3 layers were completely unpalatable.

Ah, there's a better shot of some of that wallpaper. Whoever patented that design must have made a fortune because I've seen that crap everywhere. There was actually an additional, hidden layer under the mirror that was a kind of neon green paisley - which I am sure actually did cause someone at some time at least a mild seizure. The mirror/medicine cabinet/lighting combo is one that we see elsewhere in our house. My theory is that the contractor either had a relative working at the store where these were purchased, or he got some sort of 3-for-2 deal on them. If you like them, let me know quick, because the remaining 2 in our house are not long for this world.

The vanity is another piece that we have more of in our house. It's made, I think, of cardboard. And while your eyes might be telling you that the counter is carved from a single piece of creamy yellow marble, joke's on you! It's not! Actually, I don't know what it is made from, but I think some sort of polymer was involved in its creation. And while it's in the picture, has anyone else taken up a toilet? I thought there would be some intricate, secure connection between the toilet and the pipe that takes stuff to wherever. Yeah, the toilet just kind of sits on this hole. All that stands between a dry floor and utter, awful disaster is a relative thin ring of wax. Luckily my father was able to walk me through the proper removal and reinstallation of this thing.

So there you have it: the before shots. Now to the after!

Obviously we needed to repaint, adding to the current tally of repainted surface in our house. Instead of tile we put up beadboard or wainscoting (heard it called both and I use both terms interchangeably). The tile is, well, tile. I think it's marble but I honestly don't know.

Little bit of an aesthetic upgrade in the vanity/sink department. Although I feel a little hypocritical because we got a very similar vanity for our master bathroom, just as the original vanities in our house seemed to be from the same litter. No medicine cabinet because it's a half bathroom and it seemed superfluous. The granite is this really cool (in our opinion, anyway) piece that looks like a cross section of a fossilized river bed. We spotted it in our original stone safari when we were looking for a surface for our kitchen but didn't think it looked right in that kind of setting.

So that's it. We did everything ourselves except for the floor. I'm sure at some point I'll learn to cut tile, but until then we have no problem paying someone to do it. Sure, it took a little while, but it came out pretty darn good. Only two rooms to go now! Still...Dad, if you're reading this, I'll probably need just a little help on those toilets, too!

We're Positive! Now with FAQ!

The Latest Chapin

Yes, this is a sonogram from our first visit to the OB-GYN back on March 18th and I'm sure a lot of you have many, many interesting and insightful questions. So we are going to anticipate some of the more popular and intelligent questions and answer them for you right here, right now!

What the hell is that, a blurry gummi bear?
That's a picture of our latest creation: a child! After some practice we figured things out and managed to create some new life. It totally looks like a blurry gummi bear though.

Don't you have a newer, better sonogram picture?
Why yes, we do. But we want you to revisit our blog in order to get more and more "unique daily visitors" so that we can implement Google ads on our blog and pay for our child's college education. Unless our child masters the French horn, in which case we're all set. So revisit the blog at a later date and we'll have fresh, new sonogram pictures that look like an actual person.

So, are you going to find out whether it's a boy or a girl?
Yeah, no we aren't.

Any names picked out?
If it is a boy it's Samuel Robert. If it's a girl...we actually have no idea what we'll name it if it's a girl. We're currently taking suggestions.

How's everything going so far?
Surprisingly well, especially given some of the 1st trimester stories we've been hearing. Erika has been doing really, really well. No nausea, no getting sick, no weird cravings. There was a 4 week stretch where she was napping within approximately 35 seconds upon returning home from work. There was also a time at Hopkins where for a few minutes she didn't feel 100%, but then she felt better...

So are you guys ready?
Not at all! We have a nursery ready to fill up with stuff, but so far we're still researching cribs, car seats, changing tables, playpens, diapers, child care, baby monitors, books, glider rockers, mobiles, bouncy seats, onesies, twosies, pacifiers...all that stuff.

What's up with those pirates in Somalia?
Weird, right? Who knew that there were still pirates in the 21st century. Yarrrr!

So Erika's doing well...how's the baby?
So far, so good! We've taken a a couple tests and screenings and so far everything looks great!

OK, when's this baby arriving?
We have a tentative due date of October 24th, but since we are usually late for essentially everything, and assuming tardiness is genetic, it might be early November...

Worried about the Red Sox?
No, and while you're asking, we're probably not going to name our kid "J.D." However "Drew" is on our list of girl names, but the loose association with the current Boston right fielder did cost that proposed name a few points. "Dustin" on the other hand...

Late October...aren't you two school counselors? And isn't that a busy time?
Yes and yes. What's funny is that we thought we could plan for a July delivery but obviously that didn't happen. Apparently these types of things don't quite operate on a schedule.

How excited is cousin Emma about all this?
Funny you should ask. We had the chance to sit down with Emma this past weekend and she had this to say:

"I am quite excited about meeting my cousin and anticipate the two of us having quite a bit of fun together. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Uncle Deacon and Aunt Erika on the new addition to their family."

Anything else?
We have never been more excited about anything. We are so thankful for each other and our families and their love and support. The pregnancy has been really wonderful so far and we are cautiously optimistic that it will continue to be. We can't wait for October!!!

Spoke Too Soon.

As we were sitting down to a lovely dinner together, Erika and I decided that our bathrooms are horrible. They're straight out of 1972. I feel like they should be decorated with a disco ball, a "Keep On Truckin'" mural-poster, a lava lamp and bright, fluorescent green paisley wallpaper. So we are redoing them. Totally. Gutted to bare walls and rebuilt from the ground up like in that show with the million dollar man. We have pics, including, ironically, bright fluorescent green paisley wallpaper.

Done with Painting?

I think we're almost hesitant to declare that we are done painting stuff in our house. We recently thought about it, and we have literally painted every square inch of this place. Actually the banister in this picture is perhaps the last bastion of the characteristic dark wood that used to permeate our home. No more!

These stairs were it. Although we'll be wiping down shiny white kickboards for the remainder of our ownership days here, they needed to be painted. Also, we had a little Satin Impervo leftover and really needed to use it. Finally, the appearance of these stairs were giving Erika flashbacks to the house in the Berkshires where she's been known to fall down a flight twice in a 2 day stretch.


It had been awhile since I'd worked with oil-based paint. I was sort of careful while painting - I mean, I used tape - but some paint did drip from time to time and I neglected to wipe it up. No worries, I figured, I can go back later and clean it with paint thinner. Did you know that paint thinner does a great job of cleaning up dried oil-based paint and floor finish too? It's true! So after trying to clean up one or two "errors" I realized my folly. We still haven't resolved this minor detail, and the end results really do look sharp.

housechapin On The Road

Once upon a day in Monteray, Massachusetts Erika and I found ourselves with time to do whatever we'd like in western Massachusetts. Shelly and Todd went skiing, but after 3 ACL reconstructions I formally announced my retirement from that sport during a lightly attended press conference. Chris and Lauren had a date at a nearby spa but we had no such aspirations. Given our shared profession, we decided to hit up a nearby college - Williams. Sure, it was snowing - heavily - but it looked so close on the map. We punched in the address on our GPS and braved the elements.

The GPS had already tricked us into rolling down a one lane, unplowed "road" on our way to the Bershires cottage. For some reason, we thought it would never lead us astray for a second time. Erika was driving slowly and carefully. We again found ourselves on what appeared to be a less-than-serviced road. We passed a van at one point and continued down the road until...the road stopped being plowed entirely and a sign informed us that the road was closed in the winter beyond that point. So...we turned around and began to head back. Shortly after we came to the same van we had passed, only now he was sideways on the road, with a healthy portion of his van embedded in a snowbank. Being the good samaritans we think we are, we decided to help this guy. Erika approached the van, only when she tried to brake the car didn't stop...it continued very...slowly...down the slope and into the van.

The good news: the van was now dislodged from the snowbank.
The bad news: there was quite a bit of damage done to our cars.

At this point I was thinking I should have just gone skiing and torn another ACL. We had nearly no cell phone service, save for a 1'x1' square on the side of the road. We successfully got in touch with the local police - that's singular, by the way, as there is literally one police officer in that town. It took him 3 hours to get to our accident scene. 3 hours. No exaggeration. When he finally arrived he looked at both vehicles and said, "Well...I guess I can write up an accident." report." If you are looking for something excruciatingly painful/boring, try sitting in 10F weather with nothing to read but a road map. Also, you and the person you're stuck with have exhausted every talking point from favorite vacation spots to which NPR show we'd cancel (mine was Story Corps, even though it's a part of Morning Edition, I really, really hate it).

All in all, we lost a day of vacation, our insurance rates might go up a bit, and we had to pay the deductible to fix our grill. But the grill was looking kind of faded anyway, and it looks brand new now.

Choppin' Wood (Not Broccoli)

We live in the woods. I guess this is a rather blatant fact that we somehow overlooked when we purchased our humble abode. This reality was made quite clear this fall when approximately 245 bushels of leaves fell onto our version of a lawn. Speaking of the lawn, we should have also recognized the relative lack of grass where one might expect to find those thin green blades. On the one hand it makes mowing quite simple. On the other, it makes playing bocce difficult. We decided that in order to theoretically play bocce we would need a lawn. Lawns need sunlight. We had very little, due in large part to the varieties of deciduous trees canvasing our canopy. Flora-related sacrifices had to made.

It so happens that Michael went to high school with someone who would go on to attend Paul Smith's College, a school in upstate New York that is renowned for graduating students who are trained in the art of felling trees. We consulted with Robert (formally known as Burt) and decided upon a trio of trees that would have to be felled. Of course, the week before he was to complete this mission, the largest tree - assuredly in protest of its sentence, dropped a rather large limb upon the power line that supplies our home with wonderful electricity. That ordeal left us without power for a couple days and led to some heated discussions with Connecticut Light and Power.

Burt came to the rescue. He expertly landed our trees, along with a couple dozen smaller ones, in a matter of hours. We were left with a large quantity of wood on our lawn and no means by which to reduce the severed sections of tree trunk to pieces that would fit into our wood-burning stove next year. Luckily, our fathers both possesed chainsaws and both came to assist in the sizing of our soon-to-be fuel. More pictures to come, but my favorite is Erika learning the art of axe-swinging - a skill that is likely taught at the aforementioned Paul Smith's College but one that Erika is still working on honing:

The Blog is Back...and so is Wallpaper

What the heck have we been up to? If I've learned anything from The Wire and LOST - and I'd like to think that I have - we can't just tell you all at once. We need to tease it out ad infinitum. At the same time, I'm not really sure why it's taken so long to update this awesome blog. Maybe it was because I overheard students talking about how blogs were "old fashioned." In any case, it's not just around here where things have changed:

* We have a new president. Or, at least, light at the end of this dark tunnel come January 20th.
* The Red Sox lost in the playoffs. Shocking, I know, but those pesky (and healthy) Dev...er...Rays were just the better team.
* The stock market has made a little correction.
* The legislature is arbitrarily giving out b-b-b-billions of dollars.
* 24 returned. No idea if this season is going to not suck. Entourage finished what turned out to be a pretty good season.


Back on the homefront:
* I kicked pneumonia's ass...finally...after it beat me senseless for several weeks.
* We invited Mike's high school friend to take down several trees. It's like beating back nature...we live in the middle of the woods.
* Erika finally got her chaise lounge.
* Painting continues. Very, very slowly.

Finally, I think - I THINK - we have taken down all of the wallpaper we need to take down. At nearly the same instant we took down the last shred of glue-laden floral-printed paper, we learned that wallpaper is making a comeback! Now, I don't know if this is true or not...but I do know that if wallpaper is indeed coming back into style, it sure as hell won't look like the abysmal crap we took down. Sorry, Mrs. I-forget-your-name-former-houseowner, but taking down your old wallpaper was awful. Had we known, we probably would have lowballed you an additional $5k or so.