2012 was officially a busy year: I’m exhausted just perusing our posts from January thru June.  The first half of the year was a really long build up to two exciting July events: our stained glass window installation and our final construction inspection by the city, both of which were in July (so stay tuned for part 2).  We also managed to squeeze in a vacation, both of our birthdays, our anniversary, quite a bit of family time visiting our newborn niece, and studying/taking/passing my final Architectural exam, all before July.  No wonder last January feels like it could have been two years ago… take a look at our Half a Year in Review below:

January:
We were really on a roll last January: we continued our 2011 work in the upstairs hall, the new closets in the hall and orange bedroom, and the guest bedroom.  Along with installing a bunch of doors and painting until our hands were numb, we installed the cork flooring, the runtal radiator and milled up some trim for the picture rail in the guest bedroom. We hung our first piece of art… and my favorite – we painted the hall ceiling gold!

February:
We wrapped up a few loose ends on the bedroom & closet projects, and started designing the stained glass window!

March:
We finished the guest bedroom, and had our first guest: Megan from McElf Glass Studio!  We did a weekend charette and really hammered out a lot of the details and design for our stained glass window(s).

April:
Rob single-handedly prepped the living room for trim while I studied alone on the third floor for my final Architectural Exam. In between reloading the nail gun and flipping thru flash cards, we worked with McElf on the final details of the window and watched the flowers bloom in the garden. Then we ate some belated birthday cake.

May:
My early-May birthday threw some kinks in the works (only because we were gallivanting in Mexico) but when we returned we had to keep celebrating: I passed my final ARE exam! Officially an architect. We didn’t celebrate all month long, though. We also managed to fix a terrible leak in our bedroom, biked to work, stalked our window progress in Buffalo, stripped the living room mantel, dodged the mulberries and installed all the living room trim!  Then we went outside and organized a block clean up, planted our garden and the deck, and hung the new bird feeder. WHEW.

June:
We refinished and installed the living room doors and hardware, installed more living room trim (including a mind bending curved oak three piece baseboard), and did something unbelievable: took the cardboard off the living room floor to reveal our hardwood floors for the first time in 3 years!  Rob & my dad demo’d and installed our new sliding back gate in a 6.5-day 100-degree/flooding charette, while I stayed in and poly/stained all the oak trim and painted the living room/ half bath. Then we bought a new couch!

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Stay tuned for part II, July – December.

If you’re interested in summaries, here is our 2011 Year in Review post.