Projects

Here are a few projects I've done.  Some caveats: I would be bad at Instagram-- I get caught up in a project and forget to take progress photos as I go. Secondly, perhaps due to working with water and abrasive materials all day, my cameral lenses have a tendency to become damaged over time. If these were chronological, you could easily guess each time I got a new phone. Enjoy. 

I don't generally see the point in endlessly uploading photos of holes in walls getting fixed ("Hole! No Hole!-- can you believe it?-- here's another one!") 

Now and again, though, I remember to photograph one of my more interesting projects. These photos show the progress of  a custom range hood I recently built, a creation ex nihilo, if you will. 

Do I now sit atop lofty Mt. Colfax, sipping ambrosia with mighty Zeus, our nostrils catching the wafting aroma of the sacrificial offerings of pious mortals or possibly burning K-Mart? Perhaps. 

Rental, St. Paul. When things start to go, they can really get ugly. 

South Minneapolis, Ugly/Purty

Restoring a dilapidated old rectory in Excelsior for Bruce and Jodi Noll. I repaired/canvassed/resurfaced every interior wall and ceiling in this house and would have  taken more photos , except that Bruce followed me around like an energetic young shutterbug documenting the progress in his house. He promised copies, I'm still waiting. 

Frogtown Follies: The Enchanted Stairwell. 

Here's a house in St. Paul that had some neglected maintenance, then some maintenance (plumbing) not neglected that was never closed up. Also, some ugly popcorn. 

Below is the kitchen ceiling that was on the verge of collapse. Oops, it did. All better now. 

Ice dams can be some nasty business. A whole section of the wall (and coved ceiling) had to be removed. Re-lathed, plastered, painted and you'd never know. I seem to have developed some spots on my camera lens. This lath here was gypsum lath, which is a precursor to drywall, which is why the entire affected area had to be removed. 

"Poet Kennel", Southeast Minneapolis (the love of my life named it that (she's a poet-- she had other suggestions like "This Used to be a Record Store?")). The drywall on the ceiling was done by the owner,  I built up/rebuilt all the rest. 

This is a standard 'canvassing' job in Uptown. There wasn't anything structurally major just yet, but the cracks in the basecoat were causing previous, poorly done repairs to come loose and other cracks had emerged. In a few years, this ceiling would have been sagging severely and collapsing in parts. 

Old Stillwater Armory, Stillwater MN.  The plaster had been neglected for some time, and the developer had hired a drywall guy to do repairs (all of which I had to undo-- you can catch a glimpse of where he filled a hole in the hallway ceiling with a piece of drywall that was at least 1/4in proud). 

Kenwood Attic turned morning yoga room.  I only remembered to take perspective photos midway through the job-- there's a theme there. 

Crocus Hill, St. Paul, plaster molding water damage.  Naturally, I didn't take the final picture! This was during the riots, all the places I buy casting supplies were closed, so I had to freehand it. 

Crocus Hill, again, down the street. Here's a high ceiling that was on the verge of collapse in the stairwell of one of those gorgeous old homes.  Also, it had popcorn, not sure which was the bigger problem.