Stone, Hinges & Chimney

Progress this week isn't really super visible.  I got the chimney covered in stone and the rest of the wainscoting done and finished with the Delta Ceramcoat Finish.  It requires a full day to dry so that ate up a lot of time.

Originally I was going to keep the inset under the wainscoting and use some of the texture paint to make it look like concrete.  But I felt it would make it look clumsy and unfinished so I added a strip of the flagstone to the bottom.

I do have a few pictures for you.  Here's the chimney covered with stone and the bottom strip of wainscoting added.

I actually like how it looks.  I'm hoping to add the mortar to the flagstones today so that can dry for a few days before I add the finish to it.

But before I got much further with the wainscoting I wanted to get my two walls hinged together.  Maybe I would have had an easier time with that if I'd done it before I added the stone, but I managed to get some channels routed out and the hinges added.  The glue is drying now but the walls fit together at a right angle and that's what I was concerned about.

I've got some tape over the strip wood reinforcing the hinges while everything dries.  I'll take that off and get the raw wood taped off so I can spray some primer on the hinges so they aren't quite so obvious.

The color of the stone should (I think) darken slightly once I get the finish on, at least that's what the pictures show.  Once I know what color the stone will end up I'll have to choose a finish for the woodwork and the paint color for the siding.  I can add the siding though so if I can't do the grout/mortar I might try to start on that for the rest of today.  We'll see.

Either way, I need to make a start on that. 

The other thing I'm working on, (in my head mostly) is a way to make the bathroom something I can slide out so the kitchen isn't too hard to access.  I think a very thin floor, with a paper tile, so that it matches the height of the wood floor for the rest of the house.  Sort of a wooden box I can slide in and out with its own lights. 

I feel like I'm further behind in my progress this year than the same time last year, but I'm trying not to stress over it. 

As someone married to a veteran I'm a little more...cognizant of the meaning of Memorial Day.  So I hope everyone else is having a happy Memorial Day and we keep in our hearts all our absent friends.