Cottage industry

Voila! Except for a few finishing touches and some upgrades that will happen as finances and opportunity arise, our guest cottage (ex-free-standing garage) is finished. Jacob and our friend George worked on it over the weekend and yesterday I got to clean, move furniture and primp it for my mom's impending visit today. I wish I had a picture of the hovel is was before we - half-jokingly - started on this, our first home-improvement project - the longer we worked on it (I have fond memories of prying at mortar and bricks the day after my due date) the more sense it made. It's a detached place where visitors can go and rest and get away from the Gus-induced hubub of the main house...and sometimes, we use it to give each other a break from parenting after a particularly long or stressful day.

This morning while hurridly snapping these pictures (my batteries were about to give out) I just stood and stared and smiled. Everything in here is special, salvaged and scrounged up. Everything in here has a story and few items are store-bought. It's hard to describe it and do it justice in these fuzzy images. You just have to come and visit to see it and experience the tranquil boutique-cottage at the end of our driveway. There is no room service, for that you have to walk to the main house, but it comes with an industrial-themed full bathroom and even a hand-me-down coffeemaker. Can you tell I'm pleased with how it turned out?

And here is the man behind the vision and the hours of hard labor. He is a craftsman of the finest degree, I tell you.