During the summer of 2003, we finally had the fireplace put in. After many months of trying to find just the right material, the fireplace is now tiled with granite. By the way, it's no small feat to find a mortar to hold granite to metal.

Originally, we wanted to do the fireplace in solid pieces of stone, but it turns out to cost nearly twice as much to put in the needed 5 pieces of stone instead of buying 20 tiles, renting a tile saw, and doing the mortar and grout thing on our own.

Now with the completed building permit, it's OK to burninate things in the fireplace.

As part of being a home handyman in the US, I felt compelled to make a spice rack for the kitchen. Of course, I can't make just any spice rack. I used a set of plans from Woodsmith for an undercabinet rack. Further, I played with the proportions so that it would hold two rows of jars that E had used at the hospital to store pumped milk. And I tried to match the molding style of the existing cabinetry. The only real problem is that I chose to finished it in water-based polyurethane (which isn't stinky, dries quickly, and goes on well) instead of oil based polyurethane, which leaves a yellow color. Maybe in time it will yellow up.