Update - Back in studio on Monday

It was another long week at the house. One of the projects I did was to clean and seal the dull looking fireplace. The rocks on the fireplace are all lava rocks which are found on the side of the mountains in Arizona. The original builder of the house took great care in making this beautiful fireplace, but oh, the dust and dirt! Even after I washed all the rocks and cement grout lines it still looked dull, so I decided to take a couple of days and seal the whole thing. The sealant goes on milky white and dries all nice and shiny. Now I will be able to feather dust it and give it a good cleaning with water twice a year to keep it looking pretty. Some of the colors that showed through after the sealant was dry were so pretty...nice browns, blacks, and golds. I can't wait to burn some nice fires this winter!

Another project I finished was the acid stain on the courtyard. It turned our really pretty, too. It took an afternoon to get really clean with the muriatic acid wash, then the next afternoon I applied the stain. What a difference!

I am finally done with most of the inside work at the house. It's amazing how much a person can do with a lot of elbow grease and patience! Hubby and his helper still have more work to do before we can move in and are still working on the retaining wall outside, but everything is coming along nicely. It was a long month of hard work after the flooding, that's for sure! I am looking forward to getting back to painting at RiverRockArt Studio next week.

Today, we will be spending time with family and celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and my birthday. The temps are finally cooling down a bit, now that summer is over, and it's been just beautiful outside. It will be nice to get back into the studio again! I have a lot of catching up to do with emails and networking on Monday. Cya then!