A Ton of Bricks
Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 2:50PM 
Ah, exposed brick. The stuff my dreams are made of. Brick walls effortlessly exude rustic charm and supply loads of character to any space. They were totally on my wish list during our apartment hunt, and since our new place did not come with a lovely stone wall, I decided to make one myself! That's when our renovations hit a wall (pun intended). The bricks I ordered were not available for months, so we had to place the project on hold.
Several weeks ago, with our expected delivery date on the horizon, I started palm-rubbing and getting excited again. Then I received a super distressing phone call - Apparently, there had been a freezing spell at the manufacturing plant in Bigler, PA. My share had cracked and was ruined, and the next batch wouldn't be available for another few months.
I totally flipped out when I heard the news. Looking back now, I sort of feel bad for the guy on the other end of the line. Thankfully, he remained pleasant and reassured me that there were enough bricks salvaged from the ruined batch to cover the square footage I needed. They were cut slightly larger than my original order, but I jumped on the offer and snatched them right up. Like I said, it's all about knowing when to compromise! :)
The shipment was scheduled, and I took a half-day last week to be at home for the drop-off. I didn't know what I was expecting. In my head, I was picturing a few big boxes that could be neatly stacked and tucked away in a corner by the door. You can probably imagine my shock when I saw this huge flatbed rolling up our hill.
The driver (His name is Horacio) had mad skillz. He pulled a U-ie AND parallel parked this ginormous truck in front of our building.
Next, Horacio unhitched the forklift and drove it backwards down the street, against traffic, up to our side entryway. Then he plopped the crate down on the sidewalk and drove off with a wave as I stood there with my jaw hanging open.
Cue ominous rain clouds gathering overhead. It was getting ready to start pouring at any minute, so I didn't even have time to freak. I needed to hustle. I borrowed a heavy-duty hand truck from our super and spent the next hour moving the 35 lb boxes into our apartment.
Needless to say, my arms were ready to fall off by the time I schlepped all 27 boxes upstairs and into our second bedroom. I was completely exhausted, but also felt overwhelmed with relief. I FINALLY had my bricks! Hooray!!
Now the fun can really begin. It's time to roll up my sleeves and turn my dream brick wall into reality! More later :)
Reader Comments (11)
wow! so exciting!!! pup is like...what on earth!!!?
Woah!! Craziness! Btw, that must've been some crazy workout!! 27 35lb boxes!! You're so hard core ;)
@Kathy - Pup didn't help one bit and was begging to play the entire time I was struggling w the boxes! I think he was just happy to have someone home in the middle of the day.
@Sue - Thanks! I eat a lot of spinach! :)
LOLLLLLL the giant truck and small box is soooo funny looking ! you dont need to do 100 push-up after lugging all them boxes up by yourself. i bet u have mad biceps now. =) cant wait to see the brand spanking new wall!!
Mad diesel girl!
it should be noted that I was at work and couldn't leave early. Stop making me feel your muscles, showoff.
Here a new iron-lady is born.
You're so strong! And brave! Can't wait to see how amazing it's going to be! =)
Your apt will be absolutely gorgeous, awaits for the completed new look!!! Great job Jen :)
Totally love how your wall turned out!! Found it on pinterest... funny thing is we lived right down the block from there and I totally miss my old hood. :( I do not miss parking on Metropolitan though. lol
Thank you, and what a coincidence, May! It's such a wonderful neighborhood. Parking can be a bit tricky, especially at night, but I've been pretty lucky so far :)