Today's picture/house painting

The last time we had our house painted was thirteen years ago, and that was just the front because of a special occasion. The rest of it had been peeling away for decades! We are so very pleased. We hired two young guys and they were done in a couple weeks.

Back side of the house, before - it had been scraped at this point

and after

We went with a darker gray, painted the porch ceiling which was just wood before, and decided to change our Tomie dePaola doors for a red that we love. 

Housework/The Study

This Thanksgiving we had an alternative day to most US celebrations. Tom painted and painted!

Our study hadn't been painted in almost ten years. It took him the whole four days and then the next weekend to complete the job. My part was choosing the paint colors. I'm just not a painter.

When choosing paint colors and design, I had two pictures in mind - one from the movie, The Holiday:


and the other, a photo I found online.


There are four painting areas - ceiling, walls, window/door trim and door, and the bookshelves. What we had was linen white ceiling, walls, and bookshelves, with a greenish trim.

Before

I went back and forth trying to decide, and then asked my daughter what she thought. We spent a fair bit of time in the room, looking it over, and she came up with just the answer - keep the ceiling and walls linen white, paint the bookshelves a light blue (I chose Benjamin Moore's Ocean Air), and the door and trim a little bit darker blue, Benjamin Moore's Gossamer Blue. I hadn't considered this possibility of the shelves being their own color, and thought it brilliant!

After

It would be fun to call it a library, but somehow it sounds pretentious for this old farmhouse, so the room will continue to be known as the study. Whatever its name, it is the reading room of my dreams. No distractions, lovely view out three windows, and all those books. I decided to put our nonfiction on the built-in shelves, and was amazed at just how much I have. Methinks I need several lifetimes to read them all. The other shelves in this bookcase house my mysteries, and poetry has its own shelf. My beloved Virginia Woolf has a shelf as she did before. Faulkner has his own shelf, while Hemingway and Fitzgerald, probably to their distress, share a shelf. They have the travel and film books to keep them distracted from one another. Dear Wodehouse and Mortimer share another shelf, which I think would please them both.

I am not a collector, but over the years have come to own some china cups and four vases. I love the way they look above the books as you may see in the 'after' picture.

And there are a couple small shelves in the Larkin desk where our Norton Anthologies from college live, along with new children/young adult books I've bought for myself, and a bit of fiction. We were given this desk many years ago by Tom's step-grandmother. Her husband had won it from selling soap when he was a boy. Here is a little history of the piece if you are interested.


From prowling around the internet a bit I've learned it is possible that my mother's mahogany desk is in the 'Governor Winthrop style.' I believe they were mass-produced in the early part of the 20th century since they seem to be quite common. This is where my mother paid bills and wrote cards and letters.


I use a different desk for my personal work, while both my mother's and the Larkin serve as lovely places to store various items.

My desk has a fun story. My father owned a Pontiac dealership when I was growing up. When he died, my mother took over the business of trying to get money that was still owed my father at his death. This was successful to greater and lesser degrees. There was a man who lived out in the country in a bit of a shack, and he gave this desk to my mother in payment of a debt. It can be made into a bench by flipping the top to the back. It may not be worth much, but both Tom and I adore this piece.


The African chair had its own posting three years ago. ;<) The other evening we put up some photos so that now the room is complete except for sanding the floor which is the first job on the agenda when school is out. These two are my mother graduating from high school, and then nursing school.

These are two of our grandfathers; Tom's on the right, probably from the 1930s, and mine from 1902, taken in the very town we live in, which is not where he lived. I can't imagine how he got here and who those two young women were.


Margaret walked in one day and said she loved it because there was nothing 'digital.' It is indeed an old-fashioned room. It is a destination room - only for sitting at my desk or for reading. We are so very pleased.

Addendum: I took a rug from our bedroom and added it to the study. I think it looks and feels cozier with a little more of the floor covered.

Housework/Finished floors

Quel difference from before! We are so very pleased. And really it wasn't such a terrible inconvenience. Tom began on Friday, and by Sunday morning all the floors were sanded, varnished, and dry!

Housework/Sanding the floors

It has been a long time since any floor sanding has happened in this house. We hired people when we first moved in. They removed the old linoleum from the kitchen, exposing the beautiful hardwood. They sanded off the old paint on the upstairs floors letting the golden glow of the pine floors come through. Most of the floors haven't been done since except for Tom sanding the kitchen floor many years ago.

We decided to do the floors which were in the worse shape: the kitchen (along with the new pine floor in the new butt'ry) and the entrance hall.

This gives you an idea of how they looked.



Yesterday we moved everything out of the kitchen except the refrigerator and stove.



And today, the fridge and stove went out - the fridge on the side lawn, plugged in through the kitchen window, and the stove on the porch.



And here's Mr. Sandman! The ribbons from the lights are to prevent him bumping his head on them.


My part in this is such a hard one. Let's see, I'm reading some of your blogs and reading my book and keeping the dogs company in the two rooms they must live in, the living room and study, until this work is done. We've got the sander rented until Monday morning. Tom has just finished the initial sanding, and will soon begin to put on the polyurethane. It will need two coats. Stay tuned!

Housework/Tale of the couchless living room

Have you ever made a big purchase and afterward regretted it? This is the case with my couch. Years ago, we were in need of a new one. It was the only one in the store that was vaguely suitable, and so we bought it. My children think it is the best couch in the world. Tom seems to be able to take naps on it just fine. But I don't even sit on it. I find it uncomfortable. I hate the foamy, boing-boing cushions. Plus, I didn't like where it was in the living room. I thought it made the whole corner crowded. I couldn't really have a coffee table in front of it because it was even more crowded that way.

So the other day I had a brainstorm. What if we removed the couch from the living room? Neither of our kids is in a position to take it right now, but there was some room in the study, so we hauled it in. That's what the kitties in the blog header are lying on. They too seem to think it is great.

I then arranged the chairs in the living room to form a little visiting/watching television area. I brought in the big plant for the corner. The couch used to be on the far wall and filled the whole space. Taking very little time, and just a little work, my living room is utterly transformed and I love it.

Housework/Front Door update

A couple months ago, I showed you the "before" shots of the front door, and here is the "after!" Tom did all the painting himself, and we both are thrilled with the result. Every time our kids drop by, they tell us how much they like it. So, a great success!

Housework/Front Door

For a long time now, we've had this whimsical notion to have what we call a "Tomie dePaola" door. Do you know his work? He is a wonderful writer and artist, and we just love his colors.

As you can see from these "before" pics I just took this morning, we are in dire need of repair and renewal! Years of dogs scratching to come in; window pane knocked out when Tom dragged the old tub surround down the stairs. Almost a year ago (!!) we bought a replacement storm/screen door, and now the time has come to put it up and paint.



Here is a book cover to give an idea of what we are thinking of - probably a turquoise door with purple trim.

Housework/Bathroom - update 3

I realized this morning that I haven't written about the work on the bathroom since early August. Toward the end of that month, Tom put in our new sink, which I just love. Check out those cool faucets! We had originally thought of a simple pedestal sink, but then decided on this one for the shelf underneath and the towel bars. At this point it is still a temporary arrangement, held up by bungee cords. Still, we are able to use it just fine.



And at this point the work has halted temporarily. We made a decision to have a pine board floor instead of that lovely, but quite expensive, Marmoleum. This had been our original idea, but then we were wowed by the beauty of that African Desert color. Still, there were enough not-so-positive reviews by people to make us leery of spending all that money on an unknown. We know wood. Every room in our house has either a hardwood or pine floor. It works, it is tough, it is beautiful.

The reason we stopped on the bathroom is that it is very liveable right now, with a working sink, toilet, and tub. It isn't beautiful, but it is fine until Tom has some solid time to put in the floor and walls. And we decided to spend our "housework" time on the kitchen. I've done a fair bit of rearranging this week, and now we're going to begin thinking about the walls, cupboards, etc. More on this as we go along. We also have an outside project going that I'll write about soon.

Housework/Bathroom/floor choice

This is what we've chosen for the bathroom floor color. It is called African Desert. Bold, isn't it?! I figure if I don't do something bold now, at 60, I never will. :<)



The walls will be Benjamin Moore's Wythe Blue, and the casements, Linen White, to continue the colors from the adjoining bedroom.


I'm happy, happy. It will be put down the last thing after the beadboard and paint are finished.

Housework/Bathroom - update 2

The great new tub surround with many convenient shelves is in, and check out the shower rod - the name of the company is actually "Hotel Shower Rod!" It is just the best idea! It bows out, giving more room when you take a shower. I've had the shower curtain for a while and I think it's adorable and very cheerful. I love the new white faucets.


There's a new ceiling light and fan which our daughter's boyfriend helped Tom put in.

The old vinyl floor is up, and we're thinking of Marmoleum. Have you heard of it, or do you have it anywhere in your homes? It is an ecologically sound product, and the color choices are gorgeous. We thought perhaps the floor could be the highlight of the room, and then go with white walls and casements. We decided to not try and put in the floor ourselves so someone came by this morning to measure. He'll be giving us an estimate soon, though he doesn't know that we are going with this store (not a big box, but a local) anyway. Actually, we've never had estimates. We choose who we want to do a job, and that's it; something you can do pretty safely in a small area. If a person charges too much or doesn't do a good job, the business won't last too long.


Tom took the sink and vanity out a while ago, put it at the bottom of the road with a "free" sign, and it was gone in no time. We have a new sink on order from Home Depot, and instead of the pedestal we had thought we'd be getting, we've chosen a stand which has chrome bars for towels and wash clothes, and a little shelf at the bottom.

Today Tom is steaming off the old wallpaper.

I'm thrilled with the prospect of this new room after 23 years!

Housework/Bathroom update

Well, it's been two weeks since I first wrote about the work on the bathroom. We've had a great new tub and faucets but no shower. As I said, we were thinking about tiling, but honestly there weren't many choices at Lowe's or Home Depot, and our little local tile store closed; and the cost was pretty high, and it would take a long time and a lot of work, so we decided to go with a tub surround. It comes in three sections so it will fit through the doors. I'm quite sure the quality has improved since our 1985 one. It just came in today, and Tom's on his way home with it. I thought I'd post a couple pics of the tub before he puts up the surround. It has been lovely for these many days to have taken a bath. And for the first time in my life, I've been reading in the bath. I'm embarking on Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series. I had read a few out of order, and am now going back to the beginning. They are perfect bath reading - small, paperback, and great writing. Someone kindly left a comment with another address, so you may also go here to read more about the author and his books.

Raya loves drinking right out of the tap. I think this may be her coon cat heritage.

Housework/Bathroom

Just before our youngest child arrived in 1985, we created a second bathroom and a bedroom upstairs from what was an attic, where one time I saw a rat. Well, all these years later, the bathroom has been repainted and wallpapered only once. That shiny new bathroom where my babies played happily in the tub has turned into an un-cleanable and tired looking space The time has come, and this summer we're (well, honestly, Tom is) doing it over. We just bought a new tub, and have decided not to get a tub-surround because it won't fit through the doors or windows, and also because I don't want those seams again. So we are going to tile the tub walls. We're going to put in a new floor, and get a pedestal sink without a cupboard underneath. We've had some trouble with mice getting in there from the back, so this will solve that problem. It isn't a big space, and we aren't making a mcmansion bathroom. No whirlpool, no walk-in shower, no separate and lovely clawfoot tub. We're going simple, but clean and new, the two most important things to me. Here are some before pictures, and I'll be posting more in-progress shots as the days go on.

The first two pictures are of a little floor closet Tom got rid of in March. It was claustrophobic to get into, and the nearby space is narrow to walk through.