Hello again everyone! First of all I’d like to apologize for the long delay since my last post. Each day I find myself busy about my day, then looked up a couple of weeks ago and realized the seasons are changing here. The trees have just begun their beautiful fall show, the air is once again crisp in the mornings and fog rests among the hills and small forested valleys. It has definitely been awhile. I believe it was late spring for my last post and I can’t believe we’re into October!

Things have been a busy here on the home front; I’ve picked up more hours on my job and although I am still at home, I’m plugged in and working more these days. Paul has also had his own jobs coming in and we’ve have had two business trips as well as several personal trips (each to opposite coasts) squeezed in between. Although we’ve continued working hard on things here, each time I was ready to share something on the blog, alas the day escaped me. I’ve been remiss and we know everyone is curious to see where we are! Therefore, I think the best way to do this post is as a quick catch up, a sort of a “last season recap” as it were, lol. There’s a lot of information, so hang on, and let’s go!

The Kitchen – Is still a work in progress. It has so many moving parts to it (probably more than any other room will), with not only cabinets, but counter tops, flooring, crown molding, wallpaper, trim work, etc…. The cabinets we hired out but everything else we are doing ourselves and the only way to approach this was to tackle it incrementally. The reason? A: so we don’t get too bored with it and lose the creativity and B: as this or that dries, we move on to the next needed project which then, had its own challenges and called our attention away. As long as the kitchen functioned, we directed our attention to what was most in need and then circled back. But never fear! It’s moving in the right direction and will be grand when it’s done! A few pics below. Enjoy!

The back side of the island (facing the butler’s pantry) was a blank flat panel. Paul had other ideas. 😉 He’s trimmed it out, complete with corbells to match the style of the cabinetry. My job today is to finish painting it all. When it’s dry, then I will apply the glaze which shows as the dark lines in the crevices, like the cabinets have.

Another quick kitchen project was an old broken window that we’ve had taped up since we moved in. Only 2 panes were broken or cracked and the other 2 were in good condition. It’s to the left of the refrigerator and has the old wavy glass and original to the house. Even though it was always in an odd position, we couldn’t make ourselves change it. We’ve had it like this for quite awhile.

With winter coming, we needed to get it fixed.

This is a perfect example of a small side project that not’s technically part of the kitchen, but it is and takes a few days with drying time of each step.

So the window came out, I sanded the frame all the way down to bare wood, removed the glass, cleaned it and removed the old dried glaze. Then the window was repainted, I reinserted the old glass, Paul glazed it, we attached the weights and back into the wall it went.

Looking through the wavy glass and how it refracts the images of trees outside is actually quite pretty. The rest of the windows have blinds but we plan to find curtains to go here.

Paul’s Studio (aka “Pink” Room) – This is one of the worst rooms as we remember it. It was once a much larger grander room that years ago had a wall put up and divided it into two spaces. This room though in its day had to be significant because it has a beautifully ornately designed tin ceiling. The patterns and designs were beautiful with huge crown molding. Unfortunately, the bathroom upstairs had a leak years ago resulting in a large section of the tin long since rusting through in some places.

Paul began working in this space as part of the ongoing electrical project, replacing all wiring in this house, room by room, outlet and overhead, one at a time with new wiring. As he cut into the walls and ceiling of this room, it was unfortunately time to say goodbye to the old tin ceiling. It simply couldn’t be saved. Each piece of tin was nailed to small boards hung in the ceiling and the nails were also rusty. This was definitely time to wear heavy thick gloves. Here are a few pics of the fun job Paul had taking it down!

As Paul was removing the crown molding, see what we found! Of course, you know me and old wallpaper… I had to take pictures and record it.

And as for the old tin he pulled down, never fear! We have an idea for saving good sections and reusing it. More to come!

Finished Furniture Project – You may remember awhile back I found an old piece of furniture that after we brought it home, realized it smelled like smoke. 🙁 After trying many “old wives tales” and other suggestions, the only way we ultimately could get rid of it was to remove the finish, as the smell was in the finish. So I sanded it all the way down, then re-stained it, reapplied poly and here’s the finished project!

Electrical Continues – Channels are being cut, new wires are being dragged…room by room.

Entry Way – More wanescoting is going up, transom windows are being replaced. We just need the ceiling redone and then wallpaper will go up! I LOVE this space. It brings such grandness to the home.

The Exterior – And last but not least, a few shots of where we are (i.e. Paul is…he is doing the HEAVY lifting on the exterior. He amazes me). More has been done the last two days but I don’t have pics of that yet. For now, see below…

I am in awe, thinking about what the house looked like when we first pulled up to where it is now. When was the last time this beautiful old girl looked like this? She still has a ways to go but she’s come so far!

On a last note, in between our busy schedules, a welcome routine we’ve now added back to our schedule; our weekly fishing excursion! This was previously like clock work in our lives, once a week we headed up into the mountains for the day to fish, eat a packed lunch and just enjoy nature. We’re still on the hunt for the “PERFECT” spot but I’d say we’ve definitely come close to “almost heaven” several times.

Regardless of how long it takes us to find the PERFECT spot, until then, we’ll enjoy the hunt.