Chocolate and Roses

Yippee!!! When it’s this long awaited, I’m sure I’m allowed to celebrate a job half done - especially when it’s the tough half! I chose the title for this post many days ago as I was painting the room. I had the uncanny experience of smelling chocolate, which had to be purely psychological and based on the color of the paint. Thinking about the rose wallpaper I would be adding soon, I realized that I was doing my room over in chocolate and roses - so how could I help but love the outcome? Last night, I finally got to see them together for the first time, and the room exceeds my expectations!

DD#2 arrived safe and sound Tuesday night, making yesterday the day I’ve anticipated for nearly seven years. Yes, I bought the wallpaper for my sewing room seven years ago - a very long wait for something I’ve wanted so much! Even with all the prep work, this part of the room was still a major project because of all the corners and the old-fashioned, milled windowsills - and many tight spots.

We took short breaks for supper and a visitor, but spent most of 11 hours working on it - much longer than I’d expected. The last piece of paper took two hours to hang, though, as it encompassed the last six inches of the window frame and sill, a corner, the bookcase, the bump to the paneling, a very uneven wall, trying to force the match between the short top and bottom pieces, and an extremely tight corner that had to be cut blind. The rest of the room is going to feel very easy compared to this one piece of paper!

Though I’ve alluded to it, I’ve not shown a picture of the paneling I so despise. It’s beyond exciting to me to see even this much of it vanish, and early next week, the rest of it goes - assuming I can get all the stuff in the room rearranged to open the working space, take down the high shelves, sand the wall, wash it down, and prime before it’s time for my helper to head back home.

Anyway, it’s still not a before and after picture, but it really shows a change. I had to shoot it over the pattern storage dresser, which is out of place, but I think it gives a good idea of the new look to this point. Oh - and I hung those things back up on the wall not only because I couldn’t resist, but because it made two things we didn’t have to keep moving. :o) Starting look…

and with changes to date…

When I walk into the room now, I can almost feel it sigh with relief to be shed of its 1970’s garb and slipping into garments that fit comfortably. I love the feeling of a happy room!

Meanwhile, it seems that our circus has developed a fourth ring. Look what came!

More on this fantasy item in a later post, though, as it’s become a story in its own right!

My Mystery Baby

A while back, I found a treasure on ebay late one evening, freshly listed as a Buy It Now. I argued with myself (admittedly briefly) about spending the money at that point, but this doll was unlike any I’d ever seen, with the popular “Dream Baby” type face and a toddler body, and I do so love the all-bisques.  The fact that I’d not see one like this anywhere, nor could I find an example in a quick perusal of my most reliable doll books, pushed me right over the edge into adoption. When he arrived here (I really think it looks like a boy…), I spent several hours doing a more thorough search, but I’ve turned up precisely no information anywhere. I’m admittedly grinning to think I’ve stumbled upon a fairly rare doll, but its a little frustrating to not be able to find even the tiniest shred of information. I thought I’d had a stroke of genius when I wrote to a well-known expert in the doll world, but am now even more baffled, as she’s never seen a doll like mine either, nor does she recognize the maker’s mark. So, here’s my baby, with the hopes that posting him will help uncover more information about the little tyke.

Baby (as yet unnamed) is 6″ tall, a five piece, elastic strung all-bisque with head and torso molded as one piece, and has painted blue eyes. He arrived in a cute little velvet romper, which very much appears as if it is contemporary to him, and a little crocheted hat which most definitely is. One string is gone from the little cap, which bears the feeling of the outfits I’ve seen in old catalogue pictures as coming with the dolls, so perhaps it is original.

The back is very clearly incised “DGP 518. Germany”, and the limbs are marked “18″ and match perfectly, so I have no doubt they are original.

The arms are at slightly different positions from each other, hands dimpled and nicely detailed, and the big toes are cocked up a bit like Kestner toes. Bisque is nice quality, wash very nice, painting appealing - though not absolutely perfect. He’s a nice enough quality doll to be a Kestner.

Don’t you just love that pudgy little body? How do toddlers get away with that and look so cute in the process?

If you have any information whatsoever on this wee laddie, I’d be much obliged if you would leave a comment here on my blog. If you don’t see a comment box as you are reading this, click on the title of this post. You will be taken to a page which will display just this post and a comment box. If you’ve not left a comment here before, it will take a few hours for me to notice and approve your message, so please be patient. I’m really looking forward to having to finding out more information!

Spoiling Me: Part the Second

Well, I didn’t quite plan it this way, but my birthday stashing took on a life of its own! I got two boxes in the mail, and they were both stash - both extremely good i’net finds during the last couple of weeks, and both had the decency to exhibit perfect timing… well… at least perfect timing to make me feel just a wee bit guilty. However, I think I’ll get over that soon enough. ;o)

First there was this spectacular buy on some more Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I already had four skeins of this color, but how could I resist 16 skeins of the same dye lot for just $4 a skein and free shipping? I have no idea what this is going to become, but I’ll work on it. I’m sure it will let me know in good time. This isn’t the same as the Petrol I bought at the yarn sale; it’s color 28, and Petrol is 35. This is a little more turquoise, I think.

The other box held something that, if I didn’t already have enough to do so, would keep me out of trouble for the next few years pretty easily. This is not a little bag; it’s grocery bag sized, and its jammed full of 42 ( ! ) balls of cotton crochet/tatting thread in various shades of white and ecru, very old to fairly new, and marked sizes are every number from 10 through 70. It’s a marvelous selection of thread, and since much of it has a very notable age patina, it’s the sort of thing I love to use for my antique dolls. Anything made from thread like that looks instantly and very naturally old - and honestly, it is old, just recently made. It just looks so much nicer on the dolls that I have problems using anything else for them. It also allows me to custom make doilies and lace pieces that look as if they have history - a nice touch in a Victorian home, and one to employ when the perfect size or shape of antique frillery can’t be found. Besides, often it’s more fun making it than just buying it. :o)

As for the rest of my birthday, it was perfectly lovely - though I’m sure there are more than a few people who would think I’m a little strange for saying so. I was awakened by an unexpected and totally delightful birthday call from a friend in France, and with a start like that, I just had to have a good rest of the day. I was offered dinner out, but turned it down because of all that still needs to happen here. DH surprised me by baking a birthday cake before I was out of bed - coconut with lemon icing - yum! He worked extremely diligently and uncharacteristically cheerfully on the remodeling to do list. And he ran out to Subway for supper sandwiches for us - a favorite and a real treat! Biggest accomplishment of the day is that the wallpaper liner is entirely up in the bay - YIPPEE!!!! (And was that ever a project! I most certainly do not like hanging wallpaper horizontally.) I was going to take a picture, but from anything more than 3 feet away, it looks just like it did before - white! But just you wait until Wednesday! If all this wasn’t enough, I also sold a book on Amazon and got an order for 97 (no, not a misprint!) books from my website! I have so much empty sale shelf space now it’s unbelievable, and other than the problem of time over the next week or so, I no longer have any excuse not to pull more books off my shelves and list them. I will get this library culled to a point that the books fit on my shelves… I will, I will, I WILL! Anyway, I’ve never had a birthday that made me this terribly exhausted, but it was absolutely wonderful, and I’ll definitely remember it for years to come. :o)

The one thing I can’t believe, though, is that since Thanksgiving, I’ve missed only one day knitting, with the exception of the time I was in Honduras. I’m a little chagrined that as of today, I’ve now missed two, especially since I woke up intending to glut on knitting. I will need to be atoning for this at my earliest possible convenience, but for now, I believe sleep is very much in order…

Spoiling Me

Okay, just a short post right now… I just wanted to share what I did to spoil myself. :o) Today is my birthday, but since it’s the weekend and DH is home and ready to work, I ran away from home yesterday to celebrate a day early. My favorite yarn store (closest I have to an LYS) is an hour away, and with gas prices as they are, it’s a bit extravagant to go, but she’s having a sale, and I’m having a birthday… ;o) I thought I was being reasonably careful, but other than the fact that I need more yarn like I need another of those proverbial holes in my head, I realized I came home with yarn for 4 new, mostly big, projects - and narrowly averted a fifth by looking at the total she’d already tallied for me! Anyway, here’s my happy birthday to me stash enhancement…

I’ve never done entrelac, and this shawl was SO pretty! She had 12 of 16 possible colorways all bagged up and ready to take home - and I bit… including the pattern… That would be 12 balls of yarn, in the ever enticing Jojoland Rhythm…

Then there was this fascinating pattern… I looked at it and though “Ugh! I love the look, but I hate anything that involves making and sewing motifs.” Then she has to go and tell me that it’s not done like that, but rather is worked by picking up stitches. I’ve not examined the pattern yet, but that was enough to get me to buy the pattern - and 10 balls of yarn, since I wanted mine a good bit larger than the pattern makes it. Jojoland scores another hit, just because they produced an intriguing pattern - this time with Rhythm. I think this is going to be particularly fun since the color appears more varied in these skeins than in the first shawl (for which I chose a very subtle colorway).

This was the one “easy” thing - a single ball of yarn to make an airy scarf. It even came with a free pattern! (Be sure to enlarge this one, as the colors don’t show very well at all in the thumbnail, and it’s actually quite pretty, despite looking so dark.) This is Crystal Palace Kid Merino, and the basket full of these at the store makes me think of a bowl full of Christmas hardtack.

Next, I happened upon the Hempathy - and by this point should have stopped looking, but… Well, I just hadn’t gotten around to trying any of it yet, and I so love all the other Elsebeth Lavold yarn I have, and then I started thinking it would be nice to make a summer weight shawl… I narrowly avoided bringing home two colors, as I had a miserable time deciding between the gold and a pale green, but I finally decided that this sunny color felt like summer and might be a little more versatile. Ten more balls in the bag. :o)

And last, but not least, I actually had a legitimate need. I’m working on a gift and was clearly running short of yarn, so I was glad to find the same color, and though a different dye lot, it matches - apparently perfectly - so I’m back in business. 4 skeins of my beloved Silky Wool in the incredibly awesome “Petrol” colorway - totally legal purchase. :o)

And eventually, sale or not, I’m going to be heading back for the yarn for that entrelac vest, but first I suppose I need to figure out where I’m going to stash this while I finish my Little River Wrap and my socks and that gift I have started and…

Four and Counting…

I have just four days left to work before my favorite paper hanger arrives. I’m beyond trying to guess how successful I’m going to be in regards to preparedness, but I’m feeling more positive than I was a week ago. Now the crunch looks more as if it will involve the second wall. I’m not sure how far I can hope to extend a miracle.

Lots has happened since my last entry, though almost everything has been in the sewing room, due to the impending deadline. A continued push through the clutter has finally demolished Mouse Mountain, gruesome task that it was, freeing the dresser. Ironically, it seems that the worst damage in the room may well have occurred to those items which were properly sorted and stored, as there appears to have been a merry frolic through my drawers, leaving my rather substantial stash of evenweave fabric with unsavory decorations and the formerly mint condition boxes holding my my dainty English porcelain jars with stitchery ready tops much the worse for wear. I decided I’d close the drawers and deal with it later, as I have to take everything out to refinish the dresser at some point anyway.

Everything in the large half of the room has moved at least once, and all the carpet in that section is gone. The wallpaper is stripped, the mantle has been toted outside, walls cleaned as needed, and much primer and paint has been applied to walls, woodwork, and ceiling. Tonight I decided that at least a third of the ceiling has been done, and all but a tiny corner I can’t reach in the bay has been primed, as has the woodwork in the area to be papered first. I’ve also finished painting the wall in the dresser area leading to the first bay window, and it awaits only a new register and quarter round molding for me to call it finished. As for the mantle… discussion of that little project will have to wait for another night, as it’s a story all its own…

So, here are a few pix of the metamorphosis, so far as it’s gone.

This is the wall behind the dresser when I started. It was an odd sort of green when we moved in, but I’d managed to get this far with my painting the first time, so it’s an extremely pale gold here. The hodgepodge on the wall reflects a frightening transitional stage between who I was 15 years ago and who I am now. Trust me, this will most certainly be dealt with!

I have to confess that it looked tremendously better just removing the stuff from the wall, but the addition of fresh paint to that wall and primer to the main part of the window frame and bay wall was pretty exciting. Yes, this is the same wall, just a different angle, so it looks a lot shorter.

One of the fun things DH got to do was fill the mouse hole and a very large hole that appeared beside the window frame when my scraper went right through the plaster. I’d researched a bit online and decided to try something called Great Stuff, which mice supposedly don’t find tasty. The instructions say to fill holes just halfway, as it expands. DH didn’t quite trust them, and we had a pretty good laugh when we walked back into the room an hour later! It sort of reminded me of the blight I was so scared of when I was a kid shucking corn. He trimmed it off with his flush saw, and now that it’s primed, it blends right in. I will add that the stuff is fun to play with once it’s hard. :o)

So, from back at the doorway, the current look into the bay area has changed somewhat this week. I can’t call these before and after shots; how about before and during? No matter what you call it, it looks like “better” to me already!

Now, do I hear any volunteers to come paint windows? Nah… didn’t figure as much…

Three Ring Circus

No, the paint fumes didn’t finish me off - yet - and both DH and I are still alive, despite some rocky days at sweat equity central. Thanks to those who have written worried, though. I’ve not posted lately for two reasons. One is that it was getting a bit depressing to have such tiny changes to show for so much work, and the other is that now I can legally claim that this place has turned into a three ring circus. Yes, there are now three very active, moderately big, totally unrelated remodeling projects happening simultaneously, despite the fact that we are but two people, and beyond that, I have this strange desire to do things like eat, sleep, and check my email…

So, what’s happening around here at the moment? Well, the nook is still creeping slowly forward. There are actually four cupboard doors hanging, though one is coming down again so DH can see if he can get it to be hanging in a more acceptable fashion. Rather a shame to mount a new door only to have it look precisely as if it’s hung there for the last 150 years warping. :o(

3 of 4 doors, waiting for latches. Also have the right lower door hung. We are officially out of hinges, so I have to order the last couple pair - soon!

I’ve yet to resolve the hardware crisis, the only logical choices not being anything like what I love and have visualized from the start. However, if I don’t buy something tonight, I believe lack of metal will officially shut down progress. Not good. Yesterday I applied sanded texturizing paint (a first for me) to the only big wall panel that is removable. It looks great - only complaint being that I did a more artistic job than the people who did the real walls, so it isn’t a perfect blend. I think I can get away with it once it’s painted. Besides, it’s inside a cupboard, so who will be looking?

The second ring of our circus is the resuscitation of the laundry room project, which laid dormant for about 6 months after I had to quit working due to all the traveling I did at the end of last year. Since I’m to a part that isn’t so much fun for me, and I’ve had more than enough to occupy my time anyway, it wasn’t particularly easy to get back on task. However, I finally reached a point where I just couldn’t bear having the deep freeze out of place and in the middle of everything any longer, so I sealed the first section of tile, we moved the freezer, and I set up for the next segment. Tiling a floor this way is the pits. I’d sure love to be able to do the whole thing in one sitting, but there is just no way to move all those appliances out of there. Besides, I think my body would never forgive me. ;o) This past weekend, I laid the second section of tile, carefully planned to allow passage through the room, which is a major thoroughfare.

28 new tiles ready to be cleaned & sealed. Note the necessity of hiding the old, stained floor…

The mortar seems to be set, so next step is to clean up a couple days of fur accumulation and seal the terracotta before grouting. The new adhesive worked far better than the original stuff, which took about 2 weeks to dry, so despite the fact that it is harder to work with and a pain to clean up, I guess it was a good move.

My sewing room is the third act - both the oldest and newest project. When we moved in 25 years ago, the whole house was starting to look quite tired of itself. It had been decorated very much in the style of the 1970’s - approximately 100 years out of character - and even then I wasn’t fond of the look - or the tastes of the previous owners. What I claimed as my sewing room was one of the two worst, though. The layout of the room is odd, giving it eight walls. One end has a three wall bay, and the other end has a corner cut out for the doorway. (I’m just telling you that so you don’t start adding up the numbers and thinking I’m nuts.) The bay was wallpapered in a flocked paper with an overall striped look, golden yellow, deep cream, and gray. Three walls were painted a light green leaning slightly toward the blue side of the spectrum, and all the woodwork was painted a substantially darker version of the same. The remaining two walls, including the longest wall in the room, were covered with a dark brown, very fake looking wood paneling. Add carpet that is perhaps avocado gold and a window treatment of crisp, very white, Cape Cod curtains, and reddish brown, natural wood shutters, and it ends up being a cacophony of color that offended my senses enough to make me brave my first ever attempt at redecorating.

Remnants of original paint and wallpaper with replaced curtains.

I removed the Cape Cods to my daughter’s bedroom directly above, which had been fitted with heavy, dark, drapes, definitely not fitting for a baby’s room, and put creamy lace curtains in the sewing room - one less color and such a relief! After a couple years of nagging didn’t convince DH to paint, I decided I surely could do that myself, so bought a bucket of paint that matched the lightest stripe in the wallpaper, and set to work removing a second color - the green walls and woodwork. In the process, about halfway through the project, I threw my back out, and wasn’t able to finish - or for that matter, move normally for quite a few years. By the time I could have done anything, I’d lived here long enough to start feeling what the house wanted to be, so had totally reformulated my plans for the room. (Okay, and I learned how to wallpaper, so had a whole new realm of possibilities!) I bought paper I adored about 6-7 years ago, and it’s been waiting in a box ever since, looking for the day that I could have a good helper…

Enter, DD#1… She’ll be home on furlough in a couple of weeks, and in discussing plans for her brief visit, I commented that it would be fun to do a special project and would she like to hang some wallpaper. She grabbed eagerly to the idea, saying it would be fun. Fifteen minutes later, I found myself looking at my sewing room wondering what I’d done.

This is where I’m starting - avoiding showing 99% of the clutter

Since it has one of the few doors in the house, it had become a repository for things that need protected from the cats, and “sewing room” had drifted to more of a title of habit than reality. The fact that the cats didn’t have access was not wasted on the mice who invaded the house a few years ago when DD#2 proved to be an apt hostess by providing a never ending feast in her bedroom. Between the mountains of stored clutter and mouse mess and destruction, I was facing a disaster area. Even worse, with the nook project recently reborn and the laundry room still torn up, and the lack of safe zones for breakables, there just wasn’t a reasonable way to approach a clean up - very overwhelming!

However… I really want that room, so as the days before her furlough started vanishing, I ditched “reasonable” and just started picking at the project, hoping that I would receive bits of enlightenment along the way. It quickly became obvious that pulling out the carpet was mandatory - even though it can only be done a few square feet at a time.

The first patch of bare floor - yippee!!!!

I’ve been slowly working a path through the room, clearing sections of carpet to remove, rearranging all the stuff I can’t take out in an attempt to buy space. Last night the bay was cleared out, and I took the frightening, but decisive step of yanking down as much wallpaper as I could access. It came off easily, revealing an extremely ugly wall, blotched in several areas with mold, which was a bit of a surprise, but I think is old history.

Looks like it’s straight out of a This Old House makeover article!

I also found the mouse hole - which, of course, wasn’t nearly so cute as the ones in the Tom & Jerry cartoons…

Grrrr!!! I don’t mind them chewing the carpet so much, but did they have to eat the molding?

I look at the room and count the 12 days until my helper arrives, and I find myself a little overwhelmed by all that needs to be done. The mantle (retro-mounted by us a few years ago, and hanging over a large portion of the wallpaper) needs to be taken out, mold needs to be removed, the walls washed, patched, and primed, areas adjacent to the area to be papered should be painted - including two big windows, 3 high shelves on the long paneled wall must be unloaded and come down, along with all their hardware, the paneling needs to be scuff sanded, washed and primed - all this with the room filled to the gills with stuff that currently has no place to go. (Did I mention the big possum belly baking cupboard and the loaded steel shelving unit that are in the way?) I have no idea how this is all going to happen, but I suspect it would help if I had a “crew” and/or the body and stamina I had when I was 25…

Baby Steps

That is undoubtedly the best description of what this project is. There are very few parts of it that involve something big. Instead, it’s an endless string of jobs, most of which take somewhere between 5 and 30 minutes or so each - sand this board, prime that shelf, paint the back of the next door, patch the new holes… one niggle of progress after the next, not a one of which seems to look big in and of itself, but each of which contributes something very necessary to the whole. I’ve been talking with a friend this week. She’s going through some really tough times - wishing to delete certain days and experiences from her life. I’m thinking that life is a lot like this project, though. Each little thing that happens to us in some way creates the whole and contributes to the final project, and we aren’t complete the way we were meant to be until we’ve experienced it all - each little baby step through life.

So, anyway… The project creeps onward, feeling depressingly eternal at some moments, and at others sharing a flicker of future wonder. In the last few days, two big things have happened. First, the other two little shelves are now in place.

Although they won’t be ready to load until the paint has cured for two weeks, I couldn’t resist showing them off briefly. Part of what I’ve done is list 18 new items for sale on Amazon and in my online doll store, so I thought I’d brag about my baby step toward decluttering and getting out of debt at the same time I showed off the first truly completed part of the nook project. Yes… the shelves are entirely done without even the tiniest thing left to do. Yippee!!!

The other big improvement is that the right-hand vertical facepiece is mounted.

I still have to fill holes and touch up the paint, but this evening, DH mounted the “just for looks” hinges (after I realized that it might look quite silly to have hinges on all the doors, but not the two matching fixed panels), and permanently attached the board with a combination of screws and nails - enough to keep me busy patching for a fair bit.

Meanwhile, I’ve been painting and painting and painting… Thought perhaps you would like seeing my indoor painting facility. It’s pretty limited as to space, but the lighting is good, and it’s convenient - unless you find yourself out of clean socks…

Me and my math… I had to do the tally… I will be painting one or another side of a door 66 times before I’m done with primer and two color coats on each of them, which could explain why I feel like I’m always painting a door. The first one was fun. I suspect the last one may well be, too. As for the others… well…

I’ve also finished painting the three sides of the upper laundry room cupboard, clear coated my Piazza di Bucato sign, painted another section of wall, and spent far too much time on the phone and internet ironing out problems and trying to round up the hardware we need for this project. This has turned into a nightmare - not something I readily say about shopping, believe me! By the time we are done, we will have lighting fixtures, hinges, cabinet latches, bin pulls, two sizes of knobs, switchplate covers, outlet covers, drawer slides, label holders, and doorknob sets incorporated into the nook and immediate surroundings. It’s only my opinion, but I think it would be nice if they matched in finish, coordinated in style, fit the feel of the house, didn’t cause immediate bankruptcy, and actually appealed to me. For some reason or other, I never really thought this would be much of a problem. I was wrong. There doesn’t appear to be a manufacturer - or for that matter, a retailer, who thinks the same way I do. Absolutely no one seems able to fill all of my requirements - and one of my longings apparently isn’t available anywhere at all. Our house is a Victorian era Italianate. This translates into strong, but extremely simple architecture, which to my mind is begging for curves and movement in its adornments. I love Eastlake styled hardware. I enjoy the wonderful florals from the Victorian era. I would happily settle for either. However, I made a slight tactical error and worked myself into a corner. The doors we are using on the cupboard have an edge on the frame which is just 1.125″ wide. These cupboards need latches. The only logical style of latch is the traditional cabinet latch which works by turning a knob to pull back the latch, which is engaged in a catch on the wall. No problem; I’ve seen some absolutely delightful cabinet latches, and I might well be able to match the ones that have been part of the house for the last 150 years or so… Ummm… except that in hours of searching, I’ve found only one style of cabinet latch that has a footprint small enough to fit the door frame. Guess what… It’s totally and painfully plain - agonizingly Arts & Crafts. Don’t get me wrong - I have absolutely nothing against Arts & Crafts. It’s just not what I want - at all. If the latches were going to be hidden away, it wouldn’t be such a problem. But that’s not the situation at all. There are going to be six of these latches, they are going to be out on the front of the finished cupboard, and this cupboard can’t help but be a primary focus in to the room. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t see them combined with Eastlake hardware, and it’s really making me unhappy. I have a home with bold, clean lines just begging to show off some special jewelry, and what are my options? Egg knob cabinet latches with smooth cases - period. The more I know I can’t have it, but more I want the Eastlake. The more I know I’m stuck with plain, the less I like it - to the point that now I’m having a tough time making myself order anything. Add to this annoyance the fact that I’m going to have to order from 4-5 different places, praying all the time that one company’s “Antique Brass” comes somewhere close to matching the next one’s, and you will find me totally quagmired in regards to purchasing anything. I suppose it had to happen someday… sigh…

Two For One

Don’t get your hopes up - not a sale. It’s just that it took two days to get one post out of me. It’s terribly frustrating to see how tiny the changes are each day in comparison to how much time is going into this project. Surely it will eventually have a few surprising moments in which huge parts of it will suddenly fall together - or so I hope!

For DH, Monday was primarily invested in cutting the two vertical facepieces that will frame the outside edge of the finished cupboard. Again, battling the old-house-overall-lack-of-plumb, not to mention an 8′ long cut that needed to be made in each of the two boards to fit them to match the less than square previous construction, kept him busy for most of his day. To make the project more interesting, we have a rather large, heavy, seriously overfilled (double shelved!) bookcase, which was in the way of his being able to mark a cut line on his board. We decided it would take less time to totally empty and move this case, then reverse the process, than for him to try to make the cut without benefit of drawing a line down the board along the edge of the wall. All told, we ended up moving about 36 linear feet of books - twice.

While the shelf was out, he also pulled up one of the remaining sections of dry rotted carpet and padding, and the tack strip, all of which were left in place when the rest of the carpet was pulled up some years back. (Bookcase was just as heavy back then…) The cuts came out perfectly, by the way.

With a little extra work time at the end of the day, he also put in this big piece of sheathing - the one I’d finished painting a few days ago.

This cupboard is nearly ready for drawers… no small project, but one of the most valuable in the entire cupboard.

Meanwhile, I sanded and primed and painted… ad nauseum! I finally finished the little shelves and cleats, put a final coat of paint inside the right cupboard, finished painting around the upper cupboard openings, and sanded and primed the two side facepieces. I also spent an inordinate amount of time looking for those hinges, which was more exhausting than useful - though I did finally find the passport that slipped away from me a couple of years ago and finally had to be replaced. Sure would love to know how it got where it was… but then… maybe not…

Tuesday was the last day of DH’s vacation days, and it was only a short work day for him, as it was his night to go to a friend’s house to play trains. (Don’t tell him I published that!) He was inordinately pleased with what he did accomplish, though. The side facepieces needed something between them and the existing wall in order to be stable enough to handle hinges, so he fitted spacers for both sides this afternoon, and even found enough time to mount the first little shelf in the right cupboard. I couldn’t resist putting just a few DVD’s on to see the effect, though I couldn’t leave them, as the paint is still too tender to permanently load shelves.

I kept looking at the shelf thinking it was so cute in there, but didn’t dare say that out loud, for obvious reasons. Imagine my reaction when he came home late tonight and commented that the little shelf was cute! :oD

For my part today, I was extremely busy, able to do much more without having to share space and grab available moments between his work. I sanded and primed the spacer pieces he’d cut in the afternoon, then put two color coats on those and the two facepieces, so they are ready to install. I gave up on the hinges and ordered replacements - which totally galls me, but I don’t have time to turn the house on its ear. They aren’t in any of the places I would normally have put them, so they were either moved innocently or with feline or masculine assistance, or they happen to be in “someone’s” shop and he doesn’t remember them arriving there. Eventually I’ll have a lot of nice brass hardware to resell, I guess… I painted part of the wall just around the corner from the left side of the nook from floor to ceiling while it was easy, so I don’t have to edge around the woodwork once it’s installed. (And yes, we know that hinges are usually screwed, not taped in place…)

And I started back on priming doors, now that the little shelves are out of the way in my indoor paint gallery.

Then, I tackled a project that has been avoided for quite some time… I was working steadily on my laundry room (Piazza di Bucato) last year, but work came to an abrupt halt last October, when I had three trips (two major), three holidays, a birthday, and a really nasty virus all in the space of ten weeks. So much has happened since then (in addition to just trying to catch up), that it’s been very easy to put off starting back into the work - which ironically enough is currently sanding, priming, and painting… Tonight I gritted my teeth, climbed the ladder yet again, and scuff sanded the high cupboard, washed it down, primed all but the face (I want to remove the doors for a proper painting), and later went back to put a coat of paint on the top, side, and bottom. I’m feeling quite proud of myself, to be quite honest - and I hated every minute of the job! It’s not going to do itself, though, and I can’t do anything else in that room until it’s finished - and I’ve grown more than a little bit weary of it being unfinished. Pix here are before and after, with the primed doors definitely showing a contrast between old and new. Can’t wait to pick out some nice new handles that aren’t flaking to put on these doors!

At least it isn’t boring around here!

Something That Feels Real!

Admittedly we’ve been making a lot of progress, but so much of it doesn’t show or won’t generally show in the completed nook. Sunday we finally put up the first thing that is painted and will show as part of the finished project, and not only that, but it covers some of the framing, so actually improved the look of things - a lot, at least to someone who has been looking at it as much as I have. Along the ceiling, the first facepiece is in place. The nice (and amusing) thing is that it fits the ceiling so well that I told DH to skip the molding. I didn’t want quarter round up there anyway, as it doesn’t fit the feel of the house or the rest of the woodwork. However, I thought there was no way he would get the fit that accurate. I actually told him to just get it close enough that we could put up half inch quarter round to cover any gaps and not sweat it beyond that, and he agreed. Then he put it up and we got out of the quarter round anyway. :o)

I still have to fill holes and touch up the paint, but I decided to do it all at once with the other upper face pieces. My knees really don’t like ladders enough to climb when I don’t absolutely have to do it.

In work that doesn’t show yet, the little shelves and cleats for the upper part of the right hand cupboard have been cut and I’ve started working on painting those. Second coat of paint went on the wall, around the upper cupboard openings, on the back of one door, and I put both coats on the face piece we mounted.

Current nightmare: Despite my having looked in all the most possible locations now, I’ve yet to find the bag of hinges and latches I purchased years ago when the project was first started. Not having hinges is very soon going to be a major problem - i.e. project stopper. Suffice it to say, I’m praying for guidance to find them.

Something for Saturday

Though it doesn’t show a lot, a good bit happened on Saturday. Most of it is stuff that will pay off later in the project. DH had two big goals and made both. One of them was wiring this side for the new light, which doesn’t look like much, to be quite honest.

He has it wired, but then tied it back into the light on the ceiling, as neither of us thought it wise to have either a bare bulb or the nice new fixture exposed in the middle of the construction zone. At least it will be easy to tie it in when the time is right now. His other project was to cut the first face piece - the long piece running across the entire top of the cupboard. Since this is an oooooooold house, nothing original is true and level, but we built the floor of the cupboard level. That meant that the piper was paid at ceiling height and he had to shape the piece to match the curve of the ceiling fairly closely. It’s a remarkably good fit. Can’t go up until Sunday, as I have to sand, prime, and paint it first, but just seeing it held up in place was exciting!

Watching him work on the face piece, I suddenly realized that I needed to paint the inside of the upper cupboards before he put the vertical face pieces up. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to get to them and would have to leave the raw, splintery wood in there - probably collecting samples every time I used the upper cupboards, knowing me. Cupboards are temporary holding places for my craft tubs, which eventually will be in my studio, where I’ll actually be able to use them. I can’t believe how much the fresh primer up there has attracted my attention!

I spent a lot of time with sandpaper and primer today. I sanded the faceboard, one big door, and the four small doors, and primed not only the upper cupboard edges, but also the big door, the faceboard, and one and a half small doors. I finished the green on the big wall sheath board from Friday and worked on the inside of the right hand cupboard - managing to stick my knuckle in some tacky paint. Without thinking, I quickly moved to brush the mess I made smooth - and since it was tacky, it turned into a rather large, ugly blotch, which now needs sanded and repainted. I’m blaming this foolishness on breathing too much sawdust.

Since everything I was doing was agonizingly mundane, I thought I deserved a treat by late evening, so I dug out my wall paint and my crack filler and worked on the small area above my studio door just for fun. I should have taken a clear starting photo of the crack, but perhaps it shows a bit on the wall coming forward to the right of the photo. I filled that and cut in the rest of the ceiling paint, and once that was dry, put on the first coat of gorgeous, exciting color. (Anything other than the current Avocado Mustard Whirl is gorgeous!) I’m really looking forward to the day that the entire room is this color. :o) I took the after picture with a little “old wall” in it for comparison.