If I were designing a house from scratch, I probably wouldn't put the back door right in the kitchen. I'd put it off to the side, with a mud room and lots of space for boots and coats.
But then I would miss out on having this, right next to where I wash the dishes.
Dorothy Gale had it right. There's no place like it.
I'm settling back into my life. And even though it was all pretty fresh and new when I left it in early March, I think I'm seeing it through even newer eyes.
Much more appreciative eyes.
Add to that the fact that it is Spring and I've been pretty much drunk with joy for the past two weeks.
Anyone else being made giddy by the details around you?
Because, truly, nothing says Festive Yuletide Fun like a running toilet....
I'm enjoying a lovely holiday and just wanted to pop in to wish you a Happy, Healthy and Wonderful New Year!
It's not completely and utterly finished yet (what ever is?), but I'm too excited to wait. I have to show you pictures of the progress so far.
Here's the view from the doorway...
And from the foot of the bed...
And my favourite addition.
There was really no room anywhere for a laundry hamper, so we had the carpenter cut a hole in the floor and put in a laundry chute. It needs another coat of paint and a handle, but I cannot describe the luxury!
It's like being able to drop your dirty clothes on the floor, only way tidier!
Today we get to start installing the closet.
What projects are you working on?
The carpenter started work this morning. Things are happening. And yes, Chandan, there will be pictures.
Alan was so inspired by all the work getting done that he went down the basement and built a workbench out of the old 2X4's from the closet and a door!
I did manage to get the pictures hung in my hallway. All paintings, drawings, photographs done by me or people I know and love. I also left some spaces to let the collection grow...
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Before I get to Etsy Monday's (aka "The Good Stuff"), I just wanted to let you know that I posted my kitchen makeover on my food blog. It seemed appropriate.
If you're interested, you can see Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
If you're not, stay tuned for Etsy....
Usually, when we move into a new place, the bedroom is the first thing we set up, followed very closely by the kitchen.
But not this time.
See, the bedroom had these ugly, nasty cupboards, built, it looked like, from bits and pieces found on all the neighbours' scrapheaps. They cut off the light from the window to an alarming degree. I suspect that in the summertime, they would do the same to the breezes.
Meanwhile, across the room, is a perfectly sized nook, just asking to be made into a closet.
So we took out what was there and found....
Oh.
Seriously, people, when you triplex a place, give a thought to future owners. It's just bad karma to leave them with a mess like this. Pipe should at least run along walls, if you don't have the wherewithal to put them in. OK?
The plumber came the other day to move the pipes closer to the wall. Now we wait on the carpenter to come and box them in. And possibly put the shelves in the gap on the other side of the window.
Do it ourselves? Well, no. We want it to look better when it's done than when we started. Our carpentry skills aren't quite up to the twists and turns proffered by a century home.
In the meantime, we're sleeping in the office.
And there goes my productivity.
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The painting is done and the baseboards are in. Now we just need some furniture and the art.
I think it looks about a million percent better than it did, even empty.
To really finish it off, we need quarter-round. I'm thinking black.... But that's one of those jobs that's way harder than it should be. And best left to the professionals - all that mitring! And since we'll be replacing the flooring eventually, I think we'll leave it till then.
In the meantime, we have a cool and welcoming entry hall and I can't wait to move in!
I've never been a notably squeamish person, but the state the tub was in at our new place gave even me pause...
I went through an entire magic eraser and quite a bit of calcium, lime, rust remover from our local hardware store before it was to a point that I could contemplate stepping in for purposes of showering. But it still wasn't good.
Then my friend Fiona told me about Simply Clean's Vinegar Plus (five times stronger than regular vinegar!). And then she loaned me her bottle.
It smells really, really vinegary. Room-clearingly so, in fact. My nose wrinkled up so badly my toes curled. But I'd far rather the smell of vinegar than weird chemicals doing untold, unknowable damage.
As to its effectiveness, well,
Now we just need to fix the leaky faucet.....
After numerous trips to the dump and the purchase of a very large bucket of paint, we're starting to make some progress over at the new apartment.
The hallway that runs through the middle of it was a dark depressing thing, indeed. There are no windows and the carpet was way too dark for the space. Ugh!
But since the puppy ate part of it (I hope he's OK. I really don't think puppies should be eating carpets...) we had the perfect excuse to tear it up. And we found....
Not exactly pretty, is it?
Out came the high-adhesion primer. I painted everything white today. It sort of has the feel of an art gallery. OK, a really tiny art gallery, but still. It's what I'm going to work with.
The paint was still wet when I took this picture. And, holy crap, do we need baseboards! But at least you can see that progress is being made...
I'm feeling a little off-kilter this week. It's nothing serious. Just the end of a hectic summer.
I hope you enjoy these pictures while I attempt to regroup.
Alan and I were so lucky to find this apartment.
We needed something in a hurry, but for a short term. No easy task, but somehow this place was available. The fact that it came semi-furnished made moving day a lot easier.
The only thing is, well...
And there's a chair to go with it!
Fortunately, I had some big pieces of fabric. A bit of draping and tucking and...
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OK, not perfect, but we're only here till mid-October, so it's all at least bearable.
Which brings me to the contest. My friend Glenda from SureFit sent me an email to announce The Hunt for the Ugliest Sofa in America.
Photo entries for the contest will be accepted until September 30th for a chance to win a $5,000 living room makeover by designer and host of HGTV’s Myles of Style Kim Myles, courtesy of Sure Fit Inc.
If it’s old, worn, unsightly, revolting, repulsive, lumpy, grumpy or just plain ugly, Sure Fit wants to see it. The criteria for choosing the ugliest couch includes the ugliness of overall design and fabric pattern, offensiveness of color, inappropriateness of fabric and inappropriateness of the combination of fabric, color and design as it relates to any period in the recent history of furniture. The uniqueness of the couch as it relates to the above-mentioned criteria will also be taken into account.
To enter go to www.SureFit.com and click on the “Ugly Couch Contest” button located on the homepage.
I won't be entering. My sofa lives in Canada. And besides, it seems a bit ungrateful to enter the couch of the man who saved us from having to circle the block for eight solid weeks....
I sat on my sofa yesterday and took some pictures of my living room...
Even though we don't have any offers on the place yet, I know that eventually we'll be moving out of here and into something smaller. So I'm starting to think about what to keep and what to let go. And I'm not having too much trouble with the letting go part. Except...
That fridge? It's ridiculously heavy. Rottenly awkward to move. And really not the kind of thing that most normal people would want as a display piece in their living room. I should be able to say "Buh bye". And yet...
And yet I'm really hoping that we can find a space for it in the next place.
And a couple of strong and willing movers to get it there.
What do you have trouble letting go of?
I am a sucker for a box lot of rusty junk. I don't really know why, but I just love the stuff.
I'm looking at these old hinges and thinking that, if I could secure them at a ninety-degree angle, they'd make great brackets for light-duty shelves.
I really must get around to taking that welding course one of these days.
Well, I'm just all over the place today!
Gabreial featured my kitchen table re-vamp on her very cool site, Vintage Indie today.
I hope you'll all head over, check it out and say hi to Gabreial for me!
