loving....

...our new guest room.

the color on the walls: Olive Branch
the coverlet: Pottery Barn
the crocheted blanket: circa 1970 from my Aunt Elsie
the framed print: North country Neighbors flea market
the brass bed: yard sale

the new addition

I was waiting until we were ready for House Beautiful before I posted pics.
-you know, potted ferns, perfect lighting, every detail attended to.....

Then I decided to quell the online begging & post pics just the way it is. Gloriously unfinished!
The woodstove needs a stovepipe. Cardboard boxes & piles of tools abound. We don't have a TV cabinet yet. The end tables are borrowed from Ben's bedroom....


But I am so happy with the almost-finished product.

We wasted no time opening our doors to entertain....
As a matter of fact, we unfurled the rug, ushered the couches in ( which I might add, led us to the discovery of a lost itouch and our extra phone...), and plugged in the thrifted lamps MOMENTS before 25 guests arrived on Sunday evening for a church leadership gathering.

We like to run things right up to the wire around here.

It was a perfect meeting: sharing, prayer, food, fellowship, laughter, the best folk in the world, and a time of worship that raised the rafters.

Check this spot for more! The guest room is being assembled over the weekend.
-because we have a guest coming, of course!

the news

We eat tomatoes from our garden EVERY DAY, in some shape or form. They are heavenly!

My fears about the shelving looking "cluttery" were unfounded. Boy, I likey these shelves!

After obsessing for months about the right rug for the family room ( and one that we could possibly afford) I found this one online. I ordered it around midnight on Wednesday & it was delivered to my front porch on Friday morning. ($2.95 shipping. I am a believer in overstock.com!)

It's absolutely perfecto.

It is late. 11:27 pm. And these three guys are installing the handrail to the spiral stairs.
One might admire their work ethic and rightly so. But the whole story is this: the boys didn't want to wake up early to help Bill, so they talked him into doing it tonight.

And that's the news from Madrid NY!

old is new

Not all the progress is going on in the back wing around here. Oh no.

In the dining room (which is now REALLY a dining room; not a make-shift family room or kitchen) a true feeling of serenity is beginning to reign. Last weekend we moved the pantry cabinet back into the kitchen (again, the REAL kitchen!) and finally my recently-inherited hutch was hoisted into its new home.

My generous mom gifted me with this lovely piece. Before she owned it, my aunt displayed white ironstone in it. There in her New Jersey home, it was surrounded by her antiques which brought her & others years of joy.

After my dear aunt passed away, my mom took this hutch into her possession for a number of years before she INSISTED that it belonged in the dining room of our 1843 stone home.

I think it looks perfectly at home here.
Thanks, Mom!

full speed ahead

Finally things are getting quite interesting around here. It's full steam ahead on the back wing!

This was the view looking to the back wing from the kitchen island on Saturday morning. The flagstones are scattered on the floor. They are awaiting the Young Master's touch to become the wood-stove hearth.

Over to the left is the Old Master ( the LOTM, as he is known) kneeling in the mudroom hallway. I have chosen the hue of this hallway: Chocolate Raspberry.

I figured if it didn't look good, I could always eat it.

Behind me, in the bowels of the kitchen, my domestic slave is sorting through our pantry goods. We moved the pantry back into the kitchen from the dining room, where it had resided for a month.

Don't ask why.

In the back yard, the LOTM expresses himself with spray paint.

This is not a modern sculpture for the garden. This is the handrail for the spiral staircase.

These are the treads.

The Young Master is putting his jigsaw puzzle skills to good use. He is numbering the flagstones with chalk so he can build the framework.

See with what artistic gestures he attends his craft?

Afterward, he sweeps. I like that in a guy.

Speaking of things I like in a guy, how about rolling two coats of paint in a gigantic room? He did a fantastic job! The Lady of the Manor will now trim the windows with a dainty trim brush.

We have a new fan, too.
We have EVERYTHING.

We even have an expired building permit. Cool.

not very interesting

Allow me to show you some not so very interesting scenes.

All white walls.

Ladders. Scaffolding.

Taped-over doors & windows.

Ladies & Gentlemen, this is our back wing. And someday soon, it will be very very beautiful.