all kinds of work

We all have a job to do. Usually, mine involves schooling my one brilliant student, keeping house, and not practicing the piano as much as I should.

This cozy corner is where I do a lot of stuff. Like lose scrabble games online.

This guy? Well.
This guy doesn't let any grass grow under his feet, no sirree.

In the past few days he has finished taping & sanding the guest room and the office. Then he primed them.
Here is the office all primed.

And here it is with its finish coat of "Lattice Work" and the new floor. This flooring has been in storage for a few years, waiting for the proper time to shine its rich, wooden glory. It's real wood; an exotic import called merbau. Check it out!

Hubby bought it for a $1/square foot from his brother, who had it left over from a job. Isn't it warm and expensive-looking?

Sometimes I leave my cozy corner, don paint gear, and get 'er done.

Today I did this project all by my big-girl self: two coats of "Olive Branch". The flooring is being installed as I type; the same flooring as the office right next to it.

Hubby will install baseboard heat and all the trim (which I will then paint). Then on Saturday, furniture will be moved into these two rooms to make space for the kitchen demo.

In the midst of all this clamor, we are generally enjoying ourselves immensely. We've never been the type to stress out during renovations. Isn't that nice?

the general store counter comes through the door

I love this. Don't you?

At our old house, I had this magazine clipping tacked to the kitchen bulletin board. Now it is finally time to make something similar happen in our new kitchen!

Last evening, Hubby enlisted the strong young men who were hanging around. He marched them to the barn with our newly-refinished harvest table ( for storage until we are ready to use it!) and brought them back to our old stone home with this little thing:

It is twelve feet long.

Hubby plans to take it apart and rebuild it to suit our needs. We envision a kitchen island with a reclaimed slate top.

Here are a few shots of the beautiful detail on this baby:

I am enamored with the dentil molding, the panels with engraved lines, and that crown molding!!

My thanks to the guys with the brawn who muscled this thing through the door!
*post script: would it be crazy to go with that mustard yellow pictured in the magazine?

a beauty

She's a beauty, alright.

Even Hubby is totally sold on my auction-bargain. This fact comes in quite handy, seeing as there is another auction tomorrow!

in which I am won over

The saga of the harvest table continues. This chapter of the drama concerns paint color.

Does this look charcoal black to you? I humbly submit that this, my friends, is a rich shade of chocolate plum.

In more direct light, the chocolate gives way to pure plum. I wasn't even hungry when I declared the color names. Honest.

I had gone to the paint store to buy a shade of charcoal; one very similar to the shade of my ladder-back chairs. The plan was to paint the legs and apron to match the chairs, leaving the beautiful pine top to be covered in a clear poly.

I lingered over the paint samples until I found the correct shade of almost-black. It had a tinge of deep brown in it. It was called Coffee Clatch.

I liked that.

But what I brought home looked suspiciously a lot like purple. Because I personally have nothing against purple, I slapped a little on to see what it would look like.


-and fell head-over-heels in love with the results.

Now I am compelled to paint all of my charcoal black ladder-back chair in the same color. Here's hoping and trusting that this warm, rich shade pairs up well with the dusty blue on the walls of the dining room!

new stuff

It has been a lonely stretch here at home without the Lord of the Manor. He is on his way home from a trip to the Dominican Republic and as far as I am concerned, he can't get home fast enough.

While he was away eating rice & beans and also turning the island upside-down for Jesus, I have been busy shopping online for a few little things. Kitchen lighting, for one. Family room rugs, for another. Also, kitchen stools. I haven't bought anything, but I am very ready to!

I have requested #1 Son to take these (scroll down to the pic of the blue shutters!)and incorporate them into this.
I'll bet he can do it. It will be the perfect thing for under the flat-screen TV that I really don't care a single whit about but the family is all a-twitter over.

our table goes for a stroll

Our future dining room table had an adventure this morning. Two strapping young men took it out for a walk. They opened up the yellow barn and rolled up their proverbial sleeves.

Their real sleeves they kept snug against their arms, as the temperature hovered around 10 degrees. But the sun was so very inviting!

A brisk jaunt through the town square was just what this table needed!

Around the corner & down "Mill Hill", they headed for our old stone home. We were thankful that traffic was at a minimum. Make room for the dining room table!

Up the drive.....
...and somehow, through the back door. (Ben proclaimed that if it didn't fit, we would have a winter's feast outside instead.)

Here is the perfect view of how "rustic" this table really is! Somebody bring me a tub of elbow-grease. Stat.

It wriggled through with inches to spare! Only a very small corner of drywall was harmed in the process.

We are not quite ready for dining upon it. A healthy scrub and a pass with the sander may bring out its beauty. If not, a coat of paint will have to be employed. Whatever it takes. This baby is going to work somehow.

As a fisherman measures his catch, so the Lady of the Manor measures her harvest table: 10 feet, 2 inches long by 4 feet wide!