"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"

I had a heater installed in my barn today so had to spend the day at the farm. So after picking up some things for Christmas  ... smoked fish, fresh tree, wreaths for the doors, lights etc .... I spent some time and did a little decorating ... not much mind you but enough to start the process of getting into the Christmas spirit. Lots more to come ... will keep you posted.

The Library is Done

We worked our tail off on the weekend, Daniel came up to help and we finished the library in time for Christmas.  Well almost finished ... there are still some little things to do. The issue we've faced is that although we've done a lot of work and made a lot of progress we had NO place to sit and relax and the lower rooms in the Stonehouse are months from completion. All summer we sat in the Sunroom when we wanted to relax but it is not heated so come late August it was out of service. So we desperately needed a room finished to put some couches in.

In the Library we took out an old clothes closet that was built in and wasted a lot of precious space, when we did this it revealed that the end wall was not  covered with the wood that is in the rest of the room. So I drywalled it but when I was at the lumber yard for something last week the fellow behind the counter asked me if I was the one renovating the old Stonehouse ... yes ... well it turns out he installed the wood in the library and knew where to get more of it. I had given up on getting the identical wood thus the drywall idea.

It came in on Saturday so Daniel and I installed it and it looks good. Light compared with the rest of the room but it will darken and turn golden like the rest  of the wood in that room, especially after we put a coat of varathane on it after the holidays.

The floor was really wrecked so we also picked up a composite floor and Daniel and I laid it on Saturday night and Sunday. Finally we painted the trim black to get rid of the old green that is everywhere. 

We then vacuumed everything and then washed the entire room down with a special wood cleaner. And finished it with a wood preservative to restore some of the natural oils in the wood.

Laura came up on Sunday and built all the Ikea furniture and by late Sunday we were able to move into the room and indeed we also moved one of the large chairs that Vida and Lucy bought this summer. This will be MY chair ....

I don't have baseboards installed and they are special order so they will have to wait but that is no big deal.

The room still needs window coverings, more lighting, some side tables and a coffee table but this can wait until after Christmas .... for now we finally after seven months have a place to sit and relax.

Following are some before pictures

The Master Bedroom is Done

When Daniel and I were working on the country home the first few days after we closed the deal we were upstairs and decided that our objective the first few weeks would be to get the three bedrooms cleaned and painted That was in early May. Here we are in mid-December and I was finally able to move into the master bedroom. Only seven months later than our target date but I was able to sleep in my own bedroom for the first time last weekend. Following are some pics ....

Before ... picture taken last April

This picture and all the following are what we ended up with.