Okay, so this isn’t a typical post for MAY, but this is cool so I am posting it. Years ago, I bought a sleigh at auction that we keep on the porch at Christmas. The runners were in AWFUL shape, and it was horribly hard to move in and out of storage because of that. So, LAST LAST Christmas (2021) I said, “Let’s just not move it until we’ve fixed it!” Also, I was super terrible at taking before pictures. The goal wasn’t to make the sleigh functional – we’re not going to hook it to a horse and try to move it. But, we wanted it to be stable, easy to move, and to decrease the chance of tetanus.&nb ..read more

Since this has been teased and shown in previous posts, this really isn’t “new” or “informational,” but it’s part of the story, so it’s in! Quick reminder of the fabulous wallpaper that’s going in my Studio : There are so many colors to choose from for paint. And Ivory would’ve really made the walls stand out. The deeper blue or green would be moody. The maroon, dramatic! The chartreuse would be wild. All good choices! I gravitated towards the pinks and purples…. And I went with…… That orchid color? I chose it because I love it, and it makes me smile. The light pink for the ceiling is that ..read more

When the house was vacant for years, the water coming in from the outside (where the roof failed) really did a number on the house. One of the worst spots was in this room, where a section of the ceiling had collapsed. To be fair, the weight from all of the bird nestings above also probably contributed. It was a terrifying portal to some demonic netherworld. I’m sure of it. First, we took down the gross ceiling. If you need a refresher on what that was like, you can read my post on it here. You may need a bath in hand sanitizer afterwards, though. And then reinforced the framing. And attach ..read more

I am once again gloriously behind on blogging, and so for Spring Break, I’m hoping to catch up a little! Let’s not kid ourselves and pretend that I’ll every be caught up, like when Doug says, “I think the fourth season of ___insert show here___ is out,” and I say, “Yeah but we haven’t even watched the third, so…..” The wallpaper for my Studio is amazing. And (if you follow me on instagram) it’s already done! But let’s back up a little, because some things had to happen first to make it so. Oh, and the sconces. They are also going to be AMAZING. But NOT amazing, is the walls. It sort of has a ..read more

Now that the TV frame is done, here is a super quick post to show you the “Art Corner” of the Library!  When I was planning this space, I knew for sure where the TV and my friend Jenn’s piece would go. I marked those with tape, and then took a picture. While I know everything isn’t on the same plane or angle, I added some white boxes with my phone on an app, to see what the art would look like. In this situation, I was originally planning for Mildred the Giraffe to go to the left of the TV. So while that changed, this was a super easy way to get a visual for how this would look! Here’s w ..read more

Now that you’ve met Mildred, it’s time to talk about the TV and frame! I wanted the TV corner to be and art corner, since it’s the only wall space in the room. We ordered a Frame TV for the room from Samsung, but definitely hung it differently than it is supposed to be hung. First, we used tape to map out where the TV was going to be on the wall. This told us how big we wanted the frame to be.  Samsung sells frames, but because of the angle of the couch, we wanted to be able to put the TV on an arm, so it could angle towards the couch as well. We were afraid that moving the TV off and on ..read more

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween! We’ve added a few more skeletons this year (up to 23!) and can’t wait to hand out treats tomorrow!!! Here’s a short tour of the decor! (Also, the skeleton in the cover photo isn’t giant. He just looks that way ..read more

The day has come! It’s INSTALL DAY! The fretwork will be complete!!!! Rob from Wabashiki Woodworks showed up in his truck with all the goodies, and we were so ready to go! I cannot ever resist a good shadow picture. And I will never resist it. And this is one of the best of all time.  Here’s the Date Panel!!!! Remember when Rob sent me some drawings for over the stairwell, and I wasn’t sure about any of them because I thought they would be too low?  He never sent me drawings of the final piece, it really was a surprise, and I am OVER THE MOON in love with it. I love the asymmetr ..read more

Part Two! It’s like “The Empire Strikes Back” of Fretwork. When Rob from Wabashiki Woodworks makes a long run that requires multiple panels, he uses a finial at the point of connection. He sent me this picture, and asked me which one I liked the best – the answer was very quickly the second one! The first one feels…. aggressive? Like it’s going to come down from the ceiling and attack me. The third is too plain, and the last is too big. To give me an idea of what it would look like, he sent another picture just showing how it looks on the bottom of some wood – and I still liked it the best. I ..read more

I’ve posted before (here and here) about our work with Rob Bennett from Wabashiki Woodworks. We are undeniably lucky to have such and incredible craftsman basically right in our backyard (90 minutes, but who’s counting?). We knew from the ghost lines that fretwork adorned the entire Entrance Hall. Do we have any idea what it looked like? Nope. But if anyone out there has old interior pictures of our house, let me know how we can get them. Kidneys, Money, Shout-Out on the Blog – you name it! We had 7 pieces that needed to be built. Stage One was the Colonnade in three pieces. Stage Two were th ..read more