maggie and milly and molly and may

by: E.E. Cummings

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

Our shower walls and ceiling are complete!  Today Scott got a tutorial from one of our tile installers on how to do the floor...we had decided to do this ourselves as mentioned before to save on materials & labor costs, and add something organic & our "own style" to our home....

Here are some pics of the progress, despite our efforts to have enough beach stones, he still didn't have "quite enough"!  More have been harvested- and he'll be back at it tomorrow!  (note the tile walls look a bit brown, but are truly grey in color..) & the floor will still be grouted once all stones are down...so use your imagination.  The best news was we had selected "perfect" stones according to Nate, the installer- thank goodness, we had this nagging worry a milk crate & a 5 gallon bucket of stones could be "all wrong"!

Happy Birthday!

Today we are celebrating Sadie's 10th birthday & Scott's well not quite '10th birthday'...!

Sadie began with a bit of lounging around in her exclusive custom designed party hat:

We began our celebrating last night with a fun dinner party with friends, Randy & Kristen. 

(much to Scott's chagrin Sadie sure enjoyed her BIG piece of carrot cake! YUM!)

all that was left....guess she liked it! (I tried to convince Scott that carrots were good for her....my Grandpa used to tell me they were good for my eyesight...& Sadie's old, so she needs all the help she can get!)

I'm assuming this is what happens when people don't have children....they're crazy about their dogs I guess!

"Don't you think it looks like a giant pumpkin?"

Painting on the new part of our house began at 7 am yesterday...although you could barely see in the house as it was an overcast morning, and we now have only wires instead of light fixtures...

Bill Benwell & his crew (of NH) set to work...

I stopped back to check over everything and loved it!  I'm not sure what I loved more, the fact there WAS paint on the walls...or that the colors all looked awesome!  I guess my plasterer (whom I'll hold my opinion on until the project is thru) made the hilarious (although he was dead serious) comment to me, "do you like this now that it's all over the place, it kinda looks like a giant pumpkin!"

OMG....go back & GET TO WORK! 



door on left will be walk thru pantry with upper & lower white cabinets.
doorway on right will be entry...



I actually love it all, and was most worried about the "jalepeno pepper" green bathroom, but it looks perfect.
 

This all brings me back to my house rules I made a bit ago:

Rule #7 This is our home & no one else's when "they" walk away we need to still "love" it. 

Don't drop those eggs!

Yes, we do have 3 of our chickens laying eggs...but we got a very strange delivery the other day....

It seems Aimee's Rock Works likes to use large egg cartons to safely send her custom made cabinet pulls!  How perfect for us!!  We loved them all- & can't wait to see them on our cabinets!

Disenchantment

So, there have not been a lot of posts lately...likely 'cause there has been a sense of disenchantment recently...the pace we are going at is a wee bit frustrating for everyone...I like to think the "arteeest" is at work & we will have a beautiful masterpiece when done...(which is likely...however the wait could kill us all first!)

We however do have a coming week of interior painting in new kitchen & baths, a tile shower being installed, and a pine wood floor going down in kitchen.....alas- progress!

The below pics are the side entry & new kitchen in its current state, sheetrocked & primed...Sherwin Williams "Yam" is scheduled to hit the walls tomorrow!  (hopefully thats the only Yam that will ever hit those walls! lol!)

new entry....where our cool doorknob coat rack will go (featured previously)! (still looking for the "perfect" bench to go under the rack!) Scott made us some awesome framed art of Maine wildflowers that will grace the entry wall as well!



kitchen where cabinets, appliances & lights will soon go! yay!



Countertops!

This is the wood that will become our countertops.  It is shown here at Pete Spadone's workshop in Kennebunk.  He will be creating them in the next few weeks...more pics to come as progress happens!

The wood was milled from 1 large 20"x20" beam that was once in a woolen mill in Biddeford, ME!

Umm....?!

Make it yours. Love it. Beat it up. Fill it with family and friends....

We did something today I have continued all day to squeal with delight about: we ordered a dining room table to be made custom for us! 

After drooling (sometimes literally) over our friends' Pete & Stevie's dining table (which has been distressed by years of loving use, made by his grandfather) The table is an amazing 22"Wx 8' L table, of which we have shared many a wonderful meal...and their family has shared tons of meals & memories I am sure.

Our dining room shape luckily calls for just the same long & narrow....however we do have a passthru type of situation in our dining room unlike Pete & Stevie's, we've measured now I think 5 times over the few months we've owned the house as to what size the table could be....just to make sure we thought it all thru, and got it just right!

Yesterday I found out my fav local antique store, Americana Workshop was having a 20% off sale due to the Christmas Prelude in the Kennebunks.  I did not realize they custom made furniture & had dragged Scott in to look at this 8' L table w/ drop leaves I had loved.  After much ado & lots of measuring, it was just not the right one, or right size....too many adjustments would need to be made, and then we were ruining the look & integrity of the antique.  The gentleman helping us then suggested we have them make us a table....huh?!

We went home to think it over & consult w/ Pete himself on this idea/quality & price, we went back & stopped in today with final measurements to order it!  The top will be made from old pine flooring that has been salvaged & the legs are turned legs made by a local craftsman in his late 70's...who does them in his workshop (rare to find still I guess!)...The other great thing is the woman who owns the shop, Cynthia Hamilton, is the one who will make it!  So it's local, made by a woman & parts by an old craftsman, custom made for our dimensions & finish color choices!  To top it off, she gave us an excellent price, we've been looking around a lot, as this was our 1 piece of furniture we agreed to purchase before we moved in as a "must have"....we couldn't be more happy!  4 weeks and we'll get to see it! yay!

The below image is from Vermont Farm Table Co. (which is also SO awesome)!   This is a similar image to what our table will be, but ours will be a black distressed finish on the bottom, the top left natural but sealed....already aged as it is old & salvaged...

Emily's Book Review... (somehow it doesn't have the aura Oprah's book list does-lol!

For whatever reason...well now that I think of it, I guess 'cause I'm finally feeling the home renovation stress, the memory of this book popped into my mind from somewhere very far away.

Anyone wanting a good read....or maybe a gift idea for someone who would appreciate...this was an awesome read, I heard an interview with the author a few years ago on NPR's Diane Rehm Show & immediately borrowed the book from the library & read it... it's funny & real & anyone into houses, renovations or perhaps just slightly crazy will enjoy it! :) (the elderly lady that lived in the house previously) even came with his house house! .....at least we didn't get any residents with our purchase!

All the Way Home by David Giffels

After mocking the Oprah list...I was just checking out David's website & giggled to myself when I discovered this review:

“A fantastic summer read. . . . Giffels recounts his battle -- against rodents, unbridled wisteria, and other unpleasant surprises -- to make a decrepit Gatsby-esque mansion livable.”
        — O, the Oprah Magazine, at Home

Rules.

So the project is going much slower than most of us wish, but we are at the mercy of many people, and many factors, and the answer to the forever asked question, "when do you guys think you'll be in the house?" has now become, "when it's done." It reminds me of the question asked to every prego lady that always makes me smirk & laugh a silent giggle, "Do you know what you are you having?" ...the pregnant person likely never answers the question the way they'd like to... "A BABY!!"

Last week by Wed., I was feeling extremely overwhelmed....this likely began with Scott making me go to Newington the day before Turkey Day when crowds were already lurking behind every retail fixture & the parking lots were packed.  We were on a mission, so we went to retail hell, but apparently, unbeknown to us everyone else had the day off & was shopping the pre-Black Friday sales!  Anyways, money is getting tighter, the project is going slow, time is a ticking away, day dreaming time is over, decisions have to be made regularly.....& I'm stressing over it all! 
So I sat down & made a list of new "house rules" for me to follow....I would imagine most folks going thru a renovation (@ least one's that have spent some considerable time in therapy) at one time or another make a physical or mental list alike to mine....I've decided I'll share 1 here and there....
Rule #1 (yes, all of you that know me will laugh out loud that this is rule #1 & is more than appropriate for me!
1. Everything in the house does not need to be "perfect".

Check out our $4,000 bulletin board!

Oh yes, today was a busy day....see we can't get into the new house to do anything yet....& as those that know me can understand, I'm climbing the walls.  I can only haunt antique stores & shop the Internet for items & ideas for so long!  I needed projects!

Scott (for those of you that don't know), could be described as a wine connoisseur (this is a bit under stated perhaps), but anyways being a wino, you end up drinking a lot of wine, which results with accumulating a lot of corks!  (we have a designated "wine area" in our new pantry- we're that serious about this pleasure!) He has for years apparently wanted to create trivets with these corks.  I for a while have wanted to create a bulletin board for the kitchen out of corks.

Today, while at Pete's shop, we had him help us make a simple frame out of Luan we had and pine he had kickin' around that he was able to cut and plane to size.  We then came home, I stained it quickly with some stain, found once again on the shelves here at the big house (thanks Doug!)  for some contrast, and the project began....6 glue sticks, 2 first degree burns, and 272 corks later we have an awesome "bulletin board", one so pretty we probably will stick very little in it! 

Although the wood & luan was free....Scott figured the bulletin board costs him/us....$4000+!  Now That's A LOT of wine!!!!!
At least the wine corks are now out of bags & boxes (stored previously at both Pete's &  his Mom & Doug's) so not only can we enjoy seeing the corks now- we created more recycled crafts!



In the beginning....It was just a board & frame!




We learned what "jacobean" stain looked like after I found it on the workshop shelf....perfect!




The "artist" at work! (& eating & drinking.....)









Find "Somewhere to hang your hat...."

Yesterday while Scott & I were antiquing...(okay, I was dragging him thru another store!.. lol! He's actually begun to like it a bit I think, he may not admit this to anyone though...) anyways, we spotted some old doorknobs & I mentioned to him I wanted to make a wall coat rack using old doorknobs.

So, today's project became making this coat rack.  It started with deep cleaning and polishing some old reclaimed knobs.




hard to believe but someone had painted over the porcelain and brass.  The wood was a bit dull & shabby looking when we started.



All clean & looking MUCH better! Years of dirt & grime are gone!



The pretty brass hidden underneath....




Close up of the beautiful wood after a bit of murphy's oil soap & wood wax.  & here the porcelain is all clean and pretty minus the paint, which luckily just came off in the dish pan I soaked them in!

A trip to our friend Pete's shop & we return home with a beautiful piece of walnut from Theron's folks house (he had it at the shop and was "thrilled" for us to take it and use it! :) The guys also in their wisdom helped us figure out how to attach the knobs to the board with a sturdy and fairly simple application (thanks to the availability to two brilliant brains & lots of cool tools in the workshop!)



 This is an image of the wood, we loved the funky irregular shape & decided to keep it for character.  Theron Wentworth's parents are from Kennebunk & have raised their children, and now grandchildren there.  They are contributors to the community in a number of ways, & we are honored to have a piece of wood from the Wentworth "family farm".

This image shows the wood half waxed, I discovered "Johnson's paste wax" today ....Doug had it on the shelf - amazing!  I declared, I need a jar of this stuff, I'm going to wax everything! It's amazing how the wood comes "to life" with this product! & it leaves it SO smooth! The wood knobs came out beautiful & smooth as a baby's bottom!

This is the coat rack- we have to drill & permanently insert knobs tomorrow- but we are thrilled & can't wait to put it on the wall in our new entry!  Now we have to pick a cool bench for sure to go under it! :)

We both are thrilled with this "recycled craft project"! 

Thanks to all that helped contribute materials, time & brains!



well....there is now sheetrock!

Apparently the plasterer/sheetrocker, "Skoog", has found his way out of the woods, away from deer hunting (to at least put 2 days in), there is hope!  I also believe if deer hunting is in NH is the same as ME, season is over...so he just may show up again tomorrow!



This is the bathroom, a different product used on walls for moist environment of the bathroom.  (it's a pretty bluey/purple....maybe we don' need to paint these walls!) :)



Our awesome electrician Steve made a Sunday visit also to do some work on the main floor of the old part of the house.  The process is slow lately, but there is forward progress, although it may seem slow we are moving forward.

Is there such thing as TOO MANY choices? I think SO!

Progress was made today on the home front, I often just look and look and look and debate and cannot make a decision, but today I actually did!

I chose our tile for backsplash behind range, (the island backsplash (because it's bi-level it has about a foot high backsplash) will be a random solid mix of these colors, no backsplash in rest of kitchen):

I chose & ordered our "bin pulls":



Can you believe we need 35 of these! Deal on ebay, hopefully they are as good as they say they are....come w/ a lifetime warranty!

Ordered our kitchen knobs, to be set in oil rubbed bronze to jive with the pulls from a cool seller, Aimee's Rock Works, on yes, my fav, Etsy!  She is giving us a deal 'cause we're ordering 20 of these guys...this will set us up for kitchen & pantry.

Here's the pics she has put together for the 20 rock knobs she'll make us- we both love that they are so unique and organic, all different!  The first pic is just the idea of what they'll look like, the second pic is the 20 stones she has actually selected for our custom order of knobs, we're shooting for darker rocks to go with the oil rubbe.

  I'm in full debate on which of these 2 lights to use on the outside of our new kitchen entry door:
Here's this one, the "South Street Outdoor Wall Lantern" obviously vintage- big surprise! 
This is the other one: "Circa 1910 Outdoor Wall Lantern" another vintage one, a bit less expensive...both made of hand forged cast iron- cool!

I'm going to wait and see if by chance the company selling them has a great Black Friday Sale....worth a shot!



It'll go to the right of this door (into kitchen), which we imagine to be our main entry door.