Klik Here

Off to a very good start this A.M. So far I've managed to display my genius to the trim person who showed up... Here's how it went: Carpenter: "I may have to leave again to go get my other ladder... I knew I forgot something."  ME: "Oh that's ok! We have one -- you mean this kind, right? (I use my hands to make an upside down "V")  CARPENTER: "Um... y-e-s..." ME: "Well I mean this kind (hands make the upside down "V" again) not this kind (arm goes straight out and up)" CARPENTER: blank stare...  ME: "You know, those... I don't know... those... straight kind... the big kind you don't fold..."  CARPENTER: (Looking like he's trying not to laugh) "Oh you mean an extension ladder. No, just the regular kind." (and I could have SWORN I almost saw his hands start to make the upside down "V" like I did). ;) Then, about 3 minutes later, as he's setting up his saw horses....  ME: ...

As you can see, with plywood sub-flooring in place and the bare dirt below the house now covered again,  my focus shifts primarily to paint colors now... I could write a book... Haha!  Let's just say it ain't as easy as I thought! I've been hither, thither and yon searching out paint color inspiration and I landed where I began... Restoration Hardware. Oh how I love their color schemes and with then grouped into collections, it makes it almost fool proof to get a perfect scheme. After seeing how the colors turned out in these pics  (it's been raining and no sun all day, but I took them anyway) I almost hesitate to post these but I just had to show you! The dominant color in the two rooms will be Slate and the accent will be the next shade lighter, Graphite. The Graphite seems to want to come out looking a bit too purpley  and the Slate a bit too brown, but hopefully you get the idea. As you can see, we managed to get the plaster down and reveal the  beadboard. ...

SO FAR THIS MONDAY, VERSION #1 :   Well great, Lord... I forgot to buy coffee yesterday so hubby & daughter left the house w/o travel mugs today,  and yep... it's raining... so now there isn't any good light to judge paint samples on this last day to do so & the crown moulding pieces on the porch that are supposed to be installed in the dining room got a little wet overnight in the rain,  and Lord You know how I'm sooo tired... realllly tired, and there are mega-amounts of work in the office to catch up on, have to make another 1-hr round-trip drive to finish buying paint (painters come tomorrow), Oh dear sweet Lord, for some reason everything looks slightly overwhelming from where I stand ... like none of it will ever really get done (work, orders, new items to post on site, house reno, laundry, etc...). HOW LONG will I be living in the reality of "two steps forward, five steps backward... :/ But... there is ANOTHER way to see this, I do believe... So I thin...

It was an overwhelming landslide vote --  EVERYONE voted that we rip out the rest of the plaster and reveal the antique beadboard ceilings that were discovered under heavy plaster.       Keep in mind, we have only about a 4-6" swath of beadboard currently revealed (where the wall came out) and THAT sampling looks great. The concern is that we will get into tearing out the rest of the plaster ceilings  only to find that there was a really good reason why they covered over the  wooden ceilings -- like maybe there is a huge amount of damaged or, worse still, MISSING sections under there. But to NOT at least have a look while we already have a big mess and things are torn up, seems crazy. So... the big ceiling rip-out day is upon us and by evening time, we'll know whether our curiosity will be kind to us or not.  :) There have been some neat discoveries, that's for sure. 1.)  Of course the beadboard ceilings and walls were uncovered. Very neat "f...

This'll be short & sweet, but I just wanted to share what was revealed to be beneath about an inch of plaster on our ceilings after a wall was removed... {Taken with my cell phone, so please excuse the poor photo quality} There are original beadboard ceilings under all that crazy plaster! Ditto for the walls!  Beadboard there, too! So we now need to decide (like in the next few hours) whether we want to see what's behind "door #2" so to speak and have ALL the rest of he plaster knocked off and have beadboard ceilings... or take the the "safe route" and just try our best to repair the 6" wide swath of plaster and try and make it blend in with the rest of the ceiling... What to do?! There are no guarantees that the beadboard is in good shape beneath all that  plaster and it covers THREE rooms. It's pretty much of a gamble... But the reward for bravery could be that we get to enjoy antique beadboard ceilings instead of funky, chunky plaster ceiling...

Been wondering what I've been up to?? Well... there is a big project underway at Harsham House  and I'm preparing a proper blog post about it, but by way of a "teaser", here is a just a peek... In the words of Arnold S., "I'll be back...." Right now I hear bang/crash going on inside my home, so if you will excuse me...  ;)   

Yum.... That's all. I'm wanting to head to my kitchen and grab the ingredients. NOW! :) Dreaming of White Chocolate: Mini Cookie Dough Ball Brownies :