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The weekend after New Year's Day, the painter left....he was the last of the workers to finish up with the renovation. It felt wonderful to be able to wake up in the morning and not have anyone coming into the house...finally! I thought I would share some glimpses of our front entrance...foyer..it is very small, and my grand vision of what I would do here, from a decorating standpoint, quickly vanished... It is actually no bigger than a landing, and you are immediately forced to go either up into the open kitchen/sitting area, or downstairs to the family room...below. I decided to reuse a vintage mirror which I had saved from my shop...it is a bit like a trumeau, but not really. It is from Belgium and we painted and antiqued it, like I did all of the pieces I sold...I like the lines and scale and thought it would make a statement in my small foyer.. The bench was fashioned from a coffee table....my upholsterer resized it to fit, and added the small back from the piece that ...

Yesterday, I was asked, if I had to choose one word to define the past year, what would it be ? ......a feeling of gratitude is what comes to mind..... Last night, I watched, like so many of you, the opening episode of season four of Downton Abbey...it was wonderful....but the scene that resonated the most with me was when Lady Violet, in a poignant and endearing moment, told Mary to choose life, over death, after the loss of her husband Matthew. It touched me, as only a great actress like Maggie Smith, can touch us. She is a master at bringing her character to life, in all it's fabulous glory. Her wit, but best of all her intelligence and wisdom that only comes from age and maturity. As I age, this time of year brings about a fair amount of contemplation. Where I have been and where I want to go...never one to make resolutions, I just charge ahead with all the " to do " things on my list... ....the things of life...living. What we as women do every day...looking afte...

This was the first Christmas celebrated in our newly renovated home... The kitchen has now become the hub of activity and center of entertaining....this past week it proved it's worth, and then some! I still have one more little gathering scheduled this Friday.... I love to host a gathering at my house...growing up our home was always open to family and friends, and my Mom could feed 4 or 20 at a moments notice...fresh pasta, sauce and other homemade specialties were at the ready...our home hummed with activity..that is what I want to happen here... With the two islands, it has become so convenient to prep and then serve a variety of dishes...casual or more fancy.... The adjoining dining/garden room can take an overflow of guests from the kitchen...but it seems, everyone loves the kitchen best...   Ricotta cakes, iced with cream cheese frosting with edible gold leaf, a raspberry lemon mascarpone torte and other Christmas favourites stood waiting to be sampled.... Small rei...