So a guy walks into a bar....

Last we chatted I was getting ready for Thanksgiving and finishing up the dining room so we could use it for our wonderful Thanksgiving Gala!  I can NOT believe how fast time has sped and I find myself telling you about Christmas but here we are.  To kill the curious cat... we have been moving along and the Library Bar is now done and well used, I might add.  : )  In addition, Miles bedroom is almost complete and I am chomping at the bit to get it done but other things have placed themselves ahead in the line and so, in typical Cherie fashion, I continue to disappoint myself my by missing my self imposed deadlines.
What could possibly putting itself ahead of Martha?  Please believe me that I ask myself this question daily and I even do that outloud!!! George loves to answer the question with "Looks like you never really cared about how the house looks...you never have."  and then he walks away laughing!!!   Okay, that calms me down a bit...I know that we have gotten a ton done in a short 6 months but for the love... could anything go quick and easy...I'd settle for quick and painless....how about "quickly"? Martha continues to teach me patience. I never knew how impatient I was before this.  So with that I feel like Martha continues to teach me to be a better person...well, at least a more patient person.
Let's have a peek at what we've been up to lately...

This is the Library before we bought it...

Here's an action shot of George "cutting" the walls in the library...

We are doing these walls the same as the dining room to tie them together... The wall with the actual bar is painted Swiss Chocolate and the others are the Williamsburg Stone.  The crown molding was sanded and then saturated with a wonderful brown oil... you need to see this in person...

These are the pocket doors that lead into the living room and they are such a treat... but as will almost all the rooms in Martha, they are just two of four doors in this room.

So here it is with all it's trimmings and I must tell you the floor was my favorite.  We got sorta "fancy".. hey don't hate the hipster!

Aren't they beautiful?  We usually keep them open because I've closed off the huge door from the receiving area into the dining room and this is how you get from there to here...but if need be and George or the kids want to watch something in the bar, I can still listen to the stereo in the living room in glorious peace.

 I turned a hard wired light into a plug in lamp and hung it over the bar table!  Love it!

 View from the dining room doorway.  Now don't you want to come and have a beverage or two?

 This door leads to the back staircase and basement staircase and into the door to the kitchen.

 The tv is so big but it looks small on this wall and usually the cords aren't showing but we had an issue so... well... you know.

 Cool cool floor with a nice area rug....

 A better view of the beautiful floor...

Great spot for a light dinner or lunch or a dirty martini or four...

Still have a few things to get up on the walls and I still have to paint the bottom buffet that holds the liquor but we are moving along to finish Miles room and George is finishing the back kitchen floor!  UPDATE... thanks to the best neighbors on the planet... I opened the bathroom door that leads out to the back kitchen now instead of the kitchen... on that note... I just want to say that our neighbors Dave and Kevin are so wonderful.  They have had us over for dinner once a week and they are so fun and we are very lucky to have found such warm and inviting friends.  We lived in Harvard for 20 years and NEVER once were invited for a drink, let alone DINNER.  These guys continue to amaze us with their generosity and kindness and they had a key that fit our door! Lucky, lucky us... this neighborhood is amazing!  OLD WEST END RULES!
I'll be back with more updates....soon.
Hope all is well and you're wrapping up with someone warm.
Peace,
Cherie

It's about TIME!!!

It's been exactly one month and one day since my last blog and please believe me that it's been hard for me to keep you in the dark this long but I promised George that I wouldn't say anything until we actually SOLD the Harvard house and that meant...going to the closing and CLOSING THE DEAL!!! Foolishly, I agreed and because I know myself...all in or all out..., I knew I couldn't keep my finger from telling everyone that we had buyers for the house...so I just closed it down and put my fingers to the grindstone.

Soooooooooo...........WE SOLD THE HARVARD HOUSE!!!.... It's official and it's a done deal!  Whewwwwwwwwwwwww!  So it is a bit bittersweet that I begin again.  We are 100% out of Harvard and 100% in Martha.  Last night I did the opposite of what I've been doing for the past 5 months... after loading the last of the minutia, and cleaning the house we got in the truck at 2:30am, said goodbye to the holder of our hearts and family for the last 20 years and drove TO Martha.  We rode in silence and I think we both were trying not to let the other see the tears but when George unlocked the front door he looked at me and said, "Well, we start the next chapter now!"  So without further ado...

What have we been doing for the last 31 days?... Packing, packing, more packing, sorting, moving from here to there and back to that room over there ... NO, the other room...ugh... oh wait...there may have been a few updates since the Sewing Room...let's see.

THE MASTER BEDROOM...
(This room comes with a warning...If you do not want to be inundated with overwhelming awe, I suggest you not view these snaps!  This transformation is hard for most people to grasp and I'm just warning you... you're gonna wanna stay here!)


BEFORE...view from the hallway door...(there are 3 doors in this room...that's crazy talk!)

 Fireplace....

 View into the Mini Bar Area going into The Lounge

 So as you can see, we have lots of chipped trim and dirty cream colored walls.  I didn't get any snaps of the ceiling, drats!  It wasn't pretty but that's all been taken care of now...

 George working on ceiling...He looks so happy! : )

 Someone liked borders...the 80's called... they want it back!

 You can sorta see the ceiling in this snap... and you get a better idea of the trim work needed...ugh.

Ceiling light... hmmmmm...

So please fasten your seat belts...it's gonna get bumpy...

Walls get the first coat of "Pink Blush Morning"...

Day light shot with trim, ceiling and walls all painted... see the "hanging light fixture"

 Natural light is wonderful...

The floor was sanded down to barewood and then we "pickled" it.  We used a "pickling white" stain and sealer... It gives it that white washed look... look at the shadow of the Jade plant... I love it!

 Furniture moved in... the bed is READY!!!

 Sorta blurry but you're getting the vibe...

 My new reading area...

 This gives you a good view of the chandelier... and the floor.   The picture in the black frame was done by George when he was in 3rd grade... LOVE LOVE LOVE...

My favorite picture... Taken by Alfred Eisenstadt in Paris... The whole title is... "A wide range of facial expressions on children the moment the dragon is slain"  I absolutely LOVE this picture... It's printed on canvas and measures 30 x 40 to give you the idea of size... I pretend that I'm the one wearing the babushka and that George is the boy with his arm in the air.  
Well, I've fallen asleep twice while trying to finish this... I've got more to show you and promise it won't be so long between posts.  Thanks so much for all your inquires and nice letters and notes.  So glad to have closed one chapter and opened the next and am very thankful that you are along for the ride.
Peace,
Cherie and Martha.

Some News Has Come In...

I'm going to go a bit off the deep end here and ask if any of you have ever read Dr. Seuss's The Sleep Book?  The reason I ask is because I have a tape running through my head of one of the lines in the book... it says "Some news has come in from the Valley of Keck where a small bug by the name of Van Vleck is yawning so wide you can see down his neck."  All day long while things are happening to Martha, I keep thinking...Oh this is NEWS... and then I say to myself, "And now some news has come in from the Valley of Keck where Cherie has found Martha's lastest trick-et...."  and then I just keep laughing.  But seriously, SOME NEWS HAS COME IN...and I think you're gonna want to know.

I know that I am supposed to stay on course, in just one area, but the kitchen has been calling me over and over and it's getting louder.  I have plans laid out but they continue to morph and then morph into something else.  I have a door that opens into the kitchen from the bathroom... Don't like that, am not happy about that, keeps bothering me.  The same wall needs to give me about 8 more inches to make my cabinets fit.  Ponder, ponder...I also don't like that the door does NOT open all the way because it hits the toilet.  That's just not right!  Everyday I rehash this dilemma. Here's what I'm talking about...

Here's where the door won't open all the way... This was before the demo but it shows how the door won't open all the way.  That's also a small radiator in that cut out.

This is inside the bathroom and before the demo... but you see how it is.

And now for the news...with some inspection... and looking at the old blue prints, I realize that this originally was The Ice Room.  The room where ice got delivered, before the days of refrigerators. Let's move to the other room...that backs up against this...

The far right hand corner is the other side of the bathroom/ice room.

Here is the news!!!

OMG! OMG! OMG!  They covered the door opening with the door still in place and the window is in perfect shape!!! I now can have a new entry to the bathroom eliminating the "directly into the the kitchen from the bathroom" walk, gives me the 8 inches plus more for my cabinets, and now the door won't hit the toilet!  This is news people!  I say NEWS!

More news...

Pieces and Parts with paint and yuck all over them.

Remember the window hardware?  Here it is boiling on the stove.

All the paint gone, now time to polish!

Another piece ready for polishing.

LOOK!!! PrEtTY!!!!

Most of the paint is gone but needs some polishing.

LOOK!  All polished!

George's new Shop Area!

George posing for the camera.

So that's some big news that is exciting and adds more changing... editing... and tweaking. I hope you're excited.  I know I am.
Check back soon for more news coming in...
Peace,
C

Helicopter's On the Roof...

Okay, here's the deal.  A helicopter just landed on your roof.  It's picking you up and taking you to a deserted island and you have 5 minutes to grab the following 9 things... No questions, no exceptions, no "well what about....?"  here it is; you get 3 books, 3 cds, 3 movies... whatcha gonna bring?

Well, I think my brother came up with this game about 15 years ago.  We've played it over and over and I am amazed at how my answers have come and gone and come back again.  Currently, this is how my list plays out...

3 Books

1. The Joy of Cooking

2. The Book of Awakening

3. American Literature's Greatest Short Stories

3 CDs

1. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

2. Tom Waits - Heart of Saturday Night

3. Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones

3 Movies

1. Parenthood

2. Living Out Loud

3.Out of Africa

So, the great fun of this is how fluid it is.  You will ask yourself this over and over and some of your answers will change and some will never leave their spots.  I love it when out of the blue, you remember a book or movie and think..."Oh Oh Oh...no, I have to change it from that to this."  Later on you'll think, "No, wait...I don't want to give that up so I'll have to leave that one...hmmmm."  I just saw my list from a vacation in 2009 and out of 9, 4 remained the same and 5 had changed. Like I said, it's fluid. 

Now it's your turn.  Think about it.  What would you choose?  Do some come easily and others not so much?  Give it a try.  Write your list down and just put it aside...come back in a couple months and see what's changed.  It's amazing to see what comes and goes...and in 8 months it's back again!

Let me hear your thoughts.  Got any "Are you serious - You forgot to put____________?

Peace out my little list makers

C