New room and plans

We have new lighter colors in our living room. The once dark ceiling is now white, surrounded by new white molding, with rope light behind it. The once dark grey walls are now light greenish-grey. It is truly a new room!

This one change in our home inspired all kinds of ideas this morning. We moved every single painting and print in every room to new spots. We folded up the curtains and put them away until winter. And we made plans. My plan is to sell our heavy, wooden furniture in the living room and to buy lighter pieces at flea markets and yard sales. Nicolas' plans are much more exciting. He wants to create a Slow Food Event next year that involves Gillen's heritage turkeys and that raises money for Slow Food, or for a food bank or some other organization. It would involve a turkey cook-off with some of the best chefs in Atlanta. In the meantime, we just need to have some kind of fall or winter party, with our friends and turkeys, and surrounded by our new walls.

Settling in for the duration

Still decluttering..it had been a decade since the last time that I did this - that time I was insired by our last move - so it could take me another year.

In addition we are making some constructive changes to this old house. I am liking the idea of staying in one home long enough to mark our kids' growth up the side of the wall until they are taller than we are. I moved twenty times before I was twenty-four.

Our screened-in side porch is transforming into a closed-in actual room. It will be a place to keep all of our art supplies, it will have a dog and cat door (so I can retire form being their all day doorwoman) and it still has lots of windows, so lots of light. I can't see us leaving it much except to use the bathroom or get some food and maybe to sleep in a bed.

We also finally got insulation blown into the walls so I am not wearing Gillen's down vest inside any more. But I haven't yet come to terms with the idea of updating our beautiful old windows to ones that would be more energy efficient. We have warm comforters and lots of sweaters.

My sister sent me a sock that she knit for my birthday. She'll bring the other one with her next week. This was her first time knitting socks (maybe even knitting?) Unbelievable, no? It is so perfectly beautiful. I have put my first time socks aside for now, with just one toe to go; not that they don't look just as professional. ; )I also have to show you a set of cloth gift bags sewn by Helen for my birthday last week. Aren't they festive, and so much better to reuse than paper? She has an etsy shop.

Another big change - Fracas has moved inside. She has learned to use the litter box and has found a new favorite spot in our bedroom.And finally, we replaced all of the many scary torn parts of our trampoline so the kids have been making that their home. Even in the rain :

Sweet Home

On our way out the door yesterday, we realized that the roof was leaking. We soaked up the water from the floor, put out bowls to catch the continuing drips, and escaped for the newer house of our Atlanta friends. It isn't a huge leak, but it is the beginning of revisiting the roof we had thought we'd taken care of years ago.

We are in an old house. There will always be something we need to fix. It will possibly never be warm enough for me in the winter. We will probably always have to drive at least thirty minutes if we want to eat out or meet friends or see a movie. We will have to repaint it again in a year or so.

I have never lived anywhere this long. I had never known what goes into a home.

Each of the past ten years, while the subtly sinking foundation has caused tiny cracks in the walls I'd painted, our kitchen doorway has been further covered with lots of children's indelibly marked new heights. Every Spring, the Daffodils, Irises, Dogwoods and Azaleas have further enveloped us in their (mostly) untempered glory.

This year, roots are more literally taking hold. Gillen and Jesse have started a backyard farm. Gillen's bird garden from last year is being expanded.
There is enough going on in our back yard for Gillen to have been inspired today to create a sign post that leads guests around "the grounds".
Thank God for Netflix, warm sweaters and visitors. I think we may be here a while.

FLOR in the dining room

Before FLOR (not showing the close-ups of the stains, but imagine an assortment of scary, unappetizing brown ink blots, everywhere)


After:

I like the FLOR. It was really easy to install and it looks great. I do have to say that the style that I picked as trim, the dark brown "bittersweet" one (more about the FLOR and styles here) is a hair magnet. After cutting it to fit, I read someone else's review online and they too had issues with this one. We have a great Miele vacuum cleaner (our only expensive appliance and it has been so worth it) that easily cleans it. But the other reviewer couldn't easily take up the lint with his vacuum. A giant lint brush would be key.

Also, we are laying other FLOR over a wall to wall carpet in the guest room and we are going to have to pull it up once again (we've laid it twice) due to buckling. I don't know if this is because of the rug, which is very flat, or due to our placement. I'm thinking it's the placement. We can't experiment with it any more as we have another guest coming for a few days, landing at the airport very soon. Graciela, an old friend who may just want to rearrange rug tiles, for fun. She is much better at this stuff than us! I am looking forward to seeing her, and not just because of her interior decorating talents.