May 17, 2012

My House: One Year

It was just one year ago that I settled on the 110-year old farm house that has become my home. I don’t know why Connor didn’t take down that tacky satellite dish when he was up on the roof chewing the gutters.

There are still a lot of things I want to do to the house and they are, in no particular order:

  • Paint the kitchen and do something about the brown cabinets. They are actually wood, and I could paint them, but I haven’t given too much thought about a colour.
  • Paint the upstairs hall. I bought frames to hang along the length of the wall, but then became paralyzed about what to put in them. I bought a fun little booklet in London called “I Bought a Liberty Scarf” reprinted from the 1930’s, and thought I might frame the pages of that.
  • Make a garden. When I went to do this a few weeks ago, I found that some bright spark had put down black weedproof fabric on the front and back of the “lawn”. It’s about two inches below the surface and I’d have to pull up everything to get the fabric up. Can’t fathom why it was done. I am container gardening now, so at least I’ll have a garden.
  • Get rid of the closet in my room. They blocked off one end of my bedroom to use as a closet, which is great. But what isn’t great is the six feet of dead space that it created. There’s a hanging shelf/rod system that runs the length of the closet, but the closet is only two feet wide, and so I can’t get into either end of it, which means a lot of wasted space. I need some more thought on how to deal with it. I have an idea but it’s a little strange.
  • Frame in the kitchen door between the living/dining room and the kitchen. Right now, there’s one long wall with no break, so if I frame the doorway, I can paint the kitchen a different colour than the living/dining room.

I know that there are a million never-ending things I can do, but this is the short list.

One thing that isn’t on my house list, but that I do regularly, is repair Connor’s babies. He is very attached to Pink Baby, but “someone” and I am not naming names {Halas} has chewed his arms, legs and ears. So every few weeks, or after “someone” has visited, I spend a few minutes with my sewing kit, stitching arms back on, pulling together sides, repairing ears, etc. I can tell the difference between Pink Baby and Army, both pink stuffed pigs. Army doesn’t have any arms and Pink Baby has one.Every night, when I get on the phone and call my Mum, Connor goes upstairs, gets Pink Baby and comes back downstairs. Funnily, I never see him take Pink Baby upstairs.

21 comments:

  1. Meg oh my gosh my list seems never ending and then when one thing is all updated and fresh, somehow everything else needs major redo!

    2012 Artist Series Featuring the Gifted Decorative Painter Theresa Cheek

    Xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

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    1. i think this will be an on-going process until i sell the house - not any time soon, mind you!

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  2. My to-do list never seems to get any shorter. I complete one task and two new ones pop up to take its place.

    I love Connor and his "babies"!

    One of my cats, Chatter, has a mouse "baby" named Beans that she carries everywhere with her. If I'm downstairs working, Chatter brings Beans downstairs to be with us. If I go upstairs to read, Chatter brings Beans upstairs. Sometimes I find Beans in my bed. She loves that mouse!

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  3. I'm with you on the dog toy repair. Nigel has to take a toy or biscuit along every time he goes out the back door. Oddly, he doesn't feel this compulsion when leaving through front door. I'm always out back gathering up the toys to wash and mend. Now, with a new puppy in the house I'll never get caught up.
    Good luck with the home improvements. This is "shed re-do" weekend for us. Going to give it a fresh coat of paint and hang the flower boxes. Give Connor a smooch!

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    1. that new baby is SO cute. she looks like she's gonna be a handful!

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  4. Looking forward to see what you do with your home-I know it will be fabulous. I was constantly repairing Martha's toys until I realized that all she wanted to was have things to "retrieve" or carry around. So I bought fleece at the fabric store and cut out shapes of balls and bones, sewed two pieces together but didn't stuff it and now she has a large collection of "friends" which she carries up, down, inside, or out and always sleeps with a few of them under her chin. Easy to wash. She nibbles on them but doesn't tear them apart like she used to do to the stuffed animals. They are popular with her friends so I've been making them as gifts.

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    1. that "under the chin" thing makes me smile. connor does it with everything, shoes, books, etc.

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  5. It's adorable. In Baltimore? I was driving around Cambridge MA yesterday, and decided I need a funky old wood house in an urbanish setting.

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    1. Jan... it is in baltimore, on the north side. This is a funky old wooden house - covered with siding, in an urbanish setting.

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  6. Love the Connor story! Our miniature Schnauzer had a stuffed doll we called Baby. He chewed the head off. I sewed it back on...and on...and on! When he couldn't find it he made the saddest moans.

    Regarding the closet caper, all of my closets had bifold shutter type doors. Hated them! In two rooms I've replaced them with curtains. The walls in these rooms are upholstered so I made curtains in matching fabric. Much easier to use and to clean.

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  7. You should post photos of your dilemmas and solicit reader suggestions. It's so much easier to think of solutions to other people's problems than our own -- probably because we're so emotionally invested in our own homes that it's harder to be completely objective and analytical. I'd love to see what's going on with your closet issue.

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    1. I will take some pix of the closet and post them. It's such a stupid thing.

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  8. Take one thing on the "to do" list at a time or it becomes overwhelming. Just reread this sentence, sounds like I am preaching! ha, from Reverend Peggy xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

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    1. Rev Peg... it's taken me a year to figure out some of these things, so clearly, i am in no hurry. i just found a "guy" who does things for people who could knock out a couple of these jobs in a few hours.

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  9. You are a good Nana for taking care of all your grandbabies. Not every granny would take the time to stitch on a limb.

    Plans for the Preakness?

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    1. Who you calling Granny! HA!

      And we've got a party for the Preakness.

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  10. Jones still has "baby" after almost 6 years. But baby has now lost his head, his stuffing etc. Jones does not seem to care that "Baby" is currently a rag--He still takes Baby every where he happens to go in the house.
    Have a super week-end. Good luck with the garage sales.
    Mary

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  11. Hello meg,

    I cannot believe it has been a year in the new house! It seems like yesterday you were only just looking.

    I laughed when I read your list because we have been in our house six years, and I just now feel as if it is where I want it to be.

    Love all of conors babies...he is so cute!

    Have a great Sunday, Elizabeth

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  12. I love your house - it's so charming and cozy looking. love the comment about your dog on the roof eating the gutters - so casually said!

    Joni

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