Yes, yes, it's been too long

Sorry we haven't updated the blog in a while. A good friend died unexpectedly, and it really took the wind out of my sails. And the holidays are always a distraction -- good in this case.

We're back on it.

We decorated the new porch with festive garland, lights and a wreath. Next year, it will all be white and even prettier -- though we really loved coming home to this anyhow. Four snows so far (ack) were picturesque, if a bit of a pain.



We installed a new lighting fixture outside at the end of the new sidewalk. That's also where the incredibly ugly gothic house numbers had been, so we gave those an upgrade as well.



This fixture is on a dusk-to-dawn sensor, which is nice security. We also put its larger version (the same one on the front porch) between the garage doors. It's on a motion detector, so we have light when pulling into the driveway. And thanks to our parents' generous Christmas gifts, we even got ourselves garage door openers -- a very welcome luxury, to be installed when it warms up a little.

The library shelves have been done for a bit, but you really have to let paint cure a long time to make sure books and other objects don't stick. However, Jeff took advantage of the open storage to sort some -- not all, but some -- of his t-shirts.



That's just wrong.

Then there was the not-quick task of installing all the doors in both bedrooms, then putting up all-new crown molding, raising the old baseboards, installing cove at the bottom, and caulking and painting each and every seam. Also not quick work.

The new Ethernet line to the library lets us plug the computer right into the wall with no ugly modem or router in sight. Love that.

And now we have the library pretty much done. The brown chair and ottoman from my old living room work OK, but they're a little too big. We have another smaller chair in the basement that needs to be re-upholstered, but its size will likely be perfect.



It's pretty nice sitting in the chair watching a movie on the computer screen. We hope to get a bigger monitor before too long.

The guest bedroom is similarly done. That was a bit more of a challenge to furnish.

The bed is an antique one from Jeff's great-grandfather. It's an odd size, so he had a new mattress and box spring made for it a few years ago. Problem is, the box spring (the shallow kind) is really too large for the frame, and it had cracked one of the legs. Not a good fit. So it needed to be altered.



Jeff went to work gluing and clamping the damage while I dismantled the box spring to cut it down about 3/4 of an inch.



Let the glue dry overnight and tried fitting it back in. Still too big. More chopping. And yet again a little too big. So after the third try, the room is done.



The kitties approve of the twin ottomans at the foot of the bed. (And no, I have no clue why Blogger is rotating that image -- but maybe they'll fix it. I'm not the only one this is happening to.)

This will be a very welcoming guest room, we hope. A couple of details still need fixing, like the single drape panel that's cut a few inches too long (how annoying when you buy premade drapes) and two oak pieces that need to go underneath the exterior door thresholds. But we're 95% there.




All that remains upstairs are the doors to the laundry, some minor paint touch-up and re-smoothing the ceiling in the bathroom. Then we move on to installing the new hardwood steps, and we can focus on downstairs.