Progress

Things are really starting to come together at the house.  I finished panting the den.  Ceiling, walls, trim and louvered closet doors.  I wound up painting the wrong side of one of the doors which was easy to fix but rather frustrating at the time.  I didn't realize I had done it until all three coats of paint were on it and I was trying to hang it back up.  I had even marked which sides to paint which just goes to show that no matter how careful you are mistakes can still happen.

I think they look much better painted a nice fresh white.  Ive also made valances and covered a couple of the throw pillows.  I have a a couple more pillows to cover and then I will be done with the sewing portion of the makeover.  I'll have some better pictures once the room is all together.  We have company coming at the end of the month and this room doubles as a spare room.  I'm excited for our guests to come and visit and have a cheery room to stay in.  We still have a few things to put in place (please ignore the mess on the coffee table) which is why this picture is only showing a corner of the room.

Ive always thought the sofa and chairs were a bit boring and overly neutral.  I'm really glad now that they are since they can work well with any wall color and have a whole new look with bright accent pillows.


In the evenings Andy and I have been working on the patio.  Andy finished the last section of the bottom wall on Monday.  It's almost time to start filling in and building up the patio with dirt.  I can't wait to sit out there this fall by the fire pit and roast some marshmallows!

 

In knitting news - I've been working on a new cowl pattern for fall, Oktoberfest.  It's in Shalimar Yarns Breathless DK in the Copper Pennies colorway.  I'm putting it out for test knitting this week.  If you are interested PM me on Ravelry (SpinningLara).  Oktoberfest is a quick knit and will be available in written and charted formats. 

 

Walk The Line is with the test knitters and should be ready for release at the beginning of September.  Andy is planning to do a photo shoot this weekend while we are in Yorktown.  There are a lot of interesting backdrops there so we should be able to get some great shots.  We are trying to find a new name for this pattern as another sock pattern was published last week with the same name.  One of the test knitters suggested Hold The Line which I like.  If you have a suggestion, I would love to hear it.  If I use your suggestion I will send you a copy of the pattern when it's published.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel

I didn't think to write down the day when we started the kitchen makeover.  I really should have, because seriously it feels like it's been nine hundred and ten years that we have been working on it.  I'm pretty sure it was right after the Derecho that wiped out our power for almost a week.  So that would be early July.  Which really isn't that long ago when looking at the big picture.  When you are living in a kitchen that is a bit of a mess with half your dishes in the spare room and the other half missing in action, it's a bit of a challenge. 

We so close to being finished that I can taste it, or is that dinner that I'm dreaming of?  The only things left to do are minor in comparison to what we have done: painting the trim around the kitchen and dining room windows, changing the lower wall color in the dining and great rooms (the current color clashes with the new cabinet color), painting that trim,  constructing three shelves to go above the sideboard in the dining room and building a new pantry which will need paint as well. 

One thing that has been great is that Andy and I have taken a few weekends off here and there to regroup. This past weekend we went with friends to a wine festival on Saturday and spent most of the day fishing on Sunday.  We have a romantic four day weekend coming up which we are really looking forward to.  Biking by the beach, great food on the water, and hopefully not a lot of tourists.  I'm really looking forward to eating out.  I hear most restaurants don't keep their dishes in the spare room...

 

Andy built the cabinet above the island from scratch to match what we had.  I love how it turned out and it gives us a lot of extra storage space.

 

 

 

We have picked out a new light fixture for the dining room and will hopefully have it up soon.  This is what it currently looks like.  We took the leaves out of our table to make the room seem larger.  The sideboard is a new addition purchased at a discount furniture store.  It's the perfect size for our small room.

 

The pantry on the right is going to move into the spare room to store yarn and fiber.  There will be three shelves above the sideboard.  The new pantry will look very similar to the cabinets with wainscoting and crown molding.  It's going to be about a foot taller and possibly wider.  I'm hoping for some slide out shelves, but we will see what transpires there.