Our Ancestral Home

My 1952 Butterick Walk Away Dress!

2011-09-05T17:31:00.001-04:00

Having long admired the classic Butterick Walk Away dress pattern, I was thrilled when Katrina of Edelweiss Patterns offered her expertise in leading a sew along! I already owned the pattern, having snapped it up in a Butterick buying frenzy back in July when Joann's had Butterick patterns for 99 cents each.

Finding the fabric was fun! I could see possibilities in so many prints. I knew I wanted to model the dress with my 1950s pumps, so black was a key color. I also wanted inexpensive fabric because I have not sewn garments since about 1994. I'm a little rusty! I found this black/white/red cotton bandanna print at Affordable Textiles, 531 Queen Street West, Toronto for $2.99/yd.

I'm pretty happy with the way it came out! Following Katrina's instructions, I modified the pattern and ended up with a bodice that really, really fits! A crinoline would really provide the structure that defines the 1950's silhouette.

Living in Lucille Ball's hometown, I knew just where I wanted to take my pictures. This is one of many murals that decorates our buildings.

Thank you, Katrina, for your tutorial and leadership! You provided me with the incentive to finally make this fun and lovely pattern. I hope to make it again in a dressy version!

Mod Podge Mania!

2011-08-09T17:47:00.011-04:00

August 2011
I picked up a plain, blue vintage train case at a garage sale for a buck. It seemed to say, "Take me home. Appreciate me! You'll understand later!" I washed it up a bit and started using it to contain most of my basic sewing tools.

Then I saw upcycled train cases glued all over the web and I was smitten! I used some older illustrated pattern envelopes and contents to decorate the exterior with Mod Podge. The inside was still stained and a bit nasty, so I relined it using a cheerful button print quilting cotton that came home by way of the Salvation Army as a dress!

Thank you Judy of Remixed Vintage for her YouTube tutorial on relining a vintage train case! Her use of heat n' bond made a huge difference in the outcome of the lining project.

Just having such an appealing toolbox makes me want to sew! (Oh, and to purchase more train cases! I DO understand!)

Color!

2010-11-18T15:07:00.001-05:00

Just in time for Thanksgiving 2010
We painted our dining area and created a chic, cozy space to share our meals.
Here are the walls, "before" sporting the wallpaper I hung in about 2000. I liked it, but it is time for a change.And, after, featuring lots of Andrew's artwork:

We often use a golden yellow tablecloth which creates a lovely atmosphere. The color is called "Parisian" from True Value Hardware paints, and I would describe it as a terra cotta pink. We love it!

Birthday Cake!

2010-09-01T15:02:00.003-04:00

September 2010

With Erik off at college, it is kinda tricky to make a birthday cake for him. The easiest one to mail 1000 miles is made of paper and filled with Aero bars! Here are a couple of pictures:

He loved it!

Thanks to ewillow for the tutorial and templates!

Home improvements!

2009-09-20T14:49:00.002-04:00

October 2009

New windows! What an operation! The entire installation took about half a day and went something like this:

Home improvements, Summertime 2008

2008-07-30T20:41:00.006-04:00

Many years ago, in an earlier, poorer, lifetime, I used to plan my day around drying the laundry. It had to be a good drying day to do laundry --- over freezing, and breezy to boot. I would wash the longest drying stuff first so I could hang it out on my pulley system clothesline first, early in the day. I had two pulley lines that extended from my deck to the neighbor's garage. The stuff that dried quickly could go on last and come down first. Laundry was a very strategic operation.

Then we moved to an area with cheap electric rates and I no longer bothered with a clothesline. Few people seemed to use them. I didn't miss the extra work and strategyzing, but I did miss the scent of sheets dried on the line. This year, we got a clothesline!

It is one of those square ones on a center aluminum pole. To install it, you dig a hole in the ground and fill it with sackrete. You set a plastic sleeve in the sackrete to support the pole. The tube has a cap on it so that when you don't have the clothes dryer set up you can cap the hole.

This is the sunniest spot in our backyard.

I am using it mostly for bed linens and curtains.

Here you see another "home improvement" which is freshly laundered curtains, a symptom of "spring cleaning" taking place. This is nine lace panels and two valances. It is amazing how dusty, stiff and gray these get. Now they are sparkling white again.

Definitely, a home improvement.

The Ancestral Home welcomes more descendants

2008-07-09T18:21:00.014-04:00

Many babies came to visit, some to stay a while.

Someday, this four month old will get back at his two year old sister for putting the fuzzy crown on his head, but today he was okay with it.

Hats were the order of the day, for kids from Atlanta who came to their Ancestral Home.

They were a charming bunch!

Though dressed as a swimming wizard, he cast no spells. Their cousins, Jack and Mary (a.k.a "Mac and Jerry") from D.C. made their premiere visit to the Ancestral Home, too. Jack looks kind of familiar, but Mary's is an entirely new face. We look forward to getting to know them better in the years to come.

Though a mere six weeks, they were not the youngest babies on the old homestead. Local bunnies gave birth the day before the family reunion.

Oddly enough, we found them in the grass between our home and the next, near rose bushes looking more like the leavings of a big, loose dog than a nest of newborns. They were the size of small mice! There was no mother in sight, and we checked the bushes for a dead mother. No bunnies were found. We also lay a rhododendron branch over them for sun protection, and contacted an authority on the natural world for guidance.

She reassured us that mother bunnies do leave their young during the day and also that baby bunnies are born unscented to protect them from predators.

Mother Bunny's choice of locations was rather out in the open, but just a few days ago we had noted two bunnies working on a nest beneath one of the trees in our front yard. It was a shaded, protected hole lined with rabbit fur. Doesn't that sound divine? We waited a night to see if Mother would move them there. She didn't.

Mother Bunny had clearly been to the hole overnight, though, as evidenced by the grass clippings being pressed down, rabbit shaped. She also had tended and fed her babies who still were in the open. Jennifer also told us that it would be perfectly ok for all concerned if we moved the babies to the hole since it was close by. Mother would find them, eventually. If she didn't see them, she would hear their hungry cries.

Here is one of five baby bunnies. Four of them seemed hale and hearty, (hardy?) but one was not thriving. If you look closely at the picture of many bunnies, you will see one on its side. His skin hung loosely compared to the others, and he seemed unable to move very well. Son2 put them gently in the rabbit hole where they eagerly nestled into the fur, expectantly. We're guessing that it smelled like Mom.

After about 9:30 at night, when it was dark, we saw Mother Bunny cautiously approaching the original spot. She seemed easily spooked, so we left her alone.

The next morning, four bunnies seemed well fed and cared for, and one dead baby bunny was outside the hole. Now they are four days old and mother comes by nightly.

The six human offspring have since left. Their mothers were intrigued by the parenting methods of Mrs. Bunny and all continue to take an interest in the welfare of the four baby rabbits.

A few of my favorite Jamestown Lounge things

2007-10-23T17:06:00.000-04:00

...for all you Jamestown Lounge fans out there.

It's all in the details. This carved arm was the first element of Jamestown Lounge Feudal Oak that caught my eye when I was looking for furnishings for this circa 1961 shoebox ranch. Our last house had such character in the woodwork! This carving, I was certain, would make up for that loss.

The seductive arm turned out to be part of a couch and there were pieces to match. These arms are also on a massive arm chair with a big ottoman. End tables, intricately carved and identical on both ends!

This chair came along later, and is Jamestown Lounge British Oak.
I adore the notched arms and the carving on the back.

Check out the carving on the side of this Jamestown Lounge Feudal Oak chair.
It's a great one for sitting and knitting by the window.

I love the effect the carvings have on this Feudal Oak drum table.

This coffee table has the massive carvings, too.

The tabriz looks a bit more rose colored than it really is, but I love the details.
Oh, did I mention that?

Here is the poster that scandalized the Pan Am Exposition in Buffalo, NY in 1901.

Well, okay, a copy of it.

Need a place to sit while removing your boots?

Next time? Maybe the rest of the British Oak collection, then on to Colonnade and then American Modern.

Old friend, new friend

2007-06-25T19:06:00.000-04:00

My old friend, the Canon Power Shot A20 which I have used for years, meet my new friend...
The Kodak EasyShare Z612, which a brown truck delivered to my house, just today. I wasn't even expecting to meet a new friend. WH just told me that something was coming that brown would deliver and it was for both of us. I'm sure that once I get to know her better my new friend will bring endless joy and help preserve many happy memories.

The Great Outdoors

2007-06-23T16:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the last day of school. Loads of stuff that I brought home is freshly dumped in the living and dining rooms. It looks like a "before" picture for one of those home organization shows. So, here are some lovely views of the outdoors which WH has made look pretty great.

Part of the berm. You can see other neighborhood houses.

The patio is our summer livingroom.

The sundial spends part of its day in the shade. Who really cares what time it is in the summer?

A couple more things

2007-06-22T17:06:00.000-04:00

These pictures looked quite appropriate together. The one on the right was probably taken in 1982 or so. The other was just last summer.
Chautauqua Institution -- All County Music Festival. Son2 is in the first chair euphonium seat. Not bad for a sophomore.

Spring Break! or Rippin' into the old house again

2007-04-12T20:08:00.000-04:00

I love our livingroom. When I see this picture I want to go sit there. It is cozy and comfortable. This week we tore it all apart. Look closely at the second picture. It shows four little screws protruding down through the ceiling from the crawlspace. These were placed there by our roofer FIVE YEARS AGO when he installed a new roof and skylight for the living room. All we needed to do was cut and finish access to it. Simple enough, right?

Here is a shot of the hole cut and insulation added. See the blinds? Those are new, too, and work on a switch. They can open, close or completely retract.

This is the work in progress. No pain, no gain. Now there is sheetrock covering the insulation. Air circulation is not the greatest in these access chutes, so we rigged a box fan set across chairs blowing UP. Sorry, no picture, but I'm sure you can see it in your mind's eye.

Since all of the furniture was either moved out or covered in plastic I hauled this favorite chair off to the upholstery shop. Okay, this chair is nice, but you'd really be raving about it had you seen what it looked like BEFORE I took it there. However, since I am the Worst Blogger Ever I neglected to take a picture of it in its gold wide wale corduroy glory with the sunken seat. The best thing about that fabric was that it matched the cat who thinks it is Her Chair. Anyway, the red Jamestown Lounge Feudal Oak chair is great in the room.

The finished room! This picture may not show the beauty of the natural light that fills the room, even on a gloomy day (common around here) in the late afternoon it was lovely. It was four days of disruption and mess but our question was, "Why didn't we do this sooner?" Our next planned project is to refinish the livingroom floor. That will wait until summer. Our heavy Jamestown Lounge Feudal Oak livingroom furniture has taken a toll on the floor. It has rubbed off the finish and started marring the wood beneath. There was also an incident with a leaky Christmas tree that happened a couple of years ago that discolored a part of the wood. Meanwhile, we shall enjoy the latest improvement.

In the bleak midwinter

2007-02-22T16:40:00.000-05:00

Our Ancestral Home, without its awnings, surrounded by snow and more snow. Saturday I left it to visit this lovely home outside of Atlanta with no snow.

Am home again, and the visit made it easier to face even more snow that is falling right now.

Christmas gathering

2007-01-03T19:07:00.000-05:00

The A Cappella Choir performs their vespers concert in this beautiful setting, left, each year as they have for about 82 years. This was Son2's first year as a member of the choir and the grandparents took advantage of the balmy weather to venture out and attend. They seemed to be glad that they did.

Happy New Bath!

2007-01-03T18:55:00.000-05:00

On the fifth day of Christmas we sent the Christmas cards... and on the odd chance that anyone will actually view the blog as promoted in the propaganda we enclosed about our family news I figured it was time to show the work we did back in September. It is no coincidence that blog postings ceased when school began, but we did put a few more finishing touches on the bath.

We really like the look of the heat cover that replaced the rusty/painted metal baseboard cover. The accessories are chrome and white porcelain. We like the way they look with the faucets, door handles and porcelain sink and shining tub. What a lot of work, but it sure was worth it!

25th day, part 2!

2006-08-30T21:15:00.000-04:00

Isn't that nice? The backsplash needs trimming to size and permanent mounting but the sink is functional. The faucet is the Moen mate to the one in the shower/tub. The chrome and white thing on the counter is a soapdish/toothbrushholder thing that I picked up at JC Penney. I liked it because the dish would match the sink and was also an oval, plus it had the whole chrome thing going on and it took the place of three different pieces that we used to have on the counter in the pink bathroom. AND it wasn't too fancy. There is a lot of very fancy bathroom stuff out there these days.

What's left? Well, the backsplash, hang the medicine cabinet, some molding around the floor, one more strip of wallpaper on that particularly nasty section of wall behind the door, purchase and hang some hardware for towels, roll of toilet paper, and move the usual bathroom gear into those lovely new cupboards. Oh, and put the grab bar in the shower/tub. We would have done that by now but it hasn't come in, yet.

25 days into the project

2006-08-30T18:54:00.000-04:00

Isn't that a great piece? And there it is, right up against the wall! Jon from Jamestown Kitchen and Bath came by right away and explained what we needed to do. The next thing I knew, WH had done it before I could tell it to pose and say "cheese." Right now he is at a hardware store getting the goods to complete the installation of the sink and faucet. The boxy shelf on the wall actually sits behind the mirrored medicine cabinet which is currently in storage under the bed.

The counter is a bronze color which looks absolutely great in the room.

I think I feel a whirlpool bath coming on....

A Mell of a Hess

2006-08-27T17:17:00.000-04:00

This was fun, and not the mell of a hess part. This was the noon massed bands at the Jamestown Celtic Festival at JCC. WH and I attended, ate, drank and enjoyed the spectacle of it all.

Here is a picture of the Jamestown area pipe and drum group playing in a circle. Groups were there from Cleveland, Niagara Falls and Erie, PA as well.

We ate shepherd's pie, reubens, shortbread and enjoyed Guinness.

There were demonstrations of highland games, as well. Next year they hope to have a full competition.

The Celtic festival was a nice diversion on Saturday. Sunday we faced the new cabinets.

Here is the mell of a hess. First, though, notice how nice the cabinets look. They are very suitable for the house and the room.

We ordered two. The one on the left is 18" and consists of a drawer and a cupboard with an adjustable shelf. We chose simple chrome oval knobs. These cupboards will be so much more useful than the former one.

The one on the right doesn't have the hardware attached, yet. It is 30" wide and consists of two drawers on the left and a cupboard on the right. The upper panel is a false front. This cupboard is designed to hold the sink.

This next picture displays the problem.

This is looking down over the back of the larger cupboard and the two matching chrome extrusions are the water supply and the rag is hanging from the sink drain in the wall. Notice that the sink drain meets perfectly with the drawer support for the upper drawer. There is our problem.

Tomorrow we intend to have "Jon" from Jamestown Kitchen and Bath stop over to give us advice. Do we send this 30" cabinet back? Do we raise it? (I don't like that idea). Do we abolish the upper drawer? I don't care for that either. Do we relocate the drain? WH also is considering locating the cupboards a few inches away from the wall. That has its own problems.

We need professional advice!

A Great Day for the Bathroom

2006-08-25T16:42:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the almost complete bathroom. Here is the view from the hall. Note the window curtain, new miniblinds and rugs. The window topper came from the local JC Penney store as did the rugs. I visited there with a piece of the wallpaper and counter sample. The sage green was nice and safe, but the crimson was very exciting. The local store didn't have a shower curtain I wanted to live with, though.

Look closely at the accessory on the toilet tank.

Yes! It is a hand knitted tissue box cover! I made that today thanks to an easy to live with pattern from MagKnits June issue. Any granny would be proud.

Late last spring WH and I stayed at a Hilton Hotel and loved the shower curtain rod design. It bowed outward at the middle to give the person in the shower more room. We were able to get the same curtain rod at our local True Value Hardware Store. We saw the same rod for sale at Home Depot for about $9 more. Go figure!

This picture shows the bow in the rod. The rod and curtain clips are chrome, in honor of that silver anniversary we mentioned a while back.

See the lovely cotton/linen shower curtain? It complements the window topper very nicely, being rather plain with a couple of bands of lattice trim set in. I found that at the local Sears.

This picture shows the shower curtain closed. You can see the simple detailing on the fabric and also see what the bowing looks like.

So far, the residents of this house approve of my decorating choices. I thought that red would really throw them for a loop, which is always fun. Son2 even helped me by attaching the drapery hardware while I pressed the goods. And he likes it. I am amazed.

AND, today the cabinets arrived! This is only one of them. They are Kraft Maid "Henley" style in a honey maple finish. This one is for storage, has a drawer on top and a cupboard with a shelf below. The finish is excellent, the drawers glide beautifully and they are anything but flimsey. The second one has drawers and a cupboard and will also house the drop-in sink. We also have cupboard hardware, but not in this picture.

This one is sitting here surveying its new surroundings.

Where I wanna be...

2006-08-24T16:56:00.000-04:00

Here is WH caulking the new tub surround...

And this is where I wanna be! Alas, I must wait until the stuff cures. Tomorrow night!

Tomorrow is also the day we expect the new cabinets and sink. We haven't called to confirm that in a while. We would rather enjoy the present and deal with any disappointment later.

Papering around the tub

2006-08-23T11:53:00.000-04:00

In my neverending quest to upholster the walls without the pesky interference of furnishings I have been papering around the tub PRIOR to WH's installation of the tub surround. He marked the layout of the surround and I made sure the lines were covered. That last strip after the window is wider than it really needed to be because only about 2" of width was necessary. Honestly, it is easier to hang a full strip than a narrow one, and the width was necessary for the top 22". The surround will cover a great deal of that particular strip. If I'm lucky, I'll never see that particular piece of wallpaper again!

The tub has power, water, paper and later today: the surround! Maybe we will finally get to use it.

The End is Near!

2006-08-21T22:38:00.000-04:00

Remember this? The tub was the right size to put in place in an unfinished room, but the drywall prevented us from sliding it in. The drywall had to go, leaving this gaping hole last week.

This week, it is all in one piece again!

Here is WH doing a mud job. I really do not care for this work. He does it well, and doesn't mind it. I have been doing work to get ready for fall and returning to work. Making a living is such a nuisance.

This looks like it was worth his trouble. The walls are in, primed and drying. Theoretically, I could apply wall sizing and paper tomorrow. Instead, we plan to go to Waldemeer. It simply wouldn't be summer without a trip to Waldemeer, would it?

This is what we were up to last Saturday. This is the band from the Chautauqua Band Camp performing in Lenna Hall.

Our favorite player is the one with the tuba.

Still making progress

2006-08-20T12:09:00.000-04:00

I'm sure my mother will call soon if I do not post something here. Yes, we are still progressing on the bathroom. Rick has been hanging the water resistant wallboard (not sure if it is called blueboard or greenboard as the color is somewhere between the two) all around the tub. Then we have to finish the joints. Prime it. Paper the parts that show. Hang the surround. Take a bath! Sounds simple enough.

Son2 had a couple of concerts this week due to his involvement in the band camp up at Chautauqua, and we went to see those, too, on Friday and Saturday. I am also rather distracted by the looming date of "back to school." Somehow, the bathroom will be finished and we will be ready to return to school.

Work slowdown

2006-08-16T18:17:00.000-04:00

Sunday, August 13
We took a day off from the bathroom project to go to Chautauqua Institution to hear Son2 play in the Infinity Arts Program Big Band. He did a great job of playing while hiding behind a music stand. It was a beautiful day.

Monday, August 14
Today, WH did a lot of invisible work. You know, the sort of tasks that are the equivalent to stuffing money into the walls. You need to do this stuff, but the results aren't visible. Plumbing, wiring and the like all fall into this category.

Tuesday, August 15
We interrupted this bathroom remodel to celebrate our wedding anniversary. After breakfast at Bob Evans we had coffee with friends on their deck, we took a drive in our convertible, visited more friends and enjoyed their patio, played mini golf, ate and drank a delicious lunch in Celoron at Mariner's Pier, went home. Took care of the family, then went back to Celoron for a dinner cruise on the Summer Wind.

It was a lovely day and a great break from the toil of this bathroom.

Oh, and our Kraft Maid cabinetry isn't expected at the store until August 25. Hopefully, everything else will be completed by then and this can go in as a finishing touch!

Accomplishments!

2006-08-12T20:12:00.000-04:00

This picture is here for a quick review. This is history. At this point, the tile and wallpaper had already gone.

Last night, while WH curled up comfortably in a chair sipping products from Kentucky hollering to me, "There's a Harry Potter Movie on TV!" and "I'm watching The African Queen!" I stoically kept painting woodwork and priming the walls around the toilet. It was worth it. (I think we have these movies on video, anyway). This morning WH yanked the pink toilet so I could proceed with wallpaper without that getting in the way. Look at these pesky, tenacious tiles! They were right behind the toilet tank. Maybe I'll save them to make into a tray for the new bathroom!

Ok, so I removed those tiles, scraped their mastic and primed the area with Kilz. Wall size came next and then, something really worthwhile: WALLPAPER! I think I got those stripes on, nice and straight! I hope my friend Kathy, who taught me to wallpaper back in 1988 or so, would approve. I never hang paper but that I think of her and those first few strips she helped me with, also in a bathroom but one with many cutouts for switches, mirrors, etc. Ever since then I have also tried to get rid of as many of those things ahead of time, like the lights, medicine cabinet and today, the toilet!

Once I wrapped half the room in paper, WH installed the new throne. Hooray!

One thing I'm really pleased with is how the stripes lined up on this lighting soffet. I took my time with it since I knew that if it didn't look right it would bug me every time I went in there. Being a coffee drinker, I knew this could truly affect my life. I really love this fixture that we put in back in 1999. I dislike those bathroom fixtures that have exposed bulbs, the kind that look like tulips hanging over. What was the designer thinking? There is a glass cover for the bulb... but you still see the bulb. I don't get it. We searched long and hard for something I could live with and I still am in love with it so it went back up today.

Enter: The Tub!

2006-08-11T18:31:00.000-04:00

The second new tub arrived yesterday afternoon and we inspected this one before the truck left. It seems to be perfect. Today, we hauled it in and placed it in the bathroom. It took some fanagling to get it in the spot. In our efforts to maintain existing wallboard we actually shortchanged the size of the access we needed to be able to slide the tub into place. In the picture above WH is actually cutting away wallboard so that the tub will be able to slide in. It wasn't as easy for us as it sounds but now that it is there we both agree that we never want to do this again!

Here you can see the tub in place. What a relief!

The wall patch didn't dry and cure yesterday. Perhaps by tomorrow will be the day for the new toilet and wall finishing behind it.

Holey Walls!

2006-08-10T13:34:00.000-04:00

Here is WH taking his turn at filling holes in the wall. I hope/aspire/am striving to get these walls patched, smooth and primed before hitting the sack tonight so that I can size and paper some of them tomorrow.

Some of us would miss this toilet in the night if it weren't here and so we have this scheme worked out in which the toilet gets pulled first thing tomorrow, the wall paper goes up and the new toilet appears in the proper place by sunset. Yes, the new walls around the tub will still need attention but that's 'way on the other side of the room. We can get to that later, after the new tub shows up. Besides, it will be very inspiring to smell that wallpaper paste and see something close to "finished." The light fixture and perhaps even the mirrored medicine cabinet can return, too.

Hi Dad, hi Mom!

Greetings Our Ancestral Home blog fans. Would you believe this lady is 84 years old? Well, truth be told, this picture was taken when she was a mere 83, on Easter Sunday. Her birthday was last Monday. It's never too late to send her a belated birthday card.

Hi Mom (and the rest of you, too)

2006-08-09T23:29:00.000-04:00

Here is my handy WH signing his work after placing some insulation around the tub area. He installed a vapor barrier over that. Later, we started filling the holes in the walls. Remember, some of the tile was very tenacious and there are some significant spots to fill. Some of these craters will need more than today to fill!

Tomorrow the new uncracked tub should arrive!

Avoiding the "Big Box" stores

2006-08-09T11:09:00.000-04:00

We've been VERY pleased, so far, that we have avoided getting much from the local "Big Box" stores and have spent our money at the local shops. Yesterday afternoon I found some beautiful wallpaper at Holmlund's that is perfect for our bathroom. This paint and wallpaper shop is located at the corner of First and Main which some family members will remember is the former location of The Ancestral Tailoring Business. Maybe it has good karma for us, whatever that means. Anyway, the folks there know their stuff and are very helpful and I found just what I wanted.

These shots are of the persistant tile mastic. The tiles around the bathtub came down like a house of cards taking their mastic with them but the walls around the sink and especially behind the door were actually in such good shape that they might have held for another 45 years, if we would have let them. We intend to remove the mastic and simply patch and sand the existing walls in these areas.

I used a paint scraper to get a great deal of it off.

Then WH figured out a way to use a power tool to whack that stuff into submission. He loves power tools. I just got out of the way, did some laundry, prepared lunch.

Here is that perfect paper I was telling you about. I absolutely love it. It pleases me on so many levels. It has a "handpainted" look, it is simple, it has the green of the existing, rather new bath towels, it has the golden color of the wood and hallway, it has the deep rose we have in various places throughout the house. It has vertical stripes which I had a hankering for. It is a York vinyl so it should be very compliant. It is a somewhat simple pattern, which is nice for a small room. It was IN STOCK which is dandy since I want to slap some up the day WH pulls and replaces the toilet. And, the best part is that it is all those things plus CLOSE OUT! It was $6.99 for a double roll. I bought extra.

Yesterday the new tub was delivered! It looks very inviting. Sadly, though, when WH opened the box I spotted a crack right away. ARRRRUGH! WH called the shop and they are coming to take it away today.

Sigh. Look closely at the triangular area of indentation along the rim. That is where it is cracked and I don't think it shows here.

About posting comments

Most of our friends and family have emailed me directly with comments but go ahead and post them here. I will see them either when I post updates or in my email as they are sent there automatically. We would love to hear your thoughts on the old pink bathroom. Were you terribly fond of it? Can you believe we still had it after all these years? I think I recall that it had turquoise paint in addition to the pink tiles and fixtures, then it all turned very pink in the 1980's or maybe 1990's. We papered it in 1999 just to try to make the best of what we had to work with (more time than money, that is).

THIS is what a minivan is for

2006-08-08T14:13:00.000-04:00

We resisted getting a minivan until our sons were of the age that they could buckle their own seatbelts. I just observed too many adult behinds sticking out of the side doors of minivans while the owner of said behind buckled in a little one to want to BE one of those people. We've been pleased with this one since about 2000 but never as happy as we were today when we put this into her:

The pink tub, after a day in the sun and a camp out on the front lawn, got heaved into the back of the van for its final cruise. It seems the dump takes two days off each week, Sunday and Monday.

Here is a shot of my hand peeling away the remains of the wallpaper. Earlier I had peeled the vinyl layer. I know they sell wall paper stripping stuff and you can rent fancy power tools for this job but I've always had good luck with warm water and vinegar. I had prepped this wall and hung this paper about five years ago and so I believed it would give up easily and it did. It took about an hour to do the whole room and now my fingernails are all cleaned up.

Smashing Pumpkins The Pink Bathtub

2006-08-07T14:49:00.000-04:00

This morning WH covered the tub with a thick blanket, presumably so it couldn't see what was coming, and bludgeoned it with a sledge hammer. The enamel surface shattered in the target areas and then the cast iron cracked. WH and Son2 hauled it out, a chunk at a time. I swept up the shards and took pictures to "help us all remember the times of your life." Note the following Kodak moments:

Coming soon: RECONSTRUCTION!

The Archies

2006-08-06T20:06:00.000-04:00

Back around 1971 I read The Archies in comic books and I just remembered the one about Betty and Veronica repainting and decorating two rooms and Veronica changed her outfit to match each room as they worked on it. I wonder what Veronica would have to say about this ensemble?

Like my pink outfit? It isn't quite the same pink as the sink, but the spirit is there.

I love the way the sink looks, sitting there forlorn and rejected by the side of the road.

My Wonderful Husband (hereafter known as "WH") looks stylish and intellectual as he bangs away on a bit more demolition. The sink, counter and baseboard cover went today. That last sentence represents hours of work. WH commented, as he pulled the cupboard from the wall, that his father certainly got his money's worth when this place was built. That cupboard was built to last! The baseboard cover was more trouble than words can describe. WH plans to construct a new cover from wood or order one. We heard from Jamestown Kitchen and Bath that our new whirlpool tub, swanstone surround and sink are being shipped from the warehouse and will be ready for us tomorrow. Now, if only we were ready for them! We already picked up the new toilet and it is waiting for duty. I'd like to slap up a couple of strips of wallpaper behind the toilet BEFORE it gets installed. That is something I have yet to even look for.

Here is that pesky baseboard heat cover:

And then it is gone! If only it had been that simple...

Check back soon for progress!

The times, they are a changing

2006-08-05T21:00:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, Peter, Paul & Mary sang at Chautauqua Institution and reminded us that "the times, they are a-changing." Well, the pink tile didn't know that, so we took matters into our own hands.

Ah, Western NY is a lovely place to live. Early this morning and again in early evening we were treated by the following sights in our own back yard:

There's no place like home.

How do you REALLY feel? Don't hold back!

2006-08-05T20:14:00.000-04:00

Behind that demure pink tile there was a punky heart of evil mildew. The once solid walls were a crumbling mess of wet, sandy plaster and wallboard. Filled with the anticipation of luxurious whirlpool baths and KraftMaid cabinetry to come, we bashed away at our ancestors' dream house.

Messy, yet satisfying.

Our Ancestral Home

2006-08-05T19:55:00.000-04:00

This is Our Ancestral Home. The folks built it in 1961 and we got our hands all over it in 1999. We've painted, papered, tiled, applianced, and furnished it. It feels like ours now, except for one room. The main bathroom. Today we finally decided to lay bare our feelings about pink tile and the following is the result: