Sunday 27 November 2011

One red dot



mainly sunny, mild, temps 8

A wonderful, mild, day. Ended up getting quite a bit of snow yesterday too - but it's all gone now. Beautiful day.

We set the alarm for 6am - and out of the house by 7:30 - over to the main house. Lise was already there - Deanna, Donna and Rose arrived a few minutes before 8. And the Big Cleanup began. Very impressive to see four women who hate dirt and disorder get rid of both. I was almost in tears.

While they did all the filthy work inside I decided to take advantage of the unusually mild day and clean the new windows outside. first, scrape with a razor the flecks of paint...then windex. All on top of a step ladder. I wondered if I'd feel uncomfortable, but it just wasn't all that high. It was actually quite fun - except for the torrential melt streaming off the roof and onto my head. I'd put on a raincoat and a hat, but of course it came down right on top of me. Sunny everywhere else on the property, except where I needed to stand. Felt a bit like a keystone cop.

but what a difference it makes to the windows. Feels wonderful.

I've come back to the cottage briefly to pack more things and get some lunch - and now will hop on back. The other people who came today was an Ikea guy who needed to fix something....and Mike.

He came initially to help move furniture but ended up doing the million-and-one things that suddenly pop up. The plates for the light switches. Putting bits of wood under furniture that wasn't level, figuring out which breaker had blown. It -

All the above was written two days ago...interrupted by the ringing of.the phone. It was Lise at the main house saying two fellows had just shown up with a truckload of furniture. I stopped in mid-sentence and flew out of the cottage. It was all the furniture we'd had re=upholstered....it had arrived!!! We'd been waiting three months for this moment, wondering what the 'new' old furniture would look like in our 'new' old home. How many times Michael and I discussed placement - and asked Kirk his opinion. To be honest, i couldn't even remember what fabric we'd chosen! So long ago and so many decisions.

Sure enough, when we got back to the main house the furniture was being unloaded - into the chaos....but they managed....and unwrapped and placed it. Wow - you can see the photo, taken today...even better than I dared dream. Oh, it gives me such pleasure, and at the same time a lovely, settled feeling of peace.

Home.

By five o'clock Friday evening everyone had left and Michael and I dropped into the chairs on either side of the fireplace, poured a diet ginger, got out some fruit cake - and sighed. Dear Lord, we made it.

As you can see, the kitchen isn't quite finished - but close enough so that we can live here and cook.

Saturday at 8am, Darol, who was putting on the wallpaper, arrived to finish the job. Then Ikea arrived with the new sofa that needed to be assembled (not just the feet put on, but it arrived in 5 boxes!! Then Mike arrived to help assemble it. I say 'help' as though he didn't do the whole thing - which he did. I was assigned the cushions....you can imagine how much assembly was necessary. It was the Ikea equivalent of being told to roll bandages and boil water.

by 1:30 the wallpapering was finished, Mike had assembled the sofa, we'd all sat on it and ate sandwiches. surrounded still by boxes and 'stuff' all over the place. I spent the afternoon picking up things at random and wandering around the house, trying to figure out where to put it.

To be honest, we got rid of a lot of 'stuff' when we packed up - and we're again 'editing' our belongings....paring them down. simplicity...though I think it's a little late for that. But we're doing our best.

Now - Sunday - it is quiet, finally. The day Michael and I have dreamed of since last winter when we first started thinking about this renovation - spurred on by the need to replace a solarium that was falling down and wouldn't survive another winter. We found Bob Ray, and he found Maurice and his men, and Mike and the electrician and plumber and painters. Gary joined us - and over just three months two roofs were completely rebuilt and replaced, the glass solarium became a sunroom with fireplace - new floors - a bathroom was remodeled so that if one day one of us can't make the stairs we can turn the TV room into a bedroom....the door to the bathroom widened to accommodate a wheelchair. In case. This house is a home. Forever, we hope.

We know how lucky we are. In our fiends. In Lise and Gary and Bob and Mike and so many others who've helped. In having this home - in having the ability to live here. A home we adore in a community we love. In having a certain stability in uncertain times.

On the fridge, I placed a single small red dot....a magnet. It can be seen from almost anywhere in the 'new' space. If you get really, really close, you can see there are three small words written beneath the red glass.

I am thankful.

11 comments:

Joanne said...

Wonderful story (like all your books) and a beautiful home. Hope you have many years enjoying it!

Jo Larsen said...

Welcome home! Happy for you. Thankful for your stories that always brighten my day and leave me wanting more!

Janice M said...

Blessings in your new home. It is beautiful...and I'm glad to see you have a "chair" for your dog too! Wouldn't be a home without one.

Time Traveling in Costume said...

You are living the dream so many of us have, a space perfectly suited to what we need. I'd die for that wall of windows but in So. CA, I would die in all the heat. But yours is so beautiful.
Val

lil Gluckstern said...

I like what you've done, and how much light you have in your new spaces. It's home, and beautiful!

Mary said...

Thank You for inviting me along for the ride...I can almost feel you pleasure :-)

Track Potato Lady said...

The rooms are beautiful! I wish you all the best and lots more writing. I wondered if you bought your kitchen cabinets and solarium furniture all at Ikea? You have my dream kitchen. I especially loved your most beautiful accessory who is obviously quite happy!

S. C. Gates said...

Mozel Tov! The floors are indeed glorious.

I love it, the Louise Penny Red Dot Special. More of us could stand to have just that dot placed on our foreheads . . . with the writing backwards, of course, so we could read it everytime we look into a mirror.

And I see Trudy has had no trouble settling back into her home.

Deryn said...

It looks beautiful! And of course you hooked me right away...I was dying to know what the one red dot was. And so happy to find out it wasn't in the middle of a window, or that gorgeous floor!

Colombine said...

Hi Louise,

Belles rénovations! J'adore particulièrement la fenestration originale.

Rénover est gratifiant lorsqu'on voit les résultats. Je l'ai fait il y a 2 ans et je recommencerais demain matin.
Extraordinary also to be thankful... I'm so!

Profitez-en bien vous et Michael!

JKW said...

ah, So glad you 'lived' through it. Quite an undertaking and I am so glad it all worked out and you two are happy with it. What you've shown is beautiful, would love to see the sun room. Afraid in So. FL our winter has started this week, which is still Nov. (no sn*w - albeit, we have had it before) and yes, it is a 4-letter word, explaining the astrick. I moved here from Central IL. so it's a 4-letter word to me. Blessings, Janet