Living Room

This is the living room as it currently stands.

It's amazing how the futon frame echoes the straight newel post and balusters. Everything else we own is so old, it fits right into the nearly 100 years-old house without much effort. The green lamp came from my grandfather's store in Cooperstown, NY, about 50 years ago.  Auger's Bookstore was an independent bookstore & stationery. That store is presently being turned into a new micro-brewery, Cooperstown Beverage Exchange.  For nearly 50 years, my grampa sold stationery, newspapers, books, greeting cards, gifts, toys, typewriters, lamps, office supplies and ladies' purses & bags. As a result, most of our family has an on-going lust for office supplies and books that surpasses most other interests. We tease each other about it.

The living room has yet to be painted, have pictures and draperies hung, and, since books are such a problem, we haven't exactly worked that out yet. To burn the books and simply use a Kindle would be sacrilege. We are open to suggestions.

Here are the colors we've stared at for the last three months for the living room:

The Staples

Each window, and sadly, the entire area of the quilted maple framing had between 60 - 80 staples plunged deeply into the wood.  There were nails, screws and hooks all over the place. On the first day people came to help, we filled a jar with large, industrial staples. Everyone lamented the wood, and how beautiful it is, and how sad. My theory is that with the small, inefficient stove as the only source of heat (after the 1960's boiler gave in), that the former resident sealed off the old wood-framed windows and the upstairs with heavy plastic. That would be fine, but there are better ways to seal off rooms without trashing a house.

We are still working on pulling staples, day by day.

Welcome Home!

In February 2015 mom closed on a late-era Arts & Crafts bungalow. It has 3 BR/1 BA, and one soon-to-be 1/2 bath.  The soon-to-be bath has been 'sooning' for, we estimate, ten years, with exposed lathe & plaster, exposed drywall, layers of paints, and raw beams, with the additional random wood bits pounded over the soon-to-be door frame.
The back yard is all willy-nilly, and we spent this Spring watching to see what blossomed, since we had no idea what original (or if any at all) plantings came along with the property.
She is partly run-down, and partly a treasure.