So long, summer
images forthcoming
This seems like a good time to take stock of renovation progress during the last half of summer 2022. After all, school starts the beginning of next week for K8 and Theo while Charlotte will return to school in Vermont at the end of next week. We’ll be back to weekend-renovation-warrior status in short order.
So long, summer (sniff!).
But thank you for bringing time to finish the upstairs hallway, complete with paint on the walls (thank you, Charlotte!), doors for Charlotte and Theo’s bedrooms, and some art installed. The most difficult part? Getting the ladders situated so that we could reach high above the stairs to finish removing wallpaper and finishing painting the hallway. The balancing act was a little dicey, but worth it.
Theo’s door original to the house was oddly damaged while Charlotte’s hollow replacement door had been hanging by just one hinge. Thankfully, we were able to repurpose at least one door original to the house and to find another door appropriate for the age of the house (thank you, Facebook Marketplace Ilene!).
Getting art upon the walls finally made the reno feel like home. The blankety-blank bird cage that’s been living in CP’s studio for at least a decade finally has a perfect spot high in the stairwell right next to BLANK–our first major fine art purchase. Photography by Milwaukeean Pete DiAntoni are happily adorning the hallway as well. Pete’s falling babydoll once hung in an exhibition curated by K8 in Florida in the early 2000s and the flower was in exchange for the steel frames CP crafted for an exhibition in Wisconsin in the 1990s.
After weeks of living without a closet and out of boxes, we decided to forego a closet in the master bedroom and repurpose K8’s room into a dressing room. Two walls provide 30 linear feet of hanging space and a high shelf with space for handbags and storage. The ClosetMaid easy glide system was affordable and easy to configure (one hour finalizing measurements at Home Depot and another two hours for installation).
The room may not yet be complete, but it is at least operational as a closet. The two Ikea Billy bookcases currently full of K8’s books will become shoe racks while a vintage cedar cabinet will store K8’s sewing and knitting supplies. Hopefully, there will be room for a drop leaf worktable. The best part? The master bedroom feels remarkably spacious.
Who knew having such a simple storage solution could provide such relief?!
Along the way, CP installed a new dishwasher (thank you, FB Marketplace) as well as new washer and dryer (American Freight). The most important consideration for the former: visible controls; the most important consideration for the latter: a washer tub shallow enough for K8 to reach the bottom. Missions accomplished on both counts!
The most recent improvements happened in the last few days: the dining room’s shared wall received a new look with a fabulous design by ilovewallpaper (UK). K8 prepped the wall, Charlotte hung the paper, and CP trimmed the ceiling seam. Everyone was happy with the finished project. Gleeful, in fact! And this morning, CP installed the lighting caps in the dining room. It pays to have a seasoned lighting design expert in the house! Each of these lights are armed with warm, flood lights that will be dimmable and will be directionally moveable to wash art work on the walls.