Library?

Jim doesn't know it, but I was thinking one of these days when we get the necessities of fixing up Sunnybrook out of the way, I would love to have a library in the middle room upstairs. That sounds so pretentious doesn't it? I do think so. However, I love books and I have a bunch of them....and really a library is only a room with a bunch of shelves for books and a comfy chair...and maybe an ottoman. So, I think it's just the word "library" that makes the whole idea sound pretentious. 

I looked, and this is something that I think could be built fairly cheap......a must, and without major work....probably a must also, as I may have to do it myself. (which is out of the question).

Below are pictures of the upstairs room at Sunnybrook in question.

The doorway from the hallway.  Those are black lights, and before you ask, I don't EVEN know.

This is the right side of the room.  The strip of white you see on the right of the picture is the doorway into the back bedroom.

This is the left side of the room. The bathroom will be on the other side of this wall.

I think it just needs a bunch of shelves built around the room, and a nice chair....and some paint.

This is exactly what you think it is....a big 'ol hole in the floor between the kitchen and dining room.  If you remember, this is where I originally was going to put a pantry with a red screen door. I still love the thought of that, but now it's going to be the spot for my old time buttery. I canNOT find a picture of a buttery to lift off the internet to show you so, as stated in an earlier post, you have to actually click on this link to see for yourself the buttery I (sort of) want. Plus, this is a beautiful blog, so check it out while you're there!

http://www.behindmyreddoor.com/2011/03/kitchen-bathroom-and-life-changes.html

Southern yellow pine flooring will be going down in the dining room.  Hopefully it will look something like this....

....minus the shine. We're not really looking for flooring with this much shine.

This is probably more like what I have in mind.  I like a darker floor; however, they say (the internet!) it is better to just put tung oil on yellow pine and let it age naturally. Jim is going to experiment with one of the boards though, and stain it with different stains to see how the wood accepts the stain and what shade will work. We'll see.

Too old? I say just too out-of-shape!

Jim and I worked at Sunnybrook yesterday.....worked, worked, worked! Jim mowed (push mower) almost all the yard......and it's a huge yard. It look great!  We've never seen Sunnybrook in the summer so we have NO idea what it looks like, but the bushes and flowers are all budding and blooming and we can see that it's going to be a beautiful place.

I used the power washer and washed that big 'ol wrap-around porch in preparation for a new paint job in a couple of weeks.....green it was and green it'll be. It's so nice to know the color choice for at least one thing at that house! (I'm still going from one color choice to the next on what that kitchen will end up with!)  I also swept a couple of the upstairs rooms and washed the inside of the windows, including the sleeping porch with all it's windows. Downstairs I knocked all that old tile off the wall in what will be the sitting room.

What was left under that tile is just a mess...old dried hard tile thinset/mud/cement...whatever it's called...it's packed on there. Any ideas?

At any rate, when we left Sunnybrook last night both of us were moving pretty slow....due to being out of shape, thank you very much!

A Weekend at Sunnybrook

How nice it was to get away for the weekend and do some long overdue work at Sunnybrook. The pump got primed and the water lines got replaced and run to the kitchen and the upstairs bath.  We are completely ready to insulate the kitchen walls and then the beadboard goes up on the walls and ceiling, the floor gets refinished, the cabinets get placed, and the appliances get moved in. Voilà!!! Kitchen!!!

I painted the downstairs hallway, which is a huge 6' x 17'.  It went from dark and red to light and white. I'm sorry that I don't have a picture yet of the new white hallway, but here's a picture of the old red hallway.

I love red, truly it's my favorite color, but I really didn't think this color was approprite for this house. Just FYI, to the left there's a doorway off the hall that leads into a sitting room and to the right there's two doors that lead to a bedroom....Yep, two doors that lead to the same bedroom. It's a big room.  As you can see, the doorway at the end of the hall leads to a bathroom that's in dire need of a remodel. 

This hallway will get refinished, probably when the kitchen is refinished....Maybe? Not sure. At any rate, at some point this hallway floor will get refinished and I'll use an area rug and put furniture in there. It has a deacon's bench now, but I may move that to another room and replace it with a little sitting area...something like this (just the sitting area, not the wall treatment)....



I have chairs that look just like these.


On the opposite side of the hall, I want to put a piece of furniture for storage.  Old houses have a tremendous amount of charm, but hardly any storage space!! I'm thinking something like this....

or this...... 

                                                          with this hung above it..



I LOVE this wall cabinet. I have from the first time I saw one like it in Gate City, VA. I might have it some day...you never know.