Wednesday night’s sunset.

And this is not an exaggeration. We stood outside for the longest time. It was glorious.

I’ve been reading a lot – just finished an Orphan X novel this morning. I’ll start We Solve Murders  by Richard Osman later today. And I’ve been adding some bits to the Lake House, my vintage Cape Cod-style dollhouse.

Yesterday, I spent some time painting an unfinished sink/cupboard unit. I decided to go for a pale shade of yellow because the house is so dark inside. I stained the counter. What I have chosen to call the ‘kitchen’ is so darned small that this is the only thing that will work. It’s the same unit I have in Dove Cottage as the kitchen island. I tested it in the Lake House and when it fit perfectly, I adored another one. It’s been sitting there, woefully unfinished, for over a year.

There it is, next to the massive door hinges. Bless the maker of this sturdy house! I will never change them out.

Anyway, I think it looks pretty good.

You remember that my goal is to make changes that are not permanent. No gluing, no hammering, no painting. This is such a beautiful creation and I am honored to be the new owner. Someone made this with love. It’s solid as a rock. Therefore, my vow has been to leave it intact. The wallpaper in the living room was added to make it less like a black hole. It’s attached with the same tacky stuff I use to secure dollhouse paintings. I could pull it down in a second. I think I’m going to redo it at some point, just to make it neater.

Here’s a peek at the bed I managed to get through the bedroom doorway. I don’t have any covers or quilts for it yet. But it’s finally there!

I added this painting – a miniature Wallace Nutting – given to me by Barbara, I think. I’m going to try another rug here today.

A new painting and chair addition to the kitchen. The paintings and this chair are from my stash.  Actually, so is everything, except for the sink/cupboards.

I want to get a small narrow table with sides that can be raised to make the table bigger. I think it would work well in the kitchen. I spent some time on eBay yesterday searching for one. Nothing yet.

All this has been fun; cleaning the house, rearranging and adding some items, sprucing it up. It’s all cosmetic. It’s a real challenge. At the same time, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Beacon Hill and checking into what elements might have to replaced or adjusted. I have an unused kit from the days when I was thinking about building it myself. I was going to sell it on Craig’s List, but I now know I’m going to have to use some windows and a door and parts of the base.

Okay. Dollhouse(s) update.

Usually time goes by so quickly for us but, I swear, these days heading up to Tuesday are dragging by at an impossibly slow pace. Hang in there, everyone.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

It’s almost as if it’s been empty for years. Whoever lived there moved out and left a few pieces of furniture behind, leaving us to wonder what happened.

Such an elegant chest of drawers, now sitting there in an empty room.

Is there anything left inside those drawers? If only we could get inside!

And what’s this? This was rather fancy furniture at one time. Did they chat with each other in front of a roaring fire? How many conversations were had here?

A dark and narrow stairway.

A lovely curved sofa. So strange!

Did they have to pull up stakes quickly? Was it too difficult to take all of the furniture? Or maybe it wouldn’t fit in their new abode.

And now it sits there with no chatter, no people coming in and out of the house, no ‘life.’

(This is how I feel when I peek in the windows of real life abandoned homes as well.)

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.