It’s very, very cold, it’s windy, the porch plants are now dead, BUT it’s sunny.
I’ll take it. There is a distinct difference in my mood and my engagement with just about anything when the sun is shining.
Stella likes it, too.
So does the piano.
Don’s beginning to feel a wee bit better. He had a spurt of energy this morning and now he’s crashing. It just takes time, doesn’t it? He booked out (through his agent) for the week so he can kick this thing to the curb. In the meantime, we’re having hot soup, hot herbal tea with honey in the late afternoon, and the afghan is back in business.
I must share something with you. I had to hold off until the Paris posts were complete. A package was waiting for me at the post office when I returned from Paris. It was from reader Kathy from Iowa.
Two paperback versions of To Kill a Mockingbird – one in Russian, one in Hebrew.
Amazing! My collection of TKAM in different languages is growing and I’m thrilled.
Thank you, Kathy!
Wouldn’t it be cool if I eventually have an entire shelf full of these?
Speaking of shelves. Don’s old vintage dresser (which is currently falling apart) is in the upstairs hallway at the top of the stairs. My vintage dresser (not quite falling apart, but a bit of a pain in the tush) is in our bedroom. Available space, as always, is an issue in this house.
Don wants to get rid of the dresser. I’ve had my eye on an IKEA dresser that has clean lines and drawers that open and shut easily. We could fit two of them in the bedroom.
I’ve always envisioned that little niche at the top of the stair (which used to be my ‘studio,’ remember?) as a great place for a mini-library. We know that we need more bookshelves. I’ve got stacks and stacks of books sitting around and now that Don is reading rather voraciously, we’ve got his books, too. So we’re toying with the idea of installing shelves on both sides of the wall, with a little chair or ottoman in the middle. It would really make that area pop and it would allow us to have even more shelf space.
Perhaps it will be a winter project.
Stay warm.
Happy Wednesday.
What a dear friend Kathy is!!!! Wow! Your collection is certainly growing.
I remember when that was your studio area up there. Book shelves are never ever ever a bad idea and that sounds like a grand winter project to keep you both busy with something you will love and use forever.
Glad to hear Don is feeling better. And though we used to be able to bounce right back in years past, now we do need our rest to recoup. It just takes time, and we are usually futzy about that ~ but it does work if we simply allow ourselves that grace!! Take care!!
Yes! I’m looking forward to it.
You’re so right. We just have to be patient and let the healing take place in its own time. Thanks, Chris.
Hi,Claudia! More bookshelves are always a good idea to my way of furnishing a home. Love the photo of your piano with sheet music. I’ve always thought a room filled with framed sheet music is cheerful.And finally, thank you for your enthusiasm for Richard Powers The Overstory. I am taking my time (a little each day) as it is powerful.xo
It is very powerful! I’m happy you’re enjoying it, Annette!
Isn’t that little nook where you have your sewing machine?
I had it there about 4 or 5 years ago. I haven’t used that nook since we made the second bedroom our office.
Well, gosh, if it’s unused space, snatch it up! Sounds perfect for a mini library, especially with that skylight. Will be fun to see what you do with it!
(I have to get very creative for bookspace and there’s only so much I can do with this house of mine; it’s basically a plain box with no nooks or alcoves; sigh. [Has no ‘character’ or charm! Mid-century homes {1950s era} for average-income families in suburban housing tracts were no frills {at least where I am in SoCalif}.] My other house before this one, the little cottage, had a wealth of intimate ‘corners’ and sort of angled spaces/tuck-in spots. I’m actually thinking of taking the ‘guest’ bedroom in this current rectangle of a home and turning it completely into, indeed, a library which would contain ALL books in the house instead of the shelves and cases spread out all over the place in nearly every room!)
I grew up in a mid-century home. A basic box. I understand.
Remind me: why did you move from your other home to this one? I know you inherited it, but couldn’t you have sold it?
xo
It’s a little complicated.
The house was from 1923 and my relatives had barely touched it in 60 years. We inherited a great little place, custom built by a wealthy owner early in the last century, but we were novices at a whole-house renovation (not remodel, not restoration but renovation, where you save what you can but modernize thoughtfully). It took everything we had money-wise, we even used the home’s equity to do the core work and my parents generously kicked in, too; but it was SO much money and there were ongoing issues with ancient, massive oaks creating a plumbing problem which would have taken another $25,000 eventually (or so we calculated); we had to cap the chimney but it was going to cost $15,000-$25,000 to fix it (and the hearth which ran one whole side of the room); the flagstone patio was huge and disintegrating; the detached garage was sinking; I could go on and on; a lot of landscaping work for the maintenance of the half (hillside) acre, too (nothing fancy in the yard, but really important, required weed clearing for wildfire). We’d be needing a new furnace and would probably, by now, be putting a termite tent on the house again.
We had done a lot of core plumbing at the cottage, like probably $30,000 worth, all new electrical for home & garage (big project, threading wires from attic to basement inside the walls so as not to punch holes in the plaster), new roof which cost over $40,000 due to the steep slope (Cotswold cottage; Norman/French roof); we had to correct old concrete paving which was catching rainwater that intruded into the dining room; the house had tons of black wrought iron inside & out, highly decorative, that had to be sand-blasted and painted; we had to pull out ancient heating systems; we had to replace and re-design a really-large bay window in the living room; we had to fence the property; pull out an old incinerator in the yard; new garage door; pull tub/toilet/sink out of the cellar which had been a servant’s 2-room quarters back in the day (before my relatives ever owned the place); we gutted a sort of service porch which I didn’t want to do but we had to have a place for indoor laundry; the kitchen appliances had to be replaced; the whole house inside (after peeling off about eight layers of wallpaper in a lot of the rooms) and outside had to be painted, which cost $18,000 and that was cheap, because most quotes had been more like $25,000 (parts of the cottage had 14-ft ceilings); the attic had to be insulated; we had furnace repair with a new a/c conversion; the one-only (big) bathroom had to be totally gutted to the studs and dirt ground underneath, and we took a cedar-lined closet with a window (also hated to alter this!) and made it into a half-bath; we had natural gas lines that had worn so thin that it’s a miracle the whole house hadn’t blown up but, you know, my great-aunt was age 97 and she wasn’t going to be looking at the house with a microscope at that late age.
We had to figure out window coverings for over 30 windows. We had the white-oak floors refinished, put tile in the large bathroom but cut corners with vinyl floor covering in the kitchen; the original front door was custom and arched but we found a guy to save it; of course there was also the re-plastering/coating in most of the home interior, a whole lot diff from drywall.
It was a project never finished. Only rich people can take something on like this (or somebody young with a lot of brawn and patience; thing is, when you’re young, money usually isn’t what you want it to be yet); and we were/are far from rich, and we were old(er)! We of course just didn’t realize what would be involved. Nine years of never being finished. (We never really got to the kitchen per se; I was using a portable dishwasher and the kitchen had a sink from the 1930s which really needed to ‘go’.) Of course also by now, our mortgage loan was getting awfully high for retirement years as we’d needed the equity to put back into the home for the renovation. My estate accountant said, “If only you and your husband were ten years younger…”
So, hardest decision of my life, and my husband left it up to me, but we sold the cottage and bought my childhood home (parents’ house – – Mom had bled the equity with reverse mortgage to pay for her nursing care at home in her last years of life; so, yes, I inherited her house but I had her mortgage company breathing down my neck, wanting their money at her death [big lien, and I couldn’t come up with the money unless I sold the cottage]; again, this was all very pressure-packed and stressful in a 14-month period where timing was everything, Mom’s house was bogged down in probate court, and I was also diagnosed with cancer which took a year of recovery; had to empty the cottage, finish remaining smaller end-stage ‘remodeling’ tasks to get it up for sale, hire a painter; move everything we owned into POD storage because probate wouldn’t allow me to empty out Mom’s house, and on & on & on; the minute probate closed, I had to pay the bank [her reverse mortgage loan] or I’d lose Mom’s house to foreclosure).
This old tract house where I grew up also needs a lot of work but it’s a more manageable situation for us at this age than the beloved little cottage…and our mortgage payment is $700 less per month. Neither were large houses; the cottage was 1700 sqft and this rectangle house is about 1400 sqft (which is why I keep having to get rid of stuff because I keep losing square footage each time we’ve moved; as newlyweds, our first fixer-upper was 4 bedrooms!). One key thing also is that something I actually DID inherit from my mom was her property tax rate as direct descendant, parent to child and she fell under the protective cover of something in California called the Proposition 13 tax which is like rent control. The property taxes at the cottage were $6,000 a year and at the box house, they’re $600.
Yes, yes, that was the major question, sell the box house and keep the cottage but, again, we were facing much bigger wads of money needed for the cottage. Also, this was a time of still inching out of the Recession and my mom’s house wasn’t worth so much. We could have used its sale money to decrease our monthly mortgage somewhat at the cottage, but we still would have been facing many quite-major expenses yet ahead. And there were things I was getting weary of, like fighting mice intrusion into the home every Fall, the a/c in summer couldn’t service the home 100% due to part of the roof configuration (and I would bake in that house in hot weather; we tried to use old vents so as not to disturb the home’s footprint too much but it just didn’t quite work); it was in a nicer neighborhood very prone to burglars and every neighbor on the winding, poorly-lit street had been hit but us, primarily because I had so many intimidating dogs at the time inside the house (I knew if my husband pre-deceased me that I could never live in that house alone); the property has been in serious danger with the wildfires of the past two years and we’re safer elsewhere in my town in this mid-century house instead. And, you know, sentimentality was tugging at me, the idea of letting go the place where I’d lived with my first family, my mother dying just a week before I was told I likely had cancer; rug just pulled out from under me.
So, hmmmm, as I answer you with ‘way too much response, I see thru my own words that I’d best stop complaining about where I’m living because we did what we did at the time and tried to get good advice with two lawyers, a trusted realtor and also a mortgage consultant/broker and estate accountant.
A historian in our town said we saved one of the town’s signature homes. Okay, but I feel like all we did was fix it from the guts-out for somebody else! In other words, we did the hard work; they get to do the fun finish work. Wealthy people from Europe bought the cottage and they’ve added 300 additional square feet somewhere in the home; I do know that they also ‘finished’ the cellar/basement. They’re continuing the work we did, the house is in good hands with someone who loves it for what it was and sees no need to change the footprint TOO much, according to my former neighbors (I’ve heard conflicting reports but I can see on google that it looks the same from the outside; I don’t want to know details of the inside!)…AND, this mature couple has been a good/perfect fit for the neighborhood, so we left everything as best we could, and that DOES make me feel pretty okay; it’s just that we sunk our heart and soul into that place, so much of it we loved, it meant so much for my great-aunt for us to have it but, in the long run, we had to be sensible and practical for our elder years/future.
I think that I forget how fortunate I am; because, yes, I still have a gargantuan mortgage payment every month (til I die or by some miracle we live well into our 90s) but I’ve seen people living in cardboard shacks, so I’m glad you asked the question because I have to remember the blessing of having a roof over my head when somebody else doesn’t…
Thank you for taking the time to explain it all, Vicki. Makes perfect sense. xo
What a terrific gift from Kathy! You’ve got quite the growing collection. I’m glad to hear Don is feeling somewhat better. Guess you just can’t rush these things.
The upper landing is a great place for bookshelves…and that’s a great project for the winter months. I’d say if you have room for two new dressers in your bedroom that you like, go for it.
Enjoy your sunshine today…it’s cloudy here, and snow is expected again. Enjoy your day! ;)
It will force us to throw out clothes, etc., that we no longer need. And more room for books!
Glad to hear Don is feeling better. What are your thoughts on To Kill A Mockingbird, on Broadway? I love the book and movie.
I’ve spoken about it on the blog a few times. I’m not interested in seeing it. I have a friend in the show, I wish them well, but I don’t want to see another interpretation of TKAM. I’m happy with the images I have in my head from the book and the movie.
Happy to hear that Don is feeling better. I know what you mean about needing more bookshelves. It seems there is never enough book shelves. What a great gift from Kathy.
Marilyn
Never enough shelves for books, for sure, Marilyn! Thank you!
Hi Claudia, you may have to build a little sun-room onto the cottage to be your library. One can dream…
It is ONLY a dream, unfortunately! Thanks, Kelly.
What wonderful and generous gifts from Kathy!
Glad to hear Don is starting to feel a little bit better. Yes, these viruses can linger for quite awhile.
I love the idea of a mini library in your upstairs niche. But how about a vintage dresser instead of a cheaply made one from IKEA? I see beautiful vintage dressers for a song all the time on Facebook Marketplace and in thrift shops.
These particular dressers are well-made. Since 98% of our house is vintage, including our current dressers which we’ve had for years, I think we’re entitled to a couple of pieces that just work better. I would like a dresser where the drawers glide easily, where I don’t have to repair bits and pieces, where opening a drawer and then pushing it back in isn’t a struggle. Vintage is wonderful but sometimes you need ease. I’ve had my dresser for over 30 years and it was vintage when I found it. Don has had his for over 20 years and it dates from the 40s. Time for new.
I hear you. Our house is a mixture of vintage and new, too. We do have IKEA bookcases in the basement and so far, they have held up well. Tim has an IKEA dresser and so does a friend, and they’re both falling apart after a few years. Maybe they’re better now though.
xoxo
thanks, claudia! glad you like the books. :)
turning that nook into a little library sounds like a great idea! hope you will share photos when that project is done, if you like (please and thanks and no pressure).
my place is about 500 square feet and i truly don’t need more space, but i’d like a little more… in part to have an actual bookcase. i had to get rid of a huge old cupboard (that held most of my books, among many other things) before moving a couple years ago and now i have no bookcase at all, just stacks and stacks of books on top of tables and under tables, on the rungs of an old metal stool, in a closet, on my nightstand and on the floor on the far side of my bed, on my desk … all over. if i ever get a bookcase (won’t happen while living there), i will still have stacks of books around, i am sure of it. and that’s not really a problem, is it? no. :)
hope don feels better soon and you stay healthy.
kathy in iowa
I hope you get a bookcase someday if only for the fact that it is very satisfying to see one’s book collection nicely shelved. I look at our bookshelves in the den all the time. I love them! xo