This weekend was Thanksgiving, and we had some friends over as we usually do. But we didn’t have our traditional Saturday After Thanksgiving Leftovers Potluck Extravaganza, because since Covid, it’s been less of an Extravaganza and more of a Disaster, where we have one visitor or maybe two, not at the same time, and it’s depressing, so I decided to stop doing it.
Here’s a bit of honesty, not that I’m not always truthful, but here we are discussing the farm. One of the reasons we’re doing this move now and not waiting another few years for everyone to be out of school is that my utter depression living in Northern Virginia, near so many people I know and hardly ever able to see any of them, was getting to be untenable. I’d rather live where I know nobody; start over. Have my chickens and live where no one can tell me what to grow and if I make new friends, that’s great.
Anyway enough of that, because two wonderful people came to Thanksgiving, and one of them gave me two fantastic used chairs for my library in the new house. They need a little TLC but once they are cleaned and conditioned they are going to look perfect.
Kyle and I went down on Saturday and left the kids home with their college aged brother for the day. My big plans: put in the new light fixture in the library space, measure stuff in the kitchen, wait for the kitchen flooring to come in (the flooring did NOT come in and was delivered on Sunday, when we were not there).
Of course, the house being 100 years old, everything is more complicated than it should be, and we spent far more time putting in the light fixture than anticipated. Also I only bought 2 light bulbs and it was supposed to take 3, but I’ll buy a third. It still looks amazing. It came with an incredibly heavy piece of glass that we decided not to put in because the whole thing appears to be held in by just two small screws and — house being as old as it is — we aren’t risking the whole thing coming down.
So now that we have a light fixture and chairs, I figured I really needed to figure out the temporary shelving situation. Why temporary? Because we took down black walnut trees that will eventually become book cases. But it’ll be a couple of years of drying out the wood before they are usable, and we have books. Many. And the shelving at the current house is built in so it has to stay.
I found pretty awesome bookcases on Wayfair. I bought the set of two plus a third.
Then, looking at the photos from buyers, I saw that I didn’t really love the backboard (it showed the seams pretty badly) and I thought I would wallpaper it. I found a wallpaper that was amazing on Spoonflower, but the pricing was so high and I was not happy with that. I looked at the fabric instead and Magically, the fabric was the perfect width for the backing of the bookcases, so I bought enough fabric to cover the backs of three book cases with one yard extra to wrap around the back. I’ll glue/staple it out of sight and it’s going to be gorgeous. The pattern is based on a William Morris paper which I think is perfect for a library.
So, so far we have the light, the chairs, the bookcases, and a non-working but pretty fireplace with mantle. Since it’ll actually be the library and music room, we’ll move in the piano from the great room, and possibly a chest for blankets because everyone needs a blanket to sit in a comfy chair to read. I don’t really plan to paint, but I might change my mind if I get tired of everything being white.
Meanwhile, Kyle moved a bunch of wood to the side of the garage, to be covered with a tarp and eventually dried for firewood. We got the wood stove really working finally, and it made the great room toasty, though I think we need a fan for it.
We had to leave to get back to the kids. Micah was home for Thanksgiving and was writing music all day. Lillian was not doing homework though she was supposed to be. Morgan was annoyed that Micah wasn’t playing games with him, but we explained that college is like that sometimes, and music majors have to music major. Everyone had leftovers for dinner, and we suggested that next time we go down they might want to come help. And of COURSE my flooring was delivered on Sunday. So one of us will have to drive down to take it in before it rains or snows.
Oh, and as a special Cyber Monday Treat, here’s all the stuff I bought for the house this weekend:
- The aforementioned bookcases
- The aforementioned fabric
- Wallpaper for the room under the stairs
- A sander (on order from Ace, purchased by my husband)
- A DIY Shed Kit that will become a tiny home for guests
- A mirror for the bedroom because the one that is there is broken
- Leather Conditioner for the chairs
Next week: Flooring! And more kitchen things! Or maybe I’ll sleep for the weekend! (Yeahhhh that’ll happen)
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