First Day Cottage Walpole

 The wall is progressing in between rain storms.  This has been the rainiest July I can remember.  It has been great for growing the grass and mostly all the bare patches left over from construction are grown in.  I can't say it is necessarily grass but it IS green! The wall that will enclose part of the courtyard is growing.  I am hoping he can finish soon so I can get the courtyard all finished up and arranged.  It is looking really good and he built in some niches so I can feature objects or cool looking stones.  I do love my stones! And you can see the hydrangeas are blooming and this is just the first year.  I just love hydrangeas.  They are easy and hardy and bloom for a long time. And finally I couldn't resist these photos of my boys enjoying their new yard.  They are waiting for their nightly fox sighting.

 Here are some updates on the house.  Firstly I can't stop looking at my awesome clothesline.  Isn't it a beautiful sight?!  So much sun out there.  It really makes me happy. Here is a hint at what's going down this week.  I think Jason will be setting the cobblestones which will separate the courtyard gravel from the paved (eventually) driveway.  They will also encircle the tear drop shaped island in the middle. Grass has been planted in the areas where we needed to fill in the bare patches.  Rain would be very helpful to get it going but it's been hot and dry. I am still painting.  It never ends.  I have stained one half of the long front porch decking.  I tried rolling it but did not like the coverage so brushing it on worked better.  Not easy on the knees! And here is the big reveal on our new stone steps!  I just love the natural look of them.  The stepping stone pathway has been started and will continue all the...

 I am not much for carpet, especially with two dogs.  But our wood stairs have proven to be quite slippery and we have had a few falls, and some close calls.  So I decided a carpet runner would be a good addition.  This is commercial carpet and in a neutral dirt hiding color so I am hoping it doesn't look too commercial.  I really wanted a striped runner but the stripes all come in tiles and not broadloom.    It makes the stairs quieter and much more safe for people and pets alike.  Monadnock Flooring did a great job of installing it.   Close-up and you can see that there are little flecks of color in the gray.

I am passionate about clotheslines.  I love everything about them and am a dedicated hanger outer through all seasons.  I can't get enough of that fresh off the clothesline smell.  So being without my clothesline for two whole years has been painful.  Not life or death but I really missed it!  It is where I breath deep and settle my mind and count my blessings.  I have had some nice clotheslines in my other homes but this one is going to be my favorite I think.  The same guys who did the fence made this for us and it is a beauty!  Sturdy and classy and stunning to look at.  I will eventually stain it a color when the wood has weathered enough but right now I am basking in its beauty!  Life is good. Going to have to tighten up those lines once the posts settle in a bit.  I have placed this clothesline steps away from our back porch so I can have access even through the snow.

We have a fence!  Bastoni Fence Designs came and put up our fence in a day and a half and it is a thing of beauty.  Sturdy and well made with three nice gates.  We chose black wire so it would "disappear" and it almost does.  I am very happy with it as I was worried it would really break up the view of the rolling landscape but it will define our mowed yard from the hayfield beyond plus the dogs are thrilled with their new backyard.  I can feel that they are safe and secure when I let them out.  Now I feel our yard has some structure and I can see where I might want to plant trees, shrubs etc... This is the street side of the house and we put in a twelve foot gate for access to the septic system or other large equipment that might need to come in. This gate takes you to the back of the garage. This back gate takes you to the Serpentine path which leads to the back of our property and the woods.  Earlier this spring I cut back the brush so that we have ...

 I am still working on the front entry.  The painting is all done.  I finished staining the decking yesterday with semi-transparent Behr stain in Stonehenge.  It took two coats.  It was a great improvement over the pressure treated raw wood.   This was after one coat Two coats and I was finally able to put out the welcome mat I purchased almost one year ago! A peek at my windows at night where they show up much better.  I am ready for the upcoming patriotic holidays.  This was taken before the floor was stained. The only thing needed now are the stone steps which should be done next month.  Now on to the other two porches.  Much bigger projects!

 Did a bit more work finishing up the display boxes.  Filled the nail holes and did the caulking and some of the priming.  The weather has not cooperated this week though with an April snowstorm.  My display for spring includes birds, nests and other bird related items that I have made.  These displays are fun to do and have attracted some attention.  I think the UPS driver is intrigued when he delivers the packages.   I finally was able to unpack and display my collection of vintage state plates.  This large wall in the foyer is perfect for them.  Unfortunately as I hammered in the last of them a few fell off and broke!  Now I will be looking for replacements along with the ones I have been missing to complete the whole USA. The bench came from the Bennington, Vermont railroad station.  My mom (who was a picker WAY ahead of her time) found it and it was stored in pieces in their barn for years.  My dad wanted to get rid o...

 When we first met with our architect David Howard, he drew up quite a few plans for us to look at.  One of the plans incorporated a courtyard complete with a dovecote which I loved! One of the plans included two display cases at the front entrance and that really spoke to me.  We didn't build the dovecote but we have a courtyard and the display cases which is a really unique feature for this house.  They are done except for the painting which has to wait for warmer weather.  Mike our contractor was able to turn a loose sketch into something that really works and I can't wait to fill them up with seasonal displays! They really stand out at night!

 We had some long awaited milestones finished this week.  The wooden surround for the range hood was built and I even managed to get it painted and polyurethaned the same day!  It looks great. We ordered the glass door for the shower in the master bath back in August and the metal track was delayed due to the pandemic.  It finally came in and the door was installed!  It is very heavy and self closing.  Lots of squeegee action needed though! You can see I still need to make curtains for the bathroom.   Here are some other pictures of the master bath And finally our refrigerator came in!  Also ordered back in August.  And my studio is getting a full work out.  It is sunny and pleasant and everything I dreamed of.  I am a lucky girl! Dyeing paper and making paper flowers for a community project.

 Finally got the dining table light installed so no more eating in darkness. The refrigerator you see is still a loaner.  The one we ordered back in August still hasn't arrived. And in another fit of organization, we put together another rack of shelves for the laundry room thus organizing the dog stuff.  Every day we get a little closer to having things finished and unpacked.

 Can you believe I am still painting siding? I have about 20 red boards to finish for the garage and 10 gray ones to finish the soffits on the house.  I am relegated to the unheated garage in December but there is a heater blasting out there to take the chill off.  I have officially painted in every season now.

 Well I have not updated the blog in some time because we moved in about a month ago now.  The house is still not finished but the inside is mostly done and we wanted to be in for the month of December.  We moved in over the Thanksgiving break which is not ideal but we are here! This is what the house looks like now from the outside.  Still much exterior work to do on window trim and siding for the garage and as of today we STILL do not have a total roof done.  The big snow storm recently did not help but it should have been done long ago. The loft over the garage was not done when we had our movers so everything got put into the basement. Now that the loft is somewhat ready, we have been moving much of the stuff that will be stored up there.  So much moving of boxes.  I don't ever want to move EVER again. This is what once was my spacious basement: It's shocking how much stuff I was storing in our big old house.  We have already donated a bunch a...