The Fall Fix-up, Part 1

Annually, in the fall when the geese start south, we start thinking of doing something “new” in the house.  “The Fall Fix-up” we call it.  This year the project is growing like topsy…it began with just painting the trim around the upstairs windows after they were repaired,  and then we  decided to switch rooms on the ground floor…make the dining room into the living room and vice versa…and paint the “new” living room a different color.  Tonight we are part way through the process which now involves a re-do of the sewing room, the dining room, the living room…and it’s only Tuesday…who knows what we’ll have going by Friday…?

Here’s the dining room in 1939 when the McElhinneys lived here…I guess it was Christmas as I believe Santa is hovering in the background?

…and here’s the room in 1982 after we removed paneling, swept up, and just lived with it for a year (as a college teacher R could only do projects in the summer…)…

In 1984 we painted the room mauve (…well, I don’t know, it was the 1980’s?)

but as you can imagine, buy the 90’s we were done with Mauve.  We painted the room a nice latte color and I painted a white grid-like arbor (…I had a restaurant called the Arbor…?…I saw it in a magazine??…)

But this morning the grid was on the way out as part of the transition…the table goes to Z&A, the loveseat (R’s grandmother’s) …we don’t know.

The painters arrived at 8 a.m. (obvously NOT retired)…what FUN!!

they painted the ceiling first, reminding R of painting it himself in 1984 …

It involved doors…

color choices…

we picked “porpoise” figuring that with 4 doors, 3 big windows, a fireplace and a built in china closet, the wall space was limited…and then they started “cutting”

the grid recedes…

and then finally the last stroke…the “twee” is gone!

One more coat, then the woodwork…they’ll be done tomorrow.  The rug will go to the “new” dining room…

to be continued…