Work continues on the house. I know, you thought it was done, but it's not. Recent developments:
- Linen closet: Yesterday, Chris built shelves for our linen closet. It is so pleasing, having linens neatly folded and put away.
- Garage: Today, Chris, dear, sweet, fabulous Chris, is cleaning out our garage, including the aquarium filled with raccoon poop. Chris is my new best friend.
- Lighting/electrical (to be installed next Thursday):
- we bought two new fans (Emerson's basic builder model, but with the chandelier fitter for lighting) to replace the ceiling lights in the front parlor and the living room -- it became clear this summer that despite their design limitations, fans are hugely important to keeping our cooling costs manageable. I had hoped to use Emerson's antique fitter for the lighting, because it was neat, but it's sadly discontinued. No one thinks it's as neat as me, apparently. I can't even find a photo of it online.
- new doorbell, because the old one broke -- I got the Victorian aesthetic owl, and I LOVE it. I was tempted by a turn-style lion one, but it seems to be out of stock now. Owl or lion? I'm not sure which is better, but I'm happy with my owl. I love the crescent moon and star behind it, and is that a peacock at the bottom? I think it might be. :-)
- airlock lights, not very bright but super-atmospheric: RH's edison caged sconce, to be installed pointing downward because the box is kind of high
- plus two more lights for the library / stairs, one for the kids' bath, two for the master bath -- which, I think, might make us actually DONE with lighting / electrical. Oh my god, that took a long time. There was so much lighting to buy for this house, and it turns out, I REALLY REALLY care about lighting. These are the things you don't know when you start this sort of project, and Pam did warn me that one of the things customers tend to really break budget on is lighting, but I didn't know how true it was. VERY true. But my lights are lovely.
Also happening:
- painting -- Pam has, after many travails and firing / suing our old painters (thank god we have a general contractor and don't have to deal with that ourselves), found new painters to finish the job. They're not available 'til mid-to-late September (sorry, neighbors -- I swear, we're TRYING), but the big plus is that she thinks they're going to do it with ladders, so we don't have to wait for them to finish the backyard / fencing. Exciting.
- backyard landscaping -- it's a scary weed jungle back there (I mean, hundreds of weeds as tall as me, when I say jungle, I'm serious), but I think we can finally get Tonya back in to fix it, give us soil to fix the compaction, grass seed for next spring, and a path or two, yay!
- fencing -- as soon as she's done with the yard, we can finish the fencing, and then we can actually let the kids run around in the backyard, which will be nice for fall and may save our lives this winter; Anand is a very restless, high-energy child, and we're rather dreading dealing with him in winter. A snowy backyard should help, and that's when we're going to be really grateful for our mudroom.
Progress! Someday, this house may actually be finished.
I love the owl doorbell!