A Quiet Corner of a Busy World
His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.-J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit My house is not perfect, but I want to make it pleasant for all kinds of activities for all kinds of people. Other [...]
Oh, yes, October certainly suited her best.Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther I don't think I've ever been so thankful for autumn in my whole life. After months of monotony, a clear change in season is such a breath of fresh air, even if that will mean colder, darker days ahead. Almost exactly a year ago, [...]
"If ever I had a house, I would have old furniture...It is not as expensive as modern furniture, and incomparably handsomer and better made."-Beatrix Potter I hope you enjoyed my art room tour last week. The next step was to redo the two upstairs bedrooms that are mirror images of each other. Both needed to [...]
It's time for a room by room tour. Now that most of the renovations are done and the little carriage house is starting to feel like home, I think I can finally share some before and after pictures...which I'm sure is why most of you are following this blog anyway. I'll start with the art [...]
Mrs. Miniver was a fool about inanimate objects. -Jan Struther I'll start with a quick update. I have been quiet and safe at home for the last several months (though we did start back to school last week). If you are wondering why the silence when I had so much time to write, I was [...]
She with all the charm of woman; She with all the breadth of man. -anonymous A few weeks ago, I casually mentioned to a new neighbor how I enjoy studying vintage yearbooks. She was generous enough to add a new volume to my collection! This 1917 yearbook (incidentally the same year my house was constructed) [...]
This very rainy week, I had several painting projects to work on. The first was painting the stair rails. Why, you ask? Well, I really wasn't going to bother painting the stair rails when I bought the house, but after the rooms were painted, the hall obviously needed to be painted, then with the hall [...]
If you are the kind of nerdy, history-loving reader who was thrilled that ringing in 2020 marked 100 years from the beginning of the roaring 20's, you might have decided to read The Great Gatsby. As quarantine kicked in, you might have continued into other Scott Fitzgerald novels or branched out into a couple Agatha [...]
The open concept floor plan is the current dominating design and remodel trend and it looks like it will be around for a while. There are certainly many advantages to open concept. The home feels larger, it allows for more time together while family members can be doing different activities in the same large space, [...]
One of the things I enjoy about historic homes is that they were usually custom built and the craftsman paid close attention to quality and detail. My house is relatively simple inside as far as historic homes go. Because it was a carriage house, it was designed to be functional. The people who lived here [...]
Welcome To The Carriage House 