Living Room Update

So are you wondering how the living room is coming along? The last time I showed you pics it was completely gutted down to the lathes. The progress is rather slow because Gary only has a couple of days a week to work on it, and sometimes those days get used up by other things... life goes on. Today I will show you what has happened since my last post.

First, Gary and son Jed put sheetrock up. They put it on the walls and on the ceiling.


Here is Jed nailing sheetrock bits around the windows. It was rather clever use of bits and pieces they had cut off the big sheets, like making a patchwork quilt!

Being over 100 years old and extremely crooked, the walls had some very "interesting" spots to fill in! Like this one...
The ceiling was done last. They left a hole for the light fixture.
Next came the "mud" work. I wasn't worried about the gaping holes and crooked bits, because I was lucky to have the best mud men in Weeks Mills. Jed has done extensive work in this field. Here is the ceiling after mud:

And here is Gary working around the fireplace. See that big tangle of wires hanging out of the wall? Those are audio/video wires to go to the TV and the surround speakers. It was a challenge to work around them.
Here is the fireplace area after all the mudwork and the first coat of wall primer.

Remember that odd corner I showed you with the little triangular piece of sheetrock wedged in it? Well here is that corner now, you can't even tell there was a problem there. Don't my guys do good work?

Once the mudwork was done and was dry, it was time to do the ceiling. I had originally wanted an old-fashioned tin ceiling, but when I found out it would be a couple thousand dollars, I changed my mind. We then looked into a plastic look-alike ceiling tile, and it would have cost $800. For plastic! Can you believe it? Once again I have more dash than cash. So while wondering what to do with those bare walls, we looked at lots of wallpapers. When I found a paintable embossed tile-patterned wallpaper, I asked Gary, "Could you put wallpaper on the ceiling?" And he said yes! With a faux finish, perhaps we could make it look like copper patina! So here is Gary, wallpapering the ceiling.

The paper went up surprisingly easily. I was the helper on this job, and I have got to tell you, there was absolutely no cussin' and no throwing of the tools. So if you would like your ceiling papered, just give us a call! Will work for wool...

Then Gary painted the paper the green I found that looked most like copper patina. The he applied two glazes, the first one was bronze. Here you can see Gary applying dabs randomly,

And here he is burnishing the bronze glaze into the embossed crannies. Look at that hand fly!

Then he did the same with a buff glaze, to give it random lighter spots. It was nearly impossible to get a photo of the finished ceiling, but here is the best closeup I could get:

I really love it, it looks almost like the real thing! Next we are working on the walls and fireplace, I will try to update again soon.

I Have Been Knitting and Spinning My Heart Out!

I have finished my Rolling Thunder beaded socks and I have them on!! I love the happy red and orange colors in this hand dyed yarn from PineStar Studios! And the merino wool yarn is so scrumptiously soft it is like wearing warm clouds on my feet!

Here is a detail of the frosted black glass beads I had to pre-thread on the yarn. I don't really like the pre-threading method, next time I will stick with my crochet hook method to apply beads. The pattern is from Knitty.com. I bought the most gorgeous hand painted Corriedale rovings to spin from the Portland Fiber and Weaving Gallery. Here are the yarns I spun from them: in the center is a skein of singles, on top is a large skein of 2-ply, and on the bottom is a small sample skein where I tried plying the single with a metallic sewing thread. The photo does not do justice to the vibrant colors.
The plain white Corriedale wool was my first handspun yarn in 10 years. It is pretty thick and thin, but hey, some people like it that way! It is a 2-ply yarn which I plan to hand dye myself when I get enough equipment. I have been dreaming of color combinations I would like to try.
Have you ever wondered what your name means? I did, so I took this quiz. Funny, my mother always said it meant "beloved". The quiz reveals all, it really means headstrong, rebellious, stubborn obsessive perfectionist! I'll bet she would have picked another name if she had known!

What Darlene Means

You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace. People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?