The Starting Album

Before we get too far along in the restoration of the manor, it's probably best to showcase the sad, but current state of the home. This is the album of "before photos"



The Front





The 4 Stall Horse Barn





Guest Room 2 (Grandpa's Room)





The Dinette





The Dining Room






The Upstairs Guest Suite Bath






The Upstairs Guest Suite (Mom and Josie's Room)






The Upstairs Hall Bath






The Kitchen






The Living Room






The Master Bath Shower






The Master Bath






The Master Bedroom






The Master Bedroom Closet






The Home Office






The Pond






Exterior Rear






The Riding Arena

Failure to Launch

The Tiller Won't Start....this really puts a cramp in our style for the big garden that we have planned. So, Google being our friend, we look into it. Bloggers say it is probably because the gas got stale, so we should put a teaspoon of gas in the carburator throat and add carburator cleaner to the gas. Sounds easy enough...if we had the slightest clue where the carburator throat was.

Joel and I are the types that take our cars in for oil changes. We just don't know these things. Thankfully, Benjamin does.

So, Benjamin comes over, and tries a few things to no avail. But, being the knowledgeable person that he is, he traces things back, and finds there is a fuel line shut-off, and it is shut-off. So, hopefully, presto bango, we'll be in business.

Not so fast. We still have the stale fuel problem. So, we work through that, thanks to Benjamin who knows where the carburator is. After the tiller idles for about 30 minutes we believe we are in business. We take it to the garden area, and as soon as the tines touch ground they stop. We look, and all conclude the belt has a problem. Then we realize there is a problem with the gears shifting. It keeps trying to jump into reverse which makes the rear pop up. An out of control Troy Bilt Horse that tries to run over you tines first is not something that anybody wants to deal with.

That's when we called it quits for the day. We've emailed a service technician to hopefully get the whole thing overhauled this week. There is still hope for a timely garden, but we're about a week into potato planting time with no progress.

However, I'd rather be stuck with farmers market potatoes than have anyone run over by a broken tiller, so we'll just leave it at that (with many thanks to Benjamin for his attempt at Tiller repair).

Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

We can only presume that your house doesn't have one of these:









Yes, it looks like a phone line, and you do probably do have a phone line in your house, but this is no ordinary phone line. This a unique phone jack that can't be tampered with, is untraceable, and can only make outgoing calls to one destination----the offices of the CIA.





You see, our new home has had 3 owners prior to us in its history. We researched everything we could find, and could only find 2 owners, but the age of the date of purchase for owner 2 didn't mesh with the age of the house. Thankfully, that very same owner 2 came by today to tell us the history of the home, including the whole story of owner 1. Fascinating stuff.





The house happens to have been built by a man who was Ronald Reagan's legal advisor on foreign affairs. I can't remember his name, but will try looking it up. The CIA line is in what was the Library--it will be our home office. When built the house had a lot of great features that have since been removed---a pool, a greenhouse, a moat, and an 8 foot high stone wall that went all around the house, with occasional turrets on it--why would someone remove these things????





So, if that wasn't interesting enough, we then went on to find that they also bred Andalusian Draft Horses, and the barn and the riding arena were built with the house to support this small hobby of the Mrs. If you aren't sure what an Andalusian is, they are like a Cydesdale, but pure silver white. They are native to Spain and though a draft breed, are very elegant, and typically shown in Dressage. A photo is below:







We are really thrilled with all this history, but the story gets even better. The Mrs. who hails from the West Indies has an Aunt that passes away. The Aunt leaves her a $10,000 (pounds sterling, don't have that symbol handy), monthly allowance. They don't report this to the IRS. There was likely a lot of other things that they didn't report to the IRS since legend has it that the builder (who still lives in the neighborhood, and probably isn't lying), was paid to build the house in diamonds.



So where this tale of espionage takes us is an IRS Summons--attorney gets called to appear, and rather than appear, disappears in the dark of night leaving the house and all the belongings behind. He stayed out of the country for 10 years to wait for the statute of limitations to run out. He had the deed of the home held in a tax shelter--an offshore corporation in the Cayman's, and they auctioned everything off, so he didn't even lose money on the sale to the IRS.

Owner 2, a Dentist, came to the auction to buy a vehicle left at the home at the auction (a Porsche). He didn't get the car, but he did buy the house, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Spring Has Sprung

And with Spring, comes the finalized Garden planting plan. There are two seperate planting beds, so the Pumpkins get a big bed all the themselves that will be a 20 x 15 space. I really like Pumpkin Pie, and find Pumpkin to be one of the easiest plants to put by, so I am fully in favor of a big pumpkin patch. The remainder of the garden, with companion planting full research is as follows:






20 x 40 with the following plants from Left to Right:

Broccoli
Potato
Carrot
Lettuce
Carrot
Eggplant
Okra
Bell Pepper
Hot Pepper
Tomato
Carrots
Tomato
Garlic
Summer Squash/Zucchini/Cucumber
Pole Beans
Corn
Corn
Corn

If I have room somewhere, I'll add Butternut Squash. Not sure that I'll have room though. I'm planting Datura around the perimeter of the Pumpkins to keep the bugs away.

How Not To Hang Artwork

Trial and Error--it works for some things, but you can take it to the extreme. Take for instance the horribly faux finished walls in one of the guest rooms. It appears someone just really couldn't figure out where they wanted to hang their artwork.







Yes, every single one of the white dots in this photo is a nail hole that we spackled over to prep the walls to be re-painted. Every single one held a ten penny nail that presumably held art. So, either someone just couldn't figure out where to hang something, the wall was plastered, or playing darts with nails seemed like someone's idea of a good time. Sadly, a good portion of the house mirrors this creativity.

It's Planting Time!

I have to take Thursday off from Yoga, and get home as quick as possible because it is St. Patrick's day, and as all old farmers will tell you; especially if they are Irish farmers, if you want a good potato crop, you must plant your potatoes no later than, but ideally on, St. Patrick's Day. (Yes, I know that was a brutal run-on sentence).

So, I made a quick planting plan, and Joel is making sure my uber-gorgeous vintage Troy Bilt Horse Tiller will be working. We've marked off a 20ft x 35ft planting bed with easy drainage from the pond for irrigation, and Thursday I will till.

This may be a family affair, as I have offered Benjamin a few rows to borrow in the garden, since his snooty sub likely restricts the growing of vegetables, and all other normal and natural things that they consider heinous (like backyard chickens).

Here is the very quick draft of my planting plan, though it will grow and develop as Spring progresses. I also need to reference the wonderful book "Carrots Love Tomatoes" to make sure that these veggies get along well together, and will help each other grow. These are the veggies that I eat the most, though I realize, even as I write this, that I forgot cucumbers, carrots, and leafy greens. As always, I'll use only non-gmo heirlooms, and will grow organically.

Sir Charles

Just a quick Charlie break. Isn't he cute in the truck?

Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter

The Rain Gutter on the back of the house was falling off, and hanging down, sloped in the wrong direction. The downspout was disconnected from it. Jody and Joel decided to raise the ladder and get the gutter fixed in advance of the next rain. This feat was complicated by the high winds the same day. The wind was determined to knock the ladder over. Actually we all got a good laugh when the ladder belonging to the Fannie Mae Home Preservation crew blew over, stranding them on the roof. We had to think long and hard on whether to put their ladder back up, or just head to lunch.

Hardhats Required Past This Point

Well, a while back we posted pictures of the leak in the foyer vestibule. Keep in mind, right now, our home is still owned by the government. It's a Fannie Mae foreclosure, so until we close the contractors coming in are sub-contracted by the government. These are combinations of words that don't bode well--government and sub-contractor.

So, there was a leak in the ceiling. I guess the contractor decided the best way to see the source of the leak was to pull the drywall down.

Apparently doing this neatly did not enter into his mind. Or, if it did, the thought left just as quickly. Oy Vey.

By The Rivers Of Babylon

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.”

When I was little I used to daydream that my sister and I were princesses. Our reality was missing a few of the elements of the daydream. In my mind, we would be reading or having a picnic under a weeping willow tree in a grassy knoll near a babbling brook---there would undoubtedly be unicorns grazing nearby. Prince charming would arrive to sweep us off our feet, and we would live happily ever after.

We may not have the grazing Unicorns, but the rest of the picture looks just about how I imagined it at 8 years old.

(P.S. Josie--I will be keeping an eye out for your Prince Charming. It appears we may have inadvertently set the perfect trap to catch him.)

Like A Good Neighbor

This is the type of neighbor we are looking forward to having. 19 more days...

Caution: Endorsement to Follow

We had Kenny of KG Painting out to give us a quote for painting. We try to always use Kenny for our projects. He does good quality work, is neat, and reliable, and his rates can't be beat.

Going to Ground

Red came out on Saturday to get the Bush Hog done. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't envious of his Kubota. It's a wonderful specimen of a tractor.




We can actually see the real lay of the land now, since it is not 3 feet deep in year old grass. The acreage really is beautiful, and it's lovely being able to walk along near the pond. We are so grateful for good friends who are able to help us with this type of work.

An Arts and Crafts Project

While at Southeastern Salvage we also found a really sweet gothic looking mirror. The size was perfect for the half bath, but the finish is a bit to pewter-ish. I'm stealing an idea from Christy, my extraordinary hair stylist here. She bought a really hideous mirror from Southeastern before, and re-finished it, and it now hangs in her studio and is beautiful. I'm planning to do the same thing with this one.

Light Up the World

We found some gorgeous lights online for the big office with the vaulted ceiling (we currently refer to this room as the bogus room, which will make sense when I post photos of it's current state). Loved these lights, but the prices were cringe-worthy---Option 1 was $6500 each (not in budget), Option 2 was $1100 a piece (painful).

Here's option 1: The Valhalla Chandelier:





Here's option 2: The La Paz Aged Iron Chandelier





So, Joel decided to go to Southeastern Salvage, and stumbled upon a light that he thought was perfect. We went together at lunch today, and in agreement that the lights were perfect in style, size, AND price, we purchased three of the following for the fabulous price of $99 each. This will take care of the Bogus room AND the Dining room. (forgive the bad photography of the display light)

Name That Sink

I need to choose a sink. I always prefer farmhouse sinks, so will stick with that, but there are many options in farmhouse. I've done most of these styles, but welcome commentary on what you like best:



Stainless--simple, streamlined, but prone to water spots. It must be polished regularly to not be speckled, and doesn't have the wow factor.












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Fireclay: Very classic, country kitchen look. Simple to keep clean, but if you drop a pot, and accidentally chip it, it's damaged for life.











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Copper: Brings in some of the wow factor, and not too expensive, since I know how to order them direct from China. However, they must be waxed every 3-4 weeks or the finish wears, tarnishes, and patinas. Regular sealing also needed to keep a shiny copper sink instead of a green patina sink












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Travertine: The ruler of the wow factor sinks. These beauties are HEAVY, expensive and are special order only with about a 12 week lead time. However, they are probably worth all the trouble they can be. Maintenance wise-clean them with stone cleaner and sealer once a week, and you'll never had an issue.










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Onyx: I have never had an Onyx sink, so I can't discuss the maintenance requirements. The color variations are wide, so if I order this, I won't know what I get till it shows up. That's about the only main drawback. I can also only get it in a single bowl, instead of double bowl. It is in stock, would ship, quick.
















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So....which would you choose?

Dacor Decor

I've been planning out the kitchen at the new house. It has a Viking Cooktop already in it, and I was having a hard time figuring out the exact layout because the cooktop is not really what I want, but hey--it's Viking, right? So I shouldn't get rid of it. Then I remembered...Craigslist and Ebay are my friends. I will sell the Viking Cooktop.


With that out of the way, what I really really wanted to go with a Bertazzoni 48" Heritage Range. These beauties are imported from Italy and are as much art as they are high end cooking tools



However, I don't have 48" of space to devote to the range and the hood, and I'm not head over heals in love with the 36" Bertazzoni. So, I think we will go with Dacor.

The range is a 36" six burner, that has options to change out burners to either a wok ring, grill, griddle, or just leave them all as closed burners. The knobs glow blue when it is on. It's pretty, and has stellar reviews






The Dishwasher is also Dacor, and is rated as the quietest dishwasher available today. This is great since the kitchen will be open to the living room. We don't want to listen to water sloshing around our dishes while we watch a movie. It's fully integrated and stainless inside, too.





Our microwave is going to be really cool. We are opting for a drawer styled microwave, so you set your items in from the top, rather than having a door that swings out. It will be installed under-counter. I have seen these before, but never had one. I think it will be a great space saver. Right now I am just trying to decide whether to go with the full stainless or the one with the window in it. I think I'll do the window one. Any suggestions from my blog stalkers?




The fridge will be the one item that is not Dacor, since we are bringing our LG fridge along with us. It's a fantastic fridge, so I have no complaints. I still haven't found a fridge I like more than this one.

Stars Align

Don't you love it when all stars align? Thanks to Heather Benjamin of Reliant Realty--the most wonderful realtor in all the world (though I typically never put the words realtor and wonderful in the same sentence), we are already under contract on our current home.

So March will be crazy--annual audit, filing a 10K, various acquisition related activity, an equity raise, and we'll close on the current house on March 25th, close on the new house March 28th, and move March 31st.

Yes, I will take a week vacation the last week of March to make this work. I sincerely hope that my head stays on its shoulders.