Stripped Down and ready to go!

The corbels are off, taking the mantel with them. Tore the sheet rock a tad when the mantel pulled off the wall, but that will be easily repaired when everything goes back up. Actually, by the time this is posted, everything is back up and ready to be painted. So exciting! Hope to get it done within a week, so will post an After picture then.

Ciao,
Anne

Soup--what else can I say?

Dinner looked so good last night I had to take its' picture! This is Rachel Ray's recipe for "Italian Sub Stoup." She calls it a stoup because she says it's a cross between a soup and a stew. It has a giant crouton in it and plenty of arugula added at the last minute, my favorite touch. A very satisfying dinner on a winter night with a fire going. Isn't that a sweet scenario? We are blessed.

Ciao,
Anne

More Pillows Go Out!

Last week another box of pillows went out to my favorite art gallery, Sanctuary of Davidson. I need to get to work on more, but the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is making it impossible to needle felt. Even as I sit here and type, my hands have gone numb. I will get this fixed ASAP!

These pillows were, as usual, a lot of fun to make. Two of them took a very long time. Sigh, I love them. We spend so much time together and I fuss over every little detail. The other two are simpler, faster, less expensive for the buyer, but still unique and fun. I love them, too. They are all soft and cushy and bring a smile--that's their job and they make it their business to get the job done!

A tad of progress on the fireplace. Mike has painted the new sheetrock with primer, we've decided on how the legs, lintel and trim are going to look and now we're waiting for the wonderful carpenter, Paul, to show up and finalize everything and get to work. When Paul and I get together, we tend to go over every detail once again and make changes. We'll paint the sheetrock with the wall color before he comes to install everything. That way there will just be some touch-ups to do after the crown molding goes back up. There are a lot of details on this little job!

Ciao,

Anne

The fireplace is coming along

Here's the picture of the fireplace wall now that the sheetrock has been installed. We wanted to protect the brick, so painting over it was out. Sheetrock only took a few tiny screws, and most of them are where the crown molding will sit anyway. I'm lovin' how it looks already.

The installer did an excellent job. Everything is very smooth and we won't need trim in a couple of places that we might have had to use it. That's the beauty of hiring (and finding) people who are really good at what they do. Next I will prime it and paint it. The crown molding will go back up at the top and the carpenter will work his magic on the area below the mantel. I'll keep you posted!

Ciao,

Anne

SNOW!!

I was going to shut this baby down, but have decided to try again. It's hard to blog, whine, whine. I'm a talker, not a writer.

So we had snow in NC over the weekend. Grandboy thinks it's wonderful. He's wrong, but it's his opinion and there's no changing that. Today the sun is shining and the temps are rising, so all will be well soon. In the meantime, we'll go out and play in it one more time.



I'm working on a couple of projects in the house this winter. First I'll show you the fireplace project. It's a big, brick, kind of dark thing, yet lovely in it's own way. We love our fireplace and have roaring blazes in it as often as possible. Very cozy. But I like light and clean lines, so have come up with a solution. Will leave you with the "before" picture today and will update as we progress. The photo makes the brick wall look a bit brighter than it actually is--maybe I had the flash on. Really, it's kind of dark!

Ciao,
Anne