Daily Walks

The beginning of my walk...

I have walked my neighborhood daily

since I moved here eleven years ago.

Now that I am a week away

from my move date of June 6,

the number of walks remaining

for me to take,

is an easy estimate.

Neighborhood walks are one of the things

I will miss most when I move.

Whether it's a short power walk,

or a long, leisure saunter,

my morning walk is 

like my first cup of coffee

in the morning.

It's my kick start to the day.

It's my time for clearing my head

and organizing my day.

My walks and I are en sync.

It's my time for daydreaming

and gathering inspiration,

and keeping an eye on favorite houses.

On my walks,

I watch what's growing anew,

since the day before.

There are many gifted gardeners in this neighborhood.

Their effort are truly appreciated by this walker.

I have had the pleasure

of meeting many of my neighbors

on my walks.

And their dogs,

and occasionally cats.

My hope is the new owners

of my well loved home,

will discover the

joys of walking the

Tree Street neighborhood

as much as I have.

Wood Floors!!!

Real progress this week!

The floor guy came on Friday

and got all the wooden floors,

which previously were covered with carpet,

sanded.

It looks like new wood flooring!

I have not gotten a detailed explanation 

of what comes next,

but I do know they will be sealed.

The painting is still in progress,

and

the dining room light fixture needs to be hung.

We are getting very close to

move-in ready!

Moving Day, 

quickly approaching is

June 6th!

Kitchen and Baths...the End is Near!

The end REALLY is in sight.

Except for some trim paint,

the kitchen and baths are complete.

The refrigerator in this picture is not 

sitting flush against the wall,

waiting for a bit of paint above it,

so it will not stick out this much 

once it's in place.

Remember when I posted about

"happiness is having a living room full of kitchen appliances"

a few weeks ago?

I was mistaken.

Happiness is having a cleared living room...

 and having all your kitchen appliances

in place...IN the kitchen!

Missing one drawer pull in this picture.

This drawer had to be reordered, 

so it's a little late getting its handle.

My first ever gas stove!

Both bathrooms are pretty complete also.

This is the upstairs bath.

Both bathrooms have the same color way,

sinks, bead board, and flooring.

Their personalities will 

define themselves once I start decorating,

and they "tell" me 

how they want to look!

This is the downstairs bath.

Note the mirror.

It was my grandmother's 

and I used it in my present house.

It got a new coat of paint

and reoriented to hang 

differently for this space.

I'm very happy to be able to 

continue using it.

Move date:  June 6...continuing to count down!

Move Mode

Nancy was back for a visit last week.

She came to organize and pack her personal things,

which we then moved to my new house,

where they will be stored.

It was three days of visiting,

eating at favorite restaurants,

debating 

(what to keep,what to let go),

trips to Goodwill,

and back breaking trips to my new house

to stow boxes and boxes of her personal things.

At the end of her visit,

her charming apartment upstairs,

lacked...charm,

her and what made 

the space hers.

A local charity picked up the couch and chair this morning,

so it's looking even more empty.

This is what moving looks like.

I have been packing for the past several weeks

and feel a total lack of order in my life.

This is my kitchen all packed.

Look at all this stuff!

You're not even seeing

what was let go!

I realize there is NO WAY

all these things are going to fit

into my new little kitchen!!!

I'm taking the Scarlett O'Hara line,

and "I'll think about it tomorrow."

Taking a break from packing,

and on to other projects,

I have been applying paint to a few items

I'll be using at the new house.

The wicker rocking chair belongs to Nancy. 

It was our grandmother's.

It cannot be parted with

and will find a home with me for a while.

Move date: June 6, counting down...

Renovations Continue...

Major steps forward this week!

The washer and dryer were installed,

in the newly created laundry space

(previously the pantry).

Ignore the wooden door pull.

I'm looking for a cuter one.

Getting the kitchen granite installed

had become a benchmark for progress

in my mind.

This week...it was a great surprise

to arrive and have the installers

working on it.

I have the makings of a really sweet kitchen here!

And, the subway tile back splash 

is getting placed.

Is the end in sight???

I believe it might be!

Progress Report

The stairs have now been scraped

of the cement like

waffle padding,

which appeared glued to the steps.

Remember how they looked last time?

The missing cabinet arrived

and now all the kitchen cabinets are in place.

The granite people came last week

and created a template for the counter top.

All the pulls have been installed.

And, as of yesterday

the dishwasher is in place!

The mounting brackets for the microwave

have also been installed.

Part of my weekend project is to clean up 

some of the metal door knob plates

which had been painted.

After soaking all night in

mineral spirits, although not perfect,

quite an improvement and they will

certainly make a charming statement

to the doors!

Fiber person that I am,

guess what I discovered makes

an excellent tool for scraping paint

out of all those little etchings.

A large tapestry needle is perfect!

Because of the blunt tip

it didn't scratch the metal.

Here's my morning's work,

with their glass knobs in place.

Reminds me of

"...little flowers in a row."

I scheduled movers this week,

so I now have an official move in date of June 6.

Yikes!  
That's one month from today!

Fingers crossed everything gets

finished before then!