Wordless Wednesday – Week of December 10, 2013
We are slowly renovating our old, country home on 7 acres. The kindest description for our house would be quaint. Picture a sprawling, two-storey house built in 1886, with all sorts of quirks. Someone with an odd sense of humour cut a 4 ft 10 inch high doorway to the babyroom, squeezing it under the slanted roof. The most absurd design feature, though, is that there are six doorways leading out of the formal dining room and another six to the outdoors.
The decorating theme of this unusual house is Early Childhood Art and it is everywhere, on the fridge, on cupboards and walls. Too many plants add to the sense of colour the eclectic combination of furniture is at least comfortable. Generations of former owner, who were all full-time farmers, believed in 4 inch spikes for building barns as well as hanging pictures, So those 4 inch spikes dictate where mirrors and pictures hang because they refused to come out of the old plaster.
The list of quirks is even longer long but it all adds up either to frustration or comedy and we choose to laugh. Yet we also love this quirky house with its thick, pine plank floors, wide wood wainscoting, original door knobs and engraved hinges and stained-glass window. Slowly we are ripping up old rugs and stripping off TEN Layers of paint to reveal the pine floorboards. I literally use a toothbrush, heat gun, oven cleaner and sander. One board takes DAYS to strip but I love the process. The only explanation for my obsessive stripping is that it must be cathartic. Oh and the results are beautiful after I rub in tung oil!
mother of nine9 
Sounds like a wonderful place to write. 🙂
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THE perfect place, now that all nine kids are at university, working, married or mums
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Lovely home. And clean! 🙂
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yup- nine less messy people in the house- YOU would notice
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YOU would notice that- there are now nine fewer people here during the week days!
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