TREES

 I have been doing my best to work as much as I can on this piece.  It is difficult right now because my Mother has come home on Sat. and before my sister can move in we are all taking turns staying with her.   However, progress is being made and I should have the partially finished pine done tomorrow.

I am very fortunate that my house is nestled in the Kettle Moraine State Forest so when I need to stretch a bit I can now take a walk into the woods and clear my thoughts as well as stretch my legs.  This little entry is right off our side yard.

 There are no mosquitos now...we had a frost the other night.  So walking in the leaves and with yellowing leaves overhead is like heaven.

I love the sharp contrast of the black dark bark and the lime green leaves, the verticals and the horizontals,  the sounds....and sometimes the absence of sound.   It is better then meditation, better then going to a spa, better then most everything.

KITCHEN BEFORE & AFTER

 Here is the kitchen when we bought the house.  Ugly gold walls against these hickory cabinets made them look orange.  Floor you can not see but a vinyl beige grey with medallions.

Kitchen now....in grey with new tile  backsplash (done by my daughter Molly and me) and all new appliances and dark flooring.  Transformation is shocking.  The cabinet above the refrigerator is being resized so we could fit this beautiful refrigerator into the opening.  Should have it back in a a day or so.

Made my first dinner in here tonight...it works beautifully.

SHED BEFORE AND AFTER

 This poor sad shed was on the property.  Inside it actually was fine...but  outside...sad and dilapidated.

Now...happy and alive again in a deep red.   Now this was actually the hardest project of all due to wasps wanting to move back into this building.  They did not like me being there doing everything I could to keep them away.   It was a constant battle between us but in the end I persevered thank goodness.

LANDSCAPING

 Well....what used to be a bunch of half dead junipers is now a softscape of various plants mulched and leading you to the front door.  What a job that was.  We left an opening so you could walk along the front porch if it is raining.

 The I planted these stone terraced beds .... rebuilding the stone walls as this was totally in ruin.   Looks a little sparse right now but it will fill in nicely in time.

 The opposite side had some day lilies still in it but the rest was empty and also falling down so now it is all planted and back in shape.  We also planted the river birch you see in the foreground.  I love birches and had to have at least one in the yard.

Notice how there are now stone steps so if you are in the front yard you can step down this terrace to get to the back yard instead of walking all the way around.   My arms are
getting fit and trim after tackling this.

STUDIO

 Finished painting my new STUDIO today.  It is a darker grey and is larger then my present studio.   It does have carpet as it used to be the former owners home office.  What makes it really really nice is the HUGE walk in closet that is fully lined with shelves.

I am so excited to start bringing my fabric and batting etc etc over and organize it all on these shelves.

BEETLE

Embracing the beauty of all life at the new house including this green fellow who  was peeking in my kitchen window today.

UPDATE:  Seems this is not a beetle but a Stink Bug.

HOMEY

Every day I bring a few things with me to the new house.  Mostly things like winter jackets and storage things....but today I brought a few personal things and placed them around the fireplace just to give this house some homeyness.   Feels good to be there now that the whole first floor is finished other then the tile backsplash (doing that this weekend) and all the professionally done things like flooring and appliances.

Now to tackle the bedrooms and baths upstairs.

DEN & DINING ROOMS

 Looking from messy living room into the den.

 New light fixture in dinette between living room and kitchen

 Living Room and Den

 Freshly painted Den.  No more Packer Green.

 Looking from Den into Living Room

 Goodbye Packer Green in Dining Room

 Almost finished today but not quite.

 Looking from Dining Room into Den and past the Front Door.

Looking from Den into Dining Room...ignore the foyer color here...it is not green like that...just neutral.

Whew!  Tomorrow will finish dining room and then wash windows on this floor....and then it will be finished for new flooring and appliance delivery.

Will start painting upstairs next.  It is all white....the white that builders paint it and only one bedroom was ever painted and that is the bright yellow one that is going to go.  But first will do the Master and the Master bath as that is getting new floors and he is coming
on the 17th to do that so must get it finished before hand.  Have plenty of time so that is good.

Living Room

 This is how the living room looked this morning.....worked on it all day and part of the den.   I have now said goodbye to the ugly gold.

You can see the landscape a bit out these windows in living room.  Just love it out there.
You can also see the lighting has made this grey look different in each pic.  it is sort of in-between these two.

Tomorrow will finish den and hopefully the dining room.  That will be the entire first floor  done.  They will move up to bedrooms...not all of them but the master and one that was painted a bright yellow.  Maybe the guest bath too.  Hate to wait when it is so easy with no furniture or other things to work around.

Really tired now though...have been going to be around 9 or 9:30 lately....so worth it though....just seeing it transform everyday.

KITCHEN

 More painting today....kitchen was transformed from ugly gold to a soft grey.

New floor and tile will come in a few weeks.  Love the grey with the cabinets and wood trim.

PAINTING

Closed on new house this morning.  It went really fast.  Then went home, changed clothes,  loaded painting supplies and dogs and headed to house.  Began to paint in laundry room which has this door to go outside.  It was also that horrid gold color.

Here it is finished.  You can see the paint is still wet in some areas but it dries darker.  The floor will be replaced in a few weeks.  Sort of nice as I do not have to worry about any drips.  I am so happy to say goodbye to that gold. Then I did the entry into the house from the attached garage too in the same color.

Tomorrow I will start the kitchen!

PREPARATION

I took a break today for a little while from all the preparation prior to closing on the new house this Tuesday.  There have been many trips for things like paint, flooring, appliances etc.  Both dogs seem to sense that something big is about to happen and it makes me wonder what they think of all this hustle and bustle and the disappearance of the routines they were so familiar with.

Hopefully things will settle down in the not to distant future and both of them will love country life in our new home.

NEW HOUSE CHANGES

 Color palette for new house.   This will go into kitchen with the tile the backsplash.  Then new flooring will go in replacing the god awful vinyl that is in kitchen laundry foyer and formal dining room .  Ugh!

 The gold is much worse then it appears here and not only is it in here but runs thru the living room.

 This is the green in the den/family room.   It will be gone soon.

Beautiful fieldstone fireplace....but that gold is just plain ugly.....it will go.  Painting will start ASAP!

Here is a photoshopped example of the tranformation with not the exact color but at least without the gold.   The kitchen below....

I just want to get started!!!! 

MOVING

For the last month or more we have been negotiating to buy this house that is in the kettle moraine and up high on a hill in the woods.  On Thursday they accepted our offer so we will be moving!
We have wanted to live out in the country but still close to people for a long time now but just never found the right situation or the price we were willing to pay...until now.  So I will no longer live in Plymouth but now in the small town next door called Greenbush. 

So now we need to sell our existing home and have just finished all the paperwork to list it.

We also want to make changes at the new house like paint and some flooring.  All of this will take me away from the studio soon so I hope all of you will continue to follow me during this time and I promise to come back very soon. 

I will post progress on new house and old...so you are aware of how things are going. 
Very Excited...today there were 17 turkeys in the backyard of this house.