The future is looking...older

Meg is healed!  Oh how I have missed her!  Now that my Mac friend is home...

So, my girlies and I went on a Christmas tour of a Historic Neighborhood in central-ish Fort Wayne...Williams Woodland Park.  Oh the splendors.  Oh the majesty.  Oh the homes crying out for some serious renovations, stripping, sanding, and my favorite....painting!!!

So, I wait an entire day to tell Sir about the fabulous needs I witnessed.  He immediately dismissed me with the "you and your ideas really exhaust me" look combined with such verb-age as "We've only been here a year" and "I'm never moving again" and "You have plenty of projects here to keep you busy".

Prudently, due to many years experience with Sir's nay-saying, I dropped the whole thing.  UNTIL...Sir's desire for Fort Wayne's Famous Coney Island, which happens to be just minutes from my new desire, led to a compromise: "I will graciously allow you to feed our family greasy, foul, and unhealthy hotdogs slathered in onions and some suspicious brown sauce, aaaand while we are down there, you get to see this incredible neighborhood and house I was telling you about."

So, we went, we saw, he was delighted (as I feel anyone should be).  The trim and woodwork was 2 feet tall...the windows...OH MY!  The kitchen is remodeled in a way that gave me a strange urge to try French cooking.  The kids all picked out their own rooms (the very ones I had already mentally assigned to them).  Even Madam Lu found a space that filled her with delight.  Claw foot tubs abound, wood floors begging to be restored, and beaded-door knobs that were lovingly forged over 100 years ago...ahhhhhhh!

This is not to say we are throwing a sign in our yard...but, the dialogue has begun.  If you know sir, you are aware that such things take time....like 5 years.  Which coincidentally is exactly how much time I will need to finish our currant cottage!

I will sign out today with some pictures of our mudroom remodel...This was our first remodel at Cottage De Haven... 

 Mudroom Before (super thick, tan striped wall paper)

Stripped the paper...lots of mudding...

 The hall outside the mudroom/garage...more wall paper...

 Sir's cubbies...

 The hall is stripped...

 Oh, how delightful!

 Splendid hide-away for our "stuff"

The children's growth charts...

I covered an old peg board with black and white polka-dot fabric

 Family-friendly hall is now butter yellow.  I have since re-painted the black door...still black but not glossy...satin this time...the kids hang their art in this hall, too...a fisherman-style light keeps the casual/cottage look...

 Yes, that is a pocket door!

Alas, my pantry and fridge are seriously lacking...so it is time to wash Madam Lu's snot out of my hair (she has a cold) and head out into the snowy loveliness....