April-May 2022

April and May were eventful! We had two special guests that glamped with us, and some noteworthy progress.

Sheetrocking

With the van chronically out of commission, transporting large supplies/equipment takes some pre-planning. Home Depot rents trucks and vans, but our local Home Depot has only two trucks available. We rented the truck first, then purchased the sheetrock, to guarantee we had a way of getting it home.

 Is this quantity called a ream of sheetrock? Whatever it is, we bought what's on the forklift.

"Just ignore the alarm" We were told by a Home Depot employee. 

"What alarm?" I asked

An ear damaging horn alarm started as soon as the sheetrock was dropped onto the truck bed. 

Their trucks have an alarm that detonates when the bed is overloaded. Detonates is not an exaggeration. It was loud. 50% really annoying and 50% really embarrassing. I had a flashback of a seven year old me in my aunt's car. Her horn would randomly engage driving in traffic, in the parking lot, etc. 

"Just ignore it, pretend it's not this car" my aunt would say. 

Time to say goodbye to the cobwebs. This was on the wall before we started, Pete never swept it away, goes well with the haunted mansion theme. I didn't know dust could do this.

Insulation complete! Its typical to insulate only exterior walls, but what insulates the sounds of a restroom from the rest of the house?

First sheet installed.

            Its so clean, so transforming! And a wee bit more quiet.

Sheetrocking the half bathroom was satisfying. It's a tiny room so it was a quick job, and it's nice to have a bit more privacy.

I wanted to sheetrock the bathroom in anticipation of Pete's sister Heidi visiting. At this time, Pete had no idea she was coming. She and I had been conspiring a surprise visit for months. She took an Uber from the airport, constantly texting me her ETA with delayed baggage retrieval, traffic, etc. The plan was for him to answer the door when she knocked, so I was trying to serve lunch when she arrived, making sure he sat closest to the door.  I was stalling due to her delays, but it worked out perfectly. 

"You can knock and say you're Fedex or UPS, or you can knock and say nothing!" I texted her. 

She knocked on the door and was silent.

"Who is it?!?" Pete barked. 

He looked through a small hole in the door

"You knew about this!" He said to me

It was such a sweet fun moment, I only regret not taking photos.

Porch-Part Seven

What's a fun activity we can all do together as a family? Something easy, not too messy, and outdoors, to take advantage of the lovely spring weather? Hold on, I got it! Lets work on the side porch!

The porch bat adorning the our beaded spandrel was casting a pretty shadow on the sheetrock.

I also appreciated this strategically placed (but difficult to see) spider web!

 

Why so sappy?

We started by wood filling and sanding the screw holes. The brown substance dripping from the bottom rail is pine sap. I had no idea trees continue sapping long after they are cut, milled and pressure treated. Jeez, its like a dead person crying. 
 

Here is my lovely sister-in-law wood filling, sanding, and painting with me. 

We found this ancient terracotta waste pipe under the dirt between the porch and the huge concrete slab in front of the basement door. I guess the cement was poured like that to cover the pipes. I would like to get it jackhammered and pour concrete that's level with the rest of the car park.

We have enough tripping hazards, thank you.

Driving Down Memory Lane

I don't remember if I have mentioned this car in the blog, but Pete had his grandfather's vintage Packard restored. It was out of commission since at least the 1970s. Their grandfather bought a new car and the broke down Packard was just left on his land. Pete and Heidi played in it on the family farm when they were small. We received the car as a wedding gift, and over several years and two mechanics its been brought back to working condition. I'm fortunate to have witnessed this moment of nostalgia for both of them.💗

Antiquing Day Trip

After a hard day of painting and sanding, we decided to go to the antique shop that one of our contractors owns. We arrived early to the area, luckily we were passing by "Historic" Harmony Pennsylvania, so we stopped there first. 

There are a lot of time capsule type towns in Pennsylvania. Some are economically depressed ghost towns, some have been revived and gentrified, but Harmony looks like it hasn't been touched in 150 years. 

This is probably an antique-o paint job, but I just pretended it was original and authentic.

Across the street from whatever that was is this pretzel shop. The employees were really nice, like creepy cult love bombing nice.

By 11:00AM these were the only pretzels left.

We stopped at the Harmony Inn for a drink. That free standing chimney on the right is confusing, does it vent a furnace in the basement?

Embossed wallpaper is on my wish list!

Pete got a six pack of micro brew beer to go for $6. Harmony really is a lovely town.

Unfortunately, the local museum was closed.

I'm so happy Heidi got to see how adorable Pennsylvania can be! 

I regret not taking more photos of Billy's antique shop, home, and property, but that would have made this post so much longer! There's the antique shop that was the town's general store, and the building next to it where Billy and his brother live that used to be the post office. Its on what looks like two acres of land.

Thank you, Google street view.

This fountain sculpture waters the garden below.

Billy found this headstone, removed from its gravesite. 

The house is partitioned down the middle, with each brother occupying their half. 

I imagine Billy has been salvaging his entire adult life. This wagon bed and wheels serve as the second floor loft railing.

Here's an explanation of his kitchen countertop.

Billy turned an old well pump into his kitchen faucet. We haven't asked him yet, but I believe this is the man to install our washing machine kitchen sink. 

We spent hours in the antique shop and on the grounds. Heidi bought a bunch of vintage children's books and Pete and I got some fancy teacups and a few uranium glass pieces. Billy gave us the grand tour of the property. He's got a huge collection of architectural salvage, and fantastic workshop, garden, and chickens. The vegan in me felt like a dick when Billy reached under one of his chickens and handed me her egg. 

"What am I gonna do with this?"

"Don't worry, she'll lay another one tomorrow." Heidi said.

Billy gave us some tomato plants to from his greenhouse to replace the ones we lost in a recent frost. Thank you Billy, you're awesome!

We took Heidi to the Phipps Conservatory as well. I think there's a mandate in the city charter that all first time visitors to Pittsburgh must be taken to The Phipps.

A few uranium glass pieces from Billy's antique shop.

Special Guest Number Two

As Heidi was leaving my dad was arriving, their visits overlapping by one day. "You and your sister really get along, its pretty nice" My dad told Pete. I've never told her, but I am constantly inspired by Heidi's kindness, love, and strength. She really is amazing.  Her visit was way too short.

If You Fall Again There's Nothing More We Can Do For You

Pete never mentioned it to me, but he fell down a ladder carrying things to the basement and broke his collarbone. By the time I saw it the the bone had set. He never went to a doctor or urgent care. He defended this decision with  "I was busy."  We have health insurance, he never goes to the doctor, for anything. Its pretty frustrating. 

With this in mind dad suggested they work on building stairs to the basement first. 

Is this how Pete fell off the ladder? I never got the details. 

 I'm so relieved this is done! They worked till midnight to get it finished.

A Trip to the Architectural Salvage Store Backfires

"Let's buy a new side door, that way you'll feel like you've really accomplished something"  was my dads advice. My dad drives a pickup truck, so transportation would not be a problem. We went to Construction Junction, and we found a really beautiful door with ten coats of paint on it. Pete was admiring all the details, my dad was looking at all the old crusty paint between the details.

"Why don't you buy something that needs a little less work" Dad said, laughing. "You don't need another big project"  

Pete noticed a beautiful mantel, also with ten coats of paint on it. We purchased both. Now we have two more projects that need serious paint stripping and possible repair. 

Pete mounted it to the wall temporarily. It almost completely covers the missing brick!

She's so pretty, it will be worth the work!

More Sheetrocking

The next project was sheetrocking the fern room. All those sheets of uninstalled sheetrock were in the way, so it seemed like the next logical step. It's a two man job considering the ceiling height,  Pete borrowed Joe's sheetrock lift for the job.

Pete's friend Matt helped install the insulation a few months ago.

My dad was sleeping in the fern room and wanted a place to hang his things, so we gave him this classy coat hook.

I cut this awkward video down from three minutes. I'm sure Pete will be a graceful pro when he's installing the last piece of ceiling sheetrock in the house. But not today.

Two rooms down, ten to go!

I can feel the anxiety creeping in when I see the water seeping in.

I used to enjoy those rain sounds apps on my phone to help me sleep, but the leaky roof a few years ago kinda killed that for me. Now it reminds me of water in the house that shouldn't be there. It gives me a taste of the stress people endure when a flood completely takes over a house. It rained like crazy for a few days. Pete wants to dig another trench to the sump pump to get more control over this basement water. 

Classymat

We have been cleaning our clothes in a laundromat that is pretty basic. It's kinda run down, but functional. This place recently opened near our local grocery store, so we decided to take a look around.

I've never seen a nicer laundromat! We met the owner and I gushed over how clean and pretty the place is. It's certainly not how I would decorate my home, but it makes a huge difference when someone puts some thought into a public space. 

I don't think it was that expensive to decorate. Some paint, a few prints, fake decorative grass, and furniture that doesn't look stolen from the DMV.

The Purple Heart

We took a walk through one of our local cemeteries. This hollow purple glass heart is mounted on a gravestone. What's inside? No idea.

Flora and Fauna

Like any typical cat, Steve will climb to the highest point in a room if possible. He was very excited to climb up that ladder on to the upper beam. Like the stereotypical cat stuck in a tree, Pete had to get him down.

Here the subject displays the atypical behavior of sleeping in pants. 

I was pleased to see a nest adorned with the yarn remnants we provided.

A robin thought our flowerbox was the perfect place to build her nest!💗

I noticed this bird shit encrusted box in the library.

This is probably the bird who shit on my books. Yet another consequence of Pete refusing to install the window screens. However, there is an element of enchantment when I watch this bird flying in our house.

New Acquisitions

We bought these things in Pennsylvania 

Pete thought these were funny so we bought these commemorative Pennsylvania Turnpike salt and pepper shakers. 

Three more children's books, including two featuring my now favorite rabbit Uncle Wiggly.

A post card book of "European War After the Bombs"  

I was pretty happy to find these nail polish bottles, probably from the 1930s.

Something else I've never seen are these paper records. There's a super thin layer of shellac or PVC on a paper base. Each one is labelled "Hit of the Week" Maybe they were included in a magazine.

I found a second pair of hoodwink hazing goggles! These have three settings. I put white paper behind the red lenses to make them more visible in the photo. These were mistakenly labelled "vintage military goggles" on the price tag.

 

Here's an illustration of the exact goggles from a Masonic website!

We got this copper (plated?) fireplace surround at Construction Junction. I think we have too many mantels, but this was $20., so maybe we can use it for something else. 

These are purchases from New York

These glass insulators are called wire insulators, possibly used for antennas.  

"There were more of these? You should have bought all of them" Pete said when I showed him the Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root bottle I purchased. I only paid a few dollars for it, so buying the other three would have been a reasonable move.

I love bubbly glass!

I got this milk bottle from Evans Dairy in Amityville, my home town.

More teacups for the teacup chandelier. I have no idea how may teacups I have for this project, but for $2. each I couldn't pass these up.

I'd been looking for a vanity set for our guest room and scored with this one for $15. A woman at the flea market commented on the plain ugly box it came in, saying she was looking for something just like that for a play she was producing. I gave her the box, which I was gonna throw away anyway. She was really grateful. The entire transaction was really satisfying.

From the Interwebs

I bought these Halloween fantasy stamps from Etsy seller Far Fetched Philately in England. Artists printing their own stamps is a thing. The very first fantasy stamps I saw were illustrations of Amy Fisher and Mike Tyson in the 90s

Sterling Collection

Surgical Precision 

Mr. Sterling had a pretty gnarly collection of decommissioned surgical tools. I have no idea what any of these are for. Maybe one of my in-laws will let me know. I have an ever growing family of nurses and doctors, most of them work in operating rooms.  To my uneducated eye these are the most threatening ones. 

Inspiration

Just like our new fancy laundromat, I can appreciate color palettes that I would never use in my own space. I was never a girly girl as a child. I had zero desire to be a princess, and I didn't like pink. As an adult, I have an appreciation for the classic Easter egg pastels.

Kelly Eden is a painter and model living in California. She calls her apartment the Doll House, an obviously appropriate and well deserved name.  

Photos taken from Instagram and Pinterest.

                                       

                                      Kelly is certainly is an extension of her living space! 

Kelly's instagram page is here; and you can view her paintings here.