Ever so slow

The simile "slow as molasses" has taken on a new meaning for me. My progress on the library is more like the flowing of extremely cold molasses, almost nonexistent. However, I have made some progress. I added some depth to the walls.

 

The last holdout area amidst the finished rooms

When we started restoring the downstairs area we started with the kitchen and dining room then into the drawing room and library (we have yet to begin the parlor and main entry). The downstairs bathroom (which use to be the butler's pantry) and the hall area between the kitchen and dining room were left unfinished for several years. A few months ago we worked on restoring the downstairs bathroom (see previous post), thus leaving the small hallway as the only unfinished area in the middle of the finished rooms. So recently we tackled the small hallway. As of today all that is left is the staining of the small hallway floor.

View from dining room                 Monkey wallpaper and $5 picture (excluding frame)

 

View from kitchen

Thanks to my beautiful wife (Chris) and our lovely daughter (Camille) for making the hallway a portrait of beauty.

Walk through of the downstairs bathroom

As is customary, I have a video of the downstairs bathroom. We have not put up a shower curtain and am not sure if we are going to put a shower in but for now the bathroom is complete.

Remember that Maple tree?

If you go back through my earlier posts (in particular the Sept, Oct, and Nov of 2010) you will see posts on the huge maple tree that we took down because of its proximity to the house. We have pondered on the what to do with the wood. It's a hard maple and we didn't want to see it cut up for firewood. Since it is burled we figured that the wood would make a nice table top or something like that. We found someone who would mill the wood for us but before we sent it to be milled we were contacted by a man who turns wood. So...this is where the story begins. First pictures of the original tree:

 




The person who contacted us is Lin Sturgeon. Lin and his friend seemed very interested in the tree so I let them take a small stump to work with and see what they could make out of it. Lin told me that he would probably not get to it until the first of the year, but I guess he got excited because he brought two bowls back to us on Friday. I also made a deal with them, they were interested in the stump that is still in the ground so I told them they could have it if they removed two other stumps for me. They started but the saw was not working so they will be back this week. So here is the stump (FYI they are using a 36" bar on the saw):

 

But I'm sure you want to see the bowls, right?

I am amazed at what nature can do that man cannot. The next four pictures are of the same bowl, just different sides of the bowl:

 

 

The second bowl is from the same section of the tree...maybe 12" from the wood of the first bowl. Even the worm holes add character to the finished bowl:

 

So we have come to the conclusion that the tree should become art. We wanted to have a part of the tree in the house since it would have been here when the Halls (the family that built our house) lived here. Lin estimated that the tree is more than 150 years old which would make it pre-civil war. I will keep you updated on future items from the tree. Glad we waited before we did anything with the tree.

Halloween fun

We were invited to a Halloween party this year...so Chris decided that it might be nice if we dressed like George and Rachael Hall. Since George was a corporal in the Union army during the Civil War Chris made an Union army officer's jacket for me. She also sewed an old fashion dress for herself. The amazing thing is that she did both in less than two days. I truly have an amazing wife.