Metamorphosis

Front porch/living room with trim work.

Walls look pinker than they are.

Half bath in loft with hickory cabinet.

Cork flooring is down but dusty. Must be sealed.

Jan. 18 photo of kitchen.

Two weeks later.

3 days later.

Kitchen today with hickory cabinets. LeeAnn working on an outlet.
Walls are color in previous photo.

Bathroom Jan. 18.

Bathroom on Feb. 1.

Bathroom on Feb. 4.

Bathroom today. Walls are closer to colors in previous photo.

Today we met Rex and LeeAnn at the cottage. LeeAnn was wiring electrical outlets and Rex was working on installing the electric baseboard heat. Back from their trip to China and visit with son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren, they were hard at work but took time to visit with us. They did not have their China photos so we will have to see them another time.

We discussed paint, flooring, cabinets, etc. Kathy was happy with just about everything. Bonnie was wishing the lighter green paint in the bathroom was lighter yet, but Kathy and LeeAnn told her they thought the contrast was very nice. LeeAnn said she wasn't so certain she was going to like the salmon walls. Then she saw them with the hickory cabinets installed and liked them. She also liked the cork flooring that Mike laid in the loft this week. He also stained the wood for the ceiling beam and got that up. Bonnie had him stain it the color of the bamboo flooring. She is very happy with the beam and the bamboo flooring (which isn't down yet). LeeAnn likes it too. Kathy thinks the flooring and beam are too dark. She and Bonnie had picked out a lighter flooring, then the darker flooring (which was more durable and more expensive) went on sale at considerable savings, and the decision was made to go with it. Kathy will reserve judgement on the bamboo until she sees it down next to the hickory cabinets. Bonnie and LeeAnn think the flooring will make the cabinets stand out even more.

The cork is wonderful. Kathy couldn't find any seams. Mike laid the cork himself and did a fantastic job. Right now it is very dusty and a photograph will not do it justice. Once it is cleaned and sealed it will be a masterpiece of flooring. Though Mike liked the cork, he said it was soft. The loft will not get as much traffic as the rest of the cottage and will not have much furniture, so we think the cork will be fine in that application. Kathy is anxious to get it cleaned and sealed before it becomes scuffed.

Young Ryan showed up at the cottage today to pick up some tools. Kathy teased him about not liking our paint choices. He said that he didn't have to live with them. Our colors have been described as girly. What we tried to accomplish was choosing earthy colors to represent vineyard colors. The greens and purple in particular. We may even put up border with vines on it! And what on earth is wrong with girly? That is, after all, what we are. And, at our age, we want our cottage to be exciting and not bland like our current villa.

We have an interesting cabinet door that Kathy would like to discuss. When we walked into the cottage today both Rex and Leann assumed we would be unhappy with one of the cabinet doors that had lines on it and would be sending it back. We were already familiar with that door and find it very intriguing. John Battershell told Bonnie that the tree that wood came from must have been up against a fence to have those marks on it. They are not indentations, just marks - almost like someone had taken a wood burning tool to it. We had asked John to use the more interesting pieces of wood he had. Wood with different grains, knot holes, light and dark contrasts. Bonnie told him, "I want the pieces nobody else wants." Since the three of us agreed on this, we were thrilled with the grains and color variations we got. This includes the cabinet door that no one else seems to like. Bonnie considers it part of the history of the wood and the tree it came from. Kathy says it is part of our green philosophy of waste not. When she looks at it she sees something that is beautiful because it isn't perfect, just like most people aren't perfect. She loves it for being different and standing out. It says, "I am not like all the rest. I am beautiful in my own way. Somebody believed I was good enough for their dream cottage and loves me!" *

*See Jan. 27 blog for photo of this door.