House Tour....Loft

 These are the shelves in the upstairs loft....I love them...even if I do need a ladder to get to the top of them. The photo below is the view from the south facing window in the loft. Under all the snow is a pond.

The Living Room

   My living room...with sliding glass doors and another window overlooking the air conditioner,  my patio, two forsythia bushes, the neighbors across the way and the pond. I was so happy when I thought of having a  fireplace again...I love the warm feel of them. When the inspector came to check the house...he checked the fireplace. He turned on the gas starter, stood there and talked to me for a second and then bent down with the lighter to start it. Whooooossshh.... I think he waited too long. We were all lucky not to be barbecued on the spot. No one was hurt...but I'm thinking twice about ever starting the fireplace again. At least without the fire department waiting out in front.
   The railing at the bottom of the photo is at the entrance of the house. There's a tile entry at the front door which leads to two steps down for the living room and to the left...two steps down to the dining room. The room looks small in the photo...but I have an 89 inch sofa, two end tables, a sofa table with the television on it, a small cabinet in the corner and my grandfather clock....and it doesn't feel crowded at all. I'm looking for white shelving units for the back wall...they'll hold my television and give me extra storage...and I'm looking for a rug....and maybe a new couch....and either art for over the fireplace or a mirror. But that's all.....:)

House Tour...Dining Room

        This room, which is larger than it looks...is my dining room. It's where I hold State Dinners, Conventions and Debutante Balls.  Actually, it just about holds my table, chairs and the china cabinet. That's okay, I haven't held a State Dinner in ages. At the right, you can see the counter that passes through to the kitchen. The light fixture is nice, but I need something with a little more light than it gives. To the left of the photo (That you can't really see) is the window with paper covering it...when I'm feeling really fancy...I fold the bottom of the paper up gracefully and hold the sides with potato chip bag clips :)......I'm not putting up window coverings until I get the new windows.

I'm Home.....

    In April...on Easter Sunday... I moved into my new townhouse.  It's the first time in my life that I've ever had to live by myself. Exciting...yes! Scary...yes to that too....but I'm getting used to it.
    My townhouse is small but comfortable...and do I ever have plans for it. It was a flip and the man doing it has done a good job...but there are still things I'd like to change.  I've ordered new windows (Because the windows that are here are falling out) and a new set of sliding glass doors. The doors are the ones with blinds in between the layers of glass. A little more expensive but since my sliding doors directly face the curve of the street....it will save all of my neighbors the horror of seeing me standing in the kitchen every morning with mismatched pajamas, bleary eyes and messy hair. I am no style icon.
    I've got a list of other things that I'd like to do to my new house. Every room that I walk into has a future list. The kitchen has probably the most things:
                 *A  backsplash...maybe penny tile or subway tile or beadboard (I love beadboard!)
                 * I want the ugly light fixture taken down (I call it the coffin light, because it looks for all the world like a black and white coffin attached to the ceiling . ) I'd like can lights in the ceiling instead.
                 *Oh...and I need to have someone come in and attach the cabinets more securely...one of them is coming away from the wall. Of course it was the cabinet with all my cookbooks and heaviest serving bowls....all of that stuff is temporarily crammed into assorted areas.
                 *There's a closet under the stairs that I want to turn into a pantry/storage area. I'd like to paint it a clean, bright white (It's white now, but not clean or bright), put new white shelves up on one wall and push a small white dresser up close under the stairs. I can still store big containers behind the dresser and put canvas bins on the top of the dresser to store more stuff and I'll have the dresser drawers for...um...even more stuff. What a great plan...now I just have to DO it.
                  My new  kitchen.....