THE DOLL'S ADVENTURE , or Two little stowaways!

  A few weeks ago, I went to New York State, to visit my good friend, Sandy Connors.
She lives in the most charming house, circa 1830 or 40, in the little village of North Chatham. The countryside is really beautiful, with rolling hills, pastures, rivers and sleepy little villages. I fell in love!

SANDY'S HOUSE

 Sandy's house is truly wonderful. It is a deep Mustard color with a blue door and a picket fence in front.

THE WASH LINE 

THE RED BARN AT END OF DRIVEWAY

At the end of her driveway is a perfect red barn. When you look to your right, you see another fence and lovely garden gate which guards Sandy's garden. What a garden!!!! Magical is the only word I can think to describe it with. So much to see and discover. Sandy has chickens, geese, cats and Flora, a sweet Corgi. In the back, along the side of the red barn, is the original hen house. there is a lot of coming and going! Across from the hen house is Sandy's knot garden and wash line. All very picturesque.






 I bought along, Carolina, the doll I had worked on last. Sandy wanted me to bring her, so she could see her. Carolina ended up staying at Sandy's house for a wee visit with some of Sandy's dolls. They had a grand time!  Well, back at home, two little sister dolls were pretty unhappy that they did not get to go visiting and have some fun. You probably remember Eugenia and her sister, Elena? Okay, so you are aware that these two don't just sit still on a shelf...they act!

THE STOWAWAYS!
Elena! Oh dear, so unlady like.....

 I was getting ready for another trip back to North Chatham and was not paying much attention to my suitcase. Well I think you know where this is going.....yes, they went with me.

Oooh, Sister , Come quick! 

 They had a wonderful time! So much to discover and see. I unpacked my suitcase and off they went to explore. When it came time to say goodbye to Sandy, I wasn't sure I could get the dolls back into my suitcase.

I think we might have to visit again....

Carolina watched from the doorway, unsure how this was going to go. Flora
sat by just in case there was trouble! 

Elspeth , the resident doll, came out to show the sisters her world.
A pretty place indeed!

Elena led the way and Eugenia followed. The garden was so inviting.

A tiny water trough for Bees or maybe fairies?

Who lives here?  A little squirrel or mouse in this wee house?

Pretty soon everyone, including Flora and kitty, wanted to look into the wee house!

I found a nest! Little bird, little bird where have you flown?

Just a broken shell......

The Little Sisters saw Elspeth in the back garden with the hens and geese.

They wanted to go in there and see the hens and geese. Carolina watched as the sisters climbed over the wall.
She was not interested in a flock of birds .

The flock

One more step ,Eugenia!

Off they went.....

Come, little sisters, I have many more things to show you . 

A knot garden .

A forest of flowers !

Eugenia! Isn't this place grand?

This suits me just fine...A bit of sun and a few flowers.....

So sad saying goodbye...... We love Sandy's garden..

THE GARDEN CALLED AND THE NEVER ENDING SUMMER PROJECTS!

Our house with old walkway.

 I know it has been a long long time since I did a new post . My excuse? Well, I am sure some of you can appreciate that when Spring finally arrived, my garden was calling to me ...no make that, screaming at me!
 I looked outside and saw what truly was a disaster of dead perennials and broken branches. It was very overwhelming. Not only was the garden a mess, but the barn, house, and stone walls around the house needed some attention.

New walkway ( patio).

 For years, I have wanted to do something about my front walkway and when a friend, who does stone work, happened to come over one day, looking for work, I asked him if he could straighten the stones that were not laying nice and flat. Well to say that he fixed it would be an understatement!!! Moral of this story is, make sure you are speaking in a clear voice and that the words coming out of your mouth create an exact picture of what you want it to look like. Somehow, his ears heard something else that day.
 When the HUGE palate of stones arrived,  a pile of stone dust, and that black stuff that keeps weeds from popping through, I started getting a little concerned. What's happening here?
 I did say that it would be nice to have a few more large stones around the doorway instead of the grass and weeds that always ended up there, but this was starting to seem kind of extreme.

Getting accustomed to it and trying to "soften" the edges.

 Then the work started. Oh boy. My husband just kept walking around mumbling about what an old house this was and why did we need a patio in the front of it. Patio...why are you saying patio? I was trying really hard to keep the faith that it was going to be great and NOT become a PATIO!


It's a patio...... moving on ....










Next project! This one is one I know all you ladies out there can really understand the need for. A closet in the bedroom!!!! For eleven and a half years, I have suffered with NO CLOSETS, except a pitiful tiny thing ( I can't even use the word closet here), at the top of a winding staircase under the eaves. Impossible to get to and find anything inside it. Which is one of the reasons I am always wearing the same clothes..... couldn't  find any of the nice things I would occasionally buy. Yes, it is true that I am not a fashion diva, and my daughter has pointed out, several times in the past, that I am a fashion failure, but it would be nice to be able to get to my clothes without breaking my neck. It is too difficult to explain how the former closet ( still think that word is not appropriate) gave me a sore neck but believe me it did. My friends laughed when they used to see what I hung my clothes in.

The new Closet!!!

 So, I called a friend and asked for the telephone number of a good carpenter that would make my closet vision a reality. I called him and several months later, I have my dream closet! It is not completely done yet, due to the fact that the carpenter, Jeff, who I might add is a great guy, runs a summer camp for kids. It is only a couple of small details that need to be done so, in the meantime I have stuffed this closet with all of our clothes. I also added a few new things.  What fun it is to actually be able to see what you have! My husband, the one that thought this very unnecessary, stands in there every morning happily picking out shirts that he hadn't seen in a long time, because he couldn't find them and I was exhausted trying to explain to him how to find them!

1790's mantel! Love this!

Next, the crazy fireplace wall. this is next to where we had the closet built. I am still amazed that it took me so long to figure out where to put a closet since the space was just sitting there all along. Anyway, the fireplace wall was the creation of a man named, Harold Dexter, who back in the 1940's, was a restoration carpenter. He used some 18th and 19th century bits and pieces to create what he thought was a fabulous 18th century looking fireplace wall. NO it was not! I tried to love it and everyone that saw it said "Oh my, this is something", and yes it was something allright, but not a good something. As it happened, I was offered a wonderful circa 1790's mantel. It was almost exactly like the mantel I had in my bedroom in a former house of ours, that had a date of 1799 on it. I knew it would fit . This is another thing that my husband couldn't understand the reason why it was a  necessary thing to do. He loves it! It is beautiful and looks so much nicer then before.

Herb garden in beginning of the summer. 

 Slowly but surely, all our summer projects are being finished and just as the season is ending. It has been quite a nice summer and YES, I did work like a dog out there in my garden and it is beautiful! I moved huge stones, for small walls in my herb garden, replanted roses , perennials, and added compost. I was getting quite the buff looking arm muscles! Husband was a little unnerved by that......

Moral of this post is, always listen to the wife.....she usually knows best.....

MARBLEHEAD RESTORATION PROGRESSES NICELY!

THE NEW FRONT ENTRY. 

 I recently went back to Marblehead to check up on my friend Jim's project. I must say it is coming along very very nicely. It has been a great deal of work as you can see in the before and after photos. There are still things that need to be finished, such as the landscaping in the rear of the house and also the interior still needs countertops and appliances. The painters were hard at work the day my friend, Pru, and I went to take pictures and see the progress. It was cold and rainy outside so we didn't see how the landscaping was going. The house had sunk into the ground a good foot and a half in the back, over the last one hundred years, so excavating had to be done along with the underpinings. Major stuff!!

My friend, Jim, hired a very talented young man , (and I do mean young , 24 years old) to build a new 18th century door surround. As you can see from the picture on the left , it is very very impressive. Nat is a student at The Bennet Street school in Boston and he has replicated all of the missing original woodwork in the house.  Obviously he will have a great career!
By the way, the steps are white oak and will never rot.  the rest of the photos show several rooms before and after.  The house has twelve rooms and twelve fireplaces, I tried to show what I could. I also want to say that the restoration of the chimneys and fireplaces, was done by Richard Irons , restoration mason. He is the best!!!!!!!
This house has made such an impact that all you have to say to anyone from Marblehead is ," there is this house in Old town being restored", and the response is always "oh I know the house, it is incredible!" There have been many tough decisions along the way such as, where to put kitchen and bathrooms ( there are 3 1/2 baths) , which is not so easy to do if you are trying to maintain integrity . I think it has been done in this house very well. There is still more in this house that I wasn't able to show in this post. There is a wonderful pantry and many back staircases. The bathrooms were done with care and are beautiful .I hope to get back there to take the final finish pictures. If you happen to be in Marblehead's Old Town , it isn't hard to find on Washington street. You might like to stop and take a peak!

FRONT BEFORE RESTORATION 

BACK OF HOUSE BEFORE RESTORATION. 

BACK AFTER RESTORATION

I

WINDOW AT TOP OF STAIRCASE WITH WINDOW SEAT

BEAUTIFUL STAIRCASE

STAIRCASE AND FRONT ENTRY

UPSTAIRS MASTER BATH

BEFORE IT BECAME MASTER BATH

BACK BEDROOM ALMOST DONE

BACK BEDROOM 

This back bedroom is upstairs in the back, and was the worst room in the house. It had been a kitchen when the house was four apartments. The floor had to be replaced because it was almost rotted through.  The fireplace had major work done because at one time there was a stove put in front and it did a lot of damage.

PARLOR BEFORE AND DURING RESTORATION
Notice the painting above the mantel. It was done in the 1940's and was not in a good state. Jim decided to paint over it but kept the one in the Parlor chamber.

PARLOR BEING PAINTED A BEAUTIFUL RICH BLUE

small room at the end of the hallway before restoration

Breakfast room after .

Old kitchen fireplace restored and awaiting it's final choice of paint color. The color chosen is on the right.

Old kitchen fireplace before restoration . Looks grim!

Garret or attic bedroom before restoration and after !

NICE!!!!!

Before restoration. This is where the modern day kitchen is now . This was a room in the 1790 ell , also has a bake oven and was used as a kitchen.

New kitchen with 18th century panelling made by Nat. 

Cabinets being installed .

Dining room making progress. There will be doors and chair rail added to the cupboards flanking the fireplace . There are delft tiles going back along the inside front edge of the firebox. You can see an impression of original tiles in the plaster that remained on the bricks . 

The beautiful rich green in the dining room.

Parlor chamber before.

Upstairs Parlor  chamber getting a deep yellow color.

Dining room chamber with it's original stencil decoration. This room also has been scraped down to see the original paint on the panelling. It looks like cedar graining, which was found in many parts of the house and maybe also some black marbling.  This room will become the Master bedroom. Two small rooms with fireplaces ,have been turned into bathrooms.