Happy day you met anniversary, Carrie! Eleanor
Water Cooler - 3
Ray says it's not just happy anniversary, it's happy tenth anniversary! Eleanor, I didn't realize you were only five months new here - WELCOME to DG, where the nuts hang out. You certainly had me fooled! Maybe it's because I mix you up with grampapa (a girl) and there's a bunch of you grandmotherly types around here, which reminds me of someone I have to go check on. x, Carrie
Thanks Eleanor and Louise.
Victor, your eye pic is cool. Nothing bloodshot there. Looks like you're healthy, man!
Congratulations Carrie. I hope you have 40 more happy years together.
Beautiful tile Victor! Sure wish we had something similar in our entry - the red clay we drag inside after being in the gardens is miserable and tough to clean up. Looks like your tile would take our "abuse" :)
I get inspired when I see someone else's home improvements.
Inspired.
I love the choice of the tile, Victor.
My eye says thanks, Harper and I say thanks to all of you on the tile. Debbie, I always come in from the garden through the garage so hopefully I won't even 'test' the tile's garden toughness!
Victor - when we did some much-needed kitchen upgrading in our 1952 kitchen here last fall, we put a terra cotta Rialto tile in our kitchen and laundry/pantry room, and I just LOVE it! It is soft on the feet and never shows dirt. We also got rid of the bright yellow formica countertops and the broken cooktop that shocked me whenever I used one of the burners. Then there was the tiny wall oven that cooked everything at 500 degrees.....no, I don't miss the old kitchen at all! LOL
Sounds great Louise! Can't wait to re-do our kitchen. Will probably be a couple of years though.
Your yellow formica counter tops would be a huge hit here. Kids in their 20's LOVE all that retro stuff. Anything 50's sells like hot cakes around here.
Yeah, they would lover that stuff in Long Beach, LOL.
We pretty much are reduced to caring about if it works, how easy is it to clean, does it show dirt, basics like that. Color of counter tops and tiles is definitely low on the list, sadly. Have yet to invent/discover a system that will scrape the mud/dirt/ice/snow/leaves/crap/rain/gravel off my wheelchair tires as I come into the house before I really get into the middle of my house, tracking grass cuttings everywhere. x, C
I hear you, Carrie! There wasn't much that worked in the kitchen. We hadn't planned to replace the dishwasher, and then it too died when we got here last winter. We couldn't do new cabinets, so we painted the ones that have always been there. It was a mini-renovation, but I do love the floors and having new appliances. It's a small kitchen, but I actually like that.
My place was built in 1928 and has had very little "upgrading". Refrigerators didn't even exist when this place was built. I have the old screw in fuses, and 2 outlets in every room. Someone installed a single plug outlet in the bathroom probably in the 70's.
NO counterspace in the kitchen...just the left and right hand side of the sink. They also added ONE outlet in the kitchen...a double one, yet ! Woo Hoo ! I don't cook much, so it suits me fine.
My stove is one of those gargantuan old O'keefe and Merrit's that weighs about 3 tons, but works perfectly and is in mint condition. There were 5 layers of hideous linoleum under the top layer when I got here. You could tell the era they were installed by the colors and the patterns.
The ceilings are high and coffered and have the old plaster crown moldings. Cool old ANCIENT tile in the bathroom and one of those really DEEP old tubs which was never intended to be a shower, but was upgraded to one at some point,
which is good.
To remodel this place to bring it up to 2007 efficiency standards would destroy the beauty of the architecture, and would cost a kings ransom. It has all original woodwork, which thank God, has never been painted and would have to be milled specially to duplicate.
There were layers and layers of hideous wallpaper in the bedrooms, which is now gone. I found the old wall sconces in the attic and rewired them and refinished them.
The last people who lived here had everything in Harvest Gold, Olive Green and Orange....only now, I've got the "newer version" of those colors...but no orange.
The orange, yellow and green shag carpet was the first thing to go !
JD - I love oder homes and it sounds like a dream to me!! Older houses tend to be larger and I would love to have a little more room. My house is so small - not bad for two people - but when we have company the lack of space is very apparent. This was the farm house I grew up in. Lots of room and the rooms were large, just had a bad heating system. Eleanor
Another view. When we needed another room my father just built on and added it someplace on the building!!! He didn't consider the architecture of the building - his prioity was just more space. Eleanor
This message was edited Dec 11, 2007 6:12 AM
Very pretty, Eleanor. JD, let's see some pics!
Thanks Victor! When Dad moved out and went to live in my brother's house, I went down there alone and just sat and I cried. It wasn't just the house I was going to miss but the farm had been sold. A lot of memories from the farm and that old house!! Eleanor
Eleanor:
Like you, I love the older houses. I'll bet your dad wasn't concerned about zoning ordinances or whatever it is now that has the town dictate how your home can be built.
Our kitchen is really small when you consider that the house was built in the late 1700s. I have dreams of renovating and opening it up, but then, it's not my house, so I have to defer to the DD and the DSIL. However, as I am the one who does all of the cooking, I am hoping that when it comes to renovating, I will have some say in what happens. Also, our dishwasher died last spring. We need a dishwasher!!!!!
I had 3 dish washers....they all grew up and moved out.
You deserve a dishwasher that doesn't move out!
Eleanor, that house is just lovely...the additions look like they all work, to me.,,and ALL THAT SPACE around it ! What is that big tree in the front?
It isn't the square footage of the house that makes it a "home", right?
Victor, My place faces north so I get very little natural light in it, and it's shadowed by other two story places next door. I'm a lousy photographer and have tried taking pictures but they come out too dark. Also, for whatever reason, my computer program won't let me post/transfer pics. to DG...(couldn't possibly be the operator of the camera OR the computer)
We grew up without a clothes dryer. My dad finally bought one when the youngest ( of 7 )was out of diapers and my mom said to him, "I don't know whether to kiss you or punch you in the nose" !
Thanks JD - I believe that is a maple tree. There used to be three trees in front - two maples and a horse chestnut but they died. My family home was on a farm so there was lots of space to spread out and have gardens. I remember hiking in the woods, in the ravine and over the hills - as I said great memories from that place. No, it doesn't take size to make a home and I probably wouldn't move from my little house to a larger one if I had the chance. Lots of memories in this house also! I love my home and the piece of property that we are on, but we do get a bit cramped for holiday dinners. Eleanor
p.s. - thanks to the others also for their comments!
Yeah. I have two dishwashers like that as well. But, from the amount of noise they make, I'd rather have the automatic kind.
Seriously though, the only time we used the automatic dishwasher was once every two weeks on family dinner night, and then again on Christmas and Thanksgiving. All other days we hand wash the dishes.
Finally back from my exile to the basement! Got my notebook back. Still have to transfer back all those photos now! Yuck - thousands of photos.
The problem with my dishwasher is that it's only half full so I don't run it, then I have too many dishes so I run it and hand wash...
Busy week this week, there is an exhibit at the museum, The Human Body:The Universe Within. They offered free admission to nurses, police, and firefighters the 11th and 12th. I rearranged my schedule and went tonight only to find out they made a typo in the paper and it is Wed and Thurs this week. So, I'll go back on Thursday.
Wed we have a holiday lunch at one of our offices, then an IEEE dinner Wed night, and an RIT dinner Friday night. All complimentary. All really great food. All too much food. All so good.
Welcome back Victor.
Wish I had a dishwasher. I'd have no problem filling it up.
Thanks, Deb.
What a neat home, Eleanor! I can imagine how upsetting it was when your father left home. Sad. I now live 2 streets away from our family home that my father built. I haven't gotten up the nerve to ask the people who live there if I can come in and see it now. I have mixed feelings. We walk past it every morning. So many memories. There is now a house that was built in our back yard. The people who bought the house from my Mom sold off the back lot. Again.....Sad. I can see all the trees that my Mom and Dad planted and loved. You just can't get hung up on it, I guess.
I know what you mean Louise. I grew up in a house built in the late 19th century. My father spent all 20 years that we lived there working on it, exposing the beams in the ceiling, cultivating the landscape... just everything.
When I went back to visit it only 5 years after we sold it, the 'updated' it to look modern. Tore out the floor to ceiling bay window and put in a sliding glass door. Covered up the beams and put in recessed lighting. Everything that was unique about the place was turned into run of the mill, boring.
Who released Victor from the basement?????
More importantly, WHY was he down there in the first place?
JD - If I remember correctly I think he was sent down there cause he broke his computer!! Eleanor
Welcome back, Victor. I'd be very depressed if my notebook had been on the fritz for so long. You certainly have been a patient man.
Louise:
I know what you mean about the sadness. When I last drove past the home where I grew up, I couldn't help but notice that the owners had cut down the weeping willow that she planted, nurtured, and loved when I was a teenager. That kinda hit me hard.
Thanks. It's cold and depressing in the basement. A lot nicer back up here - right next to the window with the bird feeder.
Welcome back upstairs Victor! Hope your notebook is more compliant from now on.
I liked that eye pic so much, I took one of my own. It's hard to focus that close!
Wow - the pattern looks a lot like mine! Your eyes are blue though, right? Whose house is that in your pupil?!
Cool, huh? That's my neighbor, Barney's house. I like Barney and his family, but I want more privacy. The trees can't grow fast enough in the front.
My eyes are dark blueish with yellow around the center. Do they call that blue hazel?
Any room for another tree? How much space?
Well - my celebrating was very short lived! The notebook crapped out again!! With a brand new drive in it. You cannot imagine how frustrating this is - I want to take a sledge hammer to it. Needless to say it's time for a new one. Will probably wait until after the holidays when they will be cheaper. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
Back in my cave.