Before and After: Salem House main floor bath and hall.

So, one of the reasons Salem House was chosen is that is has two full bathrooms. This is an unusual occurrence in the little neighborhood of little houses from the 1940s.
The main floor has a bathroom, and the basement has a nice, big bathroom as well (we'll get to that one later...much later).
The main floor of Salem came to us in the (politically incorrect) color ; Dirty Flesh. My older readers will recall the crayon in the Crayola Big Box called "Flesh". This was abandoned in 1962, partly in response to the "Duh" moment that it was acknowledged that flesh is many different colors. Then again, so is "sky blue". But anyhow, "Flesh" was changed to "Peach". But, the color of Salem's walls didn't look like Peach at all. It looked like the dirty "Flesh" color crayon in my childhood crayon box. Now, as an aside, I should point out that if you are picturing the nifty gold and green box;  "64 Crayons! With Sharpener!" and the fold back lid with all those tidy rows of fantasy colors inside, you aren't picturing my childhood crayon box. Mine was a square wooden cookie jar, with a faded rooster on the side and rick-rack painted trim. The box was full of crayon bits of all lengths, none of them sharp. I wasn't even born for 6 years after "Flesh" was changed to "Peach". My Eldest Sister wasn't born until after "Flesh" was no longer. So, not just hand-me-down crayons, friends....Garage Sale crayons. Perhaps these early moments helped shape my can-do attitude. I, too, can color, but I can do it with garage sale, un-sharpened crayons. 40 years later, why can't I rip apart a bathroom? Well, to be fair, I tore up my first bathroom 15 years ago at Oklahome. 

So, here is the "dirty flesh/peach" color walls. Hereafter named "Fleach". The dirt was added after the original paint job, but accumulated nicely.

 And, this was the bathroom.

 It's not bad. Really. Just a cosmetic problem. It needs to be cleaned. Definitely some paint. And the fleach tile is awkward. For one, someone put it in in the last 25 years, and they didn't make it quite to the wall. Plus, there is no where to put "stuff" on the sink or near the sink, and girls need places to put "stuff" when they are getting ready of a morning.
So maybe I can live with the fleach tile if I paint the bathroom a truffle brown? Lots of white trim? (This is what I was thinking...) Then, maybe if I replace the stick on, vinyl baseboard with real base, it will do.
So, I ripped off the stick on vinyl base"board". This was my first mistake.
I then realized that behind the toilet was a large "hump". Uh oh. More investigation revealed the vinyl tiles on the floor weren't actually stuck down around the tub, but more or less held on by caulked edges. So, my cosmetic problem became a functional one. 

 So, must go.

 And, since it is Spring Break, why go to Key West when one can demolish a bathroom?
Youngest came to pitch in.

As you can see, the subfoor is rotting. And this is not new. No, this is pre-vinyl tile rot. The previous repairer of bathrooms replaced an 8" square around the toilet flange, and then just stuck vinyl tiles over the rotted bits. Thus the "Hump" behind the toilet. The subfloor next to the tub is likewise powdered into oblivion. Another note: the toilet flange opening does not appear to be blocked in this photo. Not sure why, as there is a large piece of newsprint balled up in there to block the smell from coming up and any debris from falling in. I recommend doing this.

 

To be fair, I staged these photos during "lunch break". He wore a mask and gloves when really demolishing. And I wore those plus goggles, not having glasses.

 One of the joys of working with Youngest- he always leaves little gifts around on any camera.



Bathrooms are projects that always dance one step forward, and another back. Youngest and I got the old subfloor ripped up, the fleach tile off the wall and the ceiling and walls painted.  Huz came to help one day and we got the walls covered with wainscot, and the trim done at the top of the wainscot. I then began to tile the floor and got the tile down with two days or so before I could come back so ample time to dry.
But there are many points at which I think "Yikes! What have I gotten myself into here?" And, I just take it bit by bit, and keep plugging away. It doesn't always look pretty.

 Like, how is this mess going to get fixed? I mixed the grout, and began the task, but it wasn't very smooth, and it took some real elbow grease to make the rubber float do its thing. This is after hours spent painstakingly pulling the tile adhesive out of the joints where I had been overzealous in application. I haven't done little tile on a floor since the Flutterby Farm bathroom in 1999. I forgot. And that time I had help! My friend Dee Dee and her husband John were driving through Oklahoma and stopped to tile my bathroom. I love friends! Evidently, I need to tile floors more often, and I wouldn't forget the details.


Then, when the floor was done, and the base boards were cut, painted and on, it was time to get something useful back in the bathroom. Like a toilet.
Which is something I can't do alone anymore. I prefer to not think of it as a strength issue, but more of a triumph of wisdom. So, I finagled a way to get Eldest and her friend Jordan to stop by after class, and they held up the toilet while I worked the wax ring and the toilet bolts into place.

 Full disclosure: the bathroom isn't done! I need to have three hands, and so I'm hoping for a bit more help to finish up the sink....hint hint hint. And, I should've taken a picture from inside the room. Maybe y'all will just have to come see it.


Oh, and one more B&A: The hallway. 

Before in dirty fleach. With the baseboards showing where the old pink shag ended, and unhappy floors- lots of paint splatters. Still- it has a cute linen closet with vintage knobs!

 After: walls are done in Martha Stewart "Enamelware" and bright white trim. Floors are sanded and oiled and waxed. It is bright and fresh. To the left on the hall is Spring Pond, and to the right is Essex. These are bedrooms, and they are likewise finished, but not yet furnished, so may wait for the reveal....

Before and After- Salem House Kitchen!

The long awaited (at least by me) reveal of Salem House can now begin!


The room I started in, the day we closed on the house was the kitchen. It was the worst eyesore in my opinion, because it was drab and sad, and a kitchen shouldn't be thus!


Here are the kitchen pictures when I began. I will make them all small, so as decrease their impact.

The positives about the space as I saw them:
It has two windows and a door to a nice back yard. 
It has a vintage stove, a working dishwasher and a double sink.
The floor is relatively new, is cushy, easy to clean, and is protecting the woodfloors that are most likely several layers beneath.

The negatives:
It is ew.


So, armed with a $500, plus the need for to replace the fridge, so tack on another $500, and two arms...

A new, cute kitchen! I decided to make it a fun, colorful space. With college age inhabitants, and a compact space, it didn't need to be too serious.

The "can pantry" is a concept my Dad suggested several houses ago for a narrow space in another compact kitchen. I have used it many times since then, finding it to be useful, attractive and works well in small spaces. The shutters on the windows, I wanted for privacy, but to also to let the light in from the upper half of the window. As I was thinking of trolling thrift stores for shutters, a search in the depths of the upstairs closet revealed them- probably original and taken down years ago. Fresh paint and a graphic colorful fabric, and voila!  The table was a leftover at an auction, so they through it in with a lot I had purchased for $5.00. The top had been laminate but was broken and part was gone. It is a nice, heavy wooden pedestal table, so, I ripped off the rest of the laminate and painted it with a checkerboard pattern. I love the island. This was a Christmas present from my parents some years ago. It has a beautiful marble top and is not only workspace but storage. It had never found the right home at Cowfeathers, and is a natural fit for Salem House.

 

 

 

 

These are all the same cabinets as in the "before pictures". They've just been modified a bit. The upper cabinets lost their doors and then were painted. Middlest did the first layer with a Kilz Primer. She hasn't come back to Salem to work since...I guess it wasn't her kind of job. I then framed out the area above the cabinets for further shelving and to bring height into the room. The upper shelving is visually supported by the little corbels I added underneath. The counter tops are in good condition, so were kept. The base cabinets just needed paint and personality. I wanted them to look more like freestanding furniture, so I made them "feet" and painted them different colors- well one got a color, the others got my favorite- white. Each base also has it's own unique hardware (found by digging around in dusty bins at Habitat for Humanity Restore) which gives them each an identity.

The entry into the kitchen from the hall is still rather narrow, but it doesn't feel so closed in as the upper cabinets over the stove are gone. I also got rid of the tall pantry cabinet between the stove and the refrigerator. It was falling apart, and it took up a lot of visual space in the room. It was the largest thing in the kitchen.  In it's place I built a freestanding shelf for the microwave, with storage underneath and a wood counter.

The stove still needs to have a vent hood added over the cooktop, but I am accumulating electrician jobs so I can have them all done at one time. The wood counter next to the stove is "2 by" culled from the "free" pile at the Home Depot. I brought home long pieces of warped 2x8 and then chose unwarped sections for the counter. I stained it and waxed it with beeswax, added a cutting board, thereby creating a counter top that fit into my budget. The cute strawberry tea kettle was a gift from Nana for Eldest. It adds even more cheer to this colorful space!

The ceiling fan stayed, but the blades were painted white to help it disappear into the ceiling (a surface which had 4 coats of white applied by Eldest!) The back door makes  me smile every time I walk into the room. A bright daffodil yellow in a small burst of color is a treasure. This photograph was taken from where the refrigerator stands. After the old fridge was hauled away for recycling, and before I purchased the new one, the kitchen seemed pretty large! In this photo, I have not added the hardware to the cabinets yet. Oh, and I forgot to mention the back splash. In this quirky kitchen, I wanted something for the back splash that would be unique. These are floral or craft marbles, in sea glass colors and finish. They add polish, without being stuffy, and hold a secret. I know I've mentioned this before in other blogs, but I'm a little kid inside about these things. I love homes with secrets. Bookshelves that conceal a door, openings in a wall, passages, newel posts, I love all those things. I remember a little wooden house my parents had that was really a puzzle that if you turned every little bit just right revealed a little hidden chamber. As a child I loved to sit in my father's study and open it properly. Mystery and secrets can be fun.

This is a closer up photo of the bottom cabinets. I chose handles for the upper drawers that can also double as towel holders, if you tuck a dish towel through. But I also hung a glass knob between the cabinets for easy towel placement. 

I took this photo because I was fascinated by the circles in this project. This is a 70 year old house. It has had several chapters in it's past, and some of the history is revealed as you get to know a place. Cleaning and painting every inch really gets you introduced!  But as I worked on this main floor, room after room showed glimpses of it's history matched what I had planned for it's future. I painted the walls this blue with a dash of green and then found an area chipped away in the hall corner (where someone had bashed it) that revealed nearly the same exact shade as the base color. As I scrubbed the base boards on hands and knees, preparing to add a fresh coat of white, chipped areas show the same- really same! shade of yellow with which I had already adorned the door. And the bright turquoise was found in both living room and one bedroom. It suits.

Over the windows and the door, I added shelving. Again, it gives height, adds space for items, and is informal and sweet. On the shelves above the windows, at the back, are three signs I made. They are the translation, and also my hope for Salem. The read "Salem", "Saalam" and "Peace".

Pony Club Quiz Kids- Whiz kids!

Okay, that was a long hiatus from blogging! But, we have not been idle.
I am excited to share some photos from the burgeoning transformation of Salem House. I feel like I have so much to do there, but it helps to catalog what has been done. I will post photos of the kitchen soon. It is mostly done, but does need a refrigerator (I hate to spend the money!) Two of the bedrooms are finished, and the main floor bathroom is demolished... a lot to do there still!


Meanwhile, Huz and Middlest have been to Disney and back with the marching band where they were featured in a parade, and I have spent many hours in the barn- the cold, cold barn- doctoring the hind limbs of Middlest's horse. The week after we lost Pearl, Middlest discovered Chanelle in the early morning, in my horse's stall, with much damage inflicted to her right hind in particular and the gate with which she had tangled on the other side of the paddock. What exactly happened, we'll never know. What we do know is what came next; another early morning call to our Horsevet Hero, Dr. Peter Meuse. I worked on getting her cleaned up and ready to be fixed, but it became apparent it was not going to be an easy job. The first day he sewed up the wound near her tarso-crural joint; at the middle front of her hock, and we injected it with antibiotics, in case the joint capsule was compromised, but the swelling was too great to fix the largest wound down the front inside of her cannon bone. Amazingly, she had missed all the major tendons there and after some wrapping work to get the swelling down, he came back out on a Friday night to close the bigger wound. Just for perspective, I was working too that evening, and arrived home after 10:30 pm to Dr. Meuse still in the barn. Poor guy! But, with diligent care, the sutures came out a few days ago, and now we are working on other issues to see where we get with her rehab. She needs to regrow a lot of skin!  Amazingly, after day 1, she never seemed lame. Thoroughbreds.


And, this past weekend, I was feeling brave enough to leave her in Dr. Meuse and Huz's care and drive my champion children to West Virginia to compete in the Tri-State Region of the United States Pony Club Quiz Competition. This is Middlest's third year competing in Quiz, and Youngest's first Pony Club Competition. It is like "College Bowl" about horses, and a practical examination all rolled into one. It is 12 hours of Pony Club horse questions and hands on knowledge about the sport of horses, and the only Pony Club competition to which you don't bring an actual horse. 
At the end of the day I had two of the top 12 scorers in the entire competition in my family, and 4 of the top 12 in my car. 8 of 9 of our Hunters Run Pony Club competitors qualified to compete in the National Pony Club Championships in Kentucky this summer. That would be 8 of 12 in the region. When I say these kids are good, I mean they're fantastic.

Perfect Plaits: The team gets up early to make sure braids are done just alike- Youngest was spared as the only boy!

The Ladies, and Gent of Team HRPC!

Our Senior D team placed second by a hair. That's Middlest second from the left.

And our scramble team with HRPC and BPC of Junior D's placed second as well!  Youngest is the fella.

My handsome Youngest, beams with pride. He was a high point scorer.

Our 3-man team of Senior C's killed it! They were first by a mile.

But, our Junior D team was the third place team score overall ( 25 teams).

And one of our own, K. Z. had the second highest score of all competitors for the day. (For the second year in a row- YOWZA!)

 

 

 

I am so proud of my Pony Clubbin' kids!

Practically Perfect Pearl at Peace.

February is "supposed" to be relaxing. A month to recharge your batteries for the onslaught of spring and the work it brings to the farm.
Somehow that ideal is too idyllic to be realistic. February is a busy month. True, not so busy farm-wise, although the bitter cold of this winter has added challenges to the daily chore routine. Both our big water troughs have burst their seams with ice, making them purely decorative. And we've had to be vigilant about making sure there is adequate warmth for the critters- although the sheep don't seem to be bothered by even the nastiest of negative temps and wind. How do you tell when sheep are bothered? I'm not sure. They tend to be a bit black and white in the "alive= fine" , "dead= not". Category. No one has died, and they seem awfully content.
We have two late February birthdays in the family with both Youngest and Eldest marking off another year.
 I had a mind expanding few days at the Midwest Veterinary Conference, being schooled in everything from dermatology and cat behaviors to traditional Chinese herbal and energy healing.
  We got iced in one day, much to Huz' chagrin. His little Jetta wasn't equal to the task of driving on 2" of ice pack. The sun came out and gave us a huge assist, followed by a few hours spent chunking up ice with shovels, and the truck for a tow, we made it out the next day.

 The sun was a huge boost for our spirits, and one fine Saturday, I came home from work and suggested to the kids we get Pearl out for a bareback jaunt around Cowfeathers. Pearl is the perfect candidate for the first ride of spring, as she is the least likely to get out of hand and cause strife. Or, so I thought until I was pulling off her blanket and for whatever reason (static electricity, nervous energy, hormones, funsies) Pearl kicked me- HARD- in the left thigh. That earned me a top 3 contender in the "Worst Bruises of my Life" contest, knocking the bruise from the Great Dairy Cow Poop Skiing Incident of 1989 out of the bronze position in the medals. And, it made sure I couldn't be the rider. I did get Middlest up there to give Pearlie a go, and make sure she was feeling sane enough for Youngest to have a turn. I hung around as long as possible to watch them both ride, as my thigh grew and bled under the skin, hot and painful. I wanted them to ride, but I needed lots of ice, epsom salts and arnica!  Demonstrating where my kids get their resilience, I then decided to snap a few pictures, it was so pretty outside!

What I didn't know at the time was these would be the last pictures we have of Pearl.

Last Thursday saw me in the ER for my first- hopefully last- bout with kidney stones. So far, Kidney Stones: 1, Me: 0. The final bell has not rung, but I got K.O.'d in the second round, and decided a hospital bed and IV pain medication were pretty helpful. So, while I laid next to my ornery fluids machine, mashing buttons every ten minutes when it went to beeping, at home, Pearl was feeling bad.
At 5:40 am when Middlest went up to feed the animals, she knew right away Pearl was in trouble, and started working on her. Soon, Youngest noticed Middlest was missing and found her with Pearl outside in the driveway, trying to keep Pearl from going down. Huz, Middlest, Dr. Peter Meuse of Bella Vista Equine Veterinary Services and dear, dear friends stepped in to try and save the pony, transporting her to Ohio State Veterinary Medical's Galbreath Equine Center for surgery. Before noon, our Practically Perfect Pearl was gone. We elected to euthanize her in surgery because of a strangulating lipoma (fatty mass) that had cut off the blood supply to much of her small intestine. The prognosis was non-recoverable.
My sobbing, soggy self wanted to go home.
The nurses at the hospital, with great sympathy, moved quickly to get my discharge done so I could head home to grieve with my family. Thankfully the stubborn stone, although not ready to move on, had subsided in the bulk of it's pain, and allowed me to try the waiting game at home.
Pearl's stall is empty.
But, our hearts are still full. We are held up by the love of our friends and family who have been amazingly supportive. So many kindnesses, great and small.
I found myself wondering why.  I couldn't remember ever doing anything generous or kind for anyone. It's an odd place that shock, pain meds and sadness puts you in... and although I knew I must have done something for someone sometime, I truly couldn't come up with an example. Then, I found a sweet place, where I realized it didn't matter. Our friends were giving to us because they wanted to, and it isn't about keeping score. It is about accepting the words, and the love and allowing them to help you stay afloat. Joy, from sadness.

I play Damsel In Distress, and Martha Stewart in a day.

I had meant to spend the day yesterday working on the kitchen in Salem House. Eldest and I drove through the snow to get there, roads weren't great, but I wasn't expecting much more than flurries. We arrived at the house and proceeded to get to work shoveling the driveway. It is a short drive- lucky for us, but iced over, so it still took about 40 minutes. In that time the cleared area behind us was getting covered with snow again, and the flakes had saturated our heads, and found their way under my collar. I abandoned the idea of spending the day there as the snow continued in earnest.
So, I dropped Eldest at her dorm, and proceeded to head home. I was doing okay until I got behind some slow moving cars in the section of road Huz calls the "whoop de dos". They are thusly named because the road goes up and down and curves like a roller coaster (well, a pretty tame one anyway, this is Ohio).  I tried stopping at the top of a hill to give the cars in front some time to clear the next hill before I went down then up again, but cars behind meant I had to continue on. Sadly, about the third "whoop", my car, which had little traction to start the hill, lost most all it's purchase and we crept along by inches, wheels spinning wildly. But it soon became apparent that I was "going nowhere, fast" ( I finally understand exactly what that means), as I pushed the gas and moved not a bit. So, about 30 yards from the hill's crest, I put it in park. After a few minutes, folks started going around me. My main option was to push, or be pushed. But, this is minimally a two man job. Someone needs to push, someone needs to steer. I watched a blue pick up truck come over the crest of the hill towards my stationary vehicle and slide sideways for about way too far. But, he corrected before running into us. Yay. I got out of the car to attempt to recruit a likely pushing candidate, wishing I was looking more helpless. Paint-smeared coveralls and well worn muck boots don't scream "HELP ME" nearly as much as more lady-like fashion. And, no matter my fashion choice or my sex, I needed help. One lady rolled down her window as she passed and asked "Are you having trouble?" I thought that funny! And another two drivers thought honking at me to move would help. Also funny.
Eventually, a kind fellow offered to push. He was shortly joined by a mother and teen aged son who all joined in to get me pushed up the hill. Thank you, thank you, kind strangers. You paid it forward.
I also had an offer of help from a friend via telephone, but, frustratingly, my cell phone just for this period of time, decided to not accept button pushing, so as my supporter made the phone ring and ring, no mashing of buttons would allow me to answer. UGH. God is in all things.
Which brings me to the relief of finally getting back to Cowfeathers and watching the snow fall from the comfort of tea and the windows of a home.

With the wonder of unexpected time, I embarked on an experiment. The evening before had been our 4-H Club Chinese Auction. There was nearly 450 items available to win, including some really big, amazing things. Alas, I was the winner of but one lot. Two pressed glass, heavy bowl shaped candle holders. I appreciated their simplicity, and we do live in the pressed glass capital- Anchor Hocking country. So, I dug them out of the box of 4-H paperwork and decided to experiment with bake on enamel paint. I had picked some up on my last trip to the craft store, and then God (again, in all things, did not think I needed the paper shredder or the soft leather couch, or the enormous gas grill, or the garden cart or the..... ) thought to put these little candle holders in my hands, and brand new enamel paint with no home.

So, I selected the green apple color and proceeded to paint the inside of the candle holders. In between stages, I did a cross word, and read "Dear Abby". Above is one painted, and one pre-paint. After I was done with these, I like them so well, I delved into the pantry shelves to claim the array of cheap floral vases on hand and continue to play.
 I added royal blue and a happy yellow to my repertoire. Then I put them in the oven and baked the suckers. 

 Note that there are three green, three blue and one yellow. Odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye in groupings of things.

Now, I'm not sure where they will actually end up. I think they are most suited for display- up high, because the paint shows streaks when seen from above. But, they are dishwasher safe, if not food safe, so I think they can be given a chance with flowers again.
I see a handful of dianthus "pinks" in the petite yellow vase with their little spear-shaped curly blue leaves and cheerful pink faces, and a collection of generous, boozy peonies in the tall blue one. How about lilacs in the tall green? Or a strong-stalked purple globe of allium?
Could I be hankering for spring? The joy of warm feet and hands? Certainly plausible!

Gluten Free Irish Soda Bread, and true confessions.

My morning began with a cold nose (only thing peeking out of the multiple layers of warm-making items) and a voice saying "TEXT FROM: AMY. READ NOW?". Why does it talk to me? Why when my cellphone is silenced that irksome voice doesn't comply? Is it a politician?
Anyway, there are much worse ways to begin to stir, and a text from a beloved pal is most appreciated, so I allowed hand to join nose and come out from under the covers.
The text concerned the baking of non-glutenous breads. My friend had suffered an unsuccessful attempt at baking and was looking for tips. I imparted that I had a favorite recipe, and would send it on.
It is ridiculously easy. And tasty. Thus a favorite. I mean easy. 
At the risk (great and imminent) of revealing my lazy core, I thought I'd not only share it with Ames, but with anyone so interested.

And, while I'm having "true confessions" I will be up front and tell all that I have taught my son, Youngest, to bake this bread. Yep. Lazy.

It is from the cookbook "Gluten-Free on a Shoestring" by Nicole Hunn ( okay, okay, I'm lazy and cheap!).


Crucial is the oven-proof skillet. I use a Calphalon skillet given to us as a wedding present 20 years ago. Also important is that it uses GF APF (Gluten Free all-purpose flour). Many bread recipes use about 9 different flours, and that would not qualify in the lazy category. Oh, in the following, t. = teaspoon and T.= tablespoon.

3 C. GF APF ( I have tried several brands of Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour. Most do fine.  I'm least fond
                        of Bob's Red Mill. Great GF brownie mix, terrible, grainy GF APF)
1 1/2 t. xanthan gum
3/4 C. sugar
2 1/4 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. cream of tartar
6 T. unsalted butter, diced and chilled
2 C. raisins (I don't use these, ever, but you're welcome to try)
2 T. caraway seeds (also optional, but I LOVE them in this bread)
1 1/2 C. milk (lowfat (or 1%) is fine, but skim doesn't do. So, if I have skim, I add a bit of half-half or cream)
2 t. white wine vinegar
1 extra-large egg (the only kind my chickens make!)

Preheat the oven to 350* F. Grease a 10 or 12 inch oven proof skillet with sides on it using unsalted butter.

In a large bowl (Okay, true confessions, again. I do the WHOLE DARN RECIPE in my food processor. So, if you're the owner of a large capacity food processor, just add it all in there).
Anyway, in a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar. Whisk to combine (or pulse a few times on the food processor).

Place the cold, diced butter into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Using a hand held pastry blender, or two knives, (OR THE FOOD PROCESSOR) cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles small peas, or a bit more crumbly than dusty. The idea is for the butter to be in small pieces, and each small piece is surrounded by the flour mixture. Stir in your optional ingredients (at least try the caraway). 

Add the milk, vinegar, and egg and mix with a spoon (or pulse with the food processor) just until the mixture  comes together.

Scrape the dough into the prepared ovenproof skillet, and with wet hands, smooth the top of the dough, piling it a bit higher in the center and pulling it about 1/8 inch away from the edges of the skillet. With a sharp knife, cut a deep "X" into the center of the loaf.

Place the skillet into your preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes. Turn down the oven temperature to 325*F  and bake for another 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out completely  clean. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 30 minutes and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Add impatient. Impatient, lazy and cheap. (But well-fed).
I never let it cool. I just slice big chunks out of the skillet, slather it with butter and feel the ecstasy.

Before and Afters- Bluebells- Morphing one room into a master suite and dining room.

Ah, the memories of Bluebells. The kids were little, I had wonderful neighbors, we were discovering the joys of central Ohio, and rehabbing a sweet little place in town.
I have blogged the exterior changes and the brightening of the sunroom. So, I figured I'd keep going from back to front and show you what happened to the room that had been added in the 1950s. This room spanned the back of the house, was one story, had a linoleum floor, aluminum jalousie windows and real, thick pine paneling that was lovingly stained and assembled by the original owners. During the rehab, we found mementos Mr. Bell  had left behind. A church program left in the wall, a newspaper, things that marked the date and times in which the addition had been built. I found a place to put them all back during the reno, and added our own, perhaps to be found again someday.

On move-in day, prior to the arrival of the PB& J's from our realtor "Kuyper", I busied myself taking photos of the starting point. The room at the back of the house opened from the living room (Huz is standing in front of that opening, likely speaking to Eldest) and another door from the kitchen- later photo. The door Hannah (the dog) is going through leads to the sun room. The cutie with the pacifier stuck in her mouth is Middlest. She is inspecting the sills for bugs and dirt. Successfully.
Note in this room, an area rug of sorts, indoor/outdoor type that covers linoleum. The put up ceiling will need to go. The aluminum windows are great for brightness but a failure at energy efficiency...and beauty.

   

Before

 This picture is from the other direction. Standing in the living room opening looking back at the other side of the room. You can see the expansive wood stove in the corner, bricks stacked behind it for safety? The keeper in this room is the real pine paneling. I will sand it and paint it, giving wonderful texture to the walls without the overwhelming "pineyness".

 From the door to the sunroom, looking back to the kitchen, you can see there is a "window"- presumably the original to the kitchen. Now it has a mirror in the back and shelving. Middlest is wandering into the tiny kitchen.

 

For perspective on that wall, here is the "window" on the other side. It is over the stove and has pegboard attached to the wall. You can see the kitchen is teeny, and feels closed in. The original cabinets are terrific. The floor is not. 

Upon moving into the space, I made the changes necessary to keep me sane (that butterfly wallpaper had to go!) but otherwise waited to see how the house "lived" and what it needed to make it really wonderful.
There was a half bath downstairs, and a full bath upstairs with the two bedrooms.
What it really needed for modern living was a master suite, and a guest room, a more open kitchen, a brighter indoor space, office space and a good flow for entertaining. Tall order.
My best space to work with was this pine-paneled big room. So, with my Dad, some graph paper, and sharp pencils, we started sketching. The kitchen was opened up to the room by removing part of the wall, and adding a laminated beam (it was a load bearing wall, so needed some special consideration) The dining room was placed there, with the door to the sunroom just beyond. A wall was erected through the center of the big room, with the half of the wall closest to the sunroom notched out for a mudroom bench and storage hooks for jackets, purses etc. and the other half  housed the master bath, opened to the bedroom on the other side of the wall. The bedroom opened up from the living room, and then opened up on the other side to the patio in the back. Aw, heck. I'll just draw it for you.

Original room layout:

 After

See? Now, we have a dining room, mudroom, and master suite instead. It is now insulated, has wood floors, a drywall ceiling instead of dropped tiles, and changed the whole house.

Oh, pictures? Okay!

 This is a view of the dining area, looking into the newly opened kitchen wall. This is where the window with the mirror behind it had been in the original room. You can see the pine paneling is now white and bright. The china cabinet built-in was designed around the doors. They were in a neighbor's basement, and she was tossing them out. I gleefully snatched them up!  The built in storage below is concealed by a curtain. The era of the house lends itself to charming features like this. It incorporates a fabric, adding softness, color and is easy to create, clean and replace. The chandelier is the least expensive one I could find at Ikea that I loved, and then put shades on the lights to soften the black cast iron simpleness of the light fixture.
You  can kind of see into the kitchen where all the cabinetry that was not original to the house has been taken out, making the room bigger, and then to use the space open shelves have been added, and an island for counter work space.

 This is the mudroom area. When the framers were framing up the walls, I realized- mid framing- I wanted windows in the wall. Even if they don't open to outside, they open up a wall space and give it interest. So, while they took a lunch break, I loaded kidlets in the car and jetted around the neighborhood. Wouldn't you know, I spotted a van with window glass on it a few blocks from the school. I knocked with a "yoo-hoo anyone home" and found them pulling out windows in the second story of the house. I loaded the windows in the van, and zoomed back home so the framers could frame them up to the correct dimensions.

I covered the bench cushion in the same fabric as the china cabinet lower curtain for continuity, but added other fabrics into the pillows. I even attempted a monogram pillow with my sewing machine that says "bluebells". I did it with the zigzag stitch and not lowering the foot pedal. Not perfect, but respectable. Storage under the bench for hats, gloves and such. The soft lambskin was toted back from New Zealand by my traveling incarnation.

From the living room, with the french doors open to the master suite, and the patio and back yard beyond.
I have to point out the ceiling fan here. I am not a great fan of the ceiling fan, but we do not use air conditioning, and the fan was a pleasant way to help cool the bedroom in the summer months. The french doors here are new, but wood divided light, and old glass knobs were used, so you'd never know. The wood floors are new, because there was sub floor under the lino that was not "refinishable". Jute remains my favorite choice for large area rugs. It's naturalness and fibers are like having woven rushes. Plus it's relatively affordable!

Once inside the bedroom, to the right is the ensuite bath, with another one of the pirated windows in that wall. Again, it is a super small space, and the window opens the space up and it doesn't feel like a hole-in-the-wall.

The bathroom sink was a salvage find, and my neighbor and I tackled building the cabinet one Saturday. Again, the legs and open design to the sink cabinet makes the space feel larger.

 You can see how small the room is, but the maximum sized tub was added anyway. I put in a shower for resale value, but never used the shower head. I'm a tub girl. I had fun with the tile, even though it was same-old-same-old 4" squares, I added interest and texture by putting in a border and then setting the tile in diagonals on top. The bathrooms all got beadboard, because it's timeless. And this bathroom got a fairly deep shelf for display and storage. Under the window is a little vintage bench for non-toilet seating and for a stack of plush towels.

Ta-da! Ground floor master. 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths become 3 bedrooms 2.5 baths.... but I'm not done. I want 4 bedrooms. And that office...