I Built the Library- All by Myself!

Back Parlor - the next room to be attacked

Finished Mantle in Fireplace Bedroom

New Moldings in Front Parlor

Library by day

The Cubbyhole where my desk and computer will eventually be, still need trim around the edge and base molding

Library doors by night - I love my Batik curtains!

Yes, Folks, and I build it all by myself!

Second section, the start, thursday

The library 1st section, took all day Wednesday, as I was figuring it out as I went...The room is so crooked I drove myself crazy the first half of the day with "do I run with the crooked or do I force it to be level?" Anwser....run with the crooked.

Hi All,, Was down at the house for 6 days...my reason at first was to go down to secure up the house due to the break in.....But luckily and thank God, it turns out it was the electrician. He was waiting for our neighbor to let him in, and our neighbor was late, so Chris shimmied under the back porch and let himself in up through the gutted first floor bath. BUT, if Chris can get in that way, so can anyone. So added locks, security cameras, the works...now if someone wants to get in, they will have to break a window.

But I wanted to get the library built, so I arrived Tuesday afternoon, took measurements, and was off to Lowes the following day at 6:30 am. I arrived home by 8:00 and began to build. From start to finish it took Wed, Thurs & Fri, all 16 hour days. Friday I finished about 5 pm, but stayed up until 2:00 am unpacking and sorting books and getting them onto the shelves. Then I was able to decorate! I love the morrocan/indonisian feel, so that was my goal in this room...thus all the really bright colors. I definitely need a chair and an ottoman, perhaps a small table. Still to be done is the trim edge around the desk cubbyhole, and floor molding, which will happen in July when I go down.

Also had the trim guy come over and do the molding around the windows in the front parlor. I have some sheetrock maintenance to do in that room, as the cuts around the windows were not the best, but I have to stain & poly the molding first; again - July.

I got myself a wonderful tool...a heat gun, and used it to continue stripping the paint off the front door. Cut the time in half, and a heck of a lot less messy than the goopy paint remover stuff. I will be tackling the mantle for both the front parlor and the library, so they will be ready to travel back down with me in July, to be re-installed.

Then the sad part...I was driving home Monday, left the house at 3:30 am and by 4:30 I had reached Greenville. I missed my turn, as it was pitch black and pouring. I saw some sort of small animal run across the road, and I pulled up to it. It was a little dog; blonde, floppy eared, no collar, but looked healthy. I called to him/her, and she stopped and looked at me. I did a u-turn, and got out of the car to try to call her out of the road...it is a 4 lane highway...she took one look at me and ran away, and got hit by a car!!!! I screamed! The car just kept going, and the dog, who got clipped on either the shoulder or the back quarter, ran off screaming into the bushes! I can only pray that she made it home ok, and that her owners had enough sense to take her to a vet. I am very worried for her, and the image keeps replaying over and over in my head. I cried for an hour while driving home.

Back to life in NJ, work, selling the house, the veggie garden, and our septic tank is being pumped today, so I will have to put my front garden back together - oh the damage...but for now...see you later..I will post more pictures of my trip later today...