I just can't believe the transformation the house has gone through recently, its becoming such a special place. I'm even beginning to love that its got all of these crazy angles and funny spaces, to me it feels like a house that grew over time rather than being plopped into its space all at once.

When I started this project one thing that came as a relief was that the existing roof did not leak.  It was quite a surprise considering all of the problems this poor old house had, but it looked relatively new and I was happy to wait to change it.  I had big dreams to create an addition to the upstairs that would change the awkward roof line, so my plan was to wait to redo the roof someday when I had the funds.  A month or so ago we installed a new fireplace and along with it the old chimney had to be torn down and a new one created (you don't even want to know how dangerous the old chimney was).  Once the new chimney was underway it became evident that the existing roof was going to have to be replaced, and immediately.  On top of that, the roof itself is so crooked and has so many strange angles that my dream of an old fashioned tin roof was quickly put aside for the practicality and relative price of regular run-of-the-mill shingles. The scary part was that I had to pick the color online without seeing it in real life, which I'm very comfortable doing for most things, but for a 30 year roof? eek!  Anyhow, I decided on Classic Black. Yesterday I went up to the house, I was so scared that the roof was going to be this huge black hole in the landscape, but it wasn't. I was relieved to see that it just kind of goes away.  And once we get the siding done, it will look like a real house. Notice the dormer window (its replacing the very ugly skylight that was the only window in the upstairs bathroom). The dormer window is the very mini version of the addition I had in mind (which I guess could still happen someday). It doesn't quite have the effect of the addition, but to me there is something charming about it which is a small miracle.  I can live with it now anyhow. The rest of the roof (on the right) should be done by the time I visit the house again next week.
Here are some shots of the interior from yesterday.  I can't wait to see it again next week!

Here you can see that the ceiling is finished in the upstairs, and the collar ties are installed. 

This is the little bedroom upstairs.   

And this is the fireplace room. I love the French door and the interior window! I can't wait to see it all painted.    

Visit My Brooklyn Garden, where I learn how to nurture a Clematis.   

Yes, there is plenty of stuff going on at the house, but I'm interrupting this blog to invite you to check out My Brooklyn Garden, my new mini journal.

A few months ago Ron said to me that once the sheet rock goes up that things were going to change really fast. I believed him at the time, but I wasn't truly expecting the space to be transformed from its sad and homely state into something actually lovely so quickly!

The sun room is literally flooded with sunlight.  

Even the entry way looks pretty! 

I really love the change in direction in the bead board on the ceiling from the living room to the "dining room" (that's the dining room pictured above, you can see the ceiling of the living room at the top of the image. It seems that the "dining room" is going to be quite tiny, more like a "dining hallway", but I'll figure something out...).   

Here is a shot of Ron and Greg putting the ceiling up in the attic. 

And this is Adrianna, just because she is so cute! 

This is the familiar view of the attic room, but my how things have changed! As you can see, the sheet rock is up, taped and mudded.  In fact, the whole house is sheet rocked, and the beadboard for the ceilings has been delivered. It is actually beginning to feel like a home!  My romantic attachments to the exposed beams and almost dirt floors notwithstanding, I was amazed to feel that when it is complete, this little cottage might even be described as beautiful. 

Here are a few shots of the completed sheet rock: 

This is the little bedroom upstairs. Once the ceiling is installed (that's the beadboard on the floor) Ron and his team will extend the sheetrock all of the way to the top.

This is an alternate view of the main upstairs bedroom.  My only quibble with this is that the windows are not equidistant from the two walls.  I think this is one of those things that an architect would have pointed out to me before building the wall on the left... I am planning to eventually come to love this inequity through my firm belief in the the Beauty of Imperfection (for reinforcement, I plan to reread, several times if necessary, the seminal essay of the same title in Soetsu Yanagi's book, The Unknown Craftsman).  

And now that the sheet rock is done and the house is feeling more like a home I have had the opportunity to start searching for more exciting things, like interior windows and mantles.  On Monday I went out to Olde Good Things in Scranton Pennsylvania, a huge warehouse of salvaged materials. My goal was to find a 40-inch x 40-inch window that would become the interior window between the sun room and living room and also a fireplace mantle. 

It surprised me that I was quickly able to find the perfect window. The window you see leaning on the wall above is the exact same scale as the top section of the living room windows, and its even the right size. 

 
However, among the hundreds of mantles, I found only one which would suit the suburban dimensions of my fireplace insert.  It was a homely thing that had been uncerimoniously ripped from its previous home.  It was covered in dirt, and had lots of weird boards attached to it.  One leg was about 12 inches longer than the other. But, as it was the only one I found after my 2.5 hour drive, I bought it with the faint hope that its simple lines and small scale would suit the room.  Once Ron took his crowbar and saw to it, we were both amazed at its effect. Not only does it suit the room, it added its own elegant voice to the story.  Wow!