Moved to Arizona

Goodby New Hampshire.... The Antrim house was cleaned, put up for sale, sold and left us with 4 weeks to clean out and leave.  Whew, what a whirlwind that was.  We only took 10% of our stuff with us and it fit in a small POD and the trailer.

Thank heavens for good friends and family helping us get everything done.  Good thing too as the new owners showed up to the closing with their dog and a truck load of things to move in.





We are now permanently in Arizona and have to start doing all the change of addresses.

.... and find nooks and crannies of where to tuck our NH things into a 900 sq. ft old adobe house.  Already I'm saying, "it doesn't fit!"  I'm going to have to have a couple of house cooling sales, including an excess of beads.


Wondering now what the last chapter of my life will bring.

Moving & Sale

We've decided that we should live in Arizona full time, so now comes the logistics of finishing a house, selling it and disposing of  many years of stuff.  I plain just have too much stuff.  Here is some of it that might be of use to beaders or anyone who crafts. Oh, house has to go too......

I've had duplicate studios in both New Hampshire and Arizona for 13 years and need to find new homes for the furniture  fixtures and extra crafting supplies.  I warn you, very few of the things that I'll be selling can be mailed.  I'm in south Central NH near the VT and Mass. borders if you are near enough for a short road trip.  

OK, here's a PDF of  Craft related things.  CLICK HERE 

This is a special/custom built bead storage cabinet...  no beads in Plano boxes go with it and I'm not sure it would fit in a car as it's 6'tall.

Small metal light table - Pre-digital graphic arts, but I still enjoy using a light table that I can throw a T-square on.  There is also a Nikon SLR camera on the list.

Cabochons - These are several lots, no picking them apart.  Both my Father and Brother made cabs from Arizona copper minerals that are rare and from now defunct mines.  What would I do with the several hundred that I have left?  Go in with a friend, buy the lot and really save.

Who wants vintage glass, bakelite or plastic necklaces for the beads?  Great selection of them to either wear or take apart.


Are any of you (or spouses) MG car aficionados?  I've also just sorted out the remains of 40 years of car restoration stuff.  The cars are long gone, but I have 2 boxes of drawings, lube charts, original operator manuals, magazines, lots of old model cars, moto meter, car badges, etc.

Organize the Studio

Why do we collect??

Today an antique dealer came and took away a very small amount of things that I'd held onto (collected) for way too many years. When I downsized from the large house to the 750 sq. ft. apartment I got rid of a lot of things, but evidently kept way too many things as it was. My Mother-in-law's 12' X 25' hand tied rug was one overly large item that I had, my son stored for a couple of years, then my daughter had, and ultimately gave back to me. I guess I dreamed of a large rural, open loft that would have enough floor space for this rug. Reality set in when I moved into a 24'x 50' ranch house. It was time to part with the danged rug and the dreams of a loft. The reality was that any rural loft-type space would boil down to being a rough drafty old barn and most of those barns are attached to houses around here in the outback of New Hampshire.

Glassware, vintage glassware - oh it's pretty, it sparkles and is so clean looking . . . . I guess it's just like over sized glass beads. I filled this table 4 times and now it's gone to another home. It was hard to choose, but I kept a hutch full of my favorite pieces and things I thought I just might still put to use. I've always used my vintage glassware and still enjoy a glass of wine in my 1930's etched green and pink wine glasses. I can close my eyes and imagine myself as a svelte, swinging flapper with long swinging beads when I use those glasses.


Studio Reality . . .

Here's the why of getting rid of stuff.
The studio furniture just managed to fit on one wall today. Well, 1/8" of wiggle room was left. Whew, it did fit though. I learned an important lesson though - don't wait 30 years to clean out your huge Southern Pacific oak desk...... Talk about antiquated office supplies and other strange stuff in there. I now have 3 completely empty drawers and my kids can worry about the next clean out - I won't be here for that one. Now I need to find room for the stuff on top of the desk



and all of this stuff on the opposite wall. No closets here to hide things away as it's in the house's dining room.

Oh, and the beads & supplies are still in the trailer and need to come in!





...and this stuff that's currently on a table in the living room.

Maybe I'll have a functional studio soon - I sure hope so as I've got ideas and can't put my hands on a danged thing. And the kitchen is worse as I've already moved things around several times.


Almost a month back in New Hampshire and the place still looks like a hoarder's abode with paths between stacks of stuff. I don't mind a totally messy studio, but the rest of the house is another story.

Gotta Organize Studio

Now that the new kitchen floor is all done I've got to get the mess that is my Summer studio sorted out, organized and working. I've got several ideas for CraftEdu workshops that need to be done. Top of the list is a complete How-To on bead crochet and next is one on making bead crochet toggles.

My desk really is under there - all the way back in the corner.

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I finished the last sample of the expanded flat Caterpillar while having the oil changed in my car this week. The piece on the far left will be a bracelet project. I've got enough samples in two sizes of beads as well as a couple of design variations. Now I'm antsy and want to get it all pulled together for Part 1 of an eBook on the technique. This is the odd# pattern and Part 2 will be the even# pattern that will allow diamonds to work.

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So, now I've really got to get my rear in gear and get things moved around so I can get back to beading.

Moved

Spent Thanksgiving weekend eating turkey, pie and moving. Finally got smart and hired 2 men and a truck to do the heavy things. What a difference; 3 1/2 hours and they were all done and it sure saved out backs stress and strain.






Everything is stuffed into the new house and it may well stay that way till the spring. The kitchen, bathroom and bed are functional and we need to head for Arizona right quick. Friends tell us that the first major snow storm is due a week from tomorrow. So far we've been very lucky to have had a long, warm fall. Cross your fingers that we hit the road on Sunday, as planned.

The beads will remain packed from the move and I just hope I can find all of the rest of the things that are destined for the AZ winter. No beading and probably won't be til January. At that point I need to get something done as I've been approached by a German beading magazine for a series of articles. That makes two magazines that are going to want things done early in 2010.

Bead Line Studios on Vacation

I'm going to put everything bead related on hold til late December, including book & DVD sales from my web site. I've got to move all of my stuff to the new house. Then there is Thanksgiving, getting things ready for the trek to Arizona, driving across country, a visit in New Orleans, and getting the Arizona house opened back up. Whew, I'm tired already!


On a side note; I'm in love with the way my bamboo floors turned out in the new house.




I may post in the next month, and I may not. Depends on how the time organization goes.

Enjoy your Holidays.

Floors

I'm finally seeing light at the end of this project

*floors going down*

The recycled click-together tiles in the bathroom are looking fantastic. I thought they would work, but until you see something like this in place you can never be quite certain.


I love the bamboo flooring. My Son said the whole effect was "upscale urban townhouse looking" - all of that in a very rural, little ranch house? He is putting the flooring down and threatned to throw me out when I tried to indulge my creative side. I was trying to arrange boards in a pleasing manner. He's right, random is easier and comes out looking just as nice.

Now comes the decision time:

What needs to be done so we can actually move in?

What can wait til next Spring?

I don't want to wait until we're snowed in before heading out for Arizona for the winter.

Careful what you wish for

Back in September I said,
" Now I wish I could replace my antique oak table with one of those retro red and chrome 50's kitchen table sets. That would look awesome in this kitchen."

I was semi-joking when I mentioned the table because because I'd only ever seen one red one for sale and it cost as much as half my beads. 1930's through 1950's anything in red seems to be popular and very expensive.
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This was in the Salvation Army store in Concord NH today.

I hesitated.

I hemmed & hawed,

walked away and went back

to look again.

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The table came home with me.

It really wanted to live in my yellow kitchen.

Now I need help. I need to find 4 to 6 chairs to go under it.

Summer Studio (to be)

Paint instead of wallpaper? Should be easy, I thought. Well, not when some idiot house manufacturer applied flocked vinyl wall paper right onto the wallboard. I tried wetting it. I tried one of those thingies that makes holes and then wetting it. Nothing, nada, it still pulled a lot of the underlying paper with it. So I resigned myself to a lot of work to get what I wanted, rolled up my sleeves and ....R i i i i p ... pulled it all off dry.

That meant picking at the edges of the wallboard paper to remove any that was still lose. Then I put a coat of "Gardz" sealer on the wall. That stuff sort of glues everything down and waterproofs the wall. Next came a skim coat of joint compound to even up the edges of the ripped paper. Sand all of that, touch up any places I missed and sand again. Next came a coat of "Bin" primer on the high gloss lower portion. I wanted the decorative molding gone, but the thought of repairing what would be left made me quickly change my mind.

Finally I could paint the studio walls. Two coats of matte gray paint and it looks pretty decent. I can still see the flaws here and there, but I don't think anyone else will notice them. Today will see the other half painted and then I can do the window and door trim

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My arms and shoulders are tired. It sure has put me back into shape quicker than any gym workouts!

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I have marks all over the floor trying to see where studio furniture will fit and work the best. Being visual, I need to see it, stand where my desk will go and look around. I still am wondering just how I'll get all of my creative junk into this room.

Now we're up against a 4 week deadline and it's looking like we'll move stuff in, winterize the house and head West for the winter. Taking the Southern route this year with a stop over in New Orleans. What fun as we'll have the best tour guide possible there.

School slate

Progress on the house - of sorts!

I've had this old Wilton school house slate blackboard forever. The only place to put it was in the hall. As the ice-box goes on that yellow wall I'm thinking grocery lists. My Granddaughter loves to draw on it and has finally learned to make lines around my lists and only draw in the empty spaces.

Just the trim left to paint in kitchen and hall.











Sink in the dining room? Well it's somewhat of a step in the right direction. I've had this sink for over 20 years and it's been outside of a shed in the woods most of that time. All summer it's been outside on the stand, upside down in the sun to take the bow and twist out of it.

Hey, it cleaned up better than I thought with just a couple of chips.

That dining room wall paper is the next thing to go away. I've been procrastinating as it's going to take a lot of work to get the walls paintable. It's vinal and was put directly on the wallboard. When it comes off it pulls the backing paper with it in splotches. I'm going to have to plaster skim coat most of the wall.

Still working on House

Kitchen is coming together, but I'm getting tired of the 3 coats of white semi-gloss it takes to cover the old dark faux wood paneling. With the days getting shorter I can see the colors are working they way I wanted them to. The lower cabinets that my friend built are going to be great. The best thing is that they are designed for the way we live and cook. After all, who else has over 100 tin pie plates and a collection of cast iron bake ware?

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Replacement windows have a much larger frame than the old wood ones. I was going to do the trim in white, but decided that was just way to big a square block of white. Besides, the total depth in this house is very shallow and it just wouldn't work. So I went and bought a light gray trim paint.

However, now when the sun goes down I'm finding that I can't tell the difference between the light gray trim color and the white primer. I come in the next day and find all sorts of holidays in what I thought was perfectly painted gray trim!

Yea! ...we may have a working shower by the weekend.

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So, the house is moving along, but very slowly. I've come to the realization that it isn't going to get done before snow flies & time to go to AZ.

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Now it's triage and plan the minimum to get done so we can move stuff in, shut it up and hit the road West. This year we're going to treat ourselves and take a southern route. New Orleans is looking very good as a stop over point.

Elm Ave update

Finally, something going back together. A good carpenter friend of mine made me lower cabinets when I couldn't find the very plain ones I wanted in any of the stores. Seems that here in the East everyone wants oak or other wood colored cabinets. I wanted 1940's metal cabinets but couldn't find any that fit the space or were in decent shape. This is the look I am going for in my kitchen. Must be a childhood comfort thing... you think?

This is what I started with .... all dark, fake wood paneling. Even at noon when the sun was out you had to turn on a light.

The cabinets went in yesterday and are in primer. My job is to fill nail holes and paint everything semi-glossy white.

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What a big difference it makes. Now I'll be able to wake up to the coffee in a space that is bright, clean and cheerful. I've already started painting the other two walls of dark paneling a very light gray. Both the floor and the counter tops will be bamboo.

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Now I wish I could replace my antique oak table with one of those retro red and chrome 50's kitchen table sets. That would look awesome in this kitchen.

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Cross your finger for me that we'll be able to move in before time to leave for Arizona. The water problems set us back and this is where we should have been in July!

Elm Ave Update

I'm beginning to believe that this house is water witched.

The original drain system didn't leave us high and dry... one big rain and we had damp basement walls again. So back came the guys with the big equipment. They cut a hole in the floor and found lots of clay under the foundation. We now have another drain line and I have more lawn to rake out and get grass to grow. At least we're mainly in a sand hill and it's not hard digging.

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Something is moving forward. My son does great work. Both in taking things apart and putting them back together. What to do with a chimney foundation that could possibly still leak? Build a garden implement shed! Brilliant - it puts a roof over the old foundation and gives me a place to hang up my shovels. We'll also be replacing the nasty old composition siding with cedar shakes. At least this small part this year.

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Not too much inside progress as a month of keeping up with the ditch diggers, moving plants, putting them back, raking out yards of soil and re-planting grass has taken up a lot of time.

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Time is getting short if we're to get moved in before snow and time to leave for AZ. I'm also ready to get back to beading and the respite has left me ready to start creating again.

Planting

I spent today gardening. The weather was almost ideal; cool, dry and sunny - perfect to be outside. It's sad to see what's left of the white Rhododendron, but with some care should fill out again in a couple of years. At least the guys running the big equipment scooped it out and then put it back when the big ditch was done. I'm just as glad that the overgrown ornamental evergreens are gone. I think I'll put an azalea near the back corner.


I keep looking, but the grass seed hasn't sprouted yet. Reminds me of my Grandfather-in-law, who got impatient one summer and claimed his corn wasn't growing fast enough. So he pulled it all out and planted again! Sigh, they say 10 days of watering 3 times a day and I should see new grass.

I took some time and went for a walk in our woods. You walk in under the tree line and it's like you are in a different world.

What a difference a week makes

The guys with the big equipment are done and have left. Now I have to do something about making a lawn out of all this dirt.

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The backhoe operator was a master at making a rock wall with big stones and sculpting the yard slopes. I could have kept him busy for longer but I ran out of rocks. Most of NH is full of rocks in all the wrong places.....

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Not my place.... it's lots of sand very few big rocks.

House Moat & Studio Spaces

A very wet Spring & Summer told us that we needed to do something to keep the basement dryer than a swimming pool. In comes SR Jones and a big CAT to dig out the foundation, seal coat, insulate and put in a drain.

The project got dubbed "the Moat". A weekend of heavy rains and we had a real moat! Friends suggested a draw bridge ("clapper" operated) as well as an art installation with 10,000 little yellow duckies. Others thought we should try and entice the gator, supposedly spotted in Pierce lake (down the hill from us).

Yesterday they got the big ditch filled in and are doing grade work around the house. Sigh, now I need to figure out how to reseed a whole yard's worth of sand and hope grass grows again.

Studio Space Quandary

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My current studio space is an irregular triangle with a cathedral ceiling. The furniture was what I kept from the big house when I moved in 9 years ago. It's also a bit bigger than what I'm going to have in the new house.

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The new space is what used to be the dining room. It has open access to both the kitchen and living area. I know it's an opportunity to reorganize and clean out, but .......

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Change comes harder the older one gets. I've worn out my tape measure trying to figure out what will fit where and I've not yet come up with anything that I think will work. The biggest question is how to make a separation from the living room without shutting out the natural light. Or rather how to hide the mess that is usually my studio?

Any creative ideas would be welcomed. I'm stuck right now.

Pattern & Color

This moth was waiting for me in the bathroom this morning.... What a beautiful pattern and colors. It reminds me of painted velvet. I never thought of using those colors together and will have to try it for a freeform bracelet sometime. I can see the blue fans running throughout the bracelet.

On the house front... I've been working on walls as it's been almost non-stop rain here in New Hampshire. I'm still having fun finding out what previous owners did. The Master bedroom yielded 3 layers of wall paper. The original green sprigged paper isn't too bad. I don't care for wall paper so it'll all come off, the walls patched and then painted.
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One of the back bedrooms is almost all painted. I was sort of surprised at how the colors played off of each other. Three walls are a soft gray and the back wall another color. I first tried the mustard color and really didn't like it with the blue and gray. I think the soft sage green will work as the windows on that wall will overlook lots of dark green leaves in the summer and fall colors just before we leave for Arizona.

I should have known I'd get color reflections as I use bead colors in combinations that play off of each other all the time. Not only colors, but finishes.

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We're supposed to have two days without rain, or at least a small chance of rain. That means I can get back outside and maybe get a little bit more done in the yard. I still have Iris and day lilies to move so that digging contractors don't kill them. I'm gradually cutting back brush to a yard line that is easy to care for and pleasing to the eye. It's fun to have my hands in the garden dirt again.

Summer of Destruction

I think there is progress on the house remodel, but sometimes I wonder if the destruction will ever end so putting it back together will start. This is my Son taking down the chimney that was so badly cracked that it wouldn't survive. On the up side, all of the flooring has been delivered and I'm really happy with the bamboo.

Colors of another Era

Dismantling the bathrooms yielded a glimpse into what this house looked like in the late 1970's. This was the wallpaper in the main bathroom. It had dark wood trim.

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Somehow I can't imagine waking up to the colors in the master bath.... It's a very small 3/4 bath and when it was new it had this wild orange, brown and white floral wallpaper.

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Combine those orange flowers with this orange tile floor and then imagine the lime green carpet just outside in the bedroom. I'm sure there is inspiration here somewhere, but just not for me. I'd have to brush my teeth with my eyes closed!

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It's sort of a personal archaeological dig to take apart a house and discover the different modifications and color schemes over the years.


One of my friends thought I was weird to want to paint the inside like this.....

until she saw the same color combinations in a Museum of Contemporary Art ..... Wasn't my intention, I just like blue ceilings and thought the suede gray walls would offer relief from the intense greenery all around outside. I'm tired of white or ecru as neutral colors in a house. However the trim will eventually be white once the windows get replaced.

So, beading is still set aside and the house project is more demolition than putting it back together. When it rains, I paint inside and progress is being made.