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.

Wall & Colors

The yard at the new house has some delightful surprises. I found a large bed of Siberian Iris that was completely over-run with tall grass. The colors are something that I'll have to keep in mind for a future beading project; deep rich blues, a darkish maroon and those small splashes of yellow.


Ditch digging is not my idea of fun ...... but it had to be done before they would deliver the propane tank. I have a fondness for hot showers, so getting that fuel tank in place is at the top of the list. Before the ditch could be dug, I had to rebuild the rock wall. Building rock walls has always been therapeutic for me. I love finding the rocks that fit the spaces. This one is not as neat as I'd like it to be but it was a fill in the spaces project.

We took the time to decorate the yard. I just found out that these original, signed, flamingos have become collector's items. Now my friend, Bev over at No Easy Beads can find my house if she ever decides to come East visit. She has a long fascination with those pink birds.

After a week of moving rocks and digging out 15 years of neglect around the wall, I'm more than ready to move inside and start patching & painting the laundry room.

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Propane tank delivered and in place late last evening - one task completed!

House Horrers & Hard work!

This is why I'm back in New Hampshire a month early. It's also why I've not blogged and why I'm taking a sabbatical from beading for the Summer. Can you believe that most of my beads are still packed in the trailer?




This is what the place looked like when I bought it. The largest construction dumpster has now been filled and it's possible to start seeing the possibilities.


For this stage of my life, 1,200 sq ft of single floor Ranch living suits me just fine. It's situated on 2 acres of land and is tucked between 2 Lake districts. I can listen to the water going over the damn without having to worry about Lake front property taxes.



Except for the kitchen, the house has lots of nice light. Once the busy wall paper is gone and the walls are a light, smoky gray, it'll look a lot better. My studio will be a large end room just off of this living room to the rear.

I turned 65 this Spring and sometimes forget just what age my body really is. A project like this will remind me many times, I'm sure. I've just spent 2 days re-building a rock wall and have muscles telling me that they've not been that abused in years!

Trip East -Spring 2009

I've not had much time to update the blog since I arrived back in New Hampshire. I'll fill you in on why in my next post. Meanwhile, here is a quick synopsis, with highlights, of my last trip home.


White Sands, New Mexico was awesome. From the distance you start seeing these small white hills and then you're in the midst of large white gypsum sand dunes.


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Driving the Park roads made me think I was driving New Hampshire snowy roads...... So much so that I kept expecting the car to slip and slide on ice.
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They even plow the roads to keep the sand off of the pavement. The dirty sand even looked like dirty winter snow.
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For 30 years (in another life) I was involved with British cars and at one time we owned 7 of them. It was a delight to meet this couple at the Monument gift center. They had actually driven their MG TC on my dream trip..... The entire Pan American Highway from South America to Alaska. Here are some of their notes from the trip when they were in Arizona.




We were passing Mullinville KS when we saw a strange fence line and couldn't figure out just what it was. So we took a detour and enjoyed ourselves with several fields of "found object art".





Seems the artist had a problem with town politics!





We stopped in the middle of nowhere for lunch one day and this beautiful wall caught my eye. The weathered and faded paint just made a beautiful design.





It was a quick trip, a month earlier than usual, but I had bought a NH house in January and wanted to get renovations started as soon as possible.