Weekend work

We had a fun and busy time last weekend. Sarah and Lars and their children came Friday and stayed with us until Monday. On Saturday morning Jacy, Sarah, Joan, David, Kim, and Josh went to church for the C.S. Lewis weekend. Sarah and Joan had parts in the play - they were Lucy and Susan.

They raided my closet, Jacy's closet, and made a trip to the thrift store to assemble outfits they deemed close enough to what they thought WWII-era British schoolgirls would wear.

Steve and Lars talked and watched football. They toured the town and mapped a route for Lars to run, which he did later in the day.

Sarah and I knitted some, then started on some house projects that need to be done. Sarah is a "doer" and she provided the impetus to get me moving on this work. With the aid of the girls, we got the two fireplace mantels out of the garage, and three old screens, original to the house.

Sarah and I washed the mantels and screens - they were all filthy - and Sarah sanded one mantel while I finished painting the old door for Jacy's room. Then Sarah primed the mantel, and I finished scrubbing the screens and got ready to screw the brackets to them so I could attach them together to make a headboard for our bed. Steve decided he wanted to attach the brackets (I don't know if he was more interested in doing it out of love for me, or because he could use his power drill) and that gave me the opportunity to find an old sweater I'd washed and dried to make a lovely thick woolen felt. I cut the felt into strips and glued them to the back of the screens so they wouldn't scratch the wall. When Steve and Lars put the window screen headboard in place, it was a real moment of accomplishment...

... which was great, because the rest of the projects could not be completed immediately.

Steve cut wood for Joan to paint with faux fires for the interior of the mantels.

Sarah painted the off-white mantel brown (David's choice, as it will be in his room) and I decided to leave the other mantel as is.

We measured the areas where the fireplace hearths once were, and looked at the tile we have available. Steve will cut boards to attach to the floor, and we'll tile the boards, rather than the floor.

I still need to get some bookcases from IKEA for the playroom, and we need to finish the wall in the hallway upstairs. Jacy's door has to have 1/8 inch cut off the hinge side so it will fit her doorway. But it's painted and the original hardware is back on.

We'll have to move out some furniture, re-arrange furniture, and decorate - in short, STAGE! - but not until the last week of November/first week of December. Then, hopefully, we'll be ready for the historical society's tour of homes.