Ghost Ferns and 90 Degrees

It was so hot the past few days I just didn't have the energy for heavy work so I glazed the halls, entries and stairs from the 3rd floor all the way down to the bottom floor with a deep gold glaze using a sponge mop refill thingy. The walls are a mix of old plaster, paper, drywall, and even some strange tape stuff and rather than replastering or drywalling and destroying the feeling old "old", I did this glaze that accentuates the imperfections then spent hours hand painting ghost ferns along the bottom. A couple ferns here and there are as tall as me ( which isn't real tall) but most are very pale and, well, ghostly and just fade into the strange walls. It's a scrumptious golden sunshine yellow glaze over off white. I may add a little buff spongy look towards the top, but maybe I won't. Depends on how it looks to me in a few days. Lately we have been letting the house kind of "tell" us what it wants so I'll wait for it to give me the go ahead. It has definitely told me that I can't replace the old front windows so they are just getting storms but the back side facing the river will have new windows that you can actually see out of and open, house seems OK with that decision. We're saving the old windows to maybe make a little garden shed or something with them in the future.

My View Right Now

OK, this is why I'm here. This is the view 10 min ago from my top floor, similar view from all 3 floors! This is why I am still here battling cock roaches, fixing a house neglected for 20+ years. This is it.

House Becomes a Home- One Room at Least

One room, the very front room which may become a bedroom, is finally almost completely done with almost all the painting supplies and tools out of it. My camp cot is set up by the window for some night breezes. Too hot to work past noon today, but got some painting done early this morning and the roofers were sweating in the heat as they put up the gutters. Lace curtains are blowing in the humid breeze.
Antique bust of ND de Lourdes over looks the front room. Big primitive cupboard is from a local antique store and came out of a house here in Maysville.

New Roof Looking Good

What an awesome way to do a roof- metal roofing panels that screw right on over the old roof!

Night Noises in the Valley

My house sits right on the valley wall, straight up in front of the house, straight down to the river behind. Last night I went to sleep early to the vast repertoire of a mockingbird, then during the night I could hear the deep bark of the neighborhood watch dog from the huge house above me echoing through the dark. Lonely train whistles magnified by the hills and at 4:30am the wailing of a woman on the street- coming from the only very noisy neighbors I have- and the dark responses from the man she was arguing with.

My Hordes of Cock Roaches Seem Ill

The biggest horrible thing about this house is the cock roach infestation, although the exterminator came on Monday they have been their usually very active little selves until last night. Only a few showed up for their normally very crowed evening party in my River View Room, those that did show just kind of stumbled in. They weren't able to do their usual tasks of wall climbing and fast evasive action as I neared them with a wad of killer kleenex in my hand. Yipeeeeeee! The exterminator is coming a few more times and should be able to rid my cute house of all those little six leggers. I'm feeling much better about this situation.

This Was my Backdoor Lock, Quaint

Spoon was replaced by a big padlock until we can get a normal lock on here.

Dogs Are Helpers Too?

Evicted doggie guards it's stuff- sorry. Tenant decided to stay some extra time, previous owner put her stuff out on the street in order to finally get her to leave.
One Son's Puppy.....

Prevents other son from working

Mello Dog with Hamadan in Sunshine

Top Floor Before and Afters- One Floor Done! Two More to Go

Two connected rooms upstairs, one with a river view and wonderful (but in really bad shape) window.

Day Glow colors and a race car


Floor is actually a sage green now, rather than a dirt brown

Hard to stencil- floor is rather uneven in spots.

After a Week of Working on the House in Maysville

My cute little- actually it's pretty darned big because there is another floor below that you can't see from the front plus a big cellar under it all- house in Maysville.

One of 2 matching mantels. Two more in the bottom floor that aren't ornate but very old none the less.
Top floor shapes up, almost done, just some final touch ups. There is a big window overlooking the Ohio River valley. My adult kids were down helping and we were all camped out up here on camp cots. They thought it was pretty cool, like being at summer camp. Woke up early to a sunrise over the river with mist hanging in the hills.