Seems like interest in blogs is fading. Most everyone seems to have gone to Facebook, which I distinctly dislike for many reasons. I started this blog as a way to share with family and friends the things going on in our lives, but it has almost become more of a personal journal. Indeed, I have all of my postings each year printed into book form, and these have become a pretty good record of our retirement years and are fun to review. I only have a rough idea of how many regular followers I have for my postings here. The counts of visits to the blog kept by Google are quite low. So, before next year rolls around, I'll have to take some time to assess whether to continue or not. If you have suggestions for me, I'd love to hear them, although suggesting that I switch to Facebook doesn't really seem like a viable option. I don't see people using it the way a blog is used.
Anyway, all that aside, I thought I'd share a rough glance at what we have done with our Iowa home this year. We started in May with the idea that we wanted to update our kitchen and both upstairs bathrooms. Eventually, we added an update of the library too. All of these spaces had very dated looks and functionality going back to 1974 when the house was first constructed. Now in December, we are nearing a truly finished state with these projects. The work took much, much longer than we thought it would or think it should have. Nevertheless, we are happy with the results. There is still some painting and decorating work to do, and we think that we will yet have the kitchen and library floors refinished, but everything else is essentially done.
Without a wide angle lens, the photographs I can get are somewhat constrained. Those of you who know the old spaces will get the general idea though, I think. In the kitchen, we replaced all the cabinets and countertops. The wood in the new cabinets is cherry, and the countertops are quartz. We eliminated the chimney stack that rose from the basement through the kitchen (furnace and water heater now vent out the side of the house instead), and that bought us some additional cabinet and countertop space. We chose a backsplash tile that really works well with the countertop, we think. The old soffit was replaced with wood all the way to the ceiling, and the countertop microwave was replaced with one over the stove that also supplies venting and stove lighting. The single ceiling light fixture (centered, two incandescent bulbs) was replaced with an array of pocket lights, and the result is a much brighter workplace.
I steamed away the old checkerboard wallpaper and painted the walls a nice warm, creamy color. We also changed the display of items on the open wall, keeping Paula's "Tough Old Bird" painting and Rob's calligraphy artwork piece showing my mother's peppernuts recipe.
The white cabinets in the library were replace with nice new oak versions. Here too, I steamed away the old wallpaper and have painted the walls. I chose a color called trupenny, which is a fairly dark adobe or terra cotta shade. It seems to work quite well with the wood, the brick, and existing furnishings.
Over time, I had acquired or was given a number of pieces of artwork and photographs featuring rural scenes. I chose to create a grouping of them on the wall opposite the fireplace.
Among these pieces are a print of a favorite Grant Wood painting, a photograph of the farm on which I spent my youth, a print showing Holstein cows in a field, and a photograph of an old tractor. I really enjoy looking at this grouping as I sit at my desk.
The guest bathroom has new cabinets and a new countertop. The floor has been tiled, as has the tub and shower enclosure.
There is a new sliding glass door, and all of the plumbing has been changed. The kids have often complained about how low the shower head was, so with the new plumbing, problems like this have been corrected. The new vent fans here and in our bathroom are extremely quiet compared to the old ones, and they operate automatically based on motion detection and humidity levels.
The bathroom in our bedroom was always very small, so we "stole" some additional space from the adjacent guest bedroom. We think that this bedroom has not been badly affected at all by this change.
Our old shower was a very cramped, dark space. This was because of the overall small size of the bathroom, a low soffit over the shower, and a wall that separated the end of the shower from the sink area. By enlarging the room, eliminating the soffit, and using a glass enclosure, we have made the overall feel one of much greater roominess and light. New cabinets and countertops were introduced here too.
As in the guest bathroom, we have a tiled shower enclosure and floor. All new plumbing makes the space much more functional as well.
So, if or when you come for a visit, we hope you will enjoy the changes!
