House update

We've officially been in residence for three weeks as of last night, but we were still moving stuff for a week after that, and have only had the internet setup here since Tuesday. SO... I'm finally settled enough and connected enough to post about our new house!

The house is in great shape thanks to the sellers having done many, many updates [thank you!], but we had three major projects to do right away: refinish the hardwood floors on the first floor, convert a third floor bedroom into a media room / theater, and fix up my second floor office.

The finish on the floors had clouded, and the walnut and oak had faded and darkened to almost the same color--such that you could hardly see the detailed borders. So, we were really excited when the first pass of the sander revealed gorgeous contrast. The floors turned out really well, and I have no second thoughts about hiring a professional rather than trying to do it ourselves.

Border: Before & After


Detail of a worn corner, and the same corner from across the room after refinishing


Two weekends ago we primed and painted a third floor room, turning a turquoise bedroom into a cozy espresso and mocha colored media room. The look should be complete come Friday when the futon will be delivered... pics to follow!

My office is on deck with wallpaper arriving this week (bad plaster) and a ceiling that we'll hopefully paint tomorrow!

It's a hard life

So, I haven't posted much in the last month because I was out of the country on a whirlwind art historical tour of English country houses and their collections of paintings and objets d'art.

In sum: Forty-eight museum professionals from around the world, thirty houses (plus lectures and garden tours) all in eighteen days. And it all ended with an extremely nerdy "dress as your favorite work of art / architecture" costume bash!

Needless to say it was an amazing experience, and I'm still going through withdrawal. I am never allowed to complain about anything again, because I get to do things like this as part of my job (albeit with substantial effort put into the grant applications to make it possible).

I took about 2500 pictures, so I'm going to just try to highlight here.

Broughton Castle 14th-16th Century - Medieval and Elizabethan. Parts of of Shakespeare in Love were filmed here.

Hardwick Hall 16th Century. Elizabethan. Built by Bess of Hardwick in the 1590s after the death of her fourth husband.

Petworth 17th Century. Baroque. The most grand and bland facade in England (It used to have more decoration).

Chatsworth 17th-18th Century. Baroque. Home of the Dukes of Devonshire, this house masquerades as Mr. Darcy's Pemberly in the latest Pride & Prejudice movie.

Kedleston Hall 18th Century. Neoclassical. One of Robert Adam's earliest grand masterpieces.

Tyntesfield 19th Century. Gothic Revival. A mansion built by William "Guano Gibbs" who made a fortune in importing guano fertilizer from South America.

Wightwick 19th Century. Arts & Crafts. A cozy house built by a paint and varnish tycoon who married an American amusingly named Flora Paint.

I'll save the interiors, objects, and gardens for a future post!