Now you see it; Now you don't!

Swirly! Ugh! The black arch at the top of the picture is the doorway to the living room. I didn't want you to think the ceiling was black. The whole ceiling swirled starting in the centre and working outwards and finished off with a smooth band all around the edge which the former owners painted to match their walls. You can see on the lower left edge where my plastering stopped from the edge of the dining room. And you can see where the pattern seems to meet the top of the fireplace. It felt very claustrophobic to me.

This is the nice clean smooth ceiling ready for priming. Just like icing a cake - only upside down and a little harder on the body. So 40 kg of drywall compound later (2 thin coats), we'll see what it looks like with paint. I tested it with lights to see if there were waves, dibs or drastic shadows but it looks very good (if I may say so myself - a wannabe renovator). But even Dad was impressed. He admitted that he was scared that it would not turn out. Now would I start a project that I didn't think I could do well. (No answer required for that).

This is the dining room ceiling ready for priming. Amazing how different the natural light is in each room. Of course, the dining room faces south onto the deck and the living room face north towards the lake.

We were both amazed (Dad, more than me) at how much "higher" the ceiling seems to be and how much "larger" the room appears. Plus it seems to minimize the floor to ceiling fireplace.


We got an estimate for covering up the fireplace. That will be a project that will happen "much later" - it will be very expensive. So for now, we will do our best to disguise the thing. We thought we would get a better "board" for the mantel and hang our beach scene above it which will cover a large portion of the upper part. Then we plan to get a fireplace screen and cover the firebox opening - add a plant or 2 or some kind of pot or accent on the hearth and voila - not as noticeable. The brick is quite discoloured around the firebox even after scrubbing with TSP, bleach, etc. I bought a brick cleaner product which I will try - but it may be a clean as it will ever be.

Till next saga. Love Mom/Grandma

Outdoor pictures in Fall River

These 2 pictures are part of our backyard. The actual cleared space is about the same amount as I had available in my Belleville backyard. Only here I will have to bring in soil to make the flower beds as apparently, you can hardly get a shovel in the ground.
I love a good gardening challenge!!
There is a public trail that goes up the hill past the west side of our house behind the evergreen trees. I noticed that there were some small evergreen seedlings started all around the woods- so I plan to move a few to along the west side to make a living fence between the trail and our yard - to give us some privacy. Not too many people have been using it this winter although there were a couple of ATVs using it a couple of times.


Our back property line goes across behind the shed - and when the good weather comes I think I will try to determine how far behind the shed the property goes. John doesn't think it goes much farther than just beyond the shed which going by the deed would be a very good guess. There is a wood pile started on the other side near the trail and I think that I shall move this woodpile over to it. (There is a lot of wood there) Maybe I should wait till summer and use some grandchild labour - hmmmm. Just kidding. Our deed outlines the degrees and minutes and feet where we should find metal posts - I think we would need a metal detector to find them.

These pictures are taken on the north side of the house looking towards Lake Thomas. We have a "seasonal" view of the lake (meaning only in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees.)
If you can see the zig zag white area to the left of the picture (but not the white snow near the road, the zig zag just above that)- that is the lake. And actually, at night, just beyond the zig zag - you can see the green Sobey's sign. It only takes 20 minutes and 2 or 3 hills to walk to the grocery store and Tim's.
















This is the leaning tree. Maybe we should nickname our property. How about calling it "the house of the leaning tree". It probably will need to be removed - which will cost an arm and a leg. Fortunately, most of the stump and roots are out so that part won't be too hard, but it is a very tall tree. There are several "leaning" trees in the back as well - all remnants of hurricane Juan.
A lot of the trees have shallow roots since there is such a lot of rocky ground and they are skinny trees. I watch them blowing around and wonder if one will fall down on the house.



We will have to find out where all the lake or beach activities are happening so we are prepared for the summer visitors.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Love Mom/Grandma