OK. I admit it. I'm tired of writing about stuff like insulation and HVAC systems. So I'm going to jump ahead of myself a little bit and get you guys in on a lighting decision we need to make. In our kitchen, we have an island (actually it's a peninsula that divides the kitchen from the dining area) over which we'd like to hang a light. Said light needs to be horizontally oriented, both for light distribution as well as just what will work best in the space...

Here are two lamps we found from Manufactum, one of my favorite sites for all types of house and garden products. Like so many sites full of truly beautiful designs, it's European. But they do ship to the US, and much of what they carry is super reasonably priced.

First the Classic Bolich light:

Love this... It feels like an old schoolhouse light or something. It's got a kind of timeless design that I think will fit in really nicely in our place. We're trying really hard not to fall into the 'ye olde' design trap, but at the same time, the furnishings should feel harmonious with the bones of the place... which are definitely pretty damned old.

Then we have the Small Pendant Light (same company)

We'd get this one in white as well. On the one hand, this one might be better for our needs-- it's got a lower profile and feels generally lighter while still industrial in a cool way. But I worry that having the bare bulb exposed might drive me crazy.

What do you people think?

Well, you can't say that the sheet rockers don't have a sense of humor... We found this written on the wall in the living room and it immediately took me back to the Odd Couple episode where I first encountered it. "One must never assume," Felix told several others while writing the word down on a blackboard, "Or you'll make an ASS out of YOU and ME." So brilliant. And clearly everybody thinks so. Kind of makes me like the guys putting the walls up, even if they cover stuff up and leave wall sconces at uneven levels....

Glory be! The walls are finally beginning to look like walls. This is beyond exciting and I hope you are all there with me, whooping and hollering. Of course, upon closer inspection, we discovered that a hanging light outlet has been covered up and they've somehow decided that the 2 sconces in the upstairs hallway would look better at different heights, but evidently, according to our contractor, this is normal. You let the sheet rock dudes do their thing, get out, and then you make the adjustments afterwards. Which I could actually do myself, as we are FINALLY coming into the area about which I know a bit from first hand experience.

Here's what the kitchen is looking like these days:

Note the beautiful wooden header that runs along the far wall. It goes through the little pantry area on into the bathroom as well. It makes me happy, just looking at it. Is that weird? Soon we'll actually be able to begin to put things away in here... the appliances are all sitting in a warehouse waiting to be delivered... not too much longer now!

What a beautiful weekend we had last weekend... Look at the azaleas blooming on my mother's bush. Makes you feel optimistic, like you might actually have a home at some point in the near future. Turns out that we had close to the right amount of insulation, after all. Look at how cool the walls look now:

Walking around in the insulated house is a wonder. It's so much quieter, and warmer, even without heat or electricity. No more echoes with every step, no more holes through to the outside.... it's finally becoming a solid house. I know all of this may seem obvious to all of you who do this all the time, but for me, a first time home renovator, the true power of insulation is only just now hitting me. I have seen the light and am converted.

Now all we need to do is the sheet rock, bead board and plain pine planks on the first floor walls, the bathrooms, the kitchens, find light fixtures, switches and other hardware, put in the front door (which was finally delivered this week-- can't wait to see it), put in the pine floors, build a bit of a deck, paint and/or wallpaper and then we can start thinking about furniture.

Just typing that has made me tired. I think I'm going to take a nap. I have lots more to tell you about, though, so expect the posts to come fast and furious for the next few days!

Imagine my horror when I went back to photograph the door to my parents' guest house and I saw THIS... a screen door all happily in place. It's not completely repaired, but I fear we are going to lose the race after all. Sadly, our house is nowhere near done, and there is still plywood over our new French doors while the whole locking system and alarm get worked out. The majority of shingles are up now, though, which is nothing to sneeze at. And rumor has it that the insulation is all in place (though I have yet to see it... we're headed back out tonight.)

Here's the house, just for the record. Plywood and all.

Maybe it'll take them 2 or 3 months to replace the glass door in the back and we'll still win. Keep hope alive!

Last wednesday, at 7 am, our insulation was delivered to the house. It's this great eco friendly stuff called Ultra Touch that's manufatured by Bonded Logic and is actually made out of recycled denim. Not only is it 100% recycled, it also has none of the toxic fibres that regular fibreglass insulation has, so you can install it with your bare hands and you don't have to wear a mask. Vince (Adrian Grenier) from Entourage put it into his house in Brooklyn (in real life) so you know it must be good. It even looks cool...

The catch, and there always seems to be one, is that when Mark Rist our contractor called to tell me it had arrived, he also mentined in his casual understated way that he thought there was "an awful lot" and was I sure I'd ordered the right amount. I had carefully written down the measurements he'd given me and relayed them to the supplier, so I figured he must be exaggerating.

Until we got to the house on saturday and beheld the bounty. Here's the dining area:

and here's the guest room:

oh yeah, and the living room area:

But wait, there's more upstairs...

and more still...

and just when you think you're done, you go into the basement, only to discover:

Hmmmmm... maybe Mark had a point. But then we did the math, and according to the square footage indicated on the packaging, we were actually in good shape. So I'll just hold my breath and hope that we don't suddenly need to try and return 30 packages of this stuff. Which would suck. It weighs a ton.

Above please find a photograph of a lesson well learned. We spent the better part of last Saturday on our hands and knees measuring out exactly how much space we have in our kitchen for all of the stuff we've already bought, but have yet to receive. The answer? Just barely enough. So it's a good thing that we measured when we did, before we got ourselves in real trouble. The lesson we have learned here is that even the best laid plans can go slightly awry. We discovered that we actually had 10 (crucial!) inches less in reality than we did according to our blueprints. God forbid anything just be straightforward, right? So here we have Josh, carefully measuring out what is going to become our kitchen island (more accurately, a peninsula as it is attached at one wall.) We moved those planks of wood around all over the place, testing out how a couch might look in the living room area, or what shape dining room table we might need. I seem to remember an article in Domino from way back when advising people to do similar things (with paper cut outs, I think) but God forbid I pay attention. My advice to you all..... never feel stupid about doing things like this. Draw on the subfloor. Make imaginary furniture out of extra wood that's just laying around. Do whatever you have to do to really visualize your space. It will save you much hearthache (and money!) in the long run.

Finally, the replacement windows and French doors have arrived! (The first set were stolen about a month ago) Thanks to the very helpful Tim McCabe at Perimeters (the Marvin showroom in nearby Water Mill) for getting them to us so quickly! The windows are actually larger than we had imagined they would be, which is great... more light for the interior. Speaking of the interior, here's what it looks like from the inside:

Pretty cool, right? Now we just have to finish installing the locking mechanisms on the doors as they didn't arrive with the doors (Oops! You mean you want the hardware that goes with the doors, too?) which should be happening even as I type this, and we're good to go. No more plywood nailed to the back of the house. Oh and by the way, our good friend Jonathan Hoefler (one of the most talented type designers out there) decided not to come out this weekend because of inclement weather. Note the sun streaming in through the windows in this shot. Who's laughing now, Jonathan?

Speaking of plywood, here's what the door to the house in the back is looking like these days:

Maybe we'll win this race after all!