HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 

I know it's been a long time since we have posted, but all is OK!  We've just been really busy with holidays and small projects around the house and elsewhere.  We also have some BIG news to reveal, a hint of which is in the title of this post   but we're going to wait until after next week to post about it on such a public forum.  Please forgive our reticence!  We hope you will understand when the announcement is made!

In other news, our siding and roofing project is complete, and overall we're very pleased with the result.  We had some friends come to visit a few months ago from North Carolina, and they immediately noticed the difference when we drove up to the house.  It's funny, though, because we used the same color siding, and a similarly colored roof, the house doesn't look all that different to people who haven't heard the whole story or seen it several times through the years.  A lot of the lines are straighter though, which is a nice change, and of course the house is better insulated and no worries about roof leaks.  Very important things!  

We also replaced a few windows during the bathroom renovations, which are basically complete now.  The only thing left to do is to finish up the painting inside the cabinets of one of the bathrooms.  Its fittings, fixtures and paint finishes are basically identical to those in the bathroom we have already posted photos of, so I won't add new pics until that one is totally complete and decorated.

We have completed the decoration and furnishing of our blue guest room, and we're really happy with the way it turned out.  It's done in a period theme, all blue and white with maple furniture (all antique), and it's really very cute.  I'll try to post a pic of it shortly but have to locate the camera first!

We have also ordered new furniture for our formal living room--yeah, the one that's been sitting empty since we bought the house   We chose Ethan Allen, which fits with both our style, and our budget.  We got two lovely Chippendale loveseats/settees, as well as two wing chairs that are slightly different in style but related.  The color theme is blue and yellow, with touches of chocolate to ground the space.  The walls are already painted, Benjamin Moore Barley.  The room's space plan will look basically like this:

We're still on the hunt for a proper rug for that room, which is a bit difficult given the size we need (an odd size) and the color requirements, but we hope to find one in this calendar year at least!! LOL We also still need to find the two smaller chairs I have placed into the space plan at the far left; they will flank an antique card table which we already own.  Also on the still-to-get list are the coffee table, side tables and lighting.  At least we already have the piano! 

The new furniture won't be ready until approximately March, but in the meantime here are the photos from Ethan Allen's site:

Loveseats are done in a tone on tone navy stripe:

We got one of these chairs, which will be done in a gorgeous gold matelasse fabric and accented with a custom made chocolate mohair pillow with gold trim:

And a similar but smaller chair done in the same gold matelassee fabric:

We're also planning to add at least one ottoman in this style, probably in the chocolate mohair fabric with gold trim to tie the whole color scheme together:

We also are adding drapes in a blue and gold brocade-type fabric, which will be custom fabricated by Ethan Allen as well. 

I think that's really about it, at the moment, except that we finally gave in and purchased a new refrigerator.  We got an LG stainless french door model with a bottom freezer as well as ice and water through the door.  We LOVE it and highly recommend LG!  It works like a dream, is easy to clean, fits well in odd spaces (like our fridge nook), and is highly energy-efficient. 

We will have LOTS more to update soon, so please do check back often!! Big announcement coming next week, and on the heels of that, a flurry of new house projects will get underway soon.