The Fine Line Between Decorating and Cluttering

But before we get to that, let's flashback to thanksgiving.

That spectacular weekend turned out to be the last one during which we had visitors.  Rob and Deb, as previously mentioned, dropped by on the Saturday.

It might not be a skill that you'd immediately assume they possess, but they can gather leaves like nobody's business.  Look at how clear that lawn is.

Mind you, you were elbow deep an hour later, but it still makes for a pleasant afternoon activity.  And, unlike the time Rob was chopping wood, I was far less concerned about someone perhaps going home with one fewer appendage.  I waited with great impatience for Debbie to step on a rake, but it never happened. :-(

The following day, my dad popped by.  My mum and sister were in mid Montreal shopping roadie that weekend so we invited him over for Christine's bliss-coma-inducing Thanksgiving dinner.

Now, many people visit and bring a bottle of wine...a loaf of fancy bread...Desert...Something like that...

My dad brings bathroom taps.

Apparently these are something of a family heirloom.  If our recollection is sound, these taps have belonged to Caroline and my folks had them for a while now.  Renovations at their respective homes made the taps obsolete at those places and so they've been passed on to us.  Therefore, we have the following "before / after" shots.

Isn't that much better?  Boy, that bathroom has received an unexpected boat load of love this year.

Now then...Something we agreed on when we bought the place, when discussing what-would-go-where, is that we need to be careful not to clutter the place up.  In fact, we were trying to make more space by dumping a couple of couches, removing certain decorations that weren't to our liking off shelves, etc.

We were quite happy to use CFB Crow Lake to help us DEclutter Manoir Fournier.  Hence our joy at hitting the "sisterload" some time ago.  That worked right along with what we wanted to accomplish.

But...empty shelves still suck.  So we found ourselves making a couple of purchases, against our original plans.  Both involve a little fancy metal work.

Check out the tree under Gordie Guitar.

Nice little filler.  We also got an inukshuk (let's see if THAT gets past spell check)!

I like the message an Inukshuk (by whatever spelling you want to use) sends in a cottage.  However, our shelves are shallow so a traditional stone one might have been a little much both in terms of weight and girth.  This thin metal version is more appropriate in that sense.  Both pieces were bought at one of the many, many souvenir stores in Westport.

We still have a couple of shelves to fill, but we'll do it at our pace.  There's no hurry.

Except one.  There's an item that I want and as such, we have launched what I refer to as Operation M.K. Ultra.

Here's one of the alcoves in the dining room (and leading into the kitchen, obviously).

The light switches have been left in the shot deliberately as a size reference tool.

Ah...I can't stand that lamp.  We don't use it and it doesn't fit in with the rest of the changes we've made.

So during a phone call last night by Michelle Katherine, Operation MK Ultra (see where I got that now?  I was actually kayaking when it came to me and tried to think of a way to write it down) was put into play.

Kathy (currently in Nova Scotia, for those who may be unaware) will seek to acquire a lighthouse decoration for that spot.  The space is six inches across and 24 inches tall.  Ideally, and Christine seems to think I'm setting the expectation too high, I would love for it to serve as a night light.  If it actually rotated, I would spend hours just starting at it in the middle of the night.  A candle might be nice, but you know...probably a fire hazard...

So let's see what comes of that.  But even in the unlikely event that Operation MK Ultra fails, in this case, an empty shelf would be an improvement to me.

Another Two-Project Post

And again, one completed, one not.

Christine, a while back, expressed a desire to paint our washroom white.  As her every desire is a direct order to my soul, we set it as a rainy weekend goal. Expecting 30mm of rain on Saturday, off we went. 

Here's our progression.  Unfortunately, because of the room's location and layout, taking pictures is a little tricky.  But at least those who have spent some time in there will have an idea.

Because it was kind of a dark room with no light over the toilet (which is around the corner on the left, obviously), when the plumber last visited he commented that using our bathroom feels like "shitting in a closet".  This causes one to ponder how one makes that distinction.  The next time he's around for any length of time, we shall check the closets rather thoroughly before handing over any coin.

Hopefully the now much-brighter room is more to his liking.  Perhaps it'll be more like taking a dump in a washing machine.

In any event, because that same wood panelling is everywhere in the cottage, painting even the tiniest (but central) room white actually creates a burst of colour right in the middle of the place.  Looks cleaner, so good eye, babe!

We've also been meaning to replace the neon light cover in the kitchen ceiling.  The original one was cracked and stained.

This was significant more difficult than I'd anticipated.  Using The Shark (!), a carpet knife, scissors and profanity encompassing every deity in every existing pantheon (Odin really took it on the bearded chin), I eventually achieved the following.  Small cracks, which may not be visible below, but nice and clean.

Then a few hours later it fell out of the frame and shattered into four pieces on the kitchen floor.

Oh well.  So that project is still not completed...