Counter Action

      The marble was installed yesterday in the kitchen area and Stella’s little interior is really beginning to pull together. The walls have been washed down with Simple Green (I hate the stuff, something about the smell is revolting to me. Anyone else feel the same? ) and now the floors are begging for attention.  The carpentry inside will be done today and we’ll sweep the old girl out before the painters arrive.

      It occurred to me we have nothing besides a broom to pick up dirt and sand at the cottage – and the budget is  currently screaming STOP – so I’m going to the Oreck dealer down the road to ask if they have any reworked old model  vacuums I can buy cheap. We’ve got to get all that saw dust up so that everything can get a fresh coat of paint. Then..   we can decide what needs to be done with the floors – probably a sanding and new stain.

I’m also looking for two bargain bar stools.  Fell in love with a bunch in Frontgate catalogue – way out of our price range – in another orbit completely.  Maybe Ikea?  In my junk hunting adventures, I have not found bar stools anywhere.

Let’s all pause for a moment to gaze at that sink in adoration……

 This is the carrara marble we were able to get from our stone source. As I mentioned before, we’ve used this in homes a lot because it’s very durable, goes with a lot and used to be affordable.  Naturally we thought it was a good choice for Stella’s kitchen counters until our Stone guy said.. “Well it would have been a good choice but currently the Italians are pissed at us and the cost has tripled. ”    What did we do to the Italians?  We’re Italian, does that help?   A few days later he called with good news, he found a chunk in his warehouse and the cost was reasonable.

 A picture of carrara marble in a stone quarry in Carrara, Italy…

 

The whale knocker has been reinstalled on the door, which needs another coat of paint. That’s Gerard the whale right there- why do I name so many things?  Not sure – I’ve had that habit ever since childhood. I still have my collection of little tiny glass animals that lived in a shadow box for many years.   On the bottom of each tiny figure are the names assigned, scrawled in pencil.

 I was going to end this post with another political rant.. but I’m  tired of my own exasperation and I need to set it down for a bit. There’s an adoption even today and tomorrow – I will try like hell not to bring a dog home, the struggle is real.   
Till soon, friends…