Scottish Tea

On New Years Eve we had a tea for our daughters. They had gone their separate ways for Christmas, so this was our Holiday Celebration, and it was wonderful to cook together and linger over tea.

I set the table with the Spode Pink Tower dishes that we inherited from hubby's grandmother. For a while in the 2000s, these dishes were being manufactured again and I was able to add to our collection. And over the years I have found different items online and at estate sales and antique shops.

The glassware is Heisey Orchid that was given to me by my sister. We rarely use these glasses, mainly because we have so few, but our guest list was short for this tea. The silver, inherited from MIL, is Rogers "Heritage" pattern, probably from the 1960s. I used a red tartan table cloth to bring in a Scottish theme, and greenery and pine cones decorated the center of the table.

Also, to carry the Scottish theme, I made a Scottish tart, and we served Scotch whiskey!

I had never made a Scottish tart before, but it's got lots of nuts, currants, cranberries, and Scotch! of course in a typical tart crust.

Our tea menu was broccoli soup with cheese scones, then roast beef sandwiches with onion marmalade on croissants, mushroom tartlets, deconstructed scotch eggs, cinnamon coffee cake, and cucumber sandwiches.

This tea brought back memories of other teas with our daughters, like this one from 1997.

 

The Living Room

 

When we bought our house in November 2018 the living room had peeling wallpaper and smoke stains; the fireplace was surrounded by painted brick and had no mantel; the hardwood floors had carpet tack strips all around the edges and were stained and unloved; and there were so many openings in the room I don't know how furniture was ever arranged. But there were "hand hewn" beams on the ceiling and the room was large and well lit.

As part of the first remodel, we removed the stereo equipment cupboard and closed the opening to the right of the fireplace which went to the dining room. We turned the dining room into an office and made a closet where that opening was. Later Handyman made new, taller double paned windows for the living room, and we lived with it like this for another 4 years.

Then in February of 2024, we finally started the living room remodel

and this is how it looks now.

First Handyman had to fix the plaster on the ceiling and walls, and add lights and plugs. Then he refinished the hardwood floors. In May he built a new mantel, and installed a new hearth and new bricks around the fireplace opening. Then came the cabinets on either side of the fireplace.

By the middle of June, new moldings were being installed all around the ceiling. This detail helped incorporate the "hand hewn" beams into the whole design. These moldings were a very time consuming project, but look great and add a lot of old world charm.

On July 16th we spray painted all the moldings and trim. Handyman said it was faster and you can't brush water base paint anyway, but what a LOT of masking was required!

Then we moved on to building these floor to ceiling cabinets. We had these in our previous house and loved them. These huge cabinets hide all that stuff you only use once a year. (And dishes, lots of dishes. I seem to have a little problem there.) The paneled doors look almost like a paneled wall, and there is even a hidden doorway to the bedroom hall.

When we got ready to remodel this room we gave most of the furniture away; some on Facebook marketplace, and some to our daughter, so you might wonder where we got all this furniture. Most of it was squirreled away in other rooms, but we found the few pieces we needed on Facebook marketplace and at consignment shops. We also bought one new thing: a carpet from Grandin Road.

 

Most of the decorative items we've owned for ages. And that's what I really like about this room; it showcases our history. The blue velvet chairs by the window have been in the family over 100 years as well as the Vienna clock and ship's clock. Next to the ship picture we bought in Essex, Massachusetts is a David bust from Rome, a ceramic horse from China, an old brass lock from San Quentin Prison, and a barometer from an old sailboat. Every surface holds a memory of a special time or place.

 
Glass Floats                Horn Cup from Scotland             Brass Ship's Clock                        Souvenirs

It is so nice to come into this room in the evening, prop one's feet up on the coffee table, and relax Back Amongst the Oaks.

Porch Roof

We've had this lovely brick stoop at our back door for almost 2 years now, but it has no handrail and the door gets soaked every time it rains.

So we decided to add a roof.

This is what this part of the house looked like when we bought it 6 years ago. Horrors!

This is how that area looked after the big kitchen remodel; all new windows, siding, and doors, but still no porch.

I figured we could flatten the pitch just a bit to make it come out even with the fascia board of the "family room" which is lower than the rest of the house, so on October 21st, we did some figuring and ran to Home Depot for lumber.

Then we had to manufacture a little beam because we couldn't find a 4x6x14'. It's probably stronger that a 4x6 with that piece of 1/2" plywood between the 2x6s. By Wednesday we had the beam and posts installed and started on the rafters and roof sheathing and by Halloween the railings were done.

Then came the priming and painting...

And Voila! We now have a porch roof that looks like it's always been there.

New Shed

 

After 70 years it was time to say "Goodbye" to Jill's playhouse, so in November 2023, Handyman finally tore it down. It was a cute little thing with a sink and electric lights and a dutch door, but it was never meant to house garden tools and it was always a mess.

We tore it down because we built a new shed! It's got full size doors, so we don't bang our heads going into it; it's much larger; and it's on a proper foundation so the floor won't rot.

The final part of the project was a fence to screen the service yard. Most people don't even realize the service yard exists because it's a long skinny triangle between the Habitat Garden and the back yard, but you can see it in the photo above. It's where we hide all that junk that most people hide behind their garage: garbage bins, garden carts, ladders, extra lumber, and the compost heap. I've also got a "potting shed" back there. It's actually a 12'x12' metal screened canopy thing that my sister gave me.

There's also a trellis over the gate and that still needs a vine. I'm transitioning to California native plants in my garden, so I'm thinking Lonicera hispidula, pink honeysuckle. 

It's hard to believe we are coming up on 6 years at this house. So many huge projects have been done and this shed is just one of them, but it's very satisfying to finally have a clean, organized space for garden tools and rarely used items.

Back Amongst The Oaks

Almost 10 years ago we left this little oak grove, bought a boat, sailed from here to Maine and then back down to the Chesapeake, bought a minivan, and drove cross country back to California.

Like a beacon, this neighborhood drew us back and we bought a house across the street and down a couple of doors from White Oak Hall. We've been renovating it for 5 years! I tried to start a blog about that, but it never felt quite right. So I'm going to crack open this "Amongst The Oaks" door and see if I can turn on the lights again.

There's lots to tell about the renovation of this new-to-us house and I hope you'll follow along.

Finished Dining Room

It's been a crazy year here with lots of projects getting done despite back surgery and pain issues for Handy Man.

The Dining Room today

The Dining Room four years ago

The latest project has been the Dining Room.  Sooooo many things needed fixing! The first step was removing the rusty old sliding door and putting in new French doors. We priced them at Home Depot, but at almost $10,000, Handyman decided to build them himself. About $3000 later (double pane glass, wood, special bits, weather stripping, hardware) they were done and installed.

Then we had to raise the floor to match the living room and install hardwood flooring.

And we raised the ceiling to match the living room, rewired everything, insulated, and replaced all the drywall.

Finishing the hardwood floor was way more difficult than we thought it would be, but eventually that was done too and we started with the actual decorating.

 

I literally took a piece of Grandma's china to the paint store to match to and came home with a red called "My Valentine". Next I found a fun fabric with elephants for an upholstered cornice above the French doors. I picked a taupey color called "Grizzly" from the fabric and used that below the chair rail.

I scored these cute elephant lamps on Amazon, and the chandelier and sideboard on Facebook marketplace. Rounding out the decor are items we've inherited: the brass ships clock, the Regency teachest, the ship pictures, art from a famous ancestor, and old pewter candlesticks.

    

 

 

We are quite happy with how the dining room is coming together - and just in time because we are hosting parties on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Not that a tacky room would prevent us from having a party; we had parties last year when the dining room looked like this because getting together is more important than the state of your decor.

Weird Dining Room

 

Almost looks civilized, doesn't it?

Back out a bit though, and our dining room looks like this. Not too bad considering one wall is black tar paper, another is a rusty sliding door, another is a piece of plastic, the fourth is unfinished drywall, and the floor is icky concrete.

I was determined to eat in here, so I started clearing out the mess in early December and had Handyman insert a plywood panel to enlarge the table. I also bought a new tablecloth at Home Goods.

I got this snow flake covered fabric at JoAnne's to make a runner, and I stapled some icicle lights around the perimeter of the room.

Handyman also created a temporary table in the corner to hold the Christmas tree.

That table is hiding this unbelievably ugly planter that is STILL here. I swore when we bought the house that the planter would be the first thing to go, but three years later it's still here.

So our table looked like this, the company was great, the food was delicious, and everyone had a good time in our weird dining room.

Here's my theory: fancy everything up a bit so they don't notice all the weirdness.