Back by Popular Demand

Well, one person asked me to post something...

We still have a ways to go, but the kitchen renovations are looking good. Here's what happened over the last month or so:

Do we really want to save these cabinets? No.

New plaster ... and paint! I am proud to say that it only took 3 samples to find a color - "toasted pine nut."

And through all of this, we've still been able to cook thanks to our dining room hosting the range and refrigerator. And if you hadn't noticed, the sink has been holding on strong in the kitchen. No one is taking away that sink. Isn't it lovely?

What? Are those...cabinets? You mean, we might be able to store things in the kitchen one day? And check out that floor. Looking good, isn't it? Salvaged quarter sawn oak. It's taken a little TLC and a few 6-packs to install.

Some More History

Dismantling our kitchen cabinets uncovered this strip of wood which is probably hard to read on your end, but it says "John Phelan" and then has our address underneath. We think it might be wood from an old crate that was then re-purposed for cabinet construction. Anyway, it's not big news because we could have learned this from our neighbors or the Registry of Deeds, but John Phelan and his wife, Edith, were the owners previous to the owners from which we bought our house. It was kind of cool "discovering" them on our own, though.

We couldn't find any records of their purchase of the home, but in 1965, the deed was put in Edith's name because her husband had passed away. Edith, also known as Ducky, lived in the house until 1996 when she passed away at age 92. Of course, I had to Google her. I found out that she graduated from Colby College in 1926 and became a history teacher, which is pretty cool. She would have been in the first few classes of female grads at Colby. Our neighbors speak highly of Ducky and apparently she was quite social and had them over often.