First comes Destruction . . .

I returned home from Canada yesterday after having a wonderful trip visiting family and friends, and attending my High School Reunion.  I'm glad to be home though!

After catching up on some much needed sleep this morning, I set about building the new addition, and demolishing the side where the addition is going to go.  This was no easy feat!  I'm a pretty good builder and it took all my muscles to pry the bay window off, but it finally yielded.  This window is going to go on the side of the new addition.

Brian is going to cut a hole in the side wall where the window will go, and he'll need to cut a hole that goes from the current breakfast room into the new breakfast room.  Good thing I thought about that just now, I'll have to go and mark the other side wall for him to cut.

I've ordered new windows (don't like the windows the addition came with) that will resemble the windows I already have on the house.  I need to check my stash to see if I have flooring, and if not that needs to be ordered along with a spiral staircase.

I've also ordered folding shelf brackets because we need to add another foot to the side of the house to accommodate the addition.  We'll add a few extra inches for landscaping.

Good thing the Pennethorne's are visiting the old aunt in England.  They'd be aghast at how the crew demolished the side of their house (not to mention the ramshackle the manor is in because of it!).

Tonight the addition will be glued together after Brian cuts those holes and it will be onward and upward!

Side of the manor before destruction.  Here I've just removed the siding.

Siding has been removed along with the window.  I'm sorry to lose this window, but out it goes!

Removing siding and getting ready to remove the bay window.

Prying off the bathroom window.

Last look at the interior of the breakfast room before demolition.

Ripping off the brick foundation.

The windows are out after a lot of muscle power!

The window came out without too much damage.  There will be a few fix-ups though.

More progress tomorrow!

Best in Miniatures ~ The Show

Well I'm up here in Canada having attended my first High School Reunion event last night.  There were only four people from my class, but hopefully more will be there tonight at the dinner and dance.  Honestly, I'm a jumble of emotions as different memories come to light.  Some good, some not so good.  Things you thought you'd moved on from come tumbling back, but I shall persevere and work through them as one must.  That's life!

Moving on . . . did you know that there's a miniature show called "Best in Miniature" where people compete making miniatures for a $15,000 prize?  I just found this out!  It's a Canadian show and you can catch some previews on YouTube and here's how to connect to watch the shows live.

Connect to Best in Miniatures

I Googled miniature shops in Edmonton, but it seems there aren't any.  Bummer!  Oh well, probably a good thing anyway!

Hope this finds you well and I'm looking forward to getting back next week and continuing work on Pennethorne Manor!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I'm leaving home on Wednesday to travel back to Canada to visit family and friends and attend my 40th High School Reunion.  I've ordered a whole bunch of stuff for the manor and hopefully it will all be here when I get back home so I can play.  I'm really excited to work on the addition and see how it turns out.  I have a plan for the new roof line which should be interesting.  Not quite sure how I'm going to pull it off, but I'm hoping hubby will get on board with helping me out with that.

Anyway, I leave you with some pictures of the front of the manor and the conservatory in all its glory!  Enjoy!

Catching Up!

I can't believe it's been almost two years since I've worked on Pennethorne Manor.  In that time she's collected quite a bit of dust and grime, and things have fallen off the walls!  I spent the last few nights cleaning and reattaching cabinets and pictures.  I had used museum wax to attach things, but I committed to the placement of things and used a couple dabs of hot glue to permanently attach them.  Hopefully, I won't have the chaos of things falling off the walls in the middle of the night and freaking me out!

I also had to do some finagling with electrics.  It's embarrassing to say, but one of my dogs peed on a couple of my transformers rendering them rusty and unusable.  This is what happens when things are left neglected too long!  Thank goodness I had everything unplugged!  I had one transformer in my stock pile and ordered another one, along with several new lead wires.  For the most part I got everything working again and enjoyed sitting and looking at the manor all lit up again.

And as per form, I'm planning a new addition!  I always felt that the breakfast room was a tad too tight and could be much more grand.  So I'll be ripping off the bay window (very carefully because I want to reuse it) and adding two new rooms.  My idea is to expand the breakfast room and have a little boy's room!  Yes, the Pennethorne's are expecting!  I'm moving the study from the third floor into the new space above the breakfast room that will have a spiral staircase going up to it.  Then the study will become the little boy's room.  You guessed it, more ripping out wallpaper and destruction!  I really should have been a building contractor in real life!

And so with visions of destruction and construction in my mind, I'll leave you with some updated pictures of the basement and sub-basement.  More pictures of the main rooms of the manor to come as I clean them up.  Enjoy!

Pennethorne Manor at night.

Sub-basement hall and office.

Wine Cellar.

Kitchen

Kitchen to the right with the ovens in the alcove.  The door leads to the scullery.

Kitchen left.  The door leads to the hall/office.

The scullery.

Mouse in the scullery!

Basement hall and Reginauld's room.  The stairs lead up to the main hall and dining room.

Basement bathroom.  I made the cabinets and drawers on the back wall.

Edalene and Alyssa's bedroom.  Alyssa still needs some bedding!

Aoife's bedroom.

I'm heading to Canada next week for my 40th High School Reunion, so work will begin in earnest upon my return!  I hope this finds you all doing well!