Life in the Black Hills

Guest Room on the High Plains

 I love how the guest room has turned out. Having moved into it for several days while the master bedroom was being painted gave the Professor and I a chance to try it out for comfort - Mattress comfy? check. Good night's sleep? Check. Reading lights easy to access and provide enough light? Check. Desk and outlet for laptop..you got it...check!

We had quite a time deciding on the color for the wall. The main rooms (LR, DR, Kitchen and Hallways) are painted 'khaki' from Sherwin & Williams - my opinion is still up in the air with it - some days I like it, others I don't, but I'm not ready to take up the project so for now? Oh yeah, I absolutely love it! 

It is the bedrooms and baths where our personalities come out - paint choices tend to be vivid but I fell in love with a matelassé bedspread I found at BB&B. It has a soft, yellow background with shades of lavender, wine, green and gold in the leafy, sort of garden motif. The tones are not assertive so they go well with the brighter tones of the same colors on the accent pillows and throw (both from Pier 1)  and provide a nice contrast to the rich brown and sort of cabernet wood tones of the bed frame. Over the bed are two reproduction travel posters from my home state of Washington (Olympic National Park on the left, Snoqualmie Falls on the right. We've stayed in the lodge at the top of the falls several times - very romantic place. Pricey but worth it for the memories). Both posters were inexpensive purchases from AllPosters and provide a nice punch of color that goes well with the accent pillows. The end table lamps were an Overstock.com purchase. I thought they looked elegant (kind of a riff on a Japanese street lamp), were high enough to provide adequate light for the reader in bed and are easy to switch off. They also have a small footprint on the small end tables so they don't overwhelm the table top. I also added a water carafe so guest won't need to bump around in the night if they are thirsty.

Guest Room

 So at first I was thinking of a darker green for the walls, but I was concerned it would be too reminiscent of pea soup so in the end we stayed in the green family, but brightened it up quite a bit. We used Benjamin Moore paint. Why Benjamin Moore? It rolls on easily, covers extremely well (I've never needed more than one coat so painting goes quickly. The color on the paint chip WILL exactly match the color on the walls (once dried), it's durable and it's price is not much higher or in some cases the same as other well known brands of paint- This may seem like an ad, but after years of painting projects using many other brands, Benjamin Moore is the best by far and they can match any color even if its not theirs (I presume other brands do the same thing these days). Anyway, the color the Professor and I chose was 'Fashion Week' (from Valspar and I know, the name says nothing about the color) and had them match the color using BM paint. The paint is actually lighter than the photo shows - and it works beautifully with the furnishings in the room.

Guest Room Pic 2

We furnished this room primarily with furniture from the lake cottage. The small roll top desk had the proportions to fit into the room without overwhelming it and can hold all the usual desk accessories but can be closed up easily to hide the clutter. The chair was picked up at the 'Rustic Soul' in Belle Fourche  - and I didn't re-paint. I thought the sage green looked pretty next to the golden oak. The pine trunk is another piece we've had for years - it has been refurbished inside and out and used to be in the dining room of the lake cottage and served to hold all our napkins, tablecloths etc. Now it holds extra blankets and duvets. It goes beautifully with the desk and the black metal strips play off the black frames we chose to display the travel posters.   

 On the top of the desk is a stationary holder that I've had for many years that holds miscellaneous books (a few are anthologies that contain a couple of my short stories!) and a guide to the Black Hills. To the right of the stationary holder is an antique barometer that was displayed for over 50 years in the Professor's parent's house.  

 

Deskscape

 

 The reproduction poster is full of vivid colors and serves as a sentimental reminder of our visits to West Point in the fall for football games and the Christmas concerts we attended. Good memories of moments shared with good friends. On the left of the holder is a small wooden carving of a pheasant - It's so cute. The ring-necked pheasant is the state bird of South Dakota and  I picked it up at the airport gift shop several years ago. Wish I'd bought a couple more...   

I also added the comfy wing chair

Wing chair from lake cottage

we had in the living room of the lake cottage. I think it looks perfect in its new home with new accent pillows to brighten it up. The subtle plaid of the greens and a small thin stripe that matches the wine color in the bedspread brings the two disparate patterns together. Hope you agree.

 

 Since I wanted to keep the room from feeling crowded, I did not want to add a dresser - I could probably have re-arranged the furniture but that bed is sooo heavy, neither the Professor or I were thrilled with the idea of moving it around so instead I decided to hunt my usual sources in the Black Hills and see if I could find a dresser with the proportions needed to simply place it in the closet but still leave room for whatever items our guests might want to hang.  I ended up finding another cool piece from 'The Rustic Soul' where I purchased the chair.

Dresser with metal star pulls

The proportions were perfect for what I was looking for. I love that store, it has a lot of re-purposed furniture , antiques, jewelry, just lots of stuff that can get the imagination in gear and even though it's small shop, I can spend at least an hour wandering around while chatting with owner, Michelle.  Notice the pulls on the drawers? Those are what sold me on the purchase - so unique!

 

I think we will line the drawers using an idea that I picked up from Martha Stewart. We have tons of cardboard left from our move, so the Professor will cut some of that up into the drawer dimensions then we'll cover with material I'll pick up from the local fabric store (or if I can find something around the house that will do) - a small project that gives a pretty finished look to the inside of the drawers - they can be popped out easily and more sturdy that using paper. I've done the same thing in our bedroom end tables and dressers and love the pop of color/pattern when I open the drawers. Very spiffy!

Til later,

 

 

 

Hospitality, n. The virtue which induces us to feed and lodge certain persons who are not in need of food and lodging. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

Back in Summit NJ

Turkey Hill B&B

Boxwood Coffee Shop, Summit NJ

I was back on the East Coast for the last six weeks - Year end is one big panic attack in my world so best to be where the action is. 

 While there I stayed at a cute B&B in Summit, NJ - though the owner said it was a small room, , I had a king size bed, sitting area and a small kitchenette. Perfect for my stay.

It was a long six weeks and ironically, it was much warmer back home in the Black Hills that it was on the east coast for virtually the entire time. Since the weather was such a bummer, I limited most of my weekends to exploring the little town of Summit - a lovely upscale type of town (yoga and pilates studios on every corner, charming restaurants, cute little cupcake bakery, antique and décor shops - a lovely town for strolling (even through the slush). I did find a little coffee shop, the 'Boxwood' (much cozier and welcoming than the Starbuck's down the street) Boxwood had a great herbal tea, 'A Day in Provence' by 'Tay' that was served in a 2-cup French press to infuse the flavors and they also served scrumptious cinnamon buns. It became my daily ritual after work to stop for afternoon tea and do some reading. the shop was bright and cheerful and I found that is was a restorative ritual that I plan to continue back home - makes a nice grace note for ending the workday. 

The photo below was taken early on a Saturday morning. The tree looked so pretty with the powdery snow along its branches - can you see the red berries on the lower branches? Lovely.

But now I'm back in the Black Hills where the weather turned cooler on my return, but the promise of milder weather next week.

I've been taking pics of the house since I've been home and think I will finally post some more interior shots. We do have a new sofa coming for the family room (though we have to select another fabric - store called and said the one we had originally selected was out of stock. Sob!)

I'm also mulling over the idea of replacing the bench in the master bedroom with a twin sleeper/chair but that is something I've put on the wishlist for now along with new chairs for the FR.

 

Til Later! 

“Why do you go away?  So that you can come back.  So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors.  And the people there see you differently, too.  Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” 

  - Terry Pratchett from 'A Hat Full of Sky'
  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Pic taken from Boxwood Coffee shop

Hot tub weather

In the late summer, when the hot tub was finally installed and working, we tried it out when the evenings were still pleasantly warm. Now that winter is heavily upon us sitting in the hot tub surrounded by snow and freezing temps, I have to say, I enjoy it even more. The air is brisk but we are very comfortable and when we step out and can make it back into the house before the chill really hits us. Great way to end the day! The temps have been down to zero at night but a warming trend will start up next week. I don't mind the cold as long as the streets are driveable. Life goes on with or without the snow - no large snowfalls during the season as yet. That is mostly on the east side of the state. Here, we've had maybe 2-3 inches. The winds make me hesitate to put a shutters or any othersturdy privacy screen for the tub - we probably will have to get shades that can be raised and lowered. The Professor put a lot of effort (and incurred a few injuries) getting the whole deck completed. Then came the electrician to complete the hookup to the tub followed by the plumber to modify the backyard to hookup the gas bbq and the water filtration setup so we can use the backyard faucet to fill the tub. All those miscellaneous items that add up. Hate to think what the landscaping is going to end up costing!? That will be another adventure to look forward to....

Til later,

If you have a hot tub and a beverage, you have everything you need - Anonymous

 

Atrium door is to the family room.Door in the middle is to the master bedroom

Welcome to 2015!!

2014 proved to be an exciting, life changing year - we are now settled in our cozy house nestled between the plains and the Black Hills of western South Dakota. Below are a few more pictures - as you can see we are progressing and our decorating efforts are finally feeling close to complete 

Frm the family room - stacked stone, see-through fireplace before mantle

The is the floor to ceiling stacked stone fireplace that adds so much ambiance and cozyness to the house during some of the more frigid winter evenings. It is a see-through fireplace and we have the mantel but to get it placed is a major job in itself so I'll provide an update once it is set.  On the other side of the fireplace is the dining room and to the left you can see part of the living room. It's open concept and we don't have everything in place but its getting there. Notice all the light that floods through the windows, it is so bright!

 

 

 

Another photo - this was a more 'composed' photo taken shortly before Christmas with a lovely evergreen wreath that we received from our dear friends Csilla and Greta. We had the fire going, champagne chilled and glasses twinkling in the firelight - it just sang Christmas! So the Professor took the picture so we could share with friends. Everything is sitting on a custome made kitchen table (had to go custom to make sure we didn't overwhelm the space since every inch counts in the limited dimensions of the open kitchen/family room.The chairs in the pic (hope you can see, it is a little dark) are shaker style - we ordered a kit and spent a few weeks sanding/staining, applying multiple coats of varnish then voila! Professor wove the seats (black & teal pattern) that look very pretty against the bardwood of the table.

Kitchen Table Decorated for Christmas

New photos of the house

We are very close to our move-in date and I think we are as far as we can go with our projects until we are able to get out the tools (currently stored somewhere between NJ and SD) - a few more photos that the Professor was able to take while work was finishing up. We finally ran into a string of good weather days which helped to complete most of the remaining outside work that needed to get done. I was thrilled to see the driveway -(below). Over the winter rain turned everything to mud and there were several times when I thought the tires were going to get bogged down but now ...heaven!

The deck (right) will need to have the floor installed but the Professor wanted to do that himself (a guy thing). At the last minute I decided we needed a pergola and I am so glad I did. It will look fabulous with the hot tub! So when we finally arrive there will be projects waiting for us and we'll have to tackle seeding the lawn before winter sets in and hopefully get the remaining landscaping completed. Lots of pictures to go...

Laying the asphalt

Black Hills in the Spring

  

This pic shows the tiles the Professor included in the guest shower. They are bright and each recalls happy memories of vacations spent exploring Cape Cod. We're going a little wild with this bathroom. The wall color will be 'canteloup' ragged on. The sink, a beautiful blue glass vessel sink and the floor a similar azure blue tile - hopefully friends will be delighted by the effect. So reminiscent of vacations by the sea: Cape Cod, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Key West.....           

Til Later,

Good memories become good times and bad times become good lessons.

   -  Anonymous

Looking forward to February

The weather here in NJ has been brutal this year. Temps in the low teens most days and a snow storm or two to keep commuting to work a challenge. Ironically, the temps in the Black Hills have actually been a little warmer though nowhere near balmy. Hopefully February will bring warmer weather for both places (February 1st has started well  with 42 degrees and up for the weekend!)

So the Professor found out that his shoulder surgery will be in May...bummer. We were hoping we would see it over with by the end of March at the latest so we'll have to remain flexible as to when we are actually moving - he needs to complete his rehab and get the okay from the doctor -

In the meantime, he'll be going out to SD to finish the entryway tiling. That completes the inside though I do want to paint the bedrooms and guest bathroom - hopefully we can get that done before May - but I'll keep you posted

 

Here is a photo of one end of the dining room - It's an odd angle but I wanted to get in the beams, the stacked fireplace - it is a gas fireplace with a see-through firebox to the family room and the chandelier which we installed ourselves. I actually did the wiring since the Professor couldn't raise his arm high enough due to his shoulder so he walked me through what to do  and voila! I'll try and get more photos next week - I am being picky about the photos simply because I think the rooms can look pretty blah until they're furnished no matter how good the photography so there will be more to come over time.

Bye for now !

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” - Joshua J. Marine

2014 - BIG changes on the way!

This is a photo of the house - not quite done - the weather has been too cold to finish the stone on the front and the back deck but at least it gives you  a sense of what it looks like.  We  do actually have neighbors though you can't tell from the photo. The inside of the house is almost complete. The Professor has the last of the tiling to complete in the front hall so other than moving the furniture and ourselves to turn our new house into our dream home we're pretty much there.

Here's a photo of the kitchen - It's not huge but it has everything I need and it opens up to the family room so it will be great for entertaining. I don't need something huge - we are downsizing after all - but I did need room for everything and this will do the job!  We won't be moving everything out to the house until spring since the Professor has to have shoulder surgery and I need to retire but will be travelling back and forth to get everything ready - I am soooo looking for to the move - everyone in our new community as been very friendly and welcoming and I'm looking forward to settling in.

    I also am looking forward to having cocktails on the front porch and having coffee while enjoying the sunrise. the photo below was of the sunrise one morning and it was awesome!

What I don't seem to get is a good photo of the great view from the front of the house, but I'll keep working on it.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bye for now!

 

 

 

"This is a New Year, a new beginning, and things will change."

Taylor Swift

 

 

 

We are sooo close

Can't believe it's been almost seven months since I posted last - guess time flies when my computer's on the fritz, the lake cottage getting sold and now finding ourselves in a tiny one-bedroom apartment that seemed a whole lot bigger when we were looking at it empty -now we're living in the midst of unpacked boxes and no more room  - but its only temporary and we can endure for now  while focusing on the future - mainly our plans for our Black Hills Hideaway which are finally underway!!!  (Insert here: Lots of loud cheering!!!!)

Okay, so now for an update. As I am writing this post, the Professor is in the Black Hills with Jim, our general contractor.  They've been driving around meeting with subcontractors, bankers and agents and the happy news is that the excavations will begin the week of July 22nd and the foundation will be poured the first week of August!  The modular part of the house will be delivered by mid-September and the finish work will take another 3-4 weeks after that (building the garage, deck and some inside finish work - some by the contractors and some by the Professor) - that's the plan and though it seems like a long way off we're only talking about 12 weeks end-to-end..I'm hoping that all the planning and detail work will pay off and that we won't hit any major bumps in the road but hey, life is a series of bumps so lets see what happens and I'll share the journey as we move ahead. The below photos show what we're working with. 2 acres, one house

 

Property Pre-build

Hard to tell from here but we'll have views of Bear Butte, Terry Peak, rolling hills from the living room and dining room and most important, the hot tub!

Picture a front porch about here

Lots of other houses going up in the development but with between 2 to 5 acres between them, we'll have lots of elbow room.

I'm already making a list of what we need in terms of furnishings, window coverings, appliances - its already quite a list.

I'm hoping to see pictures of the modular part of the house as its being built in the factory but that's a few weeks away.

'Til later,

We were in the middle of building a house and I was in the middle of having a nervous breakdown , because that's what you do when you build a house. - Cynthia Weil

 

 

 

 

 

 

Major Announcement (Drum Roll Please) - Our House is FINALLY on the market!

I can hardly believe it. After almost 9 months of doing all the 'last minute' fix up chores, our sweet little lake cottage is officially on the market! It was love at first sight for our agent...she said it felt so warm and welcoming that she just wanted to relax and take in the view. She's enthusiastic and we love working with her. She makes us feel optimistic though we know how the market can be so we'll keep our fingers crossed and the house looking as tidy as can be and hope that there's a buyer out there that will love it as much as we have. I even did a tablscape for the open house and I've added a few photos. My photography leaves something to be desired but hopefully you get an idea of how it all looked.  I used what I had available since a lot of my china and tablecloths etc. are in storage but I think it turned out pretty good.

I absolutely love this lantern - From Pier 1 and I've used it with a lot of tablescapes - very versatile and not expensive.

 

 

The runner was one I picked up in Mexico on our last visit and the colors go beautifully with a fall theme. I used old mason jars for the flowers- none of my usual vases were easily found in storage so I again went with what I had in the few boxes left in my craft closet. Flowers were from the local Stop&Shop. Bought a few bunches along with some baby's breath and kept adding flowers to each jar until they were stuffed, added a bow around the top and voila! The placemats were also from Pier 1 - a gift from the Professor.

 

Love,, love, love these!!

I found these two sweet little birds in a local gift shop. The tilt of their heads gave them such a realistic pose that I had to have them and their colors go perfectly with the fall theme.

Sooo cute!

The individual glass cloches are from Sur La Table. I also have the bottoms that raise the cloches up but I...ooops. Dropped one and it broke so I simply used the tops which look okay too, don't you think? Oh, and I used our Fiesta Plates in accenting colors.

 

 

 So there it is folks - my tablescape for our first open house.

 'Til later,

"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun."  - Katherine Hepburn