back in the high life, again.

I've taken on a new approach to blogging here at Love of Thornhurst. And that is to try doing it.  After a long spell of not posting, it seems like we owe you something bigger than just an update, so I kept putting it off.  And after all that, I'm just going to give you an update.

In the coming months, we've decided to take a step back on the big projects and try to get a little more settled within the space we already occupy.  However, over the last year, we've completed some big jobs and some little jobs that acted more like big jobs.  So, in the coming weeks, I'm going to do my best to get some pictures up here and then we'll try to keep things moving in the future.

Looking forward to hearing your kind & encouraging thoughts and comments about our future posts! As you well know, I don't pretend to be democratic with comments on my blog.  It's about my home - and assuming people would never say something insulting in person while actually in my house - I don't allow rude or insulting posts in my house's blog.  This is really a non-issue, since Lovers of Thornhurst are notoriously kind people.  But I'm sure you understand, that it's really so we don't hurt the house's feelings.  It's getting older and little more sensitive in its middle age.

Blogging soon....

finished slate entry

Well, I finished this 5 months ago and am just now posting a photo. I am trying this from my phone so bear with me.

Free slate from era-appropriate home, ~$50 of supplies, and about two half days of work makes for a stylish entry. Much nicer than the astroturf that preceeded it.

new old slate

Picked up some free slate taken out of a 50s/60s era home last year. Come to the tour this Saturday to see where we put it.

new url

we took the plunge.  we bought a url for the blerg.

you can now read all about our house at 

www.loveofthornhurst.com

or you can find us right you always have at 

courtneysblerg.blogspot.com

either way, we hope you'll stick around!

Mid-Century Mindyourbusiness

Now, I didn't know Avriel Shull personally and I'm going to go ahead and venture a guess that most of my readers didn't either due to basic laws of physics involving time or space constraints.  But I do know that she wasn't a saint, that my house isn't a shrine, and that she built the damn thing so that people could live in it.  

That said, I LOVE this house. L-O-V-E this house.  I love this house. My husband loves this house. When my children grow up, I think they will love this house.  We bought this house for these reasons: 

1. It was this house.  



our house was painted these colors circa 1990

2. Charlie let us.

Tonight i came across the first mean comment I've found about our house.  It was on the internet, and since I also have the internet, I found it.  Anonymous said something to the effect of "That new paint job is really ugly! The old colors were better because they were old! Yuk!" (Anonymous spelled yuck incorrectly, not me.  I just wanted to give you the full effect so you could really get to know what sort of person Anonymous is.)  Youch!  You really hurt my feelings, Anonymous!  

My mother always taught me that the real reason we don't say anything if we can't say anything nice is because the person will likely find out and we'll probably say something stupid to boot leaving us really feeling dumb.  To simplify for you Anon, you said something not nice and you were misinformed when you said it which leaves you looking mean & stupid.  All in one shot.

our snazzy door

Here's the deal: The colors Anon apparently loved so much (but never actually saw in person) were not the original colors.  The original house colors were along the lines of beige, peachy beige and burnt orange.  We liked the burnt orange so we brought it back. (Note our snazzy door, Anon.)  Choosing exterior paint colors is hard. The light changes the colors about every hour.  Not to mention seasonally.  We did the best we could with our first shot.  We think it looks pretty good. 

choosing from over 20 paint swatches

We made some tough choices too - like reducing the paint colors from 3 to 2.  Risky, I know, but we thought it helped showcase the beautiful architectural detailing in the windows & roof line.  Maybe in the future we'll tweak it a bit, but painting a house is expensive and time consuming, so for now, it's sticking.  

The primary reason we painted our house was because the last paint job was all but peeled away.  As mentioned above, we love our house, so we cared for it by sanding, scraping, and washing down 50 years of cracking paint so that the siding might make it 50 more.

Here's the other deal:  Lately we've been reading a LOT of unkind words written on the internet about people's homes.  We think this is not nice at all.  We want to be sure that our readers know now that we believe houses are for living in and that most people do the very best they can with the resources they have.  Owning an Avriel Shull house is a big responsibility, maybe even more so than a "regular" home.  And we, like most people are doing the very best we can with the resources we have - including our stylistic sensibilities.  This home is like a child to us.  We pour every extra ounce of energy we have into making it beautiful, safe, and healthy.  

So please, next time you feel like making a mean comment about our house, don't.  And if you do, you won't be invited over to enjoy this fabulous house we live in.  Because we, not you, own it.  Which means we can do whatever we want here.  Which is, I guess, the moral of this posting.

modern living made beautiful by the husband...

you can see so much more at:  a phlog.: a kitchen in use

what's black & white & all over our basement?

Oh how naive we were...in previous posts, we ranted about the rooms & rooms of wallpaper throughout our house. we now know that NEWSPAPER UNDER WALLPAPER ON CINDERBLOCK BASEMENT WALLS is the true test of a home owner's commitment.

extra, extra.

Our best guess is that it was for insulation or to help the wallpaper stick - whatever the reason, this paper is very hard to get off the walls.

Along with removing this 1979 edition of The Indianapolis News, we've torn out the tiled ceiling, pulled up the indoor/outdoor orange carpet, scraped, washed, and sealed the walls.

Zach ready for the worst which incidentally, once planned for, did not ensue.

Sooner than later we'll have a totally rad hangout, increasing our living space by almost 50%.  Come on over! (Not really. We still have a LOT of work to do.)

Zach's fans, also a nice before shot of the grass cloth paper & orange carpet. Oh! And what's that? Yes!  You're correct if you guessed the answer was a chair rail and molding nailed into cinderblock walls.  For a finished look.