Friday, July 27, 2012

Behind Closed Doors

Closets, can't live with them, can't live without them! What did you think I was going to launch into? If you were "lucky" enough to spend a year of bleeding money (and arguing with just about everyone about something), while you built your own house, you'd put a ton of them in wouldn't you? Well I didn't. HEAD SLAP GOES HERE. In fact, besides each bedroom having a basic closet there are only 3 closets for general use. Here are two and as usual, the crew is ever present to "help".



Bathrooms have free standing  furniture as I prefer to have vintage pieces rather than closets in those places. So of my three closets, the largest one wasn't working for me at all. It had never gotten a shelving system. Stuff was stacked on the floor and in crappy old dressers, much of it ready for Goodwill or the freebie bins downtown. My other closets/dressers where doing double duty and the madness had to stop! Gene finally installed a full set of shelves. I now have 5 shelves 20 inches wide by 7 feet long and so began the long migration. I won't bore you with the endless hours spent sorting, sifting, folding and tossing. We're going right to the good stuff.



 My hanging clothes and shoes got their new wonderful home in the huge French wardrobe in the bedroom,



freeing up floor and shelf space in the master closet /sewing room area and of course allowing for another dog bed area.....



 The blankets and quilts and spreads packed into that amoire got moved to the shelved closet along with their close friends the bed sheets, who were co-mingling in the other closet with towels and such. Neatening still needs to happen in the new digs.



 The existing shelved closet got a full overhaul and now the towels and such are all happily on their own dedicated shelf again and not scattered around.



 I spent yesterday admiring all of my closets and planning how to better utilize the shelf space.

In sewing news, I managed to finish 3 pairs of curtains complete with tie-backs, wrinkled though they are after all being washed.



Everything will get a nice press and starch before going up in the windows.  The red plaid fabric did indeed get cut out into a jacket. I have to construct a lining pattern from the jacket pieces and get that cut out too.



 Weaving was sadly neglected all week, but we'll fix that this weekend for sure.

In farm news, it wasn't a completely bleak week. Mary from biblioblog traveled on over from Klamath Falls to go riding with me. It was a wonderful time. Dandy so appreciated an accomplished equestrian at the other end of the reins and I was beside myself having such an interesting and fun riding partner. We have so much in common, terriers, horses, and of course, sewing. Mary brought along some cute red fabric and a delicious loaf of fresh bread from a local K-Falls bakery. It beat anything I can get in Ashland that's for sure! It didn't last more than a day either. We'll be doing it again soon too.

Using the new trailer and round pen set up I got Nick loading nicely and allowing the door to be closed. He stood quietly while closing and opening and it marked a milestone for us. The big news was Cooper though. Wednesday morning I decided we were going to get him in the trailer, and get the gate closed however long it took. It didn't take long, about 20-30 minutes. The deal with both horses was simple, in the trailer you get treats and you get to rest, if you want to come out, you can but you're going to have to work. Nothing mean about it, just when you're on the ground you're either trotting or cantering around in circles. We've struggled for years with loading issues, bought and sold trailers and had to have others with big 4 horse open trailers do any moving of him. I have fingers crossed that time and trust has worked a little magic and we'll continue to build on this nice start.

Parting shot: Look who's behind this door!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Theresa, your new closet spaces are awesome. The heart in hand picture or is it a quilt piece on the wall in your sewing area really caught my eye, did you make it? Your ride sounds like a lot of fun, I have always wanted to learn to ride but have never found the right place to do so. Pet all the kids for me.

prttynpnk said...

Can you have too many dog beds? I say no! If I didn't have the seatign in the sewing room, I'd probably be sewing with one on my lap- try that?!

ladyoftheloom said...

sorry to be away so long, family issue prevail. But...I LOVE that wardrobe. What a theraputic thing, straightening closets and drawers.

Mary said...

Great news on your sewing projects, the closet remodels and of course, the boys loading and unloading quietly. Way to go!! Treats for everyone involved :-)

No sewing here as the glass company is here putting in new screens on the third floor. He is taking the windows completely out, installing the screens, and putting the sash windows back in. whew-all to avoid a third story climb...:-)

Laura said...

I've had a series of horses with loading issues, and Tang is not immune. However, she's getting the idea that FOOD is in the trailer, and that I mean it, and she gets in. Today was way better than last time (after our lesson, I think she knew if she got in we went home). Any progress is to be appreciated.

I once built a house, lived in it for 14 months and then moved to Oregon. I still give myself dope slaps for only having one small linen closet installed...

Theresa said...

LOTL, LOVE to hear from you. Sending all good things your way.
Catch us all up when you can.

Theresa said...

Martha, I made the wall piece about 13 years ago. The words are handwritten from a Natalie Merchant song, the heart & hand applique and the vines free motion embroidery/quilting.
Pets have been doled out in your honor...twice at least. :)

Theresa said...

The correct answer is NO! Right!!! Of course it may be possible to have to many dogs....NAWWWWW.

Theresa said...

Mary, it is exciting about the boys loading. We're one step closer to trailer out.
Exciting about getting screens in, being able to open those top floor windows bug free is important, especially at this time of year.

Theresa said...

And I'll bet Tang is hungry after those lessons too! I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one deserving of dope slaps about closet space. Wow, just one???!! Did you move because of the closet issue? ;) We're happy to have you in OR though.

Long Ridge Farm said...

I think closets, or lack thereof, is in the same oops as not enough electrical outlets! And we lack both!
Treats are the end all to success. Surely sheep, definitely dogs and apparently horses...sweet parting shot.

Sharon said...

Yeah, we overlooked closets in the building of our house too.

Judy said...

Nice organized spaces you have now! I bet when you finished, it just made you feel good. It does drive a person nuts to have stacks of things in closets. We need to do the same thing with a large closet downstairs. Sigh. Maybe tomorrow ;-)