Two Steps Forward...

...And three steps back!  Ugh!  What a busy weekend it has been.  Unfortunately, mostly puttering around the house, trying to ready things for when the weather finally turns.  END OF TIMES ALERT!:  It's still hot and summer-y here, we almost turned on the air-conditioner!  In October?  We usually have the furnace fired up by now.  Spooky.

In spite of the balmy weather, we emptied the fish pond and brought all the gold-fishies in for the winter.  And by 'we, ' I mean Glen!  Don't judge me, yours truly was busy cleaning out the garage.  We finally made the sad decision to sell the little convertible. 'Gia,' poor dear, has been sitting in the garage for ages and we never seem to be able to scrape up the cash to have her repaired. It's only a one-car garage, so the space has been rendered for the most part, useless. 

Until now!

Sad as it was to see Gia towed away, the garage is now positively brimming with possibilities for a new workshop!   And OMG! You would not believe the cache of tools I found. 

Anyway, I did manage to work on Merriman Park a bit, this afternoon.  But I am afraid my efforts were for naught!  OK, you guys: I was once  practically a straight-A student (except in Math) so it's not like I'm a blubbering imbecile.  But whilst trying to hook up the fireplace sconces to the socket strip I blew everything up!  Now, nothing works, and the socket strip warning light is going crazy!  Ugh!

I figured out what I did wrong...I won't say what it was because it's simply too embarrassing for words!  Suffice it to say that it was a typical 'guy-thing': in other words: I should have read the directions. 

Oh, well.  Live and learn, right?

I started cutting the pieces for the cornice --and that was no treat either!  My cornice is made from resin and it's a drag to work with.  And those inside corners all need to be coped which is tough enough on real wood, but the resin --Ugh!-- you have to go slow because the saw blade heats up and starts melting the resin.  It's a gooey mess!

I also added gilt powder to the stair, for extra sparkle.

I got some fireplace stuff:  the grate, fender, andirons and tools are from the local dollhouse store, Little Enchantments, in Edina.  The lady who owns the shop is such a delight --do pop in if you ever find yourself in town.  The vases are from a Canadian source, The Little Dollhouse. (Shout-out to Giac)! They are of an ancient Greek design, I figure the owner of Merriman Park picked them up on his Grand Tour of Europe.

I had to correct a mistake I made in the floor border:  I neglected to factor in the thickness of the wainscot and the skirting and it bothered me that the borders were not all evenly wide.  I have also decided to add a medallion to the canter of the floor.  I could tell by the sound of crickets chirping when I asked what you thought of the old medallion I made up that it didn't quite make the medallion mustard (it's OK --I didn't care for it, either)!  I found a gaw-jess medallion on-line and honeys, you are going to love it!

I need to pick up a pair of lamps for the Hall table.  I bought a frame on-line for the large painting, but when it arrived, it was too small!

What else?  I cut mirrors for the top of the stair, though it probably wasn't necessary--they don't really show.  I'm working on the banister finals, with my new-found tools (no more kitchen knife, thank you very much)! I think I'll take Karin Corbin's advice and buy some 'mini-files.' 

I am thinking about removing the door on the stair landing and replacing it with a tromp-l'oiel view into another room: one of my heroine, Mrs. James Ward Thorne!  Do you think that could work?