White Allium Giganteum

This Spring it is wonderful to watch many White Allium Giganteum bulbs bloom; planted last Fall in a bed of late summer blooming; smaller white allium. Both are planted in front of ornamental grasses and large white balled Annabelle Hydrangeas which bloom/grow mid-Summer.

Princeton Virtual Reunions

The Class of 1975 will celebrate it's 45th Reunion May 29th - 31st, On-Line as a part of Princeton University's first Virtual Reunions and our class picture was taken via "Zoom" in regalia with 144 participants. Blazers will also be worn on-line for the Virtual P-Rade (and tent parties with student DJ's). I'm sure the Princeton University Band will be a big part of the background music. Go Tigers!

Facemasks: a gift from Janet Clark '75 and made by Debbie Whyte of Whytehouse Designs, in Chevy Chase. Locomotive: "Rah, rah, rah, tiger, tiger, tiger, sis, sis, sis. boom, boom, boom, bah, '75, '75, '75!"

A Second Subfloor

This kitchen needed a second subfloor of 3/8" plywood; leveling it with the adjoining dining room and solarium which will have all new wide oak flooring. The original old dining room floor was laid over 240 yr. old tree trunks that were joists for this room structure. I found sheets of true 1" plywood made in Oregon to create a new stable; subfloor which was bolstered and leveled underneath by a central solid 8" beam from PA. The kitchen addition had a crawlspace under it accessed only by a trap door in the middle of it which we removed when digging a new crawl space open to the new dining room one.

The plywood joints were staggered for both subfloors and chalk lines used to screw the boards to joists.

Installing Appliances

Having rewired and plumbed much of this old farmhouse, Christian is now installing his new kitchen appliances. The 30" Viking five burner cooktop seems a perfect fit with plenty of gas action, and the deep commercial grade Elkay stainless steel sink is a great size below an old window of wavy glass. Kitchen Aid double ovens are five star rated and they look beautiful here.




I love Blanco faucets (all metal) which are heavy-duty and this was about half price from ebay as was the sink and 13 oz. soap dispenser which loads from above or below.

Carrara Marble Counters

Carrara, Italy marble quarry via pinterest.



Over two years ago we bought a slab of Carrara Marble for the kitchen counters which needed to be installed this week. We searched many large marble warehouses in New Jersey before finding this honed slab through a Hopewell; high-end tile store. It came from "Bedrock Granite" an hour away in Shrewsbury, NJ, and has exciting veining.



What a wonderful company to work with from the quality of their stone, employees, and workmanship...to end product.

 Layout for approval which captures the best grain movement and bookends veining at joints. Counters installed below....

Our First Restoration

Bill and I met while he was restoring our home in Hopewell; emptying mud insulation, re-framing and siding with an addition. He bought this house having a cracked main beam, walls bowed & separated from floors, no windows or front door and chickens living in it creating a near foot of manure. He had a hammock, electric burner & blanket, a hose outside and outhouse to use. His down vest was covered in duct tape and I made mine in the seventies from a "revolutionary" Whole Earth Catalogue kit. Christian wears it now. While staying home, I am cleaning closets (finding old photos etc.) and making a new office for Bill here.

My Go-To White Paint

The kitchen, coatroom and mudroom here will all be painted Benjamin Moore's "Decorator's White"... and old thin beaded trim Benjamin Moore's "White" which will be a shade lighter to stand out. Cool "Decorator's White" has always been my go-to white paint since the seventies and I started painting rooms. It is considered an architect's white, great for showing off art and architecture.

Christian has decided to leave the very old framing and insulating bricks exposed in this kitchen nook and soon the old; small doorknobs newly polished will be added back to the stripped and repainted doors.

The old brass hardware was cleaned with 0000 steel wool and then buffed on a wheel with Tripoli compound.