Eat, sleep, breathe the river house

Things are getting crossed off my to-do list for the river house update, slowly but surely. The house's interior has had its first coat of paint. Next week it will get a second, and they will be doing some ceilings after that. Then they'll move into the kitchen as well as bathroom to paint the cabinetry and freshen it up.

I like having a fireplace in the master, just not the style of it. And so painting it in the same color as the walls has made it recede a bit. What I will enjoy is cranking up this gas fireplace on chilly fall and winter evenings while laying in bed and staring at the stars that are so much brighter out in the country.

Back when we remodeled our current home in 2017, I discovered the online website build.com and have been busy ordering a few more things from them this week. The powder room needed new sconce lights, while the kitchen needed a ceiling fan that was manufactured in this century. 

After initially thinking we'd just replace the only carpet in the main house in two of the bedrooms, I decided I don't want carpeted floors anywhere. So now I've got a local flooring company coming next week to measure for new hardwood floors in those two bedrooms as well as the office and landing. It will be money well spent if I don't have to look at the stained 1998 carpet and dated parquet flooring from 1984 anymore.

River remodel is full steam ahead

This week we're seeing more progress at the river house. Our contractor has been busy removing the dated tile countertops and backsplash so we can replace it with solid surface slabs of stone that have some beautiful movement in them. I love the stone backsplashes in my current house instead of the usual tile because it's such a clean look. I find it amazing that the Lord created such gorgeous natural artwork hidden below the earth's surface for us to find. With building and remodels going great guns around here, we were lucky to be shopping for stone the day after a new shipment was fresh off the boat and put into stock.

I've been busy ordering things we need for the ongoing updates. Early next week I'm expecting ceiling fans, cabinet pulls, a new bathroom light fixture and sconces for the fireplace's rock wall. 

The painters continue to move from room-to-room, cutting in corners with paintbrushes and then rolling the walls with the first coat. You can see in our two-toned landing wall below that it's painfully obvious where the bookshelves were sitting before we relocated them to the rec room. The painters will be doing a second coat before moving on to paint the kitchen cabinets, as well as a secondary bathroom, in a soft shade of white named alabaster. It's amazing how much brighter and open the rooms feel just by lightening up the wall color.

We have a cactus garden that you have to pass on the way to the steps leading down to the river. I saw some cement turtles in a store last month that I thought would be a fun addition to that area, so I circled back and bought five of them. Today I snagged four more to round out my turtle herd!

With the younger daughter home from finishing up her junior year - cheers to another straight A semester - we've been snooping through our local big box stores for inexpensive bedding, plus towels and bath mats. The last big thing I'm waiting to be delivered is the new table I ordered. I've loved my extra long dining table I bought at Restoration Hardware almost five years ago, so I splurged on this lovely acorn brown 6' wide pedestal table made from reclaimed wood for the river house.

I enjoy the scenic drive out to the river house, which is good since I'm up there at least three days per week to oversee things. Take supplies that have been delivered. Check on the groundskeeper-handyman that's still living there until early June when his daughter finishes the school year. One of my favorite sights besides all of the pretty river crossings is a field with some longhorns. It's not uncommon to see folks pulled over to snap pics, and so I joined them one day. I don't think it can get any more Texas than that.

Congratulations, Garrett!

We finally have a medical professional in the family. My nephew Garrett graduated with his BS in nursing last weekend and we are so very proud of him. Garrett made the dean's list many semesters. He worked as a student lab assistant for one of his professors. He was very responsible with the money we gave him each semester, and excelled in his many clinicals. He also held down a part time job in a local hospital his senior year.

Garrett was able to accomplish all of this while dealing with his own high functioning Aspergers. I so wish that my mother, his Mimi, would have been able to attend. She was his biggest fan, offering encouragement and support when he needed it. Her only grandson, Garrett always had a special place in her heart and I can't help but imagine she was cheering him on from heaven as he crossed the stage to accept his diploma.

I'm officially the older generation now

It was just a matter of time. Time that marches on inexorably towards the end of our human lives. I praise God that I know where I'm going when I draw my last breath here on earth. But it's still strange to contemplate becoming the oldest generation with the passing of your grandparents and then parents.

My father, Billy Ray Griffin, passed away yesterday on May 11. He was born in 1941, the youngest of seven children, to parents who were well into mid-life. I never knew his parents because both passed away in their mid 60s before I was born. My sister and I lived with my mother after our parents divorced in the late 1970s. I won't bore you with the details, but we didn't have the best relationship with our dad. A product of his generation, he had very specific ideas about race, religion and politics. 

I do have some fun memories from my growing up days with Bill. I always felt it was a very conditional love on his part, and yet I do believe it was love. Once I became an adult, married and started my own family, we drifted apart due to some decisions my father made that I didn't agree with. And didn't want to influence my girls in a negative way. And so it's a bittersweet thing to learn of his death. I don't mourn so much for my father, but rather the relationship that my family and particularly our daughters might have had with him if things had been different. If he had chosen to respond when I reached out to him years ago instead of ignoring it. 

God sent me a wonderful father-in-law that I love and our girls think hung the moon. He has been the best Poppy to them all their lives, and I thank the Lord for providing them with an amazing male role model who raised a fabulous son, their dad.  

Today I pray my father's soul is at peace in heaven because he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior. 

With love, Tookin' Tootie 

 

 

 

 

Me and Bill, back in the day (above)

Bill and our oldest daughter (below)

 

River house redo

I've probably racked up a solid 30,000 steps un-decking the halls of all the formal and dated decor that we inherited with the river house when we purchased it last week. Thankfully, the bulk of the furniture will look more appropriate once the accessories are updated with things that reflect my taste. My decorating goals are fun and informal, which seems appropriate for a weekend home.

We were able to hire the seller's handyman to remove heavy silk drapes and fabric blinds covered in dust from all over the house. Just that one change really brightened up the place. I'll never understand why people hide fabulous views with window coverings, but I'll stay off my soapbox about that. He also climbed up the big ladder, something I'm not comfortable doing, to remove dried flower arrangements and other knick knacks from display ledges.

 

 

A friend helped me load up at least 30 boxes of books on the shelves in the living room. Our local library's annual book sale will benefit from that donation. We've been able to use the garage as a staging place for things. One side is for items going to a local consignment shop. That's helping pay for replacement lamps and bedding. The other side is where we've placed items that will either be reused in the guesthouses, or donated to a thrift store where the proceeds go to area churches.

Over the weekend, we decided to take a break from emptying out decor to investigate the river. With 2100' of Guadalupe River frontage, it ranges from warm ankle lapping shallows to a deep channel with springs that's nice and cool. I love that the area right at our stretch of beach where the cliff steps end is the perfect depth for an old school webbed lawn chair to chill in the water.

 

Tomorrow the painters get started covering dark and dated walls with fresh coats of a lighter color on the entire interior. Our contractor kicks off his work in the kitchen Monday. Next step in the process is to select the outdoor planters I want to keep, and farm out the rest to friends. I can't stand clutter, so many of these pots have to go. I'm guessing there are probably 40 pots and planters of varying sizes, shapes and colors outside. Plus plant stands and those kinda creepy lions feet thingies that hold the pots off the ground. It's just entirely too many to be hand watering and stumbling over on the porches and decks.

Speaking of stumbling... old graceful here opted to wear water sandals instead of my brand new blue water shoes. My mistake, especially when exploring an unfamiliar stretch of river. Thanks to the mostly rock bottoms in the Texas hill country, it's often a march up and down as you traverse along the riverbed. Sure enough, I snagged the front of my sandal on a rock and seriously sprained a toe on my right foot. It doesn't appear to be broken, but it's a startling shade of bruised right now. In a separate stumbling incident, I didn't realize I was headed up the shelf into the shallows, lost my balance and scraped my knee along the rocks. I'm sure I've added yet another scar to the ones I've collected over the past 50 something years. Even though I'm the first walking wounded at the river house, it was worth the ouchie to enjoy the views up to our Cliff House. I've always wanted a home with a name!

Let the decorating begin

Yesterday we bought the river house. However, I had already met with our decorator to hit the ground running with some much needed kitchen updating and decor changes. She and I made a trip to our favorite stone store to check out granite slabs. I'm going with two different looks, the first one a darker granite to contrast with the white kitchen cabinets. The lighter granite with all of that great movement in it will be the new top for this built in piece of furniture - think super long sideboard - that separates the living and dining areas.

I've clicked through lots of sinks, faucets and backsplash tiles as more necessary items required for the kitchen update at some of my favorite online stores. For the next few days, I'll be working out at the river house to get it prepped for interior painting starting Monday. I'm lightening all of the walls with this soft linen color. However, I still need to pick a paint color for the built-in entertainment center. Plus I've got to take every last thing off the walls and ledges, as well as remove all blinds and drapes. 

How convenient the husband is out of town for work until Tuesday. He just sent me the pic above, his bird's eye view of St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC. Thankfully, I've got a couple folks pitching in to help me with the sweat equity to get the prep work done.

 

I couldn't resist snooping through some local antique shops yesterday afternoon. Vintage fishing nets, creels, and minnow buckets were on my hit list. Once I explained to my decorator what the goal was for the river house - informal and fun - she told me it would be great if I could find some old fishing items. We counted up and this is the fifth house the decorator has helped me pull together, including a new build and several remodels. She knows my aesthetic and I always enjoy collaborating with her for a great finished product. I've also been busy taking pics of soft furnishings and accessories when I stumble across possibilities. 

We've all been hearing about supply chain issues. Sure enough, several of the chairs I really liked have delivery projections well into the fall. I turned the internet upside down and inside out, looking for navy blue barrel swivel chairs that would arrive this month. Once I'm out at the river house and measure the space for fit tomorrow, I hope to be ordering a pair of the comfy looking swivel chairs below to go in the living room.

I'll undoubtedly be posting more pics of decor, the process and finished product once it's all ready for company, so just bear with me while I wade into the decorating weeds and bring you along for the ride. It's exciting to think about putting our own stamp on the river house and spending summer weekends there making memories soon.

C&W state of mind

We've been on a country and western music kick this year. I thought I had blogged about our trip to the local stock show and rodeo back in February, but guess I never got around to it. We took the younger daughter and niece, and enjoyed a great afternoon eating carnie food, checking out the show critters and watching the rodeo. You'll have to excuse the poor quality pics I had to go back and screenshot off my Snap videos.

Tim McGraw put on a fun little concert. The man is my age, but he's in great shape. He's undoubtedly more famous now to the general public since he starred in the 1883 spinoff of the hit series Yellowstone. Back in the day when I'd hit the local country western place for some two-stepping, where Mark Chesnutt and Tracy Byrd were still singing with the house band at Cutter's, we'd laugh about how some folks looked like they jumped off the roof to get into their jeans. My own Rocky Mountains were a snug fit. It seems Tim still likes to don his tight fittin' jeans.

 

 

We're continuing with the C&W concerts next month when we attend the Brooks & Dunn Reboot tour. I was scooting a boot to their hits back when the husband and I were dating, and we'll be married 29 years in July. Funny thing is, it's the younger daughter who really wants to attend. It's cute that she likes the old vintage stuff that I sang along to when I was her age. Proves she has good taste!