Two important accomplishments this week

First, I finished writing the dissertation to the satisfaction of my advisor, which means that it went to the rest of the committee. So, it looks like I'll graduating in May. There's still a bunch of things that have to happen, but the really big hurdle has been overcome. I am relieved. More exciting than that is that my dad, who does not like to get anywhere near airports, much less on airplanes, is coming to the graduation. I've been dancing in my chair all day.

Equally important, the contractors are finished. The ceilings are put up. The floors and wood has been stripped and stained. The Good Mr. Dr. and Our Good Friend J will be doing touch-ups this Sunday and installing the light fixture in the parlor.

Here's a peek at our new bedroom.
The walls are dark blue and the ceiling and trim a creamy yellow.

The contractor was able to find some replacement doors for us with the original mortise locks and ceramic knobs. We still need to strip and paint the door. Also, we need to get replacement plates for the light switch and wall outlets. But, all in due time.

The parlor is where the touch-ups need to happen. But, still it looks good.

This is the south facing wall. You can see the soffit detail here. The wall is blue, the underside of the soffit is blue-green, and the ceiling is a mild yellow. We used all Benjamin-Moore, low VOC paints, so if you want to know the exact colors, let me know. You can also see the detail of the trim around the doors here. The trim was a mix of stains to look dark red. The door needs to be replaced eventually. This is a cheap, hollow door that is ugly and beat up. We can't wait to get rid of it.


This picture is a little dark and does not do justice to the window trim, but you can see how the paint contrasts nicely with the soffit detail.
We are particularly proud of the door. It was a lot of work for the contractor but we were able to save the door. It is stained the same color as the trim. Obviously one of the things that needs to be done is to paint (until we can stain) the stops in the door frame. Or we could leave it just to highlight the contrast. Or we could paint it the color of the walls. I'll leave that up to Mr. Dr. and Our Good Friend J. Our contractor found a really nice door knob and were able to remove a mortise lock from a door in the basement. The mortise lock (which is the mechanism inside the door) was dated 1862.

Mr. Dr.'s personal project has been the vineyard. One of the selling points of the house was the several foot long grape trellis. Now that the weather is finally beginning to get better he's been able to get back there and get something done. Well, apparently you have to prune the fingers back pretty severely to keep it healthy. Here's the final product:

Check out the pics in the gallery for what this looked like back in December.

Well, that's all for now. Now that my book is done, I am working on the grading that I have neglected for about 2 weeks and my consulting work. Next week is spring break for me. A chance to grade, finish other work, and prepare the house for all of the guests in May. The Good Mr. Dr. finished his second chapter and is starting on the third. We are happy to report that my dad is healthy, my niece survived a bout with norovirus and the baby is o.k. As far as we know, all is well and good with everyone else too.