Improvements to Sloan Manor

When I married my husband in 2004, I ended the reign of a 15 year bachelor. I am brave, so brave; I know. Seriously, when my friend Melissa saw it, she said "You can't move in to this. It might be condemned."Anyway, the majority of the improvements have been to the interior of the house: hardwood floors, paint, new drapes, walls opened up, and new light fixtures. Also, a new heating and cooling system for the house and a renovated fireplace; all desperate necessities for several reasons.

The fireplace needed to be renovated, because in the first weeks of our marriage, I came home to find a blackbird sitting patiently on my ironing board when I got home from work. I donned my bike helmet and grabbed a pool cue and chased the bird out of the house. There was some minor bird poop damage, but overall, I was proud of my wildlife expulsion. I was proud until the following morning when blackbird number 2 greeted me as I got out of bed. Very similar to blackbird number one, and indeed, possibly the same bird, it was again sitting on my ironing board blinking patiently at me. When I shooed him, he hopped nimbly upon a pile of shirts. From there he flew three terrifying circle around the room, during which time I shrieked about covering my head and running in circles saying unintelligible things all the while. When I recovered my wits, I was able to again don my bike helmet and procure the pool cue and repeat my wildlife expulsion from the previous evening. It seemed that our flu was broken, and the bird or birds were flying down the chimney at night. I contacted a chimney sweep, and he proceeded to make short work of the bird problem.

When the mice began to brazenly sit on the furniture with me to watch television in the evenings, I adopted two cats who immediately became excellent mousers. I painted all of the rooms in the house over the course of two weeks (Lincoln Home Beige; a fabulous and slightly dramatic neutral) while I listened to Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True, a moving and well written epic that I encourage all of you to read.

I hired an amazing handyman, the expert Eric Roper, to reinstall all of our closet doors which had been taken off, because someone, who shall remain nameless, said that it was easier to get to things if you did not have to open the doors. Ok, so it was my husband, and I do not harbor any residual bitterness over his opinion (which he is completely entitled to) that closets do not need doors.

I replaced the pool table in our dining room with a new dining room suite and china hutch. I sent the pool table to live with a friend of my husband, and I am glad to say that I am completely unaware of the whereabouts of said pool table at the present time. The pool cues, however, reside handily in the umbrella holder in the foyer.

I had the broken picture frames repaired, and the painting that had been mysteriously pierced with a poker was also patched and repaired. Furniture was recovered, and end tables, that had been worn through the varnished wood by someone who shall remain nameless and was apparently unfamiliar with the existence of coasters, were refinished. As opposed to a mattress and box springs, we began sleeping in a real four poster bed purchased from a favorite shop in Alabama. Finally, all the drapes were remade so as to hide the frayed edges where mice had used them as ladders.

The interior of our home is a haven, but the exterior has needed work. Our home is approximately 175 years old, and the front windows have never been replaced, nor has the front porch. So, I have posted a before picture of Sloan Manor and look forward to posting picture with new windows, new porch, sidewalk and landscaping. My husband and Elvin Harris (THE GREAT) are doing wonderful work on rotten windows and dangerous front porches. I will post the finished product. Look for it!!!!