Well......the countertops did not make it in by Thanksgiving but Charlie put plywood on top of the cabinets so I would have counter tops while I prepared our Thanksgiving meal.  We had 19 people for dinner and it was wonderful!  We use the huge foyer to seat everyone for dinner---I love that we can celebrate with family in a house with so much history!  We expect the counter tops to be installed this week or next at the latest and in the meantime, there is PLENTY still to do.  We kept the old farm style porcelain sink that was in the house when we bought it to use in our new kitchen.  It needs to be restored so that's in progress now also. 

     Charlie has moved to the inside now that the temperatures are below freezing at night.  Too cold to paint the new clapboard on the outside of the mudroom so Charlie will spend the next few weeks preparing the moulding in the kitchen for a coating of white paint. The white will really hightlight the beauty of this 80+ year old moulding!  He will also attach insulation under the flooring along the length of the house to help keep the cold out.  We will also look into some temporary insulation of the windows (such as heat shrinking plastic) to save a bit on the heating bill since we don't have the use of any of the fireplaces yet.  The spring will be a very busy time for Charlie as the steps in the front porch need to be replaced, a handrail for those steps needs to be installed, water pipes need to be run to finish the last of the half bath installation in the mudroom, and so on.....

     The mud room and kitchen now have new roofs and Charlie has installed the kitchen cabinets!  We chose Virginia soapstone countertops and they should be installed in the next couple of weeks.  The evolution of the kitchen has been particularly satisfying---probably because it had the most damage/rot/deterioration of all the rooms in the house.  I asked Charlie recently to come up with a list of everythign he had repaired/replaced/updated in the house since he began work over a year ago and there were more than 30 line items on his list!  We have been invited to speak at a November meeting of the King George Historical Society.  I will share this list of Charlie's with them---it will be a lot of fun talking with that group about the history of hte house. 
     The tours in September went very well.  We actually had a few people that visited the house several years ago and therefore, had an idea of just how much work has gone into the house.  We are hoping Charlie will get another couple of nice days to finish some pipe work underneath the house--then  our new half bath in the mudroom will be complete!  We have truly come to love this home---there are finishing touches that need to be completed all over the house but the big jobs have been completed with the exception of the two porch roofs.  That work will begin in the spring.  Now that Charlie is concentrating on indoor work, he wil move onto insulating the ceiling in the kitchen and installing the same bead board on the ceiling that we took off the kitchen over a year ago.  The addition of the insulation and bead board will make a big difference in the temperature in the kitchen. 

We continue to invite any and all to come by, have a chat about the historical significance of the house, and take a look around the house....hope to see you soon!