Major At Home Purge
I am at my desk just happy to be seated after two marathon 15-hour physical work days back to back on Friday and Saturday. I will be announcing our special news soon but this phase involved a major purge of items throughout the house. The basement was the most affected and it was kind of sad seeing all the furniture go out the door but it is for the best. After the basement remodel, I had set it up with fabulous furniture - all vintage and redone except for the sectional. There was office space as well as the living space shown above and a work space with dining room furniture but we ended up not using it for that purpose. There have been ongoing electrical issues in the office area and when we tried to plug in a computer it kept shorting out. Not good for an expensive newer computer! Now we have that computer in the dining room which is not cute but that is a separate issue. I thought Kuochun would enjoy watching movies and sporting events on a huge TV with surround sound and all the bells and whistles but he is a person with simple needs and is happy watching TV in his room.
When we get a lot of rain in a short time water gets into the basement. The last time I ended up with 4 inches throughout the entire space. We took care of it quickly and the furniture was spared. Luckily it has always been clean clear water and not sewage. I have a door which goes to the outside and had the idea to sandbag it when I saw someone do the same thing on TV. We have had so much rain this past week but did not notice any water this time. Maybe those little sandbags did the trick! Next spring I will look into a more permanent solution. Over the years I have had pop-up drains installed and the foundation wrapped from the outside but neither worked. I was told that the pavers which are over the front steps are causing water to get in but I am not so sure.
The furniture looked so beautiful in the space but now I will look for storage, a large table for my huge 32" x 32" photography light box, a desk and a flat screen TV but not as large as the TV that was there before. I can keep the space in front of the TV free for exercise and then Kuochun and Margot will not have to listen to me pounding upstairs (reenactment photo below!) I kept the surround sound equipment in place as my dream is to someday have the time to work on jewelry and watch Cubs games at the same time.
When we get a lot of rain in a short time water gets into the basement. The last time I ended up with 4 inches throughout the entire space. We took care of it quickly and the furniture was spared. Luckily it has always been clean clear water and not sewage. I have a door which goes to the outside and had the idea to sandbag it when I saw someone do the same thing on TV. We have had so much rain this past week but did not notice any water this time. Maybe those little sandbags did the trick! Next spring I will look into a more permanent solution. Over the years I have had pop-up drains installed and the foundation wrapped from the outside but neither worked. I was told that the pavers which are over the front steps are causing water to get in but I am not so sure.
The furniture looked so beautiful in the space but now I will look for storage, a large table for my huge 32" x 32" photography light box, a desk and a flat screen TV but not as large as the TV that was there before. I can keep the space in front of the TV free for exercise and then Kuochun and Margot will not have to listen to me pounding upstairs (reenactment photo below!) I kept the surround sound equipment in place as my dream is to someday have the time to work on jewelry and watch Cubs games at the same time.
Earlier in the week I was able to get jewelry organized for the estate sales. I downsized from the two large boxes which had been floating from sale to sale for several weeks to the medium size boxes which are much easier to transport. I now have three sets of three boxes. Three boxes can fit on a 6-foot table and if there is not quite that much room at a sale I can downsize to one or two boxes. I still have some more boxes that I can fill so when I have the chance I will put some more collections together. I even have the boxes arranged with the same background color per set so they are easy to make sense of when they are out on the road. I also made signs for the boxes out of the wonderful TerraSlate waterproof paper that I found online. The paper is tree free and I can run it through the printer. No more laminating signs the old fashioned way, waiting 20 minutes for the machine to heat up! The folks from TerraSlate made a custom orange color for me to match my business cards and I used white for the jewelry signs. Here is a recap of the jewelry collections I put together:
The first collection has a box of sterling silver statement jewelry including designer pieces as well as a box each of Tucson Gem Show finds from Thailand (fine silver botanicals) and Tibet (colorful bohemian style.)
The second collection has a box of beautiful sterling silver Native American and Southwest Style jewelry from a variety of designers, a split box of unique vintage costume jewelry in multi colors shared with quality costume jewelry from Swarovski, Patricia Locke and others and a box of fabulous vintage costume jewelry in Fall tones of brown, amber and orange.
The third collection has a box of sterling silver statement jewelry with and without stones and boxes of Thailand and Tibet pieces.
Rachel is getting married on Halloween so Mother and I are making the drive to New York next week. This will be the first time that I will see Rachel's condo in person, I have not been to New York since she lived in her house in the Bronx. Now she is in Bronxville which is not far from the city but still suburban. Mother said it is very upscale and has a North Shore feel to it. The building was built in 1921 and the condo needed a gut rehab. Rachel had it totally remodeled before she moved in a few years ago, leaning towards an Art Deco style which compliments the time period of the building. She chose the building because it is pet friendly and two dogs are allowed. She said she will always have two dogs! Due to the pandemic the wedding will be a small event with only 12 people but the plan is to have a big party at this time next year. It is called the "Hallowedding" and should be unique and interesting!
Other than the reorganization once again the jewelry has had to hit the back burner but I am planning to bring sterling jewelry along with me on the trip to get priced so I can add it to the caravan for the holiday season. There is much to do in these next three days so I better get to it. Until next time!
The first collection has a box of sterling silver statement jewelry including designer pieces as well as a box each of Tucson Gem Show finds from Thailand (fine silver botanicals) and Tibet (colorful bohemian style.)
The second collection has a box of beautiful sterling silver Native American and Southwest Style jewelry from a variety of designers, a split box of unique vintage costume jewelry in multi colors shared with quality costume jewelry from Swarovski, Patricia Locke and others and a box of fabulous vintage costume jewelry in Fall tones of brown, amber and orange.
The third collection has a box of sterling silver statement jewelry with and without stones and boxes of Thailand and Tibet pieces.
Rachel is getting married on Halloween so Mother and I are making the drive to New York next week. This will be the first time that I will see Rachel's condo in person, I have not been to New York since she lived in her house in the Bronx. Now she is in Bronxville which is not far from the city but still suburban. Mother said it is very upscale and has a North Shore feel to it. The building was built in 1921 and the condo needed a gut rehab. Rachel had it totally remodeled before she moved in a few years ago, leaning towards an Art Deco style which compliments the time period of the building. She chose the building because it is pet friendly and two dogs are allowed. She said she will always have two dogs! Due to the pandemic the wedding will be a small event with only 12 people but the plan is to have a big party at this time next year. It is called the "Hallowedding" and should be unique and interesting!
Other than the reorganization once again the jewelry has had to hit the back burner but I am planning to bring sterling jewelry along with me on the trip to get priced so I can add it to the caravan for the holiday season. There is much to do in these next three days so I better get to it. Until next time!