Posted: November 22, 2011 | Author: amiestjean | Filed under: Uncategorized |
When the house was built in 1917, it originally had a great ball room. When I bought the house, it had been divided in half. The smaller portion was made into a chapel when it was converted into a convent. That was our assumption which was confirmed once we removed the carpet in the ball room. We could see that the pattern in the hardwood floor continued beyond the wall. By the way, my friend and I removed that carpet the day the house closed escrow.
One of the first things I did was to have my son cut a hole in the wall. I had always envisioned that room as a library with wall to wall bookshelves. My original intention was to keep the wall with a large pass through similar to the one going into the dining room.
I really wanted a fireplace either in the ballroom or the library. On a trip to Colorado, I stayed in a house that had a three-sided gas fireplace. I had mentioned to my contractor that something like that would work between the two rooms. I was fortunate that he located one in a reuse store. So down came half of the wall to accommodate it. After seeing that, my friend suggested we lose the entire wall. As usual she was right.
Now came the huge job of having the library built. My contractor bought the oak plywood, ripped it into planks and delivered them to me along with finer finishing oak. I had the huge job of sanding and staining them. It was a larger job than it sounds. Between the dust, and fumes I was forced to stay elsewhere. Fortunately, I have a vacation rental three doors down and it was off-season. Daisy and I stayed there for a good month. Once I had accomplished that task, my contractor came and assembled my room. He completed it 2 days before Thanksgiving. My son was flying in from Austin for the holiday. After that, my contractor came back and sprayed it with varnish.
The next step was to fully install the fireplace. I was fortunate to acquire the lovely over mantel piece from my good friends at Dakota Plains Auctions.
Posted: November 10, 2011 | Author: amiestjean | Filed under: Uncategorized |
I realize that I have been lax in my blogs lately. My daughter came for a visit fromPhoenix. I’m trying to convince her to move toRapid City. I am realizing that I will need help running the Bed & Breakfast and Vacation Rentals. She is a great cook and wonderful in organizing me. Today I will show you pictures of the suite in which she stayed. It is the only one finished, well mostly finished. I still have plans to do draping around the bed, and will refine the décor.
I took my color palate from the fabric I brought with me from California. I painted the ceiling a lighter gold and brought the color down the wall a couple of feet. The remaining walls are a very deep gold. My trim is a light yellow, the same color in which I am trimming most of the second floor. The fabric I used on the windows and bed is burgundy and gold. I did double roller shades trimmed in beads. The reason I did that is so there is the option of dark, light or a combination. I like to keep the top shade up for the great view and sunset, while keeping the bottom portion down giving privacy. I will drape the bed in a sheer gold fabric trimmed in burgundy.
The in-suite bathroom was originally a closet with an entrance door in the hall. I lengthen the bath a couple of feet or so and moved the entrance to the bedroom. I tiled the shower in subway tile and accented it with glass tile. There is a shower curtain that matches the fabric on the windows in the bedroom that needs adjustments. It is finished off with a pedestal sink with oval tilt mirror, and naturally, a toilet. A small shelving unit gives plenty of storage for extra linens and grooming supplies.
