Christmas Carolers

We were visited by our

neighborhood Christmas Carolers today.

We were honoured to be personally serenaded

in front of our home.

Bret was so excited

that he took more photos than he takes on a whole vacation!

They came on horseback...

...and hay wagon...

...bundled up against the cold weather

to spread Christmas cheer

throughout the neighborhood!

You know this is a special group when

even Santa is amongst the revelers...

...with his elf helpers

Here is a view from our living room,

through the side window:

A few weeks ago, I went downtown with Erika to see the office and meet who they work with. Nearby is the Renwick Gallery.

There was this glass display on the second floor, that was fun. It looks like something fell and knocked over a lot of the pieces. I wonder how many honourable people gallantly inform a museum staff member of this mishap, while mentally calculating the cost to the museum.

On the first floor is a visiting exhibit of Murano glass by Lino Tagliapietra. Here is a link to a slide show of his works.

http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/lino/

Renwick Gallery exterior

Brave window washers near the museum

Basement Shelves

(Oh that figures, the photos got loaded backwards.)

Well, anyway...

Here is our downstairs family room that has yet to be used because it is still the catch all for the basement:

This is the part of the bookshelves that Bret is working on. He is now putting on the sides. I will have foreign language, childrens, and literature over here.

These next three, show the progress of the cabinet makers.

This set will have my history books.

In this part, will be the focal point, that is opposite the stairs. I will put my coffee table books here.

These, being closest to my desk, will get my historical atlases and general reference books.

The cabinets and drawers will hold all the stuff from the library/tv room from the previous house, and hopefully there is room for some other things.

Living Room

We changed our minds on the rug.

It's too modern with the sharp contrast.

Also, it doesn't fit with the colour scheme of things.

I brought the chairs from the Master Sitting Room

down to the Living Room.

Now that we have more skirted seating,

the floor doesn't look so bare.

I also brought two small chairs to flank the round table, creating an intimate audience grouping near the piano.

We are now thinking of painting the walls a hue that is between the navy on the couch and the purple on the chairs.
The cooler and deeper colour will also help make the big black piano recede into the corner a bit, since black is also a cool colour.

I brought these chairs from the Living Room

up to the Sitting Room off the Master Bedroom!

Guest Bedroom

I carried this pink chair up the stairs all by myself

and put it in the guest bedroom!

It's cozy to have a good chair in a guest room.

The pink goes fine with the comforter since that colour appears to be in the embroidery. The warmer hue seems to ground the room too.

Living Room

Here is our new rug.

We still need to repaint the walls.

Fall is here!

In the front:

In the back:

Living Room

The Living Room has acquired two new end tables. They were temporary end tables for the Master Bedroom which has finally been adorned with new furniture (see below).

When we bought them from Lucketts, I knew they would fit somewhere, either here or in the foyer or upstairs hallway. They also had a little visit in the guest bedroom.

Now they fit perfectly in here. The one by the piano I can rest extra song books and now the light blue chairs have a taller table in between which is more appropriate. The lower round fill the space under the front window just right. Now, we need to repaint the walls and find a rug...