It's Coming On Autumn At That Old House!

It is September 1st, and That Old House is reluctant to relinquish Summer.

Do over!

On this Second Time Around and Three Or More Tuesday, I am going
to drag myself into a Fall-ready attitude, which for me always means:

What am I going to get accomplished before Thanksgiving?

Check at the end of the post for links to the these blog parties,

to see what others are up to this first day of September.

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Every Fall I write up a To Be Done By Thanksgiving list, a list much dreaded by my dear husband.

My TBDBT list can include something as simple as "clean the chandelier bulbs in the center hall," to something as not-simple as "construct a 2-car garage in the side yard."

Clearly, my TBDBT list is a Wish List. Not everything will be accomplished, at least not by this Thanksgiving, but it gives some structure to my project planning after a summer of just sort of drifting from one can of spray paint to another.

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But there are three things on my list that I really must accomplish, and I want to share them with you so you can keep me honest and focused and remind me of what I want to accomplish, and also send threatening emails to my husband if he's caught napping on the sofa on a Saturday afternoon instead of doing my bidding.

So, the Top Three Things on my TBDBT List:

Goal #1: Make the butler's pantry usable. Up until this past weekend, it looked like this:

It was an interim, slapped-together fixup, but it worked, especially as a hot beverage station for big parties. Then, that little pine chest of drawers got a new coat of white spray paint, and made its way to my daughter Anne's new apartment. Now the butler's pantry looks like this:

And I've got boxes full of stuff like this, things that were stored in the dresser:

And things piled on my kitchen shelves and counters like this:

Yeah, it's a mess.

The butler's pantry needs storage space and counter space.

Any ideas? We need, again, a temporary fix.

Eventually I want the upper cabinets replaced with glass-front ones that will go to the ceiling, and shallow base cupboards, ideally with a bar sink . . . but that's not going to happen this year!

I'll let you know what we come up with, and if you have any brainstorms, let me know.

Goal #2: Cutting the isthmus in the kitchen down to size, and adding shelves above it.

What is the isthmus? Take a look at this picture of our kitchen, before we moved in. There's a deep counter on the left -- it is 40-inches deep, and 60-inches long. It would make a great island, but it's attached along one side, and it's too deep to be practical.


It's not an island, it's not a peninsula -- we just gave it the name isthmus because that seemed better than calling it what it is: stupid huge awkward counter that attracts junk like a magnet.

But I have a cunning plan.

It involves sweat equity, re-purposing parts of the original, and the loose change I've got piled up in a Williamsburg earthenware pitcher. It's a cheap fix, and I was going to outline it all for you, but I'll spare you, and just show you the pictures when it is done.

I'm challenging myself to do it with spare change, emptying out my purse and the ash tray in my car.
Love those CoinStar machines.

Goal #3: Replace kitchen faucet.

It's leaking. I'm working on Howard to do it himself, as he's replaced faucets before, and he is way cheaper than a plumber. (I can't pay plumbers with the same currency I use to pay Howard, if ya know what I mean . . . .)

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Meanwhile, there are way more than 3 things already on my TBDBT list, including
doing something to the center front hall, which looks awfully, well, awful right now.

And paint the old brass of this fixture to a bronze-y color, to go with the new faucet in this bath:

There are several curtains that need taking down and re-sewing, among them the draperies in
our master bedroom, which I haven't shared with you yet. It's so unfinished!

The little swags on the four parlor windows are okay, but I need to take them down,
tweak them, and re-hang them with loops and tassels for tiebacks.

The yellow guest room draperies have the wrong lining. Gotta fix them!

Plus there are the perennial things on the list: polish the old silver, locate the table linens, press the napkins, design centerpieces, assign serving dishes to side dishes, count bed linens and assign beds to overnight guests, and stop Howard from going all Hunter-Gatherer on us and bringing home a 36 pound turkey that won't fit in the roasting pan.

I love my Thanksgiving To-Do List. :-)

Now, you want to be scared? Like, really really scared?
Take a look at this picture, for it is a peek into the future:

Aaarrgghhh!!! I can hear the screams all the way in New Jersey!
Yes, that's our kitchen, early December 2008, with about half -- just half -- of the Christmas decoration storage boxes down from the attic.
I need a 12-step program.

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I hope you'll get a kick out of seeing just which of the

TBDBT items I get done before Turkey Day!

Meanwhile, for 2nd Time Around Tuesday, I shared some of my Second Hand House, and some of its special issues. I will be creatively re-using some secondhand items (including some you saw today) as we tackle The List.

Do you keep a list, too?

Visit Diane at A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words for
Second Time Around Tuesday. Click here!

And as always on Tuesday, don't miss joining Tam at
The Gypsy's Corner for Three Or More Tuesday. Click!

Happy September. Oh, how it pains me to say that. . . . Cass