LET'S HEAD TO THE BEDROOM!

I think moving furniture around is in my blood.  It was something my Mother did all the time.  Something I've always done. In my Mothers day, slipcovers were a big thing.  She had sets specifically made for the livingroom so that every season looked like new furniture had been bought. Move a few pieces, put on a new slipcover set, Voila! New livingroom.

No new slipcovers here (not that I hadn't thought about it!) just a few pieces that get moved around once in a while.

Let's start here . . .

This was suppose to be my studio, and it was for a couple of months, until we started hitting 115-120 degree days.  Even with a small air-conditioner and fans (and yes, Glen did insulate it for me) I couldn't work in there past noon.  It just got too darn hot. Glen suggested I move back into the house where I would have real air-conditioning, a bathroom, and . . . a coffee pot close (very important!). Also, he wouldn't have to worry about me being out there by myself at night.  That is not usually an issue around here but he said he would just feel better.  So it's back into the house I moved.  

This is the tiny alcove off the livingroom.  At one time, the wall behind the sewing machine wasn't there and it was a small, dark hallway into what is now my studio.  This was the only way to get into the master bedroom, all 10' x 10' of it.  Now the shower in the main bathroom hides behind that wall and there is a door from the livingroom into the master bedroom, aka my studio.

That is a photograph of the old Winslow, Arizona Fire Station. 

You know . . .

"Well, I'm standin on a corner in Winslow, Arizona 

Such a fine sight to see

It's a girl my Lord, in a flat bed ford

slowin down to take a look at me."

They do have a bronze statue of Glenn Frey on a corner with an old flat bed ford parked next to him. Unfortunately the old Fire Station doesn't exist anymore.

The brass coffee table is about 40 years old.  That dish once held the Middle Eastern dish of Lamb Kabsa. Piled high with lamb, rice and seasonings it sat directly on the floor in our livingroom, with about 12 of us sitting on the floor around it.  The Kabsa was cooked and served to us by a group of middle Eastern students we had befriended.  They wanted to do something nice for us so they cooked, prepared and served the whole meal.  And yes, no silverware used.  We all ate with our right hands. The 'clean hand'.  It was a great experience, especially for our kids.

Welcome to my studio.  Well, a good portion is still out in the original studio, but it is things I don't use daily, like extra canvases and frames, etc. This is where I paint and do my collage work so I actually don't need a great deal of space.

The sofa opens up so this is also a secondary guest room.  First guest room is our 'Casita' which you can faintly see out the livingroom window.  Aka our RV. It makes a nice little guest house complete with private bath and kitchen.

Cards, brushes,anyone?

I have a mirror over my desk so I can actually see out the window without having the sun in my eyes.  Also, a great test to see how a painting is coming along is to hold it up to a mirror. For some reason, mistakes show up easily in a mirror.  

Now we go from my studio into the Den/TV room.  This starts the new addition that Glen added on to the original house. 

We used 6 x 6" glass cubes to bring extra light into the room without losing wall space to a larger window.

Those chairs came from a restaurant that was closing in San Francisco about 30 years ago.  It was called O'Henrys after the writer. The owners were originally from Brooklyn and they made the decision to close the restaurant and go back to New York.  I've always loved these chairs.

O.K. into the 'master suite'.  :)  A little unusual (so we've been told) but we love it.

This is also an addition to the original house. Behind our wonderful serape, that we bought in Mexico a while back, is a walk-in closet.  We were going to do barn doors similar to what we did in our Mullan house, but we had this wonderful splash of color just sitting there calling to us, so we decided to go with this idea instead.

Upon moving here I needed a new dresser.  Glen was asked one Saturday to help move a piano.  When he came home, he came home with this dresser.  Not. Exactly. What. I. Would. Have. Picked! The person that needed help moving the piano had recently lost his Mother.  This was her dresser.  He said to Glen, "if there is anything there (in the house) you want, just take it."  Glen decided that I needed this dresser.  The history behind it is what caught Glens attention.  It was originally bought at 'The Company Store'.  That was the store owned by the Phelps-Dodge Copper mining Company who were basically responsible for putting Ajo on the map.  The store carried everything from food, dry goods, clothing, and furniture to tires. The mine opened in the 30's and closed in the 80's.  This is a little piece of that history.  How could I resist the history.

This is what seems to catch everyone.  Yes, the shower is in the bedroom.  Since it is just the two of us we loved the idea of the convenience.  People either seem to love the idea or go "Your shower is in the bedroom?" (Most people love it.)  

Toilet is on the other side of the sink wall and closed off by another serape. Note more 6 x 6" cubes in the 'water closet' for light.  

That's the inside . . . for now.  :)

So now . . . we've moved on to the outside again.  Well, Glen has moved on to the outside again.  I just supervise.  :0  This is the start of the new deck off the french doors in the kitchen.

Here we are, just a little further along.  More to do, and I think you will be surprised when it is actually all finished.

We'll get to enjoy sunrises like this from a little higher elevation.

That's it for now.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

STAY SAFE!

Charleen and Glen

NEW YEAR . . . NEW KITCHEN!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I have a friend, whom I have been friends with for about 57 years, give or take a day or two.  :)  (Am I right Lupe?)  She has been bugging me for photos of our house down here in Ajo, and I admit, I have been lax in sharing any, anywhere. Mostly because we have been VERY busy with the renovation and also, things seem to change around here on a daily basis.  Glen will ask me "What are you doing?"  I respond "I'm thinking."  His response is "PLEASE stop thinking!!"  (If I start thinking too much it usually means more work for him!)

But, we are moving ahead, and really a lot has gotten done.  Today I'll concentrate on photos of our 'new' kitchen.  A kitchen designed around a lot of very old parts, pieces and a little Ajo history.

The original house was about 450 sq ft. The livingrm/kitchen was a combination room about 10 x 20'.  At some point an addition was put on (above) in which half was designated to a new kitchen (1950's style) and half to extend one bedroom.  Unfortunately, the addition was not the greatest quality so we tore everything back to the original 450' except for the roof and flooring. We decided to use this space for an open air deck and it provided for many wonderful gatherings with friends last year.  That turquoise cabinet you see was the original kitchen dish cabinet which we kept.  1950's nostalgia.  :)  The rusted dado along the bottom half of the wall is part of the old roof from the house we tore down.  

Here is the second wall completely covered in the old roofing.  Down here it seems to be almost sacrilegious NOT to use what is already here.  When we tore down the other house I can't even begin to tell you how many people stopped and asked if they could have (or buy in some cases) this metal and/or the old wood from the house.  We honestly didn't do a lot of sharing because we had a sense we would use it, we just didn't know what for in the beginning.

The deck was very funky to say the least.  This rounded shelving was built in to a wall in the livingroom.  We took it out to put in a  doorway but I couldn't bear to get rid of it at the time. Thus, it took its spot on the deck.

I think Glen hauled away 25 trailer loads of 'stuff' the first year here, and more the second year, to either the dump, or if usable, then the resale shops here in town.  

I know, not looking entirely glamorous here . . . Electric is in and 

that's some of the old wood from the tear down now gracing the walls.  New flooring in boxes waiting to be installed.  As much as we liked the original wood floors, it was a situation where 'it just wasn't meant to be'. Too much damage.

Two outer walls now in along with 2 nice big windows.  :)

Stuff everywhere!

A real door out to a small landing (next year hopefully, the landing will be part of a new deck).  Tools are everywhere!

French doors in and now awaiting that same deck. (The other door you see now goes into a new pantry).

Walls are finished! Walls and windows are both awaiting new trim.

The start of cabinets, etc.  For those of you that remember our Mullan home, you might recognize the fact that we went with another toolbox in the kitchen.  I LOVE my toolbox.  Perfect for everything from silverware to spices to pot lids, baking pans, etc. We actually should get a kickback from Home Depot.  I know for a fact we have sold several of these for them!

Getting there . . 

Cabinets stained, counters in, shelves up.

Yes, we were going for the industrial look.  It was planned. :)

You probably can't tell, but the black and white photo in the upper left is a photo of the house when we initially rescued it from demolition.  People love seeing the difference between now and then.

Double oven, and for overkill, a microwave/convection oven above it.  In our defense, we bought the micro/conv. before we knew we were going to be doing all this.

The ceiling is also covered with old wood, now varnished.  And yes, both of those prints over in the corner say 'Cafe' Martin'.  :)

A little hard to see against the dark wood, but that is an old Cotton scale friends of ours down here gave us for our new kitchen.  He is originally from Alabama and has carried this around for years.  He asked if we would like it.  He thought we would appreciate it and he was correct.  Hard to see, but that is a 'bell' weight hanging on the right hand side.  He said, when the sharecroppers brought their cotton in to be weighed, it always managed to weigh out in the landowners favor.  Some things never change.

Light over the table.

And for the piece de resistance . . . our table.  This we rescued from a yardsale about 17 years ago when we up visiting friends in Newport, WA.  It was originally the back door to a bar in Post Falls, ID called the Lions Lair.  We know this for 2 reasons. First, carved on the underside of the table is 'Lions Lair 1976'.  The second way I know this is because it was an old haunting ground of my husbands 'back in the 'day as they say. (I actually do not like that saying . . . sooo overused these days and here I am adding to that!)  :/  For the first 16 years or so it was our coffee table.  Glen made legs for it out of twisted steel.  As you will see in a future blog, the livingroom here is way too small for a coffee table this size.  So . . . in another one one of my 'thinking modes' I said "How about making it our kitchen table!  Groans. Sighs.  But, as you can see, it is now our kitchen table with rusted (and varnished) legs to match. :)  I have a great hubby.

A little hard to see, but it now has a tempered glass tabletop over the wood and metal top.  This makes the ends also usable.  You can see from the photo above you really couldn't seat anyone on either end due to the metal bar.

So far the reviews have been good.  'Comfortable' is the word we hear the most and that suits us just fine.

O.K. a teaser . . .

A small part of our very small livingroom.  Not quite done, but the floor is in along with a few pieces of furniture. 

Onward!

Hope to see you soon!

Charleen and Glen

Greetings!  

Yes, it's been awhile since my thoughts have graced this page.  I'm really here because a very dear friend of mine recently told me I kind of left everyone in the lurch with our Mullan 'adventure'.  I guess I never had a proper ending to the story. :) Well, recently the ending, such as it is, turned into another chapter. To make a long story short, after living in our Mullan, Idaho home 'Camp Dunmovin' (Not!) for 4 years, we decided to sell our home and make our permanent residence the small, quirky town of Ajo, Arizona.  

What was to be a short visit to see friends, who themselves had moved from Coeur d'Alene to Ajo several years ago, turned into an instant love affair with this little gem of a town in the middle of the beautiful Sonoran desert.  Neither of us would have ever considered ourselves 'desert people' before our first trip down there but the desert has a way of drawing you in. A large part of its beauty lies in its mystery. The view is endless and never the same. You are constantly surrounded by life, some of it visible, most of it not. The night skies are coal black, with the only 'visible' companions being the stars, which you can see in abundance.  It's the ones that aren't quite as visible that can give you the most pause for thought! 

Actually, I don't think the desert is a place for the faint of heart. :/ 

While we have been working on this new chapter for 2 years, we just sold our home here in Mullan in July.  Because the house itself was not the norm, we, and even our realtor, thought it would take a while to sell.  It didn't . . . and we were totally unprepared to have to move so quickly.  You know how it goes, the best laid plans . . .

When we designed and built our home, we wanted something for 'us'. We weren't worried about who would like it and whether we would be able to sell it in the future.  We thought that wouldn't be our problem. :)  We also wanted a house we would be comfortable leaving in the winter knowing the snow would be piling up all around it. There was no name for our type of house at the time we built it.  It was just a Pole Building finished off as a house.  Now, (as of July) there is an actual category in the Realtors Multiple Listings Guide called Shouse's.  Who wudda thunk it!

I'm just going to end here today with the photos of our 'Shouse' that our Realtor, Denise Lundy of Fortus Realty, had professionally taken for the listing.  After 4 years, this is how our 'Camp Dunmovin' evolved . . .

 

House, garage and our RV.  

(The house/garage actually fronts 3 streets)

The RV is our current 'home' until we get down to Ajo in November.

Living room looking into bedroom and office/studio space

Living room looking towards dining area and kitchen

Kitchen Island

Kitchen work area

Master bedroom (actually, the only bedroom!) with the bed made from recycled Barn doors

Master Bath

Next Blog I'll show you the start 

of our adventures at 

Camp Dunmovin 'South'  :)