Shutters

Not feeling very motivated today.....back to work every day starting Monday :(

I did start working on the shutters to hang on the inside of the library windows. Before I started, I was surfing a little and came across a cool site for repurposing shutters.
Shutters

More Antique Books

This  morning I made a trip to my favorite hairdresser for a color and cut.....thank you Jamie :) And when I got back home I did one last touch-up on the library floor (hopefully the last) and got back into my antique books.

Celebrated Generals was published somewhere between 1880 and 1896, the exact date of which I do not know as the book is undated.

The next book is General History and was written by a professor at my alma mater the University of Cincinnati. It was written in 1897 and includes a lot of little crib notes on small pieces of paper.

The last book, The Quest of John Chapman, was published in 1904 and is about Johnny Appleseed.

Antique French Lesson Book

After I posted about my book, it was time to go to the first staff meeting of the year at school....the real work starts Monday. On the way home, I stopped to get a second gallon of floor paint to do a third light coat and touch up the edges. I can't wait to put some of my auction furniture in there.

I grabbed another book to be shelved in the library, and it was a first year French lesson book (2nd edition) from 1927. It was meant to be used in a total French immersion atmosphere....I can't imagine doing that in a public school today. Anyway, the cover is not too exciting, but there is a lot of graffiti inside. Seems Miss Sarah Rose didn't bring enough notebook paper to class.

The Young Ranchers

Last summer I purchased quite a few antique books from an auction that was basically liquidating a very small town historical society. I plan on putting them into the finished library and picked this one up last night. It is called The Young Ranchers (or Fighting the Sioux). It is a first edition of an 1895 young teen boy book, No. 8 in the "Forest and Prairie" series. The author, Edward S. Ellis is from Geneva, Ohio.

Front cover

Inside front cover reads "PRIVATE LIBRARY OF G.F. Gallaher  No. 22"

Inscription reads, "To Fred Gallaher from Momma, Dec. 25th 1899"

"Heap Big Injun" drawing found between pages 106 and 107

Loudon Florals Prints

This is the second post of the day and it's not even 3:00 pm yet! I have been quite motivated today.

After I loaded up the dehydrator, I went out to the barn to fetch my four (very) old shutters with countless coats of paint. (black, dark green, and light green/white were visible). I hosed them all off to end up with a slightly distressed look but I still need to take a brush and soapy water to them.....might put them in the library flanking the two windows.

Then I repaired the eyes/wire on one of the three Jan Korthals London prints I acquired at this past weekend's auction on the cheap. I just need to have the glass in one of them replaced and they are ready to hang.

The other box of prints I purchased contained two pairs of botanical prints. My least favorite pair were hung today in the kitchen (below) and the other more "antiquey" pair will go in the library. (I may have to move the kitchen prints closer together, we'll see.)

Drying Herbs

Yesterday I primed the floor and this morning I put the first coat of paint on! Now, I have all day to do other things like dry some of my herbs for future use. There are many ways to dry herbs and I am far from an expert on them. However, I did have great success last year using a dehydrator. Today, I am drying two types of basil and some sage.

Cinnamon Basil

The bottom layer is cinnamon basil...smells so good.

Lemon-Lime Basil

The next two layers consists of lemon-lime basil...very citrus-smelling and crispy fresh.

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The top layer is sage, since it will probably dry fastest and need to be removed before the basil. Sage has a lower moisture content and can be air-dried (but I do not want to deal with this). You can also leave the sage leaves on the stems and put into the dehydrator. I chose to gently pick each leaf off.

This is the dryer portion of the dehydrator that sets on top of the stack of trays. You can add more trays, but this is all I wanted to do today.

I put the temperature between the 95 and 125 degree F mark. When it is done, I will store in small airtight, glass jars that I saved from store-bought spices and pimentos.

Wall Sconces & Candeliers

Amish candeliers in library (no candes yet)

Amish wall sconces (need shorter candles or LEDs)

The above pictures are of the work I did today. Even though the room will not be done for a few more days, I wanted to post a few pics of the progress. I didn't post a pic of the floor prepped for painting because, well, it's not very interesting at all. The paint looks like it is a different color on each wall because of the natural light. The windows face west and the doorway above faces another room.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!