This is Villa Dumais, where my husband and I serve the food, shelter, medical, and affection needs of many cats. Although I put my foot down (too gently it seems) that we would have no pets here, we have gone from being visited by one rough-looking tom, from time to time, to adoption by the tom's paramour (Mama Kitty, who is still with us)and her adorable kittens to a host of cats who seem to love the way my husband feeds and cares for them...enough to stay and attract others along the way.
The house was built in the late 1920's and is the rare Mediterranean-styled home in our area. We loved it from the minute we saw it and, when it went on the market, we bought in spite of our age and the threat of a money pit to jeopardize our retirement. (That seemed far in the future at the time.)
I love old homes, and I love to tinker around with things. My dreams were big, bigger than my abilities, but that's what dreams are supposed to be, arent they?
We've done things here and there, periods of frenzied activity broken up by long stretches of discouragement and lethargy. But all that is for a therapy blog, and this is my attempt to document the latest efforts in our quest!
As summer neared in mid-May, I felt the need to retreat, and I found a cute, nicely decorated place in Santa Fe via Home Away. I couldn't get away from work at that time and, as time passed, I decided to use the money I would have spent on a trip and, instead, make my own retreat in our upstairs guest room, bath, and adjoining flat roof. I enlisted help, but we still haven't finished after my week away from work.
My husband told me not to do anything to the flat roof, since he has a worker coming to redo it. I held off of everything except for sweeping it, using a large basket to cover the spot where a whirly vent used to be (had been patched with black plastic and duct tape), and adding a couple of plants. This is still in progress, by the way!
Hare a couple more photos from the unfinished bedroom.
