Renovating

I live in Bar Harbor, Maine, which is both stunningly beautiful and very popular with travelers. About six weeks ago we decided to rent our house out weekly this summer, and I went on a renovating rampage. We've lived here for fifteen years, had two children, become the neighborhood hang-out, and frequently throw impromptu potluck dinner parties for twenty people. And I never did learn to clean properly. Boy, did it show! Everything was scratched, dented, stained, or just sort of worn out. But I've been painting and clearing out and scrubbing for six weeks and I think I'm finally beginning to see a difference.

These are the photos I took for the rental agent, and they're a bit impersonal because we had to clear out so much, but even without the aardvark shell and my great-grandmother's portrait and the childrens' clay handprints and my rhinestone jewelry collection I think the house is still pretty darn quirky. Wait til you see my son's room - we're leaving the hubcap collection because it's just too cool to take down. Maybe in the fall when all the weird stuff comes out of storage I'll remember to photograph it.

The master bedroom is my favorite right now. I love the bright colors! The orange lampshades are a little too much with the blue, though, so those will probably get re-covered in a red fabric to go with the curtains. Eventually.

First I have to find the prisms that are missing from the chandelier and get rid of the piles of stuff that are lying just outside the range of the viewfinder. The first renters are due in two weeks - wish me luck!