VILLA de Cuivre (the Villa of Copper) and a Catchup

Two years have passed, and so much more along with it, since I last posted.  I expect many of you thought me gone for good, but I have always intended to return to finish my manor house.  I have wanted so badly to just stop and indulge my artistic muse again!

Instead, I was  caring for my father until his passing in October 26th of 2016.  He had been bedridden for nearly 5 years.

Just over one year later, on February 26th of 2018 we lost my mother.  She had congenital heart failure, and internal bleeding... the combination is inoperable.  We lost her suddenly, in a matter of three hours.  She was "mom" right up until the end.

My parents in the 1950's 

I probably do not need to say that I have spent the last year or so working through the aftermath.

Nothing makes you appreciate your parents more than losing them.  And it has changed me entirely.  I am still the same old me, but the "patina" is much, much deeper, and I think along with that has come a much richer "luster".

My inner landscape has changed entirely. These experiences have made me much more grateful for what God gave to me.  It transformed my sometimes bitter memories of my father into the "true" reality of the deep love I felt for him, and it altered as well my view of who my mother was an angel abiding on earth, albeit an imperfect one, and beautiful to the core.

Beautiful, wonderful parents.  I could not have had better. 

Inevitably, these experiences have also altered my own trajectory in life.  I won't take you through the details of all that, but in the end, it has resulted in my family, lock, stock and barrel, moving to Temple,  Texas!  I think we needed a new start, and an opportunity to alter the emotional landscape that we had slidden into.  Life had become a trial and a burden, we as a family had forgotten how amazing and beautiful life truly is.

A view out over our new property at dusk, just today.

The strangest and most wonderful thing is that it was very clear that this move was orchestrated by God.  Independently from one another, 4 adults who would never have considered moving away from Washington arrived at the same conclusion.  We were going to move to Texas.   Why?   I still don't know, but I do know that the string of "coincidences" that followed, from provision of money that we didn't know we would have, to unbelievable timing in the process of selling our home, to how we found our real estate agent,  to the home we have ended up living in.... EVERYTHING has been orchestrated perfectly.

The new house and the huge. beautiful, live oaks!

And with the incredibly recognizable stamp of God's work in our lives....

Translate that to UP and Down, never quite sure what was going to happen next; to the death of our "vision" of moving to Texas; to the resurrection of that same vision without us lifting a hand to make it happen.  What a terrible and wonderful thing it is to blindly follow a path not understood, and to find such peace and new joy in the end.  It has transformed us in the absolute best ways.

Our almost nightly view from the front of our house!

We have moved out of the busy rat race of the Seattle area, and stepped back in time at least 10 years.  What a peaceful, beautiful place was provided to us. Each and every one of us had those little secret desires that we really don't share because they are unlikely to happen.  For every one of us, in some way, the home and surroundings we have ended up in met all of those hopes and dreams...just a little bit differently than expected, but OH, so much better.  We are in awe of our Creator.  He who loved us and knew us enough to grant our secret wishes.  God has granted our family a New Season.

The front portion of our new property.  It is HUGE. And SCARY! 

So you HAVE to be wondering now what the heck the title of this post has to do with the above... and you would be right to wonder.  It has nothing to do with it.  I just wanted to share with you why I was so long gone, and how incredibly grateful I am to be in this world, and to be back working on my small and stately project.

Now that I have you all caught up with our lives in the last couple of years, let's get to the subject, shall we?

'Villa de Cuivre' in it's new surroundings

The reason for the title of this post is that I wanted to let you know my "Steampunk Manor" has FINALLY named itself.  I have been moving toward getting restarted with the Manor inside my mind, but we are still settling in here in Texas and getting our home into habitable form.  But my head is with the Manor now... and I look forward to again experiencing the joy of a "tiny" problem to solve.  :0)  

Anyway, try this on for size...  The Steampunk Manor's new name is ……

Villa de Cuivre! 

In other words, "the villa of copper".  The title of this almost unrelated post!

The French version sounded so much more mysterious and elegant...and I think it fits the manor to a T.   As I was cogitating on the name, it suddenly was clear.... Villa de Cuivre.  I knew it was right the moment I thought of it.

(For fun, go to Google translate and listen to this in French!  Beautiful!)

As I have been wrapping my head around how to get started again building Villa de Cuivre, I have realized several things....

I love the lines if I do say so myself.  :0) 

First, WOW what a beautiful manor!  LOL.   (Well, you have to imagine it's beauty at the moment, but I can see it coming!)

The manor has a place in our new home that is PERFECT for it.  It's unfinished grandeur is so perfectly set off by its place against the wall in our Master Bedroom.  Seeing it in this "new light", and seeing it every night before crawling into bed, has been such a pleasure...  and a new awe of what I have started is dawning in my mind.  I feel like an artist!

Secondly, I have realized that there are a few things I want to change about the manor.  I have taken a page out of Giac's miniature book and I want to "remodel" a couple of things about the manor.  (At least Giac FINISHED a room before remodeling, but I, I can't!)

The "broken" door.  

One of the decorative grille pieces has come loose.

Our move was incredibly gentle on the Manor.  It came through with only one broken door for the kitchen, and that fix is minor.. so I won't call that a remodel, but I do need to fix that up.  It should be reasonably simple to do.

I am a bit amazed that the Manor came through in as good a condition as it did...2,105 miles in a Penske truck, stacked on top of by movers, during some of the hottest days I have experienced in some time... a bit amazing it arrived in one piece if you ask me.  (I guess technically it is still 9 pieces...more if you count all the bits n' pieces!)  

.

The nice, but not nice enough windows.  

Everything except the window grills will be left as is. 

One thing I came to realize as I set the Manor up in its new home is that I just don't like the windows I came up with for the first floor front facade.  They do not seem to fit the elegant forms of the rest of the manor.  I like the windows, just not on this manor!  So one of the first things to come is that I will be remaking the four box windows along the front of the manor.   The boxes will remain as is, but the window insert design will be simplified and I will be redesigning them to allow more ability to view the interior from the outside of the Manor.

At the very LEAST it needs a good scrubbing!

Another realization is that again, I am not happy with the fireplace in the Grand Parlor.  It's "cute".  Cute does not fit that room!  So I am going to try to remake the same basic fireplace but do it more conventionally (if you can call Art Noveau conventional!).  I want it to come across as elegant, not cute!  If I can rescue this one, I will, if not, I will start again from scratch.

The Grand Parlor as it stands today. This house must be built on a planet with two suns. 

The Grand Parlor ceiling is cool, but needs to be trifled with a bit to lighten it up.

The last "remodel" project will be the ceiling of the Grand Parlor.  I love the ceiling, don't get me wrong there, but it is way too dark for the room as it is... it needs a tweak to lighten up the room, so something will need to be done on that front.

Ugh!  Please do NOT remind me.  I bow my head in abject shame!

And THEN, there is that dang door.  I never did come up with a good result for that, and so it will also go back to the drawing board... though it never came to life in the first place!  I STILL don't have any really good ideas....but I will cogitate... Cogitating creates magic eventually...??

So those are my plans in the immediate future for the "little" Villa de Cuivre.  It is exciting to have room in my mind to cogitate on these "small" things again.  I really do look forward to getting back in the saddle and making "goodly progress" on the Manor!

Bless y'all!  (like that new "southern accent"?) 

My mug shot. I know you are glad to see me.  

Be Grateful for all you have!