In Part 1 of the fireplace makeover I painted the black and brass insert totally black.

After removing the tape and cleaning up I was happy with the outcome.  Phew!  It’s difficult to reverse the process once it’s painted black.

Painting the black part of the fireplace black was not so daring as what I was going to do next.

Using Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 primer as suggested by this website I started painting the terracotta tiles with a paint brush using a crosshatch technique.

After the first coat I liked it but realized that it would take multiple coats to finish this project.

And so I plodded on allowing a few days for the primer to cure before adding more primer and finally a 2 topcoats of my trim paint — White Mosaic by Clark and Kensington — which I brushed on and smoothed with a roller.

I also started painting the 2-story wall behind the fireplace with Alabaster by Sherwin Williams to be ready for the third and final step of this fireplace makeover.

Jo

Our first entry into Greece was the island of Rhodes famous for the Colossus, an ancient wonder of the world, which no longer exists.

Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital. In 1912 Rhodes was taken from Turkey by Italy. Under the Allied peace treaty with Italy in 1947, the island was awarded to Greece.

We traveled back to medieval times and explored the old city of Rhodes  when the streets were ruled by crusaders known as the Knights of Saint John. In an effort to revive the island’s glory days, many of its stone buildings have been completely reconstructed.

Charlie and I followed our guide up the stone cobbled streets.

Our goal was the Archaeological Museum.

From the moment you enter the courtyard of this 15th c. building – constructed by the Knights of St. John as their Hospital – you’re in another world, passing beneath vaulted ceilings, climbing stone staircases and perusing a vast arrangement of artifacts presented in numerous chambers.

Inside we were presented with another set of steps.  Charlie and I left the tour at this point and did some shopping in the agora (marketplace).

I wanted something for the house that would go with my colors — I found the perfect pillow cover which was well-priced and easy to pack.

Then we hiked back to the ship which was walking distance from the town.

• Travel Plans Well in Advance
• Anniversary Trip: Getting to Istanbul
• Anniversary Trip: Istanbul
• Anniversary Trip: Turkish Bath in Türkiye
• Anniversary Trip: Troy
• Anniversary Trip: Ephesus

Jo

The wall sconces I ordered here came very quickly.

I started with the sconce in the hall area of the main bedroom since the broken temporary fixture was hanging by its wires.

The new fixtures were well-packaged in multiple boxes with all the parts needed to hang them.

First I sorted out the wires behind the wall and added Wago wire lever nuts to the black and the white wires. I screwed the plate to the electric box and fished the wires including the ground wire through the center hole.

Then I hooked the ground wire from the wall around the green screw.

I screwed the brass parts of the fixture together and connected the wires of the fixture to the wires in the wall.  I used small brass screws to hook the escutcheon to the wall plate and then screwed in the light bulb while wearing the white gloves that came in the packaging.

After installing the first fixture I confidently moved on to the other three.

There were 2 for the primary bedroom.

The 3rd and 4th green fixtures are installed in the second bedroom hall and bathroom.

I am impressed with the quality of these fairly inexpensive lighting fixtures.

Jo

Just before we put The Glade on the market I changed out all the smoke detectors to 10-year sealed battery models.

That is the new standard in Maryland.  As a matter of fact Lowes won’t even ship to our address a new smoke detector with old technology.

As I walked through our new home on the Chesapeake Bay I noticed  4 potential smoke detectors — I say potential since one was only the base.

Also when I took a closer look at the 3 that remained I discovered they were from 2011.

As at The Glade I wanted to replace the smoke detectors with the same brand I was removing so the wall bases and hardwired connector would be compatible.  At the bay house the units were so out of date that companies had consolidated and changed names, etc. but I matched the shapes and finally came up with 2 hardwired units and 2 battery units that seemed like they might work.

Not all brands are available at every store so I ordered KIDDE Firex Hardwired Smoke Detectors with Ionization Sensor from Home Depot and 2 First Alert BRK 10-Year Battery-operated Ionization Smoke Detectors Item #5473117, Model #1046857 from Lowes.  They were delivered a few days after I ordered them

I started with the battery operated models which did not fit the old bases so I took everything down and started again with all new parts.  I did, however, reuse the holes from the previous model.  These were not difficult install.

Then I moved onto the hardwired units which were more challenging.  First I removed the old base and replaced it with the new one.

I would like to say I switched off the power at the circuit  breaker panel but the smoke detectors are not marked so I carefully attached the black wire to the black wire, the white wire to the white wire (with Wago wire nuts), and left the red wire unattached since our smoke detectors are not wired together.

I marked the new installation date on each unit as well as the date when they should be changed again — November, 2034.  It’ll be here before you know it.

Jo

We’re going into November still straddling our time between 2 houses.

Here’s the 10-point plan I have for the month of November:

1.  Celebrate Thanksgiving.
   

   Hoping we’ll have a rug and some furniture in the dining room at the far end of this room by then.

2.  Work on a project at the Bay House.
   

   Continue demolishing the downstairs bathrooms and closet to make a more useful space.

3.  Bring down Christmas decorations to go with this year’s theme — Greek Christmas.
   

   Boats figure prominently in a Greek Christmas — we’ll try it Chesapeake style with crab scrapes and other local vessels.

4.  Check all the smoke alarms at the Bay House and replace the outdated ones.
   

   The smoke detectors really need to be upgraded (like the one behind the light).

5.  Read a book.  I may start a long classic novel.
6.  Wrap and pack Christmas gifts to mail.
   

   Last year I got an early start — hoping to be as prepared this year.

7.  Organize paint supplies and find a storage spot.  Right now I have paint supplies in 3 or 4 different places including the main bedroom??, the garage, the laundry room, etc.
8. Learn how to use the Nest thermostat.  Apparently Nest learns our routine and preferences and sets up a schedule based on that.  So far it’s not working for us so we’ll have to figure out how to make it work for us. That’s what I don’t like about “smart” technology.
9. Pick a word to focus on for the month. My word: SPIRIT.
10.  Write a goal list for December, 2024.

Jo

After visiting Istanbul and Troy our final tour in Türkiye from The Viking Sea  was Ephesus.

We started from the port at Kusadasi and rode a bus to the ruins at Ephesus.

Ephesus was a thriving port city of the eastern Roman Empire and the ministry center of the beloved disciple John in the first century.

Unlike the ruins at Troy I found Ephesus interesting with just the right amount of ruins. And I always love a good amphitheatre.

At the beginning of our tour our guide introduced us to a photographer who would accompany the group and take photos along the way.  I found him calling my name quite a few times — maybe my red shirt attracted his attention.  Our photos were printed and ready for purchase in front of the bus before we departed.  Charlie bought all six of ours for $20.

Our next stop was the Turkish carpet shop that does NOT have an online presence.  First we watched a woman spin worm pods into silk.

Someone in the distant past figured out that wetting silkworm pods would create fine, strong, continuous threads.

The silk thread is dyed then woven into carpets both large and small.

Weavers –all women –tie hundreds of knots per square inch while sitting on floor. Some carpets have more than 450 knots to a square inch.

In the showroom we saw dozens of carpets — each more beautiful than last — more like something to sleep on rather than walk on.  We were served a liquid refreshment while watching the show of rolling and spinning rugs. (The next day I was sitting next to a couple at breakfast who bought a carpet for $10,000.)

Then Charlie and I went downstairs to the high end jewelry store at street level.  I happened to mention that my engagement ring was missing 3 small diamonds.  The woman behind the counter asked me if I had them.  I said yes but they’re at home.  She took my ring to her goldsmith father who fixed it beautifully for $40 US.  While waiting then 10 minutes for the repair I did not succumb to a beautiful sapphire bracelet that was so large on me it would have made a bracelet, earrings, and a pendant for $3800. Stunning but I passed.

We walked around a bit and had some fun.  Then back to the ship.

• Travel Plans Well in Advance
• Anniversary Trip: Getting to Istanbul
• Anniversary Trip: Istanbul
• Anniversary Trip: Turkish Bath in Türkiye
• Anniversary Trip: Troy

Jo

October has been a marvelous month — we toured Türkiye and Greece, started rehabbing our new home on the Chesapeake Bay, and continued our activities on both sides of the Bay.

We did get some projects started this month:

• Lay down some rugs on the new floor and throughout the house.
  

  I’m working on a way to minimize the visual clutter at this end of the room.

• Have new piano delivered.
  

  The Young Chang fits perfectly under the stairs.

• Paint trim in the downstairs bedroom.
  

  Painting this brown trim white is tedious and labor intensive — 1 prime coat and 2 (maybe 3) top coats.

• Rip out the closet in the downstairs bedroom. This challenged me to the point where Charlie needs to finish.  Part of the problem is that I hate tearing down but love building up.
  

  Tearing out the closet is the first step to making a useable bathroom in this small suite.

• Change wall sconces in the main bedrooms upstairs.
  

  This will be an ongoing project.

Here’s the 10-point plan I had for the month of October:

1.  Work on a project at the Bay House. After the new flooring was laid (by professionals) I put down our rugs to see how they would work in the space then shampooed them.
   

   The living room and dining room enhanced by new engineered wood flooring.

   We also hung a new lighting fixture in the kitchen.

2. Explore new stores, activities, opportunities at the new house. Over the past month I have been visiting churches in the neighborhood, finding a new dentist, seeking special holiday events, and trying out local grocery stores.
   

   This looks like a good event to try.

3. Visit Greece.
   

   Charlie and Jo near the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens.

   Charlie and I arrived in Athens, Greece on a Viking ship.  We rented a car and drove all around the Peloponnese for 5 days.

4.  Read a book.  I read The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.  It was an engaging read so much so that I also watched the movie of the same name borrowed from my local library.  Apparently it’s also a Broadway musical.
5. Get rid of Halloween costumes.  I offered them on Facebook Marketplace and although there was interest and I got rid of some, the best still remain.
   

   Aladdin dreams of a whole new world.

6. Continue monitoring  the potential sale of The Glade. After 40 days on the market my realtor and I decided to lower the price.  Sooner or later this quirky property will sell.
   

   Soon the yard will be ablaze with fall color — difficult to dismiss.

7. See a movie.  On the airplane back to the US I saw two movies based on true stories starring Benedict Cumberbatch:  The Imitation Game and The Courier.
   

   Benedict Cumberbatch is a versatile actor.

   The Imitation Game is the story of how mathematician Alan Turing broke Nazi Germany’s Enigma code to help win World War II.  The Courier is the  true story of a British businessman who was recruited by the Secret Intelligence Service to be a message conduit with Russian spy source Oleg Penkovsky in the 1960s.  I was riveted by both films.

8. Pack all belongings and furniture.
   

   We continue to haul things from one house to the other.

   Every week Charlie and I haul carloads of our worldly goods to the Bay House.  We have accepted estimates on the big furniture move which cannot happen until the house is actually sold.

9. Pick a word to focus on for the month. My word: ANCIENT.
10.  Write a goal list for November, 2024.

Jo

My inspiration colors for our house on the Chesapeake Bay are the 3 S’s: sea, sand, and sky.

Some of the permanent items in the house do not complement that color scheme.

In the main living room is a large fireplace surrounded by terra cotta tile.

I read lots of fireplace makeover posts and have combined multiple techniques to come up with painting the black and brass surround all black.

I taped off the black insert to protect the glass and tiles from misdirected paint.

Using the same black paint as I used on the wood stove I repainted the entire black insert including the brass elements.  With a 1.5-inch sash brush I started by painting the brass sections which did not take the paint very well.

Since the fireplace insert was old I also went over all the metal with the black high heat paint.  In all I gave it about 5 coats.

Painting really freshened it up.  The second step will be to change the color of the tile surround.

Jo

The future living room of the house on the bay has an odd combo of a full wall fireplace AND a large wood burning stove.

I’m not sure how or why all this happened but I do know it needs an upgrade.

To make the wood stove less dominant I decided to remove the brass surround by painting it black.

I used Krylon high heat max paint which needed a good stirring to get started.  I wore rubber gloves because the little bit I got on my hands was very very difficult to remove.

First coat was disappointing.

After about five coats which I brushed on and smoothed with a roller the brass was well covered.  Too much brushing actually lifts the underpaint due to the solvent in the paint.  I stroked it on then walked away.

Even though I’m using brass as a nautical theme in the house, this brass was just too BRASSY!

Jo