8 years in the making: The story of The Drawing Room at Aineburgh Hall.

Before I go into the history of The Drawing Room at Aineburgh Hall... I must show it off a bit first.... I had SO fun and I owe loads to my friend MARTHA at http://mugseyboo.blogspot.com. THANK YOU WOMAN! YOU ROCK! ...................

To celebrate the very first day of The Drawing Room at Aineburgh Hall... We celebrated by a four pug salute! May I introduce to you all to ... (from left to right) Georgie, Davy, Pixie and Aine. Georgie and Davy are Aine's half brothers. They were trying out the fireplace to make sure it was safe.

Here is the sitting area pre-salute. LOVE the chairs. Btw - that cedar chest? I will store my fabric and i used to sit on it when I was a kid growing up while watching the fire in the fire place. Isn't that cool? It came from my very old house when i was growing up in Chicago. Martha thinks it is handmade. Is that not the coolest? It even has feet!

My cosy carner of goodies! *sigh* I love this bookcase, I had it in my apartment.

Here is a close up of what it looks like from the kitchen - isn't GORGEOUS?! *squee! - Can you see the prints? Those were picked by Joe a longgg time ago - aren't they pretty!? THey are soooo detailed. The desk above my Dad used when he was a kiddy. This will be the home of my computer. OH! And Aine had to try out the fatique mat. lol Doesn't she look like WHY? WHY!? I ask YOU? lol

So .... here be the story of The Drawing Room at Aineburgh Hall.... yes a bit sobby so you can skip if you want to and go back to gazing at the puggies or the fun furniture but here is the story in all it's glory.

When Joe and I bought the house in 2000, the "back room" was so "unfungsheied"(yes, I really do think that is a word! lol) it was not even funny. We took down a nasty old closet, redid the stair and Joe did the tile right before he died. After Joe died, I painted the walls and put in a new fabulous sliding door because my other one broke. I love this fricken door. lol. I can't believe I am admitting that, but Dang! It is one of the best investments I ever made. ANYWAYS.

For years I didn't know what to do with this room for various reasons. I thought I would entertain more but it was mostly I didn't know what to do with the room because this was seriously the last room Joe worked on and we held our last holiday(Thanksgiving where I ruined the turkey!) before he died. So you can see, I was a bit scared on "what to do".

But all things changed when I realized how much I missed crafting. When I realized how much I really did love it, I knew I wanted a craft room but I didn't know *what to do*. My current "craft room" was on wheels and was in a closet. Um... that is not very productive for inspiration YOU ALL. Okay? OKAY.

I owe Martha at mugsyboo.blogspot.com HUGE for inspiring and guiding me on solving my "what to do" issue and DANG! did we have fun doing it!! So much so? I dream of it EVERY HOUR of the day. I plan my projects there and study hotly to finish my exam so that I can be in there full time! I sometimes want to kick myself that I took this long to figure out "what to do" but at the same time I am glad I waited.

Not only did Martha help me design and layout the room but she found the name! Also I owe a huge thanks to my friend The Rach for helping me undertand the first part of the name (aka The Drawing Room). I don't know if you can see it but the name is PERFECT. Aineburgh Hall - this space looks like a HALL and Aineburgh is homage to my furbaby Aine. How creative is that?! Martha found the name on the Net! There really was an Aineburgh Hall in the 15th century in Cumberland England. IS THAT NOT COOL OR WHAT!!??! " The Drawing Room" is a room used mostly during the Victorian times where the woman would "withdraw" so to *talk* and embroidery/knit etc. So you put the two together? What do you get? AN AMAZING name and ROOM. It so fits my space it is not even funny. Am already thinking of having signs made. :)

So again THANK YOU MUCHLY TO MARTHA! *HUGS YOU* for helping me through this and creating ain inspirational space that I literally DREAM of as soon as step on the train to go to work and wish I was back home playing in it during the day! YOU Christel, Pixie, Mugsy and BOB ROCK!!! (ohhh you guys don't know who Christal is huh? mwahahahaha ANYWAYSS :))

HUGS EVERYONE! Nan and Aine