Snapdragon: a flower, an Inn, a processor

McKay sent me this link and told me to check out the name.

I just got back from the Inn but didn't have a chance to take any pictures. There has been some serious window/trim painting on the first floor, book shelves completed in the library, what will be the downstairs public bathroom has been sheet rocked and door trim hung. The electrician and plumber have been in this week as well. A lot of progress! Pictures to come.

Window painting tip

Before

We've had a professional painter from Southface working a few days so we put him on window painting which can be tricky and time consuming for non-pros. The intricate bay window in the dining room is looking great. In case you have never painted windows you might wonder why there is paint on the window. This is the best and fastest way to get a clean line. If you go over the edge, you make sure to cover and seal the window and after the paint is dry you simply go around the edge with a razor blade and it cleans right up. Much much faster then trying to cut in perfectly and get better coverage of the seams.

Great New York Times Article on Country Inns

On Friday, McKay came across this article in the New York Times and emailed it out to the team. It's a great read, especially if you are in the business of running an Inn. There was a buzz of excitement amidst the group as we read the article and thought maybe we aren't insane and saw our vision for the Snapdragon resonating with the article. McKay did quietly mention, however, we are missing Richard Gere and I will add to that, changing the sheets for Leonardo DiCaprio but overall a cool article. Hey, who knows?


Update: You know the big beautiful and very intricate bay window in the dining room? It's getting painted with crisp semi-gloss paint and is looking fabulous so pictures to come.

Somebody Has To

I read this poem last night and it made me think of all the work that has to be done on a giant Do-It-Yourself kind of project. Although many on the Snapdragon Team have been able to step up and use their expertise to complete a task, most of the team has had to learn how to do something because it just simply needed to be done. So here's a poem from Shel Silverstein in honor of all the Snappers who have jumped in and finished a job in order to help make something wonderful.

Somebody Has To

Somebody has to go polish the stars,
They're looking a little bit dull.
Somebody has to go polish the stars,
for the eagles and starlings and gulls
Have all been complaining they're tarnished and worn,
They say they want new ones we cannot afford.
So please get your rags
And your polishing jars,
Somebody has to go polish the stars.

Press On Snappers! It's looking fantastic!
Have a great week everyone.

Setting sun

The setting sun casts a beautiful light on the back of the inn.
It is the perfect time for a meander around Lake Runnemede.

Enjoy your weekend everyone! See you back here on Monday.

No more rotting post

Note the rotting post on the left.


and wa-la! New shiny post!

Also working on the front stairs.
Before we know it, you can be walking up those stairs between
those columns into the Snapdragon Inn!

Library Progression

New Purdy Paintbrush with a new color of paint= exciting

Cutting in the corner and giving a wide margin to roll

Just like that, you have a freshly painted wall

Once again, the white looks so crisp against the color

Chases being built around wires to complete the look

Before and After

The library is coming right along.

On Saturday we had a long work day at the Inn. We have had the library all primed and ready for paint and we should have waited until they finished building the chases so we could prime and paint them at the same time but we (I) had to get color on those walls that we had stripped, re plastered, prepped, sanded, and primed just to feel a bit of progression.

We knew we wanted a brown for the library but had to find a color that would compliment the brick of the fireplace, tie into the green of the entry as well as the color of wood through the entry and library. The color is Glidden, Satin finish, creme brulee. It is warm without being too yellow or red and certainly not too dark but immediately makes the space feel cozier. The Maxwell Perkins library at Snapdragon Inn is beginning to emerge.

Note: Windsor Station Pub has THE BEST creme brulee around. So you can come to the Inn and sit in the library which will make you crave some and then meander down the street and have those cravings satisfied. Perfect!

The History of Scribner

We've talked about the works that Maxwell Perkins edited, but we haven't mentioned much about the company he was loyal to and added to for his entire career. That company was Charles Scribner's Sons.

I found a link that published some excerpts from an address given by Charles Scribner III in 1978, which I thought would be interesting to share. Here are just a few bits of the larger excerpt, focusing on the founding of the company and then Maxwell Perkin's era. If you have time to read the entire excerpt it's really fascinating.

The history of Charles Scribner’s Sons begins in 1846 with the publishing partnership of Isaac Baker and Charles Scribner. The younger partner, Scribner, was a New Yorker of twenty-five, who had graduated from Princeton in the class of 1840.

At that time, to start an independent publishing company was something of an innovation. Most of the established houses had either grown out of printing plants, following the noble tradition of the sixteenth-century Plantin Press in Antwerp, or were offshoots of retail book shops. On the one hand, a printer might venture into publishing to provide work for his press; on the other, a bookseller might become a part-time publisher to supply extra books to sell in his store.

...

In 1894 the firm capped the climax of fifteen years under C. S. II by moving into a stately, six-story building on Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first Street, designed by the renowned American Beaux-Arts architect Ernest Flagg, who was Scribner’s brother-in-law. On the ground floor was a magnificent bookstore, the prototype for the more famous store on Forty-eighth Street and Fifth Avenue. Scribners was to remain at Twenty-first and Fifth for nineteen years, until 1913, during which time a cornucopia of new authors was added to the house. This was truly a “golden age” of American book publishing. At the turn of the century Scribners had virtually cornered the market in American literature.

...

The year 1913 marked a new chapter in the history of the firm. In that year another move was made up Fifth Avenue to the new and even larger Ernest Flagg building at Forty-eighth Street. This was the third headquarters since Charles II’s presidency and the scene of the last of the almost equal periods in his fifty years with the firm. Scribner had been fielding a whole new team of young editors, the most famous of whom was Maxwell Perkins, about whom a major biography has been published and whose letters to Fitzgerald and Hemingway have been published by us. These volumes provide one of the clearest windows into the world of editor-author relations. Another well-known Scribner editor, and a distinguished poet in his own right, was John Hall Wheelock. Those two men, Perkins and Wheelock, were both young Harvard graduates who invaded a then predominantly Princeton company and brought it great new success by their editorial intuition and skill.

In 1913 Charles Scribner’s only son, another Charles (III), graduated from Princeton and began his own career in publishing. He was a contemporary of Perkins and Wheelock, and his age gave him a ready grasp of the importance of the new writers who were beginning to appear on the scene. Another era in American literature was dawning and the firm’s enthusiasm for the new authors was to yield it a rich harvest. There was Alan Seeger, whose Poems came out in 1916, best remembered for his “rendezvous with death.” Four years later, F. Scott Fitzgerald heralded the Jazz Age with his first novel, This Side of Paradise. Stark Young’s The Flower in Drama appeared in 1923 and, in the following years, Ring Lardner’s How To Write Short Stories (1924), James Boyd’s Drums (1925, a year best remembered for The Great Gatsby), and John W. Thomason, Jr.’s Fix Bayonets (also in 1925). In 1926 Ernest Hemingway’s The Torrents of Spring and The Sun Also Rises were both published. In view of Hemingway’s later achievements and his equally enduring loyalty to the firm, we shall always think of that as a year set apart. Thomas Wolfe, at the end of this glorious decade, made his debut with Look Homeward, Angel in 1929.

Around this time, the long career of Charles Scribner II was drawing to a close. In 1928, he turned over the presidency to his younger brother Arthur and continued on only as chairman of the board. Happily, he lived to see the first published volumes of the Dictionary of American Biography, a project which extended from 1928 to 1936 and a work to which he had given his utmost support: it was probably the most important project the firm had ever undertaken and was developed with the American Council of Learned Societies, which has subsequently collaborated with Scribners on other reference projects. In 1930 Charles II died, as did the loyal and patient Arthur in 1932, leaving Charles III to preside alone. He was only forty-one at the time.

It would be hard to think of a more difficult time in which to take over the management of a large publishing house. The Great Depression was in its worst stage, and the future must have appeared most uncertain for books. Yet the firm continued to look for fresh talent and take chances on new authors in a way that marks this as one of the most enterprising periods in all our history, an achievement that testifies to the aims and courage of C. S. III and to the devoted support that his associates, Max Perkins in particular, gave him. In the following years many important new works appeared, not only by already established authors such as Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Wolfe, but also by unknown writers who were later to become famous. Among these firsts by new authors were Marcia Davenport’s great biography of Mozart, published in 1932 and still in print; Nancy Hale’s The Young Die Good; Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s South Moon Under in 1933, followed by her most famous novel, The Yearling, five years later; Hamilton Basso’s Beauregard in 1933; Taylor Caldwell’s Dynasty of Death in 1938, and Christine Weston’s Be Thou the Bride in 1940. An extraordinary decade of debuts.

At the same time the 1930s also saw some sad losses. Thomas Wolfe was the most visible, a loss due primarily to his own self-proclaimed dependence on his editor, Max Perkins, which not surprisingly led to his feeling compelled to sever that editorial umbilical cord. Then, in 1937, Scribner’s Magazine folded after fifty glorious years of publication, a casualty of newer and slicker magazines and, supposedly, of the radio.

Right after the war, yet another Charles Scribner (IV or Jr.) joined the firm. It was to be the last year of Max Perkins’s life, but he left behind two budding novelists, James Jones and Alan Paton.

In 1952 Charles III died very suddenly; he had just finished reading the manuscript of Hemingway’s short classic, The Old Man and the Sea, which was dedicated to him and Perkins. After his father’s death, Charles Scribner, Jr. moved back from Washington, where he’d been sent as cryptoanalyst during the Korean War, and took the helm at the age of thirty-one. One of his first moves was to close the Scribner printing and warehousing plant, which had operated since 1908. It was a few blocks down the street and had been designed as a complete manufacturing unit, but new economic realities indicated that even a relatively large firm could not reasonably support its own printing plant.

Take some time to learn about one of the truly great American publishing houses and it's history. Have a great week and look out for pictures of the newly painted library to come soon!

things to be excited about

What do you do when you get excited?

This little guy aka eyeballs (thanks uncle N8) does a little tongue thing when he gets excited.

It is exciting that we are entering into warmer weather, it is exciting that work in the Inn is moving along, it is exciting that it is Friday (even though that really means no break for any of us but still), and it is exciting that even after quite some time in this family project, we haven't tried to harm or injure one another.
Things to be excited about.
You?

(This makes me very excited.)

Weekly update pix

Repaired broken glass panes throughout building

Dining Room Window

Chases built around piping and wiring (Room 3)

Installation of remaining lighting fixtures (Bathoom 6)

Mouldings here and there

Bookshelf construction in the library

The punch list continues to get shorter every day over in the Inn. Note: If you don't have experience replacing panes of glass (especially custom shapes as in our dining room) seek help because the cutting and putty-ing is not easy and you want your glass to stay in the windows ;)

And the winner is...

Thank you ALL for commenting this week and supporting our wee little project ;) We appreciate every single comment we receive so thank you thank you!

Congrats to Zillah (posted just in time last night) so if you email us at innkeeper@snapdragoninn.com with your address we pop your very special, very custom textiles in the post.

And for all of you who didn't win, we will eventually have these custom textiles for sale and will be sure to let you know where and when.

Enchanted April

I recently saw the movie Enchanted April for the first time. If you haven't seen it, I think you should. Especially if you live in rainy England and you want to go to sunny Italy. One of the themes of the movie is how healing getting away from your regular every day can be.

When I visited Hawaii for the first time in 2003, I had the same experience. Looking out into the ocean as far as you can see was mesmerizing. I had to be at the beach at Sunset every night we were there. One night we were on the beach and the stars felt like they were surrounding us. It was therapeutic, spiritual, relaxing and amazing all at once. I came home to my then two small girls and felt more grateful for my beautiful life and all the fantastic beauty there is in the world.

Where have you gone that has lifted your spirit and truly replenished your soul?
Where would you spend your Enchanted April?
What are the qualities you need in a true GET-AWAY?

Thanks for all the comments last week. That was an awesome giveaway wasn't it?

Max and Fitzgerald

Enter the April giveaway (custom SD prints)
by commenting on any/every post from April 6th until Midnight Tonight!

As we have mentioned before, one of Max's authors was F. Scott Fitzgerald. Most of us probably didn't make it out of high school without at least reading "The Great Gatsby" and I am wishing I had the time to delve into more and more of the literature edited by Max. It is fascinating to have this connection to the Inn and to have record of the communication between Max and his authors.

"What a time you've had with your sons, Max-
Earnest gone to Spain, me gone to Hollywood,
Tom Wolfe reverting to an artistic hill-billy.
Fitzgerald to Perkins, April 23, 1938





Does anyone have a favorite Fitzgerald? Have you read "Tender is the Night"?

It's the little things

Enter the April giveaway (custom SD prints)
by commenting on any/every post until April 12th.

It's a big day over at the Inn now.
You can hang up clothes in the closets.
Now all of the closets have shelves and rods. The shoe moulding we painted the other night was also installed in all the athrooms. It just finishes off the room doesn't it.

It's the little things.

Warmer, lighter weather means working later

Enter the April giveaway (custom SD prints)
by commenting on any/every post until April 12th.

Some trim needing a clean, a prime, and final coat

Our sweet outdoor paint station

the final pieces

If you are on the lookout for a great paint bucket, cut the top off a laundry detergent or similar plastic jug. Easy to do and easy to hold.

Some things we've learned about painting (trim):
-Work in an area long enough for the trim pieces so you aren't banging it into the walls etc. Not that we've ever done that :) That's why outside is great.

-After painting, do a final check for drips by running fingers along the edges. This saves you on having to sand hard drips off and then re-prime and re-paint bits.

-Always work with a partner--this goes for any painting project--the time goes by faster, the work gets done faster, and it can actually be relaxing and fun, especially on beautiful spring night in Vermont.

Since it is staying lighter later now, after the kids bed time is becoming the most convenient time to get work done. Yesterday was also unseasonably warm here in Windsor (mid 80s) so we set our trim painting station up outside in the breeze. Painting 20 odd pieces of shoe moulding may not seem like such a big task but several hours later they were gleaming white and ready to be installed in all of the bathrooms today. We've got Southface construction back helping us with some of the final bits and pieces so there will be more progress shots here and there. The library is primed and ready for color so that should also be coming up in the next week.

April Giveaway (It's a goodie)

A while back, we took a wee trip to India to have our custom Snapdragon fabric printed. We are very excited because for April's giveaway you could win a set of 4 napkins (one of each color) as well as a 17 inch pillow sham.

click to enlarge

The lucky winner will be the only person to have our Snapdragon print since we made this first run exclusively for the inn, but we are very excited to share this with one of our fabulous followers.


SD fabric being printed in India

RULES: All you have to do is make a comment on any post from today until Midnight Monday April 12. You can comment once on every post this week until April 12, increasing your chances for these custom prints! After closing, the winner will be randomly picked from all comments made.

Where to go, where to go...

Whether you are looking for some big city fun, rolling landscapes or a seaside retreat, there is a Bed and Breakfast or an inn out there for you. According to BedandBreakfast.com here are the top 10 destinations people are searching for B&Bs and Inns.

1. Manhattan
2. Boston
3. Cape May
4. San Francisco
5. Newport
6. Napa
7. Charleston
8. Savannah
9. Amsterdam
10. Montreal

Where have you always wanted to go? What is your dream destination? Besides Windsor, Vermont, that is :)

Chime in and tell us where you're dreaming of traveling!

Come visit us tomorrow to check out a very special-very one of a kind- April giveaway!