Lyme Local

Brian and Jim in the New Hampshire village of Lyme

  • More progress as the shutters get installed

    They were made and installed by Sunburst Shutters through Home Depot. Cost: $7,600.

    The primary bedroom.
    The primary bathroom.
    The guest room.

  • Bittners proposes furniture and rugs in an earth tone color scheme

    An overall look at swivel chairs, a sofa, coffee table, dining room table for six and upholstered dining chairs on casters:

    Another view of swivel chairs and a sofa for the living room.
    One of two tiger wood bookcases.
    A closeup of the tiger wood.
    A large piece of wall art.
    One of three leather-upholstered stools for the kitchen.
    This 19th-century chest is for the primary bedroom.
    The color scheme for the primary bedroom.
    An upholstered bed and side tables for the primary bedroom in the lower-left corner.
    Here’s the layout for all the rooms.

  • It’s very pretty here at Christmastime

    Here’s Dowds’ Country Inn and the village green with 70 Christmas trees decorated with ornaments and lights.

  • Design Within Reach delivers the credenza after a (planned) two-month wait

    That’s oak painted black with a green marble top. The fittings are brass.

    From DWR’s description: Designed by the all-female trio Egg Collective, the Morrison Credenza (2012) is a modern interpretation of classic casegoods. The multifunctional black oak cabinet features four soft-close doors, four adjustable shelves, and two cord escapes. Its smaller scale allows it to fit in tight spaces, while its heirloom-quality details, including a Verde Indio marble top and solid brass knobs, make this sideboard worthy of center stage. We ordered it in late August during a 20%-off sale.

    That’s where we originally thought we could hang a TV with the wires hidden behind the wall.

  • A dairy farmer’s generosity underpins the library

    I believe this is the original library building from 1936.

    Lyme was established by a charter in 1761; the first library was formed on Jan. 20, 1798, and called “the Social Library in Lime.” In 1908, the town voted to support a public library called the Lyme Town Library.

    By the 1930s, the library had outgrown its space in the Lyme School and the town accepted a bequest to build a separate library building in memory of Sidney Converse, to be called the Converse Free Library. It was completed in 1936. An addition was added to the building in the early 1980s.

    (Converse, a successful dairy farmer, was also moderator, selectman and master of the Grange for many years.)

    The collection today includes over 30,000 physical items to lend, in the form of books, periodicals, DVDs, and books on CD. The library houses and maintains the school ‘s collection also, sharing its resources with the Lyme Elementary School across the street through the efforts of the librarians in each building.

  • A street view showing our completed balcony

  • The kitchen counters are black quartz

    It’s from LX Hausys, a South Korean company that calls it Carbo, “a beautiful tinted black with long diagonal light grey veins running across, taking inspiration from Soapstone. Carbo was perfectly paired with Viatera’s new brushed finish, imparting a soft texture to the slab.” Here are the instructions for keeping it clean.

  • It’s starting to look like a real home

    The last time we visited, in late August, the kitchen didn’t have any appliances and the cabinets hadn’t been painted.
    The cabinets and hardware are somewhat similar to what we have in our Louisville condo.
    Looking in the direction of the kitchen from the living-room area.
    A view of the dining and living-room areas; the kitchen is out of the frame on the lower right.
    A wide-angle view of the primary bedroom, with the bathroom in the far background. That’s a walk-in closet on the left.
    Our bedroom, as seen from the dressing area.
    The primary bathroom is hard to photograph because of its size.
    A wide-angle view of the primary bathroom shower.
    Another wide-angle view of the primary bath, with our bedroom in the distant background.
    A wide-angle view of the guest room; we plan to have storage cabinets added to that alcove area.
    The guest bathroom.
    Adding the finishing touches.