Wednesday, January 6, 2021

New Year, Renewed Hope

 It's finally 2021, and given EVERYTHING that has been going on in the world, and especially here in the US, the blog has suffered even more than usual.  The past five years have been busy for me, what with starting my own business, a couple of exhibitions, and numerous other crises seemingly at every corner.  

But, hope springs eternal, and with the new year fresh upon us, I too remain hopeful and plan to be more active here on the blog.

With that, I thought I'd share one of the more terrifying things that happened in 2020, just to give you an idea on what's going on here in the Tulgey Wood.  Not quite one year ago, Jan 14th to be precise, we had a pipe burst under our foundation, and the bottom floor of our house flooded.  Which coincidentally is where the collection is housed.  Fortunately my wife was actually in the room when it happened, and was able to get the water shut off before it rose too much, but it was pretty scary.  More so for me as I was out of town on business and just had frantic phone calls to decipher what was going on.

Flood waters in the lower level, filled with what will be forever known as 'Flood Mud'

Flood waters have been removed, most of the mud removed, 'flood cut' of the drywall and insulation removed.

This room needed a more aggressive 'flood cut', this is where the collection is housed.  As you can see, both this and the previous room are empty...

... and stored in every room of the house, starting with the kitchen...


... and dining room ...
Repairs underway, we eventually needed do completely replace the drywall in both rooms.  Joy.

Main room today.  Nearly completely put back in place, the bins you see in the front are to go in the barrister bookcases in the back left and back right of the photo.  Then we'll be done in this room.
This room is another story entirely.  All new cases need to be installed, and we're not there yet.  But the room itself is restored.



3 comments:

Phantomwise said...

Hey Matt, elevator girl here (if you remember me, ha). I coincidentally thought about you recently and wondered how the Tulgey Wood was doing after the flood. I hope you and Wendy are doing well during this crazy time!

-- Jenna

Matt said...

Great to hear from you! Of course we remember you, it's not often we strike up a conversation with someone in an elevator at a LCSNA meeting :-) We are well, hope you are too! Wendy sends her best, and the flood recovery is nearly done. Just a few things left to get restored and of course new display cases (ugh).

Jim said...

Wow, Matt, so sorry this happened. Glad you were able to recover. And as you know, I so enjoy your blog...and your Facebook posts, too!