Bedrooms/Office

Here are the rest of the bedrooms and the office.

Based on these pictures it's really easy to see that half the house still has the 50's charm (3 bedrooms, office, blue bathroom, and kitchen) and half was the addition in the 70's (Master bed and bath, living room/dining area).  Funny how the older side need fewer changes than the newer (the 70's was a tragic era. :)

I love the wood floors and old 50's closets complete with pull-chain lights (they're awesome!) 

 I don't plan on doing anything to these rooms for a while, maybe until our kidlets are old enough to want to change them up.

Guest room/Little Princess Room

Pink wallpaper is not my fav, but livable. 

It's actually a pretty good-size (12'x12') The layout they used isn't the best in here

Food Storage/Little Bud's Room

Actually I wouldn't change anything in this one.

This one we'll leave the same - 

The wall paper has little sail boats on it and so we'll use it to put Craig's Titanic/Ocean liner items in it, under lock and key.

My little office space (and you can see the front door that is never used)

I want to find/build a window seat/chest to put right where the love seat is.

And there you have the tour of our little house - it's got some cosmetic work to do to it, but I like that.  It will give us ownership of the place and we'll work to make it ours.

2nd Bathroom

Hello blue!  

I actually like this bathroom and I love the sink (you can't really see the style of it in this picture, but it's totally from the 50's and I love it). I also love that the linen closet to the side has a built in 50's laundry hamper.

I would like to freshen this up by painting the top half of the walls and maybe the linen closet a creamy color, switch out the lighting and curtains for something brighter, maybe add a new mirror and call it good.

Scary Master Bathroom

Warning: This post is intentionally posted on the Sabbath so that when you see these pics you're even less likely to let out an expletive.

This is the other reason we almost didn't put in an offer:

Oh my word!!  The toilet is even a mustard yellow.

Honestly I think this bathroom may one day be a gut job if we ever have enough $.
(goodness with all my talk of changing things around I make it sound like money is so easy to come by - fortunately most what I want to do is paint - this is about the only really big thing I would love to tear apart :)

My sister, Stacia (who is very stylish) said that she thinks if we replace the two sinks, the toilet and get rid of the wallpaper (still kinda pricey) and put in the right vintage decor we might be able to make it look nice. She may have just said that to make me feel better, but I can hope she's right and it's probably the least expensive solution.

I still think we should gut the whole thing and redo it. I've already envisioned how I would.

Maybe one day, until then we live in the 1970's bathroom. Blah blah blah. . . 

I just remember the shops, garden, extra bedroom and office to make up for this, it can't all be perfect and even with this bathroom, it is perfect enough. :D

Master Bedroom

So when we first saw this place the master bedroom was both a surprise and a disappointment. Surprise because it's much bigger than most MB we saw, disappointment because of that dang 70's paneling and the bright teal (yes teal) carpet.  The owners added on to the house in the 70's and that's where this room and living/dining area and the master bath all came from.

More paneling, great

Ok, I should note this paneling is not painted.  

The paneling was intentionally done with a white birch kind of look to it.

What do you do with a room like this?

We don't have it in our budget to replace the carpeting or put up drywall anytime soon.  So we're kind of stuck with this.  But I've decided that once we paint the paneling to smooth out the walls (envision a more sea gray on the wall to really make the trim pop) and embrace the teal carpet we could have an awesome seaside kind of looking room
UPDATE: Craig told me today that actually we will replace the carpet soon.  Wow! Yay! - so basically that changes everything.  Now I'm not sure how I want to approach this - I still think a seaside style has a peaceful feel to it that is good for a bedrooms.

I found this website and it saved everything that I felt about teal/turquoise:

Everything Turquoise

Our bedspread is a beige, so I'm thinking of bringing lots of stuff into the room with a seaside feel to it: sandy beiges, browns, teals, sea greens and blues, white, seashells.

Here is just a sampling that site:

shell dishes

blue birds are not real seasidy, but it could work maybe (that bird is darling to me)

I really love these storage bins

Now the plan is just to wait out the teal carpet until we change it - that's exciting :)

Living/Dining Room

We almost didn't get the house because of this area:

Why oh why is there paneling?!

It was such a turn off for me. 

Seriously I was almost ready to walk away from this place because of it (and place met everyone of our wants), but the paneling! I want the wood on the floor, not the walls. :)

Since replacing the panels with drywall is too expensive our option is to paint it.  I searched the internets and found these images that gave me some hope:

Nice Painted Wood Paneling

DYI design

And this article was the greatest:  Why Men Fear Painting Wood with more nice images.

We did happen to go into the home of a friend of ours and she had painted paneling that was just like this kind - it looked pretty good!  We didn't even notice it was paneling for half an hour - that was my final go-ahead moment.

I think the painted panels would give us a more farmhouse feel - and I kind of love that look. I'm still debating about the shades, but I'm thinking a sandy or a beige color with a white trim, although yellow is warming up to me (ooh like a light yellow with chocolate brown sofa and wood furniture).  I need to keep it pretty neutral since I know that it will will be a long time before I can paint it again. Any suggestions?  My only hesitancy is that I think the white trim look may be too trendy and look really dated in a few years.  Do you think so?

Anyone vote I keep the wood paneling? ;)

My Kitchen

Here is my kitchen:

Things I love about it:

Open shelving (love), even though the counters are laminate it has the look of wood (maybe if I'm lucky one day we'll be able to put in real butcher block counters), potato and onion bins from the 50's - so awesome (I'll show a picture when I can), fairly spacious (even though it doesn't look it, it's quite roomy), it certainly doesn't have the look of a modern kitchen - but I kind of like that.

Things are are not so hot:

What is the washing machine doing there?!  (eventually we'll move it out), dim lighting, cabinets are a dingy grey/white

My basic kitchen update plans:

Paint the cupboards a brighter/creamier white, bring in better lighting, replace handles, paint walls green

Kind of like this:

What do you think?  Personally I love the green walls and white cupboards!
(side note: I love that brick with green cupboard island - wouldn't that be dreamy?)

I want the kitchen very apply or minty fresh feel. 

Instead of the yellow accent I would like to have a little red 

(remember my red kitchen aid - it should pop in there!)

I'm having a lot of fun envisioning what to put on the open shelves.

I do love the look of vintage milk glass like these:

Milk glass bowl
P.S. Craig got me this bowl for my birthday! (I actually wrote this post before he got it for me :)

Milk glass dish

Milk glass pedestal dishes

And I love cherry prints so I would love to throw something in like these cherry towels:

The awesome thing is I already have an adorable cherry print apron and table runner with hot pad from my wonderful sister, so I am well on my way to a minty/cherry fresh kitchen!

Sale Pending!!

I can finally announce it!! We're under contract for a house!

This house:

My little brick ranch style house which I love.

(I love cozy homes, they feel friendlier to me - at least they did when we were house hunting)

The things I love about this house:

4 bedrooms, separate office/living room, spacious master bedroom, well kept, I mean well (the previous owner was quite meticulous), 1620 sq feet

1.37 acres, 2 shops/4 car garage, wooded (private) backyard, huge garden area, private well, thousands and thousands of blueberries!!

Not so favorite things:

built in the 50's  with most recent updates done in the 70's (Truthfully I prefer an older house and LOVE the one bathroom sink from the 50's but don't like the 70's updates - so I'll have some cosmetic things I'll want to change about it), small (ugly) master bath, not a ton of storage inside the house (but plenty outside in the shops)

4 car garage with side shop

Shop/storage 2: looks a little run-down, but actually very nice on the inside

my HUGE garden area!

pretty patio in the back yard

if you ever come visit us please use the back door (front doors are just for decoration in NC)

I feel so grateful we found this place, it really has everything we were hoping for and then some, we definitely had heaven's help on this one.
Hopefully we'll close the first week of September - so exciting!! :D And I hope posting this before we close doesn't ruin our luck ;)

More pics to come!

Craigslist is awesome!

Whoa two posts in one day!

But we just got an amazing deal on Craigslist and I'm excited: a beautiful dining table with 6 chairs and a China hutch for $200! These picts aren't the best because they're the ones from Craigslist - but everything is disassembled right now so I can't get any better pics for now.

I really love the lines of the chairs - that's my favorite part.

The table has some scuffs but other than that all the other pieces are in pretty good condition.

We were really looking for a table and this china hutch is just an added bonus. The funny thing is Craig's mom has a hutch just like this one.  Too funny!

I am really loving those chairs. Thank goodness for great discounts on good furniture!

My Carrots Are Dead

So much for the fall garden - the carrots never sprouted, when I dug around them I found out that they never sprouted, must have been an old or bad packet of seeds.  I should really think about buying seeds from a seed catalog next year.  The peppers we bought from seed also never sprouted and I have high doubts about the lettuce (same type of company). So there goes my Fall Garden this year, but we'll get an early start on our Spring Garden for next year.

I just wanted to sum up the garden this year so next year and can come back and take a look at this for reference.

Here are the losses from my garden this year:

• zucchini - he was growing so great, and then one day wilted and died
• 1 corn - Termite (the other cat around here) knocked it down.  I can understand, when the corn is little and with the leaves moving in the wind young corn stalks are the perfect temptation for a cat.
• 1 peanut plants - he started growing where he shouldn't have (in the cucumbers), I thought it was a weed and pulled it up to discover it was a rogue peanut plant!  I replanted it only to have Bones (f.i.l) and Craig both come along and pull up the "weed" too.  He just didn't make it past that third uprooting. 
• 2 pepper plants from transplant - we hoed one down on accident, the other died in our big storm
• 1 bean plant - he also died during the storm

Bones said to expect that some plants will die each year so that made me feel a little better.

Thoughts on how to do better next year:

• Less Cucumbers!!  We had way too many.  I planted 3 seeds in 5 holes and all of them came up - 15 cucumber plants is just too many! Also I need to learn how to pickle cucumbers and I think it might be a good idea to plant a couple of batches so you don't get them all at one time, but have some maturing and then a couple weeks later another batch and then a third - does anyone know if that would work?
• More Corn!  We had lots of corn plants, but each stalk doesn't produce many ears.  Also I need to learn how to figure out the right time to pick corn - too early and the kernels aren't ready or milky, too late and the worms get 'em.  I got about half at the right time.  Also we planted 3 kinds: sweet organic (white and yellow), yellow corn we were given so I don't know the type and Silver Queen (white).  The sweet organic was by far the best tasting!!
• More Peanuts!!  We haven't harvested them yet, but I can already tell I wish I planted more.
• No Beans!  We planted a few cranberry beans and that was a waste - we didn't even get enough beans to make two full servings (each bean pod produces so few beans).  Best to buy dried beans in bulk and save the garden space for something else.
• Peppers are fun once I learn how to dry them.  I have about 5 hot pepper strings drying right now.
• Green Beans must be harvested young - I didn't know how to determine when green beans were ready and I waited too long - they were gross.
• Next year plant a Spring Garden with at least potatoes, garden peas and swiss chard
• To add to the Summer Garden: watermelon, pumpkins
• Try the Fall Garden again with carrots, sweet potatoes and experiment with squash!

I really, really enjoyed the garden.  There is something therapeutic about working with the earth and helping things to grow. I can't wait to get things organized for next year.  It required more work in some ways and less in others.  One thing I really need to get down is how to use/share everything before it goes bad, of course when I have my own kitchen I hope that will help!

Afternoon Nap

Socks' preferred way to spend his afternoons.

It gets pretty hot around here in the afternoons and some days I just feel awful for the little guy being out in the hot carport/garage.  

When I do let him in he spends the first 10 min going crazy running around the house attacking everything in sight (it's hilarious!) Then he settles right by my feet, under my desk, and sleeps the rest of the afternoon away.

It's so cute.

Stop me, I'm becoming a pet person!

Decor By Color

I just found a super fun set of blogs to look through: Decor By Color.

Want a Red Kitchen? No problem

Purple's your thing?  They got it.

Craving a Chocolate Brown and Blue bedspread or Green and Pink curtains? It's easy!

It's awesome and super addicting.  I love it because you can search by categories in each color.  So if you're looking for an awesome lamp in turquoise - they can help you out.  Some of it is a bit pricey - but it can give you lots of fun ideas.

I'm in blog-search heaven right now :)