Here's the window in the mudroom. It just needs nail holes filled and touch up paint.
Of course the rest of the room also needs its woodwork installed (see the door left of the window).
And I'm not expecting to get any more done this weekend since it's my weekend to work.
Here's the kitchen woodwork Tim has been painting. I think it still needs another coat.
The other night he made repairs to all of the kitchen headers so they are next on the painting assembly line.
There's a charged battery in the camera (thanks mom!) so check out my surprises from my lovely husband.
I just finished hanging these. I can now actually hang coats in the coat room.
And now Tim's hats have their own place so I don't have to find them in the bathtub anymore.
Here's a close up of the hooks. They are numbered 1 to 6 and each number has a different color. I got two sets for a total of 12 hooks, one set for each wall.
This is my other present. A vanity for the master bathroom to hold all of my treasures.
Last night we attended a house-warming/birthday party at the home of some college friends. A good time was had by all, but I was definitely feeling a little green-eyed monsterish because:
A: Small children were able to attend the party and not worry about having a nail in their foot or a power tool related injury. In fact, the greatest danger to the children was our husbands who decided that it would be fun to play keep-away/dodge ball with a two year old and a large rubber ball. Luckily the only casualty was Tim's new glasses.
B: We moved in first. Shouldn't we have the house warming party first? I know, I know, they were never with out actual walls in their house. Still it feels wrong that we are not at the stage where we can entertain friends and family after almost three years.
On a positive note my sister returns from Germany tomorrow, with the camera charger. So soon I should have pictures of the beautiful buttery-colored kitchen woodwork Tim has been working so hard on.
There were seven houses on this years tour. I've attached the photos and ranked them as my personal favorites (Tim does agree with my #1, however I'm sure his personal ranking differs from mine).
Here's my thought yesterday while reading this article,
"I bet that whole house has less woodwork than my kitchen alone. I want one."
I am soooooooooooooooooo burnt out.
Well then I'll see you here!
We have so much going on this weekend. There's this tour, a model helicopter rally, and our good friends are having a house-warming party. I had thoughts of spending the weekend in the Twin Cities, but I've been waiting all year for this tour so I guess that's out.
Then I've got a lot of typing to do.
My little sister broke her camera's battery charger so my mom took hers (the camera I use) to Germany for her to use. I had charged the battery just before she left (two weeks ago) and was able to use it up until yesterday when it finally died while taking pictures of the window trim I had installed in the mudroom.
The window trim was all I accomplished this weekend because I had to stop and take a sanity break. The trim in the mudroom was a cut up mess. One of the PO's told us there was a fire back there at one time so I wonder if that was part of the reason.
Last week we picked the beadboard pieces up from the stripper. Tim has started painting the kitchen woodwork, and it seems strange that the kitchen is so close to being finished.
Tom found this old shingle label in the hay.
At the bottom in tiny letters it says copyright 1948.
Last night I got home from work and the yard smelled like fermenting hay. So we decided at midnight it would be best to move the two giant piles of very hot and steamy hay away from the barn.
You know, just in case.
Tim was telling me about his day before leaving for work this morning.
Yesterday afternoon Tom, Tim's brother, came over to help shovel hay out of the barn. Tim was saying how suprised he was that they weren't finding any rats or mice living in the hay. I jokingly replied that they were afraid to go up there becasue they might fall though.
"Oh that reminds me." Tim said. "I had a little accident." He said at one point he started falling though the floor, "It all seemed to happen really slowly." So he figured he'd just fall forward to stop himself. So he threw his pitch fork and went to catch himself with his hands. Only problem is his hands went through the floor too. "At that point I thought, crap I'm dead." Lucky for him there was a post in between his legs and arms so the rest of his body was supported.
I guess shoveling work is now on hold too. The hay pile has reached the point where it covers the window they are pitching it out off. Unfortuantly we had a heavy rain last night so now we have to wait to burn the pile. That doesn't hurt my feelingins. I'd rather wait until the crop is out of the field and push it all out there and burn it away from the barn.
While Katkit13's idea of a quilt over the new bed is lovely. I don't think that's the route I want to go. See my mom's hobby is quilting and she is amazing. But we have amassed quite a collection in the master bedroom already. I'm just looking for a little some thing different.
This is the view across from the bed.
She made this one for us for Christmas 2002. Tim picked out fabric and I chose the pattern.
The quilt on the left was done by a family friend of Tim's.
The quilt on the right was a wedding gift from mom.
She didn't make this quilt for us. But I loved the colors in it, so she gave it to us. It works beautifully in the big bedroom.
The wall hanging is a pattern created by my Aunt Carla. Another talented quilter in the family, who also designs patterns.
The quilt one the bed was a 4-H project done by yours truly.
This wall hanging was done by mom as last years birthday present to Tim. It hangs in his office. I think it matches great with all his airplane stuff because the pattern reminds me of propellers.
The replacement part for the bed arrived yesterday afternoon. Tim had it put together and happily sleeping away by the time I made it home from work last night.
I love how it looks, but I definitely think it needs a little something-something over it. I'm thinking about a piece of old linoleum that I saved out of the mudroom. I'd see what that looks like, but I can't quite reach that part of the living room. I can see it on top of the pile just taunting me though.
It might just be easier to go out and find something new. Maybe I could find an old stain glass window someplace. Ha! Not so special now are you Mr. Piece of Tile.
This caught my eye in the September issue of Country Home. It is tile wainscot. We had planned on using subway tile for the bathroom downstairs, but this is an intriguing new option.
I love the way it looks, but I worry that once I get it up it will look to modern for my tastes.
I visited the web site in the magazine, http://www.klaffs.com/, but couldn't find any information on this specific tile type. The blurb in the magazine says it's $92 for the three tile section (8 in. wide x 45 in. tall).
Sugar Creek Farm's blog has the story of what happened this weekend. I was at the airport when it happened. I had just gotten there to see if I could bring Tim some supper. I think I held it together pretty well. I didn't start crying until people started showing up asking if that was Tim.
A couple of months ago I had a job interview. One of the questions was, "What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment in life." I sat there for a little bit knowing I was supposed to say something about success at college or winning that internship. But all that I could get out of my mouth was, "My husband and I have been restoring an old house for the last three years and we are still married." I could see that my answer threw her. She finally replied that she and her husband had a few small jobs done, and that was definitely something to be very proud of.
So I just wanted to take these few seconds to say I could not do this without you. I love you. Fly careful.
Yes, we have the worlds greatest electricians. Thank goodness because Tim's only foray into the world of electrical ended with a bang (bang, get it?). However, I must say that they do cost a pretty penny. But I guess you get what you pay for holds true.
I got off the phone with them tonight after explaining that we had another third of the house ready to have the wiring wrapped up. Of course they could stop in for a few hours. But how soon do we need it done because this week is pretty full up. I said, goodness I was just hoping for by October. That got a chuckle out of them, but I wasn't kidding. I'm not worried, they have never not been here with in two weeks of me calling.
So I explain what we want done (smoke dectectors in the bedrooms, under the cabinet lighting, and outlets in the rest of the up-stairs), and how he can get into the house if we are gone. Yes, you read correctly. I trust these people in my house with all of my worldly possessions by themselves. No, love has not made me blind. I am the third generation to inherit these guys. My grandparents trusted them, my parents trust them, and my entire extended family trusts them, so how could I not.
I could go on for hours more about how lovely they are. But it's late and I don't want to bore you. I just wanted to say that you can have a positive experience with a contractor. All it takes is family and a lot of money.
Our new bed part is being shipped out Monday. I can't wait that long! Maybe we just have bad bed karma.
On a completely unrelated subject take a look at these great photos they took of Tim over at Sugar Creek Farm the other day.
So here's the new bed. Yes, I know it's on the floor. No, it's not supposed to be.
Here's the reason why. There was no shipping damage to the box. I am very disappointed. The reason we didn't go with a JC Pennys or McGregors bed is to avoid something like this. We e-mailed them last night as soon as we discovered the problem. We got a reply back asking for a fax of the installation instructions with the problem piece circled. I also sent them a copy of this photo. We are now waiting to hear back from them. Keep your fingers crossed they don't have crappy customer service!
I guess this is so disheartening because it really makes me question the quality of this product. It's falling apart and we haven't even used it yet. -sigh-
Yesterday I got all of my landscaping ideas packaged up and sent off to my sister-in-law. I'm so excited to see what she comes up with.
Also the delivery company called and our bed is arriving this afternoon. I am so tempted to go upstairs and tear apart the old bed so we have to put the new bed together tonight when I get home from work. But Tim's been working some pretty long hours, so there's a good chance I would be able to sleep on the new bed tonight. That is sleep on top of the boxes it comes in that would still be sitting out on the porch.
I guess this thing is solid metal, no hollow tubes. It's going to be an adventure getting it up the stairs. Thank goodness we sistered the joints and put in cross braces!
Ok, so technically Tim's sister Angie stayed with us for a few days a year ago. But that didn't count because she had to sleep on a mattress on the floor of our bedroom.
There's a bug run here in northern Iowa so one of Tim's spraying buddies stayed with us Tuesday night. I wasn't really expecting him so I was completely freaked out by the little things:
He was very nice about the lack of decent hospitality and even convincingly said that the bed was comfortable. But I know that Martha would not be impressed.
We received a letter from Rejuvenation today stating that they just launched a new section on their website showcasing the restoration work of their customers (and you didn't think they could be any cooler!). It turns out they are interested in photos of some of our beloved purchases.
Here's the link to their new section with instructions as to how you too can be a part of the showcase.
My dad found this house. He calls it the little sister to ours because of the funny roof lines. It was an exciting find because this house has the exact same trim under the eaves as our house so we asked the owners and were able to take some pieces to replace some areas that were missing on our house.
Two years ago when we did this you could still comfortably walk through the house. Now all of the windows are broken out and there are many spongy places when you walk. This time I was not even comfortable going upstairs to photograph the rooms up there.
If we had known this house had existed before buying ours this one might have been a better choice. It is half way between were we work instead of minutes from where I work and a hour from where Tim works. Plus the acreage is much nicer. The out building are in much nicer shape, and it still has its grove and other mature trees (a lovely apple greets you at the front of the drive).
the west side of the house
the east side of the house
north-east side of the house
north-west side of the house
roof lines on the east side of the house
the barn
the front door of the house
The following pictures were taken standing just inside the front door
right in front of you when you enter is the house's main stair
the floor in front of the stairs is thin maple strips in a radiating pattern
this is the room to your left which appears to be the most muddled of all of them
what would have been the dining room is to the right
it has this great beadboard pantry (the kitchen is through the door next to it)
on the wall next to the pantry was this little wall nook
Next I went into the kitchen through the door in the little addition on the east side of the house.
doorway to the kitchen (the cellar stairs are next to it)
the cabinets are the other side of the set in the dining room
here's a close up of the doorway straight a head
There's a room that's kind of a little hall under the main stairs and it leads into another little room. I would guess that at sometime that little room and the muddled front room were divided.
To my right when I enter the kitchen is two little rooms,
one that looks like it was being used as a laundry room
and this little bathroom
after these is the back servants stairs
and then this long narrow room with the great beadboard
The reason I don't feel to bad about how things ended up is the floor plan to this place is a mess.
The second floor is split in two. You cannot enter the "main" rooms of the upstairs from the servants area. No problem what so ever with our place. It is set up perfectly for how we live. We couldn't have designed it better ourselves.
Oh and by the way I found this lovely flowered bush growing into the house. Does anyone have any idea what it might be?
