Dining Room Tour

We have lived here almost two years and I have yet to do a real room or home tour of anything finished. Here is the home in the state that we bought it.  It didn't seem to need much at the time, but we have truly put a lot of effort into this old house.  The dining room is the least changed of all the spaces.  We basically painted the walls and changed the light and moved our old stuff into the space.

We don't have a breakfast nook in this house, so we had to get rid of a table and chairs.  I decided to keep the mismatched white ones, included this one that is a favorite find of mine.

At our previous home, I had luggage stacked to the ceiling.  I still love old cases, but there was no great place for them here.  I kept a few smaller favorites here and I have a few in our guest room as well.

I think we have done more editing here than buying, but I pulled this little area together with some recent local finds.  We had planned on using this metal shelf in our bathroom, but it didn't work.  I had moved it several places before we bought the little hardware drawers.  They seemed to fit well together so I have left it alone.  The drum is a find that the Mr. found a long time ago.  I needed a little more space for yarn, and I love the look of it.

On top of the drawers, I put a few treasures.  My little man loves crystals, so these are ones that he lets me "share."  The turned wood bowl is from an artist in Clinton, TN. And, the vase is from a local artist that I am taking classes with at Studio 212.

I just finished a sweater, so my neutral stash is getting dangerously low.

This pretty grey piece made the cut of the furniture we kept from our last house.  The lower drawers are in a serious need of being rebuilt, but I love it.  I sent the Mr. to an auction with specific instructions to get this piece.  

One of my sweetest friends bought me this brass owl and the lovely green bowl.

I must have a thing for black wood with decals, because I had to have these candle sticks when we stopped in Franklin for lunch over the holidays.

If I had the wall space, I would collect landscapes in these colors.  I found this one in an enormous frame at the Hell's Kitchen flea market.  I removed this little painting and gave the frame back to the dealer. 

Here you can see into our living room. I fell in love with this big arch when I first saw the listing online.   I am still happy with my decision to NOT paint the original woodwork in most of the house.  I think it worked because I kept the wall colors neutral.  The dining room is painted Grey Owl by Benjamin Moore and I have a slightly different grey in the living room.  The curtains are ones that I used in our last living room and are from Anthropologie a few years ago.  I don't think I will tire of them.

Even though our old house is 84 this year, we sorely lacked in original light fixtures.  The only one was in here, and it was not our taste.  I searched exclusively for a chandelier for this room.  I knew I wanted vintage and brass with some crystals.  I was looking for a wedding cake type fixture, but I couldn't find one with brass.  We went to Blair House and it was almost overwhelming with all the incredible fixtures.  It's pretty sparkly, but I think the size and the rest of the room being pretty casual keep it from being too frilly and fussy. 

I am so glad this Mora clock survived the move.  It was a Happy You Quit Your Job/ Early Retirement present from the Mr. a few years ago.

It no longer works, but I love the mixing of metals.  It has the original maker's signature from 1790 on the back.

I bought this cabinet when I was in college and I am surprised it has survived so many moves without getting broken.  Right now, it is kind of a case for curiosities and my mercury glass collection.

I don't expect this room to change very much. I've decided I like not having a rug under the table right now.  I have added a few plant babies since these photos were taken.  I would love to find a really narrow bench or plant shelf for them. I hope to do more tours as tidiness and natural light allow. We live all over this house, so that can be difficult.   Most of our home is "finished." There is some editing that I still want to do.  I'm actually content with the textured walls.  The ceiling, not so much.  Since it is actual plaster and not popcorn, I don't expect it to change anytime soon.  

Vintage Junky Christmas 2014

Two sleeps until Christmas and I managed to pull together my first blog post in months.  I have been sharing progress on our new old house on Instagram  quite a bit and Facebook as well.  I just haven't had the whole house photo ready when it has been decently light in awhile.  Usually, we have our dining room table covered in books and projects which is okay.  I, for one, would rather see a semi clean room.

One of the best things about moving is finding new homes for your old stuff and loving it all as if it was new again.  And, it was no different pulling out our Christmas things.  I had purged a lot of extra stuff last year, so I didn't have much to sort. 

The place got snowflaked as usual.   I made a few new things, but I really tried to keep things super simple.  It is easy to overwhelm this smaller space with stuff.  

We weren't near my favorite place to buy mistletoe this year, so I made a little felt kissing ball to hang in the arch between the living room and the dining room.

I made some new stockings this year.  I loved our old silhouette ones, but I also love change! I recently learned how to knit socks, so I decided to knit some giant socks!

I bought very little to decorate with this year.  The poinsettias and the tree were just about it.  I foraged the yard for red berries and some cedar clippings to put in beakers and birch pots.

 We finally managed to use our drum over a tree stand.  It wasn't easy.  It wasn't pretty getting it up.  It may be tilting ever so slightly at the moment, but my whim was fulfilled.

I made some letters out of felt for the wall above the mantle and I also made some slightly larger ones to pin on our stockings.  I "borrowed" or "shared" the magnolia leaves from an empty house on our street in order to make the wreath around the letters. I like the way the green has faded now.

I decorated the kitchen just a bit and the bedrooms too, but I haven't been able to get a good photo of them.  I will post more progress house updates after the New Year.  I have to be honest, Instagram is my outlet of choice right now, since my Mac has been under the weather.  We have done a lot to the house, but there is quite a bit to go, especially the small details.

I hope you all have a wonderful, cozy holiday!  Happy Christmas Everyone!

New House (Before)

I am finally getting around to posting the before photos of our new home.  I wish I could share the exterior of our house, but some creepy people spoil all the fun for the others.  So, trust me when I say that when it originally popped up in my Zillow feed I oooohed.  I went right over to where the Mr. was cooking dinner and flipped through the photos.  He liked it too and told me to send the owner (it was listed as a Make Me Move) an email. At that point, we were quite smitten with Maryville.  We were having a difficult time finding what we liked.  It seems the homes sell super fast here, so we knew we needed to jump on this one.  I think that was a Wednesday evening.  She wasn't ready to show it yet, but said we could come on Saturday.  She also had a few others who wanted to see it.  I asked for her first appointment.  On Saturday, we saw the house and had scheduled to look at one other while we were here.  In between the appointments, we talked about how much we really loved this one.  At the next house with the agent, we asked if she could help us fill out the paperwork to place an offer. We submitted an offer at 4 that day.  There was a verbal offer from another party that day as well.  We found out the next day that our offer was accepted! And, that is where I am going to end the story of our home buying/ selling process since it was completely submerged in stress from that point up until late last week.  So, moving on to the before photos.  When we saw this house, we knew that we were going to make many changes.  But, we love its bones and its location and its size!  

This house has 2 or 3 bedrooms depending on if you consider a room a bedroom if it doesn't have closets.  This is also the only room with carpet, but we were told that it has hardwood underneath, but not necessarily pretty hardwood.  Once I get the boxes moved, we will tear up a little to see what we are working with in here.  Most likely, we will paint it instead of trying to match the stain on the existing wood.

Here is a true bedroom with 2 closets.  One of those will likely disappear.  

Here is another (the largest) bedroom.  In here, we will paint and change out lighting and the window treatments as well.

We have a looooong hallway that has many doors and doorways.  It was so much fun taping off and cutting in around those doorways when I painted earlier this week.  A much lighter color than this medium grey, by the way.

This is the dining room and I do like the color in here, but we have a shady yard, so everything in the house will be lightened up quite a bit.  Except maybe for the moldings in here and the living room.  I usually really like white painted trim, but these original moldings and the wood framed windows are so pretty.  We will be changing out the chandelier in here though.  We think it may be the only original light left in the house, but up close it is quite Gothic and not our style.

This is one of my favorite parts of the house. The set up in the living room around the fireplace.  The arch is pretty fantastic too.I dream of having built in bookcases flanking the fireplace. Sadly, the fireplace is gas burning and we may have it removed.  We will definitely be removing the black and shiny brass front. Here, the paint looks quite light, but in the mornings it is pretty dark.

All of the hardwoods are in really good condition except for this spot in the living room that was covered up with a rug when we initially viewed it.  Well played previous home owner!  No worries though.... it is currently covered up with our sofa.  Now, we know our new home isn't without  its flaws.  The main thing that we dislike about it is that the walls in the living and dining rooms and the hallway have a thick, stucco like texture on all the walls and the upper moldings (not truly crown.) They even textured over some of the light switches! I really, really wish they wouldn't have done that. The ceilings are textured throughout the house.  The ceilings are something that may change eventually.  It isn't the easy, spray water on and scrape off popcorn texture either.  And, the walls are the texture over plaster.  Neither will be easy to change while we are living here since the dust will be maddening.  So, I am painting over the walls and hoping to install some beadboard ceilings at a later date.  

And, now we come to the kitchen.  The newest and my least favorite room of the house right now.  Funnily enough, this kitchen was featured in Southern Living magazine 12+ years ago.  It is probably the room that needs the most, even though most people wouldn't agree with us.  I mean, the walls and trim are painted RED.  No bueno! I am not a fan of red.  And the stainless steel blinds and the stainless steel quilted backsplash make everything seem to glow.  I keep thinking the lights are on in the middle of the day and then I realize the room is just glowing and reflecting the red.

There was (WAS!!) this little built in half round cabinet and eating nook combo that is no more!  The Mr. ripped that out soon after closing and I have a little antique cabinet there now.

He also ripped out the wine rack you see. We don't have much counter space and my mixer is big.  It just happens to fit in the area where the wine rack used to be.

New counters and backsplash are in the future.  The Mr started to get rid of the backsplash but they didn't make it easy.  It is installed about 3 inches behind the cabinets.  It will be easier once the counters are out, but it won't be pretty since it is glued to the wall and rips off plaster when it comes down. The cabinets will be painted and the hardware changed too.

Now, besides the exterior, this bathroom floor is what sold the house for me.  It is original and unglazed porcelain hexagon tiles.  We are missing just a few, but we have them and they just need to be replaced. The wallpaper can't come down fast enough!

The tub seems to be original, but the tile surround is new-ish.  I wish it was subway tile and if I get my way it will be one day.  Right now it is white and khaki tiles.  Not atrocious, but it could be better. You can see in this photo the crystal knobs on the door.  All the interior doors have them!  I may have not decided about painting the natural wood work (that red is getting painted!) but the doors will definitely stay natural.

We have a dream sink we are steadily searching for here, but we haven't found it yet.  So, we may do a big pedestal or a pair since this is the only bathroom.

So, there it is!  Our new home!  It probably isn't obvious, but we downsized quite a bit.  We moved from a 2100 sq. ft. home to this one at under 1500.  And, it was by choice.  Some of my family and friends thought we were a bit batty going into a home willingly that only has one bathroom.  And, 1 1/2 baths would be ideal, but it definitely wasn't a deal breaker.  Especially for me since I only have to clean one toilet now.  We truly only lost a playroom and the Mr's office.  The playroom will be combined into the boy's bedroom.... he really didn't need 2 rooms to mess up anyhow.  It is tight, but with some new storage solutions, we will be able to make it work.  And, the Mr. found a studio space outside of the home.  And, we actually have a space for guests to stay now that will be like a sitting/ guest room.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are enjoying ourselves in this pretty little town already.

I will have lots of inspiration posts for each room ahead!

New Studio Space at Home

Hello all!  I know I mentioned a few times over the past several months about us changing some rooms around at the house and moving my studio and creating some new spaces for the Mr and the hyena.  Well, of all the spaces, mine is the closest to being finished... only because it is in the dining room.

So, I didn't really change much of it.  I had gotten to where I would spread my projects out on the dining room table anyhow, so the next logical step was to just move all my stuff closer in as an aesthetically pleasing way possible.  And, I am still not 100% on the arrangement, but it will do for now.

We looked and looked for one piece to do it all, but couldn't really find something that I loved that wasn't extremely out of our price range.  The Mr found the shabby hutch top at our neighbor Spring Hill Antique Mall.  And, we paired it with a dresser that had been in storage for awhile due to a wonky drawer.  I toyed with the idea of painting it, but right now, I am kind of loving the mixy matchy look.

A bonus is the hutch covers up the thermostat... well, considering this is the wall of eyesores, it hides quite a few.  The Mr. cut a hole in the back and we can easily adjust the temp by opening one of the doors.  The drawers here are where I can store quite a bit of my fabric and then I also use a portion of the bachelor's chest to store some there too. 

The hutch holds my sewing machine and paints and glues and glitters great, but I needed something to hold my threads and other smaller things that needed to be organized.  I tried using a set of old post boxes, but the little monster would shut them and I would have to unlock them from the back...not very practical for someone with a rotten 4 year old *wink* So, when I saw all these glorious drawers that was posted on a local stores Facebook page (Carter's Creek Station) I went over immediately and snatched it!

I am in the process of winding threads around bobbins, but for now, they are at least separated by hue.

Stamps fit in too along with my washi tape and all the other small stuff that would just fall out every time I would open one of the cabinet doors.

I think I may rearrange the prints and frames a bit once I get everything framed, but I would like this to be a really fun gallery space.  

Keeping it neat will be a priority since I can't just shut the door to the mess any longer... this is the first area you see when you come in the house.  But, we may not always live here, so I invested in some pieces that I will love forever instead of finding the perfect pieces for this exact space.

Okay, the Mr just brought home a movie I have been really wanting to see!

bye for now~