Guest Posting Today For Rue...

I'm hanging out at Rue's place today. Come stop by and say hello! And for those coming here for the first time, welcome! I'm so glad you stopped in.

You can read my post Here .

Happy Thoughts

I have a friend, her name is Sarah. We "met" on a pregnancy forum in 2004 and have been friends ever since. I love her and her adorable family to pieces. Not sure how you can love someone you've never met in person (she's in Texas and I'm in Pa....it's a problem) but I do.

How cute are they??







Sarah is pregnant with her third precious baby and recently found out about a complication. This complication means she has to sit her tush on the couch and rest. Not much fun for this normally active chick. AND her hubby has to work from home to help take care of her and the kiddos. Need I say more?



I'm not one to ask for prayers but if you could send some of those (if that's your thing....if not, happy thoughts are acceptable too) her way, I would so appreciate it.



This is her blog:


http://mamacanon.blogspot.com/




She's bored and her rear end is numb but I know your comments will put a smile on her face.

Bloggery Flattery

Picture source: Click here

Bloggery....made that up if you couldn't tell. What? I needed something to rhyme with flattery!

Cindy at Cottage Instincts recently did a post all about design. She talks about blogs and the feeling she gets while reading them.

She says,

"Below a listing of bloggers whose style either closely matches mine or who have perfected one of my 'loves' such that I still glean much inspiration from their taste. I applaud and support those who have managed to mold their homes to their unique personalities and not just to the latest catalogue of Pottery Barn whether or not their tastes perfectly match mine or not. Some of these are the 'big guys', but some are just creative genius' waiting to be discovered. Surfing blogs can give you a 'real life' picture of how 'real life' decorating looks without all the glitz and glamour and staging of a magazine shoot...but these gals give the mags a run for their money IMO."

I'm flattered and honored to be included in this list, along with some fantastic bloggers. Be sure to check out her post and visit the others, you won't be disappointed!

Read the post here!

Please have a safe and happy New Years! See you in 2010!

This is too much fun

I finally went for it and signed up for a Picnik account. Wow, what fun! I could be here all day long....but I can't. It was about an hour ago that I started trying to pull myself away from this seat.

My sweet friend Rue nominated me for the Homies 2009. If you'd be so kind as to throw a vote my way, here is the link..

http://homies.apartmenttherapy.com/2009/blog/fromhousetocozyhome.blogspot.com

She's on there too!

http://homies.apartmenttherapy.com/2009/blog/ruespeanutbutterandjellylife.blogspot.com

A Little Of This, A Little of That....

Hi everyone, it's been too long since my last post but we've been deep into the kitchen project. The powder room is also moving along but a bit slower. It's difficult to live without a kitchen so that has taken priority. It's about 3/4 done, I can't wait to show it to you all!


That said, I have a few things I wanted to share with you today....

You may have noticed the link in my sidebar for Bags Of Love. They are a wonderful company to work with, it's a great place to go for some special gifts. The canvas wall hanging of my daughter was a gift from them and I couldn't be happier with it. I just sent them my photo and they did the rest.

I'm still deciding where to hang it. She wants it in her room but I want to be able to see it all the time. We'll see who wins that one......

I also like to share my good Etsy experiences and Peppercorns 2 was no exception. I purchased the marquee letters you see on top of the mirror. The shipping was fast and I would certainly go back to the store again. Excellent service.

Now on to a project from Jamie at Something To Do . Look at this hutch they made from mostly scrap pieces! It's incredible and just goes to show what beautiful things can be created with a little bit of imagination and a few tools as well. You can go over to her blog for the before pictures and the story of this sweet hutch.

I'll keep you posted on the kitchen. So far the cabinets are painted, the walls are almost done and we'll be sanding the floor after Thanksgiving. I'm so excited to get to that part!

My one year blogging anniversary was this month. I can't believe an entire year has gone by, surprisingly (or not if you ask my family) I've had a lot to say. I want to thank you all for coming here and reading my ramblings. I'm so glad to have found the blogging community, one filled with creative and amazing people. I'm awed every day by the talented people here.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving. May you have much to be thankful for, a belly full of warm food and people to share it with.

A Guest Post For Those Old House Lovers

Happy Monday! Today I have something very special to share with you, an amazing blogger named Rue. She has a beautiful blog called Rue's Peanut Butter and Jelly Life. After you read her guest post today be sure to go visit and say hello, you can find her HERE. She just completed a kitchen renovation that is beyond amazing!

When I first visited Rue it was like meeting a kindred spirit as she also loves old homes, especially all the history and stories they hold. She recently did something that some would think is crazy, she took off her new vinyl siding. Yup, you heard me right, I said she took it OFF.

She's a brave lady with a handy hubby and I'll stop talking now so you can enjoy her post:



I’m so excited to be doing a guest post for my sweet blogging friend Michelle and it’s so nice to meet all of you!


Michelle asked me here today to talk about our old house and why we are taking it back to the way it was before someone came in and “updated” it. Well, to start. I have always wanted to restore an old home. As my readers already know, I have a great passion for things of the past and the need to preserve them. I believe that old houses are especially in need of our love and devotion, because they’re part of our history and of a time when people cared about craftsmanship.

Sadly, more and more of these beauties are being torn down in order to build new and supposedly better houses. I say supposedly, because I’ve lived in a new house and it needed more maintenance than the 100 year old beauty that we’re living in now (lol). Just so you know, I don’t have an issue with building a new home, if that’s what you want, but I think it’s a tragedy to replace an old home with a new one unless it’s beyond help and falling down.

Now that you know a little bit about how I feel, let me tell you what we’ve been doing to our 100 year old foursquare.....

This is our home when we bought it…

The porch and dormer were taken off years before, but the recent previous owners thought it was a brilliant idea to tear off the rest of the beautiful trim and encase the house with vinyl siding.

You can find an article on the lies about vinyl siding ‘here’, but here’s the part the stood out to me the most:

The Vinyl Lie


by Gary Kleier


Every day unsuspecting owners of historic homes, believing they are actually making an investment in their home, succumb to the vicious lies of an unscrupulous industry. Unfortunately, most will never know it. Most will never see the immediate undermining of their property value or the long term destruction of the structure of their house. And what is this vicious lie? Vinyl siding. Vinyl siding installed over wood siding. And the most vicious lie is that it will improve the property value of an historic house.

Lie number one: Vinyl siding will increase the value of your home.

As an architect involved in numerous historic restorations, I am frequently asked to evaluate an historic house prior to purchase. In virtually every case where vinyl siding has been used to cover original wood, the buyer wants to know the cost of having the vinyl removed and the original siding restored. In every case the same question comes up; "Why would they desecrate an historic house in this manner?"

Increasingly people across America are understanding the value of our historic properties. Like antiques, the closer it is to original the higher is its value. Frequently, the buyer not only sees vinyl siding as decreasing the value of the house, but wants the seller to pay for its removal. This removal and repair of the original wood siding is normally as expensive as the original installation of the vinyl siding.

In a typical historic house of wood frame construction a wall would normally be composed of the following: plaster on wood lath, the wood studs, exterior sheathing, and wood siding. While these materials may seem solid to us, water vapor easily moves through these materials and escapes from the house during the winter months.

During the installation of vinyl siding a layer of styrene insulation board is applied over the wood siding, and the vinyl siding is applied to that. This insulation board forms an effective barrier to the passage of water vapor, thereby trapping it within the wall. During the winter months this water vapor will condense to liquid water and began rotting the wood materials. Over a period of years the structural integrity of the exterior walls can be completely destroyed. Further, the presence of deteriorating wood has been shown to attract termites and other wood attacking insects.

©2000-2002 Gary Kleier, OldLouisville.com

Gary specializes in restoration architecture and architectural forensic services.

Besides all the information found online about how bad vinyl siding is, my husband and I really wanted to own an old home and covered in vinyl it does not look old. It looks devoid of character.

Here’s my brave husband tearing off the vinyl…

I think I actually heard the house exhale ;)

And here’s the house after it was painted …..



Much better right?

We still have 3 sides to go and a porch and dormer to replace, but it’ll have to wait until spring, since snow is coming very soon to Ohio.


Not only are we bringing back the outside, but the inside as well.
The refinished stairs before...




and after….




And we’re in the process of taking out the new wood floors and carpet to refinish the original wood floors. So far we have one room finished.


Before (after we took out the carpet and sanded) …

and after…

Look at the beautiful floor that was hidden!!

To tell you the truth, a lot of people have had their doubts about what we’re doing, but you know what? Although, anyone could have moved into this house and left it as is, they would have been missing out on enjoying the beauty that was covered up. To us it would have been pointless to buy an old house that looks brand new. Why not just buy a new house?

As for us, it’s the love of this old place that makes us want to pull up our bootstraps and bring it back to life and if houses could smile, I believe that this one surely would.

Thank you for reading,
rue

Heirloom Party Fun!

I have many things that are special to me, items that were given to me as gifts or actually passed down to me. Today I'm going to pick a few of my larger items and share their story!


The painting in my living room is probably the only "real" piece of art I own! I'm normally hanging plates, grungy ceiling tiles and pictures in generic frames which makes this painting even more special. It belonged to my Great Aunt Martha and was passed down to my parents. They didn't have a good place for it so I asked if I could hang it in my house. Usually I just steal things from my parent's house and run but I figured they would notice this large painting missing. I think it is technically on loan to me but I know my parents enjoy seeing it when they come over.

Then we have my dining room table. This table became a joke in my family because my dad started calling it "the heirloom." It's a newer table, not an antique but when my parents were giving it up I said something about painting it and my dad then said I couldn't have it joking around....at least I think he was joking. It became a family joke that me, as an only child, wouldn't get "the heirloom" because they were going to find someone to appreciate it without taking a paintbrush to it. As you can see, I did finally wrangle it from them and no, I'm not painting it. It's probably the only thing in this entire house that is safe from my paint hungry hands.

That brings us to my hutch. It isn't a family heirloom but it still holds happy memories. When we bought our old Cape Cod (Read about it here) years back, we purchased it from an older couple who had lived in the home for 52 years. They bought it new and stayed until they could no longer make the steps. They were the sweetest people and we were thrilled when they left the dining room set for us, which included this hutch. We visited with them before the closing and you could just tell the home, and its contents, held so much happiness and meaning for this couple. Even though we eventually sold that house, we took their hutch with us. It reminds me of that house, the happy family that lived there before us and even reminds me of when my girls were much smaller and bibs filled the drawers in the hutch. One day I'll pass this hutch on to my kids and tell them the story behind it.

Now head on over and see the other participants!!

Heirloom Party

Blog List and Award

Hi everyone! You may have noticed (or not) that my "Places to visit over coffee" list has disappeared. The list was getting too long and there were more I wanted to add so I created a new blog for it. I have it set up to list the most recent posts on top which will make it easier for me to keep up with all of you!

Here's the blog with all the links....



http://fromhousetocozyhomefavorites.blogspot.com/



I still have some updating to do but I'm getting there!

My friend Sarah of The MamaCanon Blog, Visit her here, recently passed on this lovely award to me! Normally I just add the award to my sidebar quietly but this one is a good "get to know you" award so I thought I would post about it! I have to tell 10 honest things about myself. Yikes, are these supposed to be interesting?! Here goes nothing...

1. The person who gave this award to me, Sarah, is a great friend of mine. We've never even met but she's become my "real life" BFF anyway. We chat on the phone all about motherhood, our husbands, pets and of course...blogging! Want to know how we "met?" When we were pregnant with our boys we both joined an August 2005 due date forum. We hit it off immediately and can you believe our boys both had to be difficult? Her son was born in July and mine in September. So much for that pesky due date thing!

2. I'm hopelessly addicted to coffee. I've given up trying to give it up.

3. I have two dogs. Sebastian is a Sheltie and such a good dog. He just aims to please. I could do without all the hair but you know how that goes. Tucker is a mix and just plain crazy! He's still technically a puppy so we'll cut him some slack. The kids get a kick out of watching him race around the house.

4. I took horseback riding lessons for a long, long time when I was a child/teenager. The shows were the most fun and I have a box of ribbons to show for it. My grandfather owned race horses so I think it's in my DNA. I also collected horses, drew horses, basically thought about them constantly. I wanted my own badly but unfortunately that was just a dream. My girls keep asking me for my Breyers but so far I've only given them a couple.

5. Okay, I'm running out of things already.....let's see. I love flowers but do not have a green thumb. Many a plant has died a painful death on my watch. Good thing I'm better at parenting.

6. I love where I live but if I could I would have a farmhouse on a big piece of land, complete with barns for horses and chickens running out of the way as I pulled in the driveway....bliss.

7. Two out of three of my children were named during the pregnancy after a great grandparent. Each of those two were born on their namesake's birthday. Oh and born naturally, we didn't force them out of there or anything crazy!

8. I love my mama to pieces and know I could never live far from her. I'd like to be like her when I grow up but honestly I don't have half the patience or kindness she does.

9. I love blogging. Really, really, really love it. Love the people I meet, the inspiration that is out there, the sense of community even though we are all over the world. It's a wonderful thing.

10. I have a secret business project in the works. I'm still in the research and development phase. I don't even know what that is but it sounded business like. Ha! I'll reveal soon but I am finally going to make a dream of mine come true. I'm ready to give it a try, success or failure...I have to find out.

If you've made it through this post, I should send you an award!! I'm really bad at passing these on so I'm not going to single any blogs out. If you are willing to post 10 honest things about yourself, go ahead and steal this award. Just make sure to come back and let me know so I can read all about YOU!!

Wanna Win A Rug?

CSN Rugs has given me the wonderful opportunity of giving away a rug to one of my readers! What perfect timing for me, having just reached 100 posts! The rug I chose is this beautiful black and white damask look rug. It is 2' x 3' in size and will look amazing in front of your kitchen sink, by the front door, next to your bed, or even in your bathroom. This hand hooked rug is 100% cotton.

Check out their huge selection of AREA RUGS . I'm sure you will find something you love!

So now you all are wondering, how do I win?! Here is what you have to do....just leave a comment on this post between now and the end of the day Saturday (my time, Eastern) and a winner will be announced on Sunday. I'll put you in touch with CSN and they will ship your rug directly to you. That's it! You don't have to be a follower (although I would love to have you), you don't have to post about this on your blog (if you want to, that would be great!) or stand on your head, or hop on one foot, or pat your head while rubbing your stomach. Just leave a comment!

**Anyone is welcome to enter, if you have a blog or not. If you do not have a blog, please make sure I have your email address so that I can contact you should you win.**

Cloche Party!

Today I'm participating in a Cloche Party, hosted by the ever charming Marty of A Stroll Thru Life . Be sure to visit her for more cloche fun!

As I prepared for this event, I realized I didn't have a true cloche collection. So I'm cheating a little. :)

I recently showed you this pretty little nest in a pedestal cloche from Pottery Barn.

I'll put stuff in pretty much anything. This little bird cage became a holder for some vintage wooden spools.

Here's a covered dish that is always on my kitchen counter. You never know what you might find in it. Today it is old tin spools tied in a bundle. Aren't they cute?

And last but not least my ball jars. Great for stuffing bits and pieces of ribbon into! You never know when you'll need a little for a gift or to hang something.

Now go visit the other participants, I can't wait to see what they have in their cloches!

SO exciting!

I was featured today on Today's Creative Blog! I am completely ecstatic to see my house on Kim's site. She has so many inspiring posts on there, lots of great ideas you'll totally want to steal and copy! I'm flattered to be up there too.

I'm trying to get some good pics of the living room but this weather is not cooperating! It has been so rainy here, very dreary. Terrible picture weather. I promise pics are coming soon. If I can't get a sunny day in the near future, I'll just use what I have. There is a fun project I have to share with you using that pile of clothespins above. See you soon!

IT'S DONE!!

I can't believe I'm typing those words but ALL the painting is done! It felt so good to cross those items off my "to do" list in my sidebar. The painting was a ton of work with all the trim to do but it was definitely worth it. The house is completely transformed. After we painted the living room, stairway and hallway we kept on going....into the dining room. Once the other rooms were gray, the dining room yellow was screaming. I felt like I was in a McDonalds playland. So now it is the same color as everything else and it all flows.



I'll show it to you soon. My fellow decorating obsessed BFF is coming for a visit on Saturday and I want her to see it in person first. She is that friend, the one who listens to me gab on for hours on end about paint colors and window treatments. Someday I'll show you her home, it's gorgeous!

While I'm being a tease about the living room, I thought I would talk about painting furniture. I transformed a number of pieces for our living room project. Who has the money to go buy all new pieces for a new look? I sure don't. So paint is the thing!

This is my secretary before. It was red and served us well for a number of years but with the new wall paint, it wasn't going to fit in.

First I sanded it down really well......

You can see I was completely lazy and didn't even empty the drawers out first. I do need to clean them out though, yikes. Bits and pieces of everything.

After sanding I wiped it all down and primed and painted. Home centers sell tacky clothes that will pick up all the sanding dust. A damp cloth works just as well IMO.

Next I took the sandpaper to it again. I wanted the red to show through.....

Looking good! But still a little too white for me. I wanted it to look more worn.

Don't forget to sand extra around places that would have gotten a lot of use, like this keyhole...

The cheapest way to antique furniture is to use paint you already have. I've heard glaze works well but it's $13 a quart and I'm cheap..errr...frugal.

Pick out the paint color you want to antique with. For this piece I chose the gray wall paint. Water it down quite a bit and mix it up......

Then take your brush and wipe your paint/water mixture on. Be ready with a cloth because it's going to run!

Immediately take a cloth (or paper towel in my case, I was too lazy to go to the basement for cotton cloths) and wipe it off. Use circular motions to rub it into the crevices of the paint. You can leave your paint mixture on for a few seconds too if you want a darker look. Just don't leave it too long or it will begin to get tacky and that makes it difficult to wipe off properly.

I like to let it settle into the design of the wood if there is one. That makes the details really POP. I'm laughing as I'm typing that. It drives my hubby nuts when designers say that things "pop." Sorry hun, couldn't resist.

And you are all done! The great thing about this is that you can't mess up. If you wipe the paint off and find you want it darker, just repeat the paint/water mixture. If you have antiqued too much, no worries, just go over it again with your base color and try again.

I also want to thank Rue for featuring me on her blog this weekend. She is a sweetheart and if you haven't been to her blog, go now! If you came over from her place, thanks for visiting. It's great to meet new blogging buddies!

I can't wait to show you the room. I have a couple fun projects planned for it so stay tuned!

Have a fantastic Monday everyone!

Busy

We're working away over here. Working on the living room and squeezing in some yard work at the same time. So far we have the ceiling painted and the trim all sanded down, ready for primer. Remember my post about painted ceilings? You can read it here . Well, I completely chickened out in the master bedroom....it's white. BUT, I went for it in the living room. I'm still not 100% but I think I like it. Pretty sure. Almost positive I'm going to love it. Like, 93.25% in love with it. At this point you are feeling sorry for my husband, no?


While I'm being a bad blogger and stepping away from the computer to get this living room done, go check out someone who has a project all finished. Thrifty Miss Priss asked me about my wainscotting in the Everything Room for her living room. She wanted a big impact for the room and she got it! She recently posted pics of the finished product and let me say, it looks fantastic! Oh and check out the color on that mirror, you love it right?! You can see more pics on her blog Thrifty Miss Priss

I'm off to go relax for the evening. Ohhhh, and that dishwasher project I mentioned not long ago? I found what I needed today at a yard sale for $ .50. I'm so excited! Stay tuned for that before and after sometime soon.

Thank you, thank you for all your encouragement on my last post! I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and tired (whining too, I realize) and felt so much better after reading your comments. Things will get done, the dust will settle....it will come together......in time. Blogging friends are wonderful!

Have a great Sunday!

Vintage Indie Feature

My Home Tour

Today I have the pleasure of being featured on Vintage Indie. My interview and pics can be found in the home tours section. Be sure to click through all the categories, you won't be disappointed! The Crafting - DIY section is one of my favorites. There is a great tutorial on making an apron with vintage materials.

So Flattered

Julia from Hooked on Houses asked if it would be okay for her to use my pictures for a post on her blog. Of course my answer was YES! It was so fun to see my home on her site. She posted about our "Everything Room." Thank you to Julia for having such a great blog, and for putting a big smile on the face of this stay at home mom obsessed with all things decorating.



If you haven't been over to her blog (ummm...that has to be impossible unless you live in a cave) go check it out now!
http://hookedonhouses.net/



And in other (less exciting) news, our bedroom is almost ready to move back into! We've been sleeping on our mattress, on the floor, in our son's room so it will be wonderful to have our room back. Hubby worked on the second coat of poly today so now we just have to let it cure for the week. And he likes the paint color now, it's looking way less "pea soup" now that it is all done.

Love those gleaming new floors. They will be scratched and dusty in no time, but for now...ahhhhhh.....

I did the windows in black again. I'm hooked!

Some things to remember when refinishing floors:

~ Start with a lower grit, course sandpaper and move up from there until you get to fine.

~ Use a tacky cloth to get the dust up off the floor. It's almost impossible to get every speck of dust but we did the best we could!

~ Stir, don't shake the stain and poly so as not to create bubbles. Foam brushes work well for staining.

~ Cotton is great for wiping off the stain once it sits. Try not to use paper towels as they give off a lot of lint. Our Home Depot sells bags of t-shirt type squares that work perfectly.

~ We use lambswool pads to spread the poly around. They give a smooth, streak free finish.

~ Be sure not to skip any steps. It's very important to sand in between coats. Your poly will have a nice, durable coat that way.

~ If you have appliances that run on gas or propane, you may notice an odor. Don't panic! It is a reaction with the chemical and will go away as the floor dries. It's best not to use your dryer while the smell is strong as it will transfer to your clothes. Open as many windows as you can for the most ventilation.

Here is a helpful article:

http://forum.doityourself.com/kitchen-gas-appliances/22739-gas-dryer-smells-like-kerosene.html

Onto the kitchen....It's back to the way it was with the island in the middle. *sigh* I couldn't get used to it by the window as nice as it was for the laptop. I left a chair by it though so I can still plop down and do some blogging. I've been meaning to paint my spice rack for a while now. It blended right in with the back splash.....

The white shows up so much better.