Merry and Bright

   I gotta confess, having new spaces to decorate for the holidays was worth every moment of dust, dumpsters, and destruction. Our house is starting to look like I saw it in my head when we bought it, a blend of old and new. I may have gone overboard on decorations, but you only live once! 

The  front porch is almost done. My husband added our new color scheme to the rails and I slapped some quick paint on the door. It's called red wine! We still need to replace the door, it had air leak issues, but for now, it's pretty.

  I'm finally used to seeing the new color! Heritage cream. Be still my country loving heart. I've been stopped in the street by people admiring the new look. Couldn't be happier! We need to replace the blue criss cross stuff this summer with red and finish the shutters, but we will get there. You gotta be patient with an old house! Brian is restoring the porch rails. I think they are original. They sure look it! 

   I love this porch! Look at the stained pine board ceiling we put in  2 summers ago. Gutted out rotten falling down boards and re did the leaking porch roof. You can catch a glimpse of my star light. It's from a shop in Cooperstown from years ago, still love it!!!!

  Some shots of my sweet decorations. Gotta love a roll of vintage wrapping paper a free tree and Anna's old tricycle!

  Moved some old decorations out here to finish my look! What a beautiful holiday.

Glorious Thanksgiving

    How nice it was to have this old house filled with family for Thanksgiving. All my hard work last year makes the holidays even more special.  Decorating my new spaces and having room for all of us was amazing.

   Here's a shot of the table, looking better than ever:

    I love that the family room is no longer off the dining room, it makes it seem more formal. The kitchen was rocking too, with wine slushies and appetizers: 

    I know it's a lot of work, but the smells and sounds are what I've always dreamed of. A big happy house.

    My rolling dessert cart made it's debut, loaded down with goodness and the party was so good Hiawatha himself came.

From daughters helping me, to grandmother's first selfies, and did I mention wine slushies? It was a holiday to remember. 

     Anna helped me every step of the way and if I ever go down, she can recreate the meal. You just need 2 lbs of butter!

  Even the teenager visited, laughed, she may have even eaten, and entertained her grandmother with her music.🎶❤️

It was a magic holiday with a lot to be grateful for. That's why I love old houses. They remember what came before and the stories of all the families that lived here will forever be part of it's history and future. We've much to be grateful for in the old village farmhouse!

Don't Rush the Season

 

 

    I love fall. Everything about it; the colors, smells, decorations, excuses to dress like a witch, and the celebrations. I get sad that people rush right into Christmas and lose focus on Thanksgiving.   My blessings are abundant and I like to reflect and savor a holiday centered around that. My house is decorated proudly in harvest decor and I've been prepping the menu for a month. It's a day of fussing for my family. The special rolls, cranberry wine, the biggest turkey I can haul home. It's a 2 day event here with all the prep. I wouldn't change it, despite all the work. It's the stuff my girls are going to remember! 

I made this table runner this year and paired it with my grandmothers salt and pepper shakers. 

My mom gave me the brown pitcher and I paired it with this adorable owl from Dollar General. I love dressing up my porch. It's cozy and inviting.

Soon I will be changing it all out for my Christmas decor, but for now, Happy Thanksgiving. May your blessings be many.

Changing Seasons

   One of the best things about an old farm house is changing seasons. No house looks better decorated than a house with character. My decorations have evolved over the years, and thank god I have a barn to store all my decorations in. 

There is most definitely a witch theme going on here! Love my old lanterns and milk can. They evolve into other holidays.

Happy holiday decorating!

Entry

    

I lost a mud room in redoing our house. It was important to me to make my entryway into an organized area for shoes and coats for 5 people. I saw some shoe organizer benches I liked on Pinterest and after shopping for new ones at 180.00 or more decided to give it a whirl. Unfinished crates from Joanne's, foam cushion, clearance fabric, stain I already had and some legs made this loveliness: 

         We moved it into the entry and it fits perfect! I couldn't love a store bought one more. 

    I think I spent less than 100.00 and I have left over material to make pillows for my living room couch!

The Kitchen

    The kitchen remodel was the second big project we tackled after moving in. We had first poured concrete in the barn and laid  a floor in there. We can park one car in there but have a beautiful work space.  

     We used the old kitchen a year so we could get used to the space and plan how we wanted it. I knew we would gut it it and I was ok with that. Kitchens are personal and I wanted to plan mine.

    I hit the jack pot on cabinets and appliances. A friend of a friend bought a house but hated it's " new" kitchen. This is why I say kitchens are personal! He gutted out hand made pine bead board cabinets and stainless Steele appliances. For 3 k I got all the cabinets and a new stove, double door fridge , never used microwave ( a big one) and still shrink wrapped dishwasher. I saved at least 10k on cabinets and all but 1 fit! 

     They were perfect! With new hardware I was in love!!!! Add a tin ceiling, wine chiller, and beautiful country colors and it's still my favorite space.

With such large cabinets, I could use cabinet space for a wine chiller! And who doesn't need one of those!

Reused butcher block that was already here. My husband turned it into an island using some of the  cabinets that didn't quite fit. We did the entire gut job floor to ceiling for 11k and that included a contractor! Oh yeah, speaking of ceilings, don't hate me but this is mine! I made it look original with several coats of Martha stewart precious metals paint.

And so is this communication center, which the cabinet door hides chargers. My husband custom made this with left over cabinets. He's mine girls. 

  You can catch a glimpse of the matching pantry, but that's another post another day. I promise!

Mail Call

    The mail box was the first thing we did when we moved to HP. Lots of people here use the post office and get a PO box. With 3 kids, a full time job, and a house to run, ain't nobody got time to run to the post office. It was blue to match the old house colors. 

    Yesterday,  I used old paint ( barn red) old stain, and old spray paint to paint it up and re do the numbers. Love how cute it is! Matched up with my old tractor flag from the clearance rack at Tractor Supply ( yes I shop there, don't judge), and a new bracket for it  to hang on my whole project was under $5.00! How's this for curb appeal!

Flower Gardens

    Everything's starting to bloom! Every year I add a few more perennials. Just added black-eyed Susan's and white eccineachia. Can't wait to construct new beds this summer!

Master Bedroom Perfection

Here's a sneak peek. It's so dreamy! 

    Can't wait to move in. Oak floors, big beautiful windows, wide open space! 

I Feel Gritty!

I've been rocking the palm sander on my door and I have to say it's starting to look awesome. I see the wood! After many many layers of stripper, I am finally at the sanding stage. Lots of work left to do, but it's going to be worth it! This will be my new bathroom door.

Practicality

    Not every project we do is about aesthetics. We like to balance out cosmetics with improvements that make our house more efficient. When we moved in there was an oil furnace. In 2005, the cost to heat this house was 1400.00 a year. In 2008, after the price of oil sky rocketed, that cost rose to 1800.00 per year! 

    Last year we found a NYSERDA program that we qualified for. We received a free energy audit, which confirmed we needed some updates. We had the crawl space spray foamed. It previously had no insulation and our kitchen was always 5 degrees colder than the rest of the house. We were clearly  also losing heat. Brian replaced a large leaky window with a super efficient one and when he took the window out, found no insulation around it and a 3 inch gap. Finally, we spray foamed the premieter of the foundation and had a natural gas high efficiency furnace installed. The result? A 627.00 price tag to heat our home per year. That puts 1200.00 a year into our pockets. We got a low interest loan to pay off the new furnace, at 2.8 %, we can easily live with this. In 10 years, this puts 12000.00 back into our hands. Amazing. Here's a photo of the little gas furnace

  It is a sight to behold! Money well spent.