Keeping Cozy

   Today checked in at -17 this AM in the village and we got a snow day! To me a snow day is an extra day, a gift. I usually cook, or craft, or clean and organize, using every moment up wisely. 

    Since we are in the middle of a major renovation and the side of my house is ripped up and exposed, protected only by the inside wall and home wrap, it's both chilly and frosty in parts of my house. I know it's going to be worth it for 800 square feet of space, but today it's cold. I'm in the middle of sewing draft dodgers out of the bottom of an insulated pair of curtains I cut and hemmed and a pair of jeans that had a blow out. Free material, and  2 bags of rice from ALDI make my project total 3.00. Not bad. I made this one just by cutting it out with pinking shears, stitch the long side, stitch the bottom, use a funnel to fill with rice, then stitch the opening closed. If you have old windows and find the plastic ugly or window putty messy, thus is a great idea. Stopped my draft completely. The rice makes the draft dodger heavy and the air doesn't leak. 

It was an easy quick 20 min project and now I can sit next to this window and not feel the breeze. Stay warm today. 

Sew Cute!

    My style is a combination of styles. I love old, I love antiques, but I'm not looking to restore to period, I'm looking to blend old and new. To honor the time period, but to remodel my house and update things as well. 

    I'm working on a bathroom now, one that will be my daughter's when we finish the 800 square foot addition. The bathroom was a powder blue with things like a pitcher and basin, and Ivory Soap ads from 1900 ( authentic). That's my style, not theirs, so I'm doing a mini makeover. I'm making it fun, with spa colors and a tin mermaid sign as the focal point.

     I had this lace that I found in an old trunk in the attic when I was a kid. It looks like it was being handmade in the early 1900s to be part of a dress or petticoats. I saved it all these years because I knew it was special. 

I had a few yards of it and used it for a vintage stocking for my sister, a holiday apron pocket, and now a curtain for my girl's  bathroom. I bought a yard of material for $4.00, hemmed it into a swag, used part of the flat part for tie ups, and buttons from my button jar. For 4.00 and a couple hours, it came out exactly as I pictured it.

    I'm off to finish painting, and next weekend I'll be restoring the claw foot tub. More to come on  this mini makeover.

It Had Me at Hello

    Back in 2005 my husband and I were living in a center hall colonial walk up in the historic Union Triangle district of Schenectady. I was finishing grad school and longing for a move back to Central New York. I was a rural small town girl, and you just can't run from that.

    We were selling our Schenectady property, job searching, and house hunting all while I was pregnant with 2 kids already, and in grad school. The only thing that saved us from crazy was online MLS listings. 

     By night, after work, I was scouring properties, neighborhoods, loans, trying to figure it all out when I stumbled on " THE LISTING!" You know how in a relationship you just know it's " the one?" In property relationship language I knew.

    This is a copy of the listing previous owners made after we bought it. It shows when they bought it and what they paid in 1947 and what it was listed for in 2004. It was written up as " village jewel" and my husband and I couldn't agree more. 

   It was the first house we looked at and I was in love. I could tell it needed a kitchen gut, but kitchens are personal, I'd rather do our own from scratch. It had a Carriage barn that made me swoon, and a double lot ready for dreamy gardens and  a brick path. I had my vision. The realtor forced us to see another property, a Cape in the country. Half way through she said " you're thinking about the village house?" We sure were! We left that viewing to go make an offer. You know it's right when you can't sleep until you know  the offer is accepted and you don't want to leave. This I knew was love at first sight. Our village jewel.