Welcome

Welcome to our old farmhouse. Over the past year I have learned so much history of this house and the people who lived here. Ninety six years of love, loss, hopes and dreams. Preservation continues and there is always a repair to be done. We are trying to be purest in our preservation as much as we possibly can. I hope you follow along and each week I will try to give you a little history of the house as well as the first owners of the house. I've been lucky enough to find a journal from a Granddaughter who talks about the house as well as her Grandparents. So come follow along and learn about this old house as well as the occupants, old and new.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Thrifty Finds For A Bedroom Fireplace

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Well I'm still tweaking and moving things and I imagine I will be for some time to come.  I worked a little in one of the guest rooms this weekend, my Granddaughters have already claimed this room, so girls room it is. This is a very small room, most of the square footage was used to create walk in closets for the other two bedrooms. So the little antique half bed I already had works great in here. I decided to work with the wall color and add a little blue and call it a summer. Maybe this winter I might paint, or I may leave it white. Who knows!
As I said before every room in the house has a fireplace, they have been sealed off, OK with me since they were old coal fireplace's anyway. Need to do something with those cords, I see.
 The lamps were a gift from my Mother and most everything on the mantle is a yard sale or thrift store find over the years.
 The little folding firescreen table was a thrift store find last winter $8.00. It was covered in a Victorian paper that had seen better days. My solution was to use an extra piece of fabric that was left over from other project's in the room, and now it looks a little better. The end irons I found at the flea market and they cost me a grand total of $7.00, the little brass tray was $1.00.

Add a few blue bottles and fresh flowers from the garden and it's ready for the girls.




Onto another project.
See you soon.
Sandy
Linking to Today's Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality
Table Top Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Wow Us Wednesday's at Savvy Southern Style





Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Kitchen Progress



Here is a much better picture of my newest treasure, a French butter crock. For those of you who like me have never heard of this type of butter crock, here is how you use it. Put your room temp butter in the top portion of the container, then you put water in the bottom half, when you add the top to the bottom the water forms a seal and, ta da you have room temp butter when you need it. Changing the water every two to three days, keeps the butter fresh. I am a volunteer at Middleton Plantation and Gardens, one of our potters took a trip to France several years ago, and now she makes these to sale at the plantation.  I have been assured by several people they work great.

Add some French bread, yum yum.

Now onto a tour of what I have accomplished or not accomplished in the last two weeks of being here. My 2nd new refrigerator has been delivered, they scratched the first one and had to bring a new one, my new pot rack has been hung and another box is now off the floor.

As I said before this is a 92 year old house and I'm not really sure what this space should have been other than just part of the center hallway. Now I know what you are thinking GREEN CARPET !
Yes is sure is, just give me time and you will see a difference. The previous owners used this as a family room, I'm using it as a breakfast room. My old farmhouse table and fireplace mantle from my previous house.


See the small table? I put it there for additional workspace, until we come up with a solution for a center island. We like eating at this table better than any place in the house.

Old houses sure do have allot of doors. The one to the right leads to one of the guest bedrooms and bath. There are a total of six interior doors, a set of French doors leading to the foyer and the outside kitchen door in the room.

Door to the left is the pantry, to the right is the dining room, then there is the swinging door to the dining room that is beside the wine rack.



Once again I am not sure what this space is, it has a large shelving unit, cabinets, counter top and a door leading to the dining room. Small butlers pantry, or dish pantry? Oh well for me it will be working great as a home office and the blank wall between the two doors will have wall to wall bookshelves for a small library.

The kitchen is changing daily, so here is today's look.


Linking to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style.
See you there.
Sandy


Monday, June 18, 2012

A Farmhouse Baking Center


As most of you know we just moved into a 92 year old farm house in the middle of town.
Most of the house has been updated as far as electrical and plumbing go, but the previous owners tried to maintain as much of the original detail, as possible. The kitchen does have the original layout, cabinets and a few other details but has had a little face lift. There are lots of cabinets here and the thing I love, they go all the way to the ceiling, (although I have to get a small ladder to reach the top shelf) that said I don't have to climb up and clean the top of cabinets anymore or try to figure out how to stage them, at which I am terrible at doing.
Now for my little baking area.

Baking supplies, a little copper and some hydrangeas from the garden.
My first scale, I know she's a little rusty but what do you expect for $2.00?

My antique nutmeg grater and storage container, some old bowls and a few utensils.





I used an old letter holder to hold my antique glass milk and juice container, then added the hydrangeas.



And my little chicken plates, a gift from a dear fried, so every time I look at them I think of her.





Now come back tomorrow and I will show you more of the kitchen and my newest treasure.
It's a French butter crock!

See you tomorrow.
Linking to Table Top Tuesday at A Stroll Through Life.
Sandy

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Fluffing The Pantry


I did a little work on the pantry this weekend using a few yard sale finds. Sorry the picture looks so blurry, this was the best out of several that I took. The cups were from one yard sale and at fifty cents each not a bad deal, the little picture from another sale and at a dollar, I thought a good deal. Four plates and four saucers for $2.99 and everything came together quiet nicely and will make a great summer display for the pantry,



At Habitat for Humanity I found some material for some great fall pillows and 10 foot of this fringe for $6.00. I sure I will find a project or two for all that fringe.





Linking to Today's Thrifty Treasure's at Southern Hospitality. See you tomorrow for
Table Top Tuesday.
Sandy




Sunday, June 10, 2012

It's Back

Yes, my fireplace mantle is back. Quiet a change from it's previous look at our rental.
When I bought it I had plans of making a faux fireplace somewhere in our new house, not knowing what we were going to buy and since this baby was only $35.00 it was worth buying and holding onto, which I am famous for, so DH says. She now holds a position on my back porch which I decided to go a little tropical with. I planned on putting it in our outdoor kitchen and eating area but after seeing several photos of back porches with fireplaces, decided to put it here. I also thought this window which is in the guest bath made a great focal point above it. So now onto a few thrift store and yard sale finds.The plate and clock are both church yard sale finds, $3.00 for the pair. The antique baby stroller was a gift from DH, and everything else are things I already had, and most were thrift store and yard sale finds.
My rosemary topiaries that I'm playing with. These were small cuttings from the mother plant.
The net is a Dollar Tree find.

The star fish plates are TJ Maxx finds from a few years back.

A view from the bottom of the steps. The large urns were found at a thrift store a couple of years ago. See the little green lanterns, I'm such a copy cat, I found them a couple of weeks ago at a yard sale ( I know moving and going to yard sales), DH actually spotted them, they were $1.00 apiece, I added tea lights and now my little lanterns  light the steps, on the cheap, who could ask for more than that.

One of my favorite southern decorating books is Savanna Style, and I just loved the sleeping porches that were shown. So here is my version which I'm sure will change many more times. That said, this will work for a while. The day bed is one that DH and I made when our youngest daughter was about 7 or 8. I remember she loved birds, I painted it white and added birdhouses to the ends.
Now its a cozy little place to sit or nap, I hope she has lots of memories about this bed when she comes home.
A little tray table found at an antique store a couple of years ago.

Nap time?
My little lanterns at night.

Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned, more to come.
Linking to Today's Thrifty Treasures@ Southern Hospitality
Table Top Tuesday@ A Stroll Thru Life
Wow Us Wednesday@ Savvy Southern Style
Sandy






Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Getting There

A little night shot of the front of the house and my refuge from the unpacking and try to organize the inside. This seems to be the only area that is even remotely put together.
Here are a few pictures of the living room. We have all the large pieces moved but I am still unpacking and finding things to accessorize with. It's been over eight months since I've seen some of my goodies, so Christmas all over!
I'm still deciding on what pictures to hang where. So to date I have one hanging in this room.
I am very fortunate that the previous owner left the drapes and the hardware for the living room. With windows this large, guess I will be polishing my sewing skills.

I wasn't sure if I liked the color on the upper molding when we decided on this house, but the more I live with it the better I like it. Still not sure if I want to paint it white or leave it. I think if I took it back to the original mahogany it might make the room look a little top heavy.
I am glad they left the base boards and the door frames mahogany. These french doors lead to the dining room, which like the living room has all the large furniture but still needs accessories.
Sorry for the glare.

Yes I know, so much matching furniture. In my defense I have terrible sinus and allergy problems, I also have dogs, now with this leather furniture all I have to do is use a little leather cleaner or a damp cloth and the problem is solved. I don't have to load myself up with meds, and I still enjoy the babies.
Did you see them Lola was hiding behind the candle stick, BJ wasn't totally anti social today and Copper is down for his afternoon nap. Hope I didn't bore you to much and I hope you will be ready for many more pics in the near future. Time to get back to work.
Linking to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style.
See you there.
Sandy