Welcome To Our Hide Away

 Welcome to our porch, I mean hide away. 

Last week I showed you my old door turned wash stand. As I'm sure you could see its sits on our back porch. Over the weekend I was able to give it a nice coat of white paint, get rid of that battleship gray and start to clean things up a bit. Now the house really has its share of porches. The front porch wraps around three sides of the house and the back porch used to go all the way across the back of the house. The previous owners, took half of the back porch and made it into a bathroom which was a great ideal, now the house has two full bathroom. So now onto my hiding place, morning coffee, and afternoon nap or just relaxing spot.

I put this old galvanized foot locker on the porch to hold shoes and the one on top is an old Pet milk container that I have antique milk and orange juice bottles in. It's great to open and fill with fresh cut flowers from the garden.

And here is the relaxing spot!

You can see how old the house is, our breaker boxes are on the outside of the house, even though this was the first house in town to have electricity in it.

We made the day bed many years ago for our daughter and it makes a great outdoor piece.

You can't have a farm porch without a rusty old chair and a boot scraper.

A small table for games, food or drinks.

A pleasant coverlet.

The sheers are great for letting the air and light flow through, but they give you just enough privacy.

You want to know how I know that??????

Well Husband was on the little daybed one Sunday afternoon, taking a nap!!!

I look out the window, see a car stop in front of the house taking pictures, than she drives to the side of the house gets out of her car starts taking pictures of the side back porch and side garden.

Neither of them knew the other was there!

OK, guess its time for Chatty Cathy to move along.

So I'll just say....

Blessings,

Sandy
Sharing with Knick Of Time Talk Of The Town
Thrifty Rebel Vintage Vintage Charm

Old Door Love

Up cycle, recycle whatever terminology you want to use is always a fun thing in my world.

 Here are a few recycled doors, I've played with in past few months.

My recycled barn door, turned I guess, we can call it a wash stand.

Lots of chippy paint, a pretty little towel, fresh eggs.

I remember reading that the children always washed their hands in the pan that was left on the porch before entering the house. When I read that, it brought back memories of my great Grandfather who was a farmer washing up on the porch before coming into the house.

 I guess a common practice before running water in the house.

The next recycled door is the back screen door. found at a salvage store last fall.

We know there were screen doors on both the front and back doors and they were used as air conditioning for the time. On very hot and humid nights both the front and back main doors were opened, blankets placed on the floor and the children were allowed to sleep in the center hall.

The door had screen in the top and bottom, We took the screen out of the bottom, put in a few pieces of bead board from the attic. This is much better for the fur babies, less chance of them pushing the screen out and escaping.

 The battle ship gray floor has been painted over for a more pleasant white floor.

Last but not least, the front door. Not only does it provide a great breeze but also protection for the beveled glass in the door.

See you soon.

Blessing,

Sandy
Sharing with Knick Of Time Talk Of The Town
Thrifty Rebel Vintage for Vintage Charm

Getting There

One more kitchen project finished. It took us a year to find a period correct door to put on the barn door track. 

Just one more reason for people to, PLEASE not destroy old houses. Please if you want open concept, buy a new house!

 We chose to use the barn door track just for the contrast. Most of the interior doors are either french doors or five panel doors. This entry to the kitchen is just off the back door and most likely used by household help or for deliveries in the past.

This is a six panel door , with one panel being removed for the little glass window. We found the door at a salvage shop a couple months ago, they salvaged it from an old hotel that was being demolished. This door was between the kitchen and the dining room of the hotel.

From the markings found on the door, this is one of its many makeovers. From the markings it looks as though it may have been a pocket door in a former life. It was eighty four inches long when we found it. That's a long door! And it's heart pine, very heavy. It had a very cheerful green milk paint on it but since the other doors in the hall were all white I painted it to match.

You know there is always a BUT with me!

 I aim to be different!

The kitchen side remained, shall we say pure.

All the scrapes, dings and dents as well as the original paint still there.

The window above the door is an original window from the dormer on the front of the house and the bead board is from the original center hall ceiling, which was to damaged to be used as a ceiling material. We climbed into the attic and cut out the usable pieces the bead board. Now can you imagine what we looked like when we came down? Remember this house had coal fireplaces and all that coal from all those years had settled. Can we say just throw those clothes away.

You can see where the shoes hit the bottom of the door and the trays hit the upper part of the door.

We still have lots of trim work to do, baseboards to make, you know they don't make ten inch baseboard any longer. After that I hope to get started on counter tops. then maybe finished in the kitchen and on to the next project which is library shelves.

So stay warm and and enjoy your day!

Blessings,

Sandy

Sharing with A Knick Of Time Talk Of The Town

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Blessings,

Sandy

Cold Days, Hot Coffee, A Book and a Fireplace

What more can you do on a cold February day?

 Thankful for my fireplace in the master and the hand me down chairs from Daughter two.

Stay ward and dry.

Blessings,

Sandy

Just Junk

In the last couple of years I have started to use more black and white in my house. It just seems to work well with the house. My little butlers pantry has stayed black and white since we rebuilt it, with a few additions. One being the bi-fold doors that were on a walk in closet we took out. They got a little black paint, some distressing, my contractor (that would be husband) mounted them to the wall. Then I added a couple pieces of black and white polka dot ribbon and some old sconces, white candles, and I like it. Then we had the screen door that came off the back door, once again my contractor came through cut the door down, a little chalk paint, and I like it!

This room is very hard to photograph because it is so narrow, but the storage I get out of it is unbelievable.

Theses two shelves, they used to be one. You guessed it contractor cut it down.

Most of the time this room just holds lots of my entertaining and overflow serving pieces. But when we have large crowds, the dresser turned server is loaded with food, I keep my three pot, crock pot on it all the time and everyone can serve themselves as many times as needed and the dirty kitchen is hidden from guest!

Now this is one of my favorite times in this little room, night time. I can just imagine how many meals went through this little room to the family dining room, and the chatter you could hear through the swinging door.

 So, Goodnight and see you next time!

 Blessings,

Sandy

Sharing with Knick Of Time Talk Of The Town

A Bright and Cheerful Farmhouse Bedroom

Have you ever had a room you just couldn't get right? This was mine!

I think I have it now, when I walk in I just feel happy.

All the bedding and red accessories where in the master bedroom, so one day I just took everything out and stared working in this little space. 

This was the girls room when the house was built, it's the middle bedroom. All the bedrooms were walk through, meaning you could go from one bedroom to another through attached doors.

I think any child would be happy in this room.

Can you imagine how warm the room would have been on a cold day with that big fireplace?

The two plates hanging on the wall were my Mother and Fathers first set of dishes given to them by my Grandmother, these are the only two pieces left.

The old plantation shutters are just leaning against the window, a thrift store find $3.00 for the pair.

Blessings,

Sandy

Sharing with Knick of Time Talk Of The Town