Yes or No?

 It has come to my attention over the last year or so that we do not have enough dishes in our home for our everyday use. Well it’s finally time to buy some more. I have always had Fiesta Ware and I love it! The problem is I can’t make up my mind on the color! There are so many to choose from. I currently have scarlet and sunflower. I love the bright colors and the way the food looks on them.

Now here is the dilemma. Should I add in another color or stick with what I have?

This is the Shamrock added.

So what do you prefer? Since I am having such a hard time making a decision I though I would ask what other people thought.  I hope to have open shelving and white walls so you would see the color all the time. What do you think?  Please let me know in the comments. I just happen to have a 30 percent off coupon to Kohl's this month.

The Living Room

Kitty says welcome to the living room from her favorite spot. Right where she can keep an eye on everyone while napping in the sun streaming through the window. See, I'm here, someone pet me please. :)The gallery wall. I decided not to remove the family photos from the shelves as I couldn't come up with something quick and cheap to replace them with. Since they are not seen until you have walked through most of the first floor, I don't think they are a distraction and no one has said anything.This is our game cabinet, and the time-out chair. Although most of my children are getting to big to fit in it. :) I used an old ironing board behind the sofa to pull it off the wall, and to keep little fingers from pulling things off the shelves.  Old suitcases form a side table. This table is another one of my unfinished projects. It is useful incomplete so it gets to stay. The two bibles were my grandparents. This little corner will remain unfinished. I had visions of a large stuffed chair, but I never found the perfect one. I also took down all the window treatments in preparation of replacing them and that's when we decided to sell.Looking back toward the kitchen and the door to the laundry room and garage.

The Kitchen

This is the view looking out of the dining room into the hall. I thought this shot gave a good idea of how the kitchen is tucked behind the corner. This is one of my favorite aspects of this house. you can not see the kitchen from the front door! All the mess is in the more private spaces. :)

Looking into the Kitchen from the dining room.

The breakfast nook.

Another view looking back towards the hall way.

This apple crate shelf unit holds my i-pod, cookbooks and some enamel ware.

A broom is not just functional it can be beautiful too!

The working area of the kitchen.

The cooking area. I am left handed so this works great for me.

Looking into the kitchen from the living room.  

The Foyer

Welcome to our home! I finally dug through my photo chaos archives to find a picture of when we first moved in. You can see the boring builder beige on the walls and our mess. :) This is what it looks like now. We painted the foyer last year and I have slowly added pieces of furniture that fit our needs. During my great house purge this space needed little work. I just touched up the walls and changed some of the accessories. This is standing at the front door looking in. The black dresser holds all of our hats, scarves, mittens, summer hats, swim goggles, and grocery bags. I love that I don't have to change out for the season. Everything has it's place. Even the cat has a drawer for her brush and leash.

 

Can a foyer be a favorite room? This is what sold me on this house layout, I love the open foyer and all the light it lets in. The children play in this space as much as anywhere else in the house. It's the perfect airplane launch, or hot wheels race way. Here you can see the big window above the door. I have some old shutters I was going to hang up there, but they are now coming with me. 
I LOVE the chandelier, it has been so easy to clean since it doesn't have any glass. If I could take it with me I could.
This is standing in the corner behind the door. You can see me in the mirror. :) The white cabinet is empty, except for two drawers. One holds flashlights and the other my husbands keys. Again, standing at the front door looking up. The pink cabinet is one of my projects. Someday I will get it painted! Right now the bottom holds water jugs and water bottles, for those times we need them. The top holds some of our old books and hymnals. I have nothing on the walls going up the stairs. That was to be this years project. I took these photos as we were leaving right before a showing. That should explain why it is so clean.  I had just mopped the floors, so they really shine. Now four days later and they need to be cleaned again. sigh. I took a little break from keeping it clean to spend the day with my parents yesterday. They stopped by on their way to Vermont. It was nice to visit with them and I can't wait until they return for a couple of days on their way home next week. In the meantime I need to get some projects done before my Mom does them for me!

It's Official!

  Our house went on the market 2 weeks ago! We have had three showings so far, in this market things are slow, but we are hopeful. In order to sell our house we did a few things here and there to spruce it up. I worked for 6 weeks non-stop painting, cleaning, and de-cluttering. At that point I was averaging 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night. So for the past two weeks I have been resting and cooking. It is so much easier keeping a house clean than it is getting it ready to sell!

I thought it would be fun to share each part of my house and what I or in some cases my husband did to get the house ready. I can honestly say it has never looked so good. :)

Let's start with the front yard. Everyone knows curb appeal is important and first impressions are vital. We hired a landscaping company to finish up the stone wall, mulch, and add some bushes to the front and side yard. This is so much better than the weed patch we were cultivating before. Our original plans were to terrace the side with cold frames.

I repainted the front door a nice bright red, washed the siding and the glass in the fixtures. My husband finished up the front walk and we added the house number on the right. I bought those numbers 5 years ago when we first moved in. We do get around to finishing projects eventually. :) I also added the planters on either side of the door and a new welcome mat. The planter between the garage doors is a peach tree we grew from a seed in our compost pile. I wanted to make sure we could take it with us so we moved it before the sign went in the yard.

One of the things I have wanted to do this move is make it as smooth a transition as possible. We have moved many times before and I have learned something new each time. I went through everything in our house and got rid of thousands of things that do need and don't need to take with us. I redid the filing system to make it easier to find important papers. I cooked 4 months worth of meals so we don't have to eat out when things are hectic. I plan to share this as I take you on my little house tour. So stay tuned for the next stop as I welcome you into our home.

A Welcome Wreath

One of the projects I wanted to finish up was a new wreath for the front door. I have never really had anything up for the spring and summer that I have liked or finished. Last year the wreath hung unadorned waiting for me to do something! I finally got around to it this year. Perhaps it was lack of inspiration or motivation, but this year I got it done! I think it looks quite welcoming for a potential buyer. I only spent about 5.00 on the greenery and rolled the flower rosettes out of leftover fabric. So simple!

Next up on the list is painting the front door. The first thing people will see is this door and the paint is peeling off!  Here is a photo of when we first moved in. And one of when the door was painted red. The color has faded so much! 

What color would you paint it?

A New table for the kitchen

I often look at the Craigslist listings where my parents live to see if there might be anything interesting, after all it's a college town and well, just different than where we are at. I came across this table one evening and asked my Mom to see if it was still available. It was if she could come that day, otherwise it would go to someone else. Off she went to pick it up for 50.00! Of course it needed to be refinished. It is a lovely pine table made by Pennsylvania house that came with two leaves. I don't have a before of it all put together, but you can get the idea of the orange finish it used to have.

I I had been in search of a round table for a while, as the one we had before was a little to big for the space. This one is perfect and makes the kitchen look much bigger. That will be nice when we put the house on the market. Originally I was going to paint the chairs, but have decided to wait to see what our new house will look like and what color will look good for the chairs.

 I painted the pedestal and apron "Swiss Coffee" by Bher and used English chestnut for the glaze. The distressing and glaze really brought out all the beautiful details this table has. I just love it's feet!

So pretty!

I decided to stain the top with Ebony, which is a black finish. It really toned down the orange pine can have and gave it a warm brown finish while keeping the some red undertones. I wouldn't recommend this for every piece of pine, but it was perfect for this one. I then put two coats of polyurethane to take it home. I am currently adding 3 more coats to the top for durability.

We love our "new" table! This is the view from the living room into the kitchen. The little hutch was the first piece of furniture I ever refinished way back when I was in college. I paid 25.00 for it and it matched the old table.

This is the view into the kitchen and living room from the hallway. Yes, we still use baby gates, they keep our cat in the house because we don't have a screen, and she eats the flies that come in. It works perfectly. :)

And one more shot because I liked it!

Sharing with this party!

Crazy, Hectic, Busy Week(s)

Well that about sums up the last two weeks. The first weekend we were out of town to visit with my parents and my husband's father. We went to Greenland Gap for the first time in the spring, usually we go in the fall. It was a great weekend with warm weather. I wouldn't really know that though because I only ventured out one day. The other? I slept while everyone else went hiking and fishing. It was glorious and such a rare occurrence, I can't remember the last someone let me sleep all day. Thanks Mom and Dad for keeping an eye out for everyone. This lodge was build by my husbands Great Grandfather in 1938. It is absolutely beautiful and in the middle of nowhere. Someday I'll have to take more photos inside, but the lighting is poor.

Our traditional picture on the stone walls outside the lodge.

The one day I did go out we drove down to the falls to hang out by the water.

As soon as we got home it was back to real life. Funny how that works. :)

I spent the week getting ready for a consignment sale that was held last weekend and a brunch for my bible study group. I have been on a mission lately to get rid of stuff. I have been contemplating it for a while, the attachment to things and how that can become unhealthy. Just watch an episode of Hoarders and you understand. So I started going through things, trying to pare down to half. It sounded like a good place to be. If I am always dealing with stuff and not really living then there is to much. I though the consignment sale would be a good place to tackle the children's things. With their help I went through all of their things and got rid of half or almost half. I was quite proud of how well they did, the only thing they had trouble parting with was the stuffed animals. What is is about stuffed animals?!!  We filled the back of the truck  and took it to the sale. It was raining so I snapped a quick photo not wanting to get my camera wet. Things sold well and I came home with only one box. Next up is the yard sale in May to get rid of the rest. Every day the pile grows bigger as I come across something else we don't need. The more I get rid of the easier it becomes. The children's rooms are purged and they can easily keep them clean. Most of the toys we kept are in the basement and organized into shelving I all ready had. The house feels lighter and I am lighter, I can't wait to tackle every nook and cranny so that everything that is left has a purpose and a place. Things can hold us back form the lives we are meant to live in Christ.

I have been contemplating this verse in Matthew 6:19-21

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the brunch I hosted. We had such a wonderful time and I so enjoyed putting together some spring decorations. It may not feel like spring outside but it sure is inside!