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When I last wrote in May, I was still looking for pretty baubles for Penny as Bill was busy bringing her up to code. In July, as many of you know, Bill and Penny had an argument about ladders on her walls and he lost... falling somewhere between 16-18 feet. He dislocated and broke his hip. We're lucky he survived that fall. Prior to that moment, there'd been a lot of arguments between us due to exhaustion and stress... deadlines were happening, work was happening and we just weren't getting much time together. God works in mysterious ways... this brought our summer plans to a halt. We found someone to complete the fascia work Bill had been working on... Penny got the pretty red hat we'd planned for her... and Bill got 8 - 10 weeks of much needed rest with me nagging over his every move.
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I've told everyone my hub is a HORRIBLE patient. He can't stay still. We found a happy medium where he could do small stints of working in the garage for 30 minutes at a time... working on pieces that needed to be done to have ready when Penny starts to get her interior walls... He finished a BUNCH of projects that kept his stir crazy at bay.
Let's revisit a few of the "honey do items" I mentioned in May... Remember us wanting to combine this gorgeous old door with some stained glass I'd found? Bill cut out the top panels.. scraped the years of grime away... and we now have a BEAUTIFUL pantry door which will be hung on barn door type rollers that we purchased off Amazon last month.
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Two of our three fireplace mantles were finished. The master bath mantle had extra wood and way too many layers of wax and bad orange stain. He stripped, cut and then did a grey wash... which will go beautifully with the charcoal grey tile floors that will be installed for the bathroom flooring. The new color is gorgeous and it's shape is sooo much more defined.
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| After Living Room Mantle |
The mantle we purchased to replace the 80's waterbed headboard over the living room fireplace... we decided to not remove the mirror, but to keep it and use it as a matting/backing, like you'd see with mounted prints. It makes the carved German door panel pop! I can't tell you how much I LOVE the finished project. Bill took that mantel apart, again took off years of grime, and put it back together, ensuring it was sturdy - not flimsy in any way shape or form. This, and the original mantel in our bedroom, will be reworked exactly the same way. It makes my heart sing. It's truly a statement piece.
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| Inspiration... |
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In the mean time he also took a boring white door we found at Habitat for Humanity Restore in downtown Atlanta, stripped it, stained and painted it... and made it look more like the antique Indian doors (above) that we found for our master bathroom... This door is for our utility closet in our spare bathroom. The fine details will be in EVERY room if we both have our say. I can't love each piece enough. My hub is truly a master craftsman. He missed his calling in his day job... this is what he should be doing for a living.
In the few moments we were able to spend away from the house we managed to order our kitchen, which, if everything goes smoothly over the next four weeks, will be installed mid to late October... I can SEE THE LIGHT. Light grey cabinets, farmhouse sink, gorgeous marble looking granite counter-tops, black stainless refrigerator... and yes... we found the tile for our back-splash on clearance at Lowe's... I had to run to 3 different Lowe's stores to get the quantity we need... but it's perfect and will beautifully pull in the yellow of my grandfather's banquette table from the late 40's.
Let me do a sidebar here and talk about my grandfather. I mentioned him last year when we found the blackberries in our garden. My mother had told me that morning that she felt I was following in her father's footsteps by moving out of the city and into the country... the only difference is he built his home from scratch.... we tore it down to near scratch... but we had bones to start with... anyway... she said that in the morning and I found the blackberries he was always picking that afternoon... I felt he was screaming YES to me... this feeling has continued over the year... most recently the back-splash tile color... and when I went to meet with the kitchen designer I was referred to. I almost fell over when I saw the name of the business. "Frugal Kitchens" You see my Gramps was TOTALLY a penny pincher. The family was always calling him "cheap" or "tight wad"... at which he would calmly say "I prefer the term Frugal". I saw that business sign and started guffawing. Thanks Gramps, yes I will definitely work with this woman at your guidance. Serendipity baby.
My last post I mentioned that we were still looking for an age appropriate front door for the farm... I found it at 7th Street Salvage in Macon, GA. It's a heavy craftsman beauty... that will be sanded and stained... the windows will be taken out and replaced with stained glass that Bill and I are going to make.
We also found the sinks for our master bath vanities. It's funny, the tiles we purchased in Italy are providing the basis for color pop throughout the house. You can see how everything is blending with that design. The sinks are Mexican made, purchased online at La Fuente Imports. They're even more stunning in person.
To end today's blog, let me say that I'm still squirreling away things I find that I just KNOW will work. It seems I carry things home from every state I visit... Just this past weekend I went up to Richmond, VA for two days... and visited Caravati's Architectural Salvage as I always do. I walked away with three sets of iron shelving brackets for our coffee bar area (Bill will make shelves out of reclaimed wood from the farm to put on top of these gorgeous babies). I also carried home a 14x32" moving transom window... it doesn't have stained glass but I actually kind of dig the 50's vibe in it... I know when I am carrying this shizzle through the airport that I'm the person I hate seeing walking onto my plane... but I also truly know what fits and what won't... and it makes me think twice when I see my passengers with stuff... a bit of empathy and patience goes a long way... (and when it's me travelling... chocolate for my flight crew)...
I know I haven't blogged much but this should be changing in the upcoming 2 months. Our plumbing and electrical have passed inspection. Our HVAC is being installed next Monday. We're currently in the process of getting quotes for insulation and drywall... which need to be installed before mid October... and Bill will put the final sub floors in this week. We'll order the wood we need to finish installing the flooring (not all of it could be salvaged so we're ordering reclaimed wood)... I can't WAIT to have drywall up and all floors down... I know that's the beginning of the last couple miles of this marathon we've been running. I'm excited to show you how everything will pull together as it starts to look like home... Pray for us y'all... things are happening...
In the few moments we were able to spend away from the house we managed to order our kitchen, which, if everything goes smoothly over the next four weeks, will be installed mid to late October... I can SEE THE LIGHT. Light grey cabinets, farmhouse sink, gorgeous marble looking granite counter-tops, black stainless refrigerator... and yes... we found the tile for our back-splash on clearance at Lowe's... I had to run to 3 different Lowe's stores to get the quantity we need... but it's perfect and will beautifully pull in the yellow of my grandfather's banquette table from the late 40's.
Let me do a sidebar here and talk about my grandfather. I mentioned him last year when we found the blackberries in our garden. My mother had told me that morning that she felt I was following in her father's footsteps by moving out of the city and into the country... the only difference is he built his home from scratch.... we tore it down to near scratch... but we had bones to start with... anyway... she said that in the morning and I found the blackberries he was always picking that afternoon... I felt he was screaming YES to me... this feeling has continued over the year... most recently the back-splash tile color... and when I went to meet with the kitchen designer I was referred to. I almost fell over when I saw the name of the business. "Frugal Kitchens" You see my Gramps was TOTALLY a penny pincher. The family was always calling him "cheap" or "tight wad"... at which he would calmly say "I prefer the term Frugal". I saw that business sign and started guffawing. Thanks Gramps, yes I will definitely work with this woman at your guidance. Serendipity baby.
We also found the sinks for our master bath vanities. It's funny, the tiles we purchased in Italy are providing the basis for color pop throughout the house. You can see how everything is blending with that design. The sinks are Mexican made, purchased online at La Fuente Imports. They're even more stunning in person.
To end today's blog, let me say that I'm still squirreling away things I find that I just KNOW will work. It seems I carry things home from every state I visit... Just this past weekend I went up to Richmond, VA for two days... and visited Caravati's Architectural Salvage as I always do. I walked away with three sets of iron shelving brackets for our coffee bar area (Bill will make shelves out of reclaimed wood from the farm to put on top of these gorgeous babies). I also carried home a 14x32" moving transom window... it doesn't have stained glass but I actually kind of dig the 50's vibe in it... I know when I am carrying this shizzle through the airport that I'm the person I hate seeing walking onto my plane... but I also truly know what fits and what won't... and it makes me think twice when I see my passengers with stuff... a bit of empathy and patience goes a long way... (and when it's me travelling... chocolate for my flight crew)...
I know I haven't blogged much but this should be changing in the upcoming 2 months. Our plumbing and electrical have passed inspection. Our HVAC is being installed next Monday. We're currently in the process of getting quotes for insulation and drywall... which need to be installed before mid October... and Bill will put the final sub floors in this week. We'll order the wood we need to finish installing the flooring (not all of it could be salvaged so we're ordering reclaimed wood)... I can't WAIT to have drywall up and all floors down... I know that's the beginning of the last couple miles of this marathon we've been running. I'm excited to show you how everything will pull together as it starts to look like home... Pray for us y'all... things are happening...
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