The House Is Coming Along Nicely

I know, I know, it is about time right....???? It has been almost a year since we moved in and we still have a long ways to go but it is good to see progress along the way.  The main part of the house has been almost completely remodeled except for the family room, we just painted in there, we will eventually add wood floors in there too after the rest of the remodeling is done.  The only room I did not get photos of today was our bathroom remodel, I will have to save that for another day.  We have worked painstakingly on this house.  If you remember, we moved into the house where Mark grew up and added on a wing to the house for his mom.  We added on a new master bedroom and have just recently "moved" into there, so there is still lots to do in that area, plus the next phase will be adding a little office, laundry room and a bathroom off the master bedroom.  The space is already there it is our old bedroom so we have some walls to knock down and put up and hopefully it will all go together pretty easily.  Our injuries have hindered our ability to do things at our "normal pace", ya know work all day, work work work till we get it done. Well, we sure have learned alot about our patience, because this project is taking us forever.  But that is ok, we are do it yourself-ers so we are used to things not always going our way, mostly we use plan b, c, d, e and sometimes f !  It is very exciting to see the house take on our personality, it is such a comfortable and homey place to us, we are living a much more relaxed, family oriented lifestyle these days.  That is what the northern air will do to you!  So without further ado, I will now show you a glimpse into our "new" home, please keep in mind that we still have a ton of little details to take care of, we call them winter projects, so don't pay attention to some missing trim, outlets, fixtures etc... we are living in the mess while we work on it! 

Welcome, this is where you will eventually walk into our home, however there is no sidewalk on the other side of this door yet, we have to wait till spring for the cement, so for now it is just the puppy door and the spot where the old house meets the new.  We uncovered this cool wooden siding that used to be the outside of the house from the 1950's, it had that cottage feel to it and I mentioned to Mark that  I would like to keep it exposed instead of drywall over it, so a coat of paint later and we are in love with the look. I added some coat hooks from Hobby Lobby, a family photo, hung an upside down planter for a mini shelf (we are really tight on space in this area) and it works perfectly as a little foyer.  Notice our new front door, I chose to paint it a welcoming red color. Come on in!!

The first thing you notice when you enter is our new puppy Asher, he will most likely meet you at the door!

I searched a long time for a sign for this area, this one by Danielson Designs is perfect:

Relax, let your guard down, feel free to be yourself,  when you are here you are home with family

We love having company, our house is always welcome to visitors, this is where you will enter the family room.

I really used what I already had in this home, I found a few new accessories but that is about it, most everything I have had  This table has been in my family longer than I have!

Have a seat!!

My family room by Ikea, all of our furniture is from there, I had the bookshelf and boxes in Dayton's old room, they work wonderfully for holding cd's, wii, videos etc..I am really trying hard in this house to make sure everything has a place, I want to "live" in this house and it needs to work for us, every little bit if storage space is precious.  The tv had been on the other wall for as long as I could remember, when the cable guy came to work on other areas during construction I asked if he could move it to this wall instead, I love looking out the huge picture windows now. 

The old front door used to be in this opening (above), we are going to open it up a bit when we do the next phase.  Our new bedroom is now accessed past the doorway.

We painted the bookshelf in the dining room and brougth my photo albums out of storage ,what a perfect place to store them. 

I am sure you recognize this cupboard, I had my Christmas village in it during the holidays and recently acquired my parents Rosenthal china that they had purchased in Germany when they were first married, it fits perfectly in here and is simple enough to to keep on display in this space. 

One of the first things we did last year was put up this oversized fixture from Ballards.  I just love it!

A look from the kitchen into the dining room,(above) and from the family room (below), I have loved adding bits of black  and I am so pleased with the classy-ness yet casual-ness that it provides.

We put in new appliances at the last minute, our old ones had to go back to our other house in order to sell it.  That was ok with me!!!  I like the look of the stainless but boy, what a bugger to keep clean!

I love our hardwood floors, Hand Scraped Maple Country from Home Depot, can't wait to have the rest of the house in these!  We put them in our new bedroom too, oh be still my heart!!!

Talk about matters of the heart, my hubby has the sweetest heart, he left me a little note this week while he is gone. 

I just love how the kitchen looks now, we tiled the backsplash with subway tile, purchased all the cabinets through Ikea and I am so happy with the quality and look of them!

There is not alot of natural lighting in here so lighting was important, I chose to have lights put into our cupboards and it makes such a difference.

Onto the new parts of the house:  Above is the shot of the foyer from the outside, notice our snowfalling!!!We chose slate tiles for this space.

Ahh, our little piece of Heaven!  While we both had our broken bones, our bed was up against a wall in our old bedroom, we had to crawl over each other and literally broke the bed 3 times trying to get comfortable, pathetic I know!!!  So the day the floors were laid, I insisted that our bed if nothing else get moved into place, what a blessing to walk around all sides of our bed!  Trust me, when you use a walker that is important!!  I purchased the pickstitch quilt from PB and a rug from there was our Christmas gift from my mom, everything else we already had. 

My old suitcases make a nightstand for hubby!

I have had these frames forever, last week Mark's uncle brought over some old photos from his parents farm, I framed this one in particular, the day that farm was sold, in the early 1900's, you can see the buggies and horses on the farm.  I kept it the focal point by only adding scrapbooking paper in all the other frames, keeping with the muted tones. 

A little old sliver and shine in here gives this room just a bit of elegance.  I tried to use newer accessories and it just felt like it did not fit the rest of the house, so I went with my old standard vintage pieces to give me the feel that I wanted in here.  We still have lots of little things to do in here, we just put a door and closet doors on this week!

I had originally picked this quilt up at Marshall's/Tj's etc. not sure, for Myah's room last year, it ended up not working in there so I pulled it out of storage and love how the gray and taupes helped pull our room together. 

Looks like my shade needs adjusting!! Must be from the last party we had , ha ha!!

I put on my wellies and risked my life for this shot in the snow of our new front door!  Just kidding!

Oh how we love our little Yorkie, Asher!!! He is so sweet! 

Here are just a few random shots from around our house:

I have a small collection of vintage cameras:

Petosky stones can only be found near that town in Michigan, we were there for our anniversary and stayed on the beach, I met a woman who showed me how to identify the stones before they are polished,  of course I hauled a bunch home with me!

My parent's Rosenthal china, they still had the crating that it was shipped in, so special.

My old window just had to find a spot in this house!!!

The view from the other side, that door will lead to our bathroom, and I am still unsure as to how I am going to cover up that beautiful electrical box, any ideas!  Oh yeah, and don't make fun of my old lady walker, I still use it now and then!

Love the double fan from Lowe's reminds me of Florida!  Don't laugh at my tv on my chair, my hubby has to hang it on the wall! 

My sister gave me these gorgeous chairs to use, I have to find a fabric for the pads.  My mom gave me this table from her garage, I am not sure if I am going to paint it or not yet!

I love using the burlap fabrics in this house, so country cottagey to me! 

One of my favorite spots in the house, the bottom photo is of a camera that my grandmother gave to my mom when she was 19 and went to live in Germany after dad was drafted. 

For the past 4 years we have been getting live Christmas trees, we cut our own down at a tree farm, we love doing this as a family, each year hubby trims off a sliver so we can keep it with the date on it. 

This tiny print is a purchase from Pizitz, our favorite place in Seaside, in honor of our 25 years together last year.

Mossy green balls have taken over my house, here one is placed in a flower pot on the kitchen counter.

I went around and around about getting rid of my brown transferware, but at the 11th hour I tried it in my lit cupboards and fell back in love with it again, I don't think it is going anywhere anytime soon!

My Grandmother's old crock in the kitchen, I have tried not to keep every sentimental piece in my life, honestly, if it does not have  a function  it is moving on to another home!  I just do not have space here to store things just "because".  I have been working very hard on simplifying our life!

I did keep some of our grandmothers cookbooks, along with my own favorites in a basket on the island.

Loving my little baby brownie camera!And some things are still my favorites even if they were someone eles junk!  I hope you enjoyed this little tour of the areas of our home that are pretty much finished, it has taken alot of blood, sweat and tears to get to this point but it is all good, I feel so content here, we all do!  To see some before photos go here:

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My Family Room Reveal!!!!****Updated!

I am in love with my new Ikea white slipcovered furniture!  The morning after my garage sale my hubby asked if I wanted to go to Ikea and pick up my furniture and I jumped out of bed so fast!  We looked online and they showed that our store was out of sofa's so we called and they said they had 8 of them!  The grubby bench in front that I am using as a coffee table/footstool is something that I have had for years, I bought it at Violet's Blue (hi ladies). I have always wanted to use it inside instead of on my front porch.  I have placed a few yard sale bowls full of shells and candles on it and a fresh plant.  The little wicker  chair in front was a gift to me as a little girl from my Uncle Cleo.  I have treasured it my whole life, especially since he passed away right before we went to China.  I love how it finally fits into our life.  The pillows are from Ikea and SaSea boutique. 

My uber talented little sister Melanie loaded up my car last night when I was up north visiting her and the girls.  She gave me this huge gorgeous canvas painting, I love it!!! I love having a punch of color with my all white!  And my house is actually becoming a gallery of all of her works!  How lucky am I?!!!

I found this at an antique garage sale, love the blue!

This basket is a story in itself that I will share with you another day, long story short, it cost me a dollar!  It is huge!

More Melanie pillows!!!  Love how they compliment my PB pillow cases.

See that cool waffle weave throw, that was only $2 at a goodwill in Florida! 

I found this for $4 it looks like an  old oil pan or something but it fits my sad excuse of a succulent garden!

Another thrift store find, the candle holder, still has the price tag on the underside from one of my favorite, yet expensive stores The Weed Lady.  Of course I sprinkled it with shells!

My summer mantle

I have always loved the angel vines. 

I know I left you hanging on last week with glimpses of my bedroom makeover but something else came up like making a thousand dollars at my garage sale and it became an emergency redo of my family room.  I have lived in this room for 6 weeks while Dayton healed and frankly I was just about sick of it.  I have never been happy with it and sold one of my leather couches in my sale and put the one that used to be in my family room down in the basement/rec room.  Now you know I am a frugal one so I went to the only place that I could afford new slipcovered white furniture of my dreams, Ikea!   A few hours later I had my family room of my dreams.  Thanks to some great inspiration this weekend I went to my local thrift store and nursery today and purchased the rest of my items to complete it!  I will type more later, Dayton has the all clear from his surgeon and I am going to drop him off at the golf range!  Enjoy the pics of my little slice of Heaven! 

Hubby's aunt cut these for me from her gorgeous garden!  They laughed at how much I treasured them!

Two of my thrift store finds today, the planter and the corbel, sit in front of our summer fireplace. (it does not get used! )

This just makes me so happy! I was really having a hard time breathing when I purchased the furniture, I was so excited!  The lady who checked us out laughed because I told her to be patient with me while I paid with my garage sale money, Let's just say it was a stack of bills, mostly small bills! She was happy for me!

This frame caught my eye at the same antique garage sale that I bought the blue tote, it had no price so I asked and the lady said "how bout a buck! "  Um....yeah!!!

I have always dreamed of having my home full of things that have meaning to us, this photo is just that!

My summer scent!  Coconut Lime... reminds me of Florida!  I really want one of the Volcano scented ones!

My sign that Mel made for me on top of my hutch that I once again moved back out into the kitchen.  All those bottles came from the same sale of the dollar basket, I think I paid pennies for them! 

I literally bought the last two Ikea Jenny Lund chairs that our store had, so glad we got up early!!! I would like to purchase an ottoman eventually. 

My makeover cost under a thousand dollars!  That was mostly the furniture and a little left over for accessories!! Thank goodness for my garage sale ads in the paper and on Craigslist!

The pictures just don't do it justice, you will just have to come visit and see for yourself! 

We live in this room, although I swore it would be more of a sitting room, it just seems to be where we hang out.  So we have to have a tv in here!  Like the dresser?  Five dollars and a coat of paint and she is  now a beauty and houses all of our dvds and video games. 

Hope you enjoyed my little tour!  I am off to go and relax for a while in my new room!  By the way, I will show my bedroom in a couple of days.  There are lots of changes going on around here!  I am going to be 40 in 16 days, I am really looking forward to my 40's actually, a fresh new decade, trying to declutter and simplify, being homebound with Dayton for the last 7 weeks has taught me so much about myself and my family.  It's all good. 

***for those of you who have asked the paint color is Wicker  by Eddie Bauer at Lowes.