Middle aged musings from farm & hearth
If you EVER…here on this blog…. read the words “OMGwe-just-found-the-coolest-old-place-for-sale-that-needs-alotta-work-but-the-bones-are-beautiful-and-the-property-is-awesome-We’re-just-gonna-inquire-and wouldn’t-it-be-a-neat- project? You know… anything even remotely like that?… Just shoot me.
While we still had another coat of tung oil to put on the floors, we were getting antsy to do SOMETHING… so after the middle coat had dried we began hanging things on walls…
Remember the “stuff” I got at that little antique red cottage? … This is the finished product..very easy to make. My son said… “Mom, aren’t you gonna paint all the chipped up stuff? ” I told him that’s exactly the way I like it. My one mistake was using too much glue to make sure the half teacup wouldn’t fall off the chalkboard painted background. Now I have to find some chalk to go in the teacup.
See, this is where our differences kinda make for a humorous situation. *sigh* We need a new mattress. Our old one, a king, has hills and valleys probably where we do…. and it’s time.
This is my husband’s idea of comfort.
And this is mine…
So we went mattress shopping today. I got there before him, so I explained our issues to the saleswoman and she gave me a tour of the five mattresses she thought we could make work. One mattress was too soft, one of those temperpedic things… and I swear I was getting seasick laying in it. Something about that slow molding memory action makes me feel like I’ve got a hangover. Then there was the sheet of plywood very firm mattress, which made my shoulders and neck hurt instantly when I rolled on my side, which is how I sleep. I knew that would be the one for Mike. There was a mattress that felt heavenly, but it cost just about $5,000… and that’s plain ridiculous. There was a middle of the road, however, and I hoped I’de be able to talk him into it. It actually has some of that memory foam on the top of it, but not enough to suck you in.
Mike arrived and of course liked the plywood rendition, kept going back to it infact, but the middle of the road version appealed to him too… and so that’s what we bought.
Hmmm… we arrived at a compromise quickly and with ease. Could this be the beginning of a new era?
Don’t bed on it 🙂
I don’t really have an explanation, not sure where it’s coming from, just not my normal thing. For some reason, chickens have been on my mind when planning the decorating of This Old House. I’ve had alot of animals over the years – dogs, horses, rabbits, cats, fish, fire-bellied toads and even a rat for a brief while. But never chickens.
Stained and Tung oiled, two coats left to go…and then… WE’RE IN!!!
This was my awesome (cheap!) find at a funky local antique warehouse, now hanging in the downstairs bathroom ( no sink or toilet yet, but HEY, we have an awesome cheap mirror!) and accompanied by sconces I found online. In the process of restoring and moving into this old house I have really come to appreciate the warmth and charm in old things, especially home furnishings. The fact that you can do it for a very reasonable price makes it even more rewarding and the hunt is half the fun.
Where have I heard that before?
A funny thing happened on the way to the hardware store (for the 100th time) on Friday. I stopped at the house to see how things were going. You might remember the RED issue. Well apparently it ain’t over yet. Yes mom, I’m using “ain’t” because sometimes it just “fits”, kinda like a few other words I use on very rare occasion…. *ahem*
In the process of dismantling and reassembling This Old House we found many little treasures, some stashed for a 100 years or more in various parts of the house…
This little bottle, no bigger than my thumb, was stashed up inside the keeping room fireplace on a tiny shelf. It still has a little cork stopper and contains what looks like gold flakes. These were typically sold by traveling snake oil salesmen many moons ago as an arthritis treatment among other things…
Anyway. I’ll recap briefly now, and once the house is complete I will publish before and after photos of each room.
I moved to this state from Staten Island and lived on this very same country road with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins for four years while attending college and getting my stuff together. I used to ride past This Old House frequently and it had me at “hello”. Little did I know I would one day call it home. It took us two attempts, alot of frustration and five years to buy it, long story short it finally became a reality a year and a half ago.
The house was originally built for a Deacon of the Congregational Church in the 1830’s, completed in 1835. The Deacon carved his name in one of the supporting beams of the roof and it is now displayed with lighting in my daughter’s bedroom ceiling, it’s original place. We found his original headstone on the property, and he rests in an old cemetery up the road from the house with a newer headstone – added when his wife passed away some years later. When we purchased the house it was no longer liveable. The building inspecter said he wouldn’t be able to give us a C of O. The house sat right on the road, so we made the decision to move it back about 40 feet on a new foundation using the old stones from the original foundation and walls on the property. There was an addition and greenhouse dating back to the 1940’s which we removed. Then Mike bought an already dismantled 1800’s federal from Jeff Klausen as well… using that house ( aka the Chester house) as a family room/loft addition. What you see now is really two old houses joined at the hip.
Below are some of the “before pictures…. we had already done extensive brush clearing to make the fields in the back visible. You can see the old dog kennel-apartment-garage and chicken coop on the right. Those buildings had no historical or architectural significance and were in need of much repair. It was determined that it would be cheaper to take them down and make a smaller structure instead.
