Dreaming of Warmer Weather

As many of you know, we are restoring an 85+ year old house. One of my favorite features of the house is the back patio area. It has a huge pecan tree shading it, which will be great in the Texas heat. The whole area is in sad shape now, but I have big plans for it. I've been dreaming of all the wonderful get togethers we can have out there; I think the cold has me yearning for warm weather.

I've always wanted a fire pit in the middle of our patio area. I can just see us entertaining on summer evenings around the warm glow of a fire. I want to surround the fire pit with a lovely set of patio furniture, basically making it into an outdoor living room. I love the look of this set.

I also love the look of wicker furniture. It has a charming feel, reminding me of days gone by. I would love to have this beautiful set on my front porch.

But, it is still winter here, so I have to content myself with drooling over all the beautiful furniture offered by Max Outdoor Living. I sit here, browsing their website, making plans, and dreaming about warmer weather. I cannot wait to throw our first BBQ bash under that big old pecan tree!


SAVING is good.

The Joys of Remodeling/Redecorating

Most of you know that we live in a house that has been in my family forever and is 80+ years old. We are completely remodeling it, slowly as we have the money and time to get thing done.

Recently Dan brought home a $300 dollar sink that was being discontinued, so he picked it up on clearance for $35. Gotta love a deal like that! Anyway, the sink sits in a box until we can find a suitable cabinet to put it in, or he can build one himself. Bathroom vanities, we've discovered can be quite pricey. But, these bathroom vanity sets are some of the best bargains we've found. I really like several of them and would have a hard time picking my favorite.

Our bedroom is a major source of frustration for me. It's a big room, but is is dark because the walls are covered with dark paneling and we have fairly dark hardwood floors. The furniture is a hand me down set from my brother in law, that is really beautiful. The problem is that the sleek, modern black lacquer does not really mesh with our country/western, more traditional decor. So a new bedroom set is high on my list of wants. Several of these sets of bedroom furniture would look great in our house. When you think about good quality furniture being a long term investment, the prices aren't bad. You can actually find some pretty great buys at Maxfurniture.com, especially shopping during their sales. I'll have to make Dan browse the selections a bit.

The house will come together eventually I know. It's one of those slowly but surely type projects. The big pieces of the puzzle wait until we find them at an affordable price, so the little things get done faster. We've finally gotten a lot of painting done which has made a big difference! And I'm having no problem filling the place up with little things I love. It may not me remodeled the way I want it to be yet, but it has already become a home.

Kitchen Conundrum

photo by Seattle Municipal Archives

As many of you know, we are in the process of remodeling or 85+ year old house. It's been an interesting ride so far. We've finally got color up in the living room after having it only primed for weeks. It looks fantastic! We also have the kids rooms mostly painted. Ashley's is lavender and Tris is sporting Home Depot orange and white walls. I'll try to post some updated "work in progress" pics soon. We've decided what we want to do in the bathroom, it didn't even take that long to agree on, lol. But the kitchen is another story.

The decorating is what's causing problems at the moment. We have had a rooster/chicken theme going on in the kitchen for a few years now, and I love it. We also really love cowboy, ranch, western themed stuff...we have a very ranch theme happening in the living room. It works well...there's chickens on the ranch right? And then there is this print that I just must have, but can't find anywhere that I can afford. One just like this hung above my late grandparents kitchen table for as long as I can remember. To me a country kitchen is not complete without it! Anyway, I wanted to paint my cabinets barn red, to go with my over all country theme, but the color in my mind seems to not exist. So, we've spent literally hours checking out paint color charts and honestly don't like anything.

Then, I've suddenly developed a fetish for vintage kitchen linens, and that is making me imagine all sorts of stuff in the kitchen...none of which involves cowboys or barnyard animals. A big part of me wants a kitchen straight out of a 1950s copy of Better Homes & Gardens. Think June Cleaver's kitchen. I have not mentioned any of this to poor Dan, for fear his head might explode. Although, he frequently refers to me as Edith, as in Bunker, so maybe a retro theme wouldn't shock him too badly. But 1970s retro and 40s/50s vintage are two entirely different things. I think I'm in trouble here.

So, my current mission is to somehow meld these two concepts together, so both Dan and I will be happy in the kitchen. I'm beginning to think that having an actual decorating theme is hopeless and that we should just make it a big eclectic mix of whatever makes us happy. After all, as long as the space works for us and brings us joy, who cares what anyone else thinks. But, that still leaves us with no paint color for the cabinets and walls. The joys of redoing a home!