Happy Spring and New Furnishings

I always love when daffodils are for sale at the beginning of spring.   They are so bright and sunny!   We had a very long, cold, snowy winter here in New England so it's so nice to start to see some signs of spring.

We also have added some new furniture pieces to our dining room.   Previously, we only had the dining room table Nick built, but it's a large room and it was feeling very empty.   Plus, I really needed storage in there.   I had been keeping all my linens, runners and napkins upstairs in the guest room, which really wasn't convenient when setting the table for guests.   

We had been searching on craigslist and at the Habit for Humanity Restore for a few months without much luck.  We eventually found a vendor who had 10,000 sq. of vintage and antique furniture.  Surely, we would find something there!  And boy did we!  We almost bought a different hutch but when Nick went to pick up the furniture the next day the vendor had just got in a matching mahogany hutch and buffet.  Both were in amazing shape and we immediately switch to buy both pieces.   The hutch was exactly what we were looking for, something with enough display space and not too ornate.  The buffet provided the perfect amount of storage.   The mahogany was just so beautiful, hardly a single scratch.   I think they are from the 1940's or 50's based on similar pieces I found online.  Unfortunately, neither piece had a markers mark.   

In the buffet the silverware drawers, lined with velvet, were the perfect size for my napkin rings!

We still have to sand and assemble our church pew seating, hopefully we will finish that in the next few weeks.   I also want to find a rug to break up all the wood.   Between the furniture, floors and molding, it's a little too much.   At least the daffodils are providing some much needed color for now!

Sink It

Our downstairs bathroom has a perfectly fine vanity, the typical run of the mill ones you can find at Home Depot or Lowes.   We are indifferent to it.   While standing at it a few weeks ago I had an epiphany.  Back in the fall around the same time we moved into our new house Nick's sister got a new house as well.  Their house had an original farmhouse double sink with porcelain legs from 1938.   Due to the renovations they needed to make to their house it no longer fit in their kitchen.   As I stood at my bathroom sink I realized that the farmhouse sink would fit perfectly there!  Luckily, Nick loved the idea and his sister let us take the sink.   Having such a big double sink will be great to have in that bathroom since it's off of the mud/laundry room, making it convenient for hand washing and soaking clothes.  

It was pretty dirty from years of grime and from sitting out side for a few months.  

First I used some dish soap knowing that it wouldn't be too abrasive,  it helped clean up a lot of the sink but couldn't get rid of some of the really deep and hardened dirt.   I searched online for a few different homemade cleaners that I could make up with what I had in the house.   I found one that used equal parts cream of tartar and lemon juice, making a paste.  It worked fantastic!  It cut through the dirt so well and helped the sink sparkle!  Definitely a solution I will be trying again!   Once it was cleaned I realized the corners and lines around the sink match our vintage porcelain tub in the downstairs bathroom.  It's like the two were meant to be together!

There are still a few rust spots that I'm going to try to patch since they aren't close to the drain.   We thought about re-glazing but the rest of the sink looks so great I'm not sure if its worth it.   Next up I have to finish cleaning the legs and get it prepped to install in the bathroom.

Paint By Numbers

After living in our house for a few months we decided it was time to adjust some of the paint colors.   Many of the colors the previous owners chose we loved however, the color of the living room we weren't as crazy about.   It wasn't offensive or anything just a bit too much pale yellow-y beige-y.  We are hoping to go for more of a blue/grey shade.   The room has beige carpet, maple colored trim and white baseboards,  in addition there is also a brick fireplace.  We needed to keep this all in mind when picking colors to make sure everything would tie together nicely

We stopped at Home Depot and picked up 8 samples.   Right away we could eliminate 3 or 4 of them.   Color #1, 3 and 7 we our favorites so we took the night to think about it.  If you are wondering were color #4 is, we tested it on a different wall and didn't like it.  The color was such a light gray I couldn't really photograph it well.

We finally settled on "school house slate" from the Martha Stewart line (paint color #1).   It wasn't too blue or too gray.   It took us about 5 hours to paint the two coats, which actually seems fast for a 20x30 ft. room.   Nick hates cutting/trim and I'm not crazy about rolling so we making a pretty mean painting team!

Before:

After:

The new slate blue-gray helps make the room seem smaller, which normally wouldn't be what one would go for but it's really a massive room.   The color makes it feel more cozy and home-like.

Our hope is to add white crown molding at some point to coordinate with the white baseboards, not sure if I want to paint the window molding white yet.  We also still need to address the stairwell upstairs.  The walls and ceiling are quite high and we weren't sure if we wants to have the new color go all the way up the stairs and hall or do something different.

Fall Vintage Finds

Unfortunately, due to selling our old house and getting moved in our new one we didn't make it to Todd Farm as much as we wanted this year.   However, we did cram in one visit in October after we moved in.

My favorite purchase was two owl andirons.   As soon as I saw them I was obsessed!  They are from the 1920's and made by the Rostand Manufacturing Company of Milford, CT.    Unlike many of their counterparts, ours are missing their glass eyes (which glow when the fire light hits them).   That was ok with us because I think they look almost more haunting eyeless.   We were able to snatch them up for $55 which seems like a pretty good deal since I have found many online for $250-1,000.   Even with the lack of eyes I think they are likely worth at least double what we paid.

We also found a beautiful handmade quilt.  After some research online, I believe it's a Cathedral Window pattern.  Best part was it was only $50.  It's amazing to think of the time it must have took to cut out and sew on each individual diamond shape.    Based on the fabric colors and patterns I think it would date from the 1960's but I'm not sure.    Since we have two rambunctious dogs who like to sleep on beds, we decided it would be best to display it on the wall in our 2nd guest room (future nursery one day) to keep it safe.    All we did was put up an extra long curtain rod and draped the quilt over it.   Now we just need new bedding for the bed. 

We also found a set of Pyrex Primary Color mixing bowls.   My mom has a set and I have always loved them (actually I pretty much love anything that is Pyrex).   The set was in great condition with no chips or major scratches.    The bowls are not numbered on the bottom which from what I have read may mean they are an earlier set from the 1940's.   We got them for $40 which I thought was bargain.

Lastly, we snatched up a $10 blue and white wool blanket and $25 cast iron Christmas tree stand (it came in handy with our two trees this year).   Counting down until it's flea market season again!

A Place To Hang My Jewels

Last year when Nick was laid off for a few months he had a lot of time on his hands.   When my birthday came around he decided he would make my gift rather than buy me something.    He had seen me look at wall mounted jewelry displays before and knew I would like something similar.    By finding antique knobs and drawer pulls, along with an vintage cabinet door, he was able to assemble the perfect jewelry display.   It is one of my favorite gifts he has ever given me.  It meant so much that he put so much thought and time into making it.   The only downside was a few weeks after my birthday we were starting to pack up our house to put it on the market.  It didn't make sense to drill more holes in the walls to hang it up (especially since it would need anchors - it's quite heavy).   So I had to wait almost 5 months to hang up, use and see my beautiful birthday gift every day.

Now it's finally up in our bedroom near our closet and above my jewelry chest.   It holds my favorite pieces I wear most often and it makes it so easy to pick out what I want to wear each day.   Not to mention, it's serves as a version of art on our wall.

Bed-y Bye

Until we moved into our new house Nick and I slept in a full size bed, for way too many years.   It's almost comical now to figure out how two grown adults and two large dogs fit into such a tiny bed (plus Nick is very claustrophobic).  I think I had literally spent years sleeping within 1 ft. wide section of the bed.  Our new bedroom is about 14x15ft. giving us finally, a room large enough to upgrade to a king size bed.  We now happily sleep with the two dogs snuggled in the middle and not right on top of us.  It's lovely!   We feel like we are on vacation in a fancy hotel bed almost every night.   The bed, from Jordan's Furniture, is cream colored with a slightly distressed look and two drawers for extra storage in the front.

The only downside of a new bed is buying all new sheets, duvet, pillows, comforter and heated mattress pad (as far as I'm concerned the most critical piece of bedding).   Luckily, when we moved in we had a 10% off coupon at Overstock that we used to buy the mattress pad and duvet.   Our sheets and comforter came from L.L.Bean and the pillows from Home Goods.  The rug is also new, we found it at a L.L.Bean outlet store.  It's 8.5x11ft and mostly light green, blue and cream,  tying in the colors from the duvet nicely.

Also found at Home Goods was new lamp for my side of the bed.  Nick for some reason
hates lights so he opted not to put one on his side.  So much for a balanced look.  Anyways, the lamp was only $40 and I love how it's diamond pattern matches the design of the duvet.

Next up is some more artwork and new curtains to cover the balcony door (where the dark blue curtains are in the pictures above).

If you can't buy it, build it

Happy New Year!  Here's to 2014!

Our new house is almost double the size of our last house.  Double the size means double the amount of furniture needed.   Moving in itself is costly, so there wasn't much left in our budget for furniture.  We did purchase a new couch, bed and mattress, but that was it.   Nick thought this might be a good opportunity to build our own furniture and save some money.  He had taken a few woodshop classes in high school and he really liked it however, he hadn't built anything in years.    In searching for easy to follow plans, he found Ana White's website.   It's fantastic, with so many options and its fun to see how others, who followed the plans, projects came out .    So far he has built a coffee table and dining room table and plans to try out more.

His first project was a coffee table for our living room.   Here it is unfinished before we stained and painted it.

We saw some where (not sure if it was a magazine or blog) a driftwood color stain and instantly loved it.   We decided to spray paint the legs cream for a two tone look.   The table is the perfect size for the space.

Our next project was building a dining room table.   When we have family over, it can be up to 10 people, so we knew we wanted a table large enough to seat everyone.   The dining room is luckily a long room so we had a good amount of space to work with.

We chose a walnut color stain that would stand out from the blonde maple colored floors.  I just love how its rustic feel pops against the formalness of the room.

It was so nice to have in place before the holidays.  We are using chairs currently, from the kitchen table but soon will have two 8ft. church pew benches on either side.   Can't wait to have those in place.