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).

New House Part 2

A few weeks ago I shared our new house along with the downstairs.  Today, we will head upstairs as well as show the kitchen!

The kitchen was fully renovated by the previous owners.  There are gorgeous granite countertops, custom cabinets and of course the farmhouse sink!

 This is the eat in section of the kitchen, I will post more pictures soon with the table set up.

Front staircase and hall upstairs.

We were so excited that the master was big enough for us to upgrade from a full size bed to a king size bed finally!  After way too many years with a full size bed and two dogs it was time.  You can see the doorway off of the master to the balcony.  The railing is a bit too low, something we need to fix in the spring.

There is a bedroom next to the master that will someday, hopefully, become a nursery.  In the meantime it's an extra guest bedroom.

We don't have a master bath but there is a bathroom in the middle of the house connecting the two sides. You must walk through the bathroom to get to the rest of the rooms or walk downstairs through the house.  What can I say old houses have odd layouts sometimes.

This is a bonus room upstairs, that currently serves zero purpose other than to house my husband's many hunting clothes.   I hope to turn it into a play room when we have kids.  There is access to a secret staircase in this room that leads into the kitchen.   At bottom of the stairs is a built in pantry so you can't actually use it fully as a staircase.

Another room upstairs is my husband's office.  There are some great built ins that were probably added in the 1950's.

In the back of the house above the garage and addition to the house is the guest bathroom.  

Lastly,  is the guest bedroom.  Since the guest bath and bedroom are in the back of the house we jokingly call it the "South Wing".  

So that is basically it!  Minus the garage, shed and yard.   A new post with our holiday decorating is coming.   It's always fun in a new house to find out where to decorate!

New House

I have taken quite the blog hiatus.   Early in the summer my husband took a new job which almost tripled his daily commute time.   He was spending almost 3 hours a day in the car and I was spending almost 2.   The real estate market was also heating up around us so we decided to take advantage and move.    Selling and buying at the same time was chaotic and stressful but we absolutely love our new house.  

When we set out to by we knew we wanted something old.   As much as we loved our old house, a 1970's split level wasn't really our style.    Our goal was to find something pre-1950.  And oh boy did we find it!   It was pretty difficult though, there was a sea of post 1950's ranches and split levels on the market!

Here it is! A 1860 antique colonial with a wrap around porch: 

It was at the top of our budget but was completely remodeled with it's historic charm kept in tact.   It crossed off almost everything on our dream house check list:

1. Wrap around porch
2. Porch swing
3. Farmhouse sink
4. Walk in closet
5. Old house character
6. Hardwood floors
7. Fenced in yard
8. 1+ acre
9. Claw foot tub


Old house + lots of land is almost impossible to find in our area unless we are spending big bucks.  And the claw foot tub can always be remedied.   The house even features some bonuses such as a secret staircase, gazebo, and balcony off of the master bedroom.

Shall we begin the tour?  Let's just start with the downstairs (minus the kitchen that will come in a separate post along with the upstairs).

 The entry has a beautiful door,  I love the window above it.  We also have the most ornate radiators! 

  A better look at the banister and the radiator in the entry.

 

The formal living room, or as we affectionately call it the "parlor" has amazing hardwood floors in a square pattern.  There is also an original arch into the dining room.

Both the dining room and the office on the opposite side have a curved windows.   The dining room also has a tin ceiling (not original but fits with the period). 

A view of my office, the opening overlooks into the dining room.   Since there is no radiator in the office it helps to flow heat from the dining room in.   The picture below shows the curved windows on the office side and the detail work of the wood floors.  I'm debating putting in a window seat, the only downside is it would cover up some of that detail work.

 The downstairs bathroom has an old cast iron tub (although not a claw foot).  

The previous owners when remodeling kept the old antique door knobs turning them into quite the conversation piece as a coat rack.   It hangs in the mud/laundry room off of the garage.  I'm so happy they left it! 

The last room downstairs (minus the kitchen) is the family room.  It is huge,  20X30 feet.   This part of the house is an addition from the 1970's-1980's.  We love the gas fireplace, it makes it such a cozy room.   You can also see the 2nd staircase leading to the back wing of the house.

I will be following up with more pictures of the rest of the house soon, along with some decorating, antiquing and DIY updates!