Buy my house?

The Anniversary Home is officially on the market!

In fact, we have our first viewing this afternoon. I did a special tidy/clean last night, bought some pretty flowers and made sure to leave all the lights on this morning when I left for work. We'll see how long before my enthusiasm runs dry and I'm scrambling last minute to throw junk in drawers to make the house look decent. 

So friends, if you know anyone who wants to buy a beautiful Victorian farmhouse in Pennsylvania, please send them my blog or email. I'd be happy to put the hard sell on them tell them more about this fabulous house.

I mean, who wouldn't want to live here?

This vintage style Victorian with wraparound porch was the original home of the Mayor of the town and located in a great school district. Recent updates have made this home comfortable and inviting. New designer kitchen with Thomasville cabinets, farmhouse sink, over-sized center island, high-end stainless steel appliances, granite and new hardwood floors. Formal dining room adjacent to kitchen with tall pillars defining the space. Formal living room with hardwood floors and gorgeous wood pocket doors. Climb the grand, rich wood staircase to the second floor featuring a large main suite with a wall of windows, second bedroom and library / office with full hall bath. Third floor features two additional bedrooms, both generous in size and rich in woodworking. Existing stable barn, prime for renovations as family annex and currently acting as storage and two car garage. Home features hardwood floors throughout most of home, new roof, new gutters, new chimney capping, new carpets, new sand mound, well tank, etc.

Let there be light

Five days later, and I think I'm finally ready to talk about this weekend's traumatic experience of hanging a dining room chandelier. Traumatic. Experience.

Firstly, I can only blame myself for this business. I should have had my act together and gone to the darn store to buy the chandelier while the contractors were still around working on the kitchen. Then they could have hung it for me. But I didn't.

This past week, I realized I was sick and tired of looking at the single, pathetic light bulb hanging from an exposed socket in the ceiling and decided to do something about it. (Not by myself though. That would have been even more traumatic. Can you imagine the hot mess that would have been me with electrical work? Oh wait. I'm giving away the rest of the story.)

Mr. B has been traveling A LOT lately. As in, I haven't seen him for two weeks, his back is still nagging him and causing extreme pain, but yet, I wanted this light situation resolved. This makes for an enjoyable Saturday DIY activity, yes? Quality couples time? Not so much. I should have seen where this was going....

Fast forward through our trip to Lowe's and the minor domestic disturbance reasonable discussion that occurred in the ceiling fan section. (Why were we in the fan section when we needed a chandelier? Because Mr. B's back was hurting him so much he needed to sit down. Like I said, I should have known this wasn't going to end well.) In the end, we brought home this little beauty and decided to get to work.

Pretty, eh? The oil-rubbed look matches the knobs, pulls and sink hardware in the kitchen.

And get to work we did. Here's an actual quote from me as the project began: "I mean, really, how long can this take? It's pretty simple - follow the instructions and in an hour or two we'll be enjoying dinner and wine under the new light fixture."  Goodness, I'm naive sometimes.

Let's start with an important piece of information that will help you, friendly reader, understand actually how dumb I am: We started this project at approximately 4:45pm. The sun was setting. It was already getting dark. You see where I am going? No? Good, because that makes me feel better.

After turning off the electric fuse to the kitchen/dining room (don't want to blow ourselves or the house up!) we had the last few streams of natural light coming in through the windows. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Again, fast forward two hours and we're in the pitch black - with a freakin flashlight - at one of the most critical stages of the process.

If we weren't at each other's wits ends in the ceiling fan section at Lowe's, we certainly were now. (Mr. B. was upset that I was drinking a glass of wine during this project. Does anyone else think that is ridiculous? It's Saturday night at 7:00 and we're hanging a chandelier in the dark. Wine is a must.)

The situation was basically unbearable (I'm so dramatic sometimes) because Mr. B couldn't get up on the stepladder. He had to direct everything from his chair. And frankly, we communicate well, but sometimes his directions of "where to screw what" can be a little lacking. I was just a few inches too short to comfortably reach the ceiling so had to stand on my tippy toes (accident waiting to happen) and on top of all this, I had to hold the chandelier by myself up to the ceiling. Did I mention I have the weakest shoulder muscles in the world?  

Enough is enough. I called a time-out on the project, went to pick up a pizza and tucked myself in bed to continue the adventure the next day. Enough of hanging a chandelier in the dark.

Take two on Sunday started out much better. In fact, we got the thing up in record time. Only to realize we forgot a part and had to take it all. down. again. Seriously? But at this point, we knew how to hang it up and from there, it was only another hour or so to get to the moment of truth. The flip of the switch. And would you believe it, it turned on the first time.

Well, yes and no:

Mr. B: Is it on? I flipped the right fuse.

Me: No! It's still dark in here.

Mr. B: Did you turn on the light switch?

Me: Oops. That was dumb. (Turns on light switch.) No! It's still dark in here.

Mr. B: Did you adjust the dimmer?

Me: (Why does he always have to be right?) Oh there we go! It's on! We have light!

So the final product is this - hallelujah we have light!

Foyer / Hallway: Before & After

A few weeks ago, when Mr. B and I were on vacation, we had painter come in and work his magic on that awful charteruse/lime green in the downstairs foyer and upstairs hallway. You're probably thinking: "Who in their right mind leaves their house for two weeks to a painter?" We do. Because he's our neighbor directly across the street. Russ is just an all-around good guy.

It made sense to have him do all the work while we were gone. He didn't have to worry about cleaning up for us each night, and we didn't have to live in a worksite full of paint fumes. Double bonus that when Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee hit, Russ was able to keep an eye on the house for any shenanigans or trouble. Thankfully, this little beast weathered the storms just fine. I'd expect nothing less from a 120 year old house! 

We wanted something simple and neutral, and in all honesty, we were so down to the wire with packing and prep for the trip we sort of forgot to pick colors. When in doubt, trust what's worked before: Accessible Beige by Sherwin Williams. (The same color as the office with the board and batten. Which BTW, 6 months later and I'm still obsessing over this room. I love it.) So yes, nothing earth-shattering. But after that green, we needed some respite and calm.

Here's the before and after:

Just looking at these before pictures gives me the heebie jeebies. And can you see the old kitchen in the bottom left corner of the before picture? Goodness knows whatever possessed us to attempt this project. Clearly, Mr. B. has some serious powers of persuasion (must be that accent!) because Seriously, we bought this house with green walls.

Forgive the "makeshift" decoration in the after photo. You know me well enough to know I've got my eye on a certain table/buffet/storage piece for this spot but it's out of my price range. I'm continuing to hunt around (and check PB each week for a clearance) so this works in the meantime.

Interestingly enough, that table is actually a "games table" (as Mr. B. calls it) which is great-grandfather made back in jolly ole England. The four triangles fold out to make a nifty little poker table. It's a special piece to have, but like I said, it's a temporary fix for the foyer. We'll find a more appropriate spot for the games table other than the foyer!

Oh, and the rotary phone? That was Walter's (the previous owner. We're on a first name basis.) It's still got the old landline number in his handwriting written on the top it.

We joked about this being the Christmas shot. Green + Red = Year round holiday goodness! I love the holidays as much as the next girl but there is such a thing as too much Christmas. I've lived to tell about it.

And finally, the upstairs landing between the 2nd and 3rd floors. Still need to replace that ridiculous light fixture but again, small wins here: the green in gone AND that awful 70's carpet is gone too. You can thank Mr. B. for that one. (And remember how I mentioned a trip to the ER last weekend too? You can thank the 70's carpet for that one.)  Need window treatments and a little decoration and we're in business. 

Russ also painted the master bedroom, but I'm not quite ready to reveal those pictures yet. The 70's carpet is still lurking around in there and it's not really an after until that stuff is gone. Forever.







Monday Makeover

We're all about makeovers here at The Anniversary Home.

So, if you haven't noticed - and I don't know how you could miss it - The Anniversary Home blog got a pretty sweet makeover recently. I'm biased, but I'm loving the new header and the pretty blues and purples. I hope you like it too?

All the thanks and credit goes to Jess over at Diamond Doll Designs. Didn't she do an incredible job? I think you should check out her etsy shop and have her makeover your blog too. Or maybe some custom stationery and invitations. Or artwork. She's got it all.

Jess is a sorority sister who always has a special eye for the fantastic and fabulous. She's got a pretty amazing blog over at My Beatles Babies where I highly suggest you spend some quality time. (Her little munchkins are probably the cutest things ever.) Jess is about to start a big home construction project in the new year too, so if you're really into home restoration and decorating, the two of us have you covered.

Thanks again Jess!