Nursery Update

Leave it to us to leave this nursery business to the last minute, but I can assure yall, we're almost there!

We got a little behind with the addition of some crown molding (it's a long story but Mr. B insists that if Baby is going to be staring up at the ceiling, it needed some extra decorative woodwork) and several weekends of other home projects that set back our timeline.

However, with Mama H. here this past weekend, everything is nearly complete. The only thing left? Hang it all on the walls and arrange it. Seriously. Just put it all where it goes and we're done!

I promise I'll share complete room photos when it's done, but here are a few pieces that came together this past weekend. You'll see these little bits scattered throughout the room in the final pictures, but at least you can have an idea of what we're doing over here!

Not sure this particular framing company could have taken ANY longer but at least it's done.

Notice the "Clerkenwell" sign below the second "O" in London.

That's where Mummy and Daddy met. At a bar. How romantic.

 

I was short a couple of frames for some pictures so scored some cheap white ones at TJMaxx.

And it's true: this is our family routine. Wake Up, Be Awesome, Go to Bed.

 

Excuse the unedited picture and the setting - the middle of the kitchen is not a normal place for a rocking chair, I'm aware.

We went in CIRCLES about a rocking chair but found a perfect workaround solution for this one.

This, btw, is the rocking chair that my brother and I were rocked in as babies.

 

And what to do with some of our leftover fabric?

Make a kite! (The room has a little bit of a kite theme!)

 

Okay, that's it for now. The room is nearly there and I can rest easier at night (as if there is such thing these days) knowing we will bring a baby home to a finished project and not a work in progress!

 

The Elephant in the Dining Room UPDATE

So no sooner than I posted that serious white girl problems post about the lack of dining room furniture did a solution present itself. Note to self: anytime one has problems, just blab them to the blogger universe and they will resolve themselves!

Mama H. came in town this past weekend to hang out and help me finish up some last details with the nursery. (Let's be very honest though: she was here in case I went in to labor while Mr. B was gallivanting around a golf course in Spain and drinking way too much beer. But no worries friends, the bun in still in the oven!)

Mr. B had mentioned, as he does every month, that I should check out the listing for the local monthly auction as there were a couple items which I might be interested. I sort of ignored him at first, but finally found myself scrolling through the pictures when BAM. I saw a dining room table. AH-HA!

Well yall know I just LOVE the auction. Think of all the deals we've scored over the years at various auctions: rocking chairs, dining chairs, pansy paintings, a Persian rug...oh I'm sure I've left a bunch of stuff out. I love the adrenaline rush (and so did Baby B! He/she was kicking up a storm when I was bidding!) and I love feeling like I crushed the competition when I win (um, competitive much?).

Mama H. and I went to check out the table and chairs the day before and they passed the test. Of course, this is a used table, so it wasn't in brand new retail condition, but that's okay. It had a little wear and tear, but let's be honest, YOU KNOW if I brought home a brand new table I'd find a way to scratch it within 7.3 seconds of it being in my home. That's just how it goes with me.

Fast forward to auction day, and lucky number 147, and the table + two leaves + 8 chairs were mine.

(pictures from the Auction House website)

 

I'd been hankering for a double pedestal table and while I'd prefer a little less upholstery on the chairs, I'll take it! The good news is the cream is so neutral (and clean) they don't need to be reupholstered immediately.

 

I've found what looks to be a later edition of the set by Broyhill so if I want the sideboard / buffet / china cabinet, I can hopefully match it so that only I know (and yall too!) how we pieced together this little deal. And it still leaves me the flexibility to find a really unique (and non-matching piece!) for the room instead. Call it the best of both worlds.

 

Hello jigsaw puzzles, turkey and stuffing and lots of family memories around this table!

 



The Anniversary Home's Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to The Anniversary Home!

Exactly one year ago today, we signed our lives away on the dotted lines and walked away with the keys to our new home.

At closing, the seller (a friend of Walter, it was an estate) gave us four photos from Christmas 1948. It's snowy and the house looks much, much prettier than it does today. We used this photo on the cover of our Christmas card for 2010. The photos are now framed and waiting to be hung in the foyer for all to see when they visit.

We knew from the moment we walked into The Anniversary Home that it was for us, despite all the terrible carpet, non-functioning kitchen, leaky roof, 70's paint colors and on and on. It would be a labor of love and it would be our home.

I wish I'd saved the list we'd made one evening over dinner when debating whether we were ready for the risk and the reward. It was on the back of an envelope and went on for miles. It ranged from complex and expensive like "renovate kitchen" to the easy and inexpensive like "superglue bathroom floor tile". The kitchen has been completed. The linoleum tile in the bathroom is still not fixed. Go figure.

A year ago today, I wondered: "Will we like living here?" "Will we ever get all this work done?" "Will this bring us closer together? Will this be a strain on our bank accounts?"

The answers, without a doubt, are: yes, yes, yes and yes. And that's a good thing. We've spent many a weekend holed up in the house doing goodness knows what repairs and cosmetic alterations. The greeter at Lowe's knows us. Our neighbors are impressed with our tenacity and ambition. I have to say I am too.

During a long car trip over the weekend, Mr. B. and I recounted the long list of major achievements in just one short year.

A new septic system.

(Partial credit only - it was mostly handled by the estate but there was lots of supervising involved!)

A new roof.

A new kitchen.

Every. Single. Room. Has. Been. Painted.

That darn rhodedendrum was removed.

(Still lots to be done in the landscaping department though.)

Those rocking chairs are on the front porch.

If I started listing all the "minor" projects that we did in the past year, you'd all get ridiculously bored and stop reading this entry. (Washing machines, pot holes in the driveway, wasp nest in the porch eaves, etc. etc. etc.)

I'm going to do a more comprehensive before and after photo tour of the house, but for now I'll leave you with this kitchen gem:

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen After:

Thank you little house for being a roof over our heads and a place we can call home!

BEFORE & AFTER: Rocking Chairs

For once, I have a before and after which is actually finished. Not like, "This is nearly done so I'll go ahead and post it," like I normally do. This post is a 100% certified finished project. Those are the kinds I like the most.

Many moons ago, Mr. B bought these rocking chairs at the spur of the moment at the auction. This was before TAH was really ours (ie, signed, sealed and delivered!) so I was feeling already overwhelmed with the "to-do" list.

At the time, I was - not going to lie - super annoyed because he hadn't really considered how he was going to get the HOME from the auction. I am sure you can imagine the conversation....

Mr. B: "Hey, look what I bought"

Mrs. B. "Bought? Um that's great honey. They look like hell."

Mr. B: "I know. We can restore them."

Mrs. B: "You mean I can restore them? Right. How much did you pay?"

Mr. B: "$15 for both."

Mrs. B: "Pretty good deal. How are we getting them home?"

Mr. B: "Hm. Good question. I hadn't thought of that."

You can guess that we developed a "no bidding without the other person's approval" policy from that point forward.

So fast forward and you'll remember us - very stupidly - trying to strip these bad boys by hand. We obviously chose the hottest day of the summer last year, worked out on the patio in direct sunlight from 12-4pm and made about 2% progress. Rookie mistake.

We wised up, thanks to my Aunt, and contacted a local sandblasted who said he could do the job but cautioned that the sand would increase how noticeable the wood grains are. We didn't mind because we wanted them to look like wood, grains and all, because, um, they are wood.

So we'll give Mr. B credit for organizing the sandblasting but I'm taking all the credit once the chairs were returned. I primed two coats which was time-intensive but was worth it in the end because it made spray painting super easy. 

Pre-primer and ready to go.

First coat spraypaint

So I spraypainted the heck out of the chairs - lots of thin little coats - and in the end:

Now that I look at that picture, I realize I tell a lie: We bought a small wooden table to go between the chairs (got to have a place to put your drink!) so I'll have to take another after photo for yall :-)

So guess where we spent all of Memorial Weekend?

BEFORE & AFTER: Remember those grates?

Flashback to this post from many moons ago. 

To think how foolish I was to try and scrape them myself...?? Thanks to the excellent advice from my aunt, we found a local sandblaster to take the project off our hands. Mr. B picked up the finished product last night, and they look fabulous.

Poor lighting - sorry!

It would have taken me years to the get paint out of this intricate detail!

The sandblaster suggested I spray a laquer (clear?) on top of them to protect the metal as it's exposed right now and could rust in the future. Advice welcome on what kind of laquer and how to apply...

But there's more!  We also shipped the rocking chairs off with the sandblaster too.  Long before this blog was even created, and before TAH was really ours, we found two old rockers at the auction (surprise, surprise).  Hello front porch sittin'.

Of course, they were an ugly green and we needed to strip them and repaint them. We spent a grueling afternoon in the August heat last summer for hours scraping those puppies down. We hardly made any progress. (And no pictures?) The sandblaster offered to strip them on the caveat that the process would further expose the grains in the wood, so therefore, when we repainted, you would see the wood grains.  Fine by me!

Hopefully the weather will be nice enough this weekend to sit on the porch with a glass of wine get started on painting those rockers. 

Maybe, I'll spend a little time tonight online shopping for some new cushions for the chairs too! Anyone seen any great outdoor furniture sales?