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.

College Educated

But can't follow directions.

The kitchen, friends, is getting a test drive this week. I owe you updates but I need to take better pictures (story of my life!)

For now, I'll leave you with this sneak peek of Chez Mr B hard at work on tonight's masterpiece: Stovetop Chicken courtesy of our besties at Southern Living.




The new stove/oven is a real treat - once you figure out how the heck to use the damn thing. We are college educated but apparently "following directions" from a manual is a little much to ask.

Ta ta for now. Me and my full belly are headed to sleepyland.

Kitchen Renovation Day 67

Freaky Friday! The Flippin Fridge is Fully Functional!





Functional in the sense that it's nicely tucked away in its little cabinet home where it will live happily ever after.

Also functional in that it is COLD. Always a good sign of a working fridge.

The pretty handlebars have yet to be mounted. (Installed? Not sure what we're specifically calling the act of getting the darn bars on the fridge!) And you also probably noticed the protective film that I guess is going to continue to protect. From what, I'm not sure. But I'm not taking any chances.

Hopefully this week they will finish up the fridge and get the Aga all hooked up and in business. I know they have a bunch of other loose ends to tie up. . Because right now there isn't one. But we'll save that "hilarious" story for another day.

Mr. B tells me it's too soon to start moving stuff into the pretty new fridge. Is he right or wrong?




Oh say, like finding the dining room light switch

Kitchen Renovation Day 50

We've hit the big 5-0 folks. 50 darn days of this project. But I have exciting news to share:

The Aga has landed....

Obviously the handles and all the bells and whistles aren't on yet, but it's set in the kitchen. Trying to figure out the measurements on that wall to make sure it all fit was a royal pain in the rear, but it all fits. (No thanks to my math skills.)

Ignore the saw on the left bottom. I just wanted to get the side cabinets in for reference. And yes, to prove this place is still a worksite if I've ever seen one.

We had some people over tonight to check out the house and as Mr. B predicted, the Aga was certainly a hit.

But the surprises don't stop there!

The pretty farmhouse sink is in place...

Mr. B has to find some facuets this weekend. Not many wives trust their husbands implicitly with home decor but I have no doubts he'll do just find without me. (Read: I'll approve via email pictures.)

Since the thing weighs darn near a ton, they had to build a special little shelf to support the weight. The sink sits on top of it and holds it all nicely in place. Muy muy muy importante come granite time. Or so I've heard.

Finally, they started to put the molding on around the cabinets which makes such a difference, if I may say so myself!

 

And lastly, remember the tiny issue we had with the cabinet surrounding the fridge? It wasn't cut to counterdepth? Well, they fixed that today too, and put the end panel on. I'm so pleased.

So yeah, you could say things are getting done around here. I love coming home on evenings when there's been tons of progress and being surprised at every turn. It took me at least 5 minutes to notice the Aga, which was immensely entertaining to the guys who were still working when I got home. (Did I mention how much I love our contractors? Straight hustlin'.)


Hope you all have a fantastic Thursday!

Aga

Mr. B has his heart set on this bad-boy: An Aga Legacy Electric Range.

Before any of you jump on our backs about electric vs. gas, let me give you the rundown on the state of the kitchen. The Anniversary Home is an electric kitchen. No simple way around it. Complicated way around it?  Yes, add gas.

But since we live in the boonies, that would mean having a visible gas tank in my backyard or basement. Not ideal. I have visions of me watching kids through the kitchen window playing backyard hide and go seek......around......a gas tank?  Yikes. My dream kitchen would have gas. But this one won't. So let's make the best of it and move on.

For Mr. B, the Aga is the quintessential English country home kitchen highlight. It's his little piece of England in the USA and I can understand that. Plus, it's kinda quirky and different, and well, that's us and this house. But, I'm still skeptical. I suppose that's because I've never cooked on one. My real hesitation is that the oven just looks weird. 

How the heck can you fit Thanksgiving in there????

Ahhhhh.

Point taken, Aga.