WHAT THE HOUSE LOOKED LIKE WHEN WE SOLD IT...

 Just wanted to post a link showing pictures of the house the way it was when we sold it.  So here it is...

Real Estate Listing

You can take a look if you would like.  It definitely wasn't perfect but it had come a LONG way in the nearly 10 years we lived there.  If you would like, take a look at some of my first posts to see how the ol' gal looked when we bought her to get a sense of what all took place.  I hope to someday soon start blogging again about our new home....A home we have lived in for almost two years now.  Some of it has made a transformation but not too much.  There is a lot of updating to do and I hope to be able to share it all with you here.  Don't hold me to that thought because I really don't get much time at all to blog or even do the updating to the house.  Work....and health issues....are preventing me from doing what I love.  Anyway.  I hope you will go the link above and take a look at where the house was when we left it.  Warning: they are the realtor's photos so not great.  Enjoy!

ORDERED A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE KITCHEN...

Yep, I did it!!!! I ordered this for the kitchen.  Found it on sale....only $79.00.

I have been wanting one of these for a LONG TIME!!

 Actually I kind of made one similar to this out the existing light fixture at the old house.....

Cute, huh?  

But I think this black one is going to look FABULOUS in the new house.

I can't wait til it arrives and I can sweet talk the hubs into wiring it up for me.  The existing light fixture in the kitchen is well (some would say okay) but I think it's hideous.

Opinions?  Yes, we all have them.  Now don't judge the kitchen too harshly.  This is from the real estate listing and we did just move in, so it needs a lot of updating yet.  We'll get to it....yes, we will...probably MUCH sooner than the hubs thinks were going to get to it...hehehe

Anywayssssss, I guess this light fixture in there is just not my taste.  To me it's not only somewhat outdated...it's just plain YUCK!!!!

Knowing me, I will probably schmooose it up a little and sell it.  Yes, that will come after I get my craft/project room all gussied up.    

All I know is this one makes me happy and for $79.00 I can afford this kind of happiness. 😊 

FIRST PAINT PROJECT AT THE NEW HOUSE....I JUST COULDN'T HELP MYSELF...

So the front door at the new house was my least favorite color in the whole world.......

POOP BROWN!!!

I have to admit that I knew when we bought the house that this door would be my first paint project here.....because.....I absolutely loathe anything that remotely resembles POOP.....so I just couldn't help myself.....I really couldn't help myself....THIS HAD TO GO!!!!!

I immediately started picking out paint swatches on my first trip to our new Lowes.

To even my surprise, I picked a bold, bright color....AMALFI by Sherwin Williams...

It's SO VERY UNLIKE ME.....because I am usually very reserved with color!!!!!

This was just the first coat, and not even dry yet....

Instead of buying a quart at Lowes for this project I waited a few days....what me wait....heehehee....and picked up a sample pot at the Sherwin Williams store near where I work.  The SW samples are almost a quart of paint and are only $6.  Way cheaper than anywhere else for that much paint. 

I gotta say, I am really loving the new color.

I will say that the pictures are really not a true representation of the actual color. It's a fresh, vibrant blue with quite a bit more green than it looks here.  It's kind  of like a deep peacock blue.  It's really beautiful.

Yes, I know it's BOLD and BRIGHT....

  

BUT...I believe it's neutral enough that a nice green wreath is gonna pop and be so welcoming.

I think I am gonna add some cute "hello." lettering too.  

So, what do you think about AMALFI?

NEEDING A STITCH FIX...

We just purchased the black leather sofa and loveseat a few weeks ago.  We picked it out in the store and never noticed a problem.  Once it was delivered I kept noticing that something just didn't seem quite right with the sofa and the one cushion was starting to look frumpy and more worn than the others in just a few days of use....but, I still couldn't put my finger on the problem...

AND THEN I NOTICED IT...

Do you see what's wrong? 

Here take a closer look....

Do you see it now?

Yes, the right cushion is missing the stitching around the top....I can't believe my OCD didn't catch this at the store....hehehe....SO....I immediately called the furniture store and they were so nice to order me a replacement cover.  I hope to have it in the next few weeks.

Just goes to show ya that even though it's new doesn't mean it's perfect.....keep your eyes peeled folks....KEEP.YOUR.EYES.PEELED!!!   :)

THE BEGINNINGS OF A FARMHOUSE STYLE LIVING ROOM...

So the first thing you see when you step inside the front door of our new house is......no surprise....the living room...

It's not huge, but I love it.  Even though there is only one window (and a beautiful window it is, though most would say it's outdated) there is plenty of natural light.

I decided I wanted to go SIMPLE in this room...well the whole house really.... 

I want bright, casual, easy and comfortable....no fuss and no frills, with no real colors to speak of or worry about.  I want a clean palette that takes care of itself with no hard and horrible decisions to make when it comes to choosing paint colors, finishes and fixtures.

I decided on a simple black and white modern farmhouse style.

I was fortunate that the wonderful couple who purchased our little vintage house wanted our existing living room and dining room furniture and all the decorations with the house.  It gave me the opportunity to buy new furniture and decor for this house.  YAY ME!!!!!

I decided on a gorgeous white entertainment cabinet and a super comfortable black leather sofa and loveseat to fill the room (I think I chose black furniture this time because of all the guff the hubs gave me over the white slipcovered Ikea Ektorp I had...:)).  He hated that thing, thought I was REALLLLLLY stupid for buying a white sofa with kids....and reminded me of how dumb he thought I was daily.  On the days I had to wash the covers he really gave me grief, but I digress...hehehe.

Anyway....

(I guess I could've at least picked up the dog's toy before taking the picture, huh....doh stupid me.  hehehe.)

The black recliner was a freebie and I painted my old drum table white and put it in the corner.

The big ottoman and little clock table next to the recliner were flea market finds at REALLY good prices.

Well I think you can clearly see who the queen of the house is...

Yes she's my girl and she is spoiled ROTTEN.  She surely rules the roost around here. 

I found the gorgeous (yet somewhat humorous) highland cow print at the furniture store and just couldn't pass it up....if anything says farmhouse....that's it!!!

AND...last but not least...I found the black and white cowhide online at Cowhides Direct and it was larger and cheaper than even Ikea's hide rugs.  If you want a cowhide...a real cowhide..at incredible prices...check them out!!!!!

I think it really grounds the space and finishes it off nicely.  Don't you?'

With the exception of getting a few more accessories and a new light fixture in here, all I have to do is paint...oh yes, this room NEEEEEEDS paint.  Hopefully that will happen once the weather turns from Winter to Spring for good.  I'm going with a crisp, clean and slightly warm white...Alabaster by Sherwin Williams.

I'm not going to do any kind of shiplap or other wall treatment like everyone else is doing.  That's just more tedious and more work than I want to go through at this point.  Besides, it's trendy and would do too much damage to the existing drywall when and if I decided to remove it in the future....AND, I believe I can achieve  the modern farmhouse look without all that.

 What do you think?

STARTING A NEW CHAPTER...

Just a short little post...for now...to let you all know that we FINALLY sold the house in Cuba, Mo.!!!!!

Yep you heard that right, the ol' girl sold.  I blame it all on the gorgeous kitchen and bathroom remodels we did.  Everyone who looked at it loved it and one lucky couple bought it.

Since the hubs got a new job in Saint Robert near the army base, an hour away from Cuba, we needed to get something closer to his job and mine....and we closed on a new house in Saint Robert February 1, 2019.  Thus we have STARTED A NEW CHAPTER....on TURKEY LANE....

SOOOO, I don't know...I might change the name of the blog to...TURKEY LANE...OR, maybe not.  Hehehe.

Anyway, for right now all I have to show you is the real estate listing (just click on the picture) but I hope to be showing updates to our new (yet somewhat dated) home soon.   While I will be taking the updating slow...VERY SLOW...because we are tired of remodeling and just want to relax and enjoy life for a while....I will be doing some painting and decorating in the meantime....all of which I hope to share with you here....of course, I have very good intentions, but that's at least what I PLAN to do...hehe...so keep your eyes peeled...mmkay.

Without further ado here is our new house on TURKEY LANE...

IF I HAD TO DO IT ALL AGAIN...I WOULD...

Hey all.  Been forever I know.  Sadly I don't really blog anymore.  For one there's not much going on on the home front...at least not in the home decor/design area anyway.  I have been working on a little "tiny home" for the sis...a small camper home...or small glamper should I say. I started working on it this past fall right up into the winter but it got too cold to get the rest of it done.  I only have just a few little things left to do though so I hope to be able to share that with you soon.

This post on the other hand is about the kitchen...kind of a short product review post really. I just wanted to share with you all the ins and outs and likes and dislikes of my product choices from our remodel last year.  Pay attention because this might help you in the event you are planning a kitchen remodel of your own.

Let me start by saying that I love my kitchen.  It's beautiful and so easy to work in now...which was the total reason for remodeling in the first place, so I can't complain there!!!!

However, I made a few product choices that I am not too thrilled with...One being the kitchen sink, another being the kitchen faucet, and the open shelving unit...with that said it's not that those items are bad or poor quality, but it is to say that if I had to do it all again, I would not choose them and here's why...

THE KITCHEN SINK---I chose a deep bowl double sided under mount stainless steel sink with stainless steel bottom grates.  With that said, It's beautiful and definitely DEEP, which brings me to the reason I would not get this type of sink again.  It's just too deep. I thought I would love that feature (and for the most part I do) but as it turns out, it's hard on my back, neck and arms reaching over the counter and down...WAY DOWN...into the sink when doing dishes and such.  My biggest peave about this sink though is that it's a BEAR to clean....taking out the grates, washing the sides and bottom and then trying to dry it all out so there are no water spots and putting the grates back in....yeah, a lot of days all that don't get done...Just sayin'...but I like a clean sink so that part is super frustrating to me.  I do however love that one side of the sink has a big, deep basket strainer to catch all those bits of food and such so they don't go down the drain.

If I had it to do again, I would probably go for an apron front farmhouse type sink.  Double bowl of course. That was my original plan for this kitchen but I had to get everything from Home Depot and they did not have one that would work at the time so this was the next best thing.

THE KITCHEN FAUCET---This is a love hate item.  I love the look of the faucet but not the functionality.  This is an item I ordered from Home Depot online and had delivered sight unseen.  I assumed that because it looked as if it had a pull out sprayer hose that it did.  However, it does not (which is probably why I hate trying to clean the sink out so much...the faucet head does not reach to where the dirt is)...See my unclean sink is all the faucets fault!!! LOL.  No really, the head does come out of the bracket but it cannot be pulled down into the sink.  It's NOT flexible which I absolutely hate.  If I would have known that it only looked like it had a " pull down sprayer hose" but didn't, I would never have purchased this!!!!!

If I had to do this one over again I would have checked the product out better to make absolutely sure it had a pull out sprayer hose because you really NEED one when you have a deep bowl sink!!!

THE OPEN SHELVES---Okay, it's all the rage nowadays to have open shelves in the kitchen and I must say that I do love the look....and, I do want open shelves in my kitchen...just not these open shelves.  Why?  Again I ordered these online, sight unseen and they were...cough, cough...VERY EXPENSIVE.  I picked them because again I liked the look. I wanted the rustic, industrial look with the iron pipe brackets and gorgeous wood planks...however, the functionality of these stink. Being a first time open shelf picker outer I didn't realize that I would only be getting use of about half of each shelf because of the style and placement of the bracket.  I am losing about 10 inches of surface area on each shelf..  This wall is only 27 inches wide so I am only getting about 16-17 inches of usable space on each shelf.  Also, these stick out away from the wall about 4-5 inches which means I can't prop anything (like a sign or plate, etc.) against the wall.  Over all these particular shelves are a total waste of space in my small kitchen...and a total waste of money!!!!

If I had to do it again, with everything I know now about opening shelving, I would have made my own.  I would have made something that functioned better and would've spent a LOT less money in the process.

Now I had not mentioned the Hampton Bay White Shaker Style cabinets to this point but, I also have a love hate relationship with them.  I do love how they look and for the most part I love how they work, but since I opted for more drawer storage instead of regular door front cabinets I feel that I have actually lost a lot of much needed space with these Hampton Bay brand cabinets. Here's why.

The drawers though they look deep, are pretty shallow and the drawers boxes themselves are smaller...WAY SMALLER...than the cabinet base.  We are losing tons of much needed space with these...at least 8-12 cubit inches per drawer.

However I will point out that not all drawer cabinets are like mine.  There are plenty of drawer cabinet brands out there where the drawer box is actually as big as the drawer front and base of the cabinet itself. Ikea for one sells drawer base cabinets like that, and several other cabinet makers have them as well.  So, if I had to do it again, I would definitely check out the dimensions of the drawers better before ordering.

Now with all that said, none of this was to complain.  Mainly it was to help YOU in making better decisions when and if you should ever decide to remodel your kitchen.  I can say without a doubt that I still absolutely love my kitchen and am so grateful for such a nice space to cook in. This post was just to say that I would make better or...DIFFERENT...choices on some things if I had to do it all over again. It's kind of a "you live and you learn" type thing as you truly do not know how something is going to function until you have had the opportunity to use it and I want to steer you clear of making some of my same mistakes.

One thing I do not regret is my decision to splurge on quartz countertops.  They were expensive but well worth the money.  They are strong, durable, stain resistant and maintenance free.  If I ever remodel another kitchen....GOD FORBID...I will definitely choose quartz again!!!!!  I love it!!!!

Another thing I do not regret is my stainless steel appliances, especially my gas stove.  Yes they were more expensive than white or even black appliances but I absolutely love them.  They were well worth the money.  Though you can SEE the smudges and fingerprints more with stainless...the smooth surface makes them really pretty easy to clean...WAY EASIER than the "bumpy surfaced" white ones.  Besides, stainless just looks so much better.

So while I would definitely make a few different choices if I had to do it all again, I am still very happy over all with my new kitchen.  I love cooking now and that's what matters!!!



xoxo,

Sheila

SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE...

So hey everyone....miss me?  Yeah, I really don't blog much anymore.  :( ....as I am usually on Facebook.  I will occasionally post on here though as we do more to the house. It's really slow going right now.  Things will probably pick up though because we will be starting on Sis's tiny house this fall.  I plan to post updates on it.  Anyway.............................................

The reason for this post is not about blogging it is about the problem with some of my pictures on this here blog.  I used to use Photobucket to edit and post my photos.  That was a while back but all of the pictures I posted on here that were edited in Photobucket have been disabled from showing up on my blog.  They have changed and are no longer a free hosting service and are wanting $400 a year for their services.  I will not be paying that so my old photos will no longer show up on the blog.  I am sorry for that.  I could possibly go back and recover the pictures because they are still in my account on Photobucket but I really would have no clue where each of them belong on the blog so I am afraid it just isn't going to happen and I am totally ticked at Photobucket for this complete and udder disaster.

With that said, I apologize for the inconvenience and I also want to let you know that this will not happen with any future posts because I have my own editing software and load all my photos from disk now.

Until next time.  Have a fabulous day!!!

KITCHEN REVEAL...SORTA...

Okay so I know you have been waiting for a long time and have been very patient for the final reveal of the kitchen remodel here at BTP.  I know it's been a long time coming so today's the day....well sorta...I can't say this is the full and final reveal...but it's a good start.  I am not finished accessorizing and really have not had time to get the professional camera out and do a full photo shoot so some of these are little grainy.  Maybe in a few weeks I can get some better pictures.  Until then I leave you with this...

and this...

We used the white shaker cabinets they have in stock at Home Depot and I really like them.

I love the big drawers for storage.  You just pull them open and can see everything and get to everything easily.  Trust me this is WAY better than having to dig for things or crawl into the cabinet trying to find what you need like we used to do.

On a little side note, the china cabinet is for sale so it will not be staying.  I am sad to see it go because I hunted for one this particular style for a VERY, VERY long time it was something I really wanted.  There's just no room for it now.  :-(

On the brighter side, I love my new kitchen so much that I don't mind not having room for the china cabinet.

One of our favorite cabinets in the new kitchen is the cabinet with cube storage.  Home Depot didn't have a pantry option for the specific size we needed for that side of the fridge so we rigged something up using small wall cabinets and cube storage towers.  It worked out great and we love the extra storage for snacks....like I need snacks....hehe.

It even has some wine storage...or in our case...soda storage...

I still have to gather some things together for my new open shelves baking station so I will show all that later.

Well for the most part, there's the new kitchen.  This is by far the biggest but best project we have ever done.  We love our new kitchen and the openness of the space now.  Coming home from work and cooking dinner in this house used to be a dread.  Now it's a joy!  I am so glad we decided to do this.

BLINGING UP THE KITCHEN CHANDELIER...

I know you have been waiting FOREVER for the full reveal of the new kitchen.  Sorry I cannot show that yet but I promise it will be soon.  We have been super busy...as always happens around this time of year...with extra things going on at church and with family so every Saturday (weekend) is pretty much a bust to get things done at home.  That's just the way it goes sometimes!  I did get a chance to work on blinging up the overhead light fixture in the kitchen though. YAY!!

The whole light fixture thing was somewhat of a debate.  My SIL thought I should replace the old vintage light fixture (since I was replacing everything else) with something a little more fancy...to kind of go along with the chandelier in the dining room...and at first the hubs did too....UNTIL...he realized it would be him doing all the work to take the old fixture down and put a new one up.  Then suddenly the old light fixture was plenty good enough.  LOL!!

Truthfully...AND ODDLY...I wanted to keep the old fixture.  It's original to this old house and the old bell type fixtures are back in style....farmhouse style...so there was no need to replace it.

We saved some moolah too so that's good but, I didn't think it would hurt to add a little bling to it...You know, to make my SIL happy and add a little blingy fanciness to the kitchen because it really does need something to tone down the industrial vibe I ended up with.  Plus, I figured a little bling never hurt anything!!!!

This is kind of what I had in mind except for without the white crackle look...

The original chrome shade works better for me...though I could paint it later on if I need to.

I had a ton of leftover beads from stringing the dining room chandy so I used those and an old trivet similar to the one below that I found at the thrift store for $1 to add all my bling to the fixture without having to take it down....

The hubs cut out the center ring of the trivet so it would fit around the globe of the light fixture, then I propped it on a soda bottle to make it easier to hang the strands of beads on...

After looking at this I think I went a little sparse on beads but I mainly wanted to make sure this was going to work out before putting myself through any more work in it.

It worked great and I will be sure to add plenty more beads when I replace the frosted glass globe for a clear one later on.  I am officially on the hunt for a clear globe.  I hope it don't take me too long to find what I am looking for.

Well I guess that's it for today.  I will be back soon with the full reveal....I PROMISE!!!!