"The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear."

This is what happens when you make Christmas Cookies with a three year old.....

I left before the sugar crash happened ....

Sharon

A Place Of My Own.....

This is what we started with. We tore down all the old, cracked plaster and lath and hauled away one and half tons of debris to the dump. It was a lot of work!

When we opened up one side of the attic we found that there was no insulation in it at all. Only bare walls and ceilings and lots of cobwebs.

The other side of the attic had batt insulation on the floors. 

 The view from the old single pane window. Sadly we took the old window out and replaced it with a new one. I miss the character of the old window but the single pane window was just not efficient so it had to go. I kept the window and all the window wights so I create something with them down the road. 

After we got all the debris cleaned out we were left with the bare walls and ceilings. 

We decided to go with a hot roof and had the roof and walls sprayed with close cell spray foam. We closed off one side of the attic and kept the side that had a floor on open to use for storage. 

Rick added a half inch of foil rap insulation on the ceiling since the rafters are only 2 x4's and we could not put as much spay insulation on the ceilings in the living area.

Next came the sheetrock.

We decided to go with shiplap on the ceilings. 

Rick made some storage area's for me with barn doors. 

They turned out great. 

Since the ceilings are so low and the floors are dark I wanted the rooms to be clean and bright so we painted everything white.

This is the front room. I am going to having a nice chair in it and use it as my reading room. It is very peaceful being in it. 

The door that is closed goes to the attic storage area. 

Here is the big room that will be my sewing room. I am so excited to have so much room to create. 

 The staircase going up.  They had ugly plastic stair tread on them. I took them off and cleaned the steps up as good as I could. I would love to keep them uncovered but they are pretty slippery so we have decided to put some nice stair treads on them. 

  

Morgan loved to spend her day looking at the squirrels in the back yard through the window at the top of the stairs. 

Rick did so much work to make this space for me. It is perfect and I am sure I will be spending a lot of time, reading, relaxing and creating in these rooms.

Bring Joy....
Sharon

If These Walls Could Talk....

We looked at this house on a whim. I saw they had an open house and told Rick we should go look at it. We pulled up and Rick said the driveway was to to small it would never work. I told him we did not have to look at it if he did not want to but he said as long as we are here we might as well go it. We took one step into the house and I knew I was home. I fell in love. Rick took a little longer looking around and then agreed that he thought it would work. The next day we were back for a second look and both agreed it was perfect. Now that we have been in the house for a month we could not be happier.

The house was built in 1916 so it is 102 years old. I love every inch of it. I love thinking about all the people that have lived in it over the past 102 years. All this history that this house has seen. Everyday I discover something new in it. I love that it has the original beautiful wood floors, the original wood doors and trim. Every time I walk on the wood floor and they squeak it makes me smile. I am home...

First the kitchen, The kitchen and the bathroom are the only floors that are not original on the main floor. The kitchen is super tiny and I love it. I am not sure if the cupboards are original but they are pretty old. We have surprisingly a lot of storage in the cupboards for such a small kitchen. We were going to put a door over the spice shelf but we decided that we like it open. I guess I will just have to keep my spices neat.
 

The white door leads to the basement and also to the backdoor. It is nice because I can close it when Rick has customers here to get strings.

This is our living area. I love that it is so open. This living room and dining room have a pony wall that separates them.

The house original had a porch on it. The previous owner took the wall out and open the room up so that is why the floor is different.

Christa found us the perfect table for in front of the window. It is our favorite place to sit and look out at the lake. The window is being replaced with a new one on Monday. It is the only window in the house that had not been replaced. I am looking forward to a window that is not all fogged over.

A closer look at the dinning room. 

The dinning room has a plate rail in it. Since I do not have decorative plates it makes a perfect place to put my sand. Every time Rick and I go someplace on vacation I collect a small amount of sand and put it in a jar.

This is the "master bedroom" 

The second bed room. Or if you ask Larina she will tell you it is her room and her bed. 

The dogs wanted to be in a picture too. 

The bathroom on the main floor is a Jack and Jill bathroom. It has two doors and can be access from both bedrooms. It as 1950's green plastic tile on the walls and huge cast iron tub that the previous owners restored. Sometime down the road we will remove the plastic tile and put in a new floor. But for now it is going to stay.

Now to the basement. It is half finished. For an old house it is in really good shape. 

Ricks archery shop. This is his busy time of year so he had to get it up and running in a week. When things slow down we will do some remodeling in the basement. We are going to put some kind of flooring in it and maybe inclose the furnace in a little room. He is seeing how everything works for him before he decides what he wants to do. 

Ricks office and the basement bathroom. We also have two storage rooms in the basement and a walk in closet in the bathroom. 

The house has so many things in that make me smile. Every time I open a door and feel those original door knobs in my hand I think about how many people have opened and closed them over the past 102 years. Just so much history in  this old tiny house. 

These are the stairs that lead to the attic room. You will have to watch my blog for updates as we get it finished. As of today we have all the plaster and lath taken out. The electric was updated yesterday and the ceiling is being insulated as I type this. We should be able to start on the walls this week. I am excited to have it all done.

So there you have it this is our new house.

Sharon