Gathering "stuff"

Ohhheeeeeeeewwwheeeee what fun today was! 

Steve found a few things on Craigslist that we had to go check out.   It was going to be a rainy icky day, so we might as well head out and look at stuff we might be interested in.

First we stopped by some folks who had bought a Heat N Glo gas log fireplace.  They started to hook it up, and got about half way through.  The wife didn't care for that one and wanted a different (larger) one.   They didn't even put together the oak mantle or surround yet, so those were left unfinished.  YAY for us so we can stain it to match the woodwork in the house.  

The existing fireplace in the house right now is an electric "faux fireplace"  

but we will see if we can salvage some of the original tiles to put around the new one. 

 (p.s. that console tv just HAS to go! ) 

Our next stop was a place down in Fond Du Lac.  These oak cabinets were taken out of a mansion in town, probably from a butler's pantry.  This gentleman was going to make them work in his turn of the century victorian house, but they didn't line up right on his walls or windows without cutting them apart or scabbing them up.  So he and his wife decided on some other cabinets and sold us these all in one set!  They were also very kind to show us around their newly restored home and gave us a LOT of ideas!

He has already soaked and cleaned up all the original hardware, and has most of the old finish stripped off the wood.  We will restain and seal these to match, and give a fresh coat of paint to the interior shelving to ward off any lead base paint that might remain inside.  They will fit right on our big kitchen wall, and the window frame is within one inch of the opening by our calculations! 

I think we are going to add a "farm house sink" to the center and sacrifice the use of 2 drawers, and shorten the other two lower drawer boxes to clear the plumbing.  We will see.  I think they are going to be stunning.  There is still room at the end of the wall to the left for the stove, and I am thinking the two bins on the right will be for potatoes/onions in one and dog food in the other! LOL

So this week we will go back with the trailer and Tracker and haul this stuff to the warehouse to store till after we close on the house.  We will get around to doing the kitchen in the house sometime this winter, in the meantime we can use the existing kitchen area in the butler's pantry for meals.  Once the great old cabinets are in place, we can rip out the butler's pantry, sell those newer modern cabinets on Craigslist, and make that space into a first floor laundry.  What fun with all the plans! 

On our way back from our "gathering stuff" run, we drove past the house.   We just HAD to, ya know!

The neighbors to the rear were out in their yard, Laurie and R.C., we had met them on our last trip there while looking at the house.  We chatted with them a bit and told them we were the new owners in 7 weeks! They welcomed us to the neighborhood and are happy to see someone in that house again. 

It turned out to be a nice day after all, and no rain, so we were thinking of going to buy a couple lawn rakes and get the leaves up before the snow falls.  The neighbors offered to run over with their rear leaf scoop bagger on their lawnmower and scoop them up for us!  How nice of them to do that!   They said it also keeps the leaves from blowing over into their yard.  Technically, it's not our yard yet, but waiting till Dec 31 will mean snow on top of all those leaves, and a mushy mess come spring time.  

This back yard has a LOT of leaves.... 

So that was the extent of our "Gathering Stuff" today.  Next installment will be the recovering of the dining room chairs... wait till you see the great fabric I picked out! 

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