Flurry flurry flurry~

Nope, not snow flurries... at least not yet.  

Just a flurry of activity in preparation for the big move into the house.  We won't be closing till the end of December, but since we have time and the empty space to store things in advance at our storage building.  Might as well go shopping, eh?

I am not a shopper, and really don't enjoy it.  But we are carefully watching the budget and finding good sales and deals and bargains.  Plus watching the ads for things that go on sale AFTER we buy it, so we can go back and adjust the price too.  I keep going out to the stores during the day, and finding interesting stuff, snapping photos of it.  Then I show Steve after he gets home from work, and we go back and buy it or find something else instead.  Works pretty well for us.

We have found a few used things on Craigslist, like my last blog post about the beautiful old kitchen cabinets and the gas log fireplace.  There are terrific bargains out there if you look, and much less $$$ than if we bought it new.

This week we found a kitchen island unit as a work surface height table and four stools, with cabinets on each end.  It will work as a great center island.  It's not "old" but will match nicely once I get all the cabinets stained to match.  There are four sturdy solid stools with wrought iron bases that slide underneath out of the way.  It's pretty big, about 3x6, and will work great in our kitchen space.  When the stools are pushed in, then it's a center work island.  These pics were from the seller's ad.

 (I can see the grandtots bellied up on the stools to the island and helping me bake cookies, can't you?)

Speaking of the cabinets----  because we saved so much in our budget by buying the old cabinets to restore instead of new ones, Steve and I decided to go ahead and order the sink of my dreams.... a copper sink!   We only have about a 30" space to work with between the two upper cabinets, so we ordered a 25 inch sink.  I think with the patterned countertop (kinda marble looking) that we are ordering, with this sink it will look very cool.

Then I ordered some new cabinet hardware for the kitchen cabinets.  The present ones on there were in rough shape, some broken and some not matching the others.  I also ordered extra pieces for changing out the ones on the cabinet that is in the kitchen right now.  I am going to refinish that later and move into the butler's pantry and would like it all to match.

Steveio is a person who loves to vacuum.  He won't admit to many, but I will tell about it on here.  Yes, he is compulsive about it and has to make the vacuum cleaner cover each and every inch of the rug, even making perfect lines in the carpeting.  And I am NOT complaining in the least.  Have at it, guy!  

Soooo he needed a new vac cleaner for the new house.  We got him some super duper model Eureka one.. it even has a fluffy fiber type of feather duster that you can pull out of a vacuum tube to use, then stuff back in the tube on the side, and the vac cleaner machine sucks the dust outta the duster! Oh my....  So of course he had to try his vac cleaner out in the motorhome tonight.

Whatever makes him happy, eh?

I was busy this evening working on my dining room chairs.  The original white damask fabric is in pretty nice shape on most of the chairs, but a few spots and dark areas made me decide that if MY grandtots eat on them, we need to have a change of fabric.

Off to the fabric stores I went, armed with my gift cards and coupons.  Wheeeee found some lovely stuff in rich paisley upholstery fabric that is soft and pretty.   I even had to buy a staple gun to get the job done.

There is enough of the fabric left to cover a cute little footstool I found at Goodwill, and maybe some to quilt into coasters too.

We are looking forward to the next step, the next adventure, the next project....  I think this weekend will be spent in the storage unit sorting and stacking and probably some more shopping.   I am keeping track of things on a spread sheet...  things we bought, things we need, and things we think of out of the blue...   trying to keep up with costs, budgets and stretching the dollar to get things the way we would like them as we go along.

Whew....

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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Collecting

Ah yes, some folks will think we are nuts.  We are now collecting new furniture for the "new-to-us" house!

Honestly, our other furniture would not have fit the style of this house anyhow, and we are glad that we purged all the stuff we didn't want any more.  The things we did save are the best or favorite items and will incorporate those into the house when we move in after closing Dec 31.

I sure wish the sellers would have let us rent the vacant house ahead of time, as we offered in our purchase agreement.  But heck, they don't know us from Adam, and we could be trashy, or we could be really picky and wanting to re-negotiate on newly discovered faults or repairs.  (we wouldn't do that, but they don't know that)   Just the image of moving all this newly acquired stuff, in the middle of winter of snow, slush or ice is not appealing.

Right now we are planning on storing our newly gotten things in the heated storage space we rented for our motorhome, there's plenty of room!  I have my looms set up in here so I can come and weave during the days too.

So far we picked up a used dining set that turned out to be VERY VERY heavy!  

Yup... eight chairs and a rug too, all one package deal from a lady selling her home.  It's a very sad story why she had to move.  She would have split up the set if I only wanted the table and chairs, but she made it a good deal if I bought all the pieces.  

So I took the whole thing, buffet AND the china hutch.  She even threw in the rug, some fancy tablecloths and the pad for underneath them.   Those are three thick slabs of marble in the top of the buffet to set hot dishes or chafing dishes on.  (heck, I don't even own chafing dishes) 

We already have a built-in china hutch unit in the dining room of the house.   But we will use these pieces around the house, and keep the set intact.  I am going to recover the seat cushions as I can not see my grandtots managing well with WHITE seats???

Steve set up the table.. it's HUGE with 2 pedestals, 

plus there are two leaves that make it even longer! 

(for all eight chairs to comfortably surround it) 

Well made and solid, and did I say HEAVY????   Steve and I struggled to get it loaded when we picked it up last night using brother Pete's trailer for the big pieces.  We set the eight chairs lapped over each other on their sides in the back seat  and trunk of the car and the back of the Tracker.

Oh.. speaking of the car....

Steve was chatting with the owner of the next storage space for his gutter business.  He had bought this car for his 17 year old son.  The son, of course, complained it was a "Grandma Car" and hated it!   2001 Lincoln Continental.   So after three months, the son bought a pickup truck of his own.  Now the dad had to sell the car!  The price was right, plus he knocked off $500 just so he didn't have to list it and show it to prospective buyers.  There wasn't any room to park it at his house anymore with the new truck, so he would have been running back and forth to show it while it was parked at the shop.   $500 off made his life easier and helped us decide to buy it. 

Steve said it would be good for me to run around errands while we have the house now in the area.  Plus when we do Snowbird in the motorhome for the winters, we can fly back to Wisconsin for a few weeks at Christmas and have our own car to run around in, instead of renting one or imposing on family members to haul us around.  

I found this lovely fireplace screen on Craigslist.  It will look great in front of the fake electric fireplace, until we can replace that with a gas log one.  The screen will look great in front of that too!!!

Then we found a set of wicker furniture for the front enclosed porch... Steve found this on an internet search on Craigslist., The lady was selling it during the summer and still had it.  We paid down on it the other night, and are going back tonight with Pete's trailer to haul it to the storage building too.

Then we decided to check out a big sale going on at a new furniture store in Appleton.  We picked out some things, and the best part is they are going to store them in their warehouse until we are ready to have them delivered to the new house after closing (and some painting) is done!   

Steve found this bed...  on clearance!   and he compromised on a softer mattress.  Our last one from Verlo was "firm" for his back, but felt like a "rock" for me!  In all the years we had that bed, I didn't sleep very well.  So this time, we went softer and if he has to, we can slide a board between the mattress and box spring for his side.

And he found the chair he wanted (it reclines too)  

the flash makes it look lighter, but really it's a darker brown 

And I found the couch I wanted!!!!   it was hard to decide between couch or loveseat (only $20 in price) because the livingroom in the new house is only 13 feet wide and 12 feet long.

Our new livingroom presents a problem though if we buy a couch instead of just 2 chairs:

• one wall of wooden columns and opening to the dining room, 
• one wall of the pocket doors, 
• one wall of the big leaded glass window 
• and the last wall with the fireplace, 

See? there are not a lot of options.  

The couch is 7 1/2 feet long.   Oh boy..... or the loveseat is only 6 1/2 feet long, but feels less comfy and more crowded.  The salesman assured us we can change our minds any time before delivery and substitute the loveseat, or another chair, and adjust the price.

So we worked with a computer graphing program last night and arranged the couch form on the grid in various places in the room.  We decided we will just have to place the furniture into the room space, not on the walls, and walk around it from behind to enter or exit the room. I think it will work.


Now just a few lamps, occasional tables, and a bed for the guest room, and we are DONE!


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A few more pics and plans

Well, on Friday while we were at the house, doing our electrical "inspection"   Good thing Mark, our son in law, is an electrician!  LOL .... at the same time, we bought take out fish fry (from a place recommended by the gals in the Register of Deeds office) and we made a PICNIC in the dining room!

So now the house is 

"kid tested" 

and 

"grandtot approved" !!!!

I have had some comments from friends about having a "loom room"... but of COURSE!  The room to the left of the dining room will be that, it just doesn't show on the Realtor's pictures.  (probably because it needs wallpaper stripping, paint, and restoring the old mop boards back into place)   It will be large enough for all I want to do.  Plus there are a set of built-in cabinets in the kitchen that we will probably move out, restore (someone did that 1970's "brush on antiquing" to them) and we will move those into my Loom Room.

The main kitchen will get new cabinets, probably bead board or something.  We are looking at interesting styles to compliment the home.  Then once the main kitchen is done, the fridge and dishwasher can be moved out of the butler's pantry.  We are planning to make the first floor bath a bit bigger, and making the butler's pantry into a first floor laundry.

There is a set of back servant's stairs that lead up to the maid's room and the hallway to the bedrooms.  The maid's room will be my Fiber Storage Room for all of my bins and totes and supplies that are currently residing in our son's garage (Thanks Dan and Heather for letting me store them there!)

Whipped up a few rough floor plans:

 MAIN FLOOR

UPPER LEVEL

Right now we are thinking and dreaming and looking on line at various "Craftsman", "Misson" or "Arts & Crafts" styles of furniture, decorating and bargains on Craigslist.---- with our budget in mind.  Plus, of course, I am going to scour thrift shops and resale shops for interesting items.  We have a lot of room in the heated storage unit we rented for the motorhome for the winter, so we can accumulate items now in advance if we find great deals.

We aren't closing till the end of December, as the daughter who is the executor of the will won't be back in the state until then.  In the meantime, we can plan and dream and SHOP!


Here are a few more pics of some of the things I find just delightfully wonderful about the house...

CRAFTSMAN STYLE WINDOWS ACROSS PORCH

(which faces east, so morning sunshine with coffee, but afternoon shade) 

ADORABLE TRIM UNDER PORCH ALL AROUND INSTEAD OF LATTICE

(will cut down some of the hedges from in front to show the rest of the trim 

and plant hydrangeas and hostas there)

PLATE RAIL ALL AROUND THE DINING ROOM

(good place to set all kinds of framed grandtot photos and rotate them) 

JUST LOVE THESE POCKET DOORS FROM THE FOYER TO LIVINGROOM

FUNKY LINOLEUM IN THE MAID'S ROOM

(I am keeping this!   It will be my Fiber Storage Room) 

VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE STAIRCASE 

AS WE GO DOWN EACH NEW DAY AND PASS THE LEADED GLASS WINDOW

AND..... ALL OF THE DOOR KNOBS ARE THIS BURNISHED PATINA OF 

ELEGANCE OF THE OLD HOUSES WE ADORE.... 

Well, back to the Packer Game....  they are WINNING!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Full-Time RVing...

                     A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Full-Time RVing...         

Ummmm.... a house.  

It's located 35 miles from the kids and grandkids, and 15 miles from where Steve works at the park, in a tiny town that just spoke our names. 

We weren't really looking to buy a house, but this quaint little town appealed to us.  We tried an offer first on another house, which took 20 days of us waiting and being in the running till we were then out of the running (a foreclosure deal).   So then Steve found another home on the same road, in better shape, and more appealing. 

The best part?  We can keep the motorhome in the back yard, as long as it's not an abandoned old rusty trailer!  LOL ... That was from the Zoning Officer, Police Commissioner and the City Planning Director.

This will be our "Summer Home" once Steve retires, and we can leave each fall and travel for the winters.  At least, that is our plan. Being less than half of what our other house value

Appealing features are all original woodwork, pocket doors, crown mouldings, high mop boards, builtins, etc.  The foyer is very welcoming and the sun porch across the east side will get lots of morning coffee sipping time.

I am glad we kinda "purged" all our old furniture and things, as they would not fit this "style"
 of home.  This is more Craftsman, Mission or Arts & Crafts style rather than "Lodge" of the log home we had before.

If you want to see a slide show of the home, here is the link:

 http://www.coldwellbanker.com/property?propertyId=258269508&action=detail&brandType=CB&mode=detail