Making a House “Your” Home

Now we are painting and yes the wallpaper did come down.  There is still a bit more to remove, but for one days work I’d say we did quite well.  The color we chose was Behr – Oregano Spice.  It goes really well with the brown wood of the cabinets.  There is still one wall that I want to be a different color because it is looking into the laundry room which I have also painted the green.  So I have some sample swatches painted on the wallpaper and after looking at them all weekend I keep thinking that I need something in between the 2 colors I swatched so still a little decision making to do there.

I really like how my favorite window turned out.  I was going to get rid of the navy blinds, but after putting them up I am really liking the blue with the green.  It’s funny how the things you were sure would have to go when you bought the place change once you actually start living with things.  I am learning not to be so quick to decide that things just have to go.

One thing I did remove right away was the swinging doors from the kitchen to the hallway.  I felt like the hallway was not used much because it was blocked off by these doors.  The front door is not used much either because of a flow problem with the front yard, but we will work on that when we have more than a weekend.  In the picture below I am trying out more paint swatches on the hall wall.  There is more wallpaper to remove there and maybe I will texture it.  I didn’t texture the kitchen, just painted on the flat wall and I like it but it sure does show any little imperfection in the wall that way.  I am leaning toward a color in between the second color and the third color.  Any tips?

 

                               Before                                          After

 

I am really missing my sewing time and I still have a month to go with this crazy schedule of working and living at the apartment then going on a 4 hour drive to the new place to work on that for a few days.  It is fun and exciting, but I am looking forward to setting up my sewing area and making some things for our new home and Christmas which is just around the corner.

With a little Love any house can be a “Home”.

Ferne

Making a “House” a “Home”: Step 1

The first step to making a house feel like home is to add something that you love as soon as possible.  For me that would be a coffee pot!  The funny thing is that I was planning to remove that awful wallpaper first thing, but once the coffee pot was in place and few days spent there the wallpaper started to grow on me.  I think it will still be removed, but it has moved down the list of things to do first. 

We are dragging this move out over a 2 month period so we are moving things up one carload at a time for now.  Last week was the first week.  We picked up our keys and ordered the mailbox key and took the first load of stuff to the house.  This load included a blow up air bed, toiletries, kitchen utensils, a little food and a can of paint.  After the car was unloaded we took a trip to Wal-Mart and bought a microwave, a mini refrigerator and a ladder along with other essentials.  We must have done good, because by the time we had to leave to return to our dreaded apartment we were calling this place “home” and the apartment is just “the apartment”.  It will be a long 2 months, but it will give us time to settle in and earn a little more money to pay the rent on the dreaded apartment which still has a 2 month lease and more importantly a little more time to spend with friends and family who I am sure we will miss when the move is complete.  When we get all settled we are hoping the friends and family will be able to enjoy many visits to us in our new place.  I talked to a woman the other day who has spent the last 13 years living in 2 states.  She says they live in each house for 2 weeks each month and have earned a lot of flying miles.  I asked how she does it and she said that is has just become a way of life for her.  I am such a homebody that just 2 months is going to be difficult.

We are off again today to spend a few days at “home”.  On the agenda this week will be our first painting project.  We are going to start with laundry/mud room which is the entry that most people seem to use to go into this house. 

Last week we swept down cobwebs and cleaned cupboards.  The carpet is new and it filled the vacuum bag with lint 2 times.  After all this was done we did have time to relax and enjoy a few very nice sunsets.  It seems the back deck is so strategically placed for enjoying the most amazing sunsets, something you don’t get to do ever at the apartment.  I tried to take a picture of the view, but sunsets aren’t easy to capture on my camera so just use your imagination and think of one of the most awesome sunsets you have ever seen with very intense colors.  Remember I have been living in a smog filled city so fresh country air and no city lights at night makes the sky look bluer and sunsets and stars even more intense.

I’m off to make a house a “home”.

Ferne

One Really Big Project

 

I have not been blogging much lately because we have been busy working on one really big project…we have bought a house and will be spending the next two months working on moving in to it between working at our paying jobs.  It will be a huge change for us from living in a little apartment in the city to a 1600 sq ft house on 3+ acres out in the sticks.  Our neighbors are emu’s and an ostrich and we have frequent visits from a herd of deer.  There are fruit trees (deer food) and other beautiful landscape (more deer food).  There are lots of places to go fishing so Michael will be busy scouting those out.  JJ’s Log Cabin Quilt shop is just 2 miles away, but I just found out that they will be moving.  Luckily it won’t be too far and they got a bigger shop with a bigger classroom.  So I will be busy visiting there and signing up for some classes.

This big project is creating lots of other projects so blogging is sort towards the bottom of the list of priorities, but I hope to find time to blog about some of the projects to that I have a record of befores and afters for myself.

Does anyone reading this know of a way to have your blog printed into a book?  I have tried copying pages into Word and doing it myself into a notebook but it would be nice to have a real book with better quality pictures.  So if you know of any could you leave me a comment. 

Thanks for visiting!  and ya’ all come back now ya’ hear!

 

Ferne