Stairway Progress

Here is the stairwell as it looks today. Joe was able to get to this point before the wedding weekend, so it looked pretty darn nice! This is standing in the family room/kitchen looking towards the stairs and dining room.

Here's the little corner block detail. This worked out so well to tie in where all these pieces of trim meet.

Now we are going up the stairs....quite an improvement over how it looked before! This is just the cottagey look I dreamed of for this house. Some of my son's friends keep saying that we have lights like at the bar...I guess I don't hang out at bars enough, because I just thought they were cute little stained glass lamps that didn't take up too much room!

Now were are at the top of the stairs looking at the window that goes into the guest room...Joe fixed it so it swings down, so we can get some ventilation and also clean it easily. You can see the other side here. We also put a little fan at the top of the stairwell because the heat tends to rise up the stairway in the winter...hopefully this will help with that.

Here is the next step...the old acoustical tile on the ceiling in the upstairs hall needs to come down so the beaded board can be contiued into this area. Also there needs to be a little trim along the corners going down the stairs where the beaded board meets the plaster. The whole ceiling thing sounds tricky to me, but Joe is a perfectionist, and I'm sure it will be beautiful when it's done.

The guest room is done...

and has passed muster with Jessie and Dan overnight, and again with Brenda, so I guess it's good to go!

I found the bedding at TJ Maxx...nice...simple and white. I don't have stock in TJ Maxx but I should. You can get such wonderful stuff there for a great price. The headboard is from a bed that belonged to my great grandmother. I have the rest of the bed, but the rails and footboard don't seem to want to stay in place. So, we attached the headboard to the wall and just used a metal bedframe to hold the mattress and springs.

The lamps and tables are vintage and came from that great Pontiac store, Old City Hall Shoppes. ;o) Stop by if you need similar items at your house...we'll be happy to help you out. The chair is from Pier One. The artwork is some that I bought at the farmer's market in Hilo, HI. 

 The colors in the room came from the art.

I really like how this window over the stairwell turned out. At night if you leave the stair light on, it's like having a little night light in this room. Very cozy. Our house has had quite a bit of remodeling done on it before we came, so I don't feel the need for true restoration (it's too far gone for that) and can just renovate...adding quirky things if we want, and staying within the spirit of a folk victorian.

Trimming out the stairwell....

Joe is doing a great job on the stairway. It's turning out just as I always wanted. It's been primed and will get a coat of paint today.

I told you it's a very tall narrow stair...runs right up the center of the house. Ahhh...no studs showing! Heaven.

He designed some little corner blocks for the spot where the wall and ceiling meet at the bottom of the stairs.

Here's the bottom of the stairs...looking into the dining room.

And here is the view from standing in the dining room doorway. We are going to have the cabinet maker do a rail on that side of the stairway, and build in bookcases (bye, bye to the walmart ones stacked in the niche) around the corner and over the doorway to the bath.  This is open to the family room/ kitchen, so I want to kind of tie it all together.  If you click on the link you can see the kitchen. It looks a little different now, because we have all black appliances, but it's pretty much the same. It's tricky getting all the surfaces to work together in an old house, especially one that has been remodeled through the years...

The Kelly House Project

Jayne is doing a wonderful job renovating her folk victorian home. She's uncovered a little gem. This is her video from youtube. If you'd like to visit her inspiring blog click here.

Beaded Board on the Stairs

Joe has been working on the stairway while we were gone. He installed drywall first for its fire retardant properties. We are putting beaded board over that to a) get that cottage feel, and b) avoid all the sanding it would take to finish off the drywall. The rest of the house is looking pretty good, and I know from past experience that, even if you hang plastic to try and control it, that fine dust goes everywhere. It's a little more expensive doing it this way, but I'm sure liking how it looks.

I've seen board like this in plenty of old cottages in Michigan...sometimes hung vertically and sometimes horizontally. We opted for horizontally because it is already a very tall narrow space and I'm hoping installing it this way will keep from making it seem even more narrow.

Lace Fence and Window Progress....

I'm not a big fan of chain link fencing, but the Lace Fence company has done some amazing things with it! Visit the gallery on their site. Some of it is too busy for my taste, but the simpler ones are quite beautiful. Apparently they can do any design you'd like with this technique.


While I've been off working on my car, Joe has been finishing up that window in the guest room. He managed to match the stain very well. I love how it turned out...now I guess I better put the hardware on it, and get back to painting that room!

On Saturday and Sunday, I knitted up this little guy during slow moments at the shop. I think he's downright cute, and I may make a few more and turn them into a mobile. It's the Frida the Fish Pattern from Lion Brand Yarn. Well, it sort of is that pattern....I hate knitting a bunch of little pieces and sewing them together, so I rewrote the pattern to be worked in the round. I think I got it pretty close. I'm making another one by my pattern, and if I have the bugs worked out of it, I'll put the pattern on here for free. Or if you like to do a lot of seaming, the original pattern is also free and can be found here on Lion Brand's website.

Using the Old Woodwork

Look at this! Joe found enough window trim that is stained rather than painted! So, if I can manage to stain that little bit of new wood to match so it won't stick out like a sore thumb, the new window will go with the rest of the room rather than being painted.

About 18 years ago, we changed the roofline on the back of the house, due to some bad remodeling by previous owners. In the process, we had to lose one window from each of two bedrooms. One of the windows we had to remove was from this room, so it's very possible that that trim came from this room in the first place.

There's a lesson in there. We stashed that trim from the old windows in the garage....and now we are using it. If you are just starting to renovate an old house, and you have to remove pieces from it, don't throw them away! Stash it over your garage doors or some other out of the way place. Even if it stays there for years, that's ok! You never know when you might need some of that old trim...and it's not easy to find if you have to buy it.

Here's the window from the stair side. Pretty cool!

The Stairway...........

I've referred to the stairway a few times in this blog. It's very tall and narrow and dark and runs right up the center of the house. We gutted it 7 years ago when we gutted the kitchen. I didn't know when Joe was going to get to it, but I knew I can't do that kind of height, so I just tried to be patient.

Well, a couple of days ago, Joe asked if I still wanted a window from the bedroom into the stairwell....I did. The problem was that I had already painted the ceiling and started cutting in the walls in the bedroom, and I really didn't want sawdust and plasterdust all over that new paint. I said yes though, because I'm really hopeful that the window will throw some light into the stairs.

And as you can see, it is! The window we are putting in is a very plain stained glass one salvaged from a local church. At night, if a light is left on in the guest bedroom it will be almost like having a night light on the stairs. I think it breaks up the tall narrowness of the stairwell...at least a little! Joe found enough trim to trim it out like the rest of the windows in our house, and I think the window will be in and all done in a couple of days. Yea!

Installing the Bookshelf

Joe has been working in the garage building a floor to ceiling bookshelf. Now he's installed it and is trimming it out. We've hit a glitch though...we were using the same vintage trim that was behind the shelf...tall mop board. ...and somehow we're a little short. Now we're pondering on where we can take some from a less noticeable spot to fill in. It's going to be great to have all these shelves. We've got a lot of books, and up until now no good homes for them. I"ll be pleased to get them rounded up and in their place!

Oiling Wood Floors and Knitting Socks

These floors are in our shop and boy, are they ever ever dried out! Believe it or not, the floor on the left is actually clean.... just dry as a bone. They seem to have no finish on them, and a floor man who was here for another part of the building told me I could just oil them. I decided to oil them little by little as I'm rearranging the shop for spring....ufff. What was I thinking?!! Anyway, they are going to look a lot better.


I'm using tung oil and it really isn't too hard, just a little time consuming. I clean the floor first using an all purpose cleaner in water and a microfiber cloth, rinsing often. Those cloths really pick up the dirt. Then I let it dry thouroughly.

Next apply the oil in a small area at a time...this floor is so dry, I pour some on the floor and then spread it around with a rag. Let it soak in for 5 minutes or so, and then buff with a different rag. Move on and do the same to the next patch of floor. I will apply a second coat tomorrow. It makes such a huge difference.

If these floors were in our house I would be trying to get off old paint when I come to it and really make it look more perfect. These floors are in the 100 year old city hall building in our town. I rent space here for our shop...there is a lot of traffic through the building. I just want to bring some life back to them and protect the wood a little. I thought I share the project here, because you could certainly finish the floors in your old home the same way.

eta: I've been reading on the web that this finish, while it says tung oil in the name, does not actually contain tung oil. Fortunately, many people seem to have had good luck using this on their floors even though the label says "not recommended for floors." I was happy to hear this, since I really don't want to put a poly over this wood. Poly can't be renewed without a lot of sanding and I think I can refresh this easier with out having to remove all my stock. I'll let you know how it works out!


I finished my socks and I love the Mountain Colors yarn. I will definitely be buying more of it...it was soft while I was knitting with it...but after I washed it, it is just the softest and warmest pair of socks I have.

Now I've started a new pair of socks for my daughter's best friend Kylie. Those are some pretty wild colors, but take a look at Kylie:

I think she has enough attitude to pull off wearing socks like that.



My friend Dawn passed an award along to me. With this award I'm supposed to tell you 6 things I'm thankful for and pass the award along to 6 other bloggers.

I am so very thankful for...

• My relationship with Jesus and that I have his word to guide me.
• My husband and kids and all our extended family.
• Having my parents living in the same town.
• Our home
• My dog
• My health...including my eyesight and the use of my hands because I love to make things. I don't take this for granted after seeing my grandmother lose both to her battle with rheumatoid arthritis.

I'm awarding:

• Tiny Old House
• One Woman's Cottage Life
• The Cottage at Wit's End
• Creative Little Daisy
• Equus Villa
• Daily Yarns n More
  

Handkercheif Curtain and Other Ideas from Mom

We went to my mom and dad's house for Christmas dinner, so I snapped a few photos to share with you. Mom and dad bought an old home that had been converted into apartments...thinking to live in the ground floor and rent the other apartments. Soon enough though, they realized they liked using the whole house. They left the apartments in case they want to rent them in the future...this creates a couple of mini suites in the upstairs of their home. These photos show the bedroom from one of the apartments upstairs. It's fun to go stay there...like staying in an inn!

The color combo you see here came from using the suggested color harmonies from the old Martha Stewart paint line at Kmart. Martha and her people did a great job of showing good color combos. Our Kmart doesn't carry paint any more, but I think Sears does have Martha paint.

Another corner of the room. My mom is the thrifting queen...almost everything in her home is a treasure she found somewhere. And my dad can repair most anything thing...so if she finds it and it needs a little work, between them they are able to fix it up better than new.

As you can see there is some work needed on the old plaster walls. Mom said they will get to it someday, but she went ahead and painted anyway...that way they have pleasant rooms to use in the meantime. I wish I had done that with my old house, because sometimes it takes a lot longer to get to some of those repairs than you would think.

Another part of that room. This house has neat some great features like the lamps on the walls. Some of the original shades had been replaced with cheap dime store shades... they found some more suitable vintage shades at garage sales and antique shops. We've found the antique shops are usually more affordable than some of those restoration places that sell new replacements.



These two photos show the window treatment in the kitchen of that apartment/guest suite. Mom has a huge collection of hankies... she pinned them to the top of a white valance using a straight pin in one corner of each hankie. It looks so cute and it's easy to take the hankies off when they need to be cleaned and ironed. My mom and dad have a ton of great ideas, so you will probably see me posting some more of their house in the future.

Home is where the heart is....

I gave the dog a bath, changed the mantle from Halloween to autumn decor, made a fire in the fireplace and I'm doing laundry. I'm going to knit a little while the next load is drying. I feel so content being here getting these things done. I know that doesn't sound like an exciting day, but I'm looking forward to the day when I can spend my days at home again.

I love running the shop, but I don't like being away from home and having things fall so behind here. I don't think it will happen anytime right away though. The shop is starting to pick up and I'm hoping the income from that can help with our daughter's college expenses. I don't want to give you the impression that I'm the perfect homemaker even when I am home though...I usually have a ton of projects, volunteering, and of course I always have struggled with being organized. But this is where my heart is.


I love to put lights on the mantle. When we renovated the kitchen, I had them put an outlet on the mantle. Now I can have the lights with out cords draping all over. It's pretty easy to hide the outlet with greenery, photos or other objects.

Food Coloring Dyeing and a Creative Farm Sink

Since I started knitting again, I've been hanging out on Ravelry. What a great site....full of fiber goodness. That's where I met Tracy of Stringativity. She and I met Tuesday to so she could teach me to dye with food coloring. I had so much fun. I never thought I'd even want to dye yarn, until I saw the wonderful things people were doing with kool aid and food coloring. It sounded doable and like I would have the things right in the kitchen to get started. Tracy was so nice to invite me over to learn how she does it.

First I have to show you Tracy's great farmhouse style sink. Do you know what it is? It's a mop sink....I love it when people think outside the box! They purchased it new and Tracy says it weighs a ton. So if you think you might like to do something like this, just know moving it is a real experience. Tracy and her husband are renovating an lovely old home and it's full of great, creative ideas. If she ever became a house blogger, we'd all learn a lot. But the woman has a ton of fiber to keep her busy.


She showed me how to soak the yarn, mix up the food coloring dyes and then the fun began.


Apparently the the only limit is your imagination when applying the dye. I mostly spooned or poured it on in sections. I tried to pick colors that would look good if they ran together, and I'm glad I did. It did run together, and I love how it turned out.

We wrapped them up and cooked them in the microwave. It wasn't nearly as messy as I envisioned. I guess all I had to go on was memories of tie-dye t-shirts in grade school!


Here's the pink, yellow and orange. It's an eye popper isn't it?!


Blues...this is an alpaca yarn. Nice and soft.


And here's some sock yarn, because I'm kinda hooked on learning to make socks right now.



Here's Tracy working on putting some black dye over some previously dyed wool. She purchased a ton of wonderful fiber at an estate sale...I've never seen so much wool! Some are colors she doesn't really care for, so she's dyeing to change that.



I can't wait to see how this looks when she spins it up. I'm guessing it will be a beautiful earthy tweed.


And I've finished the first sock in my second pair. I knit one up almost to the toes in a different pattern before I realized I disliked the pattern. Yeah, I know. I'm kind of slow. I couldn't face the idea of knitting a second one like it, so I ripped it out and started over. I like these very much. I think I'm going to have to get over my impatience and start knitting the leg a little longer though.

Thanks so much Tracy for lunch and the lesson and the good time! I'm looking forward to doing this again!