Showing posts with label story telling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label story telling. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Farmhouse Face Lift

When we bought our home five years ago, we knew it had lots of potential:


(Google image)

No, that's not our home, but sometimes it sure feels like it!

Despite all the work it needed, we fell in love with the place.  The huge, wrap-around porch, the beautiful hardwood floors, the floor-to-ceiling windows at the back of the house, and the farm itself.



We spent the first few years tackling the inside and renovated the kitchen, the foyer, updated the foyer bathroom, replaced the spiral staircase to the second floor with a traditional staircase, built a built-in entertainment center under the new staircase, and renovated the master bedroom, including adding a walk-in closet, and updated the sunroom.  Click here and here for posts/pictures of some of our work.

Next, we moved on to our guest cottage which was originally a barn-shaped garage.  We had a septic system installed, added a bathroom, and updated both the main and upstairs floors.


(Painting the exterior of the guest cottage is on our to-do list)

Over the past several months we've been busy giving the outside of our home a much need face lift.  And by "we," I really mean mostly Captain Project.  Someone's gotta make the lemonade and choose paint colors, right?

You know how one thing leads to another?  Well, we started with painting the house.  It was blue.  A dull, depressing blue.  This was the before:



And now the after:



I love the white, and how it really pops with the black trim.

As Captain Project was painting the house, he discovered a disturbing dip in the roof line.  Uh oh!  That led to repairing the roof and then the porch ceiling.



Which led to replacing the original porch lights:



...With new ones:



Next was changing the color of the porch ceiling:



I've wanted a blue ceiling on the porch since we bought the place and am so happy to have it now!

Then we had to address the rotted porch floor.  Who uses untreated lumber outside?!  Ugh!



We're planning on staining the floor a dark brown once the wood dries out, but that may take up to six months.



Next up was replacing the ugly walkway...



...With brick:


(Gratuitous shot of those sexy legs ~ in combat boots!)


(Hmmm, guess I should've swept off the sand before snapped a pix.)

Next up is replacing the cruddy stairs and rotted railings:



Before too long our little house is going to look pretty near perfect!  Gotta run now and mix up another batch of lemonade.  My work never ends;)

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Mother's Day Recap & Call for Vintage Doilies

Hope all you mamas out in Blogville had a wonderful Mother's Day.  We spent the weekend in Atlanta visiting our daughter and new son-in-law.

Natalie and I spent a big chunk of Saturday sofa shopping for her new apartment in Philadelphia.  Oh yeah, forgot to tell you...

Daniel's been accepted into Drexel's PhD program for communications/culture/media and Natalie has landed a great job as Director of Marketing for a real estate company.  So excited for these love birds!


In between furniture shopping we ate.  A lot.  Since it was Mother's Day weekend, I got to pick where we'd eat so top on my list was fish tacos (I'd probably eat them every day if I could!) at a roof-top patio:


And the next night we had an amazing meal at a Cajun restaurant:


It's good to be Mom!

On a totally different subject...I've received a very special order that requires LOTS of vintage doilies.  Anyone out there have some you want to unload/sell?  Please shoot me an email at Cindy@RetroRevival.Biz.  Thanks!

Don't forget to share a comment for a chance to win this month's blog giveaway:


Drawing is May 31st ~ good luck!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Say Cheese (Curd)! Wisconsin Vacay

We had a wonderful trip up to Wisconsin, although we were accused of bringing the Florida weather with us - it was a highly unusual 95!
Paul and I spent several days with his parents in his hometown of Ellsworth (about 45 minutes from St. Paul, Minnesota), in the home his father built in 1960.  Ellsworth is a small farming town of 2,900 people, filled with charming old homes...
...and surrounded by many thousands of acres of farmland (lots of corn, soy beans and cows!):
(This shot is from our mornning two-mile walk where we saw beautiful rolling hills)
"Downtown" has a quaint Main Street with various shops and small businesses:
(Notice what the sweet sign says?)
Ellsworth is the "Cheese Curd Capital of the World!"
Cheese curd (think of Mary Had a Little Lamb lyrics - "eating her curds and whey...") is a by-product of cheese and is a VERY popular snack up north, best chased with beer (some people like it deep fried too).  We made a stop by the local Creamery to buy some fresh curd so that Paul could carry back five pounds of it to share with friends and our daughter.
The highlight of our trip was attending the 90th Annual Pierce County Fair - woo hoo!
I'd never been to a fair before so I was eager to experience all the hype for myself.  Four days of townspeople (young and old) exhibiting their animals, crafts, plants and foods for judging; yummy snacks (including just about EVERYTHING available on a stick or deep fried!), entertainment (music, juggling and an amazing fireworks display) and a bustling midway filled with lots of kiddies.  Here are a few pictures...

(A child's apron was the blue ribbon winner in the sewing category)
My mother-in-law Lois proudly showing her blue ribbon quilted/knitted sweater:
Paul and my father-in-law Jim and their American Legion post were part of the flag raising ceremony:
(I know EXACTLY what my husband will look like in 30 years!  That's Jim on the left and Paul on the right.  Can you believe how identical they look?!)
On Thursday night, the big to-do at the Fair was the tractor pull.  What?  Seems the goal was to drive your tractor fast and pull a lot of weight - hmmm.  Had to go and experience the ultimate in farmville - ha!
We left Ellsworth with lots of fond memories and this "self portrait" Paul and I took at the tractor pull (had to take a couple of shots to ensure we got the Ellsworth water tower in the frame):
Follower Alert!  For a chance at winning this month's free blog giveaway (the cupcake book!) please scroll down to my August 5th post for easy instructions.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

It Takes Someone Special to be a Dad

sPaul carving pumpkins with the kids, probably about 1989 (shirts removed because of the pumpkin pulp mess!):
Years ago our daughter gave Paul a beautiful key chain with the inscription, "Anyone can be a father but it takes someone special to be a dad."  I think this was written especially for him because it beautifully articulated the truth.  Happy Father's Day, Paul!
June's flying by!  Don't miss out on a chance to win this month's free blog giveaway:
Become a follower of this blog, leave a comment and you're automatically entered to win -- yay!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

I Love Meeting My Customers!

The most satisfying thing about my business is meeting my customers and seeing the smiles on their faces when they don one of my creations!  Of course this doesn't happen often as my shop is online (http://www.retrorevival.biz/cart/) but last weekend I happened to be in San Diego for my niece's high school graduation and not far away, in Solana Beach, was Claire...
Claire owns Claire's on Cedros (http://www.clairesoncedros.com/), a delightful cafe and bakery just a block or so from the beach.
Opening her cafe less than a year ago she has experienced amazing success as evidenced by the busy flow of customers enjoying the delicious meals in an envrironmentally sustainable building that offers both indoor and outdoor seating.
They also welcome dogs!
My sister, niece and I quickly scarfed our meals -- before I thought to take a picture!  (I had the fish tacos--mmmmmm!)  So Claire invited me back into her kitchen so that I could snap a few shots; this is one of her scrumptious, fresh salads:
So if you're in the Solana Beach area, please be sure to stop by Claire's for a meal, a yummy, baked goodie or pick up a jar of homemade jam...
...and you may just see Claire in her Retro Revival "Mrs. Cleaver's Kitchen" apron!
After lunch at Claire's we walked a couple of blocks to Solana Beach's shopping district and then drove over to Ocean Beach so that I could snag a few vintage linens for my business.  I hit the jackpot!  Found about 20 pieces that I will carefully launder and repurpose into fabulous Retro Revival aprons!
While antiquing we came across a few interesting items that I would've loved to have bought but they wouldn't have fit in my suitcase, including this antique, tin bathtub:
I've never seen such a thing and thought it was very unusual.  We also saw this gigantic painting of Jane Mansfield:
One more piece of antiquing eye candy.  Remember those inexpensive, kitschy, ceramic flower dishes that used to come with an arrangement?  They're selling like hot cakes now; who knew?!
My trip to San Diego ended spectacularly with Cecilia's graduation.  Of course every high school graduate is to be commended -- suffering through the usual teenage angst while maintaining grades -- but Cecilia's journey was especially unique, having endured a liver transplant and traumatic head injury her sophomore year.  It is amazing that though having missed almost an entire year of classes she graduated, ON TIME, with good grades and with plans to attend Mira Mesa College in the fall!  She is one inspiring young woman and our family is immensely proud of her.
If you'd like to share a picture of yourself in a Retro Revival apron we'd all LOVE to see it; leave it here as a comment and you're automatically entered to win our June blog giveaway (drawing 6/30):