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Cottage Christmas!
The best way is to show you! Merry Christmas, Everyone! We had a Neighborhood Christmas Party this past Saturday to meet our neighbors. They were all wonderful; I even got to hold a couple of babies!
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Tale of Three Doors
Mame,” which door is the front door”? It was a question a delivery service asked me who came to the house. When you stand on the corner of Windsor Avenue and 30th in front of our home, you see three identical red doors. I wanted to create a front door that was unmistakably the front door. Make the side door a door to the side entrance to the living room, and make the third door go away. The third door went into a room off the living room we use as our TV room and doubles as another guestroom. We are starting with the side door to the living room…
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Six Weeks
It took six weeks to fix the kitchen floor, but so worth it! The floor was kind of like the elephant in the room. The floor in the kitchen had been added to, but never removed, any of the existing floorings before adding to it; this was now a tripping hazard along with an eye sore. The question became, “what’s under the existing floor”? We could tell it was a floating floor. And we could see the many layers when we took the hall entrance to the kitchen out. There was the first layer of 1920s linoleum, then the 1950’s linoleum square tiles, on top of that was a sub-flooring,…
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Back Together Again
I started with the vanity. While visiting with my daughter Karlee, we went into town where she lives in New Braunfels, looking specifically for a table that would work for a vanity. We found one we thought would work; I didn’t have the measurements for the space, but I thought it looked perfect. When we got it home, it was too wide for the area, and I was a little upset with myself for not having measured the space. Then looking at it as it sat in the back room, I wondered if I turned it in the other direction, if it might just work. It worked perfectly. I started…
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Fixing The Old With The New
On to the main bathroom, but what we thought would be a quick update becomes an, oh no, wait. How do we fix this? The cabinet, as you can see, is up right next to the tub. Because of this, the cabinet has water damage and is too large for the space. Opposite the sink is two large cabinets that also take up to much space. But necessary for storage. The mirror has the issue of being so high on the wall that people that have vertical problems can maybe see their head only. And look at the towel hooks, don’t think I have to tell you the issue there.…
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Still Hot
It has been the second hottest Summer since they have recorded in history. The issue with this year is that Texas usually has a very high Spring rainy season, which didn’t happen this year. And our yard and flower beds have suffered greatly. We have been under water restrictions, and that hasn’t helped either. We have a sprinkler system, so we can program it to come on during the coolest part of the night. By coolest, I mean it may get down to the mid-80s during the July and August months. Lake Waco’s water level is way down, so far down that the water level pole isn’t even in the…
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Almost Done
As I said in my last post, my range, refrigerator, and backsplash came! And I LOVE them! I had a hard time choosing a backsplash for behind my range. The shiplap wall had been changed when they opened the breakfast nook to the kitchen. Also, with the stove on this wall, I thought it shouldn’t be just the wood. I began looking at tiles, but I couldn’t find any that I thought would fit the kitchen. Actually, I found many but didn’t want to choose something I would grow tired of; nothing seemed right. Then while I looked at some photos on a site called HOUZZ (my go-to place, houzz.com,…
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Staying Busy While Waiting
While waiting for our new range, refrigerator, and backsplash to arrive, we decided to work on the dining room. I had already painted the walls (I had to remove the painter’s tape blue color). But the room had a formal feel that I wanted to stay away from in this house; I wanted a more cozy cottage feel. And looking into the kitchen from the dining room and seeing the shiplap walls, I thought we should continue the same look. Tony started with the ceiling and then moved to the walls, where we discovered more of the past. We removed one layer of sheetrock to find another layer with wallpaper…
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Blending the Two Sides
The kitchen had two faces that I needed to figure out how to make them become one. With the entry moved and the pantry relocated, I started painting away the brown cabinets and ordered new hardware. At the same time, remove the sheetrock and brown and gold tile from the backsplash to expose and paint the shiplap. I added small details with the vintage towel rack and roller shades on the windows. We came up with the detail on the wall they left in the middle of the counter. Plus, new ceiling light fixtures are also much-needed fans. Then you turn and look at the other side of the kitchen…
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Hidden Treasures
When we moved in, we began to discover left behind items. First, we found two original interior doors, complete with the hardware. Knobs and hinges. One door had the same knobs on both sides of the door. The other had one knob that matched the other door with a glass knob. The doors looked pretty rough, chipping paint and possibly lifted veneer. We had a debate on whether or not they were part of the original house or if they were just miscellaneous doors. Not sure where I would use them or if I would use them in the cottage, I began to strip them. I tried a heat gun…