My Haven from the World…...

Today I would like to show you my craft room…. Once again I have a room all to myself.  Mark now has his own Den where he can go to study and get away from everything.

Before you look…. DO NOT JUDGE…. :)  Yes, I love yarn.. I love when traveling to find different Knit Shops to stop at.  I have my favorites that even if I didn't buy yarn I would still stop in just to see what was new.  How Yarn (most yarn) ends up in my stash is first you hold it in your hands and feel just how soft it is… then I kind of snuggle it…. if it ends up caressing my neck to see how it feels I am usually in trouble…  (You knitters/crocheters know exactly what I am talking about!)

The Yarn Storage came from IKEA it is the BILLY SYSTEM.  Inexpensive nice storage.  Love it!

*** edited to add***  The little chipmunk in his prison attire was a gift from a dear, dear friend Tony McCubbin to Gary on his 50 birthday 10 months before Gary passed away, it was fitting since Gary was a Warden in a prison, he kept it in his office and when you pushed a button, "jail house rock" plays!  Then there is the Build a Bear "Warden" the sweet, sweet children that my daughters babysat for throughout their college life (and whom they are still in contact with) they sent this to me after Gary died.  When you pressed one foot it was a recording of their precious little voices singing "Jesus Loves You" and when you pressed the other it was "Let me call you sweetheart"  These two items have always been somewhere that I can see them!  

The above is a new area for me I have not been able to set my sewing machine up somewhere where it can stay put, in years.

and below is the first crafting thing I have done in this room.

And for my "Stampin" Friends yes I still have my supplies (I have two closets that they are hidden in.
Thankful that this is all done and mostly organized… (I still have drawers to go through!)  Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year!  May God's Richest Blessings be on you and your loved ones.

Nancy

and onto the Family Room!

 I know yesterday was the kitchen but here is the Before of the kitchen looking into the family room…

I love fireplaces, preferably gas I have had my share of Wood Fireplaces and like the tidiness  of gas fireplaces.  This family room did not have a fireplace.  Before we even closed I had been eyeing mantels at the Habitat Restore!  I saw this beauty for $220 and didn't have to do a thing to it yet.   Someday we will put a gas fireplace in but not just yet.  Need to sell my home first  So the mantel just sat there for a few weeks and I happened to go into Sam's one day and was smitten with this flat panel looking fireplace which was only  $159. in which you could mount it on the wall if you so desired.  I was either blessed or cursed with the ability to look at something and in my mind put it all together…. It can you drive you crazy especially when you are at someone's else's house…. ;-)  I choose to say I was BLESSED beyond measure in all areas of my life.


So being that I read a lot of blogs I already knew what to do to take care of all the ugly wires from the TV and the Cables.  (cut a hole in the wall behind the TV and behind the upper part of the Mantel).  With the wires taken care of I then painted flat black paint onto the area behind the mantel  so you couldn't see my shelf that I painted black for the cable and dvd boxes and it made the fake fireplace heater blend in well and look like it really belongs there.  Shoot I may never put in a real gas fireplace this one does make the room cozy and no one really knows what it is until I tell them!  I also painted a board black and laid it on the inside of the floor of the mantel area.  It is sporting a cute little wooden train for Christmas at the moment.

The reason the walls beside the fireplace are yet empty is that we plan to build in bookcases on each side!

Here is our warm cozy family room!  I could just sit in there all day but then I wouldn't get anything done!  (although I do like to sit in there and knit when I have the chance!)

I bet you all wondered where I put the Big B?  The Christmas Tree base is actually a bent wood drum that I swapped with a friend one year when we were set up together in a craft show.  Thank you Lisa Lockhart!

Some of my yearly ornaments…...

The last thing my late friend Crystal made for me…. it was filled with candy.  She of course stamped and put together the unique box!

 And a picture of a very empty family room "before"! 

Tomorrow I will show you my Craft Room! :)  Nancy

Day #2 of my Christmas tour of our New Home!

Today I will show you the kitchen….. you have already seen the Annie Sloan painted cabinets. (which I love and do not regret painting at all!)

A dear friend gifted me this Santa a few years back and I always try to find somewhere special to put him!

The sign from a dear friend.

This "buffet" was not here before…… this is actually a dresser to a bedroom outfit but it wouldn't fit in the guest room so Mark (brilliant man) thought this would make a great buffet with more kitchen storage!  The cabinets above of course were not there either, we bought the two end cabinets from Lowe's and Mark made the middle section with shelves and I painted the upper cabinet with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and I am trying to make it match the dresser oops buffet which is antiqued.  (it came that way when I bought it)  Oh and not sure about the two chalkboards looking at them makes me either want to paint a stem on the wall cause they look like Sunflowers or feel like I have eyes looking at me.  They came from TJ Maxx.

Mark has a  collection of oil lamps so why not include in the Christmas decor? :)  The picture below shows our wooded view out our kitchen windows where we have lots of activity at our bird feeders.

This picture is looking into the kitchen which also overlooks the family room.  We replaced the wire mesh upper corner cabinet door with a piece of glass  (the picture below doesn't show it well but the door glass is an antiqued looking glass we also  put glass shelves in those cabinets). Love that we did this!  The dishwasher will soon be replaced as it leaks… arrrgggghhhh   OH and see those white doors behind the cabinets on the way to the family room well that is my pantry and let me tell you it is NOTHING like the Pantry at our New Liberty House!  I am making do with it… there is quite a bit of storage but there will never be another pantry like that one!!!

Here is the "Before" of this cabinet!

Tomorrow I will show you our family room!  Hope you are staying warm!!!      Nancy

Finally this week I will give you a tour of our New Home!

The Dining Room where we love to entertain already!  This room is right as  you walk into the front of our house.  I hope it looks warm and inviting to all who enter!

The Willow Tree Nativity set has to be one of my favorite Christmas presents ever…. (from my girls)

The debate is still out on the plates on the wall.  Oh but the chandelier was love at first sight on clearance at Lowe's (it had been over $200 and I got it for $57.) :)

Every day this week I will be highlighting a different room!  Wishing you a Merry week!

Nancy

The New (to us) House

Where have I been?  Knee deep in moving that is where.... oh normally in the past when I have moved I have packed everything up in advance had a yard sale or two and have been ready for the big day.... Well this move was a little overwhelming, now I will be the first to admit I have a few too many craft items and I am planning on really, really being picky what stays and what leaves as I unpack..  Oh but then again half of my craft "crap" is still in the old house.... Nope I did not have a thing packed before we moved, I was not ready to move.... but a certain someone whom I love dearly was ready to take the plunge!  So the only U-Haul we could get the day of the move was a small one.  In two days time we moved 4 loads and we have been back to the Old House numerous times and we have both had  our vehicles packed to the brim.. BUT guess what?  We still have a ton of stuff to get out of the house if we ever plan to sell it anytime soon.  In saying that I did have a project that had consumed me prior to the move,  I was on a mission to get the kitchen cabinets painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in the glorious color of CoCo.... I LOVE THEM!

We are now working on the Master Bedroom of the new to us house.  We are making the closet a Master Bath and adding a closet into the room.  We are well into the project and hope to have it done soon with the help of a plumber and a carpenter/electrician.  It is beginning to take shape but till it is done we are searching through bags for our clothing.  The craft room is a shambles as well as the den.  But one day soon I know it will all come together in no time flat!  I wanted my mother in law settled in the downstairs first and we are getting there!  As soon as the workers are done she will have a nice little kitchen area in the side of our large laundry room.

When you move into the home that you have looked at a zillion times prior to signing on the line you soon learn some of the problems.  One being the previous owners thought they would spruce the place up a bit and laid all new carpet and vinyl linoleum, yes you heard me right vinyl linoleum.  ARRGGGHH  it was the cheapest stuff that Lowe's had and they didn't even glue it down and therefore when we went to scoot our gas range into place it ripped about a foot of the cheap stuff.  Thankfully it is under the stove so no one but us knows it is there.  Down the road the flooring in the kitchen and baths will be replaced but not right now!  Today we had a gas leak that the carpenter discovered thankfully he found it!  So the Power Company came and took care of the Gas Leak!  The plumber did not show up.  The Appliance Repair guy finally got the parts and I have a working stove well except for one burner the orafice did not come in. I made two trips to Lowe's.   All in all it was a productive day.  I WANT IT ALL DONE YESTERDAY!    I am so ready for things to be in place and put away!  I will take some pictures of rooms as they come together!

****Update****  I typed the above over a week ago and guess what?  Well the big news is that I have finished the Hubby's Den/Study and it looks fantastic if I may say so myself!  AND the bathroom/Closet addition to the Master Bedroom well I think I can start painting tomorrow!!!  OH MY GOODNESS our carpenter/electrician is a retired school teacher and he has done a fabulous job BUT... he is just a tad messy ok who is kidding themselves he is good but MESSY and he really is a nice guy.....   Mark and I just cleaned up his mess in our area, we have been sleeping in a dust pit for a week now and that is NO FUN!  We have to cover our bed up during the day..... he sands the mudding and then turns the fan on he doesn't vacuum before doing this and oh my goodness...I have kept all the doors shut that I can but it will take me a month of Sunday's to get this all cleaned up!  Mark is going to finish up the rest himself but first I will paint then lay the floor tile in the bathroom!  In that order so I am not dripping  paint all over the place!

While I will be gone this weekend, hopefully another U-Haul will finish the move up!


Onto better things....
Here is the bathroom in progress......

And here is the Den Before

AND here is the finished Den  (still not done putting the books away)
The thing around the middle of the room is a Biblical Time Line!

I am escaping this weekend, I have yarn calling my name..... 

Nancy

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Have you tried Annie Sloan Chalk Paint yet???  I am painting my kitchen cupboards in our new to us house, and can I just say ASCP is the cat's meow!  I don't really like cats so that is saying a lot!!  One of the most amazing thing about the paint is that it will stick to almost anything!  You do not have to sand, which made it well worth paying $37.50 a quart!  You do have to wash your cabinets or whatever you are painting with a detergent of any kind, I happened to use Shaklee Basic H.  I will most likely be finishing this little project tomorrow!  So here is a before and a sneak peak of the after shot.  I also chose to use the ASCP soft wax for my finish and still have not decided if I want to distress it or not.  I replaced all hardware on the cabinets, including the hinges.  I have glass being cut to put into the upper corner cabinets.


Below is a picture of the cabinets "Before" now if you are looking at this and saying to yourself "she is crazy these cabinets are beautiful"  BITE YOUR TONGUE!  They were 32 year old cabinets the handles and hinges were GRIMEY the wood was showing wear and tear and well they just needed my touch added to them so there!

And here is one of the two doors I had glass cut for!  It will be ready Tuesday and I cannot wait to pick it up!  They are going to look so different!

AND BELOW in all of it's Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Glory in the color of COCO now doesn't the paint color just say it all?  I LOVE THEM!  Yes the previous homeowners in an attempt to sell the house put in all new countertops (not what I would of chosen) and all new carpet and yes vinyl linoleum totally NOT what I would of chosen but down the road we can change all of that,  oh and see those white sliding doors that is the pantry, and can I just say OUCH.... after completely redoing our huge pantry this one will hurt!  But I am at least glad there is a pantry. not sure what they used it for as there are no shelves in it!  So off to Lowe's I go.... Yes, the one store where they know be my name!!

Keep tuned in and I will show the pictures of the completed cabinets!

Nancy

Changes are a coming!

Wow is all I can say......

Change is a coming......

I put my house in Southeastern Illinois up on the market in the last couple of weeks, since my renters relocated.  ( I had rented it for the past three years.)  I never ever planned on being a landlord..... NEVER!   It worked out ok, other than I had to pay someone to take care of my landscaping for the last three years, I had too much invested in it to just let it go to pot... or I mean weeds.  :)

Anyway, I hung onto it for various reasons, one I was not ready to let my beautiful home go..... but this kind of pushed me to go ahead and sell it.  I was fortunate that I had renters that took care of the house I may not be so blessed the next time!  It was not really a rentable home in the fact that I had done too many upgrades on it!  SO with that being said.... we had house guests here all summer well.... since early May.. My "step" daughter and son in law, were relocating back to the QCities after having completed their degrees, they had jobs waiting for them and began looking for a house.... Well their looking for a house got us looking..... NEED I SAY MORE?  They found a house and so did we!    We spend so much time and money on the road back and forth that it is absolutely ridiculous!  I have no ties out here in NL, I don't have anything I do out here so I therefore have no friends, my friends, my church are 30 miles away!  AND if for no other reason we needed "Our own home"

SOOOOOOOO

Yes, that is right we found the "perfect house" on the Illinois side (Yay, I will be an Illinoisan again) .... so now we have two homes to sell, I am confident that God will send the perfect buyer for both places, in his perfect timing!

The house we are buying has adequate room to provide a perfect place for my mother in law, plus a couple of guest rooms, besides a craft room and an office!  I told you it was perfect!  Praying the home inspection goes OK tomorrow so things will move forward!

So stay tuned as we do some finishing up stuff here on "this old house" and help me decide what to do about my blog?  Do you think anyone wants to see what I/We do to the next house?  This will be a real trip emptying out this house to say the least!  Mark's family had called this place home for the last 23 years.... I on the other hand have moved more times than I would like to count!  Although, with each new place that I have lived, I would have to say that I would of hated to have gone through life and not known all the people that God placed in my life!  Change is good!  (oh wait I may not say that when we are packing up)

Have an awesome Labor Day Weekend and that is exactly what we will be doing, laboring here!


Nancy

Dining Room Table Runners....

I had been thinking about making some runners for my Dining Room Table..... I happened to be in the fabric area at Walmart earlier in the week and thought "why not check out their fabric?"  I only looked in the section that had the BHG Home Fabrics.... really some nice heavier fabric.  So I found two coordinating prints and this is what I came up with.  (Of course now I may be making these for each season.)


I first measured across the table to see how long I wanted them to hang on each side...  then I cut them all out, enough to sew them back to back.

Or right side together is what I really meant.....  and I ironed them to get all the wrinkles out before I sewed them together....

Then I started seaming them up  (Mrs. Fletcher if you are out there, please don't see I didn't pin them together!)

So there you have the four runners I made and then I made a really long one....

Out of a different fabric of course.....

So what do you think?  They were really easy to make.. In fact I see some fall ones coming up soon! ;-)

 Have a great weekend!

Nancy

I linked up to If It's Not Baroque Linky Party!

My New Addiction...

Oh my by the sounds of that title it seems I have a problem....

I have drank coffee for years... I have always preferred it hot and black my daughters would say I serve colored water and I know for sure my sister would say that .  I normally love to brew flavored coffees.

While visiting my daughter a few weeks back she asked if I would like an iced latte and after hesitating I said "yes please"... She then proceeded to tell me how she was making cold brew coffee and keeping it in the fridge, and that she had gotten the instructions from Pioneer Women.... Oh Ree You Rock!

The process for Ree's instructions is to have a large container put in 12 oz - 16 oz of ground coffee, then pour about a gallon of water on it. let it sit for 8 - 12 hours.  Then strain it with cheese cloth, or coffee filters through a strainer.  You then store this coffee in the fridge and it will keep up to 3 weeks.  It is concentrated so you can follow her recipe.

BUT I remembered that my mother in law has used the Toddy Brewing System for literally YEARS.  So after trying Ree's way, I ordered the Toddy System (around $40.00 and never wears out) and love it.     The coffee is 67% less acidic so if you have an irritable stomach this might be your solution.  This method is even more concentrated than Pioneer Women's method.

Here is my mixing recipe from my Toddy coffee concentrate

I fill my 24 ounce Mason Jar full of ice

Then I take my cold brew coffee (which I keep in the fridge and fill my mason jar up to the level you see below)  The stuff on the left is like liquid gold.....

Then I add water

up to here...

Then I add 1 Tablespoon of Caramel and 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla (just because that is what I have)

Then i fill it to the top with Almond Milk because it is less calories....  I know, I know I used syrup with sugar, I am trying to not use those nasty sweeteners!  

Look how pretty it looks as it mixes...... then give it a good stir.....

BUT I am an Iced Latte Snob...

I only drink it from my Mason Jar, with its cozy on, with my fancy lid and pretty straw!  (If you want one contact me!  I am still selling them for the adoption fundraiser!)

And I am off to wherever I am going for the day....... sipping on my Iced Latte I made myself!  Sorry Starbucks I think you lost a customer!!!! :-)

Go ahead and try it you just might like it!

Nancy