With The First Cup of Coffee

Mike Putman, my blogging guru warned the class about blogging drunk. At this point of the morning I am wondering if he should not also have warned us about blogging without a shot of caffeine first thing in the morning! I have no pictures I am sharing today. I just want to chat. Nothing to say in particular, just that morning coffee/tea/pop/juice/ or what ever your beverage of choice is first thing after awakening. Ahhhh, and let us talk about awakening. We have a cat. We have a beautiful tuxedo cat. We have a tuxedo cat that we rescued a few years back. First cat I have ever owned. After the last few days, maybe the last we will ever own. ( This last statement is totally in jest as I was just begging my husband to let us rescue Kim of Sweet Sage Vintage's kitty in need of a home) Anyway, we had to install the kitty door in our bedroom. It was the only appropriate location due to one thing or another. It is right by our bed. One of the new high class infra red contraptions that can read the collar and only let the kitty wearing it inside one's abode. Love this part, as in the valley we seemed to have one and one half cats. Another black and white was using us for free. No love, no attention, just plain out stealing food and hiding in various places in the house. Did not mind until it got into something and started smelling like a skunk ten times over. I would walk in a room and immediately know, from the smell, we had a visitor. Did I also mention she was MEAN to our Sammy, our kitty?

Alright, back to my original story. Sammy has learned how to use the kitty door. As his mom I will also tell you he was a very fast learner. One time out the door and he had it down pat. Pat is a good word to use here as PAT,PAT,PAT, is the sound the door makes when he comes and when he goes. You know what this means. Awake, awake, awake, depending on the number of times he comes and goes. Now, many of you would say to just close the door at night. Can't because I cannot stand litter boxes. Sammy goes potty outside. Choices. I am thinking about getting a very loud fan to sit right next to the bed. We already sleep with a loud vintage one across the room. Love that dead noise.

We were supposed return to the valley on Tuesday, then Wed., then today. Now it is tomorrow. I have product to complete and deliveries to be made for next Tuesday so I MUST get my touche back to the heat. I need it to light a fire under there somewhere as product is not what I have been working on up here.

I did get the piles and piles of fabric somewhat organized and out of the middle of the floor. I need more of my storage pieces from home to continue to organize all this STUFF. I think I have had sort of a meltdown craft wise this week. I am normally a pretty organized and productive ( or so I thought, before reading Marissa's blog of artologist, and numerous other talented bloggers) person but this week, not so. I have been disgusted with all the STUFF I have. I antique, garage sale, sew, cook, create altered art, make books, knit, crochet, and blah, blah, blah. You get the picture.At one point I almost just picked everything up in the middle of the floor and threw it away. My logic was much as my husband's is when he is going on a trip. ( I think most men are like this-irritates the you know what out of me as I want to think in this manner!) He says if he forgets something he can buy it again. I was just about to close my eyes and take this plunge when the word GREEN came to my mind. Here I am creating something new out of vintage linens in an effort to save them and give them new life. Why does being GREEN have to become practical and politically correct just when I am having serious BROWN thoughts? Having said all this I will also let you know I have not even started packing my craft room closet, in the valley. I must purge. I must, I must.

Need that second cup of coffee. First one is long gone and I am still rattling away. Kim and Jennifer, hope to get in to Mystic for a visit before our Rocky Point week with kids. Kim of sweetsagevintage, have a lovely, lovely time in Cody. Know you will have lots to share upon your return. I hope to visit there someday. Bonnie, dear, kiss the bride for me and hug all your family, especially our Megan. Everyone else, I hope you have a HIGH time without caffeine or any other stimulant. Though if it takes it for you to function--indulge. My dad always told me to do what ever it took to make myself look and feel better. Hey, next post might be The Latest Two Things That Have Changed My Life. With that I will close and go down stairs for another cup.

Just Time For A Quickie

Where does the time go? Lately it goes to tasks like below.

Is this the magic time it will fit?

Took five times to get the opening prepared properly but yes, kitchen sink is ready for plumber is scheduled for tomorrow to finish all plumbing! Finally!

My studio This does not look as bad as it really is!! Boxes have been piled high. Too much of my storage is not here yet. I have decided to just dump out on the floor everything that cannot be put away.


More of the dumping to take place today.

As you can tell from this post, my creativity is consumed by this huge project!

Hoping all of you have time for more than just a quickie this week!

Shameless

Shameless seems the most appropriate title for the posting today. I am sitting on the porch in my pajamas. It is nine thirty in the morning. My husband is fishing with our grandson. I have numerous things to be doing but sitting on this porch and posting is what I WANT to be doing so here I am. Smile. I have watched squirrels scamper around, blue jays twitter around, and a little bunny hop around. They have watched me sit in the rocker and smile.

Now, however, I am listening to a huge backhoe ( or at least I think that is what you call it ) travel up and down my street, making all kinds of racket reminding me I am not in the middle of nowhere. Shame on it for interrupting my peace! Regardless of the machinery, the temperature is perfect and my heart is filled with gratitude for life bringing me to this glorious, peaceful, retreat of a home. I am busy unpacking boxes and all the other chores of moving but with every minute I am shamelessly becoming more in love with this opportunity. Shameless is a great way to feel!

My Side Porch

( Kim, of SweetSageVintage, do you recognize the green shutter shelf? I am going to polyurethane it for protection. )

Close up of coffee table where I shamelessly drink coffee each morning.

Close up of Impatiens just planted, in vintage wire baskets hanging on a vintage trellis outside of the porch railing. I have shamelessly been spending the green on plants of every color.

Twelve 1 gallon pots of Ivy. These will be planted on the white lattice work we are installing underneath the porch.

A Little Digging After All

Prepared and planted this bed out front before leaving yesterday. Dahlia's are all in the center and Lobelia is planted around the outside. I have not planted Dahlia's since I moved from the South. I hope to be posting more about this gardening adventure and cottage awakening.

I transplanted the geraniums from my garden in the valley. Purchased the marigolds up north. I was able to dig this bed up myself and turn the dirt with new nutrients. The soil at our house in the valley usually requires the muscle of Randy. I found two former labels embedded deep in the soil. One was for strawberries and one for red hot ??? Maybe I will try some strawberries.

Our grandson came down to the valley with us. We are loading again and will return to Pinetop on Friday. Chandler has his last baseball game of the season Friday afternoon. We need to make sure we have him there in time to root, root, root, for the home team. There are certainly many roots that bring me happiness these days.

Near The Middle

Below you will see some of the latest pictures of our cottage. I have tried to take pictures showing the current views of the shots I shared in my last post. What a labor of love this has been. We have done homes in the past but never to the extent of this project. I almost get worn out thinking about it. Smile. There is something about mountain time. When a contractor says tomorrow, it often means in a week. A week means a month, and well, those months turn into a year. I am just hoping the years don't turn into a decade before we are sitting on the porch with our feet up. Even then I know we will be seeing something else to do, but surely I will have a kitchen sink and a washer and dryer. I will not moan, I will not moan, I will not moan.

Picture of Painted House

You can also see our trailer which is now unloaded from the latest haul.

See the reflector? I want to remove it but my honey says come winter it must go back in the ground as it tells us where the driveway is above the snow!

This picture shows the living area and stairway at this stage in the game. It also nicely shows our new wide planked pine flooring. All of this furniture will be moved. The top cabinet pictured must go up those steep stairs. We have never owned a two story house before. The cabinet will be in the hall way outside the bathroom upstairs. We are waiting to move a lot of things up stairs once we have help. Did I mention the stairs are steep????!!! The box holds my farmhouse sink which will be installed in the kitchen, of course. The television will go up stairs, as well. The birdcage and little chair with the plant will find a new position too. We have a huge vintage cabinet that will go on the wall shown. It will house my husband's ( and I must admit mine also, now that I am used to the size of the picture ) big screen television.

Sorry about this one. Hope to correct it later . I know it would be much easier to see positioned correctly. Hopefully you can make out the bead board and the blue painted buffet which has the sink. The blue is matched to the original blue tub. We were not able to save the original toilet. It broke when it was removed to install the new floor. The tile is original. We have not yet replaced the tub fixtures as we were told the tile could break. We are " thinking on it" for awhile.

Looking down the stairs from the upstairs landing/hall way. Remember the light fixture and the mess. New bead board, new railings, new molding, new stairs, and on and on and on. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh------

Space behind the stairs now houses a new powder room.

Another one of those pictures to fix.

Inside the powder room is the little vintage door to storage. Oh yes, notice the bead board toilet seat. Home Depot just started carrying these.

Current view of kitchen. Butcher block counter tops will be installed. Microwave/convection oven will be moved. Farmhouse sink will go under window. The vintage ceiling fixture is going to be installed in the powder room. I won another one, just like it, for the hallway upstairs.

See those bookcases on the ends of the cabinets? Those are the ones I mentioned my husband built. They will hold my cookbooks.

Another kitchen view. The box holds the faucet for the sink. Stove is not installed. The dining room table is just peaking into the picture on the right hand side. The doors lead out to the side porch. We plan to enclose it later. We allowed for heating and cooling and outlets for the future.

Upstairs bedroom which is now painted.

The vintage screen is another favorite find on my trip antiquing with my dear friend Suzanne this past October. She found it in Knoxville, TN while on a business trip with her husband. She knew the minute she laid eyes on it I would adore it and be whisking it to AZ. The fireplace is behind the screen. We will be installing an antique mantle which is now in our house in the valley. This picture shows my very favorite thing we did to this home. The ceiling is reproduction ceiling tin. It is powdercoated white and it is bright. I absolutely love it.

Another view from behind the stairs. The powder room and laundry are across from the kitchen. The back doorway enters our master bathroom.
Close up of the laundry room. A mistake became as us crafters say,"an opportunity for creativity" The framers accidentally did not frame the door opening to a standard size. It was their mistake but rather than have them correct it, Amber, my daughter, suggested I use curtains like I am using for window treatments. The sign was another October trip find. I have several of these I will be selling eventually. There are a few different colors, sizes, and sayings.

Thank you for asking to see more pictures of this home we are creating. I planted more flowers today and hope to be posting more progress pictures in the future. The weather here right now is so perfect for working outside. I am wanting to dig, dig, dig. Unfortunately tomorrow I will be haul, haul, hauling boxes up stairs. I will have those doors open though smelling the pine trees and listening to the birds and squirrels. If I am lucky, I will also catch a glimpse of the little bunny that visits our yard.

Near The Beginning

So, once again I don't know how to properly post.

Please go to the very end of this post, read what I wanted to say at the beginning and then scroll back up to the below pictures. Sorry. Tired and I should have posted the pictures first. I know how to move pictures but not the type. Always something more to learn. Is alright. I am not going to keep my lack of knowledge from pursuing sharing!

Not the beginning but close. This shows the windows

already replaced.This shows the windows replaced and a new door outside of the new master bath.

This is the living area, with the sub flooring already replaced. In the beginning, there was nasty, nasty carpet, which smelled like critter urine many times over. I know it is gross. So gross the sub flooring even had to be replaced. But, after this most recent trip here, we now understand why the house was in such disrepair. The husband died of brain cancer about a year before we purchased the house. His wife, it seems, turned to alcohol in her loneliness. They were elderly and she was tender hearted. Seems she fed ALL the critters around. She was unable to tend to the many pets she had and so the story goes. We learned this from a neighbor we had not previously met.

Upstairs bathroom. Wall paper was on the walls. Kept the tub. Unfortunately the toilet broke when removed for flooring replacement. I refinished an antique buffet to match the tub. It is now used to house the sink. This is the bathroom for which I made the shower curtain from the vintage quilt posted in an earlier blog.

Looking down the stairs from the upstairs. Notice the hanging light fixture. Please, oh please, notice the ugly paneling half way down the wall and the uneven dry wall on the other half.

View from behind the stairs. Even in this picture you can see we have already had plumbing work done. Might I add the large black item on the left of the picture was moved to the right. It is for a new toilet, in a new powder room, downstairs. Of course I changed my mind about it's location. You will eventually see a darling vintage door leading to the under stairs space, for a storage area. I tried to use just about every inch of space I could muster.

Again, walls removed, sub flooring replaced. You can see the original kitchen wallpaper and stove.

The room at the back started as two very small bedrooms. We turned the two rooms into a master bedroom with two walk in closets. The area to the left of the stove was a large much wasted hallway. You will understand more later, with future pictures.

One of the bedrooms upstairs before we painted. We left the paneling that was oh so ugly but with oh so much cottage potential. Paint made it lovable.

Another kitchen view. The door out of the kitchen is now gone, as the kitchen was totally redesigned. Actually, the entire downstairs was gutted and reclaimed.

This is a picture of the living area in the very beginning. Well, almost. The carpet had been removed.You can see the stains on the sub flooring. You can see the wall heater that has been removed, along with the old gas fireplace. Also, the old stone has been covered with drywall and painted and tile installed on the hearth.I used the same tile as the back splash in the kitchen. The rooms are open to each other now. There will be an antique mantle installed on the fireplace, which is being removed from our present home in Gilbert. We are installing a pellet stove. It will be capable of heating the house in the winter and save on the gas bill and be better for the environment. I love the old fashioned wood burning fireplaces. It was our intent to restore this fireplace to wood burning. After listening to our daughter and countless others tell us how much more efficient it would be to go "green" we changed our minds and decided to be practical.

This is the section I wanted at the beginning!

Can I believe it? Yes. Found my camera and now my battery is dead. Do I have the charger with me? No, of course not .Am I happy about this? No, of course not. Is there anything I can do about it, at the moment? No, of course not. Will I live? Yes, of course! Going back to valley tomorrow for delivery of corporate packaging items and the all important hair appointment. Also, need to pack up another load of furniture, etc. to bring back to these cool pines. We have so many more things completed, to take pictures of to share, but----since I cannot do this, at the moment, I decided to post some pictures of the project beginnings. This should help you see the daunting task we took on over a year ago. Having said that, let me urge you to back up your photos and anything else of importance to you. My daughter's computer crashed.Our very beginning original pictures, of the entire house, are gone. Talk about bummed! Anyway, there are enough sort of originals saved to see what we faced in the restoration of this home. Happy rest of the weekend and in about a week I hope to be posting more of the after pictures-- smile.

Where To Begin

Where to begin? My honey went golfing in Pinetop, for the first time today. He has been working hard all this past week on many inside items. He put our closets in yesterday. The next time we come we can actually hang up our clothes. He also finished book shelves at the end of my kitchen counter tops, to hold my cookbooks. Will post these later. I am quite proud of him as he has never been much of a wood worker. We are now waiting on the butcher block counter tops. Once these arrive we can have the plumber come back and hook up farmhouse sink, other bathroom sinks, washer dryer, etc. So looking forward to actually being able to do wash! Did I really just say I want to do laundry???? I had the house all to myself today and what did I do? I cleaned. I meant to play on my computer all day long but I could not stand the total mess everywhere one more minute. This remodeling is so much messier than just plain ole living.

I have posted another lampshade along with the remaining stash from my eBay frenzy, for vintage rhinestone jewels. You will also find below some more gardening items. I am absolutely in love with the rose trees. The smell is like perfume, as I walk by. The hydrangea pot I posted earlier is close to the roses. I want to see how it fares, as now I want tons of hydrangeas in the front bed. There is much yard work to be done but first things first. Alright, it is time for a hop, skip, and jump to the local Mexican food restaurant for margaritas and nachos. Happy hour ends at six so I best get going. Talk again soon!

Lampshade with rhinestone earrings clipped to top.


Leftovers

New Rose Trees for each side of stairway to porch.

Yesterday's Work

Results of yesterday's work.