Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The View from my Window

At least from the living room, haha.

You see that white thing in the middle? That's a waterfall with a turn wheel from the saw mill that was there in the early 1900's. Also seen is the fence we need to fix. *Sigh*
And my mail box....


The back yard. To the Left is the top of the two car garage. The middle bottom is yet another part of the fence that needs to be fix. Middle middle is a future Christmas tree maybe?


That is the pool house, chestnut tree in foreground. The pool is behind the fence. Oh and don't worry, that's just a reflection from the lamp inside....I hope.


And this is what happens when you lean on freshly painted window sills to take pictures out of them!


Sunday, January 29, 2012

What the Heck.....

We were out in the yard, playing around with my adorable son on a nice, crisp January day. We haven't spent too much time out there yet due to weather. Suddenly I noticed something coming out of the wall...


I assumed it was a bird bath or fountain of some  sort. Nothing to write home about.


My son was idly playing as I snapped off photos (Isn't he adorable??) .... Wait, does that thing have horns??

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT AND WHAT IS GROWING OUT OF IT'S MOUTH??


No, I'm being serious. Please, All Mighty, let that be a representation of the north wind!!

Friday, January 27, 2012

The Best Room in the House!

And the one that needs the least work! Oh how I love this kitchen. We honestly didn't look at it much when we first looked into the house. My check list included: Dishwasher.... ok, that was it. Just a dishwasher. I seriously hate doing dishes though. The appliances are quite nice though, a double oven, counter stove top and a french door refrigerator. Of course even this room has history. The cabinet doors were made from the floor boards from an upstairs bedroom. Gotta love keeping it authentic!



Here are some of the highlights and surprises that we've found:

A wine rack! total surprise but awesome space saver.


This is under the stove top. I'm assuming it's for spices?

A Lazy Susan! Made from the original butcher block counter tops.
Yes that is mouse trap. I'm very paranoid haha.

This is going to make Thanksgiving dinner so much easier to make!


I love the glass in these cabinets!

So the only thing we are doing in this room is adding some hanging additions under the top cabinetry.

Easy Peasy!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

And Now for the Basement!

Ah the Basement... A place filled with equal parts wonder, terror and "what the frick is that??" Today let's do an abbreviated tour of the basement. I'm open to any and all ideas to making this area more...livable? How about we start small and let's just make it less "Holy crap how fast can I do laundry so I never have to come down here again?" or even less "Ya know what, I'll just buy new clothes."

Enjoy!

Behold! My laundry room!!!


The area to the immediate left of my amazing laundry room space. Future home of a personal gym. Can't you tell by that amazing ball?


The original basement door which leads to the outside at ground level. More on the history of this later.


Dan's amazing new tool/work room! Except he owns no tools....
New crafting space for me perhaps?


Other side of work room. I love those horses.

To our knowledge the basement doesn't leak or flood. Now that doesn't mean that it wont though. I was thinking of some sort of storage or shelving unit.

Something like this even?

Decisions, Decisions....Off to go Pin some craft rooms!!


Friday, January 20, 2012

At Least I have Snow Tires

Went back today to see how the house did in the snow. I thought we only got about an inch but apparently my house is located in some sort of weather paradox because I couldn't even find my driveway! It's a rock driveway instead of asphalt so I don't think a snow thrower would work, unless I'd like to throw rocks into my windows. How could it even be shoveled?? Maybe a snow blower? Ah so many options and research needs to be done! I suppose we wont be moving much in this weekend, 4-6 inches are expect between 3 AM- 4PM. I've never been a snow lover but at least it waited this long. I'm newish to the whole snow thing so it's going to be a crash course in snow removal.

It's a good thing I have good tires! I'd make a snow man if I didnt think that I'd run it over.


The lake across the street is completely frozen!

A better view of the ancient wall. The pool is behind the fence, the barn looking thing is the pool house. Oh and look! Christmas trees still in the ground!

Look at that lone little light.... Wait if that's the recycling bin, where is the outdoor trash cans? CRAP! Note to self, buy giant outdoor trash cans.
Not so creepy in the daylight covered in snow! From my car of course because it's really freaking cold! 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

So I Finally Did it

I went to the house at night. You would think "Oh hey, before I commit to a major life decision, I better make sure it's ok at night." Well not this Gal! And who has a crippling fear of the dark? Oh yeah, me again. I went by to get the keys, pick up some paper work and drop a few things off. Little did I know exactly how "dark" it gets there. It's not normal neighborhood dark, it's deep space black hole dark. No street lights, no car lights, no lights from other house. With only 3 over head lights in the house, the dark and silence crept in. I had the fight or flight instant panic set in and off to the car I bound in a sheer fit of panic and haste. I sat in the car for idk how long until Judie showed up so help me finish. I couldn't even go back to shut the front door, I seriously could not move. It's like the dark was creeping in. I will now have a flashlight within arms length for the rest of my life. Also I need to add out door lighting to our growing list of needs.
*Le Sigh*

And now for tonight's pictures!
Outside, you can see some of the ancient wall


Those arent orbs! That's just dust! Right? RIGHT???

We are only going to focus on how much I hate that carpet

More of the living room after the orb o rama photo

I dont even remember what room this is

 Not so bad from this angle
I'm just taking random photos at this point
 
Oh hey the kid's bathroom! Totally not creepy!



That's all for this time. I'll be back there tomorrow when we will go into the basement. Sorry though, I will never go into that attic

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Ikea!!!!

We have no furniture. No really! We currently live in a house that is 1000 square feet, think cramped, tight and cluttered. Our couch is really just a love seat, our table is tiny and nothing we have it what I'd consider that great. So moving into a house that is more than twice the size that we are use to is daunting! We desperately need furniture, like real adult furniture haha. We also need lighting, decor, etc etc... So off to Ikea we went for ideas! We know we'd like a few period pieces but also some that will hold up against kids....
So first we tackled lighting
Chandelier's are were it is at!
Serena's lamp was rather easy to find

We also bought a pleathora of cheap floor lamps until we figure out the other 6 rooms. No over head lighting is a more daughting issue than I thought.


We love this clock. A modern take on the grandfather, plus storage. It's a great idea and who doesnt like multitasking??


Since we have absolutely no seating, we have no idea where to start. I thought this set was nice, plus wicker is kind of period, right?? I need to do more research but at least it's comfy!

I will continue my search for furniture but more measurements need to be made!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

And now for the outside!

This is the first time we've had to deal with a yard and oh what a yard it is. Thankfully it comes with a tractor. I really home the tractor comes with some sort of grass cutting attachment. I mean hey, it might be fun to ride around on a tractor but the grass needs to be cut as well! We went to home depot and Lowe's today. So over whelming! Lawn mowers, weed eaters, lawn seed, oh my! At least we have a little while until spring. Hopefully the snow will hold off for a little while more as well. I'm thinking of getting a metal detector as there are 4 acres of historical ground to cover. The previous owner found a bottle worth $12000 so hey, what do I have to lose?


 View of the back yard. The tractor is under the pool house, perfect place for a tractor to sit! Plus do you see all of that privacy??



The front. From the top it doesn't look so large but from the side, wow.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Looks like Serena approves!

Found this on my refrigerator. I guess our daughter approves of the new place! It's wonderful news because the last thing I want is for her to feel uncomfortable in her own home. I know it's an intimidating space and hopefully once we do our first "sleep over" all will go well. I've already prepped her with the "old houses will have strange noises" chat. I'm considering buying a cot for our room just in case. Still working on the lighting situation since most rooms do not have over head lighting and most of the outlets are at ground level. It should be interesting....


Saturday, January 14, 2012

I'm expecting a white rabbit....

To hop out with a pocket watch at any moment. Some of the rooms have little doors to no where. They are located in the gables and some even have windows! No idea what to do with them or what they were used for... I mean i suppose it could be for storage but i dont want to offend the potential gnomes, fairies or white rabbits that may live there, haha. The strangest one is in the basement and we could use it as a wine cellar, I guess?

Ideas?
Even better, apparently that step says "Caution!"
Tiny Door in Master bedroom
Inside of tiny room in purple room
Entrance to tiny room in purple room

What have we gotten ourselves into?

We did the final walk through today! Took forever just to get in. Apparently the realtor took the lock off the door but didn't leave the keys with anyone available. First day in and we had to break into our own house! Although parts of it are, ya know, creepy; it's really starting to grow on me.

Friday, January 13, 2012

How to baby proof a house older than the country

What to do, what to do, what to do.
Today we took measurements of all of the radiators, door ways, fire places, stairwells and the hearth. It's a lot of square footage to cover. We've decided to not use the fire places, only the wood stove and the radiators. How do you baby proof a radiator? We also have to paint the bottom floor in lead encapsulation paint "just in case." oh and bait the house for mice "just in case." and so the to do list continues...

Below are photos of some of the baby proofing offenders!