Saturday, March 31, 2012

Exploring the Forgotten Life

Little known fact about me: one of my hobbies is furniture restoration. I like to find out everything I can about the piece, where it is from, where it lived and what I'd like to look like now. Sometimes the history of a piece is more exciting and valuable than the piece itself.

This weekend we happened upon a tag and oddities sale. I love these things! We've decided that for the decor of the house we are doing a mix of vintage and modern so these types of sales are perfect for us. Ikea never looked so good until you stick it next to a Victorian piece. We really didn't know what to expect going in but we liked it so much we are going back tomorrow! Of course this is mainly because we couldn't fit the Settee we bought in the back of the Escape.

Car Jenga!

So after many configurations later, we were able to fit a desk and 2 chairs into the back of the Escape!

Here were the finds:
Coming soon: the Settee

Honestly the desk was an after thought, I put in an offer on the 3 piece parlor set and the desk that was absurdly low and I never expected them to accept it.


I'm fairly certain the chairs and settee are federal style but I don't have much experience with that period so I'll have to do more research.

I honestly didn't think the desk was that great. Amongst the other items at the sale it looked like a reproduction piece but what the hay, it was cheap!


Either a reproduction or someone tried to varnish it and did a horrid job.


Behold! A desk!

I finally got a chance to look at the back and was quite surprised to see a manufacturing stamp!


The Flint Bruce Co. was a furniture company in Hartford from 1891 to 1950. This will help date the piece some.


Oh wait a minute....

Now this is interesting. Between the top panel and the interior panel are some papers!


I grab my "expert tools" (in this case a post it note and a pen) and went to work getting the papers outs.


OMG I AM SO EXCITED!!


1920???? I wonder when this last saw the light of day! At least now I know the desk isn't a reproduction!

But wait there is more!





I will have to say this made me tear up a bit. Not only do I have a wedding invitation for the daughter's wedding but also a hand written letter to the mother from daughter, expressing her love. There is also a birthday card to the mother.

I wonder why these were hidden in the top of the desk? What happened to these people? These were obviously significant enough to hold on to and here they are today, 90 years later, the last remaining relics of a person's life.

I hope they had a happy life.



Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Room I've Only Been in Once

And I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much!

Oh the Attic, how you terrify me... Who's ready for a tour???


Ah yes, the unassuming entrance. Looks like it could be the door to any room!


Until you get a glimpse of the stairs and notice it's a one way ticket to 200 years ago!


The crevice space in between the 2000's and 1700's...


Oh that totally looks inviting! You've seen enough, right??


Even the Army men are trying to escape!

Ok, deep breaths! We are now inside! Half of the attic is "finished"...


But the other half....


Um, yeah. Not so much...


Let's just say, I'm not stepping on that.

oh and by the way...


Watch your head! WTF!! Instant death, straight from my attic! 



So I guess it needs insulation, right?


 Oh, and the reason I'll never come back up here?


I SAW PARANORMAL ACTIVITY!!! I WILL NEVER LOOK AT YOU FILM STRIP!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Before and Middle....

Well it warmed up for about 2 weeks but unfortunately we are in the middle of another cold snap. I had enough warm weather to seed and treat the yard for insects, rake the yard, clean the pool area and start on the flower beds. Not sure what we are planting out there yet, something easy to maintain since I have a black thumb, haha.

The Before.... (taken during winter)

The After-ish! (Taken first of spring)


The soil looks pretty good but then again it has had leaves decaying on it for about a year. I have no idea what is already planted in there though. Surprises all around!


Thursday, March 22, 2012

Project of the Day

We are still conquering Battle Lighting. I didn't realize how difficult it is to light a room completely when it's not from over head. Lesson Learned! There is no way to wire the upper floor unless we start tearing into more walls then we planned on. In the mean time, we are getting creative :)

Behold! Ugly floor lamp!

We picked up a few of the above bad boys from Ikea for $7. Awesome price but they aren't the pretty things. Since this is in one of the play rooms I thought it needed a little extra something.


Serena is always begging me to buy these. They have the 50 pack with a variety of sizes for $1 so i caved. Unfortunately they never made it to the ceiling. No problem though, we found another use!


It's a fun little project with the kids. We used the tacky stuff that the kit came with but I thing I may re do it and use clear glue instead. Any suggestions on a kind or brand?


Magic!

 And an instant night light, the kids approved :)


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Pièce de Résistance!

Now it's time to show you the reason why we got the house. Ready for it???


Ahhhhhhhhh. I can feel the sun just looking at it. Yay soon to be tan!

But, because there is always a but, it currently looks like this:

wooomp wooomp

So much work to be done. It's officially spring though so time to get to work!


This is the other side, toward the pool house. Yes it looks like a barn but I swear it has a frig!


Looking toward the house, opposite side of the pool.

The pool is completely fenced off with two gates. The gates are very secure, I could barely figure out how to open them!

Any tips on baby proofing a pool would be greatly appreciated. The pool is under 24/7 video surveillance and we are getting Jasper one of those baby swimsuit/floatation device combos. I like that it's set so far from the road and house. Privacy is always nice. I'm not sure how deep it is though. Cant wait to get the top off and find out!

What Happened???

We are finally back up and running! Lots going on around the ole cape so expect a burst of posts. Plus a new laptop, woohoo!!

Now on to the topic of this post...

What in the world is wrong with my hall light bulb?


I have no idea what it looked like originally but I'm pretty sure I need to replace it. What could have happened to it that it looks like that?


It does give off that wonderful "creepy haunted house" vibe though.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Spring Has Sprung!

A wet and dreary day outside but surprisingly warm! After a run to the mailbox I saw the most glorious thing!

Spring!!

I'm so happy! My least favorite season is winter. Now is the time to plan out some flower beds, seed the yard and put out the bug killers. Lots and lots of bug killers. I also need hedge trimmers and this thing they call a lawn mower.

And some flowers already planted themselves!

But this bed/area sadly did not plant itself :(

Lots more planning to do! I cant wait for the warm weather!

Friday, March 2, 2012

The Fallon Suite: Before

This room is named in honor of my bff and god mother to my daughter, Ms Fallon (She also runs a blog over at http://ferociouslyfallon.blogspot.com/ ) but it's not named after her because it's currently a hot mess but because it is also known as the guest room, the bag room, the room I never go into and/or the room that has whatever I'm currently looking for because I forgot I put it in there. (Ok to clarify she'll be a guest here, she's also not a forgotten room)

Behold!

It's actually a nice sized room. It's as long as the house and located directly over the kitchen so it's one of the "newer" areas of the house. Unfortunately it is also ugly as sin and the flower/zebra print wall paper/curtain combo can cause seizures. So let's do a little 360 of the room.

Door from hallway


Far wall over looking pool and side yard..and that damn radiator


Wall that over looks back yard...and the door to the "big surprise"

Wait for it......
Behold!!! A closet so tiny, an adult hanger wont fit in it!!! Only baby hangers for you!!! I do also see the irony with the print of that dress. Just hush.

Yes, this is the light switch for this room.

So everything we will be doing in here is cosmetic. God save that closet, I have no clue what to do there. The major idea is to make it into a reading/guest room. Other suggestion would be nice. We are changing everything from the paint, trim, fixtures, etc. The floors are nice at least?