Settling In....

Wow!  It has already been almost a year since Maid Elizabeth purchased her first home so I thought it was high time I took you along on an updated house tour.

Maid Elizabeth purchased a home in our small town because, really, it was too good a deal to pass up. The house was owned by the bank and for one reason or another, no one else seemed to see the potential in it's Edwardian era charm.  It was a definitely a "fixer", with the bathroom needing to be completely gutted, however it's bones were good and it's structure sound.  Elizabeth made an offer, the bank accepted and then the real work began!

Sir Knight and Miss Serenity gutting the bathroom

Ugh!

New flooring!  And plumbing!  The wall needs to be painted, but progress!!

Elizabeth completely reconfigured the bathroom

Working on a limited budget, Elizabeth took care of the big things first, specifically the bathroom.  The subfloor was pulled up and the walls were pulled down and all of the plumbing was replaced.  There is still work to be done but Elizabeth will do that as she has the time and the money.  And for now, she has a fully functional bathroom!  She also painted - EVERYTHING!  She painted the kitchen, after tearing down the panelling to reveal shiplap and she painted her living room RED!  I have to admit, I was a little concerned when she told me that she wanted to paint the living room red - I mean, who does that?  Red, of all colors!  But, once the color was on the walls, I saw her vision.  It is perfect - warm and welcoming and rich - just right in her large, wood accented living room.

Shiplap under the paneling in the kitchen

The chimney in the kitchen

The Pioneer Maid

Antique apartment sized gas range - Perfect!!

Elizabeth's antique drafting table in the kitchen/diner

New light fixtures installed by Sir Knight

A rocking chair in front of the cook stove!

The children pulling up flooring in the laundry room

Laundry room/white goods

After living in her house for about six months, Elizabeth noticed that her kitchen was dark.  In reality, her ceilings are ten feet tall and she had two single lights bulbs at the ceiling.  During the summer, she hadn't noticed the lack of light, but during the dark days of winter, she was suffering.  She bought two light fixtures at Costco and Sir Knight installed them and now her kitchen resembles the surface of the sun!  I'm pretty sure the entire neighborhood knows when she's home!!

The living room - before

And with RED walls!

A daybed under one window and a child's table under another

Cozy with a gas fired burner

Elizabeth still has many, many things on her to-do list.  She would like to turn her front porch into a snug, refinish her stairway and hall, finish her bathroom and install flooring in her utility room. She has painting to do in the bathroom and painting and flooring to tackle in the upstairs bedrooms.  She is saving money to put on a new roof, as well as an exterior paint job.

The front porch that will be a snug

Elizabeth's winter transportation - a kick sled with basket!

Maid Elizabeth truly has settled in and is enjoying every moment.  And the page turns on the next chapter.....

Kitchen Update

By the time February arrives, I'm usually anxious to do something - anything!  I'm tired of being cooped up in the house and itching to get my fingers in the dirt, but of course I can't until the snow is gone.  And so, my house bears the brunt of my pent-up energy.  Nothing is safe.  I've gone through the children's rooms , the reloading room, the bathroom and the kitchen.  I've cleaned under the beds, in the cupboards and behind the stoves.  And still I'm a bundle of energy looking for another project!

The cupboards, well, they looked so plain.  And my children asked what was for dinner - again.  And there was that one verse I wanted to memorize - it would be nice if I could see it every day.   What to do?  Well, paint the cupboard doors with chalkboard paint of course!

Really, the job was pretty easy.  I scrubbed the doors with Whistle, an industrial cleaner Sir Knight brought home (I love it! - it works on everything) and taped them up to paint.  After cleaning and taping, I spray painted them with chalkboard paint.  I sprayed the doors twice,  allowing the paint to dry in-between coats and then I let them dry overnight.

That was it!!!  My cupboards had a face life and I had a place to keep the menu for the week and a new Bible verse every week as well.

It's fun, and fresh, and now I'm thinking of all kinds of home improvement projects that I can't wait to get my hands on!

And I truly can't wait for spring!!!

Humble Homemaking

Those of you who have followed our blog for any length of time know that we have mastered the art of "making do".  I love my home to be inviting and cozy, an escape from the outside world, but I don't believe that I have to spend a bunch of money "decorating" when I can use a little creativity to create a comfortable and warm home.

Sir Knight and I have a mountain escape that we are slowly equipping and furnishing on a nonexistent budget.  Although furnished with a couch and a rocking chair, the living room echoed with emptiness, resulting in our children playing "musical chair" in an effort to claim the only comfortable spot in the house! 

Looking around for inspiration, I came upon two wingback wicker chairs that I had warehoused in our storage shed.  The chairs were very comfortable - in fact they formed a "nest" for my children when we had whooping cough - but they were in dire need of a good cleaning and a cosmetic makeover.  Thinking they would be perfect for "Cair David", I hauled them out of storage, and with Miss Serenity's help, began to give them a new life.

Miss Serenity in the "nest" with whooping cough

The chair, in great need of an update!

Miss Serenity painting

Putting old sheets to good use

My oh, so professional upholstery job!

The first thing Serenity and I did was give the chairs a good scrubbing.  After they had been cleaned, Miss Serenity sprayed the chairs black, while I cut and fitted old flannel sheets to the cushions.  I just cut the sheets slightly larger than the cushions and used kilt pins to pin the fabric to the backs of the cushions.  Eventually, I would like to sew new slipcovers for the cushions, but for now, the sheet covers work well. 

Freshly painted and updated

In Cair David

Over the years, I have found that a warm, inviting home can be made with what you have on hand.  Maid Elizabeth and Miss Serenity have both helped me bring treasures home that we have found by the dump or on the side of the road.  Although this may be humble homemaking, it is the best kind of home making I know!

Be it ever so humble...

I recently came across a snippet of paper that perfectly sums up my homemaking philosophy.  I believe it was distributed by General Mills, under the pen name of Betty Crocker.  Although not considered relevant for modern women, it is perfectly relevant for me!  I can only hope to impart these values to my daughters, who in turn, will impart them to theirs....

Homemakers Creed

I believe homemaking is a noble and challenging career.

 

I believe homemaking is an art, requiring many different skills.

 

I believe homemaking requires the best of my efforts, my abilities and my thinking.

 

I believe home reflects the spirit of the homemaker.

 

I believe home should be a place of peace, joy and contentment.

 

I believe no task is too humble that contributes to the cleanliness, the order, the health, the wellbeing of the household.

 

I believe a homemaker must be true to the highest ideals of love, loyalty, service and religion.

 

I believe home must be an influence for good in the neighborhood, the community, the country.

And so, in keeping with the Homemakers Creed, I strive to make my humble home a place of respite and calm in a world of chaos.  Home truly is where you make it - be it a shop, a tent, a barn or a mansion.  Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Feathering my Nest

One of my greatest joys in life is creating a beautiful, inviting home.  Sir Knight has come to know, just by the faraway look in my eye, that redecorating or rearranging is imminent.  I especially love to use things in creative and unexpected ways.

Over the years, I have found that I can dress my house up any way I like with the things I already have.  Sometimes I wander through the "shouse" looking for a table or lamp to move to another area.  Sometimes, I look through the shed, the container or even the burn pile for inspiration.  Lately, I have been feathering my nest with anything and everything galvanized.

My romance with galvanized metal began a number of years ago when I was desperate to clean up the backsplash behind my sink.  When Sir Knight and I had brought in our old restaurant cupboard to serve as a kitchen cupboard in the "shouse", we put bead board behind the sink and counters.  After years of service, the bead board had deteriorated to the point of looking dirty and impossibly worn.  Wanting something that I could clean easily, I looked no further than our building material pile.  A number of pieces of metal roofing caught my eye and I knew they would be perfect for my purposes.  Master Hand Grenade and I put a metal blade on the circular saw, donned eye protection and used the kitchen table as a work table.  We measured and cut and used roofing screws to install our new black splash.  Perfect!  It is easy to clean, rustic and suits our rowdy family perfectly.

Our backsplash

Taking a cue from the back splash, I began to look for other ways to incorporate galvanized metal in our home (have I mentioned how easy it is to clean?).   We had junked a few beehives that were past their usefulness but I saved most of the components to be used for some as of yet identified purpose or another.  One day I was wishing that the table that sits next to the love seat in the kitchen had a bigger tabletop and suddenly I though "Hive Top".  I quickly trekked to the shed, grabbed a galvanized hive top and fitted it snugly over the existing wooden top of the side table.  It was just right, big enough to give me extra space but not so big that the table became unstable.  As of yet, the hive top is just sitting on the table, however, Sir Knight has offered to screw it to the wood with nice rounded head screws if I would like (I'm just sure if I'm ready to commit).

Hive top fitted over the top of a wooden table

Sometime later, I saw a gorgeous wooden wine barrel lid fitted with a metal band that was intended to sit in the middle of a table and hold a cheese board and wine or a lovely loaf of artisan bread.  I really wanted to bring that lid home, but it was exorbitantly expensive and I knew, with a bit of thought, I could come up with something that I had laying around.  In came yet another hive top.  The galvanized metal looks great against the rustic backdrop of our worn pine table and if I flip it over, it works great as a serving tray!  Multipurpose!

And as a table centerpiece

Last week, I was cleaning out the pantry (you should never have to use a broom and dustpan to clean the pantry!) and was looking around my various spots for some make-do shelving to make the pantry shelves a bit more useful.  I didn't find anything very romantic (a plastic milk crate and soda crate), but did spy an unused chicken feeder, galvanized of course, that was just begging to be used for something.

After I finished the dreaded pantry job, I fetched the feeder and scrubbed it clean, all the while trying to decide just where it should go.  First, I put it on the propane fireplace in the living room, filled it with burlap ribbon, electric candles, pinecones and antlers.  It was nice, but just not quite right.  While I stood there surveying my work, I heard the beeping of the washing machine in the bathroom.  I ran in to put another load of laundry on, glanced at the bathtub, and knew that my chicken feeder had found its home.

A 36" chicken feeder with the swivel top removed

The legs fit perfectly over the sides of the tub!

Disassembling my initial chicken feeder efforts, I moved the feeder to the bathroom, flipped down the legs and fitted it over the sides of my cast iron bathtub.  A galvanized, fitted bathtub caddy!  Perfect!  I added a few candles, some washcloths and a jar of homemade bath soak - creating a simply lovely, romantic bath accoutrement.  Because the feeder has sides, it holds a book quite nicely and the galvanized metal is the perfect medium in a bathroom setting.  I couldn't have purchased a better tub caddy!

A grain scoop candle-holder

After moving things from here to there, I found my coffee table (also a medical storage box on wheels) depressingly empty.  Keeping with the farm chic theme, I rescued a bent, slightly rusted grain scoop, scrubbed it up and set about creating a simple center-piece.  I fit two electric candles (not as romantic as the real deal, but better with pets and children) in the scoop, added a few berry branches and a bit of moss.  Simple, classic and just right sitting on a piece of reclaimed rustic barn board.

I love to feather my nest with unused things I already have.  Between the great outdoors and my burn pile, I have a unique, warm and quirky home that I love.  And with the incorporation of a chicken feeder, I have literally "Feathered my Nest"!