Photo A Day Challenge

Hello Friends!

I am going to try this fabulous Photo-A-Day Challenge for the month of February. I'll create an album on Facebook for these photos, so be sure to check in from time to time. :)

Hugs!
Holly

Hallway Makeover

Good Morning!!! It's just one of those days, the sun is shining bright, and optimism is in the air! So my new computer came over the weekend, but we still don't have internet at our house. As you know, we live in a rural area. Mark Twain seems to be the best local provider for internet, but the only option we have (since we are way out in the boonies) is wireless (aka satellite) internet. Even that may not be possible; they have us scheduled to run a test for signal, so cross your fingers! :)

Anyways, enough about internet; this post is suppose to be about the hallway. It's long narrow design was something I wasn't initially attracted to... and after you see the photo below, I think you'll agree..

This photo is what the hallway looked like when we took possession of the house. Hot 'eh? I thought it was too long, too narrow, and way too dark. Solution: tear out that dated paneling and brighten the space up.

As you can see, in this photo, we have removed the paneling, as well as the interior doors (door frames were taken out later). We also had that old "popcorn" texture on the ceilings throughout the house. To remove the texture, we sprayed extremely hot water on the ceiling, let it soak for a few minutes, and then scraped it off. It worked pretty well, except for the areas where the previous owners had painted over the old texture; thus sealing it in. Awesome.

 You'll notice some items were taped off in this photo. This is after Drew and his uncle Jon re-textured the entire house with the newer style of knock down. As stated before, we left all the old carpets in during this process, and waited to remove them until we had finished painting. At this point, I am really starting to like the hallway (minus the giant attic fan in the ceiling).

 And here is the hallway as of lately! I now LOVE the long hallway, because I discovered I can use it as a gallery for pictures! :)  The only things missing in this photo are: A) The door knobs need installed on the doors, B) we still need to figure out how to cover those old heat dials on the wall (not my idea of nice wall decor), and C) the rest of the photos need hung up. (Please note, I have other photos that will fill in the awkward spaces, but they are not framed yet, so this is just "puzzle pieces" of my gallery layout.)

So what all did we do to transform the hallway? 

• removed all wood paneling
• removed all old trim and doors
• removed old ceiling texture
• applied knock down to the ceiling and walls
• painted (Butter Cream by Glidden)
• removed old carpet
• refinished original hardwood floors
• installed new lights, trim, and doors

Hope you enjoyed this post! Have a wonderful Tuesday! 

XOXO

Holly

P.S. don't forget to check out the sky tonight, I read on MSN yesterday that we may see northern lights! Great Britain saw them last night :)

Living Room Update!

Hello Friends! Here's a quick update on the status of the living room. You can see my original post about the renovation here. We have since moved in and I am slowly but surely collecting the decorating pieces I have visioned for the room.


In this photo (taken back in September), we have our main furniture arranged for our small space. Want a comparison to what this space looked like previously? Click here.

Starting to add a few decorative pieces to the room. (Please disregard my mini shop vac charging in the photo, and the fact that our new light switches haven't yet been installed.)

Our farm has an old homestead on the very north end, which is where I found this fabulous door! You might notice that I decided to take the wreath from the photo above and use it on the door instead. (P.S. That buck is not my husbands, I proudly claim that one!)

And just because I loved my tree this year...here's what the view looked like during the Holidays. :)

Slowly but surely, our little farmhouse is coming together! Stay tuned for updates on the rest of the house!

XOXO

Holly

Grandma's Christmas Tree

Hey there! I know we are a bit past the holidays now, but I wanted to share my Grandma's Christmas tree. As a child, my memories of Christmas with Dad's side of the family consisted of Grandma's house (always had large parties in the basement for space purposes), her tree, the antique lights, Alvin and the Chipmunks Chrismas record streaming from the record player, and playing with my cousins. Our family Christmas's are a little different now that most of the cousins are grown, however, this year we decided to host Christmas at Grandma's house once more. With a nostalgic spirit, I took over decorating Grandma's tree. I used her tree, her lights, and her vintage tinsel, but left off most of her ornaments. In place of ornaments, I used family photos to decorate the tree, both old and new... take a gander :)


When I first went looking for Grandma's decor, I found this box with all the lights. Makes me smile! Anyone else remember these bad boys?

Here's a quick shot of the tree with the lights, vintage tinsel, and just a few ornaments...

AND here is the tree all decked out in family photos. In order to get a uniform look, I copied all the photos onto the same color of paper, and printed all in black and white. Though I am obviously biased on this one, I think it's quite the gem. What do you think?

Well Friends...I certainly did NOT meet my goal (posting photo updates of the rest of the house prior to 2012), BUT in regards to that, we finally ordered a computer. Why is this relevant in the least? Once our new Lenovo Ideapad comes in the mail, I will finally be able to blog at home!! I am OH SO excited for it's arrival.


In the mean time, we did cross another "to-do" off our never-ending list; our honeymoon. We spent January 5-11th in sunny Akumal, Mexico at an all-inclusive resort. All the food and drinks you can manage! Though we thoroughly enjoyed our week in paradise, it was nice to return home, see the pups, and finally enjoy some winter snow! I'll be back soon! 


XOXO!
Holly