Dining Room Table Shopping

We sold Kimberly and Dewayne our dining room table for their new place. Kimberly liked the style of it. I no longer did and it was way bigger than what our needs are now. Michael and I shopped today and we found one we are considering. We knew we wanted the leather cushioned chairs and were leaning toward a counter height style. The only thing I'm not sure about is the top of this one. It is made of marble and while I really was drawn to it in the store, I'm not sure if it is something that I can be free with in terms of wall paint colors.
Here's a pic of the top.

Would I be safe painting a wine color with this? That's the current color of our dining room here. I may change that when we move. But I want OPTIONS. I mean, I know I could do a pretty green or other earth tones, but what if I want to go another direction?

Here's a shot of the table itself. We'll be pairing it with the leather chair to the right in the pic.

I'm also a little hesitant because of the care. My Martha Stewart Homekeeping Book is packed up so I can't go to my "source" for information. I searched and read a little online.

Also, will I still like this YEARS from now? I guess it's no different than picking a counter top and I could definitely see myself picking this for a kitchen counter top.

The only other option we saw today that we really liked was a round table that we could squeeze 6 around. But this table with 8 chairs will be a mere $100 more than the round with 6 chairs.

Decisions, decisions!

Finally!

After months and months of periodically looking for a new bed covering to replace the too small one that was about 10+ years old, I finally found THE ONE today at TJ Maxx. I truly don't know why I don't visit that store more often because I love all the housewares.

Even the back is pretty. I took this pic with my cell phone just to send to my daughters and thought I would do a post here with it. I absolutely love this quilt. I realized after I put it on the bed that I have several other items in our room with this same color scheme--robin's egg blue, pink, and lavender. I had to take down the burgundy curtains, of course, so I'll have to replace those. I'm thinking something lacy and white. This quilt goes good in our current room, which has lavender walls but it will also enable us to use different colors in our next house.

Yes, we are still in the process of trying to sell our home and buy a smaller one in town. After 6 months with one Realtor, when our contract was up, we switched to a different one. That was about 2 1/2 weeks ago and we haven't even had a showing yet. We went again today to look at the house we want to buy. The owners called to let us know that they had opened the pool and so we went to look at it. It's nice and the house is still the one we want. I can so see us living there, entertaining there, Nathan playing there. When I dream, it's usually either of Nathan and/or that house. Silly, I know.

House Search Update

We're STILL trying to sell our house and move back into town. I'm having a hard time being patient. We did the work that needed to be done in our crawl space so hopefully we'll get a bite soon.

Last week, we viewed a For-Sale-By-Owner house and it's "the one!" We just hope it stays on the market until we have a buyer and hope they'll except our offer, which will be lower than what they are asking. The house is in a perfect location -- right in the middle of our jobs, 2 minutes from a supermarket, the bank, and (most importantly) the quilt shop :-), 5 minutes from the YMCA. It is the perfect size for us -- around 1,900 to 2,000 square feet -- not too large; not too small. The kitchen was redone about 3 years ago and it has the double wall oven I've always wanted to have. The cabinet color is a little light for me and I would prefer a gas cooktop instead of electric but at least it's a smooth cooktop, which is what we have now and prefered over the coil type. The kitchen has TONS of drawers, which is also a desire of mine. There's a good size laundry room off the kitchen with space to add shelves for a pantry. (It will be SO nice to have everything on ONE level instead of a laundry room upstairs and a kitchen downstairs). There are built-in bookcases in the living room as well as an entertainment center with doors that hide the television and a gas fireplace. There is a huge dining room plus room in the kitchen for a small table. The bedrooms are good sizes. There are 2 full baths and the hall bath has TONS of cabinets and drawers for storage. The master bedroom has two closets -- a regular type with sliding doors and a small walk-in closet. There isn't any carpet anywhere in the house. There's a two-car attached carport with attic access. The house has really nice curb appeal and is in a very quiet neighborhood with lots of elderly neighbors.

The BEST part of it all, though, for me is the outdoor living space. There is a huge covered patio on the back of the house that overlooks the inground pool. We have really missed our pool at the rent house we lived in before moving here. There is a beautiful dogwood tree in the backyard. There is an attached storage room off the patio and then another workshop building with a workbench for Michael. It's a little small so we might want to convert it to a pool house one day and build him a larger workshop on the other end of the yard. The yard is a good size, too -- not too large, not too small. (I'm starting to sound like Goldilocks!) There's room for a swing set for Nate when he's older or a club house.

The utilities would be cheaper, the insurance would be cheaper, the property taxes a tad more. Not to mention gas saved in the car running so far out here from work every day.

The current homeowners are building a new home and their house won't be ready until later in the year. They have a place to move before then if they get an offer, though. I called the wife yesterday and told her that we *want* to make an offer but we're just not going to do it now when we don't have a buyer for ours. I told her to keep our number and please call us if they sell so we will know to cross it off our list. She said they would also call if they had someone else who showed a real interest in it. (So we can pray HARD, I guess!)

There really aren't many things we would change about the house and NOTHING that would immediately NEED to be done (besides maybe painting rooms but even that can wait). It's not in the neighborhood I wanted to be in, but neither Laikyn or Michael are sold on Lakeside anyway, so I decided to let that desire go....

Keeping our fingers crossed and praying that God works it all out (SOON).

Tatted Bookmarks

I started making tatted bookmarks during the Christmas holidays to give to family and friends while we were visiting in Louisiana. I ordered some hand-dyed thread and have been using it to make bookmarks for co-workers' birthdays. Here are two I made recently for my SIL Mary who gave hers away to a friend. I made an extra one for her other friend, too. The pattern is from a needle tatting book I bought at Hobby Lobby.

I can do some shuttle tatting, too (at least I *think* I still know how), but I MUCH prefer needle tatting. I haven't tried any big projects yet. I'm loving these bookmarks that go together super fast. (You can click the photo for a more close-up detail look at the thread).

Table runner for spring

After looking at my Valentine's theme table runner for a while, I decided yesterday I needed to make a table runner for springtime. I used stuff I already had in my stash and a pattern at Clothilde. If you want the pattern, click on the link ASAP. They are only up for a limited time, so print it while you can. I left the tassels off and I switched up the colors a little as well as some of the instructions.

Anyway, this is the finished project:

I like the color combination a lot. Laikyn helped me choose which green to use for the blocks and which to use for the binding. I was torn between the two. I'm glad she liked the lighter green because I think it's lovely with the pink and the floral fabric.

Beautiful Day

Yesterday was a beautiful, spring-like day. The temperature was perfect and the sky was oh-so blue. Kimberly and Nathan came over for the afternoon and after Kimberly dyed Laikyn's hair, we loaded everything up in the Vitara and went to Tuscumbia's Spring Park.

I am so eager for the day when we can bring Nathan here to feed the ducks and geese.

For now, though, we had fun pushing him in a swing for the first time. He didn't laugh or giggle, but he did crack a smile. The kid is really serious most of the time. While, I can't post a picture of his face on here (per his parents' request), I *can* post this cute photo of his feet.

Trying to Get Back...

...into the swing of things. After a few months of adjusting to working outside the home (after a 2-decade hiatus from that lifestyle), I'm trying to add back some of my old routine. Just trying to take it slowly so I don't get overwhelmed. I was sick last weekend, but this weekend I felt well so I spent some time Saturday morning in the kitchen. I baked a loaf of freshly-milled whole wheat bread, some rolls, and a pizza crust. I made some biscuits to have for breakfast during the week. I made a batch of pancake batter to put in the fridge for use during the week. Pancakes hot off the griddle are so much better tasting than ones reheated in the microwave.

I finally got up the nerve to ask for permission to swap out one 1/2-day Friday each month for a 1/2-day Monday so I can attend my quilt guild meetings. I knew that it would be something I *might* have to give up and I, of course, was willing to do that in order to keep my job. ;-) BUT I really was hoping it would be something I wouldn't have to give up. I asked last week and they said yes!! My guild meeting is today so after I dropped off Michael at work after our workout, I came back home until meeting time.

That's why I have a few minutes to blog, which is something else I want to add back to my routine. I don't know how often I will post, but hopefully it will be more often than once a month or less!!

House Disappointment

When we woke up Thursday morning, the appraisal on our house was scheduled to happen that afternoon. Before lunch, Michael called me at work and said that the buyers had rescinded their offer. When we bought this house, there was foundation work that had to be done at the seller's expense. It was damaged by waterborne fungus. The workers removed all the water-saturated insulation from in between the floor joists; they installed a drying fan; and they repaired (or replaced) rotten joists and put some supports in. End of story, so we thought.

On inspection for this sale, they found standing water and more damage under the house. When the buyers set up the appointment Thursday morning to come back with the foundation specialist, we thought they might ask us to pay for repairs, installation of a sump pump, etc. We never dreamed they would withdraw their offer, but they did. They are first-time home buyers and the damage scared them.

Needless to say, Thursday was a depressing day. I had a hard time focusing at work. I had to leave early that day for a retina appointment anyway, so that was good, I guess. I don't think I would have been able to keep going the rest of the afternoon without breaking down.

I'm better now, but we need to make some decisions about what to do. We don't have the money to fix the damage without borrowing it. It would be nice if we could get a buyer that would allow us to fix the damage with the proceeds from the sale. (Even though this also will be bad for us as we were going to use the proceeds to pay other bills off.)

We, of course, had to rescind our offer on the house with the really nice kitchen. Somehow I'm not as disappointed about that as I am about ours not selling. I really loved that kitchen, but the house wasn't in the area of town I'm hoping to live in (not a bad area, just on the west side of town instead of the east side). However, that was the top house out of all the ones we'd looked at so far that are still available. Since we had to pick something because ours was selling, we picked our favorite to this point. We could always move into an apartment, but we really don't want to do that if we can avoid it. It's a moot point anyway now. :-(

House Hunt Over!

Well, except for the long process of actually purchasing and moving. We had an offer on our house this past week that was satisfactory to us (after a little negotiating). So, we had to make a decision on the ones we have seen up to this point. Remember the one I posted a kitchen photo of last time? That's the one we made an offer on. I snapped some photos when we were there taking a second look at it. The power is off so some of them are on the darker side. Also, the present owner still has a lot of junk (and some really beautiful antiques) in the house (even though he's not currently living there).

All the bedrooms are a good size. There are 2 larger rooms on one end of the house away from the living area. This will be what we will use as the master bedroom.

This is the master closet. Not the biggest, but we'll have to add organizational things to it because it's really just an empty box (except for the shelving unit the current owner has in it). We've looked at houses with much smaller closets. I think with the right organizers in it, we can fit a lot in here.



This will be Laikyn's room. It's right next to what we will use as the master. I think the bedrooms are the same size, actually.


However, this one has a slightly smaller closet.

And an attached 1/2 bath. (Yes, we are giving Laikyn the room with the attached bath. Aren't we so nice :-).

This is the hall bathroom. Can you tell yet that these people were not afraid of color? While I am not afraid of it either, these colors will have to go eventually.


While I'm not too crazy about the pedestal sink (because of lack of storage), there is a nice closet in the bathroom.


Here is the third bedroom. It is on the other end of the hallway from the other bedrooms. It will be used as a guest/sewing room. I love the antique bed. It reminds me a good friend of mine back in Louisiana who had a bed like this one.


More storage space.
This is looking into the living room from the hallway entrance. The living room is nice and long. While I like the color on the walls, I'm pretty sure it will clash with our bright red sofa and love seat. I guess we will paint the walls the same yellow color we have now in our current living room. We asked the seller to include the round table and 6 chairs at the far end but he refused. It's an antique and he said it's an heirloom. I can certainly understand him not including it, but man! did I want that table. It would have been the perfect spot for playing cards or doing a puzzle or scrapbooking while the family's watching TV. I'm sure we'll find something to put in its place that will serve the same purpose.

This is looking into the living room from the other end (from the dining room/kitchen area. We asked for and got the curtains in here. I think I will move them into the dining/kitchen area.


Now for the best part --- here is the view from the living room into the dining/kitchen area.


Here's the dining area. I have dreams of adding pantry-type cabinets along the whole wall in the picture below. We priced some last night. We might have to buy some unfinished ones and stain them ourselves to match the kitchen cabinets. We also talked about doing a finish that is totally different from the kitchen cabinets. What do y'all think?

The color in the dining/kitchen area is nearly the same color that we painted the dining/kitchen in our former rent house. So no painting necessary here. There's plenty of room for our table -- even with the leaf in it. The ceiling fan has got to go! I have a beautiful Tiffany-style light fixture that Michael and the girls bought me for my birthday one year that we excluded from the items included in the sale of our home. There is a matching straight-line fixture that we could buy for the kitchen and then hang the pendant-style fixture we have over the dining room table.

This kitchen is SO nice! I love it. It was redone a few years ago and the cabinets are a light pickled finish. After all the houses we looked at over the last 3 months and 99% of them having kitchens that needed updating terribly, I'm so excited that we are getting a house that has a nice, new kitchen with nice cabinet doors that close completely and drawers that slide in and out smoothly. The ONLY negative about this kitchen is the fact that there is no pantry but as I said above, there is plenty room to add pantry storage in the dining room.

This cabinet is a broom closet. (Not sure why the brooms aren't in it!) All appliances are included in the sale of the house. The refrigerator is a little small but the space is large enough to add a larger one eventually.

One of the comprises we made with choosing this particular house is that the laundry room only has an exterior entrance. This is a shot of the patio off the dining room and the entrance to the laundry room.

We plan to eventually enclose this entrance somehow. Poor Laikyn will have to tough it out for a while, though, until we do. Here's the inside of the laundry room.

There is room (if we shorten the shelves) next to the dryer to put our upright freezer. It will be so good not to have to walk all the way out to the barn to get meat to defrost for supper.

Another compromise we made was that there is no shed/workshop (unless you count the plastic one in the photo below). With the money we are saving by buying a smaller house and paying off some other bills, we can save for about 3 months and be able to purchase a workshop/shed from Lowe's or Home Depot.


Okay! That's the tour. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we go through all the steps involved in selling ours and buying this one. Our contracts have closing on or before March 15th so that's our goal (hopefully sooner, though).