I hate to jinx things but it *looks* like after our appliances are put back tonight, our kitchen will be done! As it's been about five weeks over what they gave us as an estimate, you can understand that we're all a little skeptical.
..says Little Mister Kitten Pants who will soon have his beloved sun porch back and will no longer have to hang out in this bastardized clubhouse
...says Pip who always is a bit of a sassy skirts
We're all having a hard time believing that we will soon be able to do things like use a stove and walk through doors to other rooms. No longer will we have to stare into the deep abyss that used to be our plumbing.
Or the rubble that used to be our floor:
Or walk the trail of tears that led to our back door:
We'll finally get to see what's behind this:
And see if we chose the right colors:
Of course I know from experience with those construction company jokers that anything could go wrong with the appliance move tonight - why, their truck could come crashing through the side of our house! - so I'm probably getting ahead of myself here but we are SUPER excited. A lot of cleaning and box unloading will be in order. And actually, workers from that horrible company are supposed to do those things but I don't trust them not to completely ruin our way-too-prolonged happy ending so we'll be doing it ourselves!
Hopefully, I'll be back soon with some "After" photos!
Hey buckaroos! How the heck have you been? I hope that things have been great there on the other side of the screen.
We're still in a swirling twister of chaos here at the ranch. Still no kitchen. We came *this* close though! Oh, those were the days. The VCT tiles were ripped up and started over by a guy who actually knew what he was doing. I fought the urge to kidnap him and keep him in a cage in my garage. It's funny how the mind goes crazy when you're so used to having horrible workers in your house. After so long with those who wouldn't know their arses from an axe handle, you get one good one and you find your mind twisting and suddenly, you're someone that you don't recognize... someone who could easily be true crime novel fodder! I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I could torture the bad ones, capture the good ones and well, what foods I could stress eat next.
On a related note, I know that several of you have mentioned that we should contact Mike Holmes from the HGTV show "Holmes on Homes". The other day while waiting for seven hours for our floor finishers to come back (ha! ha! HA!!) , I watched a marathon of episodes from the show. I found myself actually cheering out loud with every horrible mess removed and at the verge of tears with every repair made. It seemed like a beautiful fantasy world. Speaking of fantasies, I have one where there is a corresponding show where Mike gets to meet the people who did the original bungled construction and repairs and erroneous inspections on those poor houses. And he gets to rub their faces in the black mold and busted sewage pipes until they cry like little bitty babies.
Look at him. He's like a modern woman's Gary Cooper.
I could watch him storm through houses and rip out drywall for hours!
Hercules! Hercules!
So, where were we? Anywaaaaay, the guy did a great VCT job. Three cheers! Then these other guys came out to put the coating on the floor. When they were done, we weren't able to walk on it for 24 hours - but when we did, we saw what a mess they'd made. There were areas with no coating at all. Not a lick. And the total clincher - they had somehow managed to encase hair in the layers of wax! Okay, so random hair freaks me out. I don't like to see hair that isn't firmly in scalps. Especially hair that I don't know who it belongs to. It's just a thing. I don't like random rogue hairs. And now they're encased in my floor like nerve-frazzling fossils! I'll spare you the details but do know that I finally got to tell my jerk sexist Contractor what I've been thinking about him all of these weeks and it was great! The first of next week, the floor is going to be stripped and hopefully, done right this time. I know you're on the edge of your seats! (or at least ready for me to stop talking about it)
Okay, so while this floor thing has been going on, I've been collecting bits and pieces of things that I wanted to talk to you about:
This Sconce:
Doesn't it look like some poor lizard met an awful, awful fate?
Got his head stuck in a Dixie cup and never saw his Mama again.
This Snuggie:
Baaah! I don't know what makes me laugh more: That it's called the "Cupcake Booty Buddy" or that it costs eighty nine bucks - and since there are so many people who believe that everything that Urban Outfitters churns out is true genius, there are probably people cuddled up in Cupcake Booty Buddies right this very moment! According to the text, it can also double as a poncho. For those days when you want to walk the streets or go to a sporting event looking like a cupcake.
This Commercial: I couldn't help but think of this after that last one.
Facebook Profile Photos: I've been collecting these for a while and since Facebook made that change where you see the photos of everyone who has commented in a group, I've been able to get some real doozies. These are my favorites because of the way that Facebook randomly groups them. Keep in mind that the photos that are put side by side are usually of people who don't even know each other. It's like a slot machine of unlimited giggles for me.
Sometimes they're just hilariously absurd.
Sometimes accidentally tragic.
And well..hmm.
The best part about that last one is that the lady on the left had that photo as her profile shot while she was asking if anyone knew of any good teaching jobs!
Okay, I've rambled on enough but I feel so much lighter getting the above out of my "Share With The Buckaroos" folder!
I was a complete snoozer and loser on the estate sale front this week but fortunately, did get to see a beauty of a little house this morning. Thanks to Rae and Lisa for tipping me off to this gem of a cottage over on Mitchell Road in East Nashville. We only bought a couple of mildly exciting items but I wanted to show you the house. It was built in 1955 and had one owner. Those one owner houses are the best kind of houses to explore!
Here is a picture from tax records that shows the front of the house.
I love the built-in planter box and trellises on the sides. I can just see roses growing up those.
I love the kitchen. The cabinets are in great shape and so are the original tiled counter tops and backsplash. I would love to know what kind of flooring was in here back when it was built. It also had the old 40" oven still - with a window over it. I can't remember seeing many stoves with a view! I think that would be pretty cool instead of staring at a wall like most of us have to do.
Here is a shot of the eat-in area in the kitchen. You still see a lot of these light fixtures in houses around Nashville and they always make my heart happy.
A close-up of that great wallpaper.
And the best part of the house to me - the original basement rumpus room!
Look at that gorgeous variegated VCT! These are 6x6 tiles which are no longer made.
I think that VCT manufacturers are missing the boat by not bringing back these patterns, colors and tile sizes back. They make for a really stunning display. Many of the tiles in the basement have become damaged over time but it was all still so pretty. I love the aqua and white with the knotty pine.
The basement is really large and has tons of knotty pine. That's the stairwell that leads upstairs.
And a brick fireplace. I bet this place saw a lot of fun parties! I just realized that I was too busy looking at the basement to ever even look at that Christmas table. Something took ahold of me in that house!
Oh, and the original downstairs kitchenette!
Look at this super cute old Dixie kitchenette stove!
This was upstairs in the Den. I'd totally leave that wallpaper on the ceiling. Love it!
The Living Room fireplace wall. It has those cute built-in bookshelves and storage cupboards on each side. I've seen a lot of old houses in East Nashville that have fireplace walls like these and I think they're just the cutest things! (I would have photographed the whole wall for you but the cashier was parked close by)
What do you think? Do you like? This house gave me a really happy feeling and it was easy to tell that it was really loved by the family who owns it. The house has already been bought by a new owner and I hope against hope that they love all of the original features too. I'd love to see this one continue to shine like this. It had all of the original light fixtures, cornice boards, pinch pleats and more than likely, the original bathroom (which we weren't allowed to look in).
Touring this house completely made up for the fact that I had only a couple of small scores this weekend. Though I DO kind of wish that I'd seen the sale that the girls warned me about - the one advertised as "a hoarder with taste" that according to Rae "smelled like vomit".
What about you guys? Hit any good sales this weekend? Do you have a stove with a view? - because I'm obsessed with that now.
