Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Treasure


Remember that show "If Walls Could Talk?"

Well, every time I've moved into an old home I've looked for treasure, but since I've moved into this house I've barely found anything worth noting. I did find an ink bottle that dates from the 30s that you can see here (hint, it's the middle bottle), but other than that I hadn't found a thing.

Today though, I needed to go into my root cellar to get a suitcase out for a trip and while I was climbing out, I spotted something shiny.

A pin with a daisy on it!


Have I mentioned that daisies are my favorite flower?

And then I spotted a piece of paper, which turned out to be old wallpaper.

I wonder where this could have been in the house...


Then a seashell appeared!


I wondered why a shell would be there, but then I remembered that the original owner, Margaret had gone to school in California. Could a shell from that long ago and in such good condition be from her?

Then the prize....


A copper ring!

At first I thought it might be a child's ring, but it fits my ring finger and I'm not exactly known for having small fingers, so I know it couldn't be.

Could it have been Margarets?

I wish I knew.

Anyway, I cleaned it up and I'm wearing it, so I guess that means I'm married to my house ;)

Hopefully I'll be able to find out how old the ring is.

I know it's probably not worth much to anyone else, but it's worth a whole lot to me.

I think I need to do some more exploring and risk the spiderwebs under my house, don't you?

xo
rue



Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Migrating birdies


The other day, when I was dusting, I did some rearranging of my shelves in the living room.

Four hours later..... 

What?! It takes time!

Okay, I'm kind of OCD, so shoot me :p

Anyway, I realized that I needed a new place for quite a few things.

You see, my mom decided she didn't want a lot of her glass animals, when she moved, and so she gave them to me. Not really knowing what to do with them at the time, I kind of just shoved them on shelves until I decided what I wanted to do.

One of the groups came from my aunt, that gave her a bird a year for six years, and because I felt so bad for cooping them up for so long, I gave them a new place to live, with a view.


I figured that even if they couldn't fly, at least they could enjoy the outdoors from a window ;)


So I migrated them to my office.


They seem pretty happy up there.


Of course my favorite is the green one, but don't tell the others ;)



xo
rue
Monday, February 23, 2015

Questions



Hello all :)

Since it's been a rainy and kind of dreary day here today, I've been thinking. 


I don't know about you, but my mind always wanders on days like this, and especially when I go about my day, doing laundry, dusting and other household chores.


What? You don't do laundry on your dining room table? ;)


So anyway, I was wondering... do you have any questions for me?

Sometimes, I feel like I just flap my mouth at all of you and I wanted to know if you were curious about anything.

I realize that this could open up a can of worms for me, but I will answer as best as I can ;)

If not, that's okay too.

My question for you though is....

 Did you know that I answer you back on your comments when you leave them? I sit down and do it about twice a week. 

I just wanted to make sure you knew that :)

I also want you to know that I truly enjoy hearing from all of you. You've been so kind to me since I've been back and it warms my heart, much more than you know.

So I just wanted to say...
thank you.

Thank you so very much.


It's so good to be back.

xo,
rue





Sunday, February 22, 2015

My second favorite room


I say second, because my favorite room is always the kitchen, but gosh.... I think my living room is in a tie with it, in this house.

In fact, I love this room so much, that when I pass through it going into another, I'll stop and just look at it for a minute.





























Depending on what time of day it is, the colors of the room change.






















































Before I get the question of why I don't have rugs.... Mini is a rescue dog and she doesn't understand the difference between grass and rugs. My dogs are more important to me than any decor, so my rugs are stored for now.

Anyway, I didn't say a lot in this post, because I wanted you to enjoy the serenity of the room, like I do, but if you have any questions at all, I'll be happy to answer them.

I hope all of you had a lovely weekend :)

xo,
rue


PS
Please join me over at Brenda's Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday :)

PSS

I hope I didn't upset anyone with my last post, but I always speak my heart, especially when I'm passionate about something. The one thing you can always count on with me is my honesty, but I never want to hurt anyone's feelings, so if I did, I truly apologize.


Saturday, February 21, 2015

Perfection and Nightmares



Perfection is in the eye of the beholder, just like love.




Although my home is perfection to me, to others it might not be.

There's 85 year old cabinet doors that don't line up (I wouldn't change them for the world though), chipped paint, leaks that pop up suddenly in the roof, plumbing problems that need to be fixed, electric switches that I can't seem to find the light to..... Oh and windows that need to be replaced, because someone thought it would be a good idea to replace the original ones with newer ones.

Guess which ones still work fine and don't have any problems?

The only four original windows in the house.

Sigh....

It definitely has it's quirks, but I'm working through them.

Honestly though, even with those issues, it's still perfect to me.



I love...

 That I have a kitchen that is small, so that I only have three or four steps to everything.

(By the way, did you know they did studies on kitchens in the 1920s through the 1940s to find out what what the most efficient kitchens would be, so that women would have an easier time cooking in them? You can read about one such study here.)

That it has the original tile and sink in one of the bathrooms, and the original tub in another.

That I can close a door or two and not hear the television in another room.

That it has character, and that no one has a house like I do in my neighborhood.

That when I walk through my door it feels like home... 

like grandma's house

like love.


The problem is, that I keep having this nightmare that one day, when I die (or God Forbid, have to leave for some other reason), someone will come in this home and gut it, just like the last owners of this house were going to do.

They'll take out the original cabinets, built-ins, light fixtures, countertops and sink that I so lovingly restored, and put in stainless steel, granite and dark wood or whatever the latest trend is. 

Worst of all, they'll make it.......

 OPEN CONCEPT.


All the character will be gone and I will have to haunt them forever.

You probably think I'm kidding, but I'm not.

I love my old home.

In fact, I love all old homes. 

Every time I see a house built before or in the 1950s, that's been fitted with the latest trends, instead of restored to it's original character I die a little, and I think the souls of the people that lived there die too.



What I can't wrap my head around is why anyone would do that when there are thousands of new builds that are waiting with 'Open concept, granite and stainless steel' already in them.

Why spend all that money to turn an old home into a new one?

Why destroy the historical integrity, because it's not your taste?

Do you have any idea how hard it is for people that restore old homes to fix all that "remuddling"?

No need to answer those questions.

I'll never understand it anyway.



Please, if you ever buy an old house.....

Love the home and it's past.

Respect it.

And don't destroy the integrity.



Or else....

the previous owner might just haunt you ;)

xo
rue



PS

The pictures came from the children's book "The Little House" by Virginia Lee Burton. It's about a little house that was loved, then forgotten and then saved.

My very dear friend Nikki gave it to me a few years back, because she and I share a love of restoring old homes.



Friday, February 20, 2015

A short trip


I just got back from visiting my mom's house for a couple of days.

It's something I do once a month and even though she's only an hour and a half away, it's nice to spend some quality time with her.

We laugh, we eat, have a couple of cocktails, and basically enjoy each other's company.

So, I packed my trusty suitcase.....


(Isn't the liner pretty?)


and set it aside, so I could get the kids in the car.



Come on, Mini! It's time to go!!


Don't look at me like that. It's not that long of a trip and besides, you love your grandma.


"Did you say, "Grandma"?"


Yes, Bubba.

"Oh, good! She's got cookies!!"

And so, off we went with the human child (my daughter, Annie) in tow.

We had a great time as always :)

Since I just got home, I'm going to whip up a quick dinner and relax for a bit. 

After that I'll answer all your comments that I couldn't get to before I left, and go and visit some of you, before I hit the sack.

I hope you all had a lovely week.

xo
rue