My sanity

It's something I question quite a bit.

Especially, when it comes to this house.

Case in point, my latest venture in un-remuddling.

The bathroom you see below looks perfectly fine, doesn't it?

Well, to my eye it just didn't look right.

Of course, I knew there had been some updates to it through the years. For one, the newish sink and toilet didn't match the 1930s bathtub. I happened to find the base of the original matching sink in the side yard.

I'm still looking for a matching top to go with it.

Picture this in pink-ish brown:

image via google

No toilet out there though.

The second thing that bothered me was that the tile happened to be from the 1950s, but I'll get to that later.

The third thing was the drywall.

In case you're not up on your drywall history, it's existed for a very long time, but it just wasn't commonly used until after WWII. Lath and plaster was much more common and the walls in my home are no exception. If you're curious enough to learn more, you can read more about it 'here'.

'So, what could it be covering up?'

That's the question that nagged me for almost 8 years, until one day about a month ago, I thought to myself...

'Why not just tear a little piece off by the outlet. Worse case scenario I could just patch it and forget about it.'

Cute wallpaper?!

And that's when it all started.

Okay, so I can fix the trim around the cabinet.

Why not try the other wall?

ah oh...

Okay, so I'll figure that out later.

How about the sink area....

And so it went and here I am.

Or was, to be honest.

The walls and ceiling are almost done.

You know what took so long?

These:

Those, my fiends, are the remnants when you take off drywall.

It leaves behind an evil hard glue that won't come off with anything except a hammer, a chisel, a sander and a scraper.

And if you're not careful it'll try to take the wallpaper with it.

You know what else it leaves behind?

Four billion screws and nails.

It's not fun.

at. all.

But, it's so worth it.

I found three layers of paint in different shades of tan-ish pink underneath the sink where it's never been wallpapered, so I know the wallpaper isn't original, but I love it anyway.

I think it's from the 50s, which was when the tile was redone.

Speaking of..

I also happened to find a tile in the side yard, that just happens to match one of the paint colors I found in the bathroom.

It all makes so much sense now.

My little 1930s bathroom, got a makeover in the 1950s and then the last owners changed out the sink and toilet and added the drywall.

So, I'm doing my best to take it back to when it was redone in the 50s.

It'll be like the rest of the evils had never been done.

And you'll never guess what else!

I know who the owners were in the 1950s, but I'm not telling you about Fred and Pearl until next time.

You're also going to have to wait for pictures of the finished bathroom.

Or at least as finished as I can get it.

Who knows when or if I'll ever find those missing bathroom fixtures.

xo
rue

Road-trip to Stanton

This past December, we decided to find the ghost town called Stanton.

It ended up being somewhat of a disappointment, but I'll get into that later.

On the way there, we passed through the town of Yarnell, where we spotted this...

and this...

---- insert screeching car noise here ----

We pulled in and discovered they had lots of goodies for sale.

Car stuff, old appliances, and much more.

via Days of Vintage

via Days of Vintage

Mike, the owner, couldn't have been any nicer and he's willing to deal, even on the cheap stuff.

Here's the website, if you're ever in that part of Arizona.

After drooling all over that, we headed on down the road aways and spotted this...

An old burned down, abandoned house.

Or at least we think it was a house.

We couldn't find any information on it.

I did find some old writing in the cement though.

HAE S-69'

The writing below is confusing.

9.5.3. 1895 - 5.3.82

Dates?

I can't make out the rest, this way or...

this way.

Whatever the building was, it certainly had a beautiful view.

Back on down the road for quite some time, we finally found Stanton.

You can read more about the history of it 'here', but basically it was a stagecoach stop until gold was found nearby on what was to become Rich Hill.

Sounds innocent enough right?

Well, to begin with, it's named after Chuck Stanton, who ended up being a murderer.

Later it was reported that the residents liked to drink blood.

After it was abandoned, the Saturday Evening Post bought it and gave it away in a "jingle contest", but the winners didn't know what to do with it, so it went up for sale.

In the 1960s, hippies lived there and started using the old buildings for firewood.

In the 1970s, a mining association bought it and turned it into a recreational vehicle destination for members only.

And that is where my part of the sad story starts.

You see, we didn't know any of this when we headed out, because we just like to pick a town on the map and go, hoping that there will be some evidence of the people that lived there... buildings, foundations, etc.... So, when we arrived in town, we were surprised to find it surrounded by RVs, and ATVs zooming around in all directions.

You won't see them in my pictures, because I cut them out, but trust me, they were there.

As we got out of the car, my first reaction was to go up to the building you see below.

And I did, only to be accosted by the woman that works there.

Apparently, you have to sign in and listen to her tie-dye wearing husband tell you a lot of false facts about the place first.

It was free, but Good Lord, I would have rather paid a fee.

Finally, we were released to go have a look around.

Another sad fact, is that the buildings, that weren't destroyed, are not being kept up like they should be.

The outsides are in tact, but the insides are just awful.

The only thing that might be original is the wood burning stove, but we couldn't be sure.

There was an old piano though.

One of the other workers there said that the building is haunted by a little girl and once in a while the doll moves.

You can bet every penny that I kept my eye on that creepy doll.

When we took a gander at the back of the building, Mr. tie-dye told us that the holes were from gunshots.

Sorry, but I've seen woodpecker holes before, sir.

Good try though.

Across the way, was the old hotel.

As you can see below, the inside is just disappointing.

Yes, that's plywood covering the ceiling.

sad, sad, sad.

I guess I should just be happy that there's more than foundations left in the little town or that it didn't end up having the same fate as that burned down house we found. It has certainly faired better than a lot of these places we've traveled to. That's for sure.

It's just that this piece of history has survived so much, only to be taken over by a group of people that couldn't really care less about it and use it for a gimmick to get people out there.

It breaks my heart.

I hope one day, someone with a true love of history will rescue it.

Of course I hope that about every old thing, now don't I?

;)

Speaking of history...

On our way home, we came across an old graveyard.

I don't know about you, but I always stop and take a look around when we see one.

I find them sad and fascinating at the same time.

At least someone cares about this piece of history.

So, that was our trip to Stanton.

Even with the disappointment of what it's become, we had a good time, as always.

I hope you did too.

;)

xo

rue

Serene

That was the word that came to my mind, when I decided on a wall color for my new master bedroom.

Well, new to me anyway.

You see, when I bought this house, there was an upstairs master and a downstairs nightmare area that could be used as a bedroom. I didn't want Annie downstairs in the dungeon and she didn't want to be down there either, so I took it and made it my little hideaway.

It turned out pretty nice.

Well, it looked nice anyway.

It was COLD.

Which is great in the summer, but not so much in the winter.

I put a lot of miles on the plug in electric heater.

So when Annie decided to move out, I thought about the cold.

I also thought about the fact that I'm almost 50 and going up and down the stairs as I get even older.

And I thought about the fact that it's probably safer to be on the first floor.

Silly as it seems, it wasn't an easy decision, but one night when it was 15 degrees outside, I came to the conclusion that it was probably for the best.

Since I've never shared it, I'll bet you're curious what Annie's room looked like.

If you have a teenager, you won't be shocked.

If you don't, prepare yourself.

Now imagine that with 20 piles of clothes in all directions.

I'm happy to tell you that her decorating taste has much improved and her apartment is lovely.

In fact, she's an old fashioned girl at heart, like her mother, and her friends say it looks like a little old lady decorated it.

They even gave her a bowl filled with hard candy for guests.

The apple really didn't fall far from the tree ;)

Anywho, 

Back to the color.

As I mentioned, I wanted something serene and as much as I love yellow, I craved something different.

Did I want a soft green?

Maybe blue?

Maybe a mix of both.

When I was at the hardware store, looking at Behr paints, I came across a group of colors called the Cottage Collection and the color that grabbed me was called Seaglass.

Perfect!

I got home and went straight to work, painting the whole room, ceiling and all, with this magical color.

I couldn't believe how much brighter the room looked.

It really changed the entire feeling.

Ahhh... so much better.

I still have some work to do, like maybe getting different drapes, and new bedding, but for now, I'm happy.

One of the perks is not having to do my makeup downstairs anymore.

Not to mention the view.

The antique dresser below lived in Annie's room and like a typical kid, she abused the top with water marks.

It was given a quick sanding and polishing and it turned out good as new.

So, that's it for now.

I still need to work on my old room, which is now the guest room and I'd better hurry.

Annie is coming to visit on Monday and Alex is coming to visit with his fiancé at the end of this month... yikes!

Back to the decorating grindstone ;)

xo

rue