Guests and Fish

When I posted my kitchen, I promised I would share the guest room/den, but someone was actually staying over at my house at the time, so I couldn't. 

In fact, the last two weekends I've had guests here, and I've been busy catching up on chores since then, so it wasn't until today that I could finally take pictures for you.

Even though it's really tiny, it's nice to have a room that guests can sleep in while they're here or relax in while I'm cooking.

Well kind of. 

In reality, 

everyone just stands around in the kitchen, until I sort of (not really) politely say, "OUT!"

It's also a nice place for us to watch television.

It was just a second bedroom originally, but I don't like having a TV in my living room, so it pulls double duty.

Besides, I think it's cozy and on the plus side, I didn't really have to do anything to it. 

Yay!

The couch is actually a daybed from Ikea. I'm pretty sure it's the only thing in my house from that company and although it's not the best constructed item in the world, I couldn't find anything else that wasn't too expensive or didn't look too daybeddy (yes, I know it's not a word, but it is now). I also needed something that would fit in the room, because I couldn't fit a couch bed in there. It would hit the wall and there wouldn't be room for anything else.

My mom bought me this pillow for Christmas from Uncommon Goods.

I love that it looks like Bubba :)

Here's the other side:

My mom also needlepointed this pillow for me years ago:

And because, I'm funny (yes I am!) I bought this pillow:

What?! 

Well it's true.

You know it is.

Well anyway, it inspired the title to this post ;)

Moving on.....

I also stuck this little antique child's chair in there, just in case we have some little visitors, which we do occasionally.

An old antique trunk serves as a coffee table.

There's a Tic Tac Toe board for fun and people of all ages love to play with it, amazingly enough.

If they actually put down their phones.

Ahem.

And also some decorating books to browse through.

The view from the window is amazing, just like every room in the house.

The original owner did a beautiful job of making sure of that.

I'll tell her story soon :)

Eventually, I'll be getting a different TV for in this room and giving this one to my daughter when she moves out. I'd love a vintage one that has either been redone for cable or a new one that looks vintage. We'll see, but for now this works.

This is an antique washstand, that I use as a bar when I have parties.

You just lift up the top and wallah! 

Bar.

Another gift from mom....

I love my old big band records, but I also needed something to play my CDs and this works perfectly. I think she got it on QVC.

Across the room is the old closet.

But since no one actually lives in here, I turned it into a pantry and somewhere to hide the ugly microwave that I don't want, but my daughter insists upon. 

I've tried to explain to her that things taste better when you warm them up in the oven, but well...

Kids.

So there it is and there it will stay until she moves out with it.

I have another pantry downstairs that's much bigger, but I don't want to have to walk down there every time I need a bowl, so I use it for extra food and other items I don't use everyday.

Oh and paint.

And tools.

And Candles.

I'll show it to you sometime, but today isn't the day.

This is the room when the door to the kitchen is closed:

And that's pretty much it.

Probably not what you'd expect after seeing how colorful my kitchen was, but I love how calm and soothing it is in there.

I hope you enjoyed the tiny tour.

Until next time,

xo

rue

Recipe for Friendship

Years ago, my dear friend, Kim gave me this little tiny cup and saucer. 

I've treasured it always and every time I look at it, I think of her.

On the saucer is the recipe...

Exactly as it's written, for those that can't see what it says:

Recipe for Friendship

"Take two heaping cups of patience

One heartful of love

Two handsful of generosity 

A dash of laughter

One headful of understanding

Sprinkle generously with kindness

Add plenty of faith and mix well.

Spread over a period of a lifetime

And serve everybody you meet."

I take those words to heart. 

So, there it sits on a shelf, next to other precious things that I love.....

in a cupboard in my dining room.

When I walked past it again today, not only did I think of her, but all of you as well.

Old friends and new,

Thank you so much for welcoming me back.

 From Kim not only being my first commenter and then adding a blogroll and including me in it, to Genevieve writing about me, to Brenda who also wrote about me and my blog, and then to all of you that found me again or found me for the first time... 

Thank you! 

I'm overwhelmed with the kindness that you've shown me.

When I started this again, I had no idea what to expect and had no idea if I was even going to stick around and if I was, whether or not I'd just be talking to myself.

I guess the answers are, yes I will stick around and thank goodness I'm not just talking to myself.

Although, I tend to do that anyway ;)

I promise I'll visit all of you as soon as I possibly can. 

It may take awhile, but I'll get there eventually.

You can count on it.

xoxo

rue

P.S.

I'm working on what is quite possibly the smallest mudroom ever.

Before pictures:

It might take awhile, because it's a heavy traffic area and there's rain on the horizon for the next few days, but as soon as I'm finished, I'll share the after. 

There will be a few posts before that happens though, so don't hold your breath.

;)

I wonder...

I wonder where a lot of my friends have gone.

I've found a few and a few have found me, but not as many as I had hoped. I don't know if they're still out there and I can't find them or they gave up long ago.

I know some did, but what about the others?

I'm still looking, but it's hard, because when I erased my old blog the blogroll went with it.

On that note.... 

From what I can tell, the blogroll is 'out' for the most part, but I'm not a trend setter (obviously), nor am I a fan of change as far as most things go, so I have one anyway. 

If you don't, that's fine, but how else do you let people know what blogs you enjoy? 

I've always thought it was interesting to see what people read and also find new blogs that you've never seen before, but what do I know?

So....

My old friends, 

If you happen to know of any other old friends that are still out there from the old days, please let me know. And if you're still in contact with the ones that left, please tell them I miss them. 

I really do.

And....

My new friends, 

If you have any favorites, please let me know about those too. It's nice to discover lovely blogs :)

Some of the old friends that I contacted haven't answered me back.

Are they mad at me?

I know I left suddenly with a large rant that didn't make any sense at the time, but I didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. 

I was hurt myself.

I'm truly sorry for that and I wish I could take it back.

Maybe they don't remember me. 

I understand. 

It's been a very long time.

Anyway,

I'll keep searching and hopefully one day find everyone that's still around.

In the meantime, 

thank you to those that are still here and are willing to come with me on this new journey.

It truly means a lot.

xo,

rue

My colorful little kitchen

I finally cleared out all the stuff from the projects I'd been working on (i.e. moved them into another room) and took some pictures of my kitchen. 

And by some, I mean A LOT. So, you might want to grab something to drink and a snack.

I'm not kidding.

Anywho....

 if you're a first time visitor, this is the view you'd see first, coming in from the dining room:

But before we go in and just to remind you, here's a picture of what it looked like when I first moved in:

Scary, huh?

You can see a couple more pictures and where my inspiration came from 'here.'

Anyway, come on in... 

You can see a peek of the den/guest room to the left, but we'll visit that room another day.

Here's where the cooking magic happens:

On the left is a view into the dining room and on the right is another peek of the den.

And that's Bubba coming in to see what mom is up to, on the bottom left. Or maybe to get into his Bubba nest, that's under the island.

Yes, my dog has a "nest" lol

I had to special order the floor tiles. They thought I was crazy when I asked for them, since they're usually used for schools now.

I collect old cookbooks, so they're scattered around here and there. There's actually a lot of good recipes in them.

And here is where most of the work happened:

(When I get the pictures off of my old computer, I'll share the pictures of the demo.)

The sink was found on ebay for only $175. 

The more amazing part is that it still had the original faucet.

I was ecstatic!

The above picture makes the cabinets look dark, but the picture below is more true to the colors. 

It's Behr paint in Melted Butter and Sagey. The wall color is Cotton Whisper.

Funny story... I went to buy paint for my bedroom the other day and I picked up a paint card with three yellows on it, so I could see which one would look better. One of them turned out to be the same yellow that's in the kitchen. I chose the lighter one called Whisper Yellow though. I figured Melted Butter in a bedroom was just wrong lol

The laminate was taken out and I had the white tile put in. You should have seen their faces when I asked for just plain white tile in my kitchen and on top of the fact that I wanted bullnose tile on the edges, "Like my grandmother had". These are the same people I bought the flooring from. 

Yes, I'm pretty sure they think I'm nuts.

Oh well, they wouldn't be the first ones.

You can see my 1960s percolator peeking out from under the cabinet. It makes great coffee!

My grandfather's baby bowl:

I love this butter dish, so I thought I'd give it a moment of fame.

I love my sink. 

Can you tell? 

Just in case you weren't sure, here's another picture of it:

HA!

Moving on....

Here's the view coming in from the downstairs or the side door:

Straight ahead is the original ironing board cabinet and the white thing to the right of it, is where the iron sleeps. 

And yes, I actually use them. Vintage linens have to be ironed.

Here's a closer look:

Pretty cute, huh?

Here's the breakfast nook that was so sad looking when I moved in:

 I lifted up the table cloth so you could see how I painted it.

Pretty racy, huh? ;)

When I was underneath the table painting, I went to paint the underside of the table and found this:

"Phooey to you"

My guess is a child, that lived in this home a long time ago, wasn't too happy with mom at some point lol

Anyway, I couldn't paint over it. So, there it stays :)

And there's my 1950s Hotpoint fridge:

Can you believe I found it on craigslist for only $100?

Neither could I.

If that man ever looks up what this fridge normally costs, I'm sure he'll faint.

It still works perfectly.

Lastly, here's where I keep my keys and below is a kitchen prayer.

"God bless my little kitchen; I love its every nook,

God bless me as I do my work~ wash pots, and pans, and cook.

May the meals that I prepare be seasoned from above,

With Thy great blessing and Thy grace, but most of all, Thy love.

As we partake of earthly food, Thy table before us spread,

We'll not forget to thank Thee Lord, who gives us daily bread.

So bless my little kitchen, God, and those who enter in,

May they find naught but joy and peace and happiness therein.

Amen"

I hope you enjoyed the tour :)

Until next time,

rue