House Tour

Hello friends! It’s high time for another house update and current tour. We’ve made some progress on the house over the summer and fall – the most recent big change is walls upstairs! We have also added some furniture and small items since the last house tour in 2014 which you can see here.

But, first things first.

If you were to come in our front door, you would enter into the sitting room –

On the other side of our big open downstairs is the kitchen –

When we add a few more features to the house – such as the summer kitchen, pantry, and have a bigger woodstove – things will be arranged very differently in the kitchen. But for now, what we have works.

Because our current cookstove isn’t big enough to heat the house in the winter, we have this barrel stove attached. Eventually it will be moved to Jordan’s shop.

Now, continuing to the back room from the kitchen, you will pass my freezer and temporary pantry area. (messy, overflowing ragbag and all…) but hey. At least we have plenty of preserves to last until next blackberry season!

keep going through the next doorway, and you are in the bathroom. We don’t have running water here yet, but will someday.

Our clawfoot tub which will one day be painted, and our composting toilet system.

Lets take a quick peek at the front porch, then then we will head upstairs…

once you are up the stairs…you are now greeted with another flight of stairs! These lead to the attic, our third story.

Little peep into the attic – which is just storage right now. When it is finished out it will be bedrooms for the kids.

Back to the 2nd story – turn left into our bedroom.

Walls are coming together! It’s so exciting to be able to feel the size of the rooms now! This is a closeup of my closet area. Jordan was able to frame in lots of extra storage space, much more than I was counting on! yay! (please tell me I’m not the only wife who gets excited about closets….)

Bonus picture – Marian was napping in her crib while I snuck around taking these pictures…

Now, through the doorway into my sewing room…which may or may not be my favorite room in the house.

Fabric, research books, iron, patterns and notions all within reach. Heaven.

The last room of the 2nd story is the guest room:

We did finally find a matching window for the hole in this room. When we get that put in I will begin making this into Marian’s room. Right now it’s mostly a staging area for various projects of mine – here it was being used as a place to organize my purchase of a huge lot of vintage hats for resale.

From the sewing room you can step out on the top porch…

…which has a beautiful view!

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That’s our home as of now.

Remembering World War II 2015

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The last weekend in September we stepped back in time to the 1940s for a day.

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We attended ‘Remembering WWII‘ which took place in Linden, TN. The entire historic downtown area was dressed up 1940s style – buildings and people!

There were military reenactors, battles, lots of military and civilian vintage vehicles, a live big band, and many wonderful veterans speaking.

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We tried to represent a 1940s farm family. (I don’t know if the stroller fit in with our impression…I didn’t research that part)

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We got a surprise and at the last minute our friends Jesse, Alice and Gavin got to come stay with us for the weekend! We were so glad they did. Visit their lovely blog here.

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As Marian’s dress from last year was of course too small – I had to make her a new one. It was a delightful project! The fabric is a candy pink rayon print from my stash. The pattern I was using was actually a 1950s pattern, but after studying quite a few 1940s pattern diagrams online, I was able to make the appropriate changes, and even added a few new design elements. Really happy with the way it turned out! Her shoes are vintage – a yard sale find gift from my Mom!

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My dress was made new for the event (finished the day before as usual…oh dear). It is a yellow rayon print also from my fabric stash. The skirt actually came from an old dress I made years ago using 1940s patterns. I had long ago cut up the old dress because I wasn’t happy with it and it has been in pieces since. Yay for making it wearable again! My hat is vintage 1940s, purse & gloves vintage also.

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Jordan decided to do a civilian impression this year. If you follow him on Instagram (@axe_and_anvil) you know that he has been working on restoring his circa 1941 Farmall A tractor. He really wanted to have it done for the event, but there just wasn’t enough time. His overalls are vintage style ‘Key’ brand, worn with a vintage Fedora he found on eBay.

wpid-20150926_124124.jpgThere were lots of fun snapshots like this to be seen of soldiers and civilians all over town. However, I purposely didn’t take tons of event pictures, as there were many professional photographers there whose work will be posted to Remembering WWII ‘s website at some point. :) I knew they would capture it much better than I could.

wpid-2015-10-17-11.24.54.jpg.jpegThe battle was quite loud, so Jordan was covering Alan’s ears – who apparently decided he might as well have a nap.

wpid-20150926_104700.jpgThe whole down town was transformed into the year 1942. All the store front windows were displaying vintage items and/or posing as period correct stores – like the adorable toy store window above (featuring a retro style doll bed from Dream Come True), and a window from ‘Michelle’s of Paris’ dress shop below. The wedding dress is actually a loaned vintage 1941 dress from my collection. (I bought it at an estate sale years ago)

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Those faces!

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I had much too much fun pushing the stroller around town! I knew I wanted to have a vintage stroller (baby buggy? pram?…not sure what the correct term would be) So I had been searching the local craigslist for a while. Found this one for $60, but it needed quite a bit of work to get it in working order and looking presentable. My handy husband did a wonderful job with it – it was very smooth and easy to push, and it made the day SO much easier than having to carry our two big kids!

wpid-2015-10-16-22.03.28.jpg.jpegEven though the kids were tuckered out by the end of the day – we all had a wonderful time!