Ok Joy, here you go.....

 I recently sent fellow blogger and artist, Joy Waltmire of savvycityfarmer an email to thank her for her fabulous blog and she replied a little confused as to why my "stuff" has been in storage for four years so I sent her a quick synopsis of my story and she replied that it would make a great blog post, so here it.

(Token picture because I think it's a sin to post anything without a picture and I absolutely love this picture!)

Husband finds property with empty barn he just has to have...
Loving wife (aka me) says ok.....
Talented, artistic couple with huge vision goes to county to do their "due diligence" since structure is 30 years old with expired permits......
County give a big thumbs up with a smile and says "no problem".....
Talented, artistic couple with huge vision buy property and giggle with the excitement at the prospect of what lies ahead......
Escrow closes........
Loving wife boxes up everything but the bare (and I mean bare) bones of necessity to get by and moves into said structure (no insulation, drywall, only concrete floors and no heat except one very worthless antique wood burning stove) to begin the finish process to make it a home.....
County says "Oops, that guy shouldn't have told you that, you need to (a crazy list I wont' bore you with but would equal about $175,000.00 minimum to complete) in order to get this permitted as a home........
Loving wife gets more than beyond angry and begins the process of fighting the County to avoid any of their stupid request.......
Three years later and numerous letters, phone calls and a televised hearing before the board of supervisors......
We win!!!!!!! (and I must add that we did not have to do one single thing they said we would have to! Yep, tenacious is my middle name)
Last year has been spent completing what we originally started and all the while my lovely "stuff" sitting in boxes in storage.
So I am but a mere 2-3 weeks from setting this place up like a real house as we should have our final by then, (the inspector knowing what a nightmare this has been has been a dream and has signed almost everything off he could so that we could move back  in a month ago even though not fully permitted)

Ok, there you go, that's my story.

Bits & Pieces

So a lot of little stuff going on but not anything really to sing about so today I'm posting pictures of some things to come.

My stove did get here the other day so it is sitting in the kitchen area waiting to be hooked up. 

That will be nice to have a stove again.  Running back and forth to the fifth wheel trailer to use the stove is getting really, really old.

I made the curtain for the entry to the half bath sink room the other night.  I just love this fabric! A rich heavy chennile in cocoa brown and gold.  I put a Gold trim on the edge it really looks nice but I need a little help hanging it up.  I'll get to that this weekend.

I bought this little light in Paris a couple of years ago and just love it.  The first time I was in Paris my sister in law, Alanna, bought one for a friend, we didn't think too much of it but then we went to her house and saw it lit up and couldn't believe how cute it was!  So on my last trip
Alanna asked for me to pick one up, no problem, they were all over the Rue de Rivoli.  But when I got there I couldn't find one anywhere!  I searched and searched and finally found two sitting on the floor in the corner of a little store.  I snatched them both up right away!  I just rewired this last week and it is so cute at night.

Kitchen Cabinets are coming out nicely.

Here's a close up of the piece I attached to the front of the sink cabinet.  I will put the last coat of paint on them in just a few minutes, then some gold wax on the doors and some glaze and they'll be done, thank goodness.

 

This is a picture of the footboard of my bed.  This is actually the "Thomas Bed" from Pottery Barn which I've had for 14 years.  Very cottage, sort of country.  I've always been pretty good about not making the house too feminine for the Cowboy but when we moved in here I knew I wanted our bedroom very French and luxurious.  So I was going to get rid of the bed but the Cowboy protested quite loudly, he loved the bed, big, heavy, sturdy, it had to stay.  He said, "Do what you want to it but don't replace it".  Do what I want to it??? Ok so now to make it look French.  I started with filling in all the grooves of the boards that were tongue and groove.  Then I found some fabulous huge christmas pearl strings so I bought them the day after Christmas at half off and then glued them into the paneled areas and filled them in with joint compound to make them look like they were carved in.  Then added on some architectural ornaments, a couple coats of off white paint, sand the dickens out of it and a little glaze and Voila!  A very pretty french bed.     

I am really happy with it and will post a picture of the whole thing after I get the duvet made. And I'll post the before and after pictures then too so you can see the difference. 

All this work is fun but tiring.  My grandson is exhausted from just watching.

Whips, chains and a little wax

I'm really trying not to take too long between post as we get closer to finishing the construction and the fun part begins (can you say decorate?) but it's been crazy.  I took a fall off a ladder a few weeks ago and that had me off my feet for awhile and then a couple of small jobs but now I'm back on track, sort of, and working away on things here on the home front.

So last weekend was the stairs.  We bought standard treads at Lowes, brought them home and made them look like the floors.   I tell you, a couple of tools and some lamp chain and we're in business.

Then rub in the wax......... 

 and buff.  I found that my little orbital sander place on a terry bar towel was perfect!

and Voila!  Beautiful stairs.

Now I have to paint the risers.  I'll be painting a pattern on each one but that will have to wait.  Right now I'm working on the kitchen Cabinets.  I found some on Craigslist that would really fit the space we have but the asking price was $700.00 (not in the budget) so while trying to work out a deal the woman notified me she had an offer for the full price so they were sold.  OK, no problem I figured something would come along.  But then a few weeks later I get a call from the woman who bought them and wouldn't you know it they decided they weren't right for their space and said if I still wanted them I could have them for $300.00!!  Sold!!  So the Cowboy and I picked them up and brought them home.

The uppers and pantry will be used elsewhere in the house, but don't these fit great?  So.... I had just finished a job where I had redone some kitchen cabinets in a distressed black finish.  I love black and the clients kitchen looked so stunning when it was done I decided to paint these black too.  Well, I did and then over the past few weeks I kept looking at them and all my other stuff going in the room and decided that black just wouldn't work for these.  So today, in the middle of working on woodgraining our doors, I just couldn't take it another minute and I started sanding them down. 

My youngest daughter (17) walked in and said, "What's going on?"

Me: "I'm redoing the cabinets"

"But you haven't even put them in"

"I know but black wont work in here"

"So what are you doing"

"Off white, antiqued and distressed"

A huge eye roll and out she goes.  I'm used to it. But I have to say I know I'm doing the right thing, I can picture it done and it's more the look I want, a lot of cream and white contrasting with the wood floors, I even glued an architectural ornament to the front of the sink cabinet and love it. I can't wait.  When the Cowboy called home and asked what I did today I gave a long list of every little thing leaving out "redoing the kitchen cabinets"  a girl can only take so many eye rolls in one day.  He won't be home until next weekend so I'll have them done before he gets here.  Won't he be surprised! lol

Out with the black and bring on the cream!  Besides there will be a lot of black in the pantry.

I'll have them done by the first of the week so I'll post pictures then. 

We're getting close........really, we are

I know it's been a while since my last post but it's been crazy here.  Working away on the last final details and then I came down sick, the Cowboy left for work in Southern California and won't be home for 2 weeks and then I fell off of a ladder while on a job last week so I have not been too mobile recently.  But today I was able to get a few pictures loaded to post.   The living room is the most put together room in the house at this point.  Every other room just has stuff thrown in until we pass inspection.

Still so much to do but at least it's starting to feel like home.

Check out my kitchen lights!  Can you say "Stinkin' Cute?!!

I just love them.  I found the shades in a box at a yard sale, two of them had been painted black so I scrubbed off the black paint and left them unfinished ready for a good tarnish.  I cut and bent EMT electrical pipe and then wired them in to the lamp shade and the Cowboy mounted them to the wall.  Cute, cute, cute!! And their on a dimmer for great ambiance.

This is the pile of stuff in my kitchen waiting to be put in place after inspection.  Crazy, no?

And more stuff...

This is the bookcase that came out of a friends house that will be used to hold my white ironstone dishes.  The Cowboy has mounted it to the wall and we will build a cabinet underneath to make it look like a hutch. This is scheduled for a coat of black paint right away.

My half bath is coming along nicely.  I still have to paint the arch but the lights are in and the adorable little tiny buffet fits in there perfectly.

My one and only upper cabinet in the kitchen is up.  When I got it at a yard sale it was just this plain little cupboard. I had my dad add the top molding, the bottom shelf and trim and then I put a finish on it and Voila! cute upper cabinet.

Well that's it for now.  The bathtub is in and it's wonderful!!!!!! I'll have pictures of the finished bedroom / bath soon.