A Home Improvement Project?

What's this!? I'm working on a home improvement project?? It is true. I buckled down and ordered myself to stop going back and forth about what to do with the woodwork and start scraping. This will take me about 2 years so don't expect any fabulous before and afters any time soon! I have windows, (all of these are pre-move in shots)

bookcases with mantle,

 stairs,

doors and the ceiling beams (ugh!) Most of this was redone quickly in maybe the 70's?? Since that is when a major overhaul seems to have occurred. They chose a dark, dark, dark brown - typical 70's. I've been trying to brainstorm ideas of how to do this process without a total scrape and refinish but I dislike the 70's brown and I can't figure out any other way to get it to go away. I came across this photo and it finalized my decision that I wanted to rid this space of 70's brown.

I'm starting with the front windows.

The finish is basically black and dirty. Gross! 

The sills have been abused by kitties, water, sunlight and I'm not sure what all. Also, previous owners had plastic taped over the windows which took care of the finish up the sides. 

The sun is reflecting but the windows already feel cleaner even though it's just the putsy detail trim parts which are cleaned. The advantage of old crusty finish is it flakes right off with some light sanding so I already almost have 2 of the tedious window parts done.

Also, I started to strip the bookshelf (as seen here during Christmas)

Despite it never being painted in my lifetime, it somehow manages to have 12 coats of paint on it and this stinky emerald green is at the bottom, in the grain. I had visions of finishing this to match the woodwork so it looks like a real built in but we shall see about that one.

Another Fantastic Estate Sale House (this time with photos!)

I was just being productive and scraping the gross finish off the living room windows when I was interupted by a giant clap of thunder. OK, probably not the best time/place to be working with my nose plastered against the window.

I just discovered this house listing earlier so it was a good excuse to sit in the middle of the house, on an unplugged laptop. I went to an estate sale at it a couple of weeks ago, mainly to see the house since it is in the fancy mod 50's section of town (which consists of maybe 20 houses). They had nice prices to go along with the nice house but I managed to find a nifty tissue box. I failed to get a good picture of it. I didn't realize how awkward it was to find a good angle to show a white plastic box.

The house was/is immaculate. I would swear it was brand new and not from 1952. There was an entire store room in the basement devoted to tiles, light fixtures and other odds and ends which probably helped maintain the look. The photos all link up to the listing to get all of the info and some more photos:

I love the crazy doors which this one is hard to make out. (there is an open view of one in a later shot)

This is a view from the living room to the front door (barely visible behind the bookshelf)

 The library section of the living room. I think I would call it a library/troll area if this was my space.

 A view of the back patio from the formal dining area with great floor tiles.

There is a grill or something by the stove top. I didn't notice it when I was there so I cannot confirm what it is. I did notice the tiles on the bar have a really pretty pattern which unfortunately isn't showing up due to glare. 

Opposite view of the kitchen. Unfortunately they don't have a picture of the "pantry" which probably was at least half the size of my kitchen. She had a section the size of my pantry completely devoted to plastic storage containers! A hanging rod for table linens and plenty of shelves for canned goods and dish towels. 

The casual dining area off of the kitchen. They had a white table with a glass top and matching chairs. They needed to take the photos before they sold all of the original furniture!

The spacious laundry room. 

 This bathroom wasn't open at the estate sale.

The tiles are lovely and great color choices as they have a timeless quality to them. 

The other bathroom maze between 2 of the bedrooms was open. This was the first room off of the front bedroom. It is hard to spot due to reflections, but that is a rotating toothbrush holder above the sink. 

 The linen room was off of the bathtub room. They had toiletries on the glass counter. The cupboards had towels and bed linens.

The toilet (no photos) was in a small room in between the sink rooms. The back bedroom got the shower room. 

Opposite view of the shower room. My tissue box was on the counter to the right. I feel bad it's new home is in my pathetic half bath where the only room I have for it is on the toilet. The small room in the back she had all of her crafts and a sewing machine.

This was set up as a game room. Here is a good view of the crazy doors. This one goes to the back yard.

The listing has more views of the exterior and some semi-boring (since they are empty) bedroom, exterior and basement shots.

Quick Denver Trip

It seems as of late I have just been posting about my thrift findings instead of any renovation projects. Hmm, well, I only seem to average about an hour of free time a day - if I am lucky. I'm hoping to have my dining/living area done before this fall soo I have 5 months? along with pending yard work and outside painting coming up, yeah, we'll see what updates I come up with and/or have time to post about!

Anyways, I escaped to Denver for a bit to go to a family member's funeral. Between the snow we did manage to get to a few of our usual thrift stores where prices have definitely increased and pickings vintage in nature were slim. Though I admit we couldn't be very strategic since we had such a short trip so we didn't hit them at the best times.

 I did manage to find this Pyrex casserole lid for a $1 which I thought was different.

At the Goodwill by my aunt's house I found one of my Butterprint mixing bowls but it was $15? Nah, I'm not that desperate for Pyrex. They also had a brown mixing bowl for $10. Both at the special boutique counter and both had some scratches and fading. While browsing the kitchen shelves I came across these 2 bowls:

Both in shiny mint condition. The blue for $1.49 and the pink for $1.99. I already had the blue for my primary set but it looks very Spring-like paired with the pink bowl and I couldn't pass it up for that price.

and then something practical to use? Not that we needed drinking glasses but these looked like fun to have on the drinking glass shelf. I found a matching shot glass with a Crate and Barrel sticker on it so I do know their origin.

My aunt lives 15 mins from an Ikea so I have to stop by one of those every chance I get since we are deprived of one around here. I got a few things I forgot last time and I always manage to find a few extras.

This cute owl picture for little one's bedroom was my favorite!