• Five Old Books I Found in Our New Home
    colonial farmhouse,  decorating

    5 Old Books I Found in Our New Home

    Old houses are full of surprises. (I’m a master of the understatement.) Our colonial farmhouse has already given us plenty of surprises – most of them electrical related. I also found some old books and magazines in our new home. That’s a WAY better surprise than realizing you only have one inconveniently located outlet in your master bedroom! Since I previously told you the seller left tons of unwanted items in the house when he moved out, you might think that I found these old books in one of the four gazillion dozen boxes of junk on the premises. Nope. I found the old books and magazines in two places.…

  • Convert a Dining Table Into a Coffee Table
    colonial farmhouse,  decorating,  DIY

    My Dining Table Is Now a Coffee Table

    Do you remember when I bought a $9.60 round dining table at the Habitat Restore and making over that table almost sent me over the edge? That was fun. Fast forward several months and the scars from the traumatic table makeover experience were healing nicely. Then I realized why that table might have been donated to the Habitat Restore in the first place. The top kept coming loose from the base. I’d tighten it and then people would put their elbows on the table (!) and eventually the top would loosen up again. The solution was clear. Either I could teach my family manners or we could stop eating all…

  • flip into pool
    Family

    Breaking In Our Colonial Farmhouse

    I’ve heard it said that a new home doesn’t feel like home until you start making memories there. So that’s what we’re going to do! I’m taking this week off to make memories in our new home. Our first guests, friends from Oregon, are spending the week with us. We are breaking in this Colonial Farmhouse with BBQs, pool time and late nights on the deck watching the fireflies. And by “late nights” I mean I’ll go to bed at 10 p.m. and leave everyone else to carry on without me! HA! I’m not even joking. But! I’m the one who gets up early with the kids, so it all…

  • red mill clinton nj happy list
    happy list

    Happy List: #128 – Instagram Edition

    Fancy meeting you here! I hope you had a fantastic week. At a minimum I hope you didn’t have a leaky roof like we did. I shared all about fixing our slate roof and the compromises we made on that situation on Monday. I also hope your kid didn’t break a window. I shared about that experience on Wednesday. If neither of those two things happened to you then I think you’ve got something to celebrate! This week’s Happy List is a clean out of my saved folder on Instagram. When I see something on Instagram that inspires me in some way, shape or form I save it for future reference.…

  • Family

    That Time My Son Broke a Window

    It was bound to happen. The only thing that surprised me was that it took almost 9 years to occur. Since we’ve moved out of our rental and got our security deposit back (because priorities!) I can now tell you about that time my son broke a window in our house. It was what happened AFTER the window broke that has me wondering who learned more from this situation: him or me? How did my son break the window? With a ball, of course. *sigh* He threw a ball in his bedroom and with either extreme accuracy or supremely bad luck he launched that ball through a window. Now, in his…

  • Insight on Repairing a Slate Roof
    colonial farmhouse,  DIY

    Insight on Repairing a Slate Roof

    Here’s something I learned last week. My idea of a crisis is not a roofing contractor’s idea of a crisis. Roofing Person: You have an active leak, ma’am? Me: Isn’t that the very definition of a leak? Roofing Person: Okay. We can come out and take a look in 3.5 million years from now and then get you an estimate to do the repairs 1.5 million years after that. Of course, that’s contractor time, so plus or minus another million years on all those dates and times. Me: My house could crumble to the ground by then. Roofing Person: So should I put you on the schedule? I realize when…

  • happy list

    Happy List: #127

    It’s finally Friday! Woohoo! Last week I got my new driver’s license. This week I registered the kids for school. Today I’m trying a new hair stylist. I’m on a roll! I’m also terrified because a new person is going to be cutting my wild hair. We are in for another marathon weekend of trying to prep the Carriage House for our first guests coming in one week from today! EEK! Let’s hope Handy Husband can get the water reconnected to the Carriage House. Otherwise…well, let’s not go there. Positive thoughts, people! Positive thoughts! This week I shared more photos of our new home, specifically the doors. I also took…

  • gnome houses on a bike trail
    travel

    I Spy Gnome Houses on a Bike Trail

    Of all the gloriously random things in the world to discuss, today I want to talk about gnome houses on a bike trail. Why? Because it’s pretty much the most amazing thing ever. Okay. Not EVER ever, but it is pretty fantastic. Hear me out. Imagine a beautiful summer day. The temperature is warm, but not too hot. It is the perfect day for going on a bike ride (or walk) on a path through a lush forest and being able to play an epic game of I Spy. And, no. You’re not too old to play I Spy. Perish the thought! Why are there gnome houses on a bike…

  • The Doors of Our Colonial Farmhouse
    colonial farmhouse,  decorating

    The Doors of Our Colonial Farmhouse

    My number one reason for buying our colonial farmhouse was the original, wide plank wood floors. That’s how everyone selects a house, right? My number two reason for buying our home was the original doors. According to my logic, if life opens one beautiful door and you choose to walk through it and discover another beautiful door and ANOTHER, how do you not buy that house? It was a sign from the universe I didn’t want to ignore. The doors of our colonial farmhouse are definitely the eye candy of this house. And I do love me some eye candy! And don’t even get me started on the glass knobs! This is…

  • happy list

    Happy List: #126

    Hello! How was your 4th of July? I hope you had an enjoyable day. Ours was a mix of family fun and house projects. If only I could convince the kids that house projects were the same as family fun we could get so much more done. Ha! This week on the blog I shared why my big mouth made our recent move so much harder. I also shared some festive 4th of July ideas which seem utterly useless on July 5. Kidding. Those pies are definitely appropriate 365 days per year. Here’s the Happy List! CHEESECAKE DIP WITH STRAWBERRIES Michael at Inspired by Charm is one of my favorite…