Thrifting

Weeks ago I stopped by my favorite thrift store in Davenport, the DAV. I always thought DAV was for Davenport but years ago found out it mean't Disabled American Veterans. I was looking for a dining table. We moved one up from Georgia but it just isn't right for our not quite finished kitchen. So it will be my craft table in the basement. I was about to leave the store when I saw the round table top leaning on a bunch of other furniture. I found the base and the four feet and thought oh gosh, a barrel and what awful feet! Claws actually. I hated the base but it would work. I didn't think I wanted to pay the price on it either. When I asked the volunteer about it, he told me all furniture was 50% off!!  SOLD!
I discussed with my sisters that I planned to paint the top of the table so people would notice the top instead of the claws. Now that I look at the picture, they may be feet. Not sure anymore. What are those???  People would think I am crazy to paint such a beautiful table top. I didn't take a picture of it before paint and yes, that is the same color as the front door.  It would be easy to strip to get it back to the original wood, if anyone wanted to. What I am most excited about is the beautiful mechanism I found when Mike and I pulled it apart to put the leaf in.

One of the most exciting thing is the wood this table is made out of is the exact same as the built in hutch I was considering painting. I am so glad I waited on that. The final opinion count was six to leave the hutch wood, two to paint it.

The next day I took Mike to the DAV and we found these really cool swivel chairs which now sit in our bedroom.  50% off!

We also found a dresser for the spare bedroom. 50% off!

Last Friday I went to a twice a year sale at a non profit and found a green couch that I loved for $30. The problem would be how to get it home and it was faded to where I would probably have to re-upholster. This project didn't sound appealing to me so I walked away.  I did buy Mike a new desk chair because the one he is using will soon be one of our kitchen chairs, after I re-upholster them.

The chairs that will be our kitchen chairs were found at the dump years ago when my sister Sherry and I went there with her garbage. It was called a transition station and people would bring all kinds of things they didn't want anymore and you could just grab what you wanted for free. I always loved that place. You never knew what you would find. The below picture is one of the four I will be recovering with extra cool fabric for our kitchen table. 

I  told Mike we should head to the non profit sale the next day to see if that green couch was still there. It was and it had been marked down to $20. This was very appealing to me. Mike sat on it and said absolutely not. He sank too much.
We were on our way out when Mike noticed the gray couch and ottoman and in a second, a volunteer was over giving us a sales pitch. There was no way we could afford the gray couch. Plus, it wasn't what I envisioned for the living room, and how would we get it home?
The volunteer said it was donated by a wealthy family and the original cost was $6500.00. Yeah, right.  She said we could have it for a lot less than what they had on the ticket and we started bargaining. Mike loved the idea that all three seats leaned back and when he sat in it, I could tell he fell in love and it was the best thing ever, for his basement.  We bought it. We also had to rent a UHaul cargo van to get it home.

After we got it home, I looked it up online and sure enough, the couch is $5000 and the ottoman is $1000. We couldn't believe it. Who would spend that much money on a couch? It will be in the basement and I will just have chairs in the living room.

Somewhere in all of this thrifting we found two chairs for the living room. Not my favorite color but they match and they were not expensive and they didn't smell funny.

And a light fixture from our church garage sale. Not sure if this will go above the table or in the entrance of the house. Gary, this is on your list of things to do when you come visit, put in this light fixture.

I think we are done thrifting for awhile. Of course I may run across something without even looking for it.

Master Bedroom

Mike and I couldn't decide on fabric for curtains so we decided to install the shades that Mom and Dad had but, we haven't installed them yet. The leaves are on the trees so we are using those as a natural way to hide us from the neighbors. The house next door is empty so we can wait awhile before the shades go up. Plus, it seems I have become a little lazy. This past weekend all the way through yesterday was cold and rainy and that made me want to do nothing except cuddle with the cats. We did get a few things done.
We were very excited to get our bed put together. We brought the headboard up and placed it in different areas of the bedroom to see where we should put it. Mom and Dad didn't have a headboard so they used the window for the top of their bed. Perfect spot except we have a tall headboard.  One wall has four doors on it. No room for a bed there. Another wall has a door going to the back porch and if we did use that wall, we would walk into the bed as soon as we entered the room. So, there were only two places we could put it. We ended up putting it at a diagonal.

We could have put the headboard against the wall in the above picture but if we would have done that, between us would be where both Mom and Dad died They died in the exact same place but not at the same time. I liked the bed there better but once I told Mike about where Mom and Dad were when they passed, he thought that was a little creepy. So diagonal it is.

We started putting the bed together but realized we had no idea where the hardware was. That took about and hour of thinking and looking before we found it. It then took an hour of thinking and looking for the bed skirt. Putting the bed together took us a whole day.

I was a little concerned about sleeping in the room because of Mom and Dad. We also had to get used to the noises.  We were used to the noises in the guest bedroom because that is where we always slept when we came to visit. The master bedroom is on the other side of the house. The door that goes to the patio in the bedroom  has a cat door so that Pete and Binx can enjoy the outside. Sherry and I had put the cat door in years ago for Buddy, Mom and Dad's cat. We were asleep when Binx decided to go outside. That door is LOUD. Mike sat up an yelled "What Was That?".   So we woke with the cat door, the clunking furnace, and a house that pops. Not sure what that pop is but it is pretty amazing. It seems like it only happens at night when we try to sleep. 

Besides the noises, I was still having problems getting a good night sleep. So I got out and used my supplies that always help with this kind of issue. I have been sleeping better ever since.

Moving Up

The floors are done and the cabinets are in! The countertop person will be here Tuesday to measure. So it may be a couple of weeks before we have a complete kitchen.
I have to touch up the baseboards and other nicks and dings from the floor installation. Since the floor is done, we can move a few things upstairs. So, we are slowly moving up from the basement. Exciting!!!
I have to make curtains for the master bedroom tomorrow so that we can start sleeping there tomorrow night. I pulled out all of the fabric I kept and took it upstairs. I don't really have anything that matches purple.

Everything went smoothly with the cabinets until today. They were ready to put in the pantry next to the fridge area but it sat back too far for my liking. I questioned the cabinet guys and they pulled out the plan and sure enough, it showed the cabinet sitting back and not flush with the wall. They could put it in the way I had it pictured in my mind but with a cost. Of course, more money. I told them yes, do it.

So now I have to think about the built in hutch. I was planning on painting it either gray or white, or maybe even black? Mike suggested we leave it wood, so there wouldn't be so much gray and white. We  will have to think about this. The base is gray so we have another decision to make. I am open for suggestions!

Some pieces of the flooring are very unique with variations and knots. We all call it character. It just happens a very unique piece ended up in the middle of the kitchen. It is the light piece in the middle.

Every time I walk by and see it, I think of Molly. She would snack on raisins as she stood at the cabinets in Athens. I would always find stepped on raisins on the floor. This is actually a knot in the wood, but I will always think of her.

Here are other pictures from today. Notice the huge fern in the window! These came from the greenhouse my brother-in-law and sister have in their back yard.  I will write about that when I go up to Wisconsin to visit them.  That is the dishwasher sitting in the dining area.

The fridge and stove are still in the living room. We are sooooo looking forward to cooking a heathy meal, not in the living room though.

What Was I Thinking???

I had always heard you should paint the front door your favorite color. Green has always been my favorite color but I think that might be changing to the blue hues. Especially after I painted the door peachy green. I love this green  but it didn't go well with the yellow house with brown trim.

The next day I painted it again. This is from the same paint can I used in Athens to paint our doors there.

Floors should be done today! These pictures were taken last night so they are a little dark. I will take more once the sun is out again. That might be a few days yet. We woke to rain and 38 degrees.

As you can see from the above picture, I am still painting doors.
Yesterday was exciting because  the cabinets were delivered. We had to make room in our garage for the boxes. Mike isn't happy about keeping his car outside. There were many cars broken into the other night.

The cabinets are being installed at this very moment.

More updates to come!

They Built It, So We Went

I am quickly learning there are a lot of meat eaters in Iowa and it is hard to find non-meat items on a menu. I am getting tired of breaded cod which has been my go to.
This past Saturday my sisters and I met our cousin Sandy in the small town of Dyersville for lunch. I decided to order the rueben without the meat. You should have seen the face of the waitress when I ordered that. The sandwich was very good. I should have requested the meat on the side because they charged me regular price. I am sure one of my sisters or Sandy would have eaten it for me. I took pictures of my sandwich but forgot to take a picture of Sandy! Next time.

Dyersville's population is a little over 4000. There are  exciting places to see in Dyersville if you ever go there!
After lunch my sisters and I decided to visit a couple of these places. The first stop was the Basilica. There are only 69 Basilicas in the United States and to have one in such a small town is amazing to me.

We were not able to go inside this time because there was a funeral going on but I have been inside and it is amazing and beautiful. I will take picture next time, or you can Google it.

We then headed to the Field of Dreams.

We were surprised at how many people were there. People still come 25 years after the movie was released. There wasn't any corn in the field but that didn't stop the girls softball team from running  way out into the cornfield. The acted like they were playing a game too. I guess it is a big thing to run the bases be we didn't do that. 

Dyersville is ten miles away from my Mom's hometown Earlville, so we went to visit Mom and Dad.

As you can see, Mom didn't live much longer than Dad. I will write about that later, probably in May on her one year anniversary of leaving us.
I then remembered that I had just bought a plot here and decided I had made the right choice. It is a beautiful cemetery. I will be cremated and my family always wondered what to do with my ashes. My daughter Molly once mentioned she would throw me down a mountain. Now they won't have to make that decision. The picture below shows where mom and dad are and that my ashes and maybe Mikes, will be either next to Mom or next to my sister Jo. She bought a plot there too.

It was a great day spent with my sisters. It felt good to get away and not worry about painting!
The floor is slowly going in.