HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!! 17 YEARS OF MARRIAGE

WOW! Gary and I have been married for 17 years on Saturday, April 25th!! Take a look at us just starting out aawwww if I only knew then what I know now.......

....well OF COURSE i'd do it all over again!! He's a great guy! My best friend! The only one who will put up with my crap! hahahahahaha

I love you honey, Happy Anniversary!!!

LATEST FINDS! SALES CONTINUE THROUGH MONTH OF APRIL!

First I'd like to thank the 6 o'clock stitch below for letting me post my sale on their blogspot! Take a look, great place to advertise and wonderful shop to boot!!

http://the6oclockstitch.blogspot.com/

While my sales on all 3 of my websites is continuing through the month, I am still adding new merchandise to each of them, and remember they are included in the sales posted to each site!! So, check out some great deals so please take a look at them all!

http://www.momsantiquesandthings.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5049938

http://www.tias.com/stores/momsanteeks/

I found some lovely MacBeth Evans petalware pieces and they are in excellent condition. Also, a souvenir ashtray from Hawaii made from lava.

EASTER SALE!! HUGE SAVINGS ON ALL SITES!

I decided to EXTEND my Easter Sale!!!! on all 3 of my sites, Now save through 4/30/09!!

enjoy.......

in my ETSY shop, I increased the discount to 40% off everything OVER $5.00!! LOTS of OOAK Digital art & vintage goodies

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5049938

and on TIAS there is 25% off everything over $5.00 on my antiques & collectibles that already have LOWERED PRICES! PLUS there is a coupon for $5.00 off any item over $50.00

http://www.tias.com/stores/momsanteeks/

on my website there is a little of both antiques & digital art there you can save 25% off already LOWERED PRICES too! USE THIS DIRECT COUPON LINK TO MY STORE FOR THE DISCOUNT!!!

http://www.momsantiquesandthings.com/?code=S42009

I'M GOING IN..........

Well I didn't want the house renovations post to be 15 feet long, so I did the outside, now i'll show you some of the inside, some pics of the girls rooms I do not have on file in my computer, i'll scan them in someday, have to find which box and album they are in!

Anyway, we had to gut every room, no insulation, a lot of studs replaced and set to code! We also are pulling out HUGE SOLID aged OAK wood planks behind the lathe and plaster (we are going to reuse as much as we can for shelves, wainscoting, and i'd love to make a harvest table for the addition!).

Let us start with the kitchen ..... first of all our kitchen is BIG it's 14 x 20 and it took us 8 months to finish (well almost finish, never did get my bench done for my nook....yet, but table & chairs work for now). Oh and THIS WAS NO FUN AT ALL!!! I had an electric single burner for a stove and a microwave on a work table for meals, lots of pizzas ordered in those days and washed dishes in a tupperware container in the tub!! GRRRRRR

anywho... so before we started it was FREEZING in there, no heat runs, not a lot of natural light, only 2 windows, one facing the garage (DUH, we changed it to overlook the backyard's beauty), ugly old white metal cabinets (there were only like 3 or 4 - reminded me of our old apt...shiver at the thought- so it wasn't hard knocking them down, sheesh!) oh and the decor was 1960's HIPPIE, flowered decals, peace love signs in BRIGHT colors, there was an old floor freezer with it's motor attached to it from the basement underneath (it was so heavy my dad SAWED it in half so we could get it out of the house!) and the floor had 8 layers to tear up! BUT........ we did it

I lucked out and got a deal on 26 honey maple solid wood cabinets, my late brother-in-law Larry boxed in my microwave with some birch....

and he did the same to the fridge distributing the weight, I didn't get a pic of the island in the center, but he customized it for me, and it's a great baking center!! He also matched the line of my hutch to the valance above my sink (which I didn't get a good pic either , sun was too bright! We added french doors which I LOVE, I chose Lodestone for the color, kind of bluish-gray and we made an archway to the future dining room....

and now on to the master suite....or I call it 1/2 suite since we added a 1/2 bath upstairs! This room was actually 3 tiny rooms, we had to knock out all the walls and there were 2 slits for windows which we promptly removed and instead put a huge 4ft window at the end of the room for more wonderful views. We added a closet too, since there weren't any in the house at all (these old houses never did, they used armoires instead)...

I had my husband paint the room with a Peruvian Violet base(which he whined and complained about the whole time, said it looked like a pimp's room LOL) then I took Candy Apple Red and made a glaze (1/2 paint to 1/2 water) and dipped a flour sack (walmart sells them) in the glaze (working about a 4ft square at a time). I dabbed and wiped randomly over the violet allowing some of the violet to peek through, using one wet, then dabbed it with a dry sack immediately to catch any drips. It took about 2 hours for me to finish but I loved the result, it has an old world textured look in maroon (i'm going to have my daughter print phrases (dream a little dream...etc) in gold on some of the walls and stamp fleur-di-lis in gold in a few random spots). My husband did a custom floor base with top and bottom shoe molding and the result is....AMAZING, I LOVE OUR ROOM!!

The crawlspace needed an entry so Gary took one of the old bedroom doors, cut it in half, removed the umteen layers of paint and stained it, added brass hinges and a hook trimmed it with the same floor molding, and it looks like it's been there 100 years! I am so happy that he does such nice work (even if he complains about it)!

well it's time to end part 2 of my house renovations......

TO BE CONTINUED.....

COME ON TO MY HOUSE, MY HOUSE......

I thought it was time to show some pics of our house renovations, my husband and I are doing all the work ourselves, his late brother helped with the kitchen cabinets, we also had some family and friends help with the rafters over the kitchen, drywall and floors too. Of course the siding, roof, and bay window we hired out, but most of the work is our own. We designed each room and the landscaping ourselves too! We have been here for 10 years now, and we still have a long way to go before we are finished, but I love our house and what we've done with it so far.

This first pic came from my husband Gary's cousins, who happen to live next door, this was his mother's cousins house (makes him a 3rd cousin) and he actually played here when he was a child (although he doesn't remember it). All 10 of their kids were born in this house, I came from a family of 10 kids myself, makes me feel this was meant to be!

The house here (colorized by our cousins) is back in the old days, I think 30's or 40's. When we purchased it, there was old yellow vinyl siding covering it at that time, the old stucco was mostly gone (although we did retain a patch over the kitchen in our attic crawlspace), the porches were falling down, the wisteria on the front porch had taken it's toll and the roof was ready to tumble! So first we resided & reroofed the place, got a new septic tank, tore down the porches (although the roof is left from the side porch). We've decided we'll put an addition on someday, god willing, for a game room, laundry/pantry, front entrance and an entrance into the basement. The stairs we have going to the basement now are horrible!



We added a RHINO deck on the front (i'm allergic to pressure treated wood so this was the best material for us and it looks great!) and a flower bed, both took some time and many nights using ICY HOT for our sore muscles! Our house is on a little over an acre of land that borders a road and some farm land so we aren't crowded by houses and we have some spectacular views!!! Thus the reason I wanted a new bay window in the front! I was so excited to be able to have my Christmas tree finally seen from outside, and I have always wanted a window seat (i'll have to hit my sister up for a cushion since she sews)!! The living room is in the process of being remodeled now, we are looking at propane fireplaces and hopefully will have this done by the end of the year. TIME AND MONEY PERMITTING!!!

And here is where we are today! We still have shutters that need to be added just to button it all up (along with some trees, shrubs and flowers too!), once we have our addition put on, we will reroof the porch (it will just be a lot longer than the original), and i'll have a new front door to a seperate entrance way, right now you enter what will one day be my dining room! (NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!).

Our view across the street was enhanced one day by this huge rainbow, I could barely get half of it in the pic!

stay tuned for more posts on the rest of the house..........

My Latest Finds

Here are a few of my latest finds:

I just LOVE percolated coffee (nothing tastes better) and chrome is really making a comeback in vintage kitchenware! You'll find this and other great items in my shop at TIAS antique mall http://www.tias.com/stores/momsanteeks/

How about this old leather photo album? It's never been used! This would be a perfect for a scrapbook! I love the lion emblem on the front. You'll find this and many other scrapbooking and photo items in my ETSY shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5049938

Finally on my website http://www.momsantiquesandthings.com/ you'll find this lovely Wedgwood Kutani Crane bone china candlestick. There is only one but this is so pretty, you only need one for a great centerpiece!

Stop on in all three of my sites for more newly listed antiques and collectibles! I just lowered prices on several items in all 3 shops!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!