Berries, what are your thoughts?

Box of berry vines that I stripped from my kitchen.,..

Thank you all for your kind and thoughtful comments. I think I came across depressed in that post and I did not mean to. I am just frustrated with life and my house, but definitely not down.

I am going to do with a lot of you suggested and start offering some things for sale each week here on my blog. I can declutter the house and put it in the basement for now and then pull things to sell each week over the winter. And what ever is left by late Spring, will go to GW or a yardsale. As for my Pfaltzgraff, I'm going to do what my best friend suggested, just clear it all out of my kitchen and store it in the basement for a bit. That way I can see if I miss it or not before I actually sell it. I figure it will take me at least a week to get it all out of the kitchen, but it will be worth it(I hope).

I have stripped the house of the Christmas decor and have it almost all put away, and I got two boxes worth to sell from it all too. My kitchen is a disaster at the moment, but that is part of the process of redoing things. I took down all the berry vines I had in there. And I had them everywhere! Tops of the cupboards, on the hanging rack in the middle of the room, on the shelves, on top the hutch, and on the chandelier. I always thought the berries softened the hard lines of things, but I guess I'm just tired of them, and boy were they dusty! So what are your thoughts on berry vines?

I'm really starting to get excited about the kitchen again. Decluttering and getting the Pfaltzgraff out is going to make a huge difference. I think I may paint all the cupboards too. I really want a farmhouse look with all old and useful things. I'm just not sure of the color scheme yet. I love my red kitchen chairs, so those will stay. But I think I will take the darker prim colors out. But should I go cream or white with the cupboards? Or maybe even red on the bottom cupboards. All the trim work in the room is white, the walls are builder beige, and the floor is a horrible cream tile. I don't think I'm up for painting all the doors and trim work on top of the painting the cupboards, but white woodwork is farmhouse style, right? I think I can redo the whole kitchen with a new style just for the price of a gallon of paint. I have enough accessories in the basement to fill in the blanks. I just wish I could find the right pics on line for inspiration. I have found a few blogs, but they aren't quite what I am going for. I guess I will have to look through some old magazines.

Oh, and I totally agree that it can be hard to look at blogs sometimes, it can make you feel bad about your own home, BTDT. I just have to remember that everyone's situation in life is different and we are all at different points in our lives. Plus, we as bloggers, tend to put the sunny side of life on our blogs, we share a clean house, happy times, and great finds. No one wants to read or look at ugly pictures or depressing times. But we all go through them in our real lives.

The work ahead is a lot, but I can't wait for the results and hopefully simpliflying my home will simplifly my life as well. A New Year, a new me, a new home interior, a new outlook on things, and tomorrow I will share another "NEW" thing that we have been waiting 10 weeks for. We are picking it up today at 4, I'm nervous and excited.

Until tomorrow, I hope you all have a Safe and Happy New Year's Eve!!!

Love,

Tiff

House Blah...

Maybe it's because I'm here all day long every day, but I'm feeling a bit "house blah". Don't get me wrong, I love my home, it's just feeling not quite right at the moment. Like it is never picked up and always cluttered. I feel like it needs a makeover, maybe not so prim, maybe the dark colors are weighing it down. I'm thinking more cottagey might be a nice change, but I have no idea where to begin. AND, one of my new year's resolutions is not to buy anything for myself for the year(I'm avoiding goodwill too), so that would make changing things ultra hard. OH, and we gave up with changing my craft room to a bedroom, after half way through, we realized there was no place to put it all, so now I'm in the process of putting it all back(and organizing it at the same time). We are going to rework his current bedroom somehow and give him a bit more privacy from his brother.

I guess I'm just tired of things ruling my life. I want things more simple. Maybe it's not just a house change I want, but a lifestyle change. I hate the thought of the kids returning to school after Christmas break, I enjoy them home. I want to homeschool, but I am a big chicken and I'm not sure where to start, and failing scares me. I want to do more family things, but chores and what not seem to take over. I know that is my decision, but that is how the things are controlling me. Why have collections of things? What purpose do they truly serve if they are just sitting there?

I know I'm rambling a bit and I don't me to sound down, because I'm not, I'm just realizing that I want to change things, I'm just not sure where or how to begin. I keep dreaming about us living on an old(or new) farm with some acreage, homeschooling, and having a little store of antiques to sell. And hubby would have closer job(or something out of the house) so he wouldn't have to commute 2.5 hours each way to work. I am just not a neighborhood type person. There is nothing wrong with subdivisions, I just don't feel like I fit into them. Problem is, we bought our house at the top of the market, then it crashed, and now it isn't worth anywhere near what we paid, so we can't get out of it. I just really wish hubby didn't have to work so far away, it's draining for him, but with the mortgage, he doesn't have much choice.

Ok, so changing the decor is not going to help things, is it? But I can get rid of things and simplify, that could help with the rhythm of the home. And praying, that can be and is done daily. Hopefully something more local will become available for hubby.

I did check to see how Replacements Ltd bought things, and I would have to ship it all to them on my own dime. There is no way that is going to happen. So I'm going to try locally. And yes, I think it will probably have to go in small lots.

I'm not sure why I'm sharing this all with you, I guess I just need to write things down and maybe some of you know how or what I'm feeling. And for those of you who simplified your life and your home, was it hard? I mean, how did you start and was it difficult to let material things go? How did you choose what to keep? And afterward, were you happier with your home?

I know I seem like I am all over the place in this post, I'm just trying to sort things out in my head. Maybe it's the New year approaching and I'm a person who thrives on change, I'm not sure, I just know that I need some sort of lifestyle change, and I think simple would be better.

Ok, I'm done, no more rambling for right now, I have work to do. And please, I would love some words of wisdom or inspiration.

Love,

Tiff

Let it SNOW!!!!(and decisions)

Those of you on the East coast know what I'm talking about, we are getting Snow! And it not just snow(which I love) but wind too(which I don't care for), so it's quite wicked outside. But it makes for perfect conditions inside to get some work done. Yesterday I cleaned and organized the basement playroom. Today I'm working on reorganizing and cleaning the mudroom closet. I am trying to make it more efficient for all the snowboots and snowsuits. And next I'm going to tackle my craft room which is about to become my 10yr old son's bedroom. I'm not looking forward to the work and trying to figure out where to put it all, but I know he will love his new room and I will have fun decorating it like an old fashioned boy's bedroom(I'm not changing the paint or stenciling).

I'm on a clean out the house kick right now. I'm tired of the clutter and lack of room to put things away properly. And I'm a bit tired of the prim, at least in the kitchen. I think I may lean more towards "farmhouse" in that room. Does anyone have any goods pics or blogs for that type of style? I have an idea in my head, I just would love some inspiration.

Which leads me to my next BIG decision, I'm going to sell my entire collection of Pfaltzgraff Folk Art dishes. I have well over 400, maybe 500 pieces, and it is just monopolizing my kitchen. I would like to sell it in one lot and not individually, so I'm not quite sure what ask for it, but the ReplacementsLtd value of it all is probably close to 8,000. I have a lot of rare items and the majority of my pieces are not the China made ones. I think it will just make my kitchen easier, because right now I have cupboards filled with the dishes, but I don't use most of them.

Here are two pics from Christmas morning. The first one is Mason enjoying an orange from his stocking.

And here is the pic of the kids coming down the stairs. I take this shot every year.
Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Day 24, Merry Christmas Eve...

Day 24, and it's Christmas Eve already! I hope you all are snuggled safely in your homes and enjoying your family. I'm sitting in the chair next to the tree, the fire is going, the boys are playing(and tracking Santa on Norad), and it's almost time for everyone to go to bed(except mommy and daddy).

Here is the outside of our house. We kept it simple with just some things on the porch and garland and lights on the fence. And luckily we have made it through without any lights going out, yay!

It's near impossible for me to take a night pic of the lights, but it does look pretty in person.
I got a surprise early gift from hubby this afternoon. It's a Santa and reindeer for my laundry room. He thinks it's ugly, but I love it :)
Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!! I'll post later tomorrow with the kid jammie pic and a post about our morning tradition.

Tiff

Day 23, Family Room and More....

Day 23, already. I lost my pace of the daily posting, sorry, I blame it on the trip :) We did arrive safely home at 2 in the morning on Monday. We all survived, just a bit tired. Mason did remarkably well, though he did have a lot of stranger anxiety while we were there, but who can blame him. And he isn't too fond of going in his car seat anymore, but hopefully that will pass soon.

Finally, I'm sharing pics of the rest of the house with you all. Here is the family room, sorry about the not so great pics, my camera is showing its age.

Here is the main tree. It's decorated pretty simply, just gingerbread, dried oranges, a few felt ornaments, wood candy canes, some big wood snowflakes, and faux popcorn and cranberry strings.

I got this shelf at GW for $10. It's more functional right now than pretty, but I love the lines of it.
This is the chair and ottoman that my mom gave me. I covered the ottoman and the seat cushion in new fabric, but I haven't tackled the rest of the chair yet.
A paint by number that I did two years ago.
This is the other end of the family room, looking toward the front of the house.

On this smaller tree, I did fabric crows and faux fruit.

This is the small desk that my mom brought up for me, she bought it in Kansas when I was just a baby.

And while my parents were visiting, my dad bought me this old glass lamp for $10! He rewired it for me and I hung it over the desk.
My hoosier.
And here is my foyer.




And the downstairs half bath. I painted the window trim, the mirror, and the sink stand with Old Village paint's Pewter color.


And here is a peak at my youngest daughter's birthday present(her birthday is Christmas day). I took a GW find and spraypainted it silver(love the silver spray paint BTW) and added 50 of those new squinkies things. I had to modify the inside a bit for it to work with them, but now does.
She collects gumball machines, so I know she will love it.
A pic of the 4 youngest in W.V.And last, Mason, playing with a baby doll in W.V.

I'll try to get on tomorrow and share the outside of the house.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Lots of Love,

Tiff

Day 18, Oglebay Mansion...

Day 18, and yes I know, I'm late, but it was a busy day. I'll share with you the Olgebay Mansion that is the centerpoint of the resort. I must say I was a bit disappointed in it, a lot of it had been turned into spaces to accommadate weddings and conferences and such. And most of it was not authentic, but it was still fun to go through. Although, some of the Christmas decor was a little less than to be desired.

Here is the outside of the main house..

And here is the "guest house"...
All the following pics are of the main house, and I didn't bother to take any of the modernized parts...


















Ok, I don't know what the people who decorated this room were thinking, but REALLY???? It was behind tacky!!!
And just plain bad.
It looked worse in person...
We also toured the festival of lights this evening and the kids had a snowboard lesson. We are headed home tomorrow, so I will try to get post 19 in by the morning.

Tiff