Front porch before & after

Here's a tiny little post that shows the difference a little paint makes. The doors before were very grungy and had kids crayon markings on them. They just needed a little face lift.

Halloween decor

Hi! Thanks for stoppin' by! I wanna' take a break from showing you the work on my home. I wanna' show you my Halloween decor! I'm so excited to show you!

LETS GUT IT!

Ok. Got the craft show info out of the way. Now back to the journey that made a house into our home. You saw the pictures of what we saw when we looked at this house. It was so funny, our realtor said, "I wouldn't buy this house". The whole time I was looking at her, I was thinking, "we could save her!" I would walk through the house and list everything it needed and my husband would say "Yep, I can do that, and that, AND that!"
We left that house and went to look at three or four other properties. They were so plain!  Not "us" that's for sure! All the way home all we could talk about was "the" house. We talked about the beautiful land it sits on! It's covered in big, old, oak trees! There's ten acres! The front of the house is covered in our favorite material for a home- ROCK! We were sooooo excited about that! We decided to make an offer! I couldn't sleep that night thinking how I would decorate her and place each and every piece of furniture we own! Lol!
Well for a month and a half we jumped through lots of hoops! It was a Fannie Mae foreclosure mind you. You know, LOTS of red tape. Oh well! It was worth it! She became ours officially in June.
We started gutting her the very day we closed! We ripped out all the sheet rock from floor up to four feet. And almost all the interior studs. They were rotted out! Ripped out both bathrooms,the kitchen, ALL the plumbing, wiring, and all the light fixtures!
Here we go! No turning back now!!

Apple Butter Makin Days

Whew! Had a whirlwind of a weekend! And then played catch up yesterday. My poor home had been a little neglected. Spent all last week getting ready for the craft show. And then spent ALL weekend in Mt Vernon at Apple Butter Makin' Days. If you live in the area you must put that on your calender for next year! That is the best time! Lots of great people, lots to do for the kids, and so many different kinds of crafts to look at. Oh! And the food-YUM!
I know after my last post of our home, you are probably waiting to see what we did next to our wonderful diamond in the rough! But I had to take time to tell you about my weekend. My next post will be about our home and our journey into making it beautiful. I promise! :)
So back to the craft show commentary. We sold lots of gorgeous pieces. Brought home only THREE! That was great! I'll put those pieces in a store here in Joplin. It's so funny, when I create a beautiful piece of furniture, it's like I have this connection to it. I know I'm creating it for my business, to make a living. But my heart gets all wrapped up in it. So when people buy my pieces, I tell them the process, show them all the details, tell them how glad I am they are taking "her" home. I'm sure they all think, "Ok lady your a little over the top! It's a piece of furniture for Pete's sake!" LOL!! But that's me! I can't help myself. They are all created with LOVE!!  

Our journey

Let me take you on a really fun, adventerous journey.Well the fun came much later, when the decortating started. Until then it was just alot of hard, tedious work! My husband and I purchased a Fannie Mae foreclosure in June of this year. The house was empty for TWO YEARS! Poor thing! She had lots of water damage and mold. But lucky for us that's what my husband used to do for a living. Water and mold remeidiation!Wait a minute, I said our house was empty? Not exactly! Our poor house also had bats, a snake, mice, rats, and lots of spiders living here. We finally cleared all the critters out so that humans could actually move in!
Here's how it all started. My husband got a new job and we thought he was going to be transferred to a bigger city and after awhile, to our amusement, we landed in our old stomping grounds! We were pretty excited! So I got the fun job of house hunting! I scanned every site I could find on the World Wide Web for HOURS a day. Finally I ran across this diamond in the rough! When I saw it I literally gasped outloud! I looked at the stats, I looked at the pictures. I looked at the pictures again. I looked at my husband and said "I found her!!" I called the realtor the next morning and sat up a time to look at her! And this is what we saw...

Craft show season

Well I had a beautiful, stable in a timeworn barn as my booth for Barnyard Days this last weekend. Sometimes people would come into my booth and instead of looking at my furniture and crafts they were looking at the beautiful aged barn boards and old manger and pine shavings on the floor. Who can blame them? I was salivating all weekend, wishing that gorgeous little gem was on my farm!
It was a really cold and rainy weekend! But I talked to several vendors and handed out lots of fliers and business cards to customers as well. So it was worth sitting out in the cold to get my name out there! That's how you play this game! Get out there rain or shine ! Talk to all the wonderful people you can meet! Start a following! I love it! Customers and vendors become one big happy family with one thing in common. We love the thrill of the hunt!
Come out and see me this weekend in Mt Vernon at Applebutter Makin' Days. I'll be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Fall...

Well, fall is here and I am loving it! I do hate to admit it though, because I profess myself to be a summer kind-of-girl. With all the beautful flowers, green grass and trees, and all the gorgeous birds happily singing, the lakes, rivers and streams glistening in that glorious sunshine! "What's not to like!?"

 

This time of year is full of all those warm colors, cool, crisp mornings and the anticipation of the upcoming holidays!

 

So, of course it's time to go to the barn and dig out those crates marked "Fall." It's so exciting! I haven't seen these decorations for a whole year. It's like seeing old friends again. Lol!I know I sound a little crazy, but as you get to know me you will learn, I truly am obssessed with creating what I think are beautiful surroundings for my family and friends.