We Found The House!!

I am trying to keep my feet on the ground....trying not to get too excited....We found our HOME. We made an offer. It was accepted. Here is a picture is the front of it. The couple standing on the left are out Realtors. The man standing in the center is Mr. Comforts of Home. You can click on the picture to enlarge. And if you enlarge the picture you can get a sneak peak at the staircase inside the foyer.


Now here is what is going on. It is a foreclosure. It is bank owned. There are all kinds of addendums that have to be signed. Today we had the house inspector there. We will get his report this weekend. If there are no major issues we proceed.

Come back on Monday and I will show pictures of the inside. But, you have to keep in mind that this is a foreclosure and the previous owners removed chandeliers, refrigerators, door knobs...etc. They left some dents in the walls. All cosmetic. It all can be fixed.

Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me! Have a great weekend everyone!
Welcome Home,
Penny

House Number 5 In the Search for The Perfect Home

Here is the 5th house in our search for "MY" perfect home. I chose to look at this one because it had a "finished" basement that I thought I could use as a studio and had a three car garage so hubbie would have a work shop.



The curb appeal was not so great on this one. There were several door entrances on the front of the house and you were not really sure which one to go into!





The living room is nice. It had hardwood floors and a pretty stone fireplace. Again, though the mantel is strange.



The kitchen was a good size. It even had a grill in the island. But it had old looking grey tiles for the counter top. Still, that is easily changed out. Some of the appliances were new stainless steel, but the dishwasher was older and white.

Below is the finished basement. It was really a man cave....Filled with collections of beer cans and such. It would have made a good studio though, once I painted the dark paneling and got rid of the wallpaper border.

Here is the main reason this was a NO. This is the back of the house. The front has 3 car garage. The back had a 2 car carport. Plus do you see how part of the roof is just above ground level? It was very odd. I just didn't like the whole look of the outside.

I know these homes all seem different. I am actually just looking for homes in my price range in the areas we want to live. Then I narrow it down by beds and baths. Whether there is room for a home office for hubbie and a studio for me. Anything that fits those criteria, I look at.

I have some more lined up to see in the next few days. This is fun isn't it? I am glad you are along for the ride with me.

p.s. thanks for all of the yard sale tips! If I decide to have one it will be in the beginning of September. I might just go the easy route as some of you have suggested and donate...

Welcome Home,

Penny

Any Tips on Having A Yard Sale?

So part of moving is packing up your belongings. But as you start packing, you realize that some things have been hidden in the closets for 4 years. So you start thinking about having a yard sale.

I have a lot of books that teach me how to do something with the yard sale finds I have, but nothing about how to have my own yard sale.

Do you have any suggestions? I would love to hear about yard sales you have had or attended that you thought were great. I would love to hear about yards sales that did it all wrong too....

Welcome Home,

Penny

Still Hunting For That Perfect House

House Number 4...

This one looked great from the outside. Love the red door. It had a nice front porch too. It was in a nice neighborhood, with nice sized lots.

Inside, it was very dark in most of the rooms. It was nestled in amongst a lot of trees which kept the sun out. This is the formal living room below. I am not a big fan of carpet, since I have allergies to dust mites as well as mold. This would have to come out.


It was a strange house inside. There was a lot of small rooms. Funny thing - even though it had a formal living room, it only had an eat in kitchen. The eat-in area was small and not enough room for my red hutch and farmhouse table.

Here is the den or family room. I liked the built in book cases, but the mantel looks funny. It looks like they bought a ready made mantel and just slapped it on the brick. That can be replaced though.

Because of all of the small chopped up rooms, this was not the one. We have gone into homes before and torn down walls and reconfigured rooms. This time we would rather just deal with cosmetic changes like painting, flooring etc. We wouldn't mind updating a bath or kitchen, but we just don't want to move walls at this point.

A few people mentioned they thought I might be getting stressed or worried. I'm not. We don't have to be out of here until Nov 1st. And I actually love house hunting! I am so glad you are all coming along with me on this great adventure!

Welcome Home,

Penny

Humming Right Along

This morning I was outside taking pictures of this mosaic table for my Lavender Hill Studio Blog. I was really concentrating and looking through the camera lens. I wanted to capture some of the Knock Out Roses in the picture with the table. When suddenly I felt a light wind near my ear and a humming noise.


Little Miss Hummingbird was letting me know she wanted a drink from the feeder and to get out of her way! So I stepped back a couple of feet and she landed and started to eat.

After looking around for a while, she flew away and let me get back to work.

Please click on the pictures to enlarge. This hummingbird is so dainty. When you enlarge the pictures you can see the subtle color of her gossamer wings and her beautiful face.

Welcome Home,

Penny

We Interupt This House Search

Sometimes you just have to enjoy the whimsical things in life. As you know I have been house hunting for about a week without success. I know the house I am looking for is out there, so I am not stressed at all.

Today Mr Comforts of Home and I took a day off from house hunting and went shopping. He fixes me breakfast every Sunday morning and thought he might need a bacon press.

Isn't this cute? I just love it.

I will be back house hunting on Monday. I hope everyone enjoys a little whimsy in their lives..

Welcome Home,

Penny

I Love Farmhouses

I have been showing you houses this past week that I have looked at with my realtor. Here are some homes I have NOT looked at.

I love old Farmhouses. But since my husband is the one that would have to crawl around in the unfinished dirt basement to rewire and replumb the house I haven't added any of these to my list of potential homes.

Look at this great porch.....

This one has a great porch too...

So does this one!

Wouldn't it be great to find a new "old farmhouse"? One with a porch all the way across the front? One that didn't need rewiring or replumbing? One with wide molding and wood floors? That's what I am looking for.

Have a great weekend!!

Welcome Home,

Penny

House Number 3

House number 3. Now in this picture it looks pretty good. This is from the realtor website. You can see that it was late fall when this was taken. It seems like a sunny location.


Here is the kitchen. I have never seen an island this big. This house was quite dated, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with time and money. The fact that this was near the top of our price range, makes a major kitchen redo not something that would happen for a while.

Here is the living room below. Doesn't it look bright and sunny? All of these pictures were taken last fall, by the realtor when the leaves were off the trees.

Well, in reality the house was really dark. There were so many trees on the lot, that no sunlight came into the house. It had a basement that was partially finished. This house has been empty for over a year. The house smelled like mildew. The yard was small and very steep.

We are passing on this one too. There is always tomorrow...

Welcome Home,

Penny

Another home. Is it the one?

House number two on the list of searching. This house has great curb appeal. The brick on the front however does not continue to the sides and back. They are white vinyl siding.






The kitchen was beautiful. Granite counters, stainless steel appliances, cherry cabinets. Hardwood floors throughout.



The great room had a fireplace and was decorated beautifully. Now here, I have to mention staging. This house was staged perfectly. Nothing was out of place. Doesn't this look like a model home? People actually lived here. So, staging really works. It looks wonderful.

The downside to this one was, it was in a subdivision, where EVERY house almost looked the same. They were right next to each other too. It was a block off a 6 lane highway and the traffic noise could be heard outside. OH! And there was no place for my mosaic studio.

So as beautiful as this house was. It was not for us. I am actually looking for a home that is still in the country...not the city. It has to have space for my husbands home office and my mosaic studio. We would like at least 1/2 an acre. We have no problem fixing up a house. It does not have to be "designer" perfect. In fact I would love to be able to fix a home up to suit us.

Let's see what the next house brings. Are you getting tired of house hunting yet?

Welcome Home,

Penny

House Hunting

Here we go! The first house I looked at was on a small lake. I grew up on a lake in Michigan and loved it. I have always wanted to live on a lake again. From the outside this house looked perfect.


The view of the lake from the front deck was great too. A little trimming of the tree branches and you would have a wonderful view.



This is the view from the dock. This is a very small lake. No motor boats are allowed. Canoes, kayaks, row boats and paddle boats are all that you see. I like that. No noise...

The lake was called Mirror Lake and from the picture above you can see why. It does reflect the shoreline like a mirror.

Now for the bad part. I don't have pictures to show you of inside, but it was really small. I could have dealt with that, but it smelled so bad! Mold and mildew....I have allergies to mold. So this one is not where my next home will be.
Welcome Home,
Penny

I've Been Keeping A Secret

Yes, I have been keeping a secret. A HUGE secret. For the past 10 months our house has been for sale. It sold about a month ago and the closing was today.

We are moving a little closer to where my husband works. He travels a few days a week to another area of NC. We hope to find a home that saves him some travel time. We are still going to be near the mountains.

So, all of the projects I told you about including this one, here at the beginning of the year, didn't get started. It is hard to paint a piece of furniture when your home can be shown to a perspective buyer any minute.

Luckily the buyers are letting us stay here for a few months. That will give us time to find a home and move. And I just might get some of my projects done before we move.

Want to come house hunting with me? I thought I would take my camera along and take some pictures of the houses I am looking at to share with all of you. In fact, if you don't mind, I would like to share the whole experience with you all.

Welcome Home,

Penny

Fabulously French

I have a new favorite beverage. It is Lorina Sparkling French Lemonade. It is actually from France and the bottles it comes is has a French Chateau and French printing raised on the glass. It has a wire and cork type top to keep the fizz in. I love the flavors it comes in and I really LOVE the bottles. You can click on the pictures to enlarge for detail.



A while back I purchased this vintage French wine carrier. Paired with the French bottles, it makes the perfect flower container. Below I have used red and yellow Gerbera Daisies

If your style is more French Scandinavian instead of French Country, you could add all white flowers and set it on a burlap tablecloth, like I did below.

Or, you could use this vintage French wine carrier as it was intended....:-)

I love my French Wine carrier and the fabulously French Sparking Lemonade...

Edited to add - I purchased the French lemonade at the Fresh Market, which is a gourmet food store. You can also click on the Lorina link in the first paragraph to find out more.

Welcome Home,

Penny

A Day on the Water

The last couple of days we have had my husbands sister and her husband visiting. We had a wonderful time, eating, antiquing and eating some more! On their last day here, yesterday we drove a couple of hours away to Tennessee and rented a boat for the day.

The lake is called Watagua. You can click on the link to find out more about it. It is part of the TVA and of the 104 miles of shoreline only 47 can be built on. The rest is public land including the Cherokee National Forest.

Here we are leaving the marina. Please click on the pictures to enlarge - it is so beautiful!


Look how calm the lake is. I love the mountains surrounding the lake. As you can see, there is very little boat traffic on this lake.


Here is another view behind us...still no other boats. We felt like we had the lake to ourselves for the day.







Here we are....hubbie and me.

This is one of the few homes on the lake. Because most of the shoreline is public, not private land and the terrain is so steep, there are not very many homes to spoil the beautiful views.

We did see a few boats...here is a sail boat.

We brought along a picnic and ate on the boat. It was a lovely day. I grew up living on a lake in Michigan and really miss living on the water. There is just something so relaxing about being on the water....

Welcome Home,

Penny

A Generous Heart

I love GERANIUMS. So when Karen from A Scrapebook of Inspiration had a giveaway a while back offering to paint miniature paintings of our favorite flowers, I chose GERANIUMS.


I received my package from Karen in the mail yesterday and just LOVE my GERANIUM painting.


Here is a close up. I can't wait to get it framed.


Karen is the most talented woman. She is an amazing artist. Paint, graphics, photography and writing whimsical fanciful posts are just a few art forms she has mastered. Stop in and visit her. You will be drawn into a land of whimsy that is so charming. Thank you Karen! I love my painting. Karen also has an ETSY shop where she is selling more of these beautiful GERANIUM paintings.
Welcome Home,
Penny

Vintage Feed Sack Pillows

Remember this wonderful vibrant vintage feed sack I found at a local antique fair. I posted about it here. I told you I was going to make pillows out of it.



Well, sadly, I decided to wash it first to try to get rid of the few stains on it. So I washed it in cold water, gentle cycle with Woolite and Oxiclean. That was a HUGE mistake. The Oxiclean faded the colors. The red turned to orange...the ocean blue to a pale blue. There were streaks and runs on much of it.

Luckily, I was able to salvage some of the feed sack. Instead of 4 pillows, I made 2. The colors are a lot more faded than I had hoped.


Here are the two pillows....

I still love them...faded and all. But I learned a lesson on washing vintage fabric.

Welcome Home,

Penny

Waterside Cottages

It's here!! My signed copy of Waterside Cottages, by Barbara Jacksier, with photography by Dan Mayers.

Barbara Jacksier was the editor of Romantic Country magazine (among others) until 2007, when she decided to take some time off and write books. This is her first one published.

Now, even thought I don't live on the water NOW, I grew up on a lake in Michigan and some day I hope to live on a lake again. Until then, I will sit down and dream while looking through this beautiful book.

If you would like your owned signed book, you can purchase it here at Waterside Styles, Barbara's website. The book can also be purchased at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.

If you haven't visited Barbara's blog, you need too. It is filled with wonderful garden, travel and recipe posts and so much more. Click here to visit her blog.
Welcome Home,
Penny

Black Checks...

Remember about the vintage black and cream checked cookbook I blogged about here? I just wanted to show you how it looks in my home. Look under the white rooster.... Click on any picture to enlarge...

See how good it looks with my black and white checked plates and the smaller rooster plates?

It looks great with the tassel on the door knob too! See the cookbook to the far right of the bookcase with the black and cream border and chef rabbit in the center? The artist that created the cover of the cookbook is our own Kijsa from Kari and Kijsa. Funny thing is I bought the cookbook in my local town long before I knew Kari and Kijsa through their blog!

I think the black and white vintage cookbook is happy to be "home". Don't you think so too?

Welcome Home,

Penny