A 1920s Charmer

This is the story of our first home.

(All photos are from the original real estate listing.)

We purchased the home in Fall 2010 after many months of searching.  I don't think we were all that picky and we were definitely open to committing to some minor renovations, but for some reason, nothing came through for us.  We must have made about 6 or 7 offers and every. single. one. fell through.  I think this house was just patiently waiting for us and our paths were destined to collide.

Here are a few pics of what the home looked like when we first moved in.

It was almost like a large peach threw up over the entire house.  Peach paint EVERYWHERE (moldings, walls, light switch plates  etc.) and peach carpet.  My husband and I do not have a strong affinity for peach, but the home felt very warm, cozy, and inviting from the moment we stepped in.   You could say it was love at first sight.

After our initial offer was refused, the seller approached us about a week later just as we were ready to sign on the dotted line for another home we liked (but not nearly as much).

It's not large by any stretch, but that's okay for us.  We do have quite a bit of work ahead of us (as evidenced by every single picture in this post) to make it more our style, but it's ours and we love it.

"And the rest," as they say, "is history."

WHOOOooooo says you can have too many gold accessories?

Not this gal.

Isn't he cute?  I scooped him up from Target's dollar bin about 2 years ago.  He was originally decked out in more owl-appropriate colors - black head & wings, white chest, white eyes with black pupils - but I wanted more for him.... So I spray painted him using Rustoleum mettalic spray paint.

It's the brass color, for those who wanted to know.

LOVE

Scenes from the weekend....

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After conquering my mountain of laundry, I experimented with removing the wallpaper in my kitchen.  A little google research led me to a source that explained the different types of wallpaper and the removal processes for each.  Luckily, my wallpaper is paper-backed vinyl, which means I can peel off the decorative vinyl layer, moisten the paper layer using warm water, and scrape away the glue residue.

This 12" section from the chair rail to the floor took me about 15 minutes to complete....not too bad, but considering I have a whole kitchen to strip, I need to come up with more efficient methods/tools.  Any ideas?

SCORE!: Thrift Store Buffet

This little buffet came from a thrift store I frequent near my job. It wasn't very pretty with it's horrible laminate top and extremely dirty hardware. But it's looks weren't what lured me - the massive amount of storage it could provide did.

This thing was priced at a mere $12.99! Can you believe it? It's a full 58.5 inches long by 16 inches wide 

and has an interior storage space with an additional shelf at the top. I just knew at that price, I could make some good come of an ugly situation.

It sat in my basement workshop for months before I actually got around to working on it. I loosely followed Centsational Girl's directions for painting furniture and primed, painted, and poly'd it to within an inch of it's life. I also used Brasso to clean up those grungy looking cabinet pulls.  And here's the finished product...

I'm actually quite proud, as this is my first furniture painting project and I couldn't be happier with the results. The color is Schoolhouse Slate by Martha Stewart.  I used Zinsser oil-based primer and Polyacrylic in gloss to round out the facelift.

Tell me what you think.  Check back soon to see how she's styled and how we're using her and for pics not in a dark and dreary basement.

P.S. There's also a shocking surprise behind those doors!