Another Fixer-Upper

 
 
 

One of the projects that I have  missed blogging about is our new fixer-upper!   In May, for Mother's Day Tommy surprised   me with another  Victorian house.  I will never get done with our house and yet he decided we need a 2nd home??  Crazy??? Yes, but I love it!  And it is a dollhouse!  I am just an antique child and this is my ultimate toy.   I hope I get more done on it next year.  Here is a look at what I have done so far!

 I wish I had some before pictures.  This is the parlor/music room now decorated for Christmas.  In this room I had to removed horrible wallpaper.  It looked like it had been applied with rubber cement. Big gloppy globs that took a month to remove.  The walls were sanded and primed. They are now ready for paint....but I have wavered on color choice.  This is the only floor in the house that I kept.  I did sand and stain it a darker color.  The Baby Grand and the harp were Christmas gifts from the music teacher I work with in the violin program at school! The Victrola was a birthday gift from my Hubby.  I made the couch, ottoman, and pug pillow.  This is really the only room with furniture set up right now.

 I have worked a little in the master bedroom, also.  The whole house had to be primed and sanded.  The wall colors were outrageous- hot pink in here- purple, lime green, etc...  I also removed flooring like the shag carpet in this room!  The shag was so tall the furniture was hidden!!  The brass bed came from Angel's (also from Hubby)  and the quilt was made by a good friend who has worked with me on the Porch Tour. She also made sheets and pillows!  I made the bed skirt and the throw pillow.  I found the tiny suitcase and end table at a thrift store.  I will install hardwood floors and paint after my electrician runs the wires for lighting!  So you can see this will be a labor of love....just like our house  is.....never ending!

 First floor will be parlor and kitchen, second floor master and boy's bedroom, third floor bathroom, sewing room and girl's room,  and the attic in the turret!

Some of the trim had fallen off so I will have to replace that.  I have touched up the paint on the outside and added doorknobs!  I love my dollhouse!  He found it at a Community yard sale and when I saw it I cried!!

Christmas Decorating 2013

 

This year the Santas are on the dining room table. The one in the middle was a gift last year from my friend who headed up the Victorian Porch Tour.

 

 

The rest of the room is much the same.  (I was so glad to be able to look back on the blog to save time!)

In the parlor we have a new tree!  After fighting the monster tree for 12 years I gave up. This is  a 7 foot prelit tree that took less than an hour to put up. The old one took a whole day! It is on a short round table to give it a little more height.

 

 

 

 

The Nativity scene is on a table we got by accident at Angel's this year.  In spite of it's shaky start, it does look like it belongs in this house!

In the kitchen all of the elves got contained in this cabinet this year, which moved across the room to make a place for a project piece...

Earlier this year we bought 3 of these hutches at a yard sale.  The first one was a little smaller. It went straight to the booth with no changes and sold quickly.  The second one had many issues.  It was missing drawers and very scratched up.  It had a major makeover.  It is a very heavy 2-piece dresser and hutch...the back however was cardboard.  Hubby took that off and added real beadboard.  Then I painted the whole thing.  Brown beadboard and top of the dresser, tanish-gray for the rest of it.  And a brown burlap curtain where the missing drawers were.  It turned out nice but it was a lot of work! That one just sold this week after sitting in the booth 2 months.

 

This one we put in the kitchen until I could get to it...of course that was a mistake because I began to use it.  There is a lot of storage in that big boy and it is now full!  I would like to put beadboard on the back.... But I don't really want to sell it now.....

 

The only other change this year is in the hall... Again I had a piece that was a project.  An orphan hutch that I just stuck on top of the hall table and it turned on to be a pretty good fit.  It made setting up the village much easier....may keep this piece for a while, too!

Why I Miss My Blog.....

I have used my blog for years as a reference to decorate for Christmas!
My memory is not what it used to be.
Scrapbooking is expensive and costs more.
...and a million other reasons.....

   I did not intend to stop blogging.  First I had a virus on my computer so I was reading blogs on the ipad.  I was not able to coordinate the camera with the ipad and typing was awkward.  Then I was out of the habit when I got my laptop back.  And so on.  So I am going to try again. 

  I am still spending much time at Angel's Antiques.  My hubby spends even more time there.  He has an actual job there.  We have 5 booths and share a couple more,  I have mine, he has 3, and youngest son has one.  The Boy has a booth that sells grills.  He buys returns or dented grills and sells them at a great price.  He has to build the grills, fix and replace parts. It is a good way for a high school senior to schedule his working hours around his social life....

My next post will be all about Christmas....then I will get back on track in 2014!