Sunday, April 10, 2011

Weekend Update

Happy Sunday everyone! Did you spend a lot of time this weekend watching the Masters? I can't help but think about how different it looks there than it does outside my window. Oh well. We'll get there. It was a gorgeous weekend here in Vermont. The temps FINALLY topped 50 degrees, climbing to 62 today! We had plenty of sunshine as well. After spending a weekend moving, Matt and I were itching to get out and enjoy the weather.

Saturday we did some skiing.



You know it's sunny when you see something like this waiting in the lift line :)



We climbed to the top of the fire tower (at the top of the resort) to check out the views.



I hesitated a bit looking at the ladder and thinking about climbing in my ski boots.



It was worth it - the views were spectacular. We counted at least 6 other ski resorts in view! Wow.













Saturday night cousin and some other friends came over for cocktail hour to see the house. We got a good glimpse of how the house would feel with a 4 year old wandering around - we'll have to figure something out with all these stairs :) Wish I had a video!

Sunday we switched gears (hehe...literally) to spring and went for a bike ride. There's an awesome bike path less than half a mile from our new house so we wanted to check it out.



We also did some (desperately needed) work in our new yard :) It has three things in abundance.

Trees. There are 20 in the backyard alone. I can only imagine what fall will be like.





When you have 20 trees in your backyard, you also get acorns. We filled 6 large trash bags with acorns and leaves and finished about half the yard.



Sticks. Again, there are 20 trees.





One thing it doesn't have (yet) is grass....Hm. We'll have to wait and see.

We did manage to uncover some early signs of spring :)



xo!

Friday, April 8, 2011

The Kitchen

If you thought the rest of the rest of the house was dated, just wait until you see this. Our kitchen still has the original cabinetry from the 50s - it's metal. This was a state of the art kitchen in its prime. It features rounded and glass front cabinets, a built in wall oven, electric range, and even a pull out mixer stand!

Check it out.







These photos were taken when the previous owner still lived here, but we haven't changed a thing so far so that is how it still looks....

That oven works!! I used it Wednesday night (but I had to slide my casserole in there length-wise as it didn't fit sideways)! The dials light up when you turn it on.

Now. Let me show you a picture of my dream kitchen (Sorry - I can't remember where I found this online).



Scroll back up to the real kitchen. Then look at my dream kitchen. I'd say they are about as different as you can get...

SO - I decided if we were going to buy this house, the kitchen would be the first thing to go.

One day during the purchase prcoess we were in with our builder and home inspector. Guess what? They both LOVED the kitchen. They couldn't figure out why we wanted to replace it! I was flabbergasted. They both told us how vintage it was, in great condition, yadda yadda. Then they mentioned that it was worth some money and if we absolutely wanted to tear it out then we should at least contact the local salvage store to see if they'd be interested.

The phrase "worth some money" of course made me interested. I did some research online and came across this website.

Turns out these cabinets are super popular! Who would've thought? Ours are Geneva, which was one of the nicest brands in the 50s. I emailed pics of our kitchen to the forum moderator and she priced them for me.

I then emailed the local salvage store, who told me they'd give me half that amount. Haha. Matt (who hates going through the hassle of selling anything) told me that I had to take it. So we did! They're coming to remove them in a few weeks. Whew! Here I thought we'd have to pay to have them removed and turns out we can actually make money on them...

I'm going to try and talk them into taking our "vintage" toilets as well :)

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Interior House Tour - "Before"

Hello friends! I have to apologize for the delay in pictures...I've had lots of requests but moving has really thrown me for a loop this time! We are loving the house and neighborhood so far, but we have a long way to go. We're going to be starting some major renovations on the kitchen/den so I've had to make a lot of decisions (let's face it - I'm not good at that so it's a hard process for me).

Anyway, here are some of the before pics. If there was a prize for authentic 1950s decor, I think we'd win. I apologize for the poor quality/angles, but I took them in a hurry when we were here looking and right before we moved in.

Here is what you see when you walk in the front door. You walk up about 5 steps (it's a tri-level, have I mentioned that?) to a main foyer. You can't see where I'm standing, but it's a small lower foyer with a slate floor and a coat closet.



If you walk up the stairs and turn around, this is what it looks like. Sorry, this pic is from when the previous owner was here...we don't have a grandfather clock :)



OK imagine you're back at the front door. Instead of heading up the stairs, you turn to the left as if you're walking to the garage (2 car - heaven for a VT winter). You see what I'm calling the "blue room." Again, this pic is from when the previous owner was here.



The blue room comes with a low ceiling and this lovely wallpaper.



One other bonus the blue room offers are doors like this. Aren't they pretty?



I have big plans for this room, but unfortunately they will have to be in Phase II of renovations (not sure when Phase II will start...2 years? 5?).

I won't show you the garage...it's pretty typical. Concrete floor. OH but it is painted purple. OK if you're in the blue room, you can access the full basement. Here it is (with the previous owner's stuff).

It's big.

It has a bathroom that I'll never use.

OK - pretend we walked back up to the main foyer. If you turn to your right, you see the den.



It's huge. It's in Phase I. Yipee! We are putting down hardwood floors (wish that carpet was covering up some lovely hardwoods but it's not). We are replacing that very inefficient bay window with a flat one. We're ripping off that wallpaper and taking down that mirror. I think we might keep the drapes as they match the ones in the dining room, what do you think?

If you turn to the left, you enter the dining room.



Same plan for this room as the den. So, the kitchen is off the dining room. I'm saving it for a separate post because I have a story to tell you about it.

Heading back to the main foyer (the hub of the house I guess), if you turn left instead of right, you head upstairs. This is a pic with the previous owner's furniture again.



You've already seen the black and pink themed bath that's off this hall. There are 2 other bedrooms that look like this.

Then the master bedroom.



Yes, it's a tri-level, so the windows are all high and short. I have plans for them, just wait and see :)

The master has an amazing walk-in closet - I can't believe it!



As well as a bathroom.



I didn't get a picture, but it has a shower stall and a blue toilet with a padded seat and multi-colored swirled lid. Matt won't use it so he's cramping my space over in the black and pink bath :) Something has to be done to remedy the situation...Although, I must say the psychedelic wallpaper is growing on me.

One last picture - the backyard! This isn't our furniture and the snow is all gone now, but you get the idea. It needs to be fenced for the nug.



OK that's it for now! I'll be back soon with the kitchen and some in progress moving pics - I promise!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

A sneak peak because I know you just can't wait...

I'm sure you have all been holding your breath in anticipation of seeing the black and pink bath in all her glory. I have a video I took a few weeks ago when we were looking at the house...so...

Here ya go.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

It's Ours!

It's official. We received the keys and this bottle of maple syrup today at the closing (a thank-you from the mortgage company).



We are the new proud owners of this 1950 something beauty :)

There are lots of things I love about our new house. I'll share my top 3:

1. LOCATION - I fell in love with our neighborhood long before we moved to Vermont. It's close to downtown but still has a quiet neighborhood feeling. It offers miles and miles of running surrounded by beautiful houses. It reminds me the most of Virginia of any neighborhood I've seen in VT.

2. SPACE - With over 2,000 square feet, the house has plenty of room for storage and living space! Willow also has a big backyard for running around.

3. POTENTIAL - We have so many big plans for this house. I mean big big. We met with the builder for the second time today. We have a long way to go, but we're excited to get started!

I'll get around to posting a full tour of pictures for you at some point. It might take me a while because I spent most of the day doing this and I have a lot more to accomplish :)



What's that room in the background you might ask? Why that is our black and pink themed bathroom of course.

We're officially living in chaos. Our rental house is mostly packed up, and we've barely scratched the surface of our new place. It'll be months and months before we're settled again and it's going to drive me nutty.

I'll leave you with a sneak peak of Matt in our new foyer. Do you spy a chandelier that needs to be replaced?

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

VT Weather



Yep. It's still cold here. We're supposed to move on Saturday. Looks like it'll be fun :)

My mom sent me this quote and I think it most definitely applies to spring in VT as even the weathermen can't make up their minds about what the temp will be each day.

"In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kind of weather inside of twenty-four hours." MARK TWAIN

Closing tomorrow - fingers crossed!!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Weekend Update

Hello friends - Happy Monday! I hope you had a nice weekend. Ours was busy and I took very few pictures, but I'll update you anyway.

We spent a lot of time watching the NCAA tournament. I stayed up until midnight Thursday night to watch my DUKE team lose to the Arizona Wildcats. I can't blame the guys for lack of effort, but Arizona just lit it up the second half - it seemed like they didn't miss a shot or a rebound for all of those 20 minutes. I guess we will have to be satisfied with only one Championship in a row this go around :)

My fingers are crossed now that Kyrie decides to stick around next year...



We watched more basketball with friends on Friday night and at home on Saturday. Things didn't turn around until yesterday when I had the chance to see my alma mater (for grad school - according to Lizzie I can call it that) VCU win and UNC go down to Kentucky! Woo Hoo! It's terrible that seeing UNC lose makes me feel better but it does. Guess I should have had more school pride when filling out that bracket.

We also spent lots of time packing - our house is starting to look like it did when we moved in. Meg - does this make you feel better?



It was sunny all weekend, but cold. One good thing about the cold is that the snow will stick around for a while so we'll be skiing well into the spring. The bad thing about the cold is, well, it's cold. The weather people are calling for a "warm up" this week into the 40s. Those cute spring tops I bought in Atlanta will have to wait a few more weeks...

It might be officially spring but you wouldn't be able to tell up in the mountains.



We skinned up to this cute cabin on Saturday.



Apparently I really need to clean the lens on my iphone camera.



Back to packing...fingers crossed - we're supposed to close Wednesday!