WAYS TO TURN YOUR HOUSE INTO A VINTAGE HOME

This is a three part series on ways to add vintage looks to your home, including inexpensive options for an existing home or the whole shebang when you are building a new house.

There was the greatest house up for auction. I believe I've even mentioned it before.  It was old. I love old. It had heavy brass doorknobs, a stained glass window, a huge stair post and worn, dark wood floors that creaked. A good creak, as in 'I have a story to tell' kind of creak. Sigh.

It was not meant to be. Hubby is afraid of old. I see beauty and character. He sees work, chipping paint, old plumbing, dollar signs; money pit kind of dollar signs. And shoot, he was right, it did need a lot of upkeep. But it was so beautiful...Boooooo.

When we built our house, I really wanted to add in the character that I saw in historic homes. We didn't get to add in as much as I would have liked, character is expensive, but here are some things that we added as we built that I thought would give a house a more vintage feel. Also listed are some things I have seen other people do that are fairly inexpensive alternatives if you are not building a new home and just want to add some character:

DOORKNOBS

Those blasted heavy brass doorknobs started it all. The ones I saw in that house. I never paid attention until then, now I had to find awesome doorknobs! I searched everywhere online and had true vintage hardware all picked out on different sites when I realized that it was too hard to find all the working parts. They'd look great, but you couldn't really turn them or lock the door.  Bummer. I'm sure you can find everything you need if you had the time to search continually, but I didn't have the patience or time to keep looking. Hubby and I found a site, www.houseofantiquehardware.com that made reproductions of historic pieces (I have no affiliation with this site, just an honest review). They had doorknobs, window sashes, hardware, you name it, and it looked really old! There's just something about a doorknob with a backplate or a skeleton key that makes my heart sing.  I know, I have issues. We ended up ordering the glass doorknobs and french handled ones. 

We've been happy with how they look, however, three doors that have the glass knobs won't actually turn the interior parts like they are supposed to, so it's basically for looks, which means I could have gotten the true antique ones, ha!.  I have heard many complaints similar to this regarding many glass knobs, not just from this site, so be careful if you are considering them. If you just need 'dummy' knobs like for closet doors that you don't need to turn, these are awesome.  I've also found some really nice smaller ones at Hobby Lobby if you just need stationary ones. The french handled doorknobs below work perfectly and we have been really happy with them (also from www.houseofantiquehardware.com). 

Pantry doorknob from Hobby Lobby

If you really don't want to replace all your doorknobs, because, really, unless you're building a new house, that's a pretty big deal, I think it's cute to just have a vintage knob for your main bathroom door, a pantry (our pantry door is above), for drawers on a vanity or even use them in unexpected places. I've seen people use them as curtain rod finials, or hung on the wall as a hanger for pictures like this: 

Pic from www.atreelinedstreet.blogspot.com. Click pic for tutorial to go to their site on how to hang knobs directly on the wall.

How cute is that?

ROD IRON...(COUNTRY VERSION)

WROUGHT IRON (CITY FOLKS) GRATES FOR AIR VENTS or DECORATIVE WALL HANGINGS

I've been very pleased with these grates for our vents! They remind me so much of the ones in my grandmother MomB's house. They also have these at www.houseofantiquehardware.com. There are all sorts of actual antique sizes on Ebay, but I was concerned because many of them showed rust and who knows what. Breathing and air is kind of important, so we went with new.

I think that's a fuzzball at the bottom of the grate. I'm blaming that on Ellie.

This is also something I think would look good if you just chose one prominent place to put one, if you weren't building a new house and didn't want to replace all your vents. (Like if you had a large floor vent in your family room or other common area.)  If you like the look but don't feel like changing out your floor vents is worth the hassle and expense, I also could picture large reproduction ones hanging on a wall with a wreath on top...like the iron gates, etc. you can find at Hobby Lobby. OR, if you want a super cheap project that looks like this for very little effort, check out these designs hanging on the wall...these are painted rubber door mats! This was posted on www.salvagedior.com. I thought this was such a neat idea, I may try this out in my family room. 

Photo courtesy of www.salvagedior.com. For full tutorial, click the photo.

They were only $8-$10 each, painted and sanded to look a little distressed. I would've never known they weren't metal grates just by looking at them.

This is all for today, but stay tuned! The remaining part of the series will be posted Friday and Sunday. Thanks for reading!

Hugs,

Elizabeth

Y'all,  I would never leave fuzzballs laying around. You didn't hear it from me, but me thinks Elizabeth doesn't always like to vacuum.

Bless her heart.

Party With Your Red Sleeves On - A Tale of Two Brothers

I did something I've never done last weekend. I left Little B (my 20 yr old) in charge of The Bear (10) overnight. For two nights. As in....the whole weekend. 

I know! I can't believe it either!

Little B is fully capable of taking care of the Bear, don't get me wrong, but when The Bear gets creative with his mischievousness, you just don't know what to expect. Even a seasoned veteran can be taken over with a surprise attack. When I came home, the house was not burned to the ground, it wasn't a wreck and no one was tied up. Hooray! However, there were some oddities, of course...

1) There was a pair of shirt sleeves laying on the kitchen island. Not a full shirt, just long sleeves. It seems The Bear decided he wanted to wear just sleeves one day instead of the whole shirt, so he cut them off.   The visual in my mind I'm sure cannot compare to the reality of a shirtless boy appearing from his bedroom wearing only red long sleeves, announcing to his brother that he is ready for the day. I do not remember doing this kind of thing to my parents...or my brother.

2) There was a pot of red Kool-Aid on the stove. Apparently, before Little B realized what was going on, The Bear was boiling a pot of Kool-Aid and insisted on serving him a glass of hot deliciousness.       

No red flags there!

This was actually an attempt to hide the fact that he really made the Kool-Aid to use as a dye for his hair, since I won't allow him to otherwise- this is the fourth or so attempt, but the first with hot Kool-Aid. For some reason, he thought boiling it would make it a more potent dye. Thankfully, he let the Kool-Aid cool down before pouring it on his head. And bonus points for him, he did it outside. I did notice a slight auburn tone to his hair when I came home.  An extra ten points for creativity. Ten points to Little B for just going with the flow and accepting a glass of hot Kool-Aid like a boss.

3) Little B and The Bear accompanied my friend to the store to buy her son an airsoft gun - that looked like a machine gun. While driving down the road, The Bear decides it's a great idea to wave the machine gun out the car window...At A Policeman.

All bonus points deducted.

4) The most surprising one of all- The second night, Little B had a couple of friends over. No worries, I adore his friends and was fine with this. However, The Bear, who is usually made to follow a fairly strict bedtime policy, had been allowed to stay up way too late the first night. So by Saturday night, he was really tired. He told Little B's friends that they were playing music way too loud, didn't they know it was TEN O'CLOCK and we had neighbors who might be bothered by this! (We live on 7 acres...the neighbors are not even close). I don't even know who that was. Bonus points to the little old man who entered my Bear's body for a few minutes.

So, all in all, my red-sleeved, machine gun waving, redheaded child had a great weekend with his hot Kool-Aid drinking, loud music playing, late-nighter brother while I had a relaxing weekend celebrating with their dad on his birthday.

And they actually ended up positive on the bonus scale. Last night they hugged goodnight without me making them. What planet am I on? Or was this secret code? A celebration of getting away with their wild weekend undiscovered?

I'm just going with all is well in the world. Bonus points for everyone, wear some red sleeves, drink the Kool-Aid (or dye your hair), crank the music and have a great weekend!

Elizabeth finds the sleeves amusing. I do not.

Love,

Elizabeth

The Top Six Things That Destroy A Marriage - A Letter From A Divorce Mediator

Today I'm guest posting from Her View From Home.  This topic is a little off the beaten path from my usual, but sometimes a post is begging to get out and I'm just the typist :). Maybe someone somewhere needs to hear this one.

'Wife, remember when you’d get all dressed up and you’d show up at his work with those cookies you made him? Husband, you’d compliment her and tell her she was the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen? Yeah, that.
Oh, wait, you were just dating then…

Don’t quit dating...'

Come join me over at Her View From Home for the list of marriage destroyers and what to do instead.

Changing an Ugly Picture to a Large Chalkboard

When we built our house and moved a year and a half ago, we had blank walls for a long time. We decided to have some people over and I really wanted something, anything, on the walls at this point. I hadn't brought most of our wall decor with us, because the color scheme didn't match, or to be honest, it was about 20+ years old and possibly from my college days. (Do you remember Jeff Foxworthy saying, 'Hey, if that's there on the side of the road after midnight, it's in my living room!') Haha. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but you get the drift...(and if we're being honest, occasionally I've seen some cute stuff on the side of the road!).

One thing I did bring with us was a large framed picture.  I didn't like the picture itself but I still liked the frame.  

I was wandering around the house wondering what to do with it when I thought I'd really love to put a big chalkboard in the kitchen area.  I had read somewhere about using chalkboard paint on glass...Hmmm.  So off to Lowe's I went.  I got a can of chalkboard spray paint (read on the label, it will say whether it will stick to glass, some won't). I covered the frame part of the picture with newspaper and painted the glass, spraying on three light coats. Bam!  It worked! I had a large chalkboard!

If you're not into painting, I heard that Hobby Lobby has sheets of chalkboard paper.  I bet that would work too if it's large enough for your frame. Before writing on the board, you have to prime it by taking the side of a piece of chalk and going over the entire board. Erase, then it's ready! If you skip this step, most of the time the words or drawings on your board will not fully erase.  I also learned that using a chalkboard pen became permanent even after I had primed the board.  Ugh. I had to paint the whole thing over, so be warned if you plan to use those, it could be there forever.

It really helps when you have a hubby who can draw on the chalkboard...if it was left to me, there'd be a stickman drawn there. He is so talented, it's has been wonderful to have a place to showcase his drawings in the house.  I just hate to erase any of them. 

He did the above drawing by covering the board with chalk and erasing until he had the image of a moose.

I know! If I tried that it would look like some sort of alien. 

We've had the best time drawing seasonal pictures (he draws, I watch) and letting the kids draw on it occasionally. Occasionally only, because with boys the drawing always end up being embellished with words like, 'poo' or something like that. If you don't have boys, trust me on this one. Boys are obsessed with bathroom words, which do not need to be near the kitchen.

I love to repurpose things, especially for just the cost of spray paint, plus it's one less blank wall! Tell me your repurposing ideas! I need more!

Meanwhile in other news, you guys didn't hear it from me, but I'm pretty sure Elizabeth was seen going through Wendy's drive-thru yesterday.  I don't think that No. 1 combo will fit in the little blue box. Love her heart.

Take care!

Elizabeth

Bear's Bathroom and the Clawfoot Tub Confession

I had to confess something to the Bear, because it was the right thing to do. I told a Big Fat Lie to him and kept it going for almost two years.

I know.

Mother of the Year.  

It's about his tub.  You guys, I really wanted a clawfoot tub in the house.  It's just so vintage and charming and I love them. Since I have a bad back and I'm clumsy, the tub couldn't go in my bathroom, I'd end up on the floor trying to get out of the thing for sure. Our oldest son flat out refused to bathe in a clawfoot tub being all of 6'2 and kind of grown and manly and all. That left Bear no option. He had to have the clawfoot tub. He was 8 at the time and really didn't seem to care about design decisions too much. Score!

So herein lies the problem. I didn't buy a new clawfoot tub, it was OLD and GROSS.  Big time old and gross, like from a horror movie gross. A friend of mine was demolishing his old abandoned apartment building and offered to sell me a tub out of it. Unfortunately, Bear was with me when I went to see it.  He was understandably horrified and flat out refused to consider it.  Actually, I was a little horrified too, but I could see the good bones. Good bones matter! Eight year olds cannot see bones. They can see black crud. He didn't care that I'd gone to church half my life next door and our puppet ministry team used to have practice in the apartment where the tub was. He didn't see how awesome it would be to preserve something from Mom's past and recycle instead of buying new.  I wish I had a 'Before' picture but it looked a lot like this one:

Photo from Bathrenovationhq.com

So we left and Bear said, 'I'm NOT taking a bath in that tub EVER.' I secretly paid my friend for the tub and hoped for the best. I'd never had a tub refinished before so I had no idea what I was in for. Then the lie began.

'NOOOO, of course I'd never buy that disgusting tub for you, honey bun! Only a new tub for you!'

I felt pretty guilty about it but I'm pretty sure my Mom used to occasionally lie to me, so it's a generational thing.

I just blamed lying to my child on my mother? I really can't recall any specific lie that she told me. I think I've just thrown my morals out the window for a clawfoot tub...

I was thrilled when I found a guy about an hour away to refinish the tub. He came and picked it up, reglazed it and I even got to match the outside paint color to the bathroom cabinet color.  He mixed some sort of epoxy with regular Sherwin Williams paint. I really like how it turned out. I was concerned that it would chip (he even left me some extra paint - that I've already misplaced), so far after almost two years, there's a couple of tiny chips but nothing that bothers me. The price was reasonable and after pricing new tubs that are the same size/look, we saved a couple hundred dollars going this route, plus we were able to customize the color. Someone had tried to convince me that the old timey clawfoot tubs wouldn't hold heat and Bear would hate it, but we've not had that problem. Another bonus, it's surprisingly easier to clean than my other tubs because soap doesn't seem to leave a film on it like a regular tub.

He was suspicious at first though.  'Are you SURE this isn't that nasty tub from that house?'

'Baby, absolutely not. No, siree. Brand new.'

I know, I'm horrible. I confess, my mother did not make me say this.

Thankfully he also likes vintage looking things like me (unless they're gross). He liked that the tub was deep and he had a handheld shower, exposed plumbing and that his bathroom was a little different.

Bear's closet door.

Bear was born on the 13th, so it's our lucky number...

So, if you're wondering about Bear's reaction to finding out the truth, he was none too happy.  He was NEVER...BATHING...AGAIN. 

And then....he magically forgot.

I felt SO relieved to get that off my shoulders. Shew.

My version of necessities for a clawfoot tub.  Bear in no way approved this message. Have you guys tried those LUSH bath bombs???? Wowsa. Yes.

So I feel extra guilty leaving the story here, where the moral is recycle things from your past and lie to your children, so I must say, recycle but don't lie to your children.

Or blame it on your mother.

But if you need to put a gross clawfoot tub in their bathroom, I totally understand.

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Thanks for reading! I really appreciate all of you who support the writing of this blog. You're the best!

The Junk Food Junkie Diaries Entry 2, A Recipe and Some Dark Days

IF YOU MISSED Entry One, find it here.

Day 7:

The Junkie is feeling surprisingly like a human. Maybe even feeling amazing! Has decided to be a grown up, just in this eating/exercise department. No more crying, no more pity parties and drinking stress away with Mt. Dew.  

Still loves Mt. Dew.

Has exercised every day and eaten 'clean' in the past week. (Learned that means more than the food was just washed). Ok, the bleu cheese dressing and a fried green tomato smothered in cheese was a stretch (mmm, there's a secret love affair with cheese going on), but otherwise every meal has been whole, non-processed foods, no preservatives, chemicals, etc..

OKAYYYYYYY.  There was one night of pizza and popcorn because it was the weekend, and that's reason enough.  So, keeping' it real, by end of week 1, there were two cheat meals.  Junkie feels no remorse.

The rollerblades have been banned to the basement. No child has been duct-taped anywhere. There is still the desire to do this, however, when the ten year old provides commentary during the workouts, or when tucking in at bedtime, when the kid says, 'Hey, Mom! Your leg looks smaller! Oh, nope, yeah, still just as fat.'

Kid is lucky to be alive. 

The house is clean, the music is playing, Junkie is twirling around like that lady in the Sound of Music and the family has been fed. Even likes them again. Has lost four pounds.  Proof that if a Junkie can do it, so can you. (Or if you are one of those fortunate people who have already have this down because of this fabulous metabolism or already follow this kind of lifestyle, Junkie will put you in the 'Friend I Like But Cannot Sit Next To In A Bathing Suit' category).  You know who you are.

And remember the Beach Body participant, Carolyn?  

Still an overachiever. 

So, Junkie will end this series for now (with updates here and there) and close out with her favorite breakfast recipe.  Because she writes it a week ahead and she already knows that week 2 brings on dark days.  DARK days, my friends.  You know the days,  where you get busy and don't put exercise first so you go to bed at night wondering where the day went.  The days when you attend a woman's conference for the whole weekend and somehow end Saturday night with your face in a delicious bowl of creme du brûlée mousse.  OH MY WORD. DELICIOUS. But she's hanging in there because Monday always comes back around and Monday allows for a fresh start. Week 3 will be awesome! Never give up!

But oh, those Saturday nights can be dark, my friends.   

On to the breakfast:

21 DAY FIX - BROCCOLI CHEESE EGG MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS

• 12 eggs
• Veggies of your choice, I used broccoli, sundried tomatoes and artichokes (diced peppers and onions work, chopped spinach, whatever you have, like an omelet).  There's no right or wrong amount, I believe I used about two green containers full or between 2-3 cups.  If you're splurging a little, crumbled bacon or turkey bacon is good to add as well.
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of salt, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• One cup of shredded cheddar cheese (optional) (A must in Junkie's mind)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray 12 cup muffin tin GENEROUSLY.  These muffins will stick in your muffin pan so bad you might just give up and throw the whole pan away. Not that that has ever happened over here.  
3. Saute or steam broccoli until soft and chop sundried tomatoes and artichokes into bite size pieces.
4. Mix all veggies in a large bowl with cheese.  
5. In a separate bowl, whisk the 12 eggs as if you are making scrambled eggs. Pour over veggie mixture and stir.  
6. Fill each muffin tin 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.
7. Enjoy!  These lasted around three days in the refrigerator and can be frozen.  Great to make ahead for an on the go breakfast or snack.

For 21 Day Fix: Three muffins = One and 1/2 red, 1/2 green, 1 blue

Pin for later!

Low carb too!