New House Journal: Living and Dining Rooms and a New Recliner

We had a busy last week with another partial move and then working over the weekend at the new house. This last trip we got my office furniture, most of the Living Room, more basement stuff, guest bedroom and the big room size rugs for the Living Room and Dining Room that I cleaned last weekend. Phone pics ahead; sorry for the less than perfect images.

A little gray on the dresser...

Well, I persuaded Hubbs to move around my boxes and tubs in the storage area at the old house, in hopes of finding my two tubs of Valentine things. When we moved to the smaller house I brought very little "decor" stuff with me, just the basics. So after wading through the Fall and Christmas (there's a ton of it) I gratefully spied the pink and red, and tried to get out of there as soon as possible. If I keep him in the storage room too long it turns into a disagreement. I know... I know ...I'm workin' on organization!

The Entry here isn't large, but it's big enough for my little dresser, a mirror, and a few things that are holiday and seasonal on top. 

I tried not to overdo it, just keep it sweet and simple. 

Little Lefton Cupid Box

My handmade pottery Valentine

Here's a better shot of the entry before Valentine's jumped on it. If you look closely you can see the dresser is a little different color. Actually, the night before we moved I grabbed my can of taupe bedroom wall paint and decided to give it a little gray/taupe wash. I've mentioned that my "antique white" furniture looks really yucky here at this smaller house...just plain 'ol dirty.

So, I just painted some of the taupe/gray on

 and then wiped it down with a wet cloth,  taking most of it off.

The next morning Hubby said, "what did you do to this little dresser?"

I said that it would match the new sofas better with this gray wash,

and I was surprised when he approved and thought it did look better.

So now it blends with the new/old cedar chest and the little accent table. I imagine that this is where most of my "Old White" furniture from the old living room is headed; it will need a wash of gray to work with these sofas. This only took me about half an hour, so that thought isn't too intimidating.

None of those pieces are here at the smaller house. One thing at a time, and this last weekend we packed up all the china and antique dishes from the Dining Room. Gosh, what a big job that was. I'm still not finished, because we ran out of foam and bubble wrap, but we're making some progress and that's what we need to see. The new granite countertops go in to the old house this week. Can't wait to see it!

Wish we'd made the decision to put on granite while we still lived there. (It should have had it when we bought the house, but the previous owners cut corners in the kitchen) But you know how things go, don't want to deal with the mess, or spend the money. Thinking of selling the house has caused us to realize there were some things that just needed to be updated. So now, someone else will benefit from all the work we're doing. I'm OK with it though, I'm letting things go, and realizing that it's not "home" anymore. We're looking forward to the future.

Joining in on these parties this week:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Inspiration Exchange at City Farmhouse

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours

Share Your Cup at Mrs. Olson's

Grey Day at Petite Michelle Louise

Simple and Sweet at Rooted in Thyme

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings

Mod Mix Monday at Mod Vintage Life

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm

The Scoop at Stone Gable

Knick of Time Tuesday

xoxo,

Today's Sponsor

Sweet Harvest Farms

My New, Old Cupboard

I still have boxes sitting around, but last weekend I just had to unpack my ironstone and transferware. Each time I'd look at my cupboard in my new little sitting area, it called my name. So, the bathroom and office could wait. I needed to have some fun with dishes.

I debated on using my red transferware in the upper cabinet since it's close to Valentine's Day, but since I'd never styled my brown, the brown won out. As I've mentioned before, I don't have "sets" of any pattern, although the "Old Britain Castle" by Johnson Brothers is probably my favorite. Some of the plates have chips, but that wouldn't keep me from using them for display...just use a well placed sugar bowl or pitcher and no one's the wiser.

The ceilings here are high, so that gives more room for some displayed items on top... yay. One of my antique laundry baskets that received a whitewash last year is holding my boxwood wreath, an ironstone tureen, and some ironstone platters. I'm thinking "Spring" in here, so an old watering can, some clay pots, and a ivy topiary are squeezed in.

You might not be able to see her, 

but a little birdie is nesting in a clay flower pot.

I still have more brown at the other house that needs to be packed, but I only took what I hoped would fit in the cupboard. It's a little jammed in, but I wanted as much to enjoy as possible.

Some barnyard cows are here too, the brown and white one in the back is Meissen, very old, with a faint crossed swords mark and "Germany" engraved on his side. He/she has a horn busted and shows some wear, and I can't remember where I found it, but I knew he was valuable. He only cost a few dollars.

I'm not sure about the all white mamma and baby, but they are also bisque porcelain, although I can't find any markings. I don't know that I'd ever shown these, they were in my powder room at the other house. This is a Cordon Blue creamer, but an older and more detailed one than most.

No markings on this cutie.

I stole  permanently borrowed these cream and marmalade jars from my husband's crockery collection to include in the cupboard. He collects Civil War era pottery, crocks, and bottles, etc. Actually, he was collecting demi johns before they became so trendy. You'll see those too, soon...on the fireplace hearth, I think. 

So here's the bottom part of the cupboard; it's housing my red transferware for now and more misfit ironstone and brown transferware. I have to get the rest of it together and see how much I can fit in without totally breaking those shelves. I still have a load of green and a few pieces of blue. yikes. 

I don't have room to leave the doors open in here, but a few times a day I peek inside, and smile. I've wanted a dish display cupboard for ages. (Ever since I sold my first antique pie safe about 15 years ago.) Who knew moving to a smaller house would get me one?

Things are coming together over here. It's a little frustrating at times since there are some changes that I would like to make if this house was mine, but I'm having to do my best to camouflage them and work around them. 

I thought about starting off this post by saying how dang cold it is, but you all know that. Hope you're staying warm and inside with a fire and some hot tea or cocoa...I know I am.

joining in with these party people:

Savvy Southern Style

City Farmhouse

Timewashed

Mrs. Olson

From My Front Porch to Yours

Jennifer Rizzo

French Country Cottage

Shabby Art Boutique

The Charm of Home

Stone Gable

Cozy Little House

A Stroll Thru Life

Coastal Charm

love ya bunches,

Today's Sponsor

Bel Monili

Honey, we're Home!

I'm so glad this last week is behind us. It's been non-stop packing and stressing since the middle of December when we decided it was time to take that big step with the move. Just in case you haven't been by here for awhile, we've moved to a smaller lease house so we could start updates on our big house. The move went smoothly, and our younger daughter and her hubby were here to give us some help over the weekend. Amazing what 30-somethings can accomplish when you hand them some cardboard boxes!

We only took less than half of our furniture and "stuff" with us, but we quickly filled up the new "little house". But I have to say I'm loving the coziness and convenience of this smaller place. I wish the rooms were a little bigger, 'cause it's a little tight, but all in all it's super comfortable and I'm having fun putting things together. 

One bonus that I hadn't planned on was having enough room in the eat-in kitchen area to make a small sitting area with some wicker and my baker's rack. It helps ease the withdrawal of leaving my sunporch behind. And once I had things in place, a few things that I hand carried over found their way to the baker's rack.

My galvanized bucket full of paperwhites started blooming the day of the move, making it a sweet little "sign" of blessings to come.

I have a few things that stay on the baker's rack no matter the holiday or season; my wooden seed crate is one of them. Now it's filled with my old garden tools and some pots and seed packets. Hard to imagine, but it will soon be time to think about Spring...really hard, since it was about 5 degrees last night.

The move was a little harder on the kitties, as they cried all night the first few nights; they were ok during the daytime, but at night it was a turf war on the bed. Miss Wrigley kept trying to nudge us out from under the covers so we could go home, where she is queen of the bed. Her little sister is vying for the "top cat" position, although right now they are both hiding behind the headboard of the bed; their go-to spot when the garage door goes up or the door bell rings.

Next on the list to get unpacked is my studio/office. I think I'm going to leave a lot of my many boxes of vintage papers and ephemera, etc. boxed up. I just don't want to think about unpacking all of it to turn around and repack it again once we have permanent plans. I may change my mind later, when I'm feeling an urge to create something...

I can't wait to show you more of this room and how it's coming together. I still haven't tackled all the many boxes of ironstone or transferware, but I'm excited to get around to playing in the old pie safe. You won't recognize most of this furniture in here because it was downstairs out of "camera range", which is code for bad lighting and bad decorating.

I'll be back next week with The Marketplace and Be Inspired,

 hope to see you then.

joining in with:

French Country Cottage
Mod Vintage Life
Coastal Charm
Stone Gable
Dwellings

Stay warm, 

and may all your kitties be happy kitties...

xoxo,

p.s. I missed you all this last week!

Be Inspired# 173

I knew this week would be crazy and it has been. Last minute switcheroos on coffee table and accent tables have had me busy doing some painting instead of finishing packing. Amazing how furniture grows from the showroom floor by the time it gets to your home! But things are coming together. Some of you were amazed that I could get things packed in a few short weeks. The answer is that we are only taking a little of our furniture and "stuff" over to the new little house. The rest will go into storage or be part of a sale. I have several months of packing left to do once we move out. So no, I'm not super woman...

I've had white cupboards on the brain lately: they are always a favorite with all of us in the pottery, transferware, and ironstone crowd. One of my favorite bloggers, Kathleen, has a wonderful example from last week's link party. Here are the top visited links from last week:

Faded Charm
Adding to My Collection

Meg from Oliver and Rust shared some decorating tips from

The Gianetti book, Patina Style

And Rita from Panopoly gave us great side-by-side views
of how she took her sunroom from Christmas to "Winter".

Thanks so much, gals for always coming to the party!

Party Guidelines

Please have an individual link back to Common Ground within your post. I'd love to feature you. This is just part of the Party Etiquette.

Please remember to turn off word verification. I've tried leaving comments that didn't go through. I'm sure others have tried also.

Please no direct links to Etsy or Advertising.

Link up to three of your current posts.

Take a minute to visit a few of the other links.

Please be a follower of Common Ground.

Thank you to all of you who come over each week to link up to the party, I may not get to leave a comment, but I try to visit each of your posts. You are a never ending source of inspiration to me and others, so just know how much I appreciate each one of you!

This will be my last post until after the move. I'm not sure, but hopefully you'll hear from me by next weekend. If not, don't worry. We're working on a new Internet plan which is a little complicated. I'll have a few pics of the new place to share by then.

See you on the other side...

xoxo,

If you want a jump on Spring, 

be sure and visit Today's Sponsor, 

French Bleu Vintage.

Dee has a French Estate Sale in progress.  

Monogram

Last year I bought these wonderful wooden monogrammed letters for my sis and the girls for Christmas. They turned out so pretty; all scrolly and interesting. They loved them, but I didn't order one for myself because our initials are sort of boring... D-O-D (could be worse, it could be DUD). But after seeing so many people use these in different ways last year, I decided I'd have to go ahead.

I haven't been able to decorate or change things up after putting away the Christmas decor since everything is on it's way into a box. But I did have a sunny day because of all the blinding white stuff that's outside...that made for a great photo shoot day. I had to take a picture of something...

So I put together a little New Year vignette on the Hallway Sideboard. I don't know if I'll have room for this piece at the new "little house". My "vignette" days may be severely hampered.

But one thing I know for sure is all my sheep and lambies will be grazing around 

and that my scrolly chalkboard will be leaning against a wall somewhere.

We're supposed to get the keys on Friday. We've had so much crumby weather that we're hoping that the cleanup and painting has been done over there; if not we'll have to wait. But we're praying for better weather, so we're hoping it all goes as scheduled.

Just thought I'd throw in a few pics from last year this time...

I've decided that I have way too much stuff stored in my office. I've had to go through and decide what is necessary and what is not. It's ridiculous. It's a good thing this move will be in stages, since I'm not making much headway. I told my husband that if I didn't finish this up soon that he had my permission to turn me in to Hoarders Anonymous. OK, back to work...

I'll be joining in on these fabulouso parties this week:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Inspiration Gallery at City Farmhouse
Blissful Whites at Timewashed
DIY By Design
House Party at No Minimalist Here
Inspiration Gallery at Craftberry Bush
Fab Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo
Shabby Art Boutique

xoxo,

Today's Sponsor
Eleanor Brown Boutique