Library On The Landing Makeover {Vintage Sofa}

I had already gotten a light blue tufted vintage sofa from Darin.  About a year ago.  It took some serious brute force to get it up over the banister and into the upstairs bedroom of our Airbnb, but we got it in there.  And then I promptly regretting not keeping it for my own house.  It was LIGHT BLUE!  VINTAGE!  A TUFTED SOFA!  What was I thinking???  But after all the effort of getting it into it's present spot... I knew the males on the property would have my head if I asked them to try to get it back out. (Click HERE to see free sofa #1 in our Airbnb).

And then I got the following picture texted to me a couple weeks ago from my buddy Darin (Michigan Ave Antiques)." Kammy, two free couches.  Come and get them ASAP if you want them." 

Ohmagoodnessgracioussakesalive.

 I skidaddled over there in a jiffy. 

  Apparently I took forty two seconds too long for Darin and I got there with no one to help.  I drug Shana out of her office a block away at Edwards Jones and together we hefted it into my truck.  May I suggest Shana if you ever need colorful commentary and entertainment while you move something. Shana, maybe you should keep a coat at the office just in case this scenario needs to repeat itself!

I had no idea where I was going to put it when I said yes to the lovely beast, but as I drove the one mile home it became clear in my head that it belonged in the "library on the landing" at the top of the stairs.

Shall we have a look-see at the photo that was on Zillow of this space while it was in foreclosure?

Nice.  Blank slates are a homeowner's dream. 

It's had several different looks over the six years we've lived here... 

I'm not even going to show you the first couple arrangements because they're so embarrassing.

This picture was one of my rather "hodge podge arrangements" from a few years back:

And more recently, as in two weeks ago, it looked like this:

Now there's nothing wrong with it's latest look... but I was ready for something new. Plus, those chairs would go perfect in my master bedroom!

And now, behold today:

The rug I found whole home in Iowa for Christmas at Home Goods, which was pretty much my only expense in this makeover ($59 for a 5x7) and then these wall hangings which I painted and had bought once at a yard sale for a buck a piece.

I can call this the library because the white book shelf is full of books, as are the wood cubbies you see on the walls peaking out of the left corner of this next photo:

Last month I shared the white cabinet's makeover HERE.  And I've already moved it out of the master bedroom, which is what I did it for!

My beautiful kitties make it look extra purrfect.

I really screwed up the coloring on this next photo, but I wanted to share the awesome view from this window of the backyard!  Notice the windmill in the back! :) (Click HERE to read my post on our windmill). 

Thanks for visiting! 

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Repurposing: Pillars to Closet Doors?! Rustic and Truly Unique!

Nine exterior doors.  Nine doors to come in from outside and leave shoes in front of.  Nine doors to confuse the Fed Ex man.  Nine doors to let cold air in. Nine doors to lock before bed. Nine doors to the outside world from one house is just too many stinkin' doors!!!!

So we decided to eliminate this one when we resided the house.  Not only was it an unnecessary door, but it would sure be a great place for a closet to store my vacuum cleaner.  Before the door went bye-bye, we carefully took down the trim off since it was exactly what we needed when we cut the hole in the wall for a doorway in the family room!  (See that HERE.  Seriously, check it out.  One of my favorite little renos!)

Then, the house got resided and it got a lovely piece of nasty plywood to cover the opening... and that was it.  Plywood.  For THREE YEARS.  The poor thing.

If you look through the foyer, you can see those funky green and gray flowered curtains.  That's what I hung up to hide the plywood wall and to use for my closet "doors".  They just hung there on a tension rod and looked sorta dorky, while I waited for a closet to happen.  The closet would be a good winter project, hubby said.  But each winter that went by... the closet sat waiting....

And then it happened.  I can't remember the amount of persuading it took, but a piece of drywall finally got cut this winter and hung!  (And the opening insulated, too!)

Now let's back up three years again....  to these pillars!  Remember these?

We took off the aluminum siding and lo and behold there were old, half rotted, square pillars with wood shutter inserts under that siding!  My unbelievable dad, takes them down, and puts the huge things in the back of us pick up truck, drives 500 miles back to his home in Iowa and builds replicas of them!  I told him NOT to trash the old pieces.  There had to be SOME way to repurpose those somewhere!!!  (See the pillar blog post here)

Enter closet!! 

But wait!  They even got use in between!  As a wedding backdrop for some friends' wedding!

How beautiful are they behind the head table??

Okay let's jump ahead now to April of 2018.  Dad is back.  HE'S BACK!

And the gears in his brain are turning, folks! 

We checked out the sliding barn door hardware and about passed out in the Lowes aisle over the pricetag.  We decided we could improvise with pulley wheels and steel poles.

The toughest steel rods we bought in Lowes, while still being narrow enough to fit in the pulley, was not strong enough for our heavy "doors" and bowed in the middle.  So it was off to Alro Steel for something more sturdy.

And then I got my "shiplap" \ display shelf above....

And voila! All I had to do was paint and -  Done!  Glass jugs line the shelf, the chippy doors got a fresh coat of white paint, while keeping their texture, and the shutters are green again - to match the shutters you find on the new pillars outside, and on the exterior of the house.  A few people thought I was nuts for painting them green, but I love how it ties in everything on the property.

Have a great day everyone, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Be creative! :)

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Inside Gidley Station {Before and Afters}

Welcome to Gidley Station!

Gidley Station is the place next to us, on our property.  It started out as a railroad station in the 1800's, then became a general store, and then in the 1920's was moved a half mile down the road to it's present location and turned into living quarters, and then in 2017 it began it's latest venture as an Airbnb!  It has seen many guests from around the country and even globe in it's last nine months and it's been pretty exciting (and surprising!) for us!

It needed some serious updating before we could begin accepting guests, however!

This blog post is going to be a HUGE smattering of Before and Afters (I think which is which should be obvious - haha!) and not a whole lot of dialogue.  Just enjoy the photos! :)  I will try to put a "before" photo and follow it with an "after", with some "durings" scattered throughout.  Enjoy!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

basement stairs area by the front door in the kitchen:

Meanwhile below me....

The boys put their hours in ripping out carpet.  These awful steps had two layers!  The carpet layers from Lowes who came to put in the new stuff were not thrilled about these angles.  Like not. at all.

This is the first sight when you open the front door.  To the left is the kitchen, straight ahead, the little stairway leads to the bathroom, which you then have to walk through to get to the master bedroom.  The little balcony is off the master bedroom. 

Upstairs master bedroom:

(UPDATE - Got a new bedspread and a SWEET vintage tufted sofa 

in master bedroom, shown in next few pictures!)

Bedroom downstairs (previously used as a family room)

Forgot to get a picture of this before we started installing the new carpet, so this will have to do:

The beds don't fit perfectly in the space, but it's much easier to use them this way, rather than have them as bunks!  

The bathroom was probably the only part of the house that had any updates done within the last fifty years.  But rust had done a number on the toilet, so we got a new one, and lightened up the walls and beadboard ceiling with light gray and white.

Just a little rust......

It's a little tight, and it's kind of an eclectic hodge podge of furniture... but this is the living room:

So on the other side of this wall.... is an attached garage.  

Now listen up folks.  An attached garage is just plain stupid if there's no way to get to it from inside the house!

So what is a person to do?  Make one!  Thanks, Dad!!

Updated photo with more comfortable furniture! I'd still like to get new curtains eventually and tone down all the red.  

Meanwhile on the other side......

Guess I never got a total "after shot" but this is close:

Godley Station has a nice little deck and beautiful views outside of the windmill (Click HERE to see the renovated windmill story!).

 Here's a view of Gidley Station from our house, up on the third floor.  Pardon the screen.  Too cold to do any better than shoot a photo through dirty glass and a screen! :)

Click HERE to book your stay!!

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Easy Stair Redo:

Fixing up the windmill: