Anyone Seen Summer?

As I type this you'll find me wearing a sweatshirt AND the light is on in the room because it's so grey outside. So cool windows are closed. Lightning, thunder, heavy rain most of yesterday once again ~ leaving me with blinking power, no-longer-functioning sat-tv and needing to wear my pink wellie mud boots. Each of these normally unheard of this close to July! It's not a problem of significant status considering what so many are dealing with for certain. But it's weird.

AND the flickering power has put me behind in my uploads of pictures & details my very first blog/barn giveaway (exciting)!

So please swing back over the coming days ~ I'd love to have you join in the fun!

In the meantime I'm hoping it warms enough to shed the sweatshirt and dries out enough outside to do some weeding and lawn mowing (that's one thing about cool and rain, the plants 'n grass love it, lol)

Old House Vouyering

I don't condone (or recommend) voyeurism, lol
But when it's old houses we're peeking at it's different, yes?
This old house magazine has a feature many OHL (old house lovers) know well

which featured homes for sale needing to be purchased, reno'd and saved

                          I didn't realize it was also available online now.
Best of all it not only shows current save this old house
but also shows followups each for two of the homes featured each year
If you have time, it's amazing. Sometimes sad, often happy, always inspiring...

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/save

Enjoy!

***Remember to check back on Thursday June 30th for the start of giveaway and sale*** 

Tea time ~ (Teacessities)

I am hopeless, addicted, must-have-been-British

(in another life)

I adore all things Tea

Here's my latest addition

Granted these are not old but they are so pretty!

Each teapot sit atop a matching cup
(or function as personal teapots alone if you prefer)
Are they not the cutest?

The pedestal cake plate is perfect for cupcakes, yes?

I knew I would wither ~ or at least whine alot ~ if these were not mine
So now they are

And I am a happy girl
After all there IS such a thing as teacessities*

 (tea necessities, lol) It may be a made-up word but it's true!

**Remember** I'm having a raise money for house paint sale
at the Big Red Barn Shop end of June
AND a giveaway here at the same time!
Read HERE for more info - and I hope you'll stop by to see the latest treasure(s) :-)

Rain rain go away....

Old house lathe, plaster, epic rain = crisis ceiling trouble! I know, I know, the plastic container on the top of the bookcase to catch leaking water is such a beautiful decorator accent!

(No doubt this is a designer look that is destined be seen in all the home decor mags under accesories for old house disasters, yes? roflmao)

Giveaway & Big Sale at Big Old Red Barn Next Week!

Woot!

I calculated how much paint the old girl needs
(a bazillion gallons)
THEN I calc'd how much that paint will cost....
and well, there's going to be

a Funds For Paint SALE
in the Big Red Barn Shop!

I thought it would be fun

to have
A  GIVEAWAY at the same time

Soooooooo

The end of next week it'll all happen
(the last few days of June)

So be sure to check back

thru next week for details!

I have sooooo  many things to add to the The BRB offerings
and I have a way fun idea for the giveaway entry

Woot!

PS I'm feeling lonely here in bloglandrambling, lol
So anyone who's a visible follower will receive an additonal 

chance to win the giveaway AND a preview notice for

the new BRB items  :-)

(just sayin' lol)

Now, I better get busy!

Double woot! roflmao...

Lookey What I Found! LOL

$10.99 plus exact
shipping (tax if
applicable)
Found in
collectible
At Big Red Barn
 Flickr

Is there anything as neat as seeking, 'pouncing' (lol) and bringing home neat finds? I say not too much is better than that adventure :-) 

These are some newly found finds - they're going up for grabs because I need to buy paint for the old girl - a LOT of paint. Oh my. A bazillion gallons it seems, lol

One is a three part cake carrier - old metal/tin.  I've never seen one with three parts. It has the expected bottom caker and the top cover. The unusual piece is the third bottom piece. Almost like a washbasin, or shorter version of the top cover.  Anyone know what that was used for?

Another find is s sweet inside birdhouse! Each of the four sides painted differently and the roof is all buttons and beads - sooooooooo cute!
*all finds decorative and non-child-use*

So there will be things finding their way from here, there, and everywhere for evaluation in the ancient Big Red Barn. If found worthy of love (and a little work to bring them back sometimes) I'll put them up for seeking/finding/claiming in the Big Red Barn Flickr shop (click on barn pic on the right of blog).

Old house and I thank you for helping us afford a new 'paint-dress' for her.
(and yes I AM doing the painting - certifes me as wack-a-doodle for sure, lol)

**Info, FAQ on how to bring Big Red Barn pieces into YOUR home/decor on the tab at top of blog)



$8.99 plus exact shipping!
(tax if applicable)
Found in KITCHEN
on Big Red Barn Flickr


New Finds ~ Woot!

Old Wood Floors

When I first met old house she had a LOT (I should really put that in 24pt type, lol) of dirt and hidden beauty. In that order ~ dirt/hidden beauty!  Large sections of her floors were buried under modern lino. The roll lino was over stapled luaan (sp?) subfloor. Once those two covering (and hundreds and hundereds of staples) were removed the original wood was finally released.

And the original wood? I could see the age, the wear, the potential. But it had never been touched before it was covered (except for old paint - apparently at some point the floor had been considered nothing more than a drop cloth).  So her floors were, like the rest of her, sound but needing to be raised to the surface like sunken treasure....

I spent weeks and weeks pulling coverings, pulling staples, sanding. When I fell face down on the planks "the man" worked for weeks and weeks. Then we worked together on this room shown (and others) for just short of forever.

It was so worth the effort ~ and cost of Advil by the case ~ lol

These days it's the yearly waxing. I use bees wax (I love it on the wood floors)!

There's nothing
quite like seeing
these ancient
planks of wood,
cut long before
I was even born

Square nailed planks
that hold stories.....
echoes of
conversations I can only
imagine
gleaming in the sun....

I wonder who cut them?
I daydream of the people
who walked these floors
(generations of them)
before they came to be
        mine.....

I'm still saving up for a  proper floor polisher buffer****

****see the post 'fix~math' as to why I have yet to get aforementioned floor polisher/buffer, lol*

PS  I'm sizing the pics of TREASURES FOUND this late afternoon or evening - so if you've stopped back to see from my post Monday  :-)  it won't be too much longer till I have them up to see and share - Promise!

Treasure Found!

Oh my gosh did I find some AMAZING things this weekend!
I'm off to take pics to share with you now (a few moments of sun - yes!)
So check back to seeeeeeeee lol

A favorite views is of one of the old cow grass pastures.  Edged by the woodlands it's kept mowed lest the trees overwhelm it completely. I love both the woodlands and the open pastureland expanses. Deciding what is the perfect visual balance of both for the farm is harder than it would seem.....

Two useful old house reno/life tips

House Reno (and life) Tips

1. a good day is made better by a cup of coffee & fresh homemade donuts
   (see below)
   
2. A bad day is made better by a cup of coffee & fresh homemade dounts
   (see above)

Old House "Fix~math"

So there we were, this tired old house. Tired me. Her paint peeling, my nerves and sense of 'how life would be' unraveled.

We clicked. We bonded. She seemed resigned. I was resigned (tho to what I didn't know ~ I was simply out of desire to battle my current much loved homes circumstances). It seemed as tho this old house and I had  somehow been destined to help each other out of parallel hard times. If a house and a human can share a feeling at that moment of meeting we did.

An old rundown house is a frightening, fascinating, worrysome, wonderful, horrible very good thing.....

And old rundown house requires 'fix~math' - to fix anything at all simple double the calculated cost and tripple the time expected to complete the repair, lol.  Divide it all by the anxiety involved and multiply it by the pride you feel with each inch of progress you achive together as you gain each  final outcome. Progess made each season, each year. 

Magic and menace, joy and despair, frustration and jubulation. That is the thread that runs thru the tapestry of reweaving an old house. The same thread that runs thru a life-plan that has to be ripped out and restarted.

Clapboard by clapboard, caulk to paint, hope to dream.  She and I have grown to be friends over the years. Sometimes she still pisses me off but far more often she's the best kind of friend ~ always there, giving me whatever it is I need.  I love her. In a different way than I love my first home, the home my husband and I built from the ground up. And I think old house has grown fond of me.
I'll have to ask her......

Step by step she & I undertook the journey of finding our way
SEEKING CENTER again ~ together