I AM GRATEFUL TO.......

........have a brother that is a carpenter (miracle worker). Just when he had it working on our century old home we went ahead and bought a 200 year old farmhouse.
If only I had taken more pictures (or could find them) when we bought this place you could appreciate the work that has been done.

The only picture I could find of the kitchen before we moved in is this.....



Isn't that wall paper sweet? Most people would have taken one look at this place and RAN the OTHER WAY but NOT us. Thanks to John's know how to fix anything and my brother's fine carpentry skills, and my can do attitude we pulled it off!

I took this picture below of my kitchen windows when my brother, Steve started working out here last week hence the makings of a shelf below the sills. I should have take a shot of the whole room.
We have been here 2 years and I finally (not complaining) have trim work throughout my downstairs. We will progress to the upstairs eventually but we need to #1 save up more $ and #2 replace the windows #3 beg & bribe brother Stevie to return.

I have not had a great desire to decorate the house or put up curtains because everything has been so unfinished up until NOW......

DOESN'T IT LOOK AWESOME? Honestly, I am not a big decorator. I like it Plain and Simple. Easier to keep clean and clean around. I did not come into this relationship like that I have slowly become that way THANKS to Maine Man! I do not like lots on knick knacks although my Mom seems to think I do. I literally have garbage bags full of stuff she brings me. She COLLECTS and SAVES EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! That could be a post (or blog for that matter) on it's own. There is a store nearby that sells Primitive House Decor and I am thinking that may look nice in here, what do you think?
What should I do for window coverings? I had cheap plastic shades up in my windows before but now that they look SO pretty I want to spice it up!

THANK YOU STEVE, WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU DO!

Color is the daily bread of the Eyes-Sunday Stills Challenge

This weeks photo challenge theme is sunrise/sunset . Ed said "let's see some color." Up until a minute ago when I went over to the challenge blog I had just read the color part and not the title that included the theme sunset/sunrise. Oops, little minor detail I missed. I did not just take these pictures because I am trying to avoid downloading any more photos until I (John) gets my computer straightened out.

I have been trying to free my computer up of some 2,000 pictures I took this past year. No wonder my desktop has been so dang slow. I recently did a system restore and screwed it all up so now my kodak program and burner are not in sync. Thankfully, I had burned up until September so I am downlading the latter 3 months on to shutterfly....time consuming!

These two pictures were the pictures I planned to post when I thought the theme was "color"...hello. I love this one of Leah I took in May out by the frog pond. Animated expression (that's my girl) and the look of the sky.

Happy to say that my trim work will probably be going up faster than I anticipated thanks to my brother and MM. I have been doing a bit of research on-line to get some ideas but have not found what I am looking for. I want a rustic look as this is an old farm house and we are hard on stuff so we need lumber that is forgiving. I was thinking pine around the windows, doors, etc and maybe rough cut lumber/ship lap half walls in the dining room/kitchen. In the living room if the budget allows I would like a 1/2 wall of bead board painted white (wainscoting I guess it is) and the same stuff to trim around the fireplace. Any thoughts, suggestions, pictures you may have, or web sites? I am so excited because I will be able to decorate like I want with real curtains (not cheap mini blinds) and I can plaster my walls with pictures.....yeah...I am SO excited!
Before and after pictures of this old farm may be here quicker than I thought.

The kids are back to school in the morning. They have had a great vacation even though we did not venture very far from the homestead. We are ALL homebodies. We did make it to the movies to see Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler, great movie!
I hope to do my next post on root cellaring....our successes and failures.