Category: house tours.

When I started this blogging thing a couple of years ago I really didn’t think about what I might blog about aside from my furniture makeovers.  I started my blog in November, so I added a few posts about holiday decorating into the mix.  Then when spring came, I added a few posts about gardening.  Then one day it occurred to me that I should share my friend Sue’s house on the blog.  I’ve always loved her style, and I knew that my readers here would love it too.  Since then I’ve done a couple of other house tours (select the ‘house tours’ category on the right to see them all), and I have to say that it has turned out to be one of my favorite things to do.  An unexpected bonus to having a blog!

A few weeks ago my sister and I had the pleasure of touring Kim’s house at Stone Hill Farm.

I was introduced to Kim by Lisa, whose home I featured on the Reclaiming Beautiful blog a while back (if you didn’t see that one, you should check it out {here} and {here}).  Kim and Lisa host an occasional sale together in Kim’s barn.  Coincidentally, I had been to their sale several times, but I just never knew them personally.  Remember these suitcases from last year?  Yep, I bought them at their sale.

Anyway,when Lisa mentioned that she knew Kim and that her house was gorgeous inside and out, I jumped at the chance to take a tour.  In exchange for letting me feature her home here on the blog, I promised to help promote Kim’s barn sale which is coming up on Thursday – Saturday.  I’ll be sharing more info on that at the end of this post, so be sure to check that out.

But let’s start our tour, shall we?

Kim’s beautifully restored farmhouse is located in Stillwater, Minnesota.  Kim and her husband John are not new to the home restoration game, this is the 4th home they have restored.

There is a lovely porch on the front with some fab bentwood furniture.

After buying the other pieces, Kim & John had the swing custom made by the artisan.

Debbie and I entered from the back side of the house though which also has an equally lovely porch.

The first room we came to once inside is a pretty little sun room.

I just love the bead board walls as well as all of the architectural salvage that Kim has used in this room.

I think the simplicity of this stained glass window is just perfect.

Leaving the sun room behind, we head in to Kim’s kitchen which is spectacular.  Adding a tin ceiling was a great way to give this room a vintage farmhouse feel.

Those are the original fir floor boards.  Kim and her husband had to remove 7 other layers of flooring to get to them!  That’s dedication.  Mr. Q and I only had to remove one layer of linoleum from our kitchen floor and that was hard enough.  I can’t imagine doing seven!

There are so many gorgeous details in the kitchen that I don’t even know where to start.  How about the fantastic farmhouse style sink?

And just get a gander at this stove.

Kim and her husband purchased this from Elmira Stoveworks.  Just for fun check out their website {here}, they have some seriously drool worthy stuff.  If money were no object their Northstar model would be perfect in my kitchen!

One of my favorite features in the kitchen in this gorgeous built in cabinet.

Just off the kitchen is a pantry with another amazing cabinet.  Kim made a decision to retain the original painted finish on this piece and I’m so glad she did.

Isn’t it fantastic?  Kim mentioned that it took a bit of scrubbing to clean it up, but I can see it was totally worth it.

Kim’s choice of red gingham wallpaper is perfect for this small room.  She’s used a lot of red vintage kitchen items to accessorize the space.

Using a ladder is a clever way to display a set of vintage ‘day of the week’ dish towels.

There is a sweet little powder room just off the pantry.

 Somehow I neglected to get a shot of the dining room as a whole, but I did get photos of two lovely cabinets that reside there.

You can also admire the gorgeous pine floors in this next photo.

We’re heading into the living room next (more of those gorgeous floors).

Kim has a number of lovely pieces of furniture in her living room.  This one came from her husband’s boyhood cabin and he remembers keeping crayons inside.

Kim has some art in her home that had me positively drooling.

The gorgeous paintings of barns were painted by John’s grandfather, Robert Brach.

There is also an original Andrew Wyeth hanging over the fireplace.  To me it has an almost haunted quality.  I wish I could have captured a better photo of it, it is quite beautiful in person and I’m not sure I did it justice here.

This giant cabinet is one of my favorite pieces in the whole house.  My sister suggested that if I got my hands on it I would likely paint it, but no, she’s wrong.  There is such a lovely original patina on this cupboard I’m pretty sure I couldn’t bring myself to paint it.

Tucked away next to the living room is John’s office.  It can be entered through either of the doors on each side of that large cabinet.  The whimsical deer with the plaid scarf brings a smile to my face every time I look at this photo.

I fell in love with the original color and patina on this sweet little stool.

John built this bank of cabinets on the opposite wall to incorporate an old piece used for storing nuts and bolts.

You can still see the various hardware sizes written on each cubby hole.

This is where we conclude our tour for today.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Please leave lots of comments for Kim to see, I know she’ll love hearing from you.

Also, for you local readers, Kim & Lisa’s Barn Chic Vintage sale starts on Thursday July 21 at 9 a.m. at 2946 Oakgreen Avenue N in Stillwater (cash and checks only, fyi).  The sale runs from Thursday to Saturday 9 – 5 each day, rain or shine.  This weekend is also the St. Croix Valley Vintage crawl, so why not make a day of it!

Please check back tomorrow to see the upstairs at Kim’s home, on Wednesday I’ll share the gardens and out buildings, including the barn where the sale is held.

I’ll be heading back over to Kim’s place this week to get some actual photos of items in the sale, which I will share on Thursday.  I also am blogging another house tour over at the Reclaiming Beautiful blog on Thursday and Friday, I’ll be sure to provide a link to that one then.  Finally, I also have a great furniture makeover to share with you all on Friday.  I’ve been busy, busy, busy here at q is for quandie!  Stay tuned.

I’ve mentioned before that my in-laws live out on an old farm in Wisconsin.  They don’t farm, but they live in the old farmhouse that the people who farmed the land moved out of when they built a nicer, newer house.  So my in-laws just own the chunk of the land that encompasses the house and the old barn.  They are surrounded by farmland, but they don’t farm it themselves.  Was that an awfully long explanation?  Sorry.  Moving on.

I shared my f-i-l’s workshop last November, you can see that post {here} if you missed it.

They built that from scratch.

Lately Tom (who is an artist with wood) has been working on the house itself.  First, let me show you a ‘before’ of the front of the house.

This farmhouse was definitely a fixer upper when my in-laws bought it.  That was exactly what they wanted.  They like to put their own stamp on a place.

Like this.

 

Tom has added a new bay window on the front of the house, along with new custom siding that he designed and built himself.

And clearly he has added his own unique carved wood details.

Have you ever seen siding like this?

Or how about window supports like these?

Yep, it’s pretty special.  Ultimately he will work his way around the entire house.  The next section to be worked on will likely included the screened porch that wraps around the corner of the house.

I don’t dare tell Tom that I kind of love the chippy finish that is currently in place on the porch door.

When Tom & Naomi moved in, the barn that came with the property was still standing.  I took some photos of it back in 2011.

It was a rickety old place, but it lent itself well to some very moody photos.

Just check out the creepy interior.  This place just has to be haunted, right?

The saddest thing about this story is that none of the stuff inside the barn could ever be salvaged.  The structure was too unstable for us to go inside.  Can you just picture me standing outside peeking in the windows and wishing I could grab that old bucket, or some of the other fab vintage farm implements that were still inside!

As you can imagine, it nearly killed me to have to walk away from all of that cool stuff.

But sure enough, a couple of years later the barn did fall down.  And on the plus side, now I can salvage some stuff … at least the stuff we can get to without endangering our lives.  That includes plenty of barn wood!

 So check back next week to see what Debbie & Ken have come up with using some barn wood.  You’ll also see a gorgeous new piece that I’m sharing on Monday as part of a Fusion blog hop that will include a great giveaway.  See you then!

For those of you who don’t know the story, nnK is my neighbor straight across the street (and also my number one Craigslist spotter).  For a point of reference, you can see her bright blue front door in quite a few of my summertime outdoor furniture shoots …

I call her nnK because when she moved in I already had a neighbor next door named Karen, so to tell them apart nnK became ‘new neighbor Karen’, then shortened to nnK.  Even though the other Karen passed away over five years ago, nnK is still nnK.

nnK’s house is your basic 50’s ranch.  It’s perfect for her because she loves mid-century modern.  When she moved in the kitchen was pretty outdated and drab though.  She made some cosmetic changes to tide her over until she could really remodel it.  A couple of years ago she asked me to take some photos of the kitchen that she could submit to one of those kitchen make-over shows.  She had her fingers crossed, but she was not chosen for the show.  But luckily I hung onto the photos, so now I can share some good ‘before’ shots with you.

It was a classic 50’s kitchen.  You gotta love those cabinets with the big chrome knobs.  nnK added the black & white vinyl floor and the orange walls.  She also painted the cabinets white, they were originally that medium toned maple colored stain that you see on the window trim.  The window in the photo below looks out onto the breezeway that connects the house to the garage.

That fridge was super tiny, but she couldn’t swap it out for a larger one without ripping out cabinets, so it stayed.

The dishwasher that is sitting next to the stove had to be wheeled over to the sink and connected up to the faucet to run.

Now some people (like me) could get along just fine with an itty bitty kitchen like this.  My kitchen is just a glorified spot for storing dishes, keeping my lean cuisines frozen and making coffee.  But nnK actually likes to cook.  And when she cooks, she makes enough food for an army so she likes to share.  I gained 20 lbs in the first year after she moved in!

Honestly, I can’t believe that she lived with that kitchen as long as she did.  But finally last fall she bit the bullet and remodeled.  And this wasn’t any simple little remodel, this was a bump out the wall 6′ sort of remodel.

Basically everything from that wall this side of the fridge in this next photo is new space.

It’s truly amazing what 6′ can get you, isn’t it?

The oven is actually still in approximately the same spot where the old oven was … only now there are two ovens and a bank of cabinets.  One more thing about this next photo, see that round thing that looks like an over sized canned light fixture in the ceiling (just in front of the ovens)?   Yeah, that’s not a light fixture.  It’s a sky light that somehow magically amplifies the natural light coming in (I think it’s done with mirrors and a little pixie dust).    She has two of them, so even though this room faces north it is flooded with light during the day.  There are no ‘lights’ turned on in any of these photos.

The window into the breezeway has been replaced by two under-cabinet windows (only one pictured).

Just beyond this row of cabinets is a new door out to the deck, which will be super handy for grilling.

Gone is the dinky fridge, and just check out the wall mounted TV …

No makeover in our ‘hood would be complete without something from Ken!  In this case, it’s that cabinet under the TV.  nnK wanted something that would just fit into that narrow spot so she and Ken came up with plans for a wine rack.  It wasn’t deep enough for the wine to face forward, so it goes in from the side.

Clever, right?  Ken was very proud of this plan!

My sister is positively drooling over this kitchen.  She would love to have one this size.

I’m still waiting for my next invite to dinner.  nnK seems to have just enough space at the counter to include me and Mr. Q now.

So what do you think?  Are you the kind of cook who would love to have this much space?  Do you have enough pots and pans to fill up all of those cupboards?

Or are you more like me?  You just need a microwave and a decent sized freezer?

Can you believe that it has been almost one full year since I revamped my study (now fondly referred to as the Q Branch)?

  Well, I’m one of those people who do a lot of tweaking at home (not to be confused with twerking, I’m pretty sure I don’t ever do that).  Very few things in my home are static.  I’m always swapping out this for that, or changing things up somehow.

So after posting about my new ‘Q’ on Monday, I thought it would be fun to re-visit the Q Branch in its entirety and show you a couple of tweaks I’ve made in the past year.  If you’d like to first refresh your memory about how this room started out, check it out here.

OK, now let’s start with my wall quote.  Believe it or not I found this at a garage sale for a quarter!

I pretty much had to buy it, right?

After all, sometimes I do literally dream about painting.  And in some ways, I day dream about how to paint particular pieces of furniture and then I really do paint my dream!

If you’ve never tried one of these rub-on wall quotes, I’d encourage you to try one.  You can find them at Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, JoAnn Etc, even Target has some I think.  They are fairly easy to apply, you just have to have some patience, go slowly and make sure the letters are sticking to the wall as you pull off the backing paper.  I had a different wall quote on this same wall before I made over the room, so I can tell you from experience that they are very easy to remove when you want to change up your room.

I’ve refined the display on top of my bureau under the wall quote a little bit too.  The vintage cameras went out to the front porch, the ironstone went out to the Welsh cupboard in the dining room.  I limited the pieces here to vintage items in blues or greens.  I filled my little Eulalie’s Sky hutch with my collection of old flower frogs.

I moved some toy phones around.

I also put this sweet vintage plate out to remind me that spring is just around the corner.  OK, maybe that’s a little optimistic, but it really will be here before we know it.

Remember the old paint brushes I bought at a garage sale last summer?

Well, I found a few more at the thrift store last weekend and I finally got around to doing something with my favorites.

I used my favorite decorating trick, when all else fails hang it on the wall!  There is just something about all of the old bits of paint on these that really appeals to me.

The ‘sign’ hanging above the paint brushes is an old drawer front. 

It came off the re-styled sideboard I painted back in May 2014.  Here’s the ‘b & a’ of that piece …

Yep, see that skinny top drawer in the before photo?  I painted it in Miss Mustard’s French Enamel, added a stencil, and then hung it on my wall.

I didn’t hang all of the old crusty paint brushes though, some hopped into the back of my blue truck …

Which is currently parked on my rooster cupboard. I still have my pal Lula hanging out in the corner (just out of view to the right in the above photo), but I’ve changed out the design on the chalkboard chair that hangs on the wall over her head (well, she doesn’t technically have a head, does she?).

To draw my logo on the chalkboard I simply printed it out on paper, rubbed chalk all over the back of the paper, and then placed the paper over my chalkboard and traced the design.  Once that was done, I took the paper away and just went back in with sharpened chalk and darkened (lightened?) up the design.  Easy peasy.

I haven’t changed up the desk and chair, or my chalkboard door behind the desk, but this photo gives you a better idea of how the Q looks hanging on the wall.

I have to laugh, that photo makes the room look positively expansive.  And trust me, it is not.  It’s really only about 9′ square!  Still, it’s the perfect size for a little room of my own where I write my blog.  And you’ll notice that my chair is right next to the radiator, so this time of year I am quite cozy sitting there tapping away on the computer.

Well, there you have it.  The Q Branch one year later.

Before I leave you for today, I want to ask for your opinion.

You’re all familiar with this style of antique brass drawer pulls, right?

So, my questions is, do they stay or do they go?  I have a dresser to work on this weekend (not pictured) and I can’t decide.  Do I keep this style of drawer pull, or do I change them out?

Do I replace them with glass knobs?

Or do I paint them?

What is your preference?  Original brass drawer pulls, painted pulls or some sort of replacements?

When I came home from work last Friday at dusk I had one of those eureka moments.  I decided to attempt getting some night shots of my carriage house with the Christmas lights on.

I thought maybe taking the photo in the dark would help disguise the fact that we have no snow on the ground for Christmas.  It’s not that often that we don’t have a white Christmas.  In fact, according to the Minnesota DNR, here in the Twin Cities we have a white Christmas 72% of the time.  Chances are looking slim for any snow between now and Christmas morning.  Drat!

My garland and lights would be so much prettier with some snow on the ground.  I purchased the garland from the boy scouts a month ago.  Any time kids show up at my door selling something as a fund raiser I like to support them.  I debated using the garland inside the house, but when I finally unfurled it so many needles fell off and it was such a mess that I knew I didn’t want to have it inside.  So instead I added a string of lights and hung it above the doors on the carriage house.

Hanging it was a comical affair.  It was a warm and thus very drippy day (snow was melting off the roof of the carriage house), and the spot I had to stand in to hang the garland was right in the drip line.  My sister, bless her heart, helped me.  There were the two of us trying to get this garland up with big, cold, splats of melting snow pelting us, mostly falling down the back of our necks.  But Debbie hung in there with me until we got that whole length of garland up.

Below the garland I hung a lighted wreath that is simply adorned with red and green vintage garden tools …

A quick FYI, that red garden digger had an unfinished handle when I bought it.  I painted it with Miss Mustard Seed’s Tricycle and then distressed it to look old.  Had you fooled I bet, didn’t it?

I left a sack of reindeer feed on the chair, just in case Santa pays us a visit this year and Rudolph needs a snack.

The sun finally made an appearance here last Saturday.  I tried to take advantage of it and get some photos of the dining room for you.

The dining room makeover project has reached a screeching halt for the moment.  I need to paint the window sill, but I’ve learned the hard way that painting window sashes in winter is a bad idea.  They inevitably get stuck shut.  That will have to wait for spring.  I have a couple of other things to finish up as well.  Hopefully I’ll get to those after the holidays.

But meanwhile, I’ve gone all out decorating the dining room this year.  I stuck with a silver and gold color scheme, accented with vintage book pages.  Starting with my little Christmas tree which is filled with vintage ornaments, crumpled book pages and an awesome beaded wire garland that I bought last year at The Round Barn.

I think next year I want to go with a full size tree in this spot.  I’ve placed this small tree in an old wooden crate filled with packages wrapped in old book pages.

This is one of my favorite ornaments, and it works well with my gold and book page theme.

I really went to town giving my Welsh cupboard a festive feel.

I replaced some of my ironstone platters with the gold edged plates that I picked up at the thrift store a while back.  I also added some gold ornaments to an ironstone bowl.

I added some bleached bottle brush trees to some gravy boats …

And these bottle brush trees are placed in old brass door knobs.

The candle is battery powered.  I wouldn’t want to burn down my new cupboard before I’ve even finished the room 😉

Remember the bird cage I purchased a while back?  I filled it with gold ornaments and added a vintage Christmas postcard.

I made a Peace on Earth banner using old book pages to hang across the top of the cupboard.  If you want to make one for yourself, it’s super simple to do if you have a computer (obviously you have one of these!) and a printer.  I measure my book page (in this case they are 4”x6”) and use the custom page size setting in Word to just print a letter onto each page.  I feed the pages through the manual feed tray (rather than stacking them in the regular tray).  Once they are printed, I just cut a triangle out of the bottom to give them this flag shape.  I strung my banner on some old velvet ribbon, but you could also use butcher’s string, jute cord or whatever strikes your fancy.

Here is the black Eastlake style dresser that sits next to the door.  You might recognize the boxwood wreath that I used in the photo shoot for the mini dresser I painted a week or so ago.

I have a little holiday confession to make now.  You may sometimes wonder how I get it all done.  Well, quite a few years ago I was feeling very overwhelmed at Christmas time so I sat down and decided to nix a couple of things from my to-do list.  One of those things was Christmas cards.  I never a photo card or included a Christmas letter, they were just cards with a signature.  If something had to go, it could be the cards.  Really, do people even care about a card with no news or photos?  I have found that over the years a few people have dropped us from their mailing list in return, but quite a few people haven’t.  Even though I don’t send out cards, I do love getting ones that have photos included or letters with news from friends and family we don’t see very often.  This year I’ve stacked all of the cards we’ve received on my old Smith & Corona.

That card in front is from Mr. Q’s sister.  She always does the most fabulous cards.

I love that she combined a graduation ‘heads up’ with a Christmas greeting, how clever!  And the photo is awesome, right?

Even the book pages that I use for the lamp shade on my alabaster lamp got the holiday treatment.

I’ve got one last thing to share in the dining room, my cobbled together centerpiece.

I just filled an old wooden box with all things silver and tarnished; some of my salt and pepper shakers, the silver ornaments I brought home from Germany last year, a glittery reindeer that has tarnished over the years.  I added shredded book pages and a little baby tears plant wrapped in old sheet music.

I hoped you’ve enjoyed seeing the rest of my decorations.  I feel like I’ve shared them with you just under the wire with Christmas just days away.  In the blink of an eye I’ll be putting them all back away and focusing once again on some furniture makeovers.  So stay tuned!

I’ve been promising to share my house decorated for the holidays for a while now, but the darn weather here in Minnesota has just not cooperated.  We’ve had days and days of gloomy, grey weather filled with something the meteorologists like to call a ‘wintry mix’ a.k.a. rain, sleet, and snow which is not conducive to getting beautiful photos indoors or out.  The sun has finally started to peek out a little here and there, but never at a time when I am home and can take pictures.  This is one of those times when having a day job really impacts my ability to also have a blog.

But, enough whining!  It sounds like we may get some glimpses of the sun this weekend, so maybe I can get some better photos to share next week and in the meantime, I’ll share the handful of photos that I have deemed to be ‘blog worthy’.

This year I went with red and green in the kitchen.  I added some vintage jars full of ornaments to the shelf above my microwave.

I couldn’t resist this darling vintage Christmas card when I saw it while visiting the antique shops in North St Paul a couple of weeks ago.  Isn’t it sweet?  I just love the “Mr.” and “Mrs.” lanterns.  I propped it up in an old green ‘frog’ next to the jars.

Santa is hanging out under this glass dome.

I found a square boxwood wreath at Home Goods last week and thought it would be perfect on the pantry door.  I “kitchenified” (my own made up word) it by adding old silverware.

I just tied the silverware in place using clear fishing line.

I added words (using Cricut vinyl) to some vintage red gingham trays recently (if you are local and want one of your own, I brought them to both Reclaiming Beautiful and Eye Candy ReFind and they are $12 each).  I love the way mine looks just leaning on the back splash on my kitchen counter.

On Wednesday you saw the seasonal message I added to the chalkboard chair that hangs on the wall in the kitchen.  It also makes the perfect spot to hang my vintage Santa dish towel.

Let’s move on from the kitchen into the Q Branch.  In this room I’ve focused on pinks and aquas, with a little pale green thrown in.  You already know that my silver tree is in this room.

I added a festive touch to each of the mini dressers that sit on the credenza.  The little felt wreath ornaments came from Target and were the perfect size to hang on the dressers.

I am totally in love with the look of old toy trucks loaded with Christmas trees, how about you?  I had trouble finding a tree that was just the right size for my truck though.  I ended up with this one that was only $3 at Target.  The scale of it is a bit too large, but that kind of makes you feel like they did need a dump truck just to haul it, right?

This year I hung my ornament wreath on the chalkboard door behind my desk.

Just outside the Q Branch sits my Kitchen Scale buffet.  After admiring a wreath made with faux cotton boles on D.D.’s Cottage & Design, I spotted this faux garland of evergreen and cotton at Home Goods and I had to have it.

I draped it over my Kitchen Scale buffet.

And I added battery operated lights and a few white ornaments.

Since I don’t have a fireplace, the stockings were hung with care (in hopes that St. Nicholas soon will be there) on the buffet.

Last week Reclaiming Beautiful hosted a little get together for all of their vendors.  While there I met Joni who made these stocking out of old quilts.  Aren’t they gorgeous?  There were still quite a few left after I purchased mine ($14 each) so if you are local and in need of adorable stockings, you should head to Stillwater.

I’m hoping that Santa fills mine up with something good this year!

By the time I got to the living room I was nearly out of steam and out of decorations!  You’ve seen my row of tree toppers in the window …

And I put a wire tree full of aqua and silver ornaments on the radiator ledge.  I love the mid-century modern feel of this tree and I placed my ceramic white deer next to it to play that up a little bit more.

Well, that’s all you get for today.  I hoped you enjoyed taking a peek at some of my holiday decorations.

Hopefully I’ll be back next week with a few more.  Stay tuned.

Mr. Q’s mom and step-dad, Naomi and Tom, moved back to this area from New Orleans a few years back.  They wanted to be close to family again, especially Naomi’s parents (Mr. Q’s grandparents) who are both still with us at 98!

So even though Tom has a serious aversion to cold weather, they moved to a small farmhouse about an hour east of here in the countryside of Wisconsin.  Tom had one major requirement, a workshop that could rival the one he had in Louisiana.  And obviously it had to be heated!  He started from scratch and has been working on it since they got here.  It’s still not done, but I thought I’d get some photos when we were out there for Thanksgiving so I could share it with all of you.

Yep, that’s his workshop.  Are you green with envy yet?  I know I am.  How I would love to have something like this to work in all the time!  It would be the perfect spot for painting furniture in the winter.

Here is Tom with Mr. Q.

Tom is an artist who works with wood.  He can do just about anything with wood, build stuff, carve designs, work in miniature, and so on.  He made those doors (above photo) for example, and all of the trim around them.  He also carved the plaque with his initials that is hanging about the doorway.  Here’s a close up…

Here is a photo of the interior lower level.

Imagine how much stuff you could store in all of those cupboards!  I wonder how many dressers I could paint at one time with all of that space?  I’m afraid that if I had a space like this to paint in, I would never come inside the house.

The place is heated with a wood burning stove, which keeps it fairly warm and toasty.

The upstairs isn’t finished yet but eventually will include a stained glass workshop for Naomi, as well as a small library/sitting room area.

Tom likes to work in miniature.  Here is his own miniature self …

Ha!  It really does look like him, right?!

I love this row of miniature boats.

Just look at the detail on these!

All of these are handmade by Tom and I think they are around 8″ long or so.

If we step back outside we can find some of Tom’s fairy houses out in the field.

The detail on these is just amazing.  There are furnishings inside and even light fixtures that work.

They are quite fabulous.

When Tom and Naomi moved in there was a barn still standing on the property, but it has since fallen down.  I plan to salvage some of the wood for a future project in my dining room, but I may not get to it until spring now.  There was also another building on the property that they took down because it wasn’t safe.  But they did manage to salvage one outbuilding.  Tom used wood from the other building that they took down to add onto this one for more storage area.  The half of the building to the right with the door is newly built.  Blends right in, doesn’t it?

The other side is graced with some of Naomi’s stained glass work.

Isn’t that barn wood amazing?  I’m so glad that Tom saved it!

As you can see, we had a snowy Thanksgiving Day.  We also got a few more inches of snow this past Monday.

In other words, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.  Check back next week when I plan to share my Christmas decorations, as well as the most darling little dresser that I am just finishing up.

Sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways.  You may remember that the lucky winner of my last giveaway was Meggan.  I drew her name out of my vintage metal colander (which usually holds fruit on my kitchen counter).  Meggan has been coming to my Carriage House sale for a few years now, and we have mutual friends (which is how she found me), but I didn’t know her especially well.  When I let Meggan know that she won, she asked me if I would like to swing by with her prize instead of mailing it so that I could see her house.  Um, yeah, I had to think for about 2 seconds before responding with a big YES!  I love to get the chance to see other people’s decor, especially those who have a style similar to mine.

So last Saturday afternoon I drove out to Stillwater to visit with Meggan.  The drive out to her place was gorgeous.  I wish I had taken some pictures of the route, it was very picturesque driving along winding roads through the snowy woods.  For you locals, she lives just off Big Carnelian Lake in the northern part of Stillwater.  Her house is tucked away in the woods among tall pines.

As soon as I walked in, I knew I was in for a treat.  The first room I saw was her home office.  Anyone who hangs a glittered “MAGIC” from some antlers on the wall above a gorgeous vintage mirror has to have a knack for unique design.  Meggan and her husband also added the wood plank wall that is stained in a weathered grey.

Top that off with walls covered in vintage dictionary pages opposite the wood plank wall, and I am sold.

On the other side of the foyer is Meggan’s living room.  My eye was immediately drawn to her stack of vintage suitcases.

She got some of these for a mere $3.99 at the thrift store!  Clearly I should be spending more time at the thrift store.

Then, I turned around and saw this amazing campaign chair, which she also got a fabulous deal on.

I have always been a fan of British Colonial style, and this chair really speaks to that.  It can be folded up and taken along with you on your adventures.  Beautiful furniture that is meant to travel with you?  Where do I sign?

Meggan has some awesome throw pillows throughout her house, like these in the living room.

Behind the living room is a great little sun room.  I love this next picture because it gives you an idea of the view out of nearly all of Meggan’s windows, and just look at those gorgeous wide plank floors.

She has some really cool plans for this room.  She is going to have a slipcover made for the floral chair out of Swiss Army blankets.

How awesome will that be?  And she plans to paint the walls black. I’ve toyed with the idea of black walls myself, and I think they will be amazing in here.  She doesn’t have a lot of wall in the room, as you can see in the photos, and painting them black will cause them to recede from view and allow you to really focus on that beautiful view without making the room too dark.

She has just enough room on one wall for this sofa with more fab throw pillows.  And you can see how well the Swiss Army blanket chair is going to work with this sofa.

I saved my favorite piece in this room for last, and one of the best things about this piece?  It was FREE.  Yep, you read that right.  Her husband saw it on the curb and was wise enough to haul it home for her!

I’m pretty sure if Mr. Q saw a cabinet like that on the side of the road, he’d pick it up for me too, right Mr. Q?

Meggan uses it to display her hobnail milk glass collection and a few other vintage goodies.

Leaving the sunroom, we pass by this charming little powder room.

I love, love, love the wall color, and isn’t the barn wood mirror fab?  Meggan’s husband whipped that up for her when she couldn’t find a rustic vintage mirror to fit the space.

Next up, the kitchen, which is actually going to be featured on Houzz in the next couple of weeks.

Isn’t the island awesome?  I love how the rustic wood and her chairs work so well together.

And I was practically drooling over those fab pendant lights in my fave color.  She found them at Barn Light Electric Co. and the color is called Jadite.

Meggan told me that she has one big splurge item in her kitchen and it is the stove.  It’s from the BlueStar Precious Metals Collection, and it is gorgeous.

Aren’t those french doors cool?

There are some great vintage touches in the kitchen, like the chalkboard on the wall and the scale on the counter.

In addition to her husband, Meggan also shares her home with her 3 boys.  They have a suite of rooms upstairs that includes a bunk room and a play room.  Their room has a hunting and fishing theme.

Isn’t the minnow bucket lamp fab?  Meggan created that herself.  I really like the plaid painted wall as well.

I think I would enjoy being a house guest at Meggan’s because I could play with her darling vintage play kitchen that sits at the foot of the bed.  There is also a play fridge and microwave.  Meggan found the entire set free at the curb and brought it home!  The toy dishes belonged to her as a child.

Not only that, but I’d get to enjoy another fabulous view.

And I’m sure she wouldn’t even notice if this fab vintage fan somehow made its way into my luggage.

Meggan and her husband are in the middle of revamping their master bedroom and bath.  I’m sure it is going to be amazing when they are done.  Maybe she’ll let me come back out and take some pictures to share with you when she gets it done (hint, hint).

In the meantime, before I end, I have to tell you the best part.  Before I left Meggan gave me a present!  She made this necklace especially for me.  And look what it says!

Seriously, how cool is that?  I was really touched that she took the time to do that for me!

You can see more of Meggan’s jewelry (and order your own custom stamped piece if you want to) on her blog here.  Please consider dropping by and paying her a visit.

Thanks so much to Meggan for letting me share her beautiful home with my readers and for the awesome necklace.  I hope you all enjoyed the tour!

My sister has arrived for a visit giving me the opportunity to be a tourist in my own town.  On Saturday we headed over to a yard sale on Summit Avenue in St. Paul.  According to Wikipedia, Summit Ave “remains a well-preserved example of a Victorian residential boulevard.”  We did the official walking tour of Summit through the Minnesota Historical Society the last time my sister visited, so after checking out the yard sale, we headed of down some side streets instead of staying on the main boulevard.

It was a gloomy day, and I was taking pictures with my phone which I am no good at.  I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera.  My But I’ll still share our adventure with you.

Behind the beautiful mansions you’ll find some original cobblestone alleys.

The houses just off Summit are not quite as grand, but they are still lovely and many have fab gardens.

It’s a great place to get ideas for your own garden planter combinations, or perhaps a faux bois fence.

Ultimately we ended up back on Summit Ave, where we admired some of the more extravagant homes including this one that happens to be for sale.  The price?  A mere $1,695,000 (check out this link to see photos of the interior).  Let’s buy two!

The detail on the columns of the brick house is just gorgeous.

We also peered into this secret garden.

We ended our morning with lunch and mimosas on the patio at the Wild Onion on Grand Avenue.

Today we are going to continue our tour of Jen’s house by moseying on in to the bedrooms and bathroom which are all through a little hallway off the dining room.  Can I just say, I am a sucker for a vintage built in with all of its original hardware.  Seriously, how fab are these?

The laundry shoot was an amazing invention.  I suppose having laundry facilities on an upper floor is an even more amazing invention, but I wouldn’t know from personal experience!

The grey on her walls here, by the way, is Sherwin Williams’ Light French Gray.

There are two bedrooms with a bathroom in the middle.  Let’s head into Jen’s study first, which also happens to be where she placed the dresser she purchased from me!

Aren’t her floors simply gorgeous?  I’m totally envious of their pristine condition.  She did have them all re-done before she moved in.  Smart move!  Jen was asking my advice on how to style this room.  I like the idea of a wall quote, like this example from pinterest.

This would work really well around the corner of the wall next to the yellow dresser.

I also think one of those vintage pull down schoolhouse maps would look great on the wall over the desk, don’t you agree?  If it had some yellow in it, that would help pull that color over to the opposite side of the room.

Jen’s bathroom has gotten a little makeover with paint.

She painted the walls and the base of the vanity.  I know that down the road she’d like to make some more significant improvements in here, but like her kitchen, it is spruced up and presentable as is.  I am always a little sad when it is obvious that the original sink has been changed out for one of these.  I had this style vanity in my own house when I moved in rather than the original sink.  One day I would love to find a vintage sink that would work in my bathroom.

Jen is lucky to have what appear to be the original floor tiles though, aren’t they fab?

Those blue ‘flowers’ made from the hexagon tiles are simply smashing.

Finally we come to the master bedroom.  I absolutely adore the color that Jen picked for her walls, Coral Gables by Benjamin Moore.

Isn’t it gorgeous?  A lot of us would be afraid of using this much color on the walls, but it works beautifully here paired with the more neutral tones in her upholstered headboard and her pale grey duvet cover.  The first time I was in Jen’s house the sun was out and this room just glowed with cheery coral goodness.  I am very tempted to borrow this color myself.  It would be perfect in my study, or my guest room.

And the light fixture is amazing.  Jen added this herself.  I was surprised because it looked vintage to me.  It’s perfect for above her bed.

And here is Jen’s gallery wall, which also pays homage to places she’s been.

I bet Jen will be adding to this wall over time with more pictures of fabulous places!

I hope you enjoyed your tour of Jen’s home and will join me in thanking her for letting us all have a peek inside.  I enjoy seeing what other people are doing with their spaces, especially those with an extra dose of character thrown in and I bet you do too!

Thanks so much Jen!  I hope you’ll stay in touch and keep us updated on your future projects.