The Simple Things

We arrived here to an empty house that we have steadily been turning into a welcoming home. The staggering beauty of our natural surroundings outside has kept us mostly occupied but we've made time every day to work on projects inside and they are all starting to come together now. It started with a coffee table and an end table, then a couch and dining table, now book shelves and a tv stand. Throw those together with some paint, elbow grease and patience and you start to see something really rewarding. For only a few bucks and a little creativity we are ending up with a living space that looks like it would have cost an arm and not one, but two legs. It's still a work in progress but we're getting close. I have been all warm and fuzzy with feelings of accomplishment and pride over what we are creating for ourselves. Here's a sneek peek at some inside features of our house as it's being completed (video tour coming soon):

 

 This was an old brown table from the goodwill outlet bought for $10.
Now it's a chic modern nod to 80's and early 90's music culture.



























This was a sweet IKEA craigslist find for $10. It actually didn't need any work at all.

 Another $10 treasure from the goodwill outlet. This tv stand just needed some paint touch ups.

This is my favorite $10 find also from the goodwill outlet, the swanky blue swivel chair! Miguel the stuffed sheep really likes it too.

The couch was a $15 craigslist score which I painted.. yes painted... the grey/blue color. It was originally the color of the pillows but had some discoloration and cat scratch damage. You can't tell now though!  The coffee table and side table were also craigslist finds, a "splurge" at $30 for the pair lol. Well worth every penny! They weren't the right color though so they got sanded and repainted. You probably noticed too the wall mural. That is really the focal point of the room I think. It was a culmination of on sale and abandoned leftover paint from the shed, 3 days of work, and a roll of masking tape.

 

This is a little informal sitting area we placed across from the dining nook. We already had the papasan chairs and the steamer trunk from before, but we scored the red IKEA rug (actually 2 of them) for $6 at the goodwill outlet, and the pet bed from CVS at $4.99.

 Last night Ash and I were hand sewing two curtains for the kitchen from cute fabric I found on sale. 

I had never sewn anything of substance before. It was simple yet so rewarding. I'm currently working sewing a curtain for the bathroom out of different fabric too.

 Yesterday I made a cheeze-tastic and tasteless bird feeder out of an empty cat litter jug and some recycled craft supplies I salvaged from other projects. While the concept of a strip club for birds is somewhat unsavory, I couldn't pass up the opportunity for puns and double entendres.

Being self sustaining and hands on is truly a feeling like no other. Day before yesterday Ash and I went down to the apple tree, this time with our ladder. We picked about a dozen of them and Ash cooked them up into a delicious warm apple crisp. She also baked from scratch organic chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. We shared it all with our new friends who have been so generous and kind to us. They have been inviting us down to the pubs in town to chat and meet other locals. The pubs/bars here are nothing like back in FL. These are well lit, usually serve food, and you can't smoke inside. They seem to be designed for conversations and they don't play their music too loud, a nice change. Last night one of the bartenders had her cute little Pomeranian in there and everyone was playing with it. Socializing has been a blast as everyone we've met has been intelligent, interesting, and friendly. They all seem to know each other too and that makes for a very open and relaxed atmosphere. So far we have chatted with a groovy political science professor, a local resort lodge owner who is a long distance kayaker, a  professional photographer from Poland who has traveled all over the world and who hand built a gorgeous wood house down the street from ours, a slightly mysterious and elusive but sweet government employee who works in the sustainability department, an eccentric local coffee roaster/distributor, a woman who works with birds of prey and belly-dances on the side, a sprightly bar tender from a local award winning microbrewery called "the walking man", and many other local business owners and colorful characters that make up the residents of Stevenson.

 

On a closing note for this long blog, it snowed all around us a few days ago, and you could see it on the mountain tops. How pretty is that??!!! We were just thrilled! They are predicting a little snow later this week in town, hard to believe since it really has not seemed cold enough for that. I can't wait, it's gonna be so fun! The locals told us they close the roads in town when it snows any appreciable amount (which very rarely happens they say) and they go sledding down the streets and snowboard to their jobs in town whatnot. We got such a kick out of that. The locals are really excited about the prospect of it snowing here, listening to them talk about it reminds me of hearing people in florida talk about the rare times it snowed there, its like an excuse for a play day. 

Stay tuned!

~Kris