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Thursday, October 30, 2014

You'll Never Believe It.

Here are a few more photos of the kitchen although these are 
pre - base moulding and trim around the built in.
We'll be finishing that up this morning.


The granite we {I} picked wasn't quite what I had in mind
in the beginning. I was hoping for more of a
 solid cream to lighten up the room but...
like I said before, this piece was in the shop and
 priced right and it drew my eye.
It's a little busier than I had planned for but I do love it!
I wish its true color would show well for you to see.
It has all the elements of our remodel though.
A little cream, black, brown, grey and blue.
So, in a sense, the package is complete!
Oh! And I found an architectural element that is going
to be perfect for over the mirror,
just waiting for its delivery!


Our granite guy isn't a fan of ogee edge {he said it's a "California" thing} but he did it for us. Ha! 
He is a stone design genius and also gave 
us a nice detail behind the sink and the 
backsplash at the stove.
Had I known the sink was going to be that fabulous,
 I would have chosen
a faucet that came out of the wall. 
Hmm.... next time house.

Now, let's talk flooring...


Our home has solid oak floors throughout the main level.
I have seen fabulously refinished oak and could
absolutely live with it.
Not here.
Unfortunately, it was nailed in place with the hugest nails
that were placed in the groove part of the wood, 
therefore not allowing
the tongue to slide in and line up properly.



What did that do?
Make for some BIG gaps and some katywampus lines.
It was kinda hard to believe that our newly built walls
were plumb because, I kid you not, in our kitchen alone, 
there was a inch and a half difference 
from the left to the right.
I thought it was kinda quirky and fun but not when we had ants flowing up through
those cracks. I don't care for ants and besides, 
if those are coming up, what else
is sneaking in?


Our chosen material...

Having lived with rustic, hand scraped hardwood
 in our last home, 
I knew it would not survive the boys, dogs and cat.
We {not me, of course} are hard on our floors.
If we could have found some reasonably priced reclaimed
Heart Pine, then we would have used that.


Laminate wasn't on the list of possibilities either
 nor was tile although
our bathrooms and work rooms have tile.

A product Mr. FPH has used both there and here is
Plank PVC Wood.
It's a commercial type flooring
and comes in array of colors and finishes, 
even "hand scraped".
This stuff is impervious to anything!



We decided on a darker color and absolutely love it!

I love the way it feels under foot. I'm betting
that it will be very nice this winter. I'll let you know.




If you're interested in hearing more, drop me a line
LeBlackRooster@aol.com,
I'd be more than happy to share information!

The kitchen has been done for a few days and I love it.
Nothing soaks in and it is so easy to sweep. 
I think this will totally withstand the power of the
Super Anderson Twins.
I can't wait to get the rest in throughout the house.

I will take some detail photos this afternoon and 
post in a few days.
As for now, time to start putting the spook on the house.
Halloween is a spectacular event here in our 
neck of the woods.
Our cute cottage will be getting a transformation to
a Dead and Breakfast {insert a wicked witch cackle}.

Happy Halloweeny!



Sunday, October 26, 2014

Preparations...

I am slowly getting it together!
Although I do not have lots of things to 
get posted onto my Boutique at the moment, 
I will post what I have and keep working!
I have a good excuse reason, though...
Work on the house is getting done
{flooring in the kitchen is going in after I post this!}.
I will share bits and pieces of the kitchen as soon as possible but I'm not revealing the whole shebang because we are planning a Holiday Open House for friends and neighbors  and I want it to be a surprise. 


Yesterday, I attended the Chapel Market 
which is not very far from us
and had an amazing time. I met up with some great friends and just slowly took it all in. 
Maybe I'll pursue being a vendor next year.
Just maybe.



I only took a few photos while I was there {love this settee!}
but took a nice slow ride home,



 stopping along the way to snap a few buildings.





We live in a beautiful place. 
I love it more and more everyday single day.

Wishing you the best today and always!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Whirlwinds

Well, we are on task to get the show rolling next week!
I can't believe it and if that's not exciting enough,
there's a whole lot going on at
The French Pressed Home.



While I've been away, the backyard has been leveled
of any humps, bumps, stumps and vine.
 My goodness do things like to root! 
It is now a clean slate for the Mr.'s shop, 
my permanent garden area,
the coop and patio. Of course all of these things will 
take time but at least we can make some forward progress, finally.



We got the remainder of the kitchen cabinets in, 
handles and pulls installed,
granite identified and measured 
{it's getting machined right now-yippee!},
the flooring choice dialed in which I'm glad we didn't order until after we put the cabinets in because what we originally wanted looked horrible with them. 
I love our new choice:

 And I cannot wait to show you once it's in and baseboards are installed, caulked and painted because that means.....
we will almost be d-o-n-e!
{not really but I'll pretend}
~~~
And, I've been out pickin'!





I am looking forward to this Saturday
for...



This is where I met Layla aka The Lettered Porch
 Marion aka Miss. Mustardseed
KariAnne aka Thistlewood Farms
Shauna aka Perfectly Imperfect and a few other blogger/shopkeepers I follow online. Not that any of them know who the heck I am, it's still fun to rub elbows, literally, because it was so packed the last time!
This show will be bigger than #1 so 
I am going to make a point to be 
in the first 5 standing in line! I am on a mission!

That about wraps it up except for the million other things rattling around in my head. 



I'll share those things another time. Or two.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Under the Weather

It's times like these that a big hammer 
would make me happy.

I am computerless until it gets repaired.
Either it got a virus or when it did an automatic 
Windows update (per what I've been reading in chats),
 it messed it up BAD.

My lack of techy skills limits what I can do
so I gotta find someone to fix it for me
or I will get a hammer.



On a happier note: Fall will be revisiting again (yippee!).
It was right on the heals of a nasty storm
that just passed through last night.
I even have long sleeves on! 



Time for some spiced chai with a shot of whiskey!



Saturday, October 4, 2014

Laughing at Myself

Waiting is not one of  my strong suits!



It's been three weeks so I'm hoping sometime
 this week I can get started.

As soon as I get my paper license in hand, I will be opening
my etsy and I can be all legal, and stuff. 
I kinda need that so I can open the bank account
and have my cc machine switched over to 
The French Pressed Home so I can start 
swiping like a mad woman!

Instead of getting frustrated, I just have to laugh.
At myself.

Since Christmas is knocking on the door, I thought 
it would be fun to open a Pop Up store in town and 
contacted an owner of his partially unoccupied shop.
If children were not in the mix, I would definitely open
a store but I thought a temporary, seasonal boutique
would be fun and a great way to showcase 
what The French Pressed Home is and
what Black Rooster Cottage was.



He finally replied back and he is more interested in selling 
the whole building and not renting the last 1/4 of it {to me}. 
The other 3/4 of it is a restaurant, that is occupied, and the little unoccupied 1/4
of it has its own storefront with double glass doors
and is a fairly small room, which would have been perfect.
Drat. Or not drat.



I take these stop signs as "a sign" nowadays
and I don't get discouraged anymore.
There was a time that I would have been devastated over it
but have learned that I have a Guide redirecting me
to something that suits me even more.

Oh, you have NO idea of the kinds of things that swim through
this noggin of mine! The worst part is I have a man that is
just as nuts as me. Oy.



So, we'll stick to the designed plan and see what road that takes us down.

The next couple of months will be busy with shows to attend.

I'm super eager to head to Tennessee to
Maybe next year, we'll load the trailer and be a part of it!



I hope things are very well with you all!
Have a wonderful weekend. xo