Comparison Pictures - We've come a long way baby!

There was so much we wanted to do.  These are the rooms that we played with.  The others are still as they were from the beginning. I had to share with you the work that Jim put into Sunnybrook. I'm very proud of the work that he did.  It looks super good.

This is the kitchen before

AFTER!!!!

After...

And After

After...

       

This is my dream buttery....the way I wanted it to be.

When we decided to sell, I just put a wire baker's rack inside the buttery instead of shelves.

Buttery before.

Buttery after.

This is the dinning room 

                                                                  

Before

                   AND

                  AFTER

                                                The BEFORE and AFTER of the SITTING ROOM

                  


                     BEFORE

After of the sitting room

 Finally, the before and after of the downstairs bedroom.

SO sweet and country looking!

For Sale

News of our old farmhouse....We've got her up for sale.  Yep, the decision is final....we are selling Sunnybrook.  We've made major changes, yet while keeping with the farmhouse charm.  If you know of anyone who is interested in an old historic lovely spacious two-story farmhouse with a wrap-around porch and a sleeping porch upstairs please pass this information along to them!!

The house has a fully remodeled kitchen with a new beadboard ceiling, new wide-slat board walls, newly refinished wood floors and new 8-inch wide baseboards.  It also has a brand new stove and fridge....and base cabinets/wall shelves. The kitchen has a workable woodburning fireplace with new colonial-look surround. It also has a newly remodeled dining room with the same type of fireplace surround as in the kitchen, and it is partially furnished with a dininng table and six chairs...same wonderful wide baseboards, new wood floor and same wide-plank walls on one side as in the kitchen....other dining room walls are beadboard. It has a newly painted huge hallway ceiling, walls, and refinished floor, with a hall table and a long deacon's bench. The sitting room has old oak floors which can be easily refinished...good condition...just needs sanding and staining. It has freshly painted walls and comes partially furnished with a camel back couch (country red with a cream-colored design), and I'm going to finish it in an Americana theme....I have all the stuff: rug, decor, coffee table, etc.

The house sits on a level 1 3/4 acres with mature black walnut trees and lots of other trees/bushes/flowers on the lot. There's a 3-section shed that I liked almost as much as the house. It could be used as storage, but it could also be fixed up so very nice as a cute little room for almost anything. I was going to make the grandgirls a playhouse....so cute, with windows and a little porch. I could just see window boxes with flowers!

There are no side neighbors at all and the neighbors in back are really far away and you can't see them...separated by a creek. It's located 5 miles outside of Spruce Pine, NC. It's 30 miles (pretty much) in every direction from the major tourist sites of Boone, Blowing Rock, Bannel Elk, Asheville, etc. 

We paid $60,000 for the house. We're going to have it For Sale By Owner for  two weeks for $75.000 before turning it over to a realtor.....who will add their commission...I guess, although I'm not sure how they do that.  At any rate, we're selling it as described (new, never used Kenmore appliances in the kitchen and new, never used HE washer and dryer in the laundry room, which is included in the $75,000.

I will be posting pictures of all the house renovations on my blog by the end of next week; however, if you're interested in seeing the house in person, please call us at
276-337-1577.

Sad, but true

My blog following friends, it is with a sad heart that I have to tell you this, but Jim and I have decided we have to put our beloved Sunnybrook up for sale.

As you know, I am a home-based medical transcriptionist. As such, I must have immediate and uninterrupted internet access 24/7. We have explored every means available to us and, unfortunately, although we have adequate internet access at times, it is not constant and/or reliable enough to enable me to perform my job in the manner that my company requires. I find myself in a Catch-22 situation: I have to work to pay for renovations at Sunnybrook, however I'm unable to work from there!

Although there is still work to be done, the kitchen, dining room and hallway have been lovingly and painstakingly remodeled, and in a manner befitting an old farmhouse......without compromise to its charming late 1800's integrity I might add. I do hope Sunnybrook's new owner, whomever he/she turns out to be, will love this old house as much as I do, and will continue to restore it to the beauty it surely can be.

So here's an opportunity to own a lovely two-story farmhouse on a level 1 3/4 acre lot nestled in the magnificent Blue Ridge mountains of western North Carolina. Our sad loss will definitely be someone's gain.

A long time coming....

It has indeed been a long....very long....time since I've updated my blog. However, I do have pictures that prove progress has been made.  Remember to click on the pictures and maximize them for a closer look!

Remember the Betsy Ross flag Jim and I made?

Betsy Ross flag

                                                         For this spot?

Well, look at this!

Ahhhhh....FRUITION!!!!

         And this old kitchen ceiling                 and                   these old kitchen walls?

                                                                       

                                                                         Wellllll....  NOW                                                                              
     

The new kitchen ceiling and the new kitchen walls with.....
....my new $4 antique store kitchen light fixture.  I know it looks a little crooked, but it's not.

Doesn't the ceiling look wonderful?!

 Old dining room...

                 

Here's the dining room fireplace wall before

And here is the dining room fireplace wall now (lacking trim).

The old dining room floor.

              

later....

                                                            

And now the NEW dining room floor.....BEAUTIFUL!

OK, so that's all I've got to show you for now!

Spring at Sunnybrook - Just pictures....

Long time coming....

My friends, I have been absent longer than I thought! I have had some major computer issues.  All my pictures are on my laptop, and I'm on Jim's laptop now :(  

We are still trudging right along at Sunnybrook, as a matter-of-fact we were there all last week and a lot of little details that probably wouldn't interest you have gotten done.  We have an outside dining room wall insulated and ready for bead board and trim, as well as the hallway ceiling....which should get accomplished soon...very soon. I will then be able to post pictures of the kitchen, dining room and the hallway. A floor is going down in the dining room, and then sanding the kitchen, sitting room and that big ol' hallway floor comes next.  I'm going to paint ceilings downstairs and one bedroom ceiling upstairs, and the walls of that same bedroom.  I'm having such a horrible time trying to decide on colors.  I really think white walls and ceilings is the way to go in a farmhouse, but maybe too safe.  Jim thinks some pale wall color would be fine for farmhouse walls. I'm going to step out of the box and paint the kitchen, dining room and one upstairs bedroom a creamy beige with vintage looking cream lacy curtains (think of your grandmother/great-grandmother's house....I want something akin to that!) I'd love to find some of the vintage chenille bedspreads, but they're too expensive and the newer ones just don't have the same look. 

I'm so excited to be almost ready for some furnishings!...of course  I'd be more excited if our pockets were a little deeper ;)  I don't really want anything new looking though. I want everything to have some wear and tear...like it's been there for a while....except mattresses.  I don't want yardsale mattresses from someone I don't know; however, as I told some of my friends, I guess that's what we get any time we stay in a hotel! 

I have some beautiful spring pictures at Sunnybrook. I'll try to get those posted.  I hope you're still out there! I promise to try to do better.  Honestly, not too many new pictures since I last posted. No room is furnished yet, or even ready for furnishings....but SO almost ready ;)

Library?

Jim doesn't know it, but I was thinking one of these days when we get the necessities of fixing up Sunnybrook out of the way, I would love to have a library in the middle room upstairs. That sounds so pretentious doesn't it? I do think so. However, I love books and I have a bunch of them....and really a library is only a room with a bunch of shelves for books and a comfy chair...and maybe an ottoman. So, I think it's just the word "library" that makes the whole idea sound pretentious. 

I looked, and this is something that I think could be built fairly cheap......a must, and without major work....probably a must also, as I may have to do it myself. (which is out of the question).

Below are pictures of the upstairs room at Sunnybrook in question.

The doorway from the hallway.  Those are black lights, and before you ask, I don't EVEN know.

This is the right side of the room.  The strip of white you see on the right of the picture is the doorway into the back bedroom.

This is the left side of the room. The bathroom will be on the other side of this wall.

I think it just needs a bunch of shelves built around the room, and a nice chair....and some paint.