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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Vintage stove or new stove? {Your advice, please!}

Hello friends! I hope you are all doing well!

I have an appliance dilemma, and was hoping I could get your advice! :)

Three years ago, I bought a vintage stove off Craigslist. I bought it despite the fact that it needed to be rewired, and also needed three out of four new elements, and both oven elements replaced...




{Please ignore our half finished breakfast room!}

I had my reasons for going ahead with the purchase despite said facts: {wink} 




It was the exact stove I was looking for {a 1940's Kelvinator}.





The chrome and porcelain was in excellent condition, except for one knick on the top side, which I can fix.

It had potential and good bones, and it would just take a lot of scrubbing and some recoating of the oven drawers on my part...
 


and of course, rewiring on the part of my husband. ;)

We have bought all of the parts necessary for this project, but now I am second guessing myself.

A vintage stove has been one of my big "kitchen dreams" for quite a while. And for quite a while my little stove has been waiting in a corner of our breakfast room...

I have thought maybe we should forego one of too many to-dos on our list and simply buy a new, clean stove...

And my, oh my, if one could have any new stove in the world, what of this gorgeous stove?


{Landmark Kitchens UK}

{Love.}


{Landmark Kitchens UK}

Or this one?


{Landmark Kitchens UK}

Absolutely delicious, isn't it?

And there is always the option of buying the new old stove, such as this lovely made by Big Chill:


{Big Chill.com}

Realistically, if we go the "new" route, we will purchase something more like this:


{Lowes.com}
 
It is just so fun to dream! :)

However, I must admit candidly, that there is just nothing quite like the real thing, at least for me.






Here is a little like what I picture our old stove looking in our kitchen:



{Better Homes and Gardens}


Doesn't the stove pictured look right at home?



{Big Chill.com}



There is just something about old things, they add something very special and unique to the room. 
SO...if the choice was yours, what would you do? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!


I hope you all have a beautiful Wednesday, and thank you so much for stopping by! :)


Blessings,
Jenni

Sunday, August 21, 2011

What is going on around here...


Hello dear friends~

How was your weekend? I'm hoping it was a good one for each of you! :)

Okay, it seems I am always saying this...but here I go again...I have been a little MIA lately around these parts, and just wanted to say sorry for being such a bad blogger friend! I had to take an unexpected blogging break~ between summer activities, vacations, and home projects, it has been a little "looney tunes" lately! ;) I have always thought of summer as a time that is supposed to be relaxing, but reality, it really ramps up around here in about every way possible! :)

And did I mention home projects? ;) Yes, we have been working on things, really we have! ;)

Making one of these...



{in our master bedroom}

View in Room



I just love the character and warmth even a faux fireplace adds to a room, don't you?







A faux fireplace has been on our to-do list for three years now, so it is very exciting to finally be doing this! :)

 



I have also been working on this:





Namely, painting our front porch! It really needed some attention, and I am trying to make our front porch a nice place to walk up to...





These photos are some of my inspiration...aren't they such gorgeous porches?





 Although our porch has been painted and sealed, I have to wait to put anything decorative on it until this coming weekend!


 


But I can't wait to add a little loveliness to the porch with flower pots, a cute porch bench {in progress} and door mat! I will be sure to show you it as soon as it is done!


 


{sigh}




 And now I have to confess...I have been redoing the plank wall in our bedroom!

Yes, redoing it! 

{blushing profusely now}

But for a few reasons, I was unhappy with how it looked...however, now all of new planks are up, and I am really happy with it! :)

{Photos are courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens, Country Living, and Pottery Barn.}

{I will have before and after pictures for everything soon, I promise!} And I will be by to say hello to you all and catch up on what you have been up to!


I hope you have a lovely night, and a great Monday!


Blessings,
 Jenni


Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Cullen House

Hello dear friends!
{I hope this week finds you doing well!}
You will never guess where I was this past weekend...or maybe you will, since you probably read the title! ;)


My husband and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary, staying in Forks, Washington, situated in the Olympic Peninsula.
{Well, technically our anniversary on July 6, but this is the weekend we went away to celebrate it!}
Now for those of you who love the Twilight book series {or the movies} you will recognize Forks as the town the books were set in. I must confess, I had only read three pages of the first book prior to our visit, so when we got there I didn't even know that "Cullen" was Edward's last name!

The bed and breakfast we stayed in is lovingly referred to as The Cullen House, not because the home in the book was modeled after this home, but because it became quite apparent after the fact, that the two were a lot alike!


Twilight fans can tour the house for a small fee, and many come here for love of the books and movies...


I love {LOVE} the room we stayed in, called "Sunset". I am trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes this room so lovely, and how I can add a bit of this loveliness to our room at home! {You know, the one that is STILL not completed!} ;)
As you can see, the wallpaper is a burnt orange, which is different from the whites and grays in my own home...


But it was absolutely gorgeous in this room, with thick white molding around the windows and doors! The room felt like "home". :)

Just look at those old, paneled doors! {Sigh.}

As we neared Forks, we drove past Cresent Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen! This picture did not capture the beauty of it!


There are so many things to do in the Olympic Peninsula, too! About 40 minutes away from Forks is an actual rain forest that you can hike through~ the only rain forest in North America, actually.


It was beautiful!


And if you like the ocean, that is under an hour's drive away, too! We only saw it as we were driving past, but that's okay~ we plan on coming back here! :)
If you ever should visit Forks, we would highly recommend the Miller Tree Inn Bed and Breakfast, aka The Cullen House!


You can find out more about it here, as well as see pictures of the many rooms they have!
{I also want to say thank you to my friend Robin over at The Robin's Nest, for all of her great suggestions on "must-see places" around the area!} It was so helpful, as we really knew nothing about anything over that way! :)
Well, that's all for me tonight! I hope you each have a beautiful Thursday, and thank you so much for stopping by! :)
Blessings to you~
Jenni
{Sparrow}