Welcome to 1971

Thanks so much to everyone for all the love for Preservation Acres! Y’all really have been my biggest cheerleaders through this whole process and it was so much fun to share our news with you!

You know it was killing me to wait until we closed, but I just didn’t want to spoil the surprise!

So now for the part many of you have been waiting for…

The interior of our little mid-century farmhouse.

Welcome to  1971.

The house was built in 1971 and we purchased it from the original owners.

Which is good because  things are in great shape.

And interesting because there are quite a few things that have not changed since then…

Like this wallpaper.

 

Which continues downstairs into what was called “the canning kitchen.”

(Everyone say hello to my father-in-law!)

So yes, technically at this point I have a house with 2 kitchens.

What in the world?

This room will most likely become the laundry room/mudroom/sewing room

But that is a far off plan.

Like in a couple of winters when we have nothing better to do.

For now, we are living with the wallpaper and leaving it as it is.

 

This is the room right off the canning kitchen, which I am guessing the mistress of the house kept all her cans.

This is going to become the guest room/office.

The shelves will be amazing for craft storage, but there is A LOT of painting in my future.

Somehow this is the only room in the whole house that has faux wood paneling.

For a house built in the county in Arkansas in 1971 this could be considered a true design miracle.

And again, more painting.

 

This is the downstairs bathroom which will be great for guest (come see us!)

We are leaving the funky floor for now, because, well, I kinda like it.

However the wallpaper and the tiny vanity are coming out.

There is a shower in here as well, and it is fine. Nothing exciting, but fine for now. Maybe one day Sweet Man will be ready to tile again and we will redo the whole room with subway tile, but that is a very low, low, low,  priority on the list.

Okay, back upstairs.

This is the entry way.

The whole upstairs is carpet and linoleum, with the exception of the bathrooms.

Sweet Man has already vamoosed all the carpet and we are going to lay unfinished hardwood everywhere next week and then white wash it. I am so blissed out about it.

More carpet! Yay!

I have two staircases in this house – the big one, and then these little steps.

You know I am pinning away ideas for fun ways to embellish them.

This railing is coming out and being replaced by low bookcases. We had some great built-ins at the last house and we have so very many books, that we needed a solution here as well.

Since this railing is wobbly and odd anyway, we figured this was a place to build some shelves.

This is the living room. I love, love, love all the light this room gets. And because it is almost a second story, you feel a little bit like you up in the trees. From those double windows I can see our pond and the driveway.

This is one of those times when I have to pinch myself.

This is the dining space looking into the living room.

Again, more light!

One of the things I really, really, wanted for our next house was a more open floor plan.

Our kitchen was far from the living room at Casa D’Lovely and all the rooms where too divided, so that everything always felt cramped when you got more than four people in the kitchen or dining room.

This living/dining/kitchen combo isn’t any bigger than our last house but it is open and that makes all the difference.
Here is the kitchen!

It opens into the dining area.

Yes, the whole thing is getting a makeover as soon as we get the floors done.

We are going to reconfigure quite a bit of it. The peninsula is coming out and we are doing an island.

The cabinets will all get painted, new backsplash and countertops as well.

And the weird soffit storage up top is coming down, down, down.

The other weird thing is all the flourescent lighting in the house – it is everywhere and it is all boxed in.

It is going to be quite the project to replace it all, but it MUST be done.

I cannot deal with flourescent lights.

The two upstairs bathrooms do not disappoint.

(yes, we have 3 bathrooms!! Us, The Greers, who have never owned a house with more than 1 bathroom in the past 17 years, now have  3. It’s like we won the lottery.)

The mast bathtub/shower is blue.

A lovely robins eggish blue.

And the floor is the amazing. Look at that retro tile!

I am kinda in love with it.

For now all the upstairs bathrooms are getting is paint, window treatments, new shower heads, and new lighting.

Eventually we will redo the vanity in our bathroom and then later the boys. For now I am just going to paint them.

The showers and floors are going to stay until they fall apart.

 

 

The boys bathroom has a lovely harvest gold theme.

Luckily, with boys this is easy to work with.

We are going with earthy colors in here – grays, tans, greens, yellows…

I am really looking forward to  doing up their bath.

I see spray- painted deer antlers and a chalkboard vanity in their future.

Both the upstairs baths have these lovely little swinging “privacy” doors between the vanity and the toilet/shower area.

My Nana had one of these in her master bathroom and I cannot help but love them, so they are staying for now.

 

The three upstairs bedrooms are were pretty much all like this – boxes with windows and carpet.

But they are already being painted and prepped for the new hardwood floors.

Our plan is to get the bedrooms ready first so that we can move in and then work our way through the rest of the house.

Fingers crossed that is just another week or ten days away!

So there you have it. A complete “before” tour of the interior of the house.

I think there is plenty to keep me busy for several years…At least…

 

xo

J