The problems with old houses.............

First of all.............. yea, yea, yea.  I'm back.

Writing and blogging is hard when you have 5 million things running through a teeny tiny little brain.

I survived the bazaar and all of the prep.  I survived teaching four and five classes a week.  And now .... I have had a couple of very down days..... where I took not only one nap but two!!!

I know ..... heaven!

Well ... the bazaar went well.  I had a goal of making enough money to put in the tin ceiling in my kitchen.  We went above and beyond that so I started thinking about a water softener.

A water softener will definitely be needed if we put in a dishwasher.  And it will help with laundry and cleaning and preventing some of the ugly staining on the future sink.  Yea ..... this sink!

A tin ceiling is fun.

A new sink is fun.

But a water softener????

Not. So. Much.

And then ..... I got the bid.

No fun there.  :(

Well water + filtration = no tin ceiling for now.

Yea ... old house problems.  Everything cost more than what you see in  the big box stores.  You can't buy the size, the shape, the style in any store locally. Oh -- you might find a hinge or two at an antique shop.  But buy enough to match two doors???

Impossible!!!

BUT ........we have made some visible progress.

Remember this picture from July???

Damn!!  I miss having flowers on the porch and green stuff around!  And it is only early December.

It is going to be a looooooooonnnnnnnnngggggggggg winter for Miss Eff!!!

It looks like this now.

What I really want you to see is the storm door. 

Cuz winter supplies like the shovel, kitty litter bucket full of sand, the stack of wood and the boot jack have never once been featured in House Beautiful!

I am sure.

This is one of two custom wood storm/screen doors that I bought several years ago.   This one has languished in the barn for several years.  I could have used a standard door here .... but the other door had to be custom and I wanted them to match.  There are screen inserts but since it is winter ... you get to see the storms. 

I have to tell you .......... I LOVE LOVE LOVE the hardware!!!

The hinges..........

The door latch from the outside..........

The door latch from the inside.........

((HEART))

Yea ... it is these little things that make saving and working toward the improvements soooo worthwhile.

But you don't have to worry.

I won't be showing you pictures of the water softener.