With move in behind us, we spent the next three days preparing for a big sale. our goal was emptying the Magnolia House of it’s many treasures by Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t easy but with a great turnout and a lot of help we got it done! Thanks to my awesome friends Mary Nash, Paula, Shirley, Jan and Linda for all your help…you were truly life savers.
Next….I can hardly wait to show you more of Camp Contentment. It won’t take long, because it’s really small but nevertheless, cute :)
It’s moving day! Monday, January 5th. We’ve prepped and painted the walls and
ceilings in 5 rooms, removed carpet and curtains, pried up tack strip, sanded and
refinished the original wood floors. All, in less than 2 weeks. We’re tired but
encouraged….and a little bit proud of ourselves. Everything is coming together
and today we hit a milestone. We are moving in! Tonight will be our first night at
Camp Contentment.
There’s still plenty to do but I love projects and will take it one day at a time.
Don’t you love the old wavy glass next to the front door?
This Ikea rug, $100, is just what I was looking for! I’ve been pinning on Pinterest,
for months and found so many inspiring ideas. Would you like to see them?
Follow me at Roxanne Spradlin. The idea board for this house is called Camp Contentment.
Our house is small, and though l love a little clutter, I don’t want it to feel
crowded. One of the observations I made while looking on Pinterest was
that a room feels more spacious if you use a lot of white and use color and
patterns sparingly on the items you deem most important.
Coach has request that this room have a rustic feel. So, while I was I jumping
up and down over the bold black and white rug (above), he was loading this
one onto our cart. It was more expensive but very plush and ready for our
leather sectional to wrap around it.
This is our Guest Bedroom….the one and only. In downsizing, we’ve gone
from four bedrooms to two. Not having a bedroom for each of our children and their
growing families is unfortunate. However, it is a lovely space and does have
it’s on private bath. I will be contented…I will be contented :)
Here is the Master Bedroom….with we are attempting to create a suite. As you can see, there is a
door hiding behind the white chest, below. Previously, it gave access
from the Guest Bedroom (originally the master) to a hall bath. In 1950 this
house was a 3/1 but in the early 60’s, the 2 small bedrooms (now the Master) became one and
a bath was added to the once master bedroom (now our Guest). Long story short, it was a little
confusing until we simply blocked this door from both sides. Now we have 2
bedrooms with 2 baths. Plain and simple.
Someday we plan to remove the door completely but for now, it looks like this.
I had planned to paint the Master suite white, for the reasons mentioned
above, but when Coach expressed concern I went in search of a color that
would look like a dusty chalkboard. When helping friend Abbie Atkinson,
decorate her house, she had found the perfect color at Home Depot, called
Dark Ash. It is made by Behr. I chose a flat finish and then end result was
perfect!
The room is long and narrow with 5 windows. I was anxious to see how our
furniture fit into the room. As much as I love lots of windows, it can make
furniture placement challenging. Fortunately, there was one wall wide enough
for a king size headboard.
There are 5 of these hanging lights in the house. All different yet similar.
They remind me of Gunsmoke…or Bonanza. At first, I didn’t like them at
all and though they have grown on me, we are going to replace them with
something more modern.
Like the rest of the house, the kitchen is cozy and cute! We’ve done nothing
in here but clean and take off the pantry door. I am enjoying the cute vintage
laminate countertops, vinyl flooring and wallpaper for now, but I have lot’s
of ideas for this space in the future but for now I am contented :)
This old stove is a treasure! It’s in great shape and works well.
At first, I wanted to open up the wall behind the refrigerator and recess it
which would have provided 15, important square feet but it would have
cost too much to relocate the hot water heater and plumbing which currently
occupies the space. Our daughter-in- love, Jenny suggested a Smeg (about $2000),
which made my heart sing until we ran across this similar size fridge at Ikea, a
Last Chance closeout purchase for $299. It was clearly the right choice for us.
I love all things “cottage”! This kitchen is going to be so fun to decorate and
use! A special thanks to my sister, Lynnette, for the embroidered cup towels
she made. Aren’t they cute! She is so talented,… and makes beautiful things!
Shop her Etsy shop, Frazzleme!
One hour before the movers arrive…I decide to quickly paint this old end table
that we will put glass over and use for and dining table. In a small dining room, I’m
liking the idea of being able to see through a glass top.
Remember the inspiration pic, above?…and the Ikea rug? Since the dining
flows off of the living/entry, I think I need a splash of black in here.
Hey, it works! I like it. Surprisingly, I think I can use 2 more dining chairs…
I never imagined I could seat 6 people in this dining room but I can!
After all the furniture is in place, I’m pleased. It wasn’t easy figuring out what
would work and what wouldn’t. Interesting how different the same furniture
looks in this room. The black and white rug and pillows make a big difference.
After a goods nights sleep, Coach cooked us breakfast. What a treat after weeks
of running through McDonalds!
Coffee and bacon frying….What better way to start out our first day at Camp Contentment.
Cute glasses, huh? Once upon a time I bought them at the Dollar Tree
(where everything’s $1). The numbers are adhesive vinyl…the type that you
stick onto the side of a boat. They are very durable if you hand wash. For that
reason I don’t use them everyday but they look awesome when I want to set
my table for something extra special.
Yep! I’m going to like living here.
Last Summer when Coach and I walked through this cute little 1950’s house, we had a bright idea
about downsizing and ultimately simplifying our lives! The Magnolia House, our favorite yet,
was a beautiful house and property which required more upkeep/maintenance than we wanted.
So, we made a plan but weren’t in a hurry. That is until I ran by to visit with my friend Susan and
discovered her Mother’s old house would be for sale in the near future. One look and our plan
was set into motion. Magnolia House went on the market in August. Football season is not the ideal
time to move but we didn’t want to miss this opportunity, so we went for it! The house showed well
and often but we would not get an offer until the middle of November. With a January closing date,
we would use every minute of the Christmas holiday to purge, pack, paint, refinish floors, have a
huge sale and move. By leasing the house before closing, we were able to start painting 3 weeks
early. I certainly don’t consider myself a great painter, it takes a lot of time and patience but after
getting a few bids I realized our small remodeling budget would stretch much further if we did the
work ourselves. So, bright and early on Monday, December 16th, I pried open a 5 gallon bucket of
Valspar D’jour white and started rolling.
Most of the wood floors were covered with celery green shag carpet which were coming up at the
end of the week so I used them as a drop cloth….a real time saver when painting walls and
ceilings. Another short cut was to use the same color on both. Unfortunately, I forgot to take before
pictures but the walls and trim were the same color as the carpet. It was A LOT OF HARD WORK, but
after five long days, I finished just in time for Coach to start ripping up the carpet! School was out
for the holidays and he was raring to go. In no time flat he had the carpet rolled up in the back of his
truck and was prying up the tack strip. With a tight schedule, I jumped in and took over the tack strip
removal job, careful to pull up every nail, while Coach gathered up all the sanding and varnishing
supplies. At this point, to be completely honest, I was worn out! It was Christmas and I was missing
all of the fun stuff but I trudged on by dreaming of iced sugar cookies and singing Christmas carols at
the top of my lungs.
Those were some tough days! After painting walls and ceilings for 5 days, I was on my hands and
knees for 2. To say we were exhausted would be an understatement ….and beat up! Cut up hands,
sore knees and backs. At the end of each day I felt so old and wondered if we could keep it up but
each morning I was surprisingly able to get out of bed and keep going. Mike had a plan laid out which
helped me to focus and stay the course. In the past, we haven’t always worked well together but
there was no arguing on this project. We didn’t have the time or energy:)
Two days before Christmas we spread polyurethane on the floors and let them dry while we took a
much needed break.
Back at it on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I finished sanding and painting the wood work with oil
based paint. Things were starting to take shape. It was encouraging to see what we had accomplished
in less than 2 weeks! But we couldn’t celebrate long because the movers were coming on Monday.
Yikes! The move! I haven’t even mentioned that this little house would be half the size and we would
only bring with us the things we love most. Which would mean letting go of years of accumulate
treasures. I thought this might be painful because I like stuff! However, I’m pleased to say, I found it
rather liberating!
Last night, at dinner, Coach asked me if I had missed living at our old house…our nicest house, ever. Without pause, I quickly said, “ Not once”.
We love our new, little old house. It reminds us of our very first home. It is our new favorite! We are more than happy. We are contented.
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