Tour a Historic Former Farmhouse...For Sale!

My amazing friend, Mary, lives in an equally amazing historic house in Raleigh, NC. There are lots of fabulous aspects to Mary's house--hand hewn walls, heart pine floors, hand carved railings, two brick patios, two covered porches, a zillion fireplaces, stone rubble chimneys, a fish pond with a waterfall, enough beadboard to make a cottage devotee's head spin, a great chef's kitchen--but one of the coolest aspects of Mary's house is that it's FOR SALE! If you can picture yourself baking pumpkin bread in the kitchen or wiling away lazy hours in the hammock, visit the link at the end of the post for more info. This is one very special house, folks--extensively renovated, but still retaining lots of the distinctive architectural features, it's a perfect mix of old and new. (Most photos will open larger if you click on them.)



















Listed in The Historic Architecture of Wake County, North Carolina, the original structure, known as the Hillary Thompson Home, was built around1830 by the cousin of a North Carolina State Senator. The homestead was later sold to the Adams family. No, not that Adams family, silly! This Adams family. If they look uuber serious in the photo, it's just because they knew that their property was seriously cool.















Here's a photo of the house today. You can see the original portion on the right; the wing on the left (difficult to see in the photo because of the lighting) was added in the 1970's, bringing the square footage of the main house to 3641 square feet not including the extra 521 square foot finished bonus room over the detached garage!















I'll take you in through the side gate; that's the way all Mary's friends and family enter the house. Pass through the gate in the white picket fence and you'll see this peaceful fish pond complete with trickling waterfall.















Next you'll come to one of two covered porches. The door in the photo is the original front door of the house--now no longer in use.















Mary calls this room "the log cabin room", and for good reason: when the house was first built in 1830, this room was the house. Check out the ceiling beams, which are hand-hewn, and the tongue & groove oak floors. The art on the walls includes Mary's original work.















The dining room is one of my favorite rooms...and not just because I associate it with Mary's fabulous roasted vegetable fajitas! I love the simplicity of this room, the soaring ceiling juxtaposed with the weight of that great stone fireplace, which Mary says is perfect for cozy family dinners in the winter. She says that she searched high and low before finding the long trestle table, which is a solid pine reproduction of an Amish design. The windows look out onto one of two charming brick patios.






















The remodeled kitchen is a chef's dream. Check out those gorgeous granite counters, birch cabinets, and stainless appliances. If you enlarge the photo you'll get a better look at details like the tile backsplash and glass-front cabinets. Mary had it custom designed with lots of fabulous gourmet features like a pull-out pantry, pull out cutting boards, a double oven, a five burner gas stove, a warming drawer, a high powered fan, a microwave that doubles as a convection oven, a wide, deep sink for washing roasting pans, and storage systems that utilize otherwise "dead" space in corner cabinets.















Situated as it is right next to the spacious dining room, this kitchen can handle cooking for a crowd and is great for entertaining. I love the use of drawers in place of lower cabinets. Oh, and I love the cup pulls. Cup pulls always get my vote. I brake for cup pulls.















Here's another shot looking directly into the kitchen so you can see what a perfect, tucked in space it is. I love that the kitchen has its own distinct roofline.






















The living room features heart pine floors, depression glass windows, and...what's that? Another fireplace!? That's three so far!















These stairs with hand-carved rails lead up to the master suite.















I love this serene, private master bedroom. Check out those gleaming floors! Be still my heart. And yes, yet another fireplace. Click the photo to see the wall and ceiling woodwork in more detail. This room overlooks the pond, and Mary says that in the warm months you can hear the trickle of the waterfall and the courting frogs and crooning crickets at night. Sigh.















The master bath has been completely renovated, but details like these pretty dual pedestal sinks and the beadboard keep it in character with the rest of the house. Within the master suite, there's also a separate walk in closet/dressing room, a cedar closet, and a small craft space.















Now we'll head back downstairs and explore the guest wing of the house. From the kitchen, we'll pass through this bright breezeway sun room...















Which offers a lovely view of not one, but two brick patios. Have a look at this one. That arbor is covered in sweet, fragrant jasmine.






























Added later, the guest wing features a laundry room, three more bedrooms with beadboard (two downstairs, one up), two more full bathrooms...










































And this fantastic space, which could be a private guest sitting room, a playroom for a family with small kids, or a teen lounge for a family with older kids. And, yes, there's the fifth fireplace.














But wait! There's more! There's this huge, fenced backyard (just one part of the 2.4 acre property). The yard includes raised beds where Mary has grown corn, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, squash, pumpkins, asparagus, broccoli, cucumbers & herbs.













Flowers flourish here too. Mary is one of those people who almost always sets the table with a vase of fresh cut flowers from her garden.















Wildlife visitors include deer, geese, possums, raccoons, squirrels, box turtles, woodchucks, and a bevy of backyard birds including owls, hawks, and hummingbirds. Butterflies love the gardens too, of course. For those of you from out of state, let me be the first to tell you that NC is home to some truly lovely butterflies.

Once, a neighbor's horse even stopped by unexpectedly for a drink.

















And there's that shady hammock that I mentioned before, with your name on it!
















There's a peaceful covered front porch.














And, of course, that quintessential Southern front porch must-have item: the porch swing!














There's so much more that I haven't even shown you here:

*One more full bath and 2 more half baths
*Another bedroom
*Another brick patio
*A detached, two car garage with a huge (521 square foot) heated and cooled bonus room (plus half bath) above it. This would be the perfect space for a home office, an art studio, or another guest suite.
*A craft nook
*Beautiful Falls Lake, which is just an easy walk away
*When you need a break from the peace and quiet, Downtown Raleigh is a short 15 mile drive, and it's a quick shot to Research Triangle Park and RDU Airport via 1-540.

If this amazing property makes your heart skip a beat but you live in some faraway, expensive land like New York, Boston, or San Francisco where you'll pay a zillion dollars to live in a matchbox, I invite you to visit the Realtor's link below to see how much further your money will go in the lovely state of North Carolina.

My family and friends tease me about my ongoing campaign to get everyone I know (and even some people I don't know) to move to North Carolina, but honestly, it really is a wonderful place to live.

Link To More Information About The Hillary Thompson Home

This post has been linked to Hooked on House Tours--Fall Edition, at Hooked on Houses and Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer.

DIY Chalkboard Ragamuffin Banner

My sweet baby girl recently celebrated her first birthday, and we had a small party in her honor with our extended family. Since my daughter hasn't yet discovered Elmo, Nemo, or Frodo, I had free reign to pick a theme. I decided to go with a vintage theme so I could decorate with some vintage toys that I already had at home. I'll share pictures of some of the vintage items in a later post.

The party decor pièce de résistance was this rag garland/chalkboard "Happy Birthday" banner. The ragamuffin garland element was inspired by one that I saw here made by blogger Kimba. I added removable chalkboard letters so I can customize the message for future celebrations.















Here's a close up of a few of the fabrics. I selected fabrics for their bright colors more than their patterns:























Tutorials for the garland portion can be found all over the blogosphere, so I won't reinvent the wheel here (besides, the instructions are basically: "Tie strips of fabric onto a long piece of string"). I will share a few details though:

1. I used regular garden twine as the basis for the garland
2. My fabric strips were 2" by 8"
3. The finished garland is comically long. Too long, in fact, to fit comfortably in a photo unless you hang it at a funny angle. Plan ahead in case you need to buy a bigger house:










4. This project is much easier if you have a rotary cutter, a ruler, and a cutting mat (pictured below)

















It also helps if you have your mom visiting from California to help you tie on the endless strips of fabric. It is her job to groan halfway through the project, "You know, most people would just buy a banner!" To this, if you're like me, you will respond, "But what fun would that be?" The truth is that I have a pathological need to make things by hand to celebrate special occasions. When I got married, I made my own veil and bouquet, and I strung the pearls to make my necklace. I don't like to outsource the fun projects, and in my opinion, they're all fun projects, which explains why I am the World's Worst Delegator.

Plastic coated poster boards from Sherwin Williams formed the backing for the chalkboard letters. The boards are designed for testing faux paint finishes and retail for less than $2 each. They don't buckle--even under multiple coats of paint--and they can be cut with scissors.

This project required two poster boards, but I ended up with extra pieces. To make the chalkboard squares, I painted 2 coats of chalkboard paint on the boards, then cut out pieces that were 5"wide x 5.5"high. A regular 3 hole punch was strong enough to punch holes in the pieces for hanging on the garland. I used 1" x 8" fabric ties to tie the letters onto the banner.

I made this sign for the front porch with left over materials from the banner. To make the garland portion of the sign, I just ran a needle and thread through small fabric scraps, which I kind of bunched up or loosely folded to about 1" x 1". It only took a few minutes.

In my next post, I'll share some images of the vintage toys, as well as a gratuitous mini cupcake photo.

Happy Birthday, Baby Bear!

This post has been linked to other great DIY projects at A Soft Place to Land, Today's Creative Blog, and Reinvented.

Presto, You're a Fabric Designer!

I'm so excited to have discovered Spoonflower, a fantastic site that allows users to design their own fabric. I'm not talking send in a photo of your pet salamander and they'll print it on a t-shirt for you. I'm talking today you wake up and you're a textile designer, and you can order yards and yards of your own unique custom fabric from which you can make fabulous throw pillows.

You can draw or paint your design by hand and then scan it into the computer, or design it directly on your computer (using Photoshop, for example). The site is very user-friendly (and a little bit addictive, I might add). Uploading your design is a snap. Prices start at $18.00 per yard, and swatches are available for $5.00. The most challenging part is creating a design that works in a repeat pattern. Design Sponge offers an excellent tutorial for drawing a repeat pattern (by hand) here.
















Don't the possibilities make your head spin?! Beyond just the general coolness of DIY fabric as a concept, a few specific applications come to mind:

You can design a themed fabric for a nursery or a child's room:





















Or incorporate a child's original artwork into a fabric:














You can design a fabric that showcases your own personal obsessions, be they Scottie dogs, cupcakes, or...cuckoo clocks:





















Or design a fabric that includes custom colors that you can't find at the fabric store:



While we're on the subject of color, a great resource to have in your graphic design toolbox is Instant Eyedropper. This tool is freeware, and it allows you to find the color code for any color on your computer screen just by rolling your mouse over the text or image. It was created for web designers, but I think that it could also come in handy in all of your computer-related design escapades.

See a paint or fabric swatch that you like online? Roll over it, write down the color code, and incorporate that color into your custom fabric. Yes, computer monitors will alter your perception of the color a bit, but at least you'll be in the ballpark. And with Spoonflower offering $5.00 swatches, you can afford to tinker until you get the color just right. Cool, no?

The Spoonflower fabric images shown here are (listed from top to bottom) :
Fleur de Cuillere by Heather Dutton
Alphabet Red Lime by Deanna
Jam Tart Baby Fabric 2 by Christina Romeo
Ferocious Jungle 2 by Emily Burger
Max Miaow/Woof by Lisa Kingston
Cuk3 by Heidi Kenney
Green and Blue Flowers by Susanne Karlsson

This post has been linked to Works for Me Wednesday @ We Are THAT Family and Hooked on Fridays @ Hooked on Houses.

Easy DIY No Sew Pillow Tutorial

What do you get when you combine old towels, rubber bands, a paper towel tube, and a piece of fabric? Ladies and gentleman of the Blogosphere, I give you The DIY 5 Minute, No Sew, No Glue, No Batting, No Stuffing, No Ribbons, No-Talent-Required Neck Roll Pillow. To the best of my knowledge, this is my own invention, but for all I know this could be old news to seasoned blogophiles.

Most no-sew bolster pillows require that you tie the ends off with ribbon, creating a pillow that is shaped like a long piece of wrapped candy. This can be a pretty look in the right room, but sometimes you just need something a little more tailored. This is it!

Materials

• Two old bath towels (one towel might suffice if it's a really fluffy one)
  
• One cardboard paper towel tube
• Two rubber bands
• A piece of fabric--lightweight works best (I used part of a sun dress for this tutorial. The dimensions of the piece that I cut were approximately 23" x 35", but I ended up with a bit more fabric than I needed!)
  

Instructions

Step 1:
Fold your bath towels in half the long way to make two long, skinny rectangles. Stack one towel on top of the other. Place the paper towel tube at one end and roll as you would a rug. Set aside.















Step 2:
I used paper in place of fabric to illustrate this next step because the fabric edges were not clear enough to see in the photos. Fold your fabric into a tube shape so that the front side of the fabric is on the inside of the tube and the back of the fabric is on the outside of the tube. Be sure to fold your raw edges and overlap them as shown.





















Step 3:
Gather the ends of your fabric in the rubber bands. The more evenly spaced you can make your gathers, the better the end result will look.

Optional Note: if you would like covered buttons on the ends of your pillow, add them during this step. To add a covered button, you would need to thread yarn or a fabric strip through the back of the button to make a "tail"and then thread this "tail" through the hole at the end of your fabric tube so that your button is on the inside of the tube during this step and the "tail" of yarn or fabric sticks out through the end where your fabric is gathered. The rubber band would then hold the button in place. If these instructions didn't make any sense, take a nap and/or drink a cup of coffee and then read them again.

Step 4:
Turn your fabric right side out so that the rubber bands are on the inside. Note: if you added buttons, they should now be on the outside.














Step 5:
Insert your towel roll into the cover, tucking the gathered fabric ends into the open center of the cardboard paper towel tube.















Step 6:
Tuck one side of your fabric opening into the other so that your towel roll is completely covered and the fabric cover is snug. (Green paper is used in the photo so that the fabric edge is visible.)















You're finished! My example pillow has a few funny seams because this fabric is recycled from a dress, but you get the idea. This is about as eco-friendly as a DIY project can get--if you ever tire of this pillow, simply disassemble it and repurpose or recycle the components! It's just my kind of DIY project: cheap, green, and easy to make! Come to think of it, that description also applies to frozen peas, but peas aren't nearly as versatile as a decor element.















A few final thoughts:

1. This project yields a pillow that is heavier than the average pillow. If a "normal" pillow is Wonder Bread, your pillow will be Granny Ethel's fruitcake.

2. You can adapt this project to make a long bolster pillow by substituting a gift wrap tube for the paper towel tube and by rolling your towel(s) starting at the short end without folding them.

This project has been posted with lots of other great DIY projects at A Soft Place to Land and at The Shabby Chic Cottage.

Copy Cat: Look-Alikes For Less

No, you're not seeing double, you've just spotted another great "copy cat"! If you like the look of Pottery Barn's Metropolitan Console Table (left photo $299.00 sale price), have a look at JC Penney's Evan Sofa Table (right photo $179.00). With almost identical dimensions (the Pottery Barn table is 1/2 inch wider and 1/2 inch longer), both tables offer simple, clean lines and a great way to complete your foyer or dress the back of your sofa!