I have some new pictures to show you that I took yesterday. These are of my kitchen and living room. We still have some decorating to do, but I'm pleased so far with the results. I wanted "old-timey" and I was thinking shabby chic, but it's looking a little more cottage-y with all the colors I'm using. I think my hubby likes it better than all the white and pink - plus I have him and two sons that are definitely not going to try to go the extra mile to keep white and pink spotlessly clean! So, I think this will work for us.

I'm very proud of my kitchen cabinets - we had to work with what was there and were not going to go in and do new cabinets. Check out my $4 TV cabinet. It was falling apart, got it at a garage sale. I think the lady would have paid me to take it off her property. My dad reinforced some of the loose boards and I painted it pale yellow. It was a nasty dirty white - worse than shabby chic white. I am still looking for a big cupboard to put my TV/video equipment in, but until I find it, this is going to work great. The top opens down to hold my DVD player and videos, and the bottom is spacious and Dad's going to put an extra shelf in there. I can store DVD's, my stereo equipment, quilts, books, whatever. I'm not real crazy about the TV being out in the open right now, but I'll have to put up with it for the time being. Sorry about the light coming in the windows. The sun was streaming in and it turned out really bright. I'll have to take a morning or night photo of the living room. It has lacey balloon curtains and it's really pretty with the sun coming in through the windows, but it's hard to see in a photo.

Did you notice my cabinet hardware? Soup Spoons! Aren't they cute??? I found a lady at Canton that has tons of silverplate and silverware mismatched stuff and bought them for $3 apiece which is cheaper than hardware at Lowe's or a home deco store. That old pie safe was built by the same old great uncle that built the house. It moved around quite a bit after he died, but we had in our other home and moved it back out here. It's neat that it wound up back where it started out!

My dining table is an old chippy glass-topped outdoor table and chairs which I recovered the seats on. All the old mismatched china came from grandparents, estate sales, etc. All my big bowls were handed down to me as well as old linens. My coffee table in the living room was from a garage sale - it used to be a dining table that my father in law got at a garage sale and he cut the pedestal down and put the feet back on it and painted it at least 30 years ago. Fits right in. I'm loving working on my cottage!

You know, I don't believe in ghosts, but old houses have lots of creaks and bumps. But I always have a comfortable feeling in the house. The folks that built and lived in the it - relatives of my husband and his dad - I think about them and their lives. I met the old uncle a couple of times many years ago - he was nearly 100 when he died. I fancy that somehow they'd be proud of what we've done with this old house and how it happy it makes us. So, Uncle Claude, if you're there, hope you'll like what we're doing - you're welcome anytime!

I'll show you more pictures later. Gotta get to work now!