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4/10/2007

Around the House!

Most of you know we had a major fire and had to rebuild the total interior of our house three years ago. We loved our little house with all the weird sponge painted walls and antique/vintage decorating I was so into.

I still am. But along with the rebuilding, the house took on a different personality. We didn't see it coming and we were floored at first.

Everything is brand new and beautiful. We got to pick our own tile and colors and
what not. We did salvage as much as possible. The most important was the family pictures and heirloom pieces passed down through the family. Some are worse for wear and others no longer with us, but we did reincorporate them as much as possible in our planning.

For months John and I wandered from room to room and admired the newness and the additions. It is beautiful. We love it. We miss the identity we had with it for 30 years. Where the kids stood straight against the brick fireplace wall in the kitchen, (and several of their friends) and bright colored tape marked their new heighth, now are new brick tiles that Bethany and Bryce put up for us. They are very neat and orderly and we still have to add the caulking between.

We both miss the marks our children made on that wall but they will be forever in our hearts. When I see the new tile I still can see the kids trying to stand on tiptoe while their Dad measured their growth. He would catch them and we would all have a good laugh.





We were able to salvage our wonderful one of a kind stove. I insisted. The contractors thought I was nuts. This stove has been the main ingredient of every meal I have cooked and baked for all of us for over 30 years.
There is no other like it. It had to be completely refurbished and rewired but it will always sit in a place of honor. I will use it til i can't.

It was bought from The House of Webster in Roger's Arkansas when we first moved into our house in 1975. They no longer make them. It was made from original molds from wood stoves in the 1850's. They electrified them and sold them for many years.

It has a small oven but we always seemed to manage with a microwave and a bbq grill for bigger celebrations or much planning ahead.



It has changed in that it used to have a black porcelain top that was seriously damaged from the high heat of the fire. The kind man who refinished it had a stainless steel top made for it.



With the refurbished stove in place, we also updated our kitchen to include a built in microwave and a big oven. it is also a convection oven but I have yet to master that part of the high tech stuff. I can tell you it is a very nice addition and adds so much more cooking availability for family get-togethers.

Our family continues to grow and this new kitchen will accomodate those additions for years to come.

I will post pics of more of the kitchen tomorrow. stay tuned.

2 comments:

cathyp314 said...

Love the article....good way for me to keep up to date on what is going on with you.

CountryMouse said...

I can totally understand why you wanted to keep and restore your stove. It really is beautiful and totally one of a kind. They have restored it beautifully.