Exploring the crawlspace

Vintage liquor bottles - LauraAnneStone.com

While attaching plywood to the basement wall so I could install wire shelves (more about that later), Jeremiah and his dad noticed some bottles in the crawlspace under the living room. The space spans the entire length of the house and about a third of the width, with the access panel being a little broken door panel located…

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Cleaning woodwork

I’m grateful for the former owner’s restraint when it came to remodeling. I love that the bathroom tiles have crazing, I love that the floors creak, I even love that the bathtub has a round top that makes balancing shampoo and razors on the edge nearly impossible. The only thing I don’t love so much…

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Mortise Locks

The front french doors didn’t latch in the living room so I dug out an old lock I found somewhere years ago. I thought “I’ll just switch these locks out really quick.” Nope. I keep forgetting that nothing is standard in this house. Sometimes, even when things look the same size, the don’t really “match”…

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2013 Holiday Dining Room Decor and Centerpiece

2013 Holiday Dining Room - juniper topiary red lantern centerpiece - LauraAnneStone.com

Tomorrow the family I referenced in the hallway painting post will be here. I already have my mantle all worked out so the only other place I really wanted to spruce up was the dining room. You can see the stripes are gone and the creamy color I used on top of my 3 layers of…

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Winter Holiday 2013 Mantle

2013 Winter Holiday Mantle - LauraAnneStone.com

Round two for the new mantle! This time I de-cluttered it some. I switched out the two black candlesticks for a huge wooden one and made use of the gorgeous pine cones from the previous house. I also made a boxwood wreath and topiary ball from the hedges and used vintage Mason and Atlas jars filled with…

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Paint it… then paint it again just in case

This is a little late, but in early November I volunteered my house for invasion when I invited my extended family over for Christmas. Nothing makes you think “Gotta get the house in order!” like knowing you’re about to have a few dozen visitors. Anyway, when we moved in we decided the painting priority would…

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Marie Therese Chandelier

So I cleaned that adorable glass chandelier in the breakfast room. It looked dusty… but it was actually FILTHY. Like sticky, nasty, can’t-tell-if-that’s-dead-bugs-or-old-kidney-beans kinda dirty. See the difference? So gross! (Though I honestly had no idea until I got on the ladder to change a bulb.)   Taking it apart also let me see how it…

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Window Wieners!

Yes. That’s right. I’ve invented something and I’m naming it Window Wieners. I got a new sewing machine for my birthday and I’m putting it to good use. Our windows are very drafty thanks largely to an attempt to seal them shut a very long time ago. They were partially closed, nailed (partially open) to…

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