Knicknacks of Life

Although I am an avid attendee of many estate and rummage sales, as an adult I’ve never hosted one until today. The reason? I LOVE my weekends and enjoy spending them doing things I enjoy, Parker enjoys or Shon enjoys - not selling our cast offs. However, when my friend Katrina mentioned that she was having an estate sale of her husband’s grandma’s things, my ears perked up.

Most of the items I’ve contributed to the yardsale are on their way to Goodwill. However, the estate items Katrina and her husband are selling will be the “talk” of Sioux Falls junkers for at least a year.

Her husband, Chad’s grandparents owned a Dollar store, a Ben Franklin and held onto nice and unique items and kept them in pristine condition. As I helped Katrina set up it was like touring the coolest antique store - toys still in boxes, beautiful glassware, TONS of South Dakota souvenir kitsch, and random items you just don’t see - like ledgers from the 1800s, a salesman’s model toolkit, a 1892 program from the Republican National Convention (Which I did purchase for my brother.)

When my husband, Shon, arrived at the sale, he kept saying,”this is the sale everyone will be talking about” - Kind of like an auction we attended in our neighborhood 5 or more years ago now. It was of one of Shon’s friends, an elderly gentleman who used to work at KELO, and passed away in his 90s. He held onto everything as well, and to this day, when we visit with some of our friends who also attended, we reference favorite items we purchased at his sale - my favorite is a round cooler painted in plaid.

Kitchen remodel is nearing completion!!!!

For friends who have been following the blog, sorry I’ve been lax about updating it. In the last 6 weeks a lot has been going on in our kitchen. There are obviously some details yet to complete, but I wanted to share this update with you.

As you’ll note, I’m not the greatest at BEFORE photos - I know I have some, but I couldn’t find any - so you’ll just get to enjoy some Parker photos while noting our kitchen before: 1. the dark cupboards; 2. the laminate counter tops; 3. the laminate floors.

So far this is what we’ve done: I’ve painted the cupboards, our contractor, Joe Meyer painted the doors, and hung them last night!!!! One thing good about living with no cupboard doors for almost a month (because I was a slow painter) is I cleaned out my cupboards and somehow found room to store everything, so once we’re done with the remodel, it’s my hope to have clean and clear counter tops.

The quartzite counters were installed last week as was the undermount sink and new facet. 

Shon pulled up the laminate floors and yesterday the first sanding was applied to the wood floors underneath - aren’t they stunning!!!! Now all we have left is replacing the huge chandelier with a fixture which matches the others on our main floor, installing the peninsula, painting the walls, installing the subway tile backsplash and painting the trim - I hope it’s all done by the end of July! I’ll keep you posted!

Revealed!

Our granite walls are beautiful thanks to a day of sandblasting, but the rest of my house is a dusty mess! I feel like I can empathize a lot more with the women of the 1930s who dealt with the Dust Bowl – except, I only have to clean up after one “dust storm,” and for them it was a regular occurrence.

After the sandblasters left, Parker and I cleaned the main floor of the house while Shon and a friend cleaned the basement. Once they had the sand scooped and vacuumed up, we all stood in the basement and just reveled at the beauty of the foundation laid more than a hundred years ago.

Now that the paint is off the concrete floors and the plaster/paint is off the granite walls, Shon and I can easily imagine how things will look once the space is finished. We’ve come a long way and have only a little left to do before the professionals can get to work.

We Bought a Couch!

The hunt for a Mid Century couch is over! I connected with the owners of Modtro, a downtown vintage store which opens its doors each month for a sale, and they sold me this great sofa and chair that I’m going to add to the list of items that need upholstered.

Speaking of upholstery - I found a great upholsterer in Tea through word-of-mouth and by seeing his work first hand. Kevin the owner of K-Kraft. Now, the big challenge will be selecting the right fabric and getting it for the right price.

Selecting a fabric that both Shon and I agree on, is a difficult task which contains many challenges. First, there are limitless options. Second, Shon and I don’t agree on our favorites – which in its own way is quite limiting. And third, many times my favorite option is out of my budget – again limiting (so why am I complaining about limitless options!) Because, even with limitless options, I have not fallen in love with any that are within budget and Shon and I both agree upon.

For this couch, however, I found some charcoal grey wool for only $5/yard, AND Shon likes it too! So, it’s a win-win. Kevin this couch will be coming your way soon.

In one weekend Shon and I removed everything that took us seven years to accumulate and store in our basement. Monday night, small sledge hammer in hand, Shon began demolition.

I took a few swings and boy did it feel good!

Even though our loan processing will probably take about 40 days to complete, we decided that since we’re pre-qualified, and there is a high chance we’ll receive the loan, we’d better get a start on the demo so our contractor can begin the minute we close on the loan.

This loan is a FHA 203K. The great thing about the loan is the paperwork includes a lot of protection for both the homeowner and the contractors. However, because it is a federal loan, it will take about 40 days before we can close. We’re working with our good friend, Craig Markhardt with Advana Mortgage. Since we’ve worked with him before, the process is pretty painless – and he puts up with me checking in with him frequently.

Now that there is nothing in our basement and the random walls are coming down, it is much easier to envision what the finished space will look like. Also, the enormity of the project becomes more of a reality. Since we’re doing the demo, removing the paint from the granite walls and concrete floor ourselves to save money, both of us recognize we won’t have much free time for a few months.

If you have any tips on paint removal, send them my way!