Castle Creek Farm

Inspiration farm stand.....

The Stairway Project

Yup I'm climbing up on ladders again!

Here's my latest DIY atomic farmhouse project....the stairway leading to the master bedroom. There use to be a door at the top of the steps that you opened to come into the bedroom....that's gone..Yay! There also use to be gross beige carpet in the bedroom and stairway....ummm really gross....that's gone to..Yay! Taking down the door and part of the wall was a smart decision and really opened up the space. You can see pictures of some of the changes here.

Things I love about my master bedroom:
Since removing the door and creating a small section of half wall, we've created a room that gets filled with afternoon sunlight. I love a sun filled room especially in winter time.

The walk in closet just rocks! Okay it's not completely done yet and we still need to build the shelves on the other side of the wall....but I love having a room right off the master bathroom to walk into and get dressed. It's only going to get even more amazing once we get it completely finished!

I'm also loving the hardwood floors Sgt put in last winter. Going to that auction and snagging all that wood flooring is really going to pay off for us and I'm glad we had that opportunity. I recommend anyone who is planning on doing remodeling to try to attend some home builders auctions before you just trot off to the big box stores and spend your hard earned money. Here's what I'm talking about..here!

I've got the walls painted and hope to be moving onto the stairs this weekend! I'm still deciding what direction I'm going in with them. I'm leaning towards painting them due to the worn condition they are in. I'm thinking of painting a fun colorful runner on the steps! Will keep you posted on the final outcome.

Keeping It Simple

I witnessed something at an auction on Saturday that I've never seen before and hope to never see again...a crazy mental auction bidder! Seriously, this woman must have been having a manic episode. She was literally bidding on and buying everything that went up for sale. At one point she had her bidding ticket in her hand and was waving it around in the air while having a conversation with the fella next to her. She stopped her conversation with the fella and said to the auctioneer, "What am I bidding on?" She spent $50 on an old rusty rake. She bid against everyone on everything it didn't matter what it was, she didn't care, she just wanted to bid. She was bidding on items before the auctioneer even said what the opening bid was for an item. He told her a few times to allow him to get out the bid amount before she started bidding. The auctioneers were starting opening bid prices extremely high because they new she would just instantly bid on it. People left the auction because they became so annoyed with what was happening. Towards the end of the auction, Sgt overheard the auctioneers talking about her behavior and becoming concerned that in the end she wouldn't pay for all she bought! It was so weird. She didn't know what she was bidding on half the time, she didn't care if she over paid for an item, and she didn't seem to have a spending limit what so ever. Yup, that's right, she just waved that number in the air like she just didn't care! I saw the auctioneers go over to speak with her a few times during the auction. Now don't get me wrong, she had every right to bid on anything she wanted at any price she wanted to pay for it, as it was after all a public estate auction. That's the nature of an auction, it goes to the person willing to pay the most for it. It was just the weirdest, most disturbing auction I've ever been to.

But not to worry the day wasn't a complete loss because when the crazy bidding lady was briefly distracted with picking out what she wanted from a bid she just won (yup, she didn't know and an auction employee took her over to the side yard to show her) I snagged up a two piece bookcase I had my eye on for $5. And that was it for my auction buys!

In other fun and entertaining news, this morning Sgt and I pulled up our crop of sweet potatoes that I planted this Summer from the garden! I love hunting for potatoes and we did pretty well with our harvest. I'll be writing about our sweet potato harvest over in the blog we share, The Simple Acre later today...so stop on over if you want to see the Sgt and I gettin dirty!

Blog Loving

HEY ALL!

I know what you're all thinking, where the hell has MaryDeluxe been this Summer?? Right? Okay maybe not my Mother as she has my phone number and checks up on me on a regular basis....I'm just mainly talking about the rest of Y'all out there in internet-land! Well, I've been just a busy little buzzing bee over here in my new state of New Jerzee! I'm still trying to get boxes unpacked!! GAK! Moving is such a big deal for people who have way to much stuff...ya know. But a good thing is the Sgt and I had a big ol' yard sale in front of the Belvidere Library last week and got rid of a lot of crap-o-la....we also made some nice *cha-ching* chunk of change...which I will happily say, some of that chunk of change was used to fill my belly with yummy Thia food tonight! Sgt also used a bit of the cash to finally fix the dripping shower in the bathroom...such a handy guy that Sgt and I learned a few new curse words to boot! Now onto business!

New Blog Alert!

Here's a fab new blog for you guys to check out! If you enjoy collecting vintage as much as I do, you'll have to drop over and check out My Life as a Collectorator! Now here's a gal after my own collecting heart!

Chartreuse pottery.

CollectoratorToo writes.... I am a Collectorator....It is not a disease but an obsessive state of mind. Technically, I am Collectorator Number 2 as there is a Number 1 Collectorator out there... Visit www.flickr.com/photos/collectoratorone/, and you will see the collection of CollectoratorOne who is the one that inspired me (or is that infected me?).

Wondering what a Collectorator is? It is a person who decorates with collectibles! I should probably change that to obsessively decorates with collectibles. We like to call it Collectorating for short. Oh and decorating yourself with collectibles counts as Collectorating as well.

I cannot take credit for coming up with the Collectoration terminology. Credit goes to Knifezilla, the one that tries to keep CollectoratorOne's obsessive collecting "somewhat" in check.

So if you are a Collectorator, we are here to be your support group! We understand, condone, and fully encourage the obsession! Enjoy our Collectorations and be sure to share your own Collectoration with us as well!

Part of her box purse collection! *Drool*

CollectoratorToo is in the process of packing up her things in hopes of moving into a bigger house in the near future. She's taking pictures and talking about her collections as she goes... which is fun to watch... but I feel her pain over having to pack everything away as she waits...I really do. I also know what it's like to part with things along the way. As much as it hurts, it does feel really good to declutter!

Until next time Dear DeluxeVille Readers....Keep calm and carry on!
xoxo
MaryDeluxe