Updated photos

Oak Staircase



Living Room



Dining Room




Kitchen



Breakfast Room


Main Floor Bath



Parlor



Upstairs Hall




Upstairs Bath




Upstairs Bedroom



Sitting Room and 2nd Bedroom



Looking Down










This house is for sale! Go ahead, take a tour! You can search individual rooms by clicking on the labels list in the sidebar on the right.

Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories

House For Sale, Jamestown Michigan

Yes, my house is finally up for sale. If you haven't visited here before and taken the tour, I am listing a link to previous posts for each room to make it easier for you. So let's go!

Front Door Foyer and Staircase

Living Room and Dining Room

Parlor

Breakfast Room and Back Porch

Kitchen

Upstairs Front Bedroom (facing street, east)


Master Bedroom (windows to the south)

Library (and stripped back bathroom)

Bedroom (door leads to balcony facing east)

Attic(third floor) and Garage


Back Garden (daylilies and other perennials)


Herb Garden

Front Garden (irises)

You can search more articles by clicking on the labels list on the right.



Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories

The Attic and Garage

Three stall garage, two have electric door openers. There is also another door in the back of the middle stall going out to the back yard. Easy access with our tractor/lawn mower. It works great when we have parties set up in the garage for our guests to get to the gardens.





We might have to go up again and take these pictures at night. The windows caused the photos to be dark but you can get the idea. The third story is the same size as the house. The ceiling is 12 feet high in the
middle. At one time there was another bedroom on one end but the walls have been removed. Only the area of the painted floor remains as a reminder of what once was.


This house is for sale! Go ahead, take a tour! You can search individual rooms by clicking on the labels list in the sidebar on the right or on the post called
"House for Sale" listed on January 3, 2008.

Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories

Silent Night

Go ahead, take a tour! You can search individual rooms by clicking on the labels list in the sidebar on the right.

Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories

Christmas at Happenstance House

This is the scene out my back door today. The weather man says it will continue to snow through at least Dec 20th. What an early start we've had on the winter weather! Some years we don't see snow until Christmas Eve.



My Christmas quilt is at the front door entrance. It's a Bethlehem Star. I hand piece and hand quilt. This was a fun quilt to do. It's about 15 years old and is carefully packed away each year.




This little guy greets visitors at the back door. Isn't he cute? A Walgreen's special last year!




The dining room table. My father made the sleigh. There's nothing like a photo to show up the wrinkles in the tablecloth, is there?



The snowman is another favorite of ours. He's an oversized, handblown, glass ornament. We got this at Cracker Barrel a few years ago, 50 percent off. My favorite way to shop. Have you ever shopped at Cracker Barrel at Christmas time? It's an awesome place for gifts!




A view into the dining room. The greens have white lights woven in so at night everything sparkles.



A look into the foyer. The sofa has to stick into the doorway but with a large family gathering or party we need the sitting space and really can't move it out.





We're pretty traditional with the tree decorations. We especially like hand-blown glass ornaments. I don't follow trends and fashion, or do a Victorian tree. I've kept a journal with a list of ornaments that goes back to 1966. I can tell you who gave me what for over 40 years.



This little girl was an anniversary gift years ago. She waves her candle as she welcomes you into our home.



I've been trying to cut back on the decorations and clutter at Christmastime. I like a clean, classy look, but my husband likes whimsical. He brought home this dog last year and proudly hung him on the banister after I had spent hours with the greens and lights. The dog sings carols, while his cheeks flash and his mouth moves. Tacky, but what can you do? Of course, my grandson loves him.

Next we will get a peek into the attic, so stick around.

If you're new to this blog and wish to see the individual rooms, click on the labels list in the sidebar on the right.


Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories

Kitchen

It's finally time to show you the kitchen. I held off for a while because we were in the middle of painting cupboards and as you can see in the first picture, we are now working on the ceiling but had to stop to get ready for all of the Christmas activity. Whew, so much going on!





I love this shelf above the window. Although it is a dust catcher, I had kitchen antiques up there. Many have been taken down and sold. I just kept a few favorites.

One of the best things about this kitchen is the cupboard and counter space. There's plenty of room for all of my dishes -- and I have a lot. I like to have different place settings for different holidays and seasons.


We put these shelves in so I could grow African violets which I had done in a previous home. But it just wasn't the right window. So I started to keep my dried herbs in jars on the shelves and it worked very well. They are so easy to reach when I am cooking, and they look pretty, too.


The island is topped with thick knotty pine boards, then covered in polyurethane. A previous owner built this and I have truly loved it. It's one of the first things women admire when they come into the kitchen. The beadboard is around the island and also on the lower half of all the walls.


This is the view out my back yard. Another look into my garden. I can watch the birds and squirrels while I cook and bake.


There's no explanation needed here. It's my cookbook shelves, holding all of the recipes I use for An Herbal Bedfellow.


Another small collection next to the refrigerator. I actually use most of them, but not the pig. Any guesses what it is? It's a cast iron headcheese mold. Now, that's kind of disgusting to me (head cheese is a sausage or jellied loaf made from the meat of the head of the hog or calf) but he was so cute I couldn't resist.


Just some more knickknacks on the baker's rack. There's no end to them. How will I ever get rid of it all?


And cupboards and more shelves above the stove.

This room was the original master bedroom when the house was first built. It was converted to a kitchen in the '40s when doctor number three moved in. It has seen many families come and go with loads of children begging snacks from Mom. There has been a lot of activity around the island while preparing Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas cookies, birthday cakes, and special dinners. I like to think of all the happiness there has been in this room, including my own.

Next time I think we'll see the living room in it's Christmas garb, so please come again. It was nice to see you!



Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories

A Happenstance Winner

The deadline for my giveaway is over, and just by Happenstance I chose a winner.

First of all, I want to thank you for all of your wonderful comments. You have complimented my rooms, and I can see that many of you love this house as much as I do. It has given me encouragement that maybe I can do it all over again in a new home. Sometimes I get the feeling that after 4 houses, I have used up all of my ideas. So now, I am encouraged, fortified, and ready to move on (literally.)

The winner I chose was registered as "ww11," so I will only announce her as that name. She has been contacted and has already responded with a mailing address.
So, ww11, your beautiful antique flow blue plate is on the way. I hope you enjoy it as I have over the years.

I also hope the rest of you may have found my newest blog through this giveaway and will stay with me. There will be more reviews and giveaways to come, some of which will be sponsored, either here or at Thyme for Herbs or An Herbal Bedfellow.

I really appreciate your wonderful comments even before this contest began. You are true blogging friends, and I am thankful for you all.



Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories

A Trifecta Giveaway

I have reached some fantastic milestones at my blog called Thyme for Herbs, so I am hosting a giveaway on all three blogs at the same time. I call it a Trifecta!!

Here I am offering this wonderful antique Flow Blue Plate. It's in perfect condition. The back is stamped Phoenix China, England. If you're a blue and white lover, this is the giveaway for you!!!



After entering here, pop over to Thyme for Herbs and
An Herbal Bedfellow to enter there. An Herbal Bedfellow is giving away a wonderful cookbook, and Thyme for Herbs is offering a 12-piece tea light candle set from Yankee Candle Company.

All you have to do here is leave a comment telling me what is your favorite room of my house and why.
The winner will be chosen by Random.org.
Please write something more than just "bedroom."
In case I am unable to contact the winner, I will then choose my favorite story.

For a second entry, blog about my giveaway, and then come back and tell me about it in a separate comment window.

For a third entry, subscribe to my blog with Feedburner and tell me about it in a separate comment window; make sure you verify your subscription! All current active members will automatically be entered.

Make sure you include your email address with the comment if it is not showing on your blog so I can contact you. If you are NOT a blogger, you must leave a contact email address or you will be disqualified.

This contest ends on Thursday, November 20th, Noon EST.







Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories

Another Bedroom

Post #13



We'll continue with the last room on the second floor that I plan on showing you. I guess the bathroom isn't that important; although it is cute, every one has one.

You enter this room by going through and to the left of the room with the dollhouses. This is the view as you go through the door. I spent many hours stripping the woodwork with a heat gun and scraper. All of the woodwork upstairs is douglas fir, a beautiful pine that you don't find anymore. The closets in my bedroom, the dark red one, are like brand new, still shiny and varnished. But as it turned out, this room had never been varnished or sealed. After all of this back breaking work, we discovered that the paint that was used at one time (probably oil-based) actually soaked deep into the wood. No amount of stripper would bring it up. So I had to paint all of the woodwork over again!
I was very pleased with my choice of wallpaper and carpeting. We call it the "Rose Room."


This picture is dark because I'm shooting at the door on a bright day. The door goes onto the overhead porch. I enjoy sitting up there in the spring or summer. My girls liked to go there to tan and read.
Did you notice there are no windows in this room? This door used to be the window and the door to the porch was where the bathroom window is now. The door with the hat goes into the bathroom. At some point in time, they switched them around. I think this was done so the recovering patients could have easy access to the porch and fresh air. The bathroom was not added until the 40s; that area used to be part of the wraparound stairwell and then was enclosed, maybe when it was turned into apartments. If you study a picture on the header you can get a feeling of what you are looking at. The middle window is the bathroom and the window on the left is the lavender bedroom.



I'm showing this little stand because of the little lamb on display. It has been in my husband's family since he was a little boy. There is a black one like it on the dresser, but we found that one at an antique shop.



This bed was previously in the room that is now my sewing room. When I moved all of my quilting supplies and fabrics in there we moved this bed in here and sold the "Jenny Lind" spindle bed that was here originally. I think I like this bed here better.
On the bed is a whole-cloth quilt that I made. If you're not a quilter that means it's made from one solid piece of fabric and then heavily quilted. I bought it pre-stenciled and hand quilted it. It was a lot of fun to do, and I was very happy with the finished product. I'd like to make another one someday.

That's it for today. There's only a few more places to show you.

If you're new to this site, it's best if you start at the beginning and work your way forward.


Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories

The Sitting Room

Post #12


Let's get on with the tour. We've still got a way to go!

I wish I had taken pictures of the sitting room when it was set up as a sitting room, but for quite a while it has been a place to hold the dollhouses and other items that are too bulky for the rest of the house. This room is at the top of the stairs and to the right of the library. It is in the center of two bedrooms. There's no hallway; it's placed in the old style of doing things where to get to one room you have to go through another. We believe that the room to the left was part of this room originally and there wasn't a wall going into what is my sewing room now. It looks like the doorway is newer than the rest of the house.


This is the wing of the house that was used as a surgical area and recovery room for the small surgeries that were performed here and maybe even some baby deliveries (although I'm sure most were born at home.) An 80-year-old-neighbor remembers playing upstairs with the doctor's children when there were beds lined up along the outside wall, ready for the patients or maybe in anticipation of an epidemic.
This particular doctor had children who were quite undisciplined and were allowed to run and scream throughout the house. The children would often jump from bed to bed and even jump from the attic pull-down stairs onto the beds. The housekeeper would be the one to chastise them. The doctor's wife never raised her voice, I was told.



This is a diamond disk player. My husband has always loved music players of all kinds. This one plays the thick Edison records. We have quite a collection. This particular disk player is for sale, It's very heavy and we really don't want to move it. If you know of anyone who is looking for one, please have them contact me.



Here you can see the thickness of the 78 records that were used in this time period.
Duane says the quality is far superior to the Victrolas that play the regular thickness record. And you don't have to worry about damage when playing it.



My husband also has quite a collection of Al Jolsen records, Helen Kane records (the voice of Betty Boop) and Uncle Josh cyclinder disks. We don't plan on parting with any of those. We keep this old sheet music hanging above the disk player.





This dollhouse was built by my father at age 80. This is not a kit but each piece of siding and roofing is individually cut. He made this house to sell for a little extra income while feeding his hobby at the same time.


I recently sold this one to one of my best friends. She is already decorating it and furnishing it and tells me she is having a ball.



This dolllhouse was made when Dad was in his 60s. He made it for my 35th birthday. I loved it and cherished it, and then later when my daughters were old enough to play with it responsibly, I allowed them to help in the decorating. They spent many dollars of their allowance money on small items, and we handcrafted others.
My youngest daughter, Taylor, has taken this one into her home and is redecorating and making new items to furnish it as the farmhouse that it is.
You can see stories about this dollhouse on my daughter's blog called Dollhouse Adventures.

The small lighthouse next to it is another one of my Dad's projects. It will pass on to my grandson.

It's been difficult finding new homes for these items that I love, but it's much easier knowing they will stay with family and friends.

Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories