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

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

Next, Please.

Post #8

If you're a regular follower, you've been wondering where the next post is. I've been so busy with this sale business, I can hardly see straight. But now I'm ready to continue the tour.
On the last post, I showed you a picture of the upstairs hallway. The doorway on the left at the end is our bedroom, which we call the Red Room. It's the only bedroom upstairs without a floral name, even though there is a floral quilt and wallpaper border.


I have showed this quilt before on Thyme for Herbs. It is one of the few quilts that I have totally designed by myself. I named it "Eye of the Iris." At the time irises were my favorite flower. I still love them, but daylilies have taken over my passion for the last 15-16 years. When I made this quilt it was just an inspiration. I didn't have any of these colors in my other house. I actually finished it shortly after we moved in. So I painted my room based on the colors in the fabric. I think it always intended to go in this room. Do you think quilts can have personalities? I do.


I had to take the picture with the shades down or the photo would be washed out. The windows have the same diamond pattern as the front bedroom.
This little settee was in the sitting room until a few years ago. I am uncomfortable moving furniture around. I work real hard to find a piece for a certain spot and it usually stays there for years. But in this case, after painting this room, it seemed as if it needed to be here.
My mother always moved her furniture to give the room a new look. When I came home from school, I never knew where the couch would be. I guess I'm looking for more familiarity and stability.
The curtains were a JC Penney find. Once again, as in the last room, the flowers on the fabric perfectly matched the colors of the quilt.

This serpentine highboy dresser was something we brought with us from the previous house. It's my husband's favorite piece of furniture.

The quilt rack is at the foot of the bed. The pink and blue lap quilt is the first quilt I made in 1991. The green and yellow quilt was made by Duane's grandmother for his parents. She didn't put labels on her quilts but I know she always gave one to each child and grandchild when they got married. So I think it's from the 30s. Duane is the baby of his family so Grandma was having trouble with her vision by the time we got married. We didn't received a quilt so it was very meaningful that the rest of the family gave it to us when Mom and Dad passed on.

We bought the bed and dresser set in Florida. We had been looking for an oak set but thought they were too expensive for our budget. On a visit to Florida, we went into an antique shop and discovered the owners were from Michigan. They had hauled this set down with them for their new shop, but no one in Florida cares for oak and they couldn't sell it. We got it so cheap that we could afford to rent a U-Haul and take it back North with us on our return trip. Oak is the wood of choice in Michigan. Don't forget, in the 1800s, we were the lumber capital of the world and Grand Rapids was the furniture capital.

I found this wonderful water color, which is signed and marked 1900, on a barn floor in an antique sale. I was looking for a frame. It was stacked with a bunch of others and all dusty. When I asked how much, he said, "well, you know that's only a print." I didn't think so but I was in love with the little girl and so it didn't really matter anyway. He charged me for the frame only and even that was reasonable. When I got home, I found the markings: N.A. Ward. Has anyone heard of this person? I've done extensive research and never found the name. I think it might have been a local artist. She haunts me, she makes me think of Les Miserable, and reminds me to be thankful for all I've have. When I look at her, I realize I don't do enough to help those less fortunate.

I had planned to show you the library and an additional room today, but along with that comes the long story I was telling you about. So I'll end here. Tomorrow's another day.

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

Let's Go Upstairs.

Post #7

I think today I'll take you upstairs. On the second floor there are 6 bedrooms, (we only use three at the moment) a sitting room, a library, and two bathrooms. Only one bathroom is working; the shower and toilet in the second bathroom were taken out by a previous owner -- another long story -- and we never got around to redoing it. It's used for storage now.





As you come to the top of the stairs, you'll see an antique clock that my father-in-law had. He took it with him to every house and even the last move to Florida. We don't know for sure where he got it, but he always liked it and wanted us to have it. I think he knew it would look good here.
The light fixture is original to the house but I am not sure which doctor hung it there. The house had gas fixtures when it was first built, unless this was converted.





This is a view looking down the hall from the bathroom toward the top of the stairs. The door on the left is my bedroom. Straight ahead is the library. (sorry, about the blurry picture!
We brought the large teak Buddha with us from Taiwan. We bought it in our first year of marriage, so it's always been in our house. It's said to bring good luck when you rub his belly. Children always love to test out that story. (giggle, giggle)


To the left of the hallway picture is what we call the Lilac Room, the most recently decorated of all the rooms upstairs. It's one of our favorite guest rooms. I am selling all of the furniture in here. I had planned to cover the walls with quilt wall hangings so the walls are bare because I never got started on any before making the decision to leave.

I made this quilt and then matched the paint to the colors. It always seems so spring-like in here.


I found these curtains at Walmart! You can't see the fabric, but it's a sheer with small flowers the exact same colors as the quilt. They're even stitched in a cross-hatching pattern just like the quilt. You can see the window design through the light. I've always loved the bedroom windows. In the book that Hilda wrote she says this room was used as a guest room, also.



A pleasant and restful corner. The radio is from the 30s and still works. I always expect old-time music to play when I turn it on.
Now that you're in the guest room, would you like to stay a while? Sit back and relax or take a nap. I'll call you for dinner!


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