Midweek MidCentury: 5th Anniversary

I'm feeling wistful because today marks the 5th anniversary of our closing on this humble little 1957 ranch. I cannot believe how quickly five years have gone by. Even though we loved the house as it was, and it had been wonderfully cared for over the years, we've still spent the last five years painting inside and out, removing wallpaper, putting wallpaper back up, landscaping, putting on a new roof, making hundreds of trips to Lowe's and Home Depot and on and on....

To mark the occassion, I thought I'd share a few snaps of my favorite rooms. These were taken three years ago (before HGTV came to film us for the show "National Open House"), but not a lot has changed.

The kitchen is what sold me on the house. It's much bigger than this picture shows, and as someone who spends 3/4 of her time at home in the kitchen, I loved how spacious and bright it is (the awesome birch cabinetry didn't hurt!). We couldn't afford new appliances, so I embraced the Harvest Gold refrigerator and stovetop and painted the walls Dutch Boy Yellow Ochre. Now, five years later, I'm so attached to the Harvest Gold appliances that I live in constant fear they are going to die on me!

The living room is the biggest space in the house; it runs the entire length of one end. It's surrounded by trees and is shaded by our back porch, so it's pretty dark in there. Again, I decided to just go with the dimness and make the room feel very cozy--like a coccoon. We painted the walls and ceiling a taupe-ish grey (Martha Stewart Weimaraner) to match the sofa we had bought, then kept that monochromatic color scheme with the rest of the decor.

The master bedroom was our first project. We figured we'd give ourselves a nice, finished retreat as we worked on the rest of the house. We thought we could have it done in a week. Five weeks later we finally moved into it. This room was our first lesson in wallpaper removal; the paper came off fine, but the original paint from 1957 flaked off with it. The hubby spent days and days spackling and sanding the walls.

Regardless, through the fun projects and the not-so-fun ones, every step has been a labor of love and a fun adventure with the hubby as we have built our first nest together.

p.s. I would also be remiss if I didn't also mention that while looking for a house, I met my bff, who was our Realtor. Love ya, NM!