~MORE VINTAGE FRENCH DOORS~

 ~FRENCH DOORS INTO DINING ROOM~

A couple of summers ago I found a fabulous pair of vintage French Doors at a local antique shop.  I snagged them for a great price and my hubby worked hard to install them in the opening of our dining room.  I love them so much as they have truly transformed our home...especially our entryway!

 

~LATEST VINTAGE FRENCH DOOR INTO OFFICE~

 What I haven't shown you is the doorway into my Mr. AGPMan's office which is just inside the front door and to the right of our stairwell.  We've had this single French Door for a LONG TIME!  My guy just hasn't had any free time to get it installed.  Not an easy task given the doorway didn't have an existing door-jamb.  It's now up and looking fabulous even though he still has trim to add and repaint!

~WASHER-DRYER MOVED OUT~

We awoke early this morning to the sound of thundering rain upon our rooftop!  We were more than happy as we bolted out of bed to watch the skies darken up with moisture laden clouds.  Nothing is needed more for our town than this heaven-sent watering for our dry, parched earth.  Thank you, God, for sending the welcomed rain.  We feel like we can breathe again after days and days of scorching heat.

~GONE GONE GONE~

We decided to skip the Estate Sale Circuit today and do more work inside our home.  For as much as I love to junque around I do NOT like hauling things to our SUV while trying not to get wet.  Instead we decided to go ahead and move our washer and dryer OUT of it's original wee little laundry space and rip off the old sheet-rock.  Except for the cabinets almost everything has now been removed from the far right side of our kitchen.  This complete and total makeover has taken on a life of it's own, but we are so thankful to have a new, beautiful kitchen on the horizon.

~SIZE KITCHEN WILL EVENTUALLY BE~

Slow going process as I shared with you earlier this week but soo exciting at the same time.  Here is a shot of what the kitchen area will eventually look like!  This photo was taken while standing near the back French Doors in our breakfast room.   At some point the door on that far wall will be moved into a different place and will lead to our new downstairs bath and laundry room.  See that counter thingy?  It's on wheels and we can move it around as need be.  The stove is going to be moved to the far right wall, close to where you see the white cabinets.

~SWEET VINTAGE TEAPOT LAMP~

I've done a lot of hand painting work in my studio this week.  Finished this sweet old PINK teapot lamp and I hope to get it uploaded to my website later today.  Wish I new more about it...just know it's old.  I'm still trying to get use to the new programs on my computer...I'm having a hard time with the pictures for my blog, but I suppose I'll get the hang of it all before long!

Today I'm linking up with Beverly from How Sweet The Sound for PINK SATURDAY!  Hope you'll check out all the sweet pinkalicious things when you can find time.  Sure to be fun!

Blessings for a wonderful day!

Love to you...

~~~~FRENCH DOOR MAKEOVER CONTINUES~~~~ And the Hammering Goes On

~MR. AGPMAN WORKING LIKE A DAWG~

For those of you who've been following our breakfast room (and ultimately what will be a kitchen makeover) transformation I have a few new pictures for you today!  Just in case you missed what's going on you can see even more of what we've done HERE and HERE!  Now, if we had hired someone to do all the work for us no doubt it would ALL be done now!  But...when you are Do-It-Yourselfers like we are one must work around jobs and life and other things that come up! :)

 ~GOODBYE TO OUR ORIGINAL BACK DOOR~

Our original back door has been fully enclosed now and the sheet-rock is up.  Because the room has it's original hardwood paneling (it's actually that beautiful OLD STUFF that is now hard to find and big $$$) the pieces you see to the right and left of the door have to be removed and one matching piece will then be installed.  I'm always amazed at how much TIME all this tedious stuff seems to take. :(

I mean...I'm ready to rip out the old tile now...

(Just so you know...my Mr. AGMan does NOT think any of this stuff is TEDIOUS!!!)

 

~I'M LOVING IT~

~THIS LOOKED SCARY~

I was sooo happy when that old back door was removed, but honestly...this looked totally scary to me!!!

 ~NEEDING A TRIP TO THE BEAUTY PARLOR~

(Mollie is looking a bit shag-nasty here!)

Still, our only real problem was that our little Miss MollieGirl (that would be our 5lb Yorkie) became TOTALLY CONFUSED over how to tell us she needed to go outside.  For over a week she'd just sit in front of the 'black hole' wondering what to do next.  She FINALLY figured out to go to the new French Doors after about three days!

 

 ~READY FOR FINISH WORK~

I snapped this picture about a week ago.  The windows have now been trimmed out and the paneling around the old back door has been removed.  The next step will be the finishing of the wall with new baseboards, trim, paint, etc.

This is all slow-going but we are loving each and every step of our home's transformation!  Having the original back door closed up has changed the look of our entire family room.  I absolutely LOVE IT!

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope your day is blessed!

Love to you...

 

~~~~FRENCH DOOR MAKEOVER CONTINUES~~~~ All This Hammering Is Giving Me A Headache

 ~LEFT WINDOW REMOVED~

OK Peeps!  If you been following our window redo (which is actually part of what will eventually be a total kitchen makeover!) you know our side windows came in this past week! You can read about that here!  If you'd like to go back and catch up on the other posts where we removed a window seat, etc., you can read about that part here and here!

Now..when you have construction going on everything turns into a big fat mess! :(  Bah!  Now as excited as I am to have this latest project ovahhhhhhh it actually has been very interesting to watch.  I'm just over-the-moon happy that I'm not the one actually doing the work.

 ~OUTSIDE VIEW~

I have to admit though I did duck out of the house for the majority of the day on Saturday for a day of shopping with my favorite girl in the world (that would be my daughter, Adrienne...clothes, clothes, and more clothes)!  YUMMO!!!  Truth be told I just couldn't handle all that hammering and banging!

 ~ORIGINAL BACK DOOR REMOVED~

 ~EEE GADS...WHAT A MESS~

 ~CLOSING UP THE OLD BACK ENTRY~

 ~MY GUY SURVEYING HIS WORK~

(Yes...it was fabulous)

 

 ~A REALLY BIG JOB~

Now...I know just by a quick glance you won't be able to tell the one thing that took literally HOURS for my Mr. AGPMan to do...can you see it?  Any guesses?

Well...see that little plug-in on the wall (lower left corner)?  If you scroll up to the first picture you'll see it wasn't there.  It had originally been under the window (where the French Doors are now) and by law/code we had to have one right near that spot.  This meant moving lots of electrical stuff (up and over the door, ceiling and inside the roof)...what a nightmare!

~WORKING WAY PAST DARK~

I finally headed off to bed once everything was secure~I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer!  I sorta thought the removal of the old center window and replacing it with French Doors and then installing new side windows wouldn't be that big a deal!

BUT WHAT DO I KNOW?

I Paint and Sew!

 I DON'T DO CONSTRUCTION!

~MORNING SHOT~

Since this is a work-day for the hubster guess who gets to clean all the debris up?  Yep...that would be me!  But, this girl isn't complaining!  No-Sir-Ree!  After seeing how exhausted my guy was after all the work it's the least I can do!

The second window won't be installed for a few days as least.  Trim work needs to be installed on the outside to further secure the house and the old entry needs to be insulated and sheet-rocked and a piece of the original paneling in the house (it's the very old and fabulous stuff) will be removed from another wall (one that is coming out) and placed over the old doorway to match the existing wall.  This is going to take a lot of work...and time!

I'm not EVEN going to venture a guess how much all this work would have cost us!  I'm sure a working-crew of 4 or 5 super-experienced construction workers could have done everything much faster than my Mr. AGPMan.  But...knowing the blood, sweat and tears (yep...there were some!) he put into it has made this latest project all the more special to me!  No doubt the re-do price would have certainly cost us some super-duper-big-bucks!

And there you have it!

THE HAMMERING CONTINUES...MORE SOON!

Love to you this beautiful Spring day...

~~ROMANTIC COTTAGE BICYCLE PLANTER~~ From Fabulous to OVER-DA-MOON

 ~PAINTED OUT IN CRISP WHITE~

Not long after I started blogging I shared with you just how I came about getting this charming Bicycle Planter!  If you missed it or would like to read more sappy stuff then just click on the highlighted link above.

Below is a picture of the planter when my hubby first gifted it to me a couple of years ago.  She was Verdigris in color back then and I actually LOVED her that way.  But...after two winters outside (I know...I know!) she was NOT looking too well.  So, for Spring 2011 I decided to paint her out using my newly favorite spray paint, Fresh White, by Valspar (available at Lowe's).

~ORIGINAL VERDIGRIS~

Now...I make no secret about the FACT I don't have a Green Thumb.  I wish I did.  Prayed for it in fact...just don't think it's meant to be.  Even so, I still give planting pretty flowers, shrubs, trees and even herbs a more than admiral "try".  Sometimes I hit pay-dirt and sometimes when the end of the growing season is over I fill up my trash can(s) with dead foliage (bah!)...

It's just now really warming up here in Oklahoma and trust me when I say our gardens and lawn DID NOT FARE WELL during the Winter.  It will be another month before our grass thickens up and turns a beautiful shade of green...I can't wait!

 ~FRESH WHITE IS SO YUMMY~

 Here's another shot of her sitting pretty holding my Grandma's favorite flowers, Geraniums.  I can't look at them without thinking of her!

~VIEW FROM INSIDE~

 About a month ago my hubby installed our new French Doors in our breakfast room.  Remember that post?  Ever since then we've been waiting for our new side windows to arrive and I'm happy to say they finally came in this week!  We had to have them special/custom ordered and it seemed to take FOREVER for them to get here!

~SIDE WINDOWS~

This weekend they will be installed and I'm going to tell you right up front that they BETTAH BE WORTH WHAT WE HAD TO PAY FOR THEM!  Wow!  Paying for custom-sized windows will put you in the poor house and this

junking-sluming-antique-loving-gal

nearly fainted over having to give her right arm for them (well, almost...you know, right?)...

Hope your day is wonderful!  

Love to you on this gorgeous Spring Day...

~COTTAGE DECOR RULES...and FRENCH DOORS are CHIC and FABULOUS~

 ~FRENCH DOORS GOING IN~

I am quite sure by the time we get this single project finished (installing the French Doors and NOT the actual kitchen remodel) you are going to be SICK of me yappin' about it all!  Still...I just couldn't resist sharing at least a few more photos of our new doors being set into place.  If you want to read more about what we are doing just click here and here.

What a job!  

Not for me...but for my Mr. AGPMan and our SWEET SIL!

(Who, by the way, just HAPPENED to stop by in the nick of time!  What a blessing!)  Our son, Brandon, is coming over next time to help with the side windows install!  

Young men rock...and like I said yesterday~so does my guy!

 ~MICAH IS STRONGER THAN I~

I can just see me TRYING to hold up those BIG and HEAVY doors while waiting for my Husbter to get them secured into place.

Yeah...right!

He thinks I'm SHE-RAH!

(WRONG!)

 

 ~BORING JOB~

Sweet and patient, Micah stood like this for the longest time.  Our girl married someone very similar to her father...  Micah is so kind and never complained for a second!

 ~MEASURING and LEVELING~

 My Mr. AGPMan is a stickler for doing everything right.  No shortcuts and everything needs to be perfectly straight and level.  He's amazing and has made sooo many of my dreams come true!

~DOORS IN PLACE~

The side windows had to be special ordered like I told you before.  Once they are hung in place everything will be trimmed out.  After that...the old back door will be removed!

~ORIGINAL BACK DOOR~

I'm thrilled this door is coming out because I've always hated it.  It's positioning in our family room took up a lot of wall space and I'm excited to have room for a
Christi Repasy Picture! :)

I hope you all had an awesome weekend.  I was sooo busy helping my guy I'm behind on my own stuff...didn't have much time to visit with many of you either...but I will today!

Blessings for a lovely day!

Love to you~

~~~~~~OUT WITH THE OLD STUFF~~~~~~~ Kitchen Remodel Begins

 ~WINDOW SEAT~

Built in 1992

In 1992 my Mr. AGPMan and I purchased our La Chaumière de Briarwood.  Back then our children were ten and seven and I was (for the most part) a stay-at-home Momma.  With only one income supporting us many of the things my hubby and longed to do with our home were put on hold.

~BREAKFAST ROOM~

One of the very first things we opted to do was to build a window seat under the bay windows in our breakfast room.  Back then the table and chairs were bumped up close to the windows giving the entire room an unbalanced look and feel.  The window seat provided extra seating (especially at Christmas) and also gave the entire room some sweet ambiance and charm.

 ~TIME TO GO~

Over the years the cushions and pillows changed drastically with my decor.  I removed the latest ones (soft cream twill with ruched sides and tiny ruffles in place of cording) a few days ago as we prepared to removed the window seat I've truly grown to love over the years....

~FRESH CHANGES~

Honestly...a big part of my heart is sad to see her go.  I remembered when my hubby built it (I have a picture somewhere I'm trying to find!) and how thrilled I was with how she turned out...

But...things and needs change.

~FRENCH DOORS COMING SOON~

As we've planned the remodel of our truly humble kitchen (we are talking a tiny galley kitchen here!) we've opted to remove the window seat that has served us well over the years and in her place install gorgeous French Doors with stationary side windows.

~ORIGINAL WALL PAINT~

(Gasp!)

The original backdoor in the photo below (which is just off our den) is being walled up and the new back entry will be where the windows are now.

 ~BACKDOOR IS GOING~

This is going to give us lots more space for meandering around the breakfast room table as we prepare the actual remodel for our kitchen.  Look at the photo above...we only had two small tile-wide spaces in which to walk.  Pretty window seat...but the room was cramped and we grew tired of it!  Hardwood floors (where you currently see tile) will eventually be installed (caching!) throughout the entire den, breakfast area and kitchen. 

 ~CLOSE-UP of SPACE~

One of the biggest challenges for my hubby (and the kind of stuff that makes him nuts!) are things like the vent you see above.  It has to be moved and that means the cutting out of concrete, etc.  Can't have a vent in front of a door!

~BREAKFAST ROOM~

I'm going to miss the pretty plantation shutters, but I'm truly excited about the new doors and windows.  The original windows are in desperate need of being replaced anyway and so the new French Doors fit nicely into our budget!

I'll be showing you more once the fresh changes are made.  In the meantime I'll try and hunt down the original pictures of the window seat being installed almost 20 years ago...  They are absolutely precious as my guy looks so very young.  They also remind me of how happy I was about buying the home I still deeply love.

Hope your day is awesome!

Love to you...