Cottage Update

Hi Everyone.  

Hope your new week is starting out to be a good one.  Just moving along on trying to find senior living for my mom and also working on getting bids etc. on a new garage and basement refinish on the soon to be new cottage.

We have a graduated side walk that goes to the street on this house.  It needs some repair and hopefully maybe even some brick pavers to tie into the cuteness of the brick home.

I had to laugh when we saw all the welcome mats to the front of the house when we came to look at it!!!  I guess they really wanted to welcome us in.
I will be putting up a cute new vintage mailbox for the mailman to put our mail in and also we need a pretty new porch light.  Just little things but it will make a difference.  I see lots of cute flowers adorning the porch.

We will be adding a nice deck and garage off the back of the house.

This is a picture of the back of the yard.  When the trees all fill in it will be so pretty back there and gives lots of privacy.  Not sure what perennials are planted back in the beds yet with things just starting to pop up.   I will be working on that this summer.

The pictures do not do this pretty yard justice.   The buds are just beginning but I can see that when these trees and flowers fill in it will be so pretty.

This is the basement that will be finished off for living space.  This corner will become a storage area.  New walls, new ceilings and lots of new lights will be added.

These steps will be carpeted and finished off.

New bathroom added to this area.  Loved the little hanging monkey that was left there!!!!  I guess he was the tour guide of the basement for us!

This area will become the new family room/ fireman cave and office for Terry.  So lots of work to be done in this area of the basement.  Since the cottage is only 900 sq. feet upstairs we really need this additional 900 sq. feet from the basement for more livable space.

We close on this home at the end of May and then the construction will begin.  I will bring you along on this journey with us.

 The upstairs will need some work too.  Expanding the kitchen will be entirely done by Terry and I.  I have a vision and he has the tools lol!

The basement area will have a contractor do the electrical, walls, rough in plumbing and ceiling work and then Terry and I will do all the finishing touches to the spaces.  Adding trim, doors and bathroom fixtures etc.  So there is a lot of work ahead to get this cottage ready for us to move into.  We will be staying with my daughter for a month while we do a lot of the work.

It is easier to do the construction when you are not living in the house.  Then we can move in after that.

Stay tuned for more news in the coming month.
Hope all of you are doing great.
Enjoying that Spring has Sprung here in Illinois.
Hugs,
Kris

Cottage Found

Hi Everyone.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Weekend.

Just wanted to share some news.   We found a beautiful cottage home to buy.  We will be moving into Junk Chic Cottage III at the end of May.

Our home here sold in two weeks and we have been scrambling to find another home for us.

I was very picky about what I wanted in the next home.  I wanted a home with charm and character and one level living.  I wanted it in a great neighborhood with lots of charm.

Not too much to ask for right?!!!  Well.....

All the homes we were looking at went under contract within a day or two of them being listed.

There has not been too much inventory out there and a lot of buyers.  So it is certainly a seller's market.

When houses would come on the market we had scheduled an appointment to look at the home and before we could get in the house went under contract!!!! That is how competitive it has been to find our next place.

  

Here she is an all brick cottage in the heart of Arlington Heights, Il.  She is tiny but oh so cute.
I can see pulling some of the bushes and putting in roses and flower boxes under those cute windows.  Terry is going to tear out the sidewalk that goes  to the street and around the sides of the home and put in pavers.  It will dress up and make this home just pop with curb appeal.

Lots of charm to this brick cottage.  The backyard has lots of mature trees along the back and lots of beautiful flower beds.  I only have the pics from the listing but hope once we move in and get things planted I can show off this beautiful backyard.

We will have to add a garage to the back of the house which there is plenty of space to do that.
It is a must to have a garage in Illinois for the winter months and Terry needs a work space in the garage for all his tools.  That is a priority on this new place.

The home has charm with thick baseboards and freshly painted light blue gray walls throughout.  We will add some beautiful crown molding to each room to give this pretty cottage more charm.

Gorgeous hardwood floors through out that were just refinished.

The kitchen needs new counter tops and sink and all new appliances but the cabinets are fairly new and white!!! Yeah for white cabinets.

The kitchen is very small so the room right next to the kitchen is a dining room and we are going to expand out the kitchen to include this area.  I cannot wait to start those changes to show you in a future post.

This is the dining room right off the kitchen so this will become part of the new kitchen area.  These pics are not the greatest since they are off the MLS.  I will have better before pics when we begin to work on the kitchen.

There are only two bedrooms on the first floor and they are small.  We will make a master bedroom and maybe an office/guest room out of the other.  I will be painting these two rooms to a lighter white/gray color from the light tan they are now.  Just will match my style better.

The home is small but it is just Terry and I and Cooper so it will work nicely.  It has a full partially finished basement that will be made into a family room and laundry room and also an office area for Terry.  We will be putting up walls and doing some electrical and plumbing things down there to finish that into workable livable space.

We are excited to have been able to purchase this home.  It has the cottage feel I love in a home.

I know I will have fun getting this little place made into a home for us.

My mom is doing so much better and is going to be able to live back in senior living once again up by us.  I have been working hard on getting her into senior living up near where we will be living.

My mom is excited to have some of her independence back and will be happy to be living with other seniors and making new friends.  It was hard for her to leave all her sweet friends in Florida.  Hoping she will make new friends and be happy living independently again.  

This was a good move with my mom's health the way it is.  If she needs help we will be near to help her.  She is up near all of her family again and will be able to see us more.  I know she will miss the weather of Florida but she will be gaining her family.

Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes for us.

I have to say I have been so stressed with moving my mom when she was pretty sick and being by her while she was nursed back to health.  On top of this selling and trying to find another home!!! Yikes!!! Now I hope I can get my mom settled in a place soon and then us settled into a new home too!  So much still to do ahead for me.  I really hope to be back to blogging again soon when we get settled into the new cottage.  

It will be fun to share the changes to the new cottage with all of you.

Have a wonderful new week ahead.  Please know that I do not always comment on your blogs with how much I have going on in my life but I do try to visit and see what you are up too.

Hugs,

Kris

Kitchen Cabinets

Happy New Week Everyone.

Things are moving along with the sale of Junk Chic Cottage II.  In negotiations with our buyers  we agreed to put the kitchen cabinets back up for them.  

I loved the open concept of the shelves but it is not everyone's taste and storage was their main priority.  Thankfully we had the shelves still.  Terry had hung them in the garage for storage.

So here is my kitchen the way I had it.

I liked the open feel of the shelves in this galley kitchen.  Not everyone embraces the open concept of shelves.

So back up went the cabinets for the new buyers.  They said they would paint them white so we are thankful with all we have going on they will do that.  They just asked us to rehang them.

My open shelf on the coffee bar side of the kitchen.

They wanted a cabinet put back up.  So we did that for them.  Terry had added crown molding to all the cabinets when we moved in.  I am not sure if they will do that to these cabinets that we rehung.  I think it would look better and make the cabinets look more like the others but it is their choice.

Taking down my shelves and starting the packing process is helping me to detach from this home.

Nothing has come on the market for us but I am staying hopeful we will not be homeless come May when we close on this one!

Have a wonderful week.  Hope to have some news to share on finding the new Junk Chic Cottage III soon.

Hugs,
Kris

Sometimes right in the middle of an ordinary day.

 Happy Weekend.

Life has been a struggle.  Lots of transition and unrest and worry.  Sometimes when you need a friend or smile or just someone to be in your corner something special happens.

The other day was a bad one.  One of those days when things just seemed to go in the wrong direction all day.  One of those days when I found myself needing to take a minute and breath. 

Just when I was exhausted mentally and physically I drove up the driveway wanting to find shelter in my house.  A quiet place where I could close the door and kiss a terrible day good bye.

I saw a package laying on my doorstep.

 I took the package in the house and opened it.

It was from Farmgirl Flowers sent to me from a very special blogging friend. 

It was from Tina.  Tina's blog is What We Keep.  Tina and I have become friends through blogging and she has shared her friendship and kind heart with me.  Tina knows how much I have been struggling with what life has been throwing at me.  Tina is sweet and kind and has a fun sense of humor which makes her the best kind of friend to have.  

 Right in the middle of an ordinary or in my case a not so ordinary day,  when I needed a little ray of hope,  here was a beautiful thoughtful gift on my doorstep.

Jasmine in a galvanized pot.

 The Jasmine is just starting to bloom and it is so pretty.

Thank you Tina.  You have a heart as big as the sky.  Thank you for thinking about me and sending me this gift of cheer.

Neither Tina or I have been compensated for giving a shout out.  I love to share Company's that provide a good service and a sweet smile to someone in need.
Farmgirl Flowers.com

Tina said she has used this company many times and has been satisfied each and every time.  I am a witness to this with the sweet Jasmine plant.  It is beautiful and the galvanized pot is perfect and unique. 

If you want to send a wonderful thoughtful gift you should visit this company.  The flowers and  plants crafted together along with unique wrapping make this gift a special one.

Thanks Tina for giving me a hug and smile with this special delivery.
Blogging friends are the best.

Have a great weekend.
We are enjoying gorgeous weather here in the Chicago area this weekend.  Sunshine and warmth.  Feels wonderful.
Kris

Some News

Happy Spring!

I miss all of you.  As you know I have my hands full with selling our home, looking for another home and now moving my mom up from Florida to Illinois.  So not much time for blogging.  I do miss all of you very much.  Hope once life calms down and things begin to get in a better place,  I will be back to blogging and IG.

The good news is Junk Chic Cottage II is under contract.  We had two offers come in a couple of days ago and now it is under contract.  We are excited to have this home sold.

Now on to finding a new cottage in the desired area where it will be close for Terry to work and me to still watch my grand girls for my daughter.

Houses in the area we are looking come on quickly and sell within days.  So now that we have our home sold we are hoping when something great pops up for sale we will be in a good place to go in with an offer.


My mom has been moved up here with us and is doing well in rehab.  Hoping each day she will regain her strength and be able to come home soon.

Also:

I am selling my white slipcovered couch pictured above.  It is a great couch very comfy and in good shape and I had a custom slipcover made for it a few years.

So if you live near me or know of someone that does that would like this couch just let me know in an email and I can give you more details.

Hope all of you are doing well.  Miss all of you and look forward to coming back to blogging soon.
Hugs,
Kris

Not Goodbye Just See You Soon

I have a heavy heart to write this post this morning.

Life is really kicking in full gear for me right now.

As a lot of you know that follow my blog my husband Terry just got a new Fire Chief Position in a town over an hour North of where we are settled into our current home.

It was two long years of struggle in an employment market full of competition, age discrimination and politics before he landed this new job.  We prayed and stayed faithful something would happen and it finally did.

With the excitement of him getting back into a job he loves,  it now has brought new challenges for us.  We are in the beginning stages of selling our current home to move closer to the community he serves.  

We have had a few showings with very positive feedback so we hope we will find a buyer soon.  Hopefully soon we will be moving onto finding Junk Chic Cottage III.

  The area we will be looking is very expensive and we will probably find something with very small sq. footage for a lot more money.  I am ok with that since I find as I am getting older and hopefully wiser that I need less stuff. 

I had the big house while my girls were growing up and now with it just being Terry and I and little Cooper,  I do not need a lot of space.  I just want cozy and have rooms I actually live in and use.

So that is our goal in the next place.

While all of this stress is going on with selling and buying and moving life has taken another turn for me.

My mom lives in Florida and has become very ill and is having a hard time recovering from pneumonia with her immune system being depressed from her cancer treatments.

This has been so hard with her living in Florida and me up here in Illinois.

This week I will be venturing down to Florida to make sure her release from the hospital and moving into a rehab facility will be an easy transition.  Hoping in rehab she will regain her strength and be able to go back home to her Apartment.

Then the next part of life will be to move my mom back up this way to be near me.  One thing we have learned is when you have an elderly parent that becomes ill you really have to be in their lives on a daily basis.  So I will begin the process of moving her up to Illinois when she is strong enough.

My mom is heartbroken to leave her beautiful year around weather and her friends but she has finally realized that family is important and I can only give her the care she needs if she is up here with me.

My heart is heavy to disrupt her life as she has known it but my mom is 85 years old and her body has been through a rough time with cancer and diabetes so it is time.

My life and family are here in Illinois so she does understand she needs to be closer to all of us now at this point in her life's journey.

I have shared all of this with you today in hopes that you can pray for my mom and for Terry and I as our lives are in transition.

One thing I have learned with all we have been through is family and friends are the most important part of life.  When things seem so bleak they are there to pick you up and cheer you on to the finish line.  

All of you have become very dear friends over the past 6 years I have been blogging on Junk Chic Cottage.  

I have loved getting to know each and everyone of you and am blessed with your friendship.  Sharing your big hearts has blessed my blog and life in so many ways.

So Junk Chic Cottage blog will be taking a short break while my life is moving in a new direction.

I promise I will keep you posted on my journey to finding a new place when our home sells.  Then hopefully will have some before and after decorating crazy to share when we find the new cottage to call home.

I will still visit your sweet blogs when I can it just will be pretty quiet here at Junk Chic Cottage.

Thank you for your prayers, good wishes and hopes of new and better things ahead for us.  Life has a funny way of taking wild twists and turns sometimes.

So while I buckle up and keep my hands and legs inside the ride at all times!!!! I wish the best to all of you.

Hugs,

Kris  

De personalizing for a Sale

Happy Weekend.  

We are now in the throws of having the house up for sale and people venturing in to see if this home just might be the one they might like to call home.  We did some taking down of my decor of the house for the new buyers.

Our relator told us that most of the peeps looking at this place will be millennial's the younger first time buyers.  They usually cannot see past your decor to imagine their own.  They like things clean and uncluttered and just want to move in their furniture and begin living.  

No painting, change ups of any kind  for this crowd!  

As I learned with our last sale most buyers cannot focus on the hardwood floors, crown moldings, nice appliances  new roof, windows, etc.  They get fixed on your decor style and cannot look past that.  

So with this in mind.

We took down all my chandeliers and put up new light fixtures that would appeal to the majority!

We took down a lot of my architectural pieces to have blank walls.

I did leave up some things so the place would not feel too stark and lets face it... It is still my home until the day I sign on the dotted line to hand it over.  So I want to still feel like it is my home until the one day it is no longer our home.

 I thought I would show you some of the changes we did to make it more buyer friendly.

I had this old chippy window with my white angel hanging on it over this cabinet.  I also had the old porch post with birdhouse hanging.

Now those are down and the walls touched up.  More open and simple and void of my decor taste.  I did leave the entry way hanger and sign up.  I do want it to feel somewhat lived in and not stark with nothing up on the walls.

Living room long wall with all my decor.  I love to surround myself with things I love in my decor.  Especially architectural pieces but that is my taste and I need to appeal to a larger audience looking to make this their home.

Now the room has less of my decor taste.  I did leave up the old farmhouse window and chippy shutters over the couch.  I felt taking it all down would make the white walls and white furniture look to stark.  I still felt the walls needed some texture to break up all the white.  Hoping the buyers can look past my decor taste and see the crown molding and freshly painted neutral walls.

Same in the kitchen and dining area.  Down with the chandeliers  and some of the chippy decor.

New light fixtures put up in place of my vintage chandeliers and more open wall space.  Oops left the phone charger plugged in on the counter.  Woooo better put that away before the first showing lol!!!!!

The dining room has less distractions with stuff off the walls.  I will be packing up my angels and Madonna's and store them away this weekend too.  I will just have plates and ironstone in the cabinet.

I took down the candle chandelier and chippy piece and mantel.

Now the wall is a blank canvas and makes the rooms feel bigger.  Of course Mr. Cooper and his gray blankie will be removed with showings lol!  He was sleeping so soundly when I took pictures I did not have the heart to move him off his favorite napping space!

With a little spackle and paint touch up and getting things packed away I tried to make the space more move in ready for the buyers.  

Since I still live in this home I needed to leave a little bit of me.  

Now let's hope we get some buyers through here that might be able to see themselves living in this home.

Have a great weekend.  It is cold here but the sunshine is streaming in the windows this morning.  Love how bright this place looks when it is a sun filled day.

Hugs,

Kris