I'm still alive.

Friends, it has been soooo long. The hole moving, refinishing, remodeling both 2 houses and the shop have been more that I anticipate. Not even my over achiever, superwoman powers worked this time. My hair is literally falling off and I'm not getting enough sleep at all. I have stressed over having 3 mortgages and because the shop have been closed not having that extra income. I'm about to consolidate the little money I got left into a little bank account. I took a big chance and my prayers are that God will continue to oversee over my finances like He always had. I know how to make more money, I just need a little place where to sell from.

     Good news, the house is almost done. I still have some tweaking to do. I believe we have done a lot in little time. Just some teaser photos of some of the rooms. I will do posts on every room later on. I hope you enjoy, I surely have enjoy decorating. Love you all, blessings, Marta.

                                      
                                                             Eat-in kitchen

Mr Man's  office

                                      

View from kitchen to family room

                                       

Formal living

                                        

                                                                   TV room

                                                                  Master room bedding

                                                                        family room

                                                                    Hallway
     That is all folks! Until next time.

PD Plans for later when I can afford to do it.
Replace gold fixtures in the bathrooms.
Add ceiling medallions and replace light fixtures with chandeliers.
Gardens
New ceiling fans, the ones in the house are horrendous.
Window treatments in some of the rooms.
Finish off my screen room decor.
Work myself to death before Christmas, arg.

Big progress

I want to show you some pictures of the progress in the new house. I will call the new kitchen most improved. We installed black granite counter tops and travertine backsplash. I love it so far, tomorrow doors go back on, sealer will be apply to everything. We will install the 50/50 sink with a goose neck faucet. The final details will be taken care of tomorrow. We decided to repaint the same color, it really needed the refresh, I have been painting for 3 days.

                                  Next the bathroom. Remember this? Much improved.

I know, its a toilet, but I wanted to show you the tile work. This guys are really good at what they do.

              

I replace this ugliness with very simple pedestal sinks. I got the most beautiful piece to go in between the two. I removed the ugly medicine cabinet and dated cabinet. They added the extra tile for an extra 1000.oo. We ended with over 1800 sf of tile. I just love the look.

I can't wait to decorate this house. I love it and God willing we will retire here. Tomorrow more pictures of the finished rooms. What do you think? Blessings, Marta.

This is how it gets done in Texas

   I have been told us Texans brag a lot. I say if you are good, there is no bragging, you simply got it going on. Point in case, my friend Krista and her husband Shawn. This two got the most amazing talent for finding the most amazing stuff. Not only they find it, they literally give it away. Krista had been working for weeks preparing for this mini show, not mini because they didn't have stuff, mini because they didn't have a large amount of people coming, mostly the folks that supported their antique shop. They are perfectionists, they meticulously pick their wares and because of those facts they achieve a lot of success in a very short amount of time. Then you add to that the fact that they are the best friends in life, they are kind and love taking care of people. They make you feel like they have been your friends for ages and this is not forced, it just comes from their heart. So for the three people that read my blog, I give you yumminess, straight from the heart of Texas.

We will do it again tomorrow. I believe we will put together something like this for my open house in a couple of months. I will keep you posted. Blessings, Marta.

I'm so thankfull!

Have you ever feel the deepest sense of joy and peace? Two days ago as my husband mowed the yard in our new place I decided to walk around since I have not tour the entire property. The last acre was left wild and during the spring it changed to many different colors of the native wild flowers. Right now is all dry and the shaded parts have remain with a lot of green. You can see the valley behind us, just acre after acre of pure, untouched beauty. The house we are fixing is not my dream style house. I always wanted an older home with lots of architectural details. This house was not the deal maker, it was the land, all those trees that made us fall in love. I know I will be able to make the home a beautiful place. I'm dreaming of gardens, especially one. It is going to be Cookie's garden. My only son passed away many years ago. We decided to have him cremated since I wanted to be able to keep his aches and lay them down someday in the place we will retire. I think this is the place. I have chosen an oak tree, close to the house. I know that he is in Heaven waiting for me, in the meantime I want to do this for me. I don't think it is going to brake my heart  laying his aches in the ground and I don't need this garden to remember him, I do that every day. I want to celebrate his life and all it brought to us. It is going to be a celebration garden, because God is good and we have hope in life as well as in death.

   Going back to the feeling of complete well being I experience, as I looked at the valley I asked God what I have done to deserve this place. I feel so blessed, more than I can possibly deserve. I feel the favor of God and for that I'm so GRATEFUL. I'm not a tree hugger but I felt the urge to touch as many trees as I could that day and blessed them, to look up and thank God from the bottom of my heart. I understood why the Word says that nature sings of His glory. So bear with me, I believe you are going to see many tree photos in my blog from now on. I will continue to post photos of the progress. Blessings, Marta.

Can you say UGLY?

       Ok, I told you the house needed some tweaking, Ok I take that back, it needs big time tweaking. Point in case, the bathroom. I don't know but this is butt ugly. The mauve tile, the gold fixtures, arg.

                                                        Same wall a day later.Most improved

Ok my friends, how do I explain this immense monstrosity. I'm without words and that almost never happen. 

Same walls today. Progress.

Ok, mauve formica, no way. Tired oak cabinets, no way, brown choppy laminate floors, no way. One good thing, stainless steel appliances and we get to keep the refrigerator, great. The plan: dark granite counter tops, travertine backsplash, 50/50 sink, goose neck faucet.  Cream painted and glazed cabinets, delish. Gingerbread moulding in the kitchen opening, beautiful hand-painted kitchen saying.

Before, the after is work in progress.

The entry way yesterday

The entry way today. Love, love, love.

My screen porch. Possibly the place where many hours will be spend.

My shop far away. Our dream. Thank you God.

We are signing our life away today

    I think that is exactly the way my husband feels. Today we are supposed to close on the little ranch. It was cancelled 3 times last week due to the mortgage company not doing their job.  I have an estimate in the improvements we liked to do before moving in. First estimate is 42,000. I almost fainted when I heard. We do not have that kind of money so I think we will be tearing carpet and taking paneling down. They wanted 900.00 for disposing of the trash. I'm going to pay 900.00 to myself. The amount of stuff I can buy with 900.00, it is not going to happen. I wish there was no burn ban. I will be burning a lot of stuff, heck, I might turn into a little arsonist. I didn't want to go the sub-contractor way, we may have to ended up doing just that.
    Once I get the key today I will go in and take pictures of the house and shop as it stands today. I miss calculate and choose the wrong profession. I should have been a handy girl, concrete, tile, granite install and all that stuff. It is where the money is. I have decorate homes and have never made that kind of money, actually I stop doing it out of sheer frustration. I will finish this post tonight, hopefully with good news. Later, Marta.

Ok, it is ours. I'm so excited, scared, stressed, hopeful, etc, etc, etc. I guess it is normal to feel this way. This little place is going to be our retirement place as far as we know. The Killeen and Fort hood area happened to be one of the areas that have been less affected by the bad economy. My business had not suffer and my husband have been with the same company for 15 years. Even though is a contract job every time the contract comes up for bids the new company retain the work force in place. We are VERY blessed. So enough blah...Photos for you all. Remember to looked at it with  visionary eyes.

                                                                       THA SHOP

                                                                    1,2oo sf of steel

I felt in love with the little porch and the french door and windows. I have a vision.

I'm losing a lot of sf but this is all mine.

                The gate and little fencing got to go. They try to keep the horses away from this area.

I see flowers and bushes and lots of work.

                                  I see all my garden junk in the porch. Landscape around and voile!

I'm not sure we are going to keep all the wire fencing, we are not going to have animals, hum, maybe the biggest dog I can find, a great dane will be wonderful.

This is going to be my husband's shop. It used to be a small stable, we will expand the concrete all the way to the side making it about 700 sf.

I think we count so many oaks in the acreage and I'm loving it. My friend realtor got me a tree person. That is a face that you stick to the tree. I think I will buy some more.

                      This is a big oak. I always wonder how long they have been around.
                  Chickies, this all for today. Tomorrow I will give you a tour of the house. I will be interviewing contractors and getting more estimates. Blessings, Marta.