For the Love of Hutches

I really adore the look of a painted hutch, there's just something about them that make my heart skip a beat. It took me a LONG time to paint the hutch I already owned, but when I finally did, I think it turned out beautiful as you can see here. When I was searching for hutches to solve the storage problems in my house, I had every intention of painting them. The first hutch I found (on craigslist) was this one.

This hutch houses my Wizard of Oz Collection (well, most of it) and someday I'll get around to painting it a color that will help represent that. (whatever that may be) I then went out to search for an open hutch for the sunroom, well actually two, but one that I could paint yellow, bright cheery yellow. The next hutch I found (on craigslist) was this one.

It was larger than the one I had pictured in my mind to paint yellow but I thought it would get a color too. The following day, we went to another part of town to pick up another hutch from someone else on craigslist.

It was the perfect size for what I had in mind, but NOW the thing is...........Besides the knobs, it matches the Other one EXACTLY, just smaller. Now What? Do I really want two yellow hutches in the sunroom? At this point I'm thinking no. The colors in my home are reds, yellows, whites and blacks. I recently found some cushions for my wicker furniture that matched this scheme.

All except for the rocker which still holds the pinks and blues from my previous house when I used it on my large porch.

And as you can see, the floor in this room is still blue and that might be throwing me off some. Hmm, wonder if I should just refinish the floors before deciding on hutch colors?

Oh, and did I mention my naked desk is also in this room?

The Kitchen: Before and After (but still a work in progress)

This is how the kitchen looked when we first toured the house. It looked and felt like there had been water damage to the floors which crept up some walls and cabinets. The stove/oven was a HORRIBLE thing! If you turned it on, it smelled like hot dogs boiling, eww.

So we started ripping up the floors. Someone had put down layer upon layer of floor glue for the linoleum on the floor. And we found that someone had also replaced about 1/2 of the floor with new sub-floor.

We found out after getting to the actual floor, that we also needed to replace the joists as well.

I am so not a fan of brown or tan anything, so I set off to paint the cabinets white. And since the walls were two different colors anyway, I knew I wanted to paint the cabinet sides of the walls red, not just any red, but MY red. MY red is from Valspar and it's called La Fonda Geranium Red (1010-4), isn't it beautiful? I had already had things in my house that resembled french country and part was shabby chic. So I'm now thinking that I just have a french chic house :)

Sub-floor is going in nicely. And it's getting so close to move in time!

Cabinet doors are back on! I started glazing one of the doors (to the right) but haven't decided if that's the route I'm taking or not. I've left the paint distressed anyway.

We couldn't decide on what kind of countertop we wanted, there are so many choices! So for now, we have used the new rustoleum product in black that I was thinking about HERE. Looks pretty good, doesn't it?

The flooring has arrived! We wanted hardwood flooring, but living in a flood zone and with the previous water damage we found, we were nervous. So the compromise was this Allure flooring we bought at the advice of Home Depot and it turned out beautiful and guests don't even know it's not real wood.

The appliances we bought at Sears have also arrived! Isn't that range beautiful? The space for the fridge before would have given me a teeny tiny apartment size fridge, so we moved some cabinets around for more space. And then once it arrived, we had to remove the door AND frame to get it in, but it was SO worth it!

The lazy susan is broken in one spot and I haven't really decided what to do with the area yet besides spending a small fortune buying a new one. I've been to ReStore several times in search of a replacement, but haven't found one yet.

I painted the remaining walls a sunny yellow color. I'm not THAT happy with it, but it's ok for now ;) I got the china hutch all moved in and filled it up, although, it needs arranging still. I also moved in my ladderback chairs that my hubby reweaved for me and I am getting very excited about it all now. The baseboard is larger than what we found when we moved in too. We bought this baseboard at ReStore as well, but historically, it needs more molding on top and bottom of it, so it's still a work in progress too.

Got the small kitchen table moved in......

Finally got out and bought a microwave (oh how I missed it so).....

 Still waiting on the dishwasher to come out of layaway......

Threw down some rugs, hung up some magnets, and called it good for now. Of course you can see I still need the trim around the doors (as well as the remaining baseboard molding) but we haven't found exactly what we're looking for yet. And I'm thinking about turning my pantry doors into chalkboards because they look so fun HERE. But the point is, it's livable now, and that makes me happy.

So to recap: Before...

After:

Let me know what you think :)

I joined this linky party:

The Nowlin House

I met a wonderful man who happens to be the superintendent in the school here. He stopped by to check on my son's bus schedule. Yes, stopped by the house, who does that?

He also happens to be a previous owner of the house and loves history. He wrote a paper on the house and this is it.

For over 100 years the two story frame house was known as the Nowlin House. Built in 1853 by storekeeper James Reed, then sold to another storekeeper, Bryan W. Nowlin shortly afterward, the house was given to Bryan's son, Sam Nowlin, in 1859 when Sam turned 21. Sam was born August 18, 1838.

Sam married Sarah Peery of Howard County on June 30 of 1861. They had two children, Thomas and Sarah. Mrs. Nowlin died on December 27, 1864. Sam went off to the Civil War in September of 1861 as a Southern cavalryman. He served his enlistment of seven months with the Missouri State Guard, became a Captain and Adjutant under Colonel Gideon W. Thompson, fought in the Battles of Lexington, Missouri and Pea Ridge, Arkansas. He returned home after being discharged at Van Buren, Arkansas on March 16, 1862.

He tried to live in peace and entered the grocery business with his father. But he and his father were arrested in April and were taken to the county seat in Liberty where they were made to post a $5,000 bond and take the loyalty oath by Colonel Penick due to their southern leanings. Colonel W.R. Penick and 500 Federal troops (Missouri Militia, 5th Missouri Cavalry) had been sent from St. Joseph to Liberty to occupy the town and root out the guerrilla fighters who were emerging in Clay County. Two others who had to post bond in the spring of 1862 were future guerrilla soldiers Frank James, brother of Jesse James, and Colonel Gideon W. Thompson, Sam Nowlin's former commander in the Missouri State Guard. They had also left the army hoping to live in peace.

Thompson didn't keep his oath and went "back out" where he used his commission to swear Charles Quantril and Cole Younger into the Confederate Army under the Partisan Ranger Act. Sam chose to stay close to home. But the war came back to him. On May 19, 1863 Frank James and 11 others rode into town as Southern guerrillas, killed the Captain of the U.S. Militia, Darius Sessions, Lt. Grafenstein and all the enlisted men present except one, who survived his wounds.

The guerrillas "broke into" James Reed's store, "forced open the safe, took $180 in gold, and destroyed all his valuable papers and other property."

Nearby they merely "plundered" Nowlin's store, did "considerable damage," and "charged about in a threatening manner." Actually, they came to the Nowlin store to get cigars and tobacco to celebrate killing Sessions for arresting Mrs. Lurena McCoy because she would not tell the whereabouts of her Confederate husband, Captain Moses McCoy. The Nowlins asked them to make it look like a robbery so they wouldn't lose their bond money. Frank James had served in battle with Sam Nowlin at Lexington. Bryan Nowlin had been in business with Darius Sessions in 1854, but dissolved that business in 1856. Sessions had become an outspoken abolitionist.

In January of 1864 "jayhawkers" from Kansas robbed the Nowlin store of $2,000 worth of goods. Eventually the war  ended in 1865 and the Nowlins got to live in peace. Sam's Colonel, Gideon Thompson, was brought to Federal Court in November of 1865 and was stripped of all his property for his role in the rebellion. The Nowlin's got their bond back.

The "Nowlin Store Building", as it was described in a newspaper ad, was sold in 1869 and became the Missouri City Savings Bank. Sam took up farming and Bryan Nowlin moved to Prathersville. The building is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sam's wife had died in 1864 but he married again, eventually having 7 children, descendents of whom owned the house until 1946.

Joe Fancher bought it, then left it to his son, Fred Fancher, who owned it until his death in 1979. After that the Henley's, then the McCaulley's owned it. In August of 2004 it was purchased by Jay Jackson for the purpose of renovation and preparation for the next 100 years.

The original house was two story, 18 by 30 feet made of native oak and walnut. It has had several additions and is now 2200 square feet with three bedrooms, two and a half baths, fireplace, two enclosed sun rooms, a garage and workshop, two basements, new central air, heat pump, underground electricity, new wiring, new plumbing, new roof, new carpet, three refinished hardwood floors, a painted canvas entryway, and a modern kitchen.

Written by Jay Jackson
revised August 28, 2010

Isn't that all fabulous information? It does leave me hanging for more and more though. He has promised me more history and I'm an eager learner.

Frustration Sets In

I just couldn't bring myself to live with this mustard color. I understand where the previous owner was going with it, but it just wasn't for me. I know that back then, they used wall coverings, which is something else I can't live with. Oh sure, they are pretty, but if I ever change my mind, taking them off is horrible, especially in a room this size.

I decided to go with a paint technique called dragging to get the look I wanted, without the hassle. The hardest part would be picking out the paint colors. I think I've seen every paint sample in the greater kansas city area now. I finally picked out two I thought would work and set off to paint.

Covering the gold was not an easy task. Killz LIES when they say one coat guaranteed and they will be hearing from me later :) So after two coats of killz, it was time for the base color. We've been calling it yellow, but it's actually buff, it just looks yellow. After TWO coats of that up and down the ladder, it was finally time to get to the fun part, only, it wasn't so fun.

The first glaze I got looked orange on the walls. The second one looked green. The third one looked brown. They said it would turn out like I wanted, it didn't. Very frustrated at this point. I thought I'd mix my own. I did, but it was at this point I realized that my glaze would have looked better as the base and this yellow would look better as the glaze. So tired of painting the same room over and over and over. I just couldn't bring myself to coat this entire room again with a base coat.

This is the point I gave up. No, not forever, but for now. I simply do not have the time to keep playing with it at this point. I have too much else to do. So the room will remain this creamy yellow until some point in the future I think I can drag myself up and down the ladder again.

Where is the mailbox?

Why, it's right here in our local post office!

While this is certainly not the smallest post office I've ever seen, it is one of the smallest.

When we went in to get our PO Box, John the postmaster was working on his last day and looking forward to retirement. But in the few minutes we were inside filling out paperwork, he managed to fill us in on some of the town, the workings of the post office, and introduced us to our new neighbors that came in to check their mail.

 There are four parking spaces, and one of those is handicapped, the other is where the postmaster parks. So that leaves two. I think of going to the post office previously and thinking the twenty or more spaces they had weren't enough, lol. But no matter when I go, there is always room.

It has been suggested that we should have a mailbox though, if only for looks. I believe I saw one of our neighbors with one, but didn't really pay attention to it.

To Paint or Not to Paint?

We have so much to take care of in the new home, we really can't afford what we want for countertops anytime soon. We have decided we want dark countertops and leaning toward blackish of some sort. I've done some reading today and found that many people have successfully painted their countertops a variety of different ways.

The first solution I found was wallpaper. That's right, wallpaper. It's called paper illusion if you want to, check it out yourself. They have many examples of people using it on their walls, countertops and even their floors. Amazing stuff huh? They just don't have the color I want *sigh*

I've read about others using regular spray paint and most using some sort of textured spray paint, which was my first thought. Krylon makes a hammered black that I thought would look perfect on the countertops, they even have top coats to put over it.

Then I found a product made by RustOleum especially made for painting countertops with. It comes in SIXTEEN different colors! I actually found someone in the paint department at Sutherlands who actually used it himself 3 months ago and says it's holding up very well.

Hmm, so many decisions.

Like my Granny always said, why couldn't we be born rich instead of so beautiful? Then I could just go out and buy some.

The Great Hutch Debate

These are before and after shots of the one china hutch I currently own. This hutch and china were my Grandmas. I am not a fan of dark wood and finally took the leap to paint it and now only store my china in the top, and dining linens, etc in the bottom.

The big yellow house has exactly ONE closet on the lower level in the one true bedroom. The main bathroom currently has a small sink with a very small one door cabinet under it, and that's it. The kitchen also has very limited cabinet space, and even less now that we had to remove two of them to make room for a decent size refrigerator.

I know I plan on putting this hutch on the one empty wall in the kitchen since we no longer have a formal dining room. I'm hoping to maximize the space under the hutch to store additional small appliances.

I will still need somewhere to store towels and personal items in the bathroom, my wizard of oz collection, other linens and what nots will also need a space. I think hutches are the perfect solution so I don't disturb the history of the house, but how many is too many?

My husband is now afraid we are going to end up with wall to wall hutches......