My name is Jill and I burn corn...in the basement...

One of the first things we did when we bought our home was to purchase a new corn stove and have it installed in our basement so we could heat with corn versus the less than energy efficient all electric furnace that the previous owners had installed in the basement. Though it was brand new, it would have cost a fortune to heat the 1800 sq foot lower level.

So we had to bore through concrete to vent the stove and I tiled the floor so we would have a non-combustible pad for the stove, but now we have a multi-fuel stove in the basement that will burn corn, wheat, milo, soybeans, cottonseed hulls, cherry pits, rye..you name it. We wanted a stove like that so we could alternate between crops depending on what the market was. So far we love this stove! It works so much better than our old corn stove and starts so much easier.

Burning corn is so much easier than burning wood and so much less messy. Eventually we would love to add a corn burner upstairs and use it for our primary heat source. Right now we are using the wood burner for our primary heat, and we wouldn't replace it so we could have a backup if we lost power, but we would definitely prefer to burn corn upstairs. It's amazing how little corn it takes to produce a hot fire, plus corn stoves qualify for the Green Energy Income Tax Credit, so we can recoup up to 30% on our tax return! Bonus!

Trash to Treasure End Table

A tray that nobody wanted is now one of my favorite little details in this room.

This end table was a garage sale find that someone gave to me, probably because they didn't want it either. I used it in my home before Andy and I were married and then when we combined households, I stored it along with many other pieces I had collected over the years for those "one of these days" projects.

After we bought our house and had much much more space than before, I drug out this end table from storage and stripped off the old finish, sanded and stained with Minwax Special Walnut, topped it off with a couple coats of Tung Oil and it went straight to the living room. It matches my shadow box coffee table perfectly and if I hadn't fessed up, no one would suspect that it wasn't a matched pair to the coffee table.

I found the metal tray at an auction. They auctioned off a set of three mis-matched silver trays and the first time they tried to sell them, no one wanted them. The second time they went around I hadn't gotten a good chance to see them but for $1 I decided to buy them. When I got the trays home I fell in love with this one and it found the perfect home on this table plus it makes a wonderful place to set drinks without needing a coaster.

The Room with a Stairs

This one is still in process though this is a grouping of rosettes that I found here and there and still need a couple more to complete the group.

I have no idea what this little box is actually here for other than for me to put things on it. I wish it was a storage box but no luck, this doo-hickey is firmly nailed shut...

These are pictures of the room that I have no idea what to call it. It's just the room with the stairs because it really serves no other functional purpose other than for me to stick things I love, like the organ my Grandmother gave me. It's funny, this organ belonged to her husband's aunt I think and she never liked it. I guess she has tried to give it away for years with no luck (that seems nuts to me because I love it) so she was thrilled when I agreed to take it. It's hard to see all the detail on the piece, but the detail is beautiful and I am so honored to have it in my home!

Spare Bedroom and a Good for Nothin Cat...

My Tom is so vain that I'm convinced that he has adopted the spare bedroom as his own simply because he looks good on the quilt...

The side table is a table that I found at a garage sale. The first day I asked the man what he wanted and he told me he would take $50 for the table! It was in sorry shape but I went back the next day and asked again. He said he would take $50, I offered him $10 and he said, "Sold!". I fixed the wobble, sanded and refinished and then distressed it a little just to add that shanty look that I love and it feels perfect in this room. The curtains were ones that I made a couple years ago for our old bedroom. The bed is an old wrought iron bed that Andy had sandblasted and painted. There are actually two big accent pillows on the bed but I guess I was anxious to take the pictures because I took this one before I finished sewing the other pillow.

So what started out a room with really odd green paint (sorry I did not think to document that on film) is now a room that I just love! It was by far my favorite room though now I love the blue bedroom too. They are rooms with such polar opposite vibes, but I really like them both equally. What I enjoy the most is probably the fact that each piece in both rooms really has a story behind it and that's what makes it fun.

Apparently it's pretty hard to buy coasters these days...

After our new furniture was finally delivered I tried desperately to find coasters for the living room. You would think that would be an easy thing to do but then again, I've not really ever tried to buy coasters before. We have them, but I think they were gifts and they are now in Andy's Man Cave. So after looking just about anywhere I could think of, I couldn't find any coasters except for NCAA College Team Coasters and that was just not what I was looking for. So last night I cut 5" squares from burlap and flannel. I slipped one square of cotton flannel between two squares of burlap and pinned them together and stenciled a "D" monogram on each coaster. This morning before work I sewed the layers together on the sewing machine and threw the rest of my supplies in a bag so I could work on them during my lunch break. I have not completely finished the full set of six that I am working on, but this is how they look after I added the decorative stitching. I think I probably have under $2 invested in the whole set. Probably not even that much. Cute and inexpensive! Can't go wrong with that combination!

Living Room

This quilt was the inspiration for the wall colors in the living room.

View from the front door through to the dining room.

Love the way cream looks with this blue.

Part of my cross collection which seems to be growing and multiplying while I sleeep...

I have always wanted a blue living room and I guess I have one now. This is one of those colors that I just love and every time I look at the walls, I love them just as much as the day I painted them. Though I'm not completely done with this room, you can at least see the direction it's going. I still haven't worked out anything to house our electronics. The TV is mounted on the wall and I am pretty sure that I am going to build a mantle that doubles as a hidden entertainment center. That's a huge project though so stay tuned for my little reveal on that when I get all finished. Unfortunately that part will not be done for our Open House this weekend though all in good time. I can't do everything at once.

The Blue Bedroom

How it started out: I love the funky ladder I found yesterday at an auction for $2.

I failed at hanging the tin art straight so I opted for this. Much easier!

Close-up of the piece hanging above the bed.

The finished room:

Between last Friday Morning and Friday evening, our 2nd spare bedroom went through some major changes. I had just finished building a headboard from an old door that I found at a garage sale for $2 and refinishing some other furniture for the room, but I really had no idea where the room was heading but I knew that I was not really lovin' this room.

Friday I received the bedding set that I had ordered for this room and that was enough to spur me into action. I chose a blue for the room that I loved and though it turned out darker on the wall than on the swatch, all in all I love the room now, even though it is totally different than the vibe in the 1st guest bedroom. I think that's what I like about it. It's so different.

The bench at the foot of the bed was a $2 garage sale find that with a little paint and some TLC, is now a nice little bench to sit on while you put on your shoes. The ladder would make a great place to Hang Clothes from, a place to leave your shoes or purses and even if it serves no purpose, I like it! :)

I guess now I just need to figure out what I am going to do in our bedroom...

First of Many Reveals - Guest Bedroom Bench

I've been promising to post some pictures showing what I've been up to for the last couple months and though I'm still smack dab in the middle of some small projects and ready to start a couple huge ones, it's time to start sharing a little at a time.

This is one of my favorite projects of all so far and I just love this bench. I made this bench for one of the guest bedrooms upstairs and now that this room is mostly finished it is probably my favorite room in the house right now.

This bench started out as three garage sale chairs that I bought for $1 apiece. They had ugly green burlap cushions which I removed. After fusing the chairs together, cutting a new seat and attaching that seat to the three chairs I had a bench. After a little paint, some brass tacks and add a cushion that I sewed, voila! Now I have a bench at the end of the bed and all for under $25 for the whole project!