New House – Jo's Country Junction

Wood Trim…

18 Comments / By Jo / November 28, 2022 November 27, 2022

Well, the trim got all put up.

If you read the blog post from Saturday the 26th, read it HERE if you missed it, I told you that the wood trim in our house never got finished in the upstairs bathroom and sewing room. There were a few other pieces missing…one in the dining room, on in the toy room, two in my bedroom, and one in the north bedroom.

Over Thanksgiving break, our son, Buck, helped get that all put up. If you read the post you know that my husband intended on doing all of this but then passed away before he had time. He left us with this whole stack that we were supposed to sort out and deal with.

The shelving unit is chuck full…I will be honest, I can’t tell you how many times I walked passed this and was just angry. Why do people die and leave things undone? I wasn’t mad at him, just mad at the circumstances. I thought only he knew what went where. BLAH.

Thanksgiving night after everyone left besides Buck and his kiddos, we went out to the garage and started sorting.

It was annoying. One style of trim was needed downstairs and a different one upstairs. The downstairs trim came in two pieces that needed to be put together as you see in the photo below.

We looked and looked. Buck, I don’t think originally believed me that it was too pieces. Eventually, I came across this piece… …

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That Upstairs Trim

18 Comments / By Jo / November 26, 2022 November 20, 2022

You all might remember back when Kramer, my husband and I, initially bought our house. It was a foreclosure house. It was in rough shape but the bones of the house were pretty good.

We took off the back 1/3 of the house. Then added a kitchen, bathroom, entryway, and laundry room to the main floor and added an oversized double garage. To the upstairs, we added a bathroom and sewing room.

We purchased the house in August 2013. We worked on it and remodeled it all of 2014. We moved in, even though it wasn’t finished in January 2015.

This is the house summer of 2022… …

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Home Improvements

61 Comments / By Jo / August 3, 2022 July 22, 2022

I have new home improvements on the horizon. I’m so excited.

When we bought the house back in August of 2013 it was a mess. It was a foreclosure house that needed a lot of help. We tore off 1/3 of the house and added on a lot. It wasn’t a rags to riches story as we ran out of money and the riches didn’t happen.

It was totally okay as my husband kept on doing the home improvements until his passing in 2019. At that time, I paid off the house and have been slowly doing some of the improvements that he never got to.

Last year I got the back unattached garage shingled and sided. This year I got the bathroom on the main floor fixed. I’m so happy with those improvements.

Now it’s time to start working towards the next goal. I want to finish the back deck on the house.

Here is a picture of how it currently looks. (Mess courtesy of grandkids). What you see is what we added to the house. The bottom door goes into my kitchen. The upper door goes into my sewing room. We had to put that door there as there was no way to get our big antique furniture up the stairs as the turn at the stair landing is too narrow and tight. There is really no way to get things upstairs except for that outer door.

So…that’s why the big beam is there to attach a deck to. It’s been like that since we built the house. What an eye sore!

At the time we finished the rest of the house, as I said, we were out of money and out of any energy it would take to tackle the project.

After Kramer died I made a list of projects that I wanted to get done. As soon as one is done, I start planning for the next. I figure it’s the only way I’ll get them done. On my list of projects to do, this is next. So…now it’s time for me to tackle this and get the deck put on.

Kalissa suggested I contact a local gal and see if she could draw up plans. She did and I’ve been pouring over them trying to see what might work and what I liked.

Heidi came to my house. She took some pictures and measurements and then listened to me as far as what I might be interested in.

I listed these things as what I wanted… …

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Labor Exchange

15 Comments / By Jo / May 10, 2022 May 2, 2022

The farmers aren’t in the field around here. Even the farmers who are first to plant aren’t in the field. It’s the talk of everyone. Ground temperatures need to be around 50 degrees for corn to germinate. The ground can’t warm when overnight temperatures are still dipping to below freezing and on top of that, we’ve been getting regular rain and the fields are simply too wet.

That left Craig, our daughter Kalissa’s husband, with some free time this past Sunday. He offered to come over and help me do a few things. So, he helped me hang this mirror. Hanging a mirror is something I am able to do but this was an old mirror and those are often heavy so I decided as long as he was here, I’d get him to help me.

You might remember that I bought this mirror at the thrift store for $15. Right above this dresser is where I thought I wanted it and I think it’s perfect. It looks great with the headboard on this bed.

The dresser below the mirror was also a thrift store find from the same thrift store. I bought that many years ago and Kramer, my husband, refinished it. It was the first project he did. I was so impressed. I think I paid $40 for the dresser at the time.

The headboard and the wardrobe in this room were all auction finds.

I just LOVE old furniture. We have a mix of walnut and oak wood but I don’t mind. I love all of the pieces.

I have a small collection of… …