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Last week I posted about the possibility of doing a ‘wet room’ in our kids’ bath reno, with a freestanding tub inside a shower enclosure. My main areas of concern were would a small tub be comfy, and how much a wet room would add to costs. Then during the week two things happened. First, I went to a bath showroom and actually sat in the tubs that would fit our space. Second, I got the contractor and cabinetry quote for our kitchen and bath re-do.   Getting that quote explains why I didn’t post again last week, because I was in a sadness spiral of how much a renovation costs.

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Okay, okay, admittedly this could also be headlined “trends I hate and don’t want to see anymore,” and that would probably be more honest. As someone who often claims I don’t discriminate on the basis of style (since I generally think almost anything can shine in the right place), this all may seem a bit out of left field. Maybe it’s because I had two toddlers screaming at me all morning and their grouchiness is contagious? I don’t know, but what I do know is that even when I’m in a good mood, these trends make me angry and/or sad.

So, the bad news is we had a leak in our kitchen. The worse news is that once we started talking to roofers about re-doing our roof, which is cedar shingle, we learned that cedar has a 20% tariff on it right now that makes this bad timing for an already extremely expensive proposition. The even worse news than that is that after having the roofer replace only part of the cedar roof (in hopes that the politicians come to their senses and the price goes back down so we can finish the rest later at a sane cost), we still have a (reduced) leak, and the culprit looks like (drumroll) plumbing. Oh, the joys of homeownership! Come along with me on this journey …

We have a lot of stone on our property, and there’s been so much deferred maintenance by previous folks regarding its condition.

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Our kitchen came with a black AGA range. These ranges are made by a British company and are very on-trend right now due to the fact that they keep popping up in kitchens by British superstar kitchen designers like DeVol and Plain English.

There’s no arguing that an AGA is pretty.

Sad news – our rooster died on Friday, killed by a fox. The plus side is that he likely saved some hens, because judging by the feathers everywhere he put up a pretty good fight.

Last week I took a long walk around our eight acres – which I really ought to do more often. I took a bunch of photos to give you an idea of our space, how we use (and fail to use) it, some antique curiosities around the place, as well as some projects that would be great to do.

I know that design and lifestyle blogs are for featuring pretty things, and easy DIYs, and nice, finished images of aspirational rooms, but today, I continue my (apparent) series from Monday on vintage regrets and mistakes. I found this bed (now nicely finished and in my son’s room) for $25. Yes, the wood was damaged in places but I’ve read enough internet to know that “Painting is an easy and cheap way to refresh old furniture!” And now I’m here to tell you that anyone who tells you this is BUILDING A HOUSE OF LIES.

As promised in my post about some of my favorite recent vintage finds, here are (some of my many) vintage purchases that I regret. Writing this hilariously revealed to me SO MANY of my personality flaws. Overconfidence in abilities to do everything by myself? YES. Glossing over important details because I want pretty thing? CHECK. Buying something because it is cheap, even though I don’t need it / it will cost a lot of money to fix? YUH-HUH. Trolling auction sites while having a glass of wine? YUP (maybe not a personality flaw, but friends, don’t drink and internet – it never ends well, and for me, it ends with useless furniture). Now, you’re probably thinking, that photo up there doesn’t look TOO bad. Nice turned legs, cute little brass detail on the keyholes. Looks like a sweet addition to an antique house. WELL, YOU WOULD BE WRONG …