~Living Minimally...For A While Anyway~

At the beginning of summer, we had a huge auction selling off all of our cattle, equipment, tools, household items and much of the furniture in our house in preparation for putting our place on the selling market.  We knew that many people would be coming in and out of the house, so to keep down the confusion as to what was for sale and what wasn't, we opted to just go ahead and box up all the remaining household items to get them out of the way.  Plus, best case scenario was that our place would sell really quickly (we weren't holding our breath on that on!) and most of the work would already be done.  Fast forward, three months and this is how we are living these days..... 



As you walk into the front door, we have a long hallway that leads to the living room.  You can't see it from this photo, but our bedroom is on the right as well as the staircase leading up to the other bedrooms and baths.  Normally, I used the long wall on the left to showcase our family photos but they are all packed away for now.

On the left side of our entry is the dining room.  This photo was taken several years ago to use on the website when we ran the B&B.  Sold the farm table as it was just too big and not quite what I was wanting but bought in a pinch for the B&B guests.  Most of the chairs sold as well as the mirrored bureau and painting on the back wall.  The cupboard hanging on the left is where I house my ironstone collection (you can read about here) and that is in storage as well as the china hutch my dad gave to me a few years ago.

 

This is what the dining room looks like now.  Extra dining chairs sitting all alone.  Don't they look pathetic?  I'll be searching for another farm table soon, preferably one that has extensions.  To the right of the dining chairs, you go into the kitchen.

 

This is our breakfast area.  Yes, we are eating on a card table. LOL.  The table I had in there wasn't needed and so it was sold in the auction.  In that little nook area, I had a hanging cupboard in the most beautiful chippy shade of yellow where I housed vintage kitchen gadgets and cookbooks (you can read about that here).  I also hung alot of the vintage gadgets above the screened doors, which is where the pantry is.  To the left of the pantry is where you enter into the dining room.

 

Not very good photos, but this is what our living room looked like during one Autumn season.  You can't see it very well in this photo, but there is an antique sewing machine cabinet (with machine!) behind the leather recliner.  I sold it in the auction as I have another one in a bedroom upstairs.  I couldn't see keeping two of them.  The glass-door pie cabinet is in storage as well as all the pretties in this room.

 

We almost put the living room furniture in the sale but then realized...what would we sit on if the place didn't sell quickly??  So, we are using them for the time being and will probably give them to Goodwill.  We plan on getting new furniture more suitable for the living room of our new home.  Yep, pretty bare without pictures and such.

This is our bedroom as you see it when first entering the room.  I've never taken any 'before' photos so there's nothing to compare with so you'll have to use your imagination. ;)  We sold the queen size bed frame and mattress in the sale.  For many months now, this recliner has been my bed.  Seriously!  I had major back surgery several years ago and our bed was becoming increasingly more uncomfortable and sleeping in the recliner best suited me.  Mr. Bill has been sleeping in the bed upstairs since the sale.  Our bureaus are in storage and clothing is in boxes in the closet.  Our bed used to be against the wall where the boxes are now.  Bedding and some busy books/toys are in the boxes.  Our bathroom is just to the left of where the recliner is sitting.  The door next to the boxes leads to our huge walk-in closet.  The open door is the entry into our room and leads back out into the front foyer.

 

NOTE:  Since taking these photos, we have purchased new beds.  Yes, I said "beds".  I'll tell you more about that...and why...soon. It's not bad, I promise.  ;)

This is one of the bedrooms upstairs used for B&B guests.  I had it decorated with vintage children's items and toys and called it The Playroom.  I kept the old school desk (you can see it somewhat on the far left) as well as the lidded desk, the old screen door and cabinet that is now being used in the sewing room.  There was a huge, antique armoire on the other side of the old school desk that was used for closet space.  I sold that at the auction, as well as the bed frame.  By the way, there is a full-size bathroom just to the left.

 

Now this is just the guest room.  This four-poster bed was given to us by Mr. Bill's parents when we were first married almost 41 years ago.  They had it for awhile before giving it to us (as well as the bureaus in storage) so I have no idea how old the furniture is but they are staying in the family!  You can see the sewing machine cabinet, that I am keeping, on the far right.  There was a huge TV sitting on top of it but it sold at the sale.

 

This bedroom is on the north side of the house and was decorated with vintage items that your grandma and grandpa might have worn or used.  I've got such things as a pair of old silk stockings, a vintage netted hat and hat stand, a man's derby hat, shaving razor and soap mug sitting on the shelf above the TV.  This room was called The Keepsake Room.  I sold the sleigh bed and old school desk with cast iron legs at the auction.  See the pink and white quilt hanging above the bed in the first photo?  I was looking for an old quilt to hang in this room and I purchased this one at an auctions several years ago.  It was made by a local woman some 50 to 60 years ago (at least).  The colors went well with the sage and pink that dominate the room.

The room has been converted to my sewing/craft room.  The playpen is used for the grandbaby.  The rest of the space is mine.  All mine!!

This is the cabinet that was in the other room.  It has lots of baskets in it for storage.  I plan to paint this once we get into our new home.  Though the screen is somewhat small, I can watch TV while working at the sewing/cutting table.  The door on the very far left leads into our walk-in attic area.  The door on the right leads to a full-size bathroom.

In my last post, I shared with you some of the vintage sewing items I recently purchased.  You can see them at the far end of the table.  Normally, I have several wood crates stacked up for shelving but they are packed away along with all the other pretties.

Under the tables, there are lots and lots of boxes.  These boxes hold yards and yards of fabric, thread, lace, supplies, etc.  Most of these things will be going up for sale soon as I desperately need to thin them out.  I am changing directions as to what I want to do in my Etsy store and no longer have a need for all these supplies.

Under this table are more boxes of fabric, as well as lots of scrapbooking supplies.  I've got more scrapbooking supplies than I will ever be able to use so these will be going up for sale soon, too.  In case you are interested, I hope to start the listings in the next week or so.  I'll post them here on the blog first before putting them on Etsy.

 

So, there you have it!  I'm not a minimalist by any means, but we're keeping it this way until the place sells. I really dislike living this way.  To me, it's so boring.  And dismal.   But I can do anything for a while.  After all, it's for a good cause, right?  I'll dig out some of the Autumn decorations soon.  It's just too darn hot right now to be digging around in our POD storage unit (sitting out in the driveway) to find what I want.  And then, there's Christmas to think about.  But other than that, nothing is coming out unless absolutely necessary!

 

Until next time ~