Top Ten Posts For 2020

Hi folks.  Aren't we glad this difficult and challenging year is drawing to a close?  Obviously, Covid 19 has been the big talking point, but I know many people have had difficulties not related to the virus.  My husband's aunt had cancer and died from a stroke before her treatments started.  One of the bloggers I like to read, Mike, who writes A Bit About Britain, was sick earlier in the year.  Believe it or not, I'm still having lingering effects from the Bell's Palsey I had back in June.  In fact, I've just been online looking at exercises to strengthen my facial muscles, which don't seem to have fully recovered.  And sadly, both of our families know people who have died from Covid 19.  Needless to say, we're all hoping for a better year in 2021!      Out of curiosity, I thought I would look at Google Analytics to see what my most popular posts were this year.  What peaked your interest the most on House at Forest Manor in 2020?  According to Google Analytics, these are your ten favorite posts this year.   In the top two spots were -- Attract More Birds to Your Outdoor Feeder.     

   

   

The Baker's Rack

Hello to you!  Are you having a good week?  I bet you'll have an even better week if you don't listen to the news or read about it online.  Ask me how I know.  😏  Anyway, our week has been fine.  We had our new washer and dryer delivered yesterday, finally -- we ordered it about four or five weeks ago.  Things are kind of crazy right now, though, aren't they?  I think we're going to like these; our other set was having big problems.        I made a few small changes in the kitchen that I want to share with you.  The changes involve the wall with our baker's rack.      

       

The Kitchen Eight Years Later

Hi All -- I'm glad you've stopped by.  Around this time eight years ago, we were having our kitchen renovated -- a long-overdue improvement, I might add.  We had lived here for 16 years before we had an opportunity to get the kitchen properly re-modeled.  Part of the room was stuck in the 70's and part was stuck in the 90's.  Not the best look ever.  😏  I'm not going to go back over that process; if you'd like to see pictures of the before kitchen and the renovation process, you can see that here, here, and here and here.  I showed the final reveal in 2013 here.             All of this is old news for those of you who've been following along here for awhile, but I updated my pictures yesterday because I just finished a good spring clean in the kitchen.  Since I knew it would only stay this way about 17 1/2 minutes, I knew I'd better snap some quick pictures and record this for posterity.  I inherited my mother's love for saving, and looking back at, old pictures.  I'll note here that when we did the original renovation in 2012, we didn't replace the dishwasher, refrigerator, or floor.  We've now replaced everything but the fridge, which I hope won't be needed for awhile.        

   

Summer Kitchen

It's officially summer, yes?  Whew, is it hot here!  It's supposed to be in the mid-to-high 90's all week, with high humidity.  Welcome to the south!  At this point, the catch phrase around here becomes, "Hot enough for you?"  After hearing this so many times, no one even bothers to reply.  😜  It's almost like the dead of winter because everyone stays inside, where it's air-conditioned, as much as possible.      Today, I want to share a few pictures of my summer kitchen.  I've made a few little changes in here since the big renovation in 2012, namely a new dishwasher, new replacement windows, and wood floors.  All those things were money well-spent, and we still love our kitchen.  

 

The Kitchen at Christmas

I'm pretty sure these will be the last Christmas pictures I make you suffer through share with you this year.  ;)  I hardly ever show my kitchen decorated for Christmas, so here goes.

Tweaking The Kitchen

I love the way small details can make a difference in a room, don't you?  Maybe that's why so many of us like to tweak things periodically, and a few changes here and there keep things from being boring.

Those of you who read my blog know that we had our kitchen re-modeled three years ago.  I shared before and after pictures at the time, but the "after" pictures were a bit spartan-looking because I hadn't really finished putting my personal touches everywhere.  Then again, I'm not sure we ever finish that.  ;)  I've been gradually adding and changing a few things to the kitchen since the "reveal" post in September 2013.  I took a few pics yesterday, if you'd like to see.

Spring Sprucing

Hello there friends!  I hope you had a blessed Easter and Passover holiday.  We were glad to see all of our family on Sunday, and it was a beautiful day here.  I've been absent from blogging for two weeks now -- not a planned break.  Everyday life and family matters have kept us very busy here.

I really made an effort to write a post last Friday; it was to be about Beatrix Potter.  I had pinned all these pictures of her home, Hilltop Farm, with wonderful interior shots.  Well...as I was looking over them again in order to provide links to my sources, I realized that over half of them were in some way linked to the National Trust, and the National Trust does not have a good sense of humor about people sharing images of their properties without express written permission.  Which I did not have.  So there went all that work down the drain.

I'm in an indecisive mood, folks.  I have some good stuff to share from Southport and Oak Island but didn't want to write about that right now, either.  So I'll just show you a little of what we worked on over the weekend.

Comfort Food For a Cold Night

I'm making a double batch of chili in the crock pot today.  I love to smell it cooking throughout the day.  :)

Classic Blue and White

Hi folks!  Back in August, I wrote a post about summer touches around our house.  In that post, I showed some images of our den, our front porch, and the blue and white dishes on our kitchen shelves.  Most of the comments I received said that the blue and white collection was a favorite.

I love blue and white, too.  I wanted to show you a little more detail of the dishes on our display shelves in the kitchen.

Oldcastle Surfaces Featured My Granite Countertops

Back  in the first week of December, I was contacted by Laurel Clarke of Oldcastle Surfaces, a granite countertop company in the southeastern U.S.  Laurel had seen my "before and after" kitchen post and wanted to know if she could feature pictures of our countertops in Oldcastle's new granite colors chart.

Beginning the Kitchen Reveal

I'm so excited to finally reveal the first part of our new kitchen!  Those of you who regularly read my blog have seen pictures of this cabinet in various stages of construction, but this is the first time I've shown the finished product.  We waited so long to be able to have our kitchen re-modeled, and then the actual work itself took four months; our contractor was working another job during the week, so he could only work at our house on weekends.  The cabinet and tile man and the granite guys were able to work during the week, so eventually, it all came together.  I've been doing the happy dance for weeks now.  :)

Kitchen Update for Met Monday

Hi everyone -- hope you all enjoyed this beautiful weekend weather!  I'm joining Susan this week at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.

More progress was made on our kitchen re-model this week, so I thought I'd share some pictures with you.  Our contractors were able to put in four good days of work this week with some nice results by the end of the weekend.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, all the backsplash tile was put up.  Our 40-year old outlets were replaced with fresh, white outlets.  We gained an extra outlet in the process, which will certainly come in handy.  In addition, two new switches were added for new under cabinet lighting on either side of the work area.  All switches and outlets received new, white covers.  It all looks so fresh and clean.  :)  Also, our new under cabinet lights were installed.

Our new stove was delivered on Tuesday, and was put into place today.  It will have to be pulled out again next weekend in order for Tim to do a few more things, but in the meantime, I can try out my new stove, and we can have some home-cooked meals this week.  Tim did lots of painting yesterday and today.  All the cabinet faces and sides have at least one coat of paint, the soffit was painted, and the molding and trim work on that side of the kitchen have been painted.  Good news -- we love the new cabinet color.  I definitely think Sherwin Williams Dover White is a winner!

Here are the latest pictures.  Things are still in a bit of a mess, and the lighting wasn't the best, but you can get an idea of what things will look like.

It's Been One of Those Weeks

Hi everyone!  I'm having one of those kind of weeks.  Can anyone out there relate?

First of all, I won't be doing a Mother's Day tablescape since our dining room and kitchen table are piled high with -- clutter.  The dining room table is in some semblance of order.  At least things are neatly stacked on it, and the boxes lining the walls in the room are neatly stacked.  However, the kitchen table is filled with a hodgepodge of this and that; and our little buddy, R2D2, otherwise known as the shop vac, is still in the kitchen floor.  Other than that, why, everything looks just great.  Can you tell I'm slightly frustrated?

Kitchen Remodel -- An Update

We're right in the middle of the messy part of the kitchen renovation now.  Yes, folks, the shop vac is temporarily residing in the kitchen, next to the table.  Our very own, personal R2D2.  WARNING:  Please excuse the mess in these pictures.  /:)

Beginning a Kitchen Remodel

Hi everyone!  I hope all of you had a great weekend and hopefully enjoyed celebrating a bit o' the Irish.  I have a partial metamorphosis to share with you today.  We're having our kitchen remodeled; that's right, we're dragging it bringing it into the 21st century.  This is so exciting for me because I've waited 16 years to do this.

Our house was built in 1972, and we're the third owners.  The first owners had it custom built and lived here 22 years.  The second owners lived here two years before they relocated to Atlanta.  And as of this summer, we will have lived here for 16 years.

Thankfully, the second owners did some re-modeling and updating to the house while they were here.  When we viewed the house, they told us that most of the house still had its original 1970's decor when they moved in.  The kitchen had orange Formica counter tops, yellow, tile backsplash, and avocado green appliances.  A Brady Bunch kitchen for sure.

The young couple who sold us the house updated most of the kitchen as soon as they purchased the house.  They took down the original wallpaper and replaced it with a pattern that I really liked for many years.  They replaced the orange counter top with white Formica, which has remained in pretty good condition.  They replaced the yellow backsplash.  They also replaced all the appliances with shiny, new white ones, and a white porcelain sink.  What they didn't replace was the linoleum floor and the cabinets (the most expensive part of the re-model).

Have a look at our 40 year old cabinets.  I'm trying not to cringe when I see them in photos.