Good news!

Ahhh, the Internet.  I'd been excited about this part of my move for a while, until Dad through a wrench in my plans.  He reminded me that the utilities from the road to the house are underground.  Meaning any additional lines - ie fiber for my internet - would have to be underground too.  EPB is giving free installation to customers who keep the service for a year, but he didn't think that running the underground lines would be covered.

WRONG!  I called and spoke with EPB, and if the existing utilities are underground, then they will run the new lines underground at no additional fee.  **Does a happy dance**  This news seriously made my day.

More on EPB Fiber: When Greenville was vying for Google Fiber, I wondered why Chattanooga wasn't getting in on project.  Turns out it was because Chattanooga already had a Gig, fiber to the home - in a 600 square mile coverage area.  Since my apartment building is older, it hasn't been wired for fiber, and this will be my first chance to connect.  I won't be needing the 1GB/s upload and download capability, but it will be nice to have reliable fiber, and NO MORE COMCAST!   (Side note: my grandparents literally went from AOL dial-up, to satellite, to fiber internet in the past 2 years...it's a crazy difference)

Housekeeping: I'm going to be posting a lot more frequently for the next few weeks as I'm getting ready for my move.  I've got a lot of planning to do, and this way my mom & the other people I've recruited to help know a little more about what they're getting into, and maybe I won't forget anything major. (It's not going to be that bad though, I promise!)  So I'm not spamming anyone who's not too terribly interested in my home do it yourself projects, I'm not going to be posting links on facebook.  I'll still post links on twitter, but if if you rely on my facebook posts, and want to keep up with my progress, add a bookmark or subscribe to my feed.  


Have a wonderful day everybody!

Planning my move

So I have a bit of a problem moving into the my great grandmother's awesome house that I told you about last week....I have no idea what to do with the living room.  I've almost always had roommates with living room furniture, so I don't really have a style of my own, or know what fits the house.

A few months ago, the current tenant was out of town, and I went with my grandmother to walk around the property.  While we were there, the tenant's son-in-law stopped by and gave us a tour of the house. I hadn't been in the house since the 2001 renovation was complete, so I was thrilled to get inside.  It was nice of him to show us around, & nice to see exactly what needs painting or updating, and how much stuff the house can hold - and it was full.  As in, couldn't see the chair-rail in the living room, boarder-line hoarder, full.  That was more than a little overwhelming. 

My solution...decorate for Christmas.  Rather than stressing about putting together my perfect living room when I first move in, I'm going to decorate for Christmas and save the rest for after the first of the year.  Kinda of a cop out, but since I don't really know exactly how much space I'm working with, that's the plan. :)

My first project to get ready for my move are Christmas Tree Ornaments.  I'm going to keep things rustic and simple for my tree, and do handmade (ie cheap/budget friendly) ornaments.  These are some of the ideas I am going to try and get made before I move:

Twine wrapped around a ball

Newspaper strips and glitter modge-podge

'Glass Globs' hot glued to a plain ornament

Ivory with burlap & glass diamonds

It's a simple color palate: black, ivory, clear, and brown.  Add some white lights, and maybe some burlap garland, and regardless of what the rest of the room looks like, at least my tree will be pretty!!

Meet Me on Monday

I was looking for something to post today, and ran across this over on Bowling Adventures.  (My friend's sister's blog) Since 'blog parties' are all the rage, I thought I'd chime in.  I'm relatively new to the blogging community, so this is my way of getting involved.  It's simple, a few short questions, a few short answers, and a link back to the rest of the links.  A quick post for me, and a chance for you to get to know me better. 

1.  Are you excited for the holidays or are you dreading them?  Love the holidays!  Can't wait to decorate in my new house!!
2.  Do you hit the snooze button or get right up?   Snooze. At least twice.  I am not a morning person.
3.  Do you still have your tonsils? Yup, and my wisdom teeth.
4.  What was the last piece of candy that you ate? I definitely snuck a bite size Milky Way house sitting this weekend.
5.  Do you shop at thrift stores?  Absolutely.  I don't discriminate when it comes to sales.

Christmas Ornaments!

Ornaments I will have for sale at the Memorial Hospital Fair this weekend

Every year I make and sell Christmas ornaments.  Instead of doing all glass ornaments this year, I'm making old fashioned fabric ornaments, and glass 'accent' ornaments.  The accent ornaments are 1" diamonds.  The idea is to have coordinated accents that sparkle & fill in the blank spots, but are nice enough to stand alone.  My favorites are the white and mirrored glass.  The glass ornaments are 10 for $25, and the fabric ornaments are $7.50 each or 3 for $20.  I am officially taking orders now, so if you want something special, just let me know (comment, e-mail, tweet, etc) and we can match your colors.  Everything I do is completely custom.  I'll be posting more pictures in this Facebook album, so check back there if you want to see more.

Memorial Hospital is hosting a fair this weekend, and the ornaments above are some of my ornaments that a co-worker is taking to sell.  She also has a permanent booth at "The Crazy Daisy" in East Ridge if you'd like to see my work there. 

I know I'm not decorating for Christmas yet (that comes when I move!!) but I know a lot of people are starting to think about it, so I thought I'd go ahead and let you know what I'm doing this year!

My next move

My new front porch!

I've made a few vague references to the fact that I have one more move coming up in 2011 - bringing the total to 3 moves. Since my move is now less than a month away I thought it is about time to let everybody know what I'm so excited about.

I'm moving into my great grandmother's cottage house :)

It's a simple 2 bedroom 1 bath house, with a living room, kitchen, & dining area. It has a great covered front porch, and a barn style detached garage/storage building.  It's not huge, but it's exactly what I need.

The house sits on the largest natural pond in Hamilton County, which even shows up with its name, on Google maps. The pond is at least an acre, and my best guess from tax maps is house and land is about 8 acres.  I love being near water, and this pond is gorgeous.  If I edit this post, it will be when I can scan a picture of the pond and put it here.

When the house was built nearly a hundred years ago, it was a 2 room fishing cottage for my great grandfather. If I have the story correct, my great Grandmother Grace, moved the family to this house when my great grandfather died around the Great Depression. Over the years the house was added on to several times, and essentially rebuilt after it fell into disrepair in the years after Grandmother Grace died. This is great news for me since all of the wiring is 10 years old, and not 50. Here's a little history on the house & updates:

• Additions onto original house before 2001: Master then 2nd bedroom, kitchen & dining room, the bathroom, 2nd fireplace
• Upgrades from original house before 2001: running water, well then city water & septic tank, central heat & air, double ovens.
• 2001 renovation: new tin roof & insulation, new wiring, new windows, shower added to bathroom, new carpet, new vinyl flooring in the kitchen, new washer & dryer, new heat & ac units.

I'd say its come a long way!  The only modern appliance I won't have is a dishwasher. When I move in this Thanksgiving there's a good amount of TLC that needs to be done to the yard, the house, and the exterior, but I'm up for a challenge.

I wrote a post a while back about what I was looking for in a house and why.  Here's how Grandmother Grace's house stands up:

1. Laundry Chute -Nope, this is a 1 story house, no room for a laundry chute
   
2. Built-Ins -YES!  There are built ins in the living room next to the fireplace
   
3. A fireplace -YES! The downside is that it doesn't draw well.  I'll probably convert it to gas next year.
   
4. A Studio Space -YES! The detached garage is 2 story, so my glass shop will go there :)
   
5. A Garden - YES! Probably more than I can handle.
6. Water -YES!  Love the pond :)
   
7. Grill & Patio -Eventually. There is an area off the kitchen and 2nd bedroom that will be a great patio space. But that's going to take some time.
   
8. A bathtub - Kinda, there's a shower/bath combo.  If I buy this house, then there will be another addition with a new bathroom.
   
9. Things that have history/stories - YES! Doesn't get more historical and personal than family.
   
10. Dark woods - YES! The living room has great wood all around the fireplace, and dark bead-board up to chair rail height.
11. Bonus: a big, square, brown, leather, tufted ottoman....Still on my wish list.

You can see why I'm so excited.  It's been so hard not to post about this, but until the current tenant was notified that her lease was not going to be renewed and all of those details were settled, I didn't want to jinx myself!  The fun part now is the planning. Picking out curtains, looking at auctions for furniture, and scouring the internet for plants. I'm really excited and can't wait.  I don't even mind the packing.  The plan involves friends and wine, so even the packing should be fun!

I was able to take a look around the property a few months ago and snap some pictures.  Here are the 'before' pictures.  The first of many more pictures to come.

Future Grill & Patio Area

2nd Bedroom

Small Hosta garden at the driveway

Rear entrance in need of TLC