You May Be Wondering...

...just what in the world is going on in the lives of the Chaos Family! Or, likely not.

We're settled in Northern New York in a cute little town not too far from Fort Drum army base. We bought a gorgeous Queen Anne Victorian built in 1900. The house once fell into great disrepair, and has since been renovated by some of the previous owners. We are busy adding our touches to the house as well.
So far we've ripped the plaster walls down in the living room, dry walled, painted, added crown molding and baseboard. Right now we are taking down wall paper in Louisa's room and painting. As soon as I'm done painting her room, I'll paint our gorgeous foyer. It's got some of the most beautiful wood work I've ever seen, but the walls are stark white. I'd like to soften that up a bit.
Then (yes, much more!) we'll tear down wall paper in our dining room and paint that, tear down wall paper in Hunter's room and paint with a Super Mario theme (hopefully!). Drew's room is quite small and far down at the end of the upstairs hallway. There's a small alcove next to it, so Daddy plans to tear down Drew's wall and open up his room in to the alcove. It'll make his room twice as big as it is now.
Next year's project will be giving Me a new kitchen! This kitchen is quite small and, um... very Blue! There's also quite a bit of work to do in the yard that will wait until next year.
However, by saying we're doing all this work I feel the need to make it clear that we don't *need* to do all this work. This house is great as is! It's just that, we finally get to own a house that we get to put the money in to, so we *want* to do all this! It's fun :) For the most part! Except when a certain well-meaning husband doesn't cover anything... anything at all! in plastic before he tears down the old plaster walls and your house is completely covered in a fine coat of dust that takes weeks to clean!

Now, for the purpose of showing off our beautiful find... our house!
~all pictures were taken the day we bought the house, around the end of March.

{This is our house! Porch is not wrap around, but there is a front and back porch. Porch swing came included and it has been used often!}

{There is also a two car garage, fenced in back yard, and some really nice neighbors!}

{This is the foyer! So pretty! Still trying to find a runner that is long enough. It needs to be about 10 feet long.}

{Stairs and stained glass window in foyer.}

{Closer view of stained glass window.}

{This room is right off the foyer. I've since decorated it with some paintings that an uncle of mine did and blue barn stars. It has a small TV in it, but will mostly be used as a sitting room. There is a full bathroom off this room.}

{This is the old living room. I'll show updated pictures another time.}

{Dining room. The wall paper is quite interesting. All the scenes show women and children working, and men relaxing. Ha!}

{Heading toward the back of the house, this is the stove room. Apparently here in N. New York, I'll need this wood burning stove in the winter. The previous owners bought a fridge too big for the kitchen, so it sits in here. The "brick" is actually wood paneling. That will definitely come down!}

{I feel so blue.... It wouldn't be so bad if they hadn't of painted all the trim blue as well. I get it, they liked blue and wanted a little country kitchen, but why the trim?! That's going to be a lot of work covering up. You can see all the counter space I have. That's it. The micro will have to go above the oven to give myself more room. Oh, and that's all the cabinets there are, too. Above the micro and sink is just shelving. I do like the pot rack, but haven't used it yet.}

Behind the kitchen is the back door, door to the basement (which is really nice!), and a huge walk in pantry. There are many old world details in this house that I hate to replace like old fashioned door knobs and light switches. The ceilings are high, the floors are original wood, and much of the trim is original. I feel so blessed to live in this piece of history. I'm also glad I get to be a part of keeping it up for future residents.