JawJaw,

Actually, I'm glad I have an old-fashioned house, too. We even have one of those porcelin sinks with the back-splash.

It feels really homey here. I tried to decorate in a more formal way when we were first married. Now. I'm changing. I'm playing up the history of the house. We have taken the paint off of the original door and taken it down to the wood. The same shutters are on the house. John and I agree that we will not put vinyl ones up (though they'd be so much better to maintain).

We have all wood floors now. With our pets, this was a necessity and an added plus is that John and me are no longer bothered by sinus problems.

We actually have an old time phonograph -- the one with the big horn -- in the basement. I have a second stove down there -- a porcelin one with the top that covers the burners. It's sits up on legs. It works, too!

I have the head to my grandmother's sewing machine. Thinking of bringing it downstairs. It could sit on a hope chest or a table as a centerpiece. I just don't know how I could fill in the bottom -- the area between where it would sit up on the hard surface.

Gee, JawJaw, you've got the right side of my brain on go.
But, but I'm sticking to the clean up the clutter thing first. Or, maybe I could do time cleaning up and more time on redecorating. (After all, I am coming out of that awful down and deserve some fun!)

Mountain Ash, I'm the opposite in musical choice during cleaning. I have to listen to something fast. The faster the music the faster I clean. Motown hits work good too.

Okay, I'm going to go take a nap now, before I start my one room at a time de-cluttering project. I really have a surge of energy in the evening. During the morning and afternoon, I have to talk to myself to get going on a project.

Love,

Emily (whose house will be able to breathe by the end of this month)