"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." -Maya Angelou

After a lengthy day yesterday roaming Portland (well, of course we weren't roaming, I had an agenda...big surprise everyone! lol!), Scott's friend Darren suggested we look into a dresser for our bath vanity issue....(the issue being cost & wanting something "vintage" or old....so this set off a 4 day search online I figured out for our size and storage needs a sideboard (cabinet style) or buffet would be better perhaps than dresser, we hit a great consignment store in S.Portland, called Cherished Possessions it was cool, lots of furniture, decent prices, but not quite anything that worked.  We went to a tile store I had longed to check out, Old Port Tile Co. it had some amazing pieces, we asked about 1 6x6 tile we thought was cool....our thought was maybe splurge on 6 tiles for behind our kitchen range and then use more affordable tiles around it to finish it off...we asked about this particular tile, Scott thought $6 a tile, I thought $10....$41 per tile was the answer?! Get us out of here! This was the look we saw and are considering "borrowing" the idea....:

We finally made it to yet another store I had yearned for....Portland Architectural Salvage this was 4 floors of COOL!  We had a lot of fun in there & it's the type of store you could walk thru 3 times and still see things you missed the first 2!  Furniture galore, and all kinds of windows, doors, moldings, and TONS of cool vintage stuff.....everything a girl like me dreams about!  (Scott liked it too!) We purchased two cool small old letter press numbers, for a couple dollars....you may see them on the back of an envelope one day!  We thought it was cool they had a "6 & a 4" for our #64 High Street!

Our counter top appears to be thru as well, we have hired our good friend Pete Spadone, of Spadone Design to custom create our wood counter tops.  From the very beginning Scott and I have wanted to have wood counter tops, not butcher block, but 3/4-1" thick wood tops.  So many wood types to choose from and so many opinions to consider.  We stuck to our guns and ended up indeed with the same tops Pete & his wife Stevie have in their beautiful home which Pete made from reclaimed Southern Yellow Pine.  So, the wood has been sourced and is to my understanding a large beam at this point, which will be planed into a thickness for Pete to work with, and he will join the boards seamlessly together to create a "solid looking" surface top.  The beauty of this wood is it is old, and reclaimed, meaning it had another life... (here Wikipedia explains it:
Reclaimed lumber is used wood that has been taken for re-use. Often this is wood from long-standing idle buildings, and it's sometimes refinished for new purposes. Most reclaimed lumber comes from timbers and decking rescued from old barns, factories and warehouses and some companies have been known to source wood from less traditional structures such as boxcars, coal mines, and wine barrels. Reclaimed or antique lumber is used primarily for decoration and home building and is often used for siding, architectural details, cabinetry, furniture and flooring.)



An image of yellow pine....ours will have some of these knots, some show of where nails and screws once were etc...but will appear "finished" and will be urethaned when complete.  We have no doubt they will be stunning.

 We love the thought this wood comes with memories and history, and will now be a part of our home, and new memories & will live another lifetime!  We also LOVE the fact Pete is making these for us, he is a beyond "talented" craftsman, and counters are hardly his "thing" we are honored to have something he has crafted with his own hands, as he has been an integral part of Scott's life for some time & now will be a part of our new home.

This house has become a beautiful project of family and friends coming together in SO many ways, my family obviously is intricately involved, Pete will make us our gorgeous counter tops, as well has made many suggestions along the way and Scott's step-dad Doug & his family have given us their gorgeous vintage soapstone sink (pics to come) that will be installed as our kitchen sink.  We have been blessed with kindness, skill and love, interest, suggestions and we both appreciate ALL OF YOU!   

Off to check out the progress, which has been HUGE! a new window, part of a wall down between dining & living room to open up space, and electric in old part!  We are off to Devoe tile store to settle up our tile shower which has become a much larger expense than we had planned and caused quite a bit of confusion for us...

Will report back ! with pics of our new progress!!