The Hidden Cost of a Quilt Retreat

A few weeks ago I posted about a quilt retreat that I went to located an hour north of my home. Remember I was describing the story of the lynching of Josefa Segovia (aka Juanita) and how her ghost now haunts the town?  If not, you can read the post here. Well, while on breaks or taking lunch during the retreat, my friend Sophia and I would walk around the tiny town of Downieville. It consists of a few restaurants, a post office, hardware store, gift shop and a few other shops.  It is a cute little town that attracts hikers and mountain bike riders (and quilting afficionados like me and Sophia!) As we wandered about the two block radius that is “town”, I noticed a little, worn out house for sale. I looked at the price and joked with Sophia that we should buy it and come up here to hike the river and go to the quilt retreats. We laughed and that was the end of the discussion.  Or was it…..

When I got home I kept thinking of that little house.  I looked at the listing on-line and showed it to my husband. He immediately got excited about it. The house is reminiscent of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  It just needs someone to love it!  The owner was elderly and after passing away a while back, the house has stood empty. We decided to make an offer on it and after minimal negotiations, we bought it.  Escrow should close this afternoon!!  We are soooo excited about this project.  Everything about the little house speaks to us. (Best part…. there is even a tiny room off the only bedroom that will be a sewing room where I can keep my old machine and some supplies!! Yay for weekend sewing up at the river.)

It needs to be completely renovated. However, it is so tiny with basically four rooms (the living space is just shy of 700 square feet) that it is a manageable project. It was built in the 1930’s and we plan to keep the vintage feel to the house. Here is the kitchen:

20141026_1990Isn’t that floor gorgeous?  All of the flooring in the house is hideous and will be replaced.  The colors are odd, to say the least, and really dated. The walls all have wall board and need to be updated. I like the vintage look of the cabinets and will just refinish them. Buy why is the paper towel roll on the outside of the cupboard??

20141026_1993The living room…. again, oh the flooring!!  There is dark hard wood under that ugly carpet so we will peel it up and refinish the floors. I like the little built in cabinet and book shelf but need to refinish both of them. They have about 138 layers of paint on them.

Now for the real reason we bought it.  This is basically in our back yard.  Walking about 100 feet brings us to this:

photo 1 (7)

The view upstream is wonderful.

photo 2 (9)Look at our tiny neighborhood library, which is just a few doors up from our house.

photo 3 (6)We start working on the house this week, soon as we get the keys. It will be a long project but a fun one. So….lesson learned. Quilt retreats can lead to all sorts of unexpected expenses.  Be careful when attending. On the plus side, I will have a place for Sophia and I to stay at the next retreat. So really, that is a money savings, right?

In the interest of keeping the house’s vintage feel, I have been thrifting and collecting vintage dinner ware and kitchen items. Yesterday I was out looking and while I didn’t find much for the house, look what I came home with:

photo (13)

I was so excited. Most of the pieces (with the exception of the upper left corner) are at least a fat quarter or larger. The fabrics were about 25-75 cents each. The top four on the right side are from an older Mary Engelbreit line for Moda.  Score.

Looking out the window now and leaves are blowing off the trees like crazy. It is supposed to start raining soon. It is shaping up to be a nice day.

Linking to Freemotion by the River, Let’s Bee Social, and Sew Cute Tuesday. Links to these and other link ups can be found at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

 

 

31 thoughts on “The Hidden Cost of a Quilt Retreat

  1. JanineMarie

    Oh, this is adorable!! I love the kitchen cabinets and the built-ins. I’m not even phazed by the wallboard and the quirky paper towel holder. And the view is beautiful. But you know what really caught my attention? The granny square afghan on the sofa! Congratulations on the new retreat and the vintage fabric score!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Thank you Janine! The couch and afghan are gone but now I will fill it with my quilts! I like all the quirks of the house as well. It just feels so cozy to be up there. Looking forward to starting work on it this weekend!
      Gad you stopped by!

      B.

      Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Glad you liked the post! We are so excited to remodel the house. It will be a great project. Looking forward to lots of use of the ‘backyard’!

      Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      I wonder if my husband will even let me go to anymore retreats! Well I guess I can always go to the Downieville retreat since now I have a place to stay. It is a funny story tho!

      Reply
  2. bobbi

    WOW, what a find. I am impressed. I can’t wait to see the after pictures too. If I ever move, I will HAVE to be on water also. Either a creek or lake. It is a must, lol.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Hi Bobbi,
      We have been wanting to have a place to go that is near water so this really suits us well. I will surely post the ‘after’ pictures as we go along!
      So nice of you to leave a note. Come back again!

      Take care, Bernie

      Reply
  3. Louise

    I can see why that house kept working on you. It’s adorable! And to be right on the river…what a treat!

    May you fill it with love and warmth and quilts 🙂

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Hi Louise, nice of you to stop by and leave this sweet comment! The house has such a charm to it. Looking forward to fixing it all up. We will definitely fill it with both love and quilts!

      Take care and come by again!

      Bernie

      Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Thank you Tanya. That is what we think! We love the idea of having a place to get away to on the weekends. Can’t wait to get started renovating this little home.

      Have a nice evening!
      B.

      Reply
  4. Connie Campbell

    How neat to buy this house and that view out the back……unbelievable! I love all the rocks! The house is really cute and I am sure you will both have a lot of fun fixing it up, how far it is from where you live? Have fun!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      It is about an hours drive so very easy to go back and forth. We are so happy to have found this and look forward to fixing it up and enjoying it! Takec are Connie.

      Reply
  5. Vickie

    Pan for gold in that river girlfriend! It’s there!
    When your not quilting, the hike up to the Sierra Buttes is awesome!
    Happy for you and know a quilt will be hanging in that cottage soon.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Hi Vickie, we are looking forward go all of that. Plus the whole Gold Lakes area and burgers at Bassett’s. So much fun up there!!

      Reply
  6. Michelle

    That picture makes me want to put a paper towel holder on one of my cupboard doors. We’ve got a cramped kitchen with similar cupboards (although mine are much more run down) and there’s never been a good place to put one. Maybe it doesn’t make sense, but it would work!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Well, I have been cleaning the kitchen this afternoon and went thru a ton of paper towels just today. It’s convenient!! Thank you for stopping over! Hope you’ll be back. Enjoy your weekend Michelle.

      Best,
      Bernie

      Reply
  7. Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow

    The library appears to be an old schoolhouse?

    Oh the kitchen floor! As soon as I saw it I thought of a magazine “This Old House” that I’d just been looking at. An older issue from the local library. An old kitchen had been re-done but basically the colors and what you saw first were the two vintage appliances. A vintage green dishwasher and then a 1950’s stove redone to match that green. Accents on shelves were reds and a bunch of Jadite green cups and such.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      My daughter and I scrubbed that kitchen from top to bottom. Literally, we even washed down e ceiling. It really needed it but now it is clean. There is actually two different pieces of vinyl flooring in there so we will put new flooring in, eventually….. There are many other projects to be done first. This will surely take a while. We had so much fun today though.

      Take care Deb.

      Reply

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