FaithManor Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 We went on a dress trying on extravaganza so that before we purchased all of the fabrics/laces to make her gown, she was absolutely certain of the style and elements she wanted and knew what it would look like on her body. Well, she tried on an absolutely exquisite number that was the neckline, the lace, the color (off white...antique), everything. It had every single element she wanted and it was stunning on her! When I consulted the ouchy price tag, the bridal consultant told us it was on a HUGE sale and made us a deal. I couldn't refuse because it would have cost more at that point for us to make it than to buy it. My only concern was that I wouldn't take it off the rack. It was a size 4 and dd was drowning in the bodice. But, they were able to order it in a 0 at that price. So, her dress will be in, alterations complete, and hanging in our closet by April 1st. The only element that wasn't perfect was that there wasn't quite enough lace cut outs on the train of the dress. So we are buying two yards of the lace from the manufacturer and my mom will make the cut-outs and add them when we get it home. I'm a little sad that mom won't be making it. On the other hand, it was practical to go through all of that when the perfect dress was staring us in the face at an amazing price. But, she did not like a single veil she has seen, so mom is going to make that as well as her garter, and of course, the train will be much more intricate when mom is done adding more lace. So, R will certainly have some special grandma touches on her wedding day. The whole thing seems a little surreal. We go to put the deposit down on the church today (she's going to be married in a church that is also part of a museum complex). She would like to have been married in our living room (our house is a 112 year old Methodist Church we renovated so my living room has cathedral, stained glass windows and antique woodwork and light fixtures), but since we did some more renovating and put the staircase in to the balcony, we can no longer seat 75. The best we can do is 50 and we just cannot get the guest list below 73. When I get a chance to download the pictures from the phone to the computer, I'll post a pic of the dress. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Geek Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 It sounds like plans are falling into place for your dd's wedding and that the big things are handled now. Your mom's sewing may still come in handy. When we got married there was 1 tux that came in about 10 sizes too big. It was for the best man. The bridal shop couldn't do anything to fix it because it was within a day or 2 tops of the wedding. My dh's aunt came in with needle and thread, took them apart and resewed them up so that it would fit reasonably. I do think it was just the pants that were messed up, not the jacket. I didn't know anything about it until the honeymoon.:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 That sounds incredibly lovely and wonderful!! It's still special that her grandmother can add to her dress and make her veil. May I ask what sort of bouquet she wants? Dd and I were discussing bouquets the other day (in a general, "what flowers do you like?" kinda way...;)). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denisemomof4 Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Sounds SUPERB!!!!! Your mom's personal touch are going to be SO special! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 When it's right, it's right.:001_smile: The dress sounds like it will be stunning when your mom does the train and veil. A story: About 7 years ago, the twins' pre-school teacher was being married. She had a photo of a 'wedding dress' that was not a wedding dress at all -- it was part of a 'set' for a photo shoot. It was a lingerie photo shoot -- the dress looked like it could be a wedding dress, but it needed some tweaking. all that being said, it was very, very pretty. I 'found' the dress - yes, that's right, THE dress. I was friends with the bride and I did most of the 'planning' 'coordination' for the wedding. The dress was precisely the dress in the lingerie catalog where the bride had seen it, and it was beautiful. Brought the bride to see the dress -- yes, she loved it. it was THE dress. She was going to bring her friend who was an amazing seamstress and have her copy it. :confused: Why, you ask? b/c she wanted to say her dress was 'custom made.' :confused: I tried to walk through this with her, but it was all about.....well, you know what it was all about. Her friend saw the dress, made sketches, they spent a small fortune on fabric and notions -- probably 12 times what the dress cost at the shop where we saw it -- i kid you not. And her friend made the dress. She made the dress in totally different fabric than the dress in the bridal shop. The dress in the bridal shop was soft, flowy, had alot of 'illusion.' The custom made dress was stiff, heavy and wrinkled if you looked at it. The seamstress was ironing out wrinkles minutes before the bride put it on. The change in fabric totally changed the 'feel' of the dress -- what can I say? The bride spent a ridiciulous amount of money on something that was not memorable at all. The monday after the wedding, one of the teachers at the school where we taught asked me what i thought of the bride's dress (this teacher was my co-teacher) -- I told her what i wrote above -- the original dress was very very pretty - the custom dress....not so much. She agreed and that was the consensus of opinion. Oh, and the bride, when i brought her to see the dress that WAS the dress in the photo, wouldn't even try on the dress! She spent a small fortune having someone make a dress that she had never even tried on. big mistake. I think your daughter did the right thing!:grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: The right dress is a blessing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justLisa Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: The right dress is a blessing. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Your dd is sooooooooooo lucky! My wedding gown was icky. I was forced into going to a fabric shop w/Wolf's aunt to pick out a pattern, etc. The dress I loved, I was told no. :glare: Ended up w/aunt picking out 3 patterns, and being told to choose from those. Said no lace, beading or sequins. My gown is covered in them. The shoulders didn't fit right...kept slipping off one or the other. Not the slightest bit what I wanted, but everything the aunt wanted. :glare: She complained that I didn't seem very excited about the dress. Wonder why? :confused: One day, Wolf and I are determined to renew our vows. That's what a gong show our wedding was. When the GUY talks about renewing vows, you know something is wrong :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 I can't wait to see a picture of the dress, Faith!!! And Mariann -- if that woman was only interested in bragging to people about her "custom made dress," she got what she deserved! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 When it's right, it's right.:001_smile: The dress sounds like it will be stunning when your mom does the train and veil. A story: About 7 years ago, the twins' pre-school teacher was being married. She had a photo of a 'wedding dress' that was not a wedding dress at all -- it was part of a 'set' for a photo shoot. It was a lingerie photo shoot -- the dress looked like it could be a wedding dress, but it needed some tweaking. all that being said, it was very, very pretty. I 'found' the dress - yes, that's right, THE dress. I was friends with the bride and I did most of the 'planning' 'coordination' for the wedding. The dress was precisely the dress in the lingerie catalog where the bride had seen it, and it was beautiful. Brought the bride to see the dress -- yes, she loved it. it was THE dress. She was going to bring her friend who was an amazing seamstress and have her copy it. :confused: Why, you ask? b/c she wanted to say her dress was 'custom made.' :confused: I tried to walk through this with her, but it was all about.....well, you know what it was all about. Her friend saw the dress, made sketches, they spent a small fortune on fabric and notions -- probably 12 times what the dress cost at the shop where we saw it -- i kid you not. And her friend made the dress. She made the dress in totally different fabric than the dress in the bridal shop. The dress in the bridal shop was soft, flowy, had alot of 'illusion.' The custom made dress was stiff, heavy and wrinkled if you looked at it. The seamstress was ironing out wrinkles minutes before the bride put it on. The change in fabric totally changed the 'feel' of the dress -- what can I say? The bride spent a ridiciulous amount of money on something that was not memorable at all. The monday after the wedding, one of the teachers at the school where we taught asked me what i thought of the bride's dress (this teacher was my co-teacher) -- I told her what i wrote above -- the original dress was very very pretty - the custom dress....not so much. She agreed and that was the consensus of opinion. Oh, and the bride, when i brought her to see the dress that WAS the dress in the photo, wouldn't even try on the dress! She spent a small fortune having someone make a dress that she had never even tried on. big mistake. I think your daughter did the right thing!:grouphug: That kind of thing happens a lot with custom dress making because many people who advertise that they do custom, really can't do custom design. They can sew from a pattern and they can do alterations. Design is a different ball of wax. Design requires the ability to actually create the pattern. Lots of math, lots of geometry, lots of spacial and abstract thinking. My mom is capable of all of that. When I became engaged, the dress I fell in love with cost $2500.00 in 1988 and my parents income that year was $19,000.00 NO WAY we could afford that dress. I wasn't even able to try it on anywhere in Michigan. I tried on some things that were close to make sure the general style was good for my frame. But, other than that, mom had to wing it. She created the patterns and we paid $175.00 for the fabrics. My dress was an EXACT replica of the design in the bridal magazine. Amazing! But, like mom said, very few men and women who sew can do that because it's not nearly as much about sewing as it is fashion design. She was fortunate, fabric/textiles/sewing/fashion design was my mom's niche in high school and she attended a very good one that allowed a four year "Home Economics" major. The intensity of the program by senior year was amazing and had she not married my dad and followed him around the states for eight years while he was in the Air Force, she would have gone directly to work for Simplicity or Butterick Pattern Company designing women's suit and evening gown patterns. As it was, at one of dad's bases in New Jersey she wasn't far from a textile factory where she was hired at 18 to manage about sixty women doing assembly line suits and dresses. She ended up in quality control. All of the others doing that, had worked for the business for years. But, that's how good her high school program was. So, I have no doubt mom could have made that gown. But, it just wasn't worth that kind of work because it would have cost easily as much and likely more (it's a solid lace dress with expensive cut-outs everywhere and I know for a fact that the all over lace on the bodice is $225.00 for one yard, and the lace on the train is $54.95 -85.95 per yd. depending on the level of sequin, re-embroidery work, pearls, and crystals included. Getting it half price - that was a NO brainer. Otherwise, for most people who go to someone who sews well, unless they pick a simple chiffon sheath dress with little detail, no rouching, etc. they will not get what they thought because a seamstress can sew but not design and most generic wedding gown patterns need not only a huge amount of adjustment to fit well, but contain elements of what the bride wants but not the whole thing. Just combining patterns can be a huge disaster if one doesn't know how to do that properly and there is a bit of a science to it. Her daddy is absolutely thrilled with the dress. Another added benefit to be sure! It's always nice when the one paying for it is a happy camper! The other thing that is beneficial is that by taking that HUGE project off mom's plate, I can now hand her fabric and say, "MOM, I need you to make 100 of these fabrics flowers. Here's the pattern, fabric, and embellishments. Thanks." When she gets those done, I can give her more. :D I'll go look up a pic of dd's bouquet. This will be the only live flower bouquet. DD is totally victorian, antique in her tastes for the wedding so even the bridesmaida' bouquets, the corsages, and the boutenirs will be made of fabric flowers. We don't have enough time to make enough to cover the 16 ft. arbor that dh is building her, so those will be silks. The arbor is DH's labor of love. She always wanted an English garden theme wedding but since her intended has some allergies, spending hours outdoors amongst the flowers - particularly wildflowers - would probably leave him miserable although he is on allergy shots. So the ceremony and reception are indoors and dh is doing this very special arbor that will go the entire length of the bridal table (16 ft. long and 8 ft. high) out of ash. He has a dear friend that volunteered kiln dried solid ash lumber from his farm as a gift to dd and will help make and transport it too. Such a sweet man. My sil, the flower guru, has volunteered to decorate it. Dried Honeysuckle vine, fabric flowers, and silks. Tea light candle holders will extend from the latice and over the bride and groom, dh is wiring an ivory, shabby-chic chandelier we have from out old house that we brought with us and didn't use. We'll keep the arbor here until they are able to purchase their first home and then that can help make dd's yard extra special. Off to the find the picture of the bouquet. Thanks everyone for your support. I'm still adjusting to that concept, "Mother of the Bride". Don't know when I became that old. Seems like some sort of bizarre, Star Trek, alien virus that gets you in 24 hrs. or something. :001_smile: Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Picture of the bouquet: Pic 1 - her bouquet Pic 2 - bridesmaids fabric flower bouquet, but the dark coral will really be a lighter peach...dd doesn't want anything that dark. Also, her bouquet will be smaller than the one pictured. She wants those colors and elements but the one shown is more of a centerpiece type thing attached to an arbor. They ordered her a size 0 dress (amazing for someone who can lift a 180 lb. person and haul them over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes if need be and with assistance, can manage a 250-275 lb. person...on a three medic team she's moved a 420 lb. person, so she's not a piece of fluff!!!) and if she carried something that big, she would be lost behind it! :lol: Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justLisa Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Those flowers are gorgeous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Lovely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Cool! And I am totally jealous...I'd love to live in an old church building! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom in High Heels Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 The flowers are beautiful! I can't wait to see the dress! When my BFF was getting married, we went through stacks and stacks of wedding magazines looking at dresses and there was one that made my heart skip a beat. It was so...me. I wasn't engaged, but ripped that page out and saved it. I ended up getting engaged about 9-10 months after I ripped out that page and when we went looking for dresses, I took it with me, hoping they could find something similar. I showed it to the consultant and she had THAT dress and it was on sale. Actually, it was only the floor model on sale, which made me sad because I knew there was no way it would fit. I tried it on and it fit me like it had been custom made for my body. It was truly MY dress. Even on sale it was a lot of money (it was from a big name designer line), but my mom and dad decided that this was indeed my dress and bought it. The dress your daughter found was meant for her. I love that grandma is going to make it extra special. Post pics soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeefreak Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 We went on a dress trying on extravaganza so that before we purchased all of the fabrics/laces to make her gown, she was absolutely certain of the style and elements she wanted and knew what it would look like on her body. Well, she tried on an absolutely exquisite number that was the neckline, the lace, the color (off white...antique), everything. It had every single element she wanted and it was stunning on her! When I consulted the ouchy price tag, the bridal consultant told us it was on a HUGE sale and made us a deal. I couldn't refuse because it would have cost more at that point for us to make it than to buy it. My only concern was that I wouldn't take it off the rack. It was a size 4 and dd was drowning in the bodice. But, they were able to order it in a 0 at that price. So, her dress will be in, alterations complete, and hanging in our closet by April 1st. The only element that wasn't perfect was that there wasn't quite enough lace cut outs on the train of the dress. So we are buying two yards of the lace from the manufacturer and my mom will make the cut-outs and add them when we get it home. I'm a little sad that mom won't be making it. On the other hand, it was practical to go through all of that when the perfect dress was staring us in the face at an amazing price. But, she did not like a single veil she has seen, so mom is going to make that as well as her garter, and of course, the train will be much more intricate when mom is done adding more lace. So, R will certainly have some special grandma touches on her wedding day. The whole thing seems a little surreal. We go to put the deposit down on the church today (she's going to be married in a church that is also part of a museum complex). She would like to have been married in our living room (our house is a 112 year old Methodist Church we renovated so my living room has cathedral, stained glass windows and antique woodwork and light fixtures), but since we did some more renovating and put the staircase in to the balcony, we can no longer seat 75. The best we can do is 50 and we just cannot get the guest list below 73. When I get a chance to download the pictures from the phone to the computer, I'll post a pic of the dress. Faith I promise I'm not a creepy stalker or anything, but can we see pictures of your living room? Pretty please? I am so totally jealous of you right now. I would totally live in an old church or a library. Can't wait to see pics of the dress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovinmomma Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Picture of the bouquet: Pic 1 - her bouquet Pic 2 - bridesmaids fabric flower bouquet, but the dark coral will really be a lighter peach...dd doesn't want anything that dark. Also, her bouquet will be smaller than the one pictured. She wants those colors and elements but the one shown is more of a centerpiece type thing attached to an arbor. They ordered her a size 0 dress (amazing for someone who can lift a 180 lb. person and haul them over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes if need be and with assistance, can manage a 250-275 lb. person...on a three medic team she's moved a 420 lb. person, so she's not a piece of fluff!!!) and if she carried something that big, she would be lost behind it! :lol: Faith The flowers are lovely! Can't wait to see the dress. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 I promise I'm not a creepy stalker or anything, but can we see pictures of your living room? Pretty please? I am so totally jealous of you right now. I would totally live in an old church or a library. Can't wait to see pics of the dress! I will post pictures but it will be a while. When dh and son put up the stairwell, they also did some insulating, and what not. The living room looks like a workshop...since we need to redo the heating system in there, we haven't used it all winter and so there is sawdust, insulation particles, bits and pieces of wood, power tools, sawhorses, you name it ALL over in there. By the time he got it put up, it was getting so cold, that we just shut it up for the time being and then with the rocketry team, 4-H, and dh's Lyme's disease - which he is recovering from nicely, but I watch him closely and make him rest A LOT - we didn't get in there this spring or summer to recover and start making use of that area. I have a huge family room - 25 x 25 that I use for our dining room, living area plus the kitchen, baths, and bedrooms that we have downstairs in the part of the house (the river rock edition that was at one time the church fellowship hall, bathrooms, church office, and pastor's office) that has been fully renovated and has updated heating. Getting the use of the Living Room (Sancturary part) plus balcony was phase 2 of the project and we are just beginning phase 2, which is now interrupted by wedding project! My sister did get married in our living room with just 62 guests during the late summer because she didn't need the heat and we hadn't even moved in here yet so therefore, hadn't taken over the area to build the staircase. We did, however, refinish the floors and woodwork so that it would be gorgeous for her wedding. My parents, two of my aunts, and two cousins (not to each other, whew!! :D) were all married in the "living room" besides my sister. Unfortunately, my sister's marriage was a bit of a disaster and didn't last. But, the others are all good. My brother, sister, most of our cousins, and I were all baptized here as well and then there are many elder family members whose funerals were held here. It's a good place to live. (Old United Methodist Church) Dh and I wanted to marry here, but my parents attended at rather largish church at the time, 350 in attendance on Sunday mornings, and because dad was the head deacon/elder, felt he absolutely had to invite all of those people. The sanctuary here was 30 x50 and if you totally, completely, shoulder to shoulder, packed people in, couldn't handle a body over 200 and I think that might have included chairs behind the back row of pews and chairs added to the ends of the pews! So, though we pleaded and begged, the man with the purse strings one. It's the only time my dad seriously pulled rank on something that meant that much to me. :sad: We used half of the living room (25 x 30) for some bedrooms. Now that the balcony is done, we'll finish the rooms upstairs for the boys and I'll maybe, just maybe, get a woman cave...no boys allowed..stay away from my quilt supplies! :D Here is a picture from the outside when it was being built. The cornerstone was laid in 1898. There was some delay getting it done due to finances and it went slowly, very slowly, until the first service was held in 1908. The church family had been here since 1865, but in two separate, devastating fires that swept the county, lost their previous white-clapboard churches. Miraculously, though scorched, some of the sugar maples survived...it's really strange how nature works...take out the building, leave the trees! The river rock edition, which you cannot see, was added around WWII. Okay, this was rather off topic. But, anyway.....this is where I live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom in High Heels Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Wow!!!! Does it still have the bell tower and bell????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remudamom Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 I want to see pics of the dress AND your incredible living room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 When I got married, I was on my own, stationed far from home. I didn't have any close friends on the ship or among the officers' wives that I could ask to go shopping with me. I found a dress that was just lovely, but was daunted by the price. I eventually ended up in the shop of a local seamstress, photo in hand. Incredibly wise move. She was a wise seamstress and had spent many years designing and making dresses for balls and pageants. It was so restful to leave the ship after being underway for a month, drive across the bay to her shop and revel in fabric and lace and someone who cared about what I wanted. More than just a dress, this was therapy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 When I got married, I was on my own, stationed far from home. I didn't have any close friends on the ship or among the officers' wives that I could ask to go shopping with me. I found a dress that was just lovely, but was daunted by the price. I eventually ended up in the shop of a local seamstress, photo in hand. Incredibly wise move. She was a wise seamstress and had spent many years designing and making dresses for balls and pageants. It was so restful to leave the ship after being underway for a month, drive across the bay to her shop and revel in fabric and lace and someone who cared about what I wanted. More than just a dress, this was therapy. It sounds like you found a very special person! Lace...aha...lace. You drove across the bay....hmm...were you in San Francisco? I can just imagine if it was because I bet the shop was one of those older ones with lots of character. If she carried speciality apparel fabrics, I would have been over-the-moon to have spent time in there. Especially, for lace because lace practically makes me weak in the knees!:lol: Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Okay, to other questions. The bell....I'm mad about the bell. When the church family couuldn't remain in the building anymore because they couldn't afford the maintenance or utilities, one of the grandson's of a member - a man with an antique store - came and looted the place. Many fine collectibles that would have been sold with the building were taken and HE GOT SOME MEN TO HELP HIM MAKE OFF WITH THE BELL. I guess he sold some of the collectibles and did give the church family a part of the proceeds, but the bell...it sits in his yard in a brick display he made. So, someday, if we can afford it, we'll have to buy a bell. The bellfry - we had to take it down. The building sat empty for a while, with lots of leaks around the bellfry and the roof of the bellfry in disrepair, before we found out it was available and made a deal for the church. It was dangerous and made me very, very nervous the first time dh climbed the ladder into it. His words when he came down were, "This has to go now!" We have recently drawn up the architectural plan for dh to build a new one and two very hardworking and enterprising Amish boys down the road are going to help DH. But, now that we have a wedding project, that is on hold for a year or two. Once it's up, we do have school bell - less than half the size of the original bell but would do just for looks - that will hang in it until we can afford a full-size bell. Dh told me he would cast one. HA-HA...Thor, Master of Fire, can do a lot of things but the one thing he does.not.have. is a forge big enough to even consider it. WHEW! That said, I just cannot imagine one a bell like that would cost in this day and age. I really need to take some pics inside the living room with the digital camera. It seems that all of my living room shots were taken with the 35mm professional camera back in the day of "developing film", you know THE DARK AGES :D, and they are stuffed in a box in the storage room upstairs where many, many things were stuffed while we made room to turn the living room into a workshop in order to produce the stairwell. I can at least attach a picture of the front of the house. Please note, the church when it was built, was dark red brick. 104 years later, it's faded into an orange we aren't too fond of...someday, we will have to side this just up to the river rock because it's an indefensible amount of money to reface the brick and bring it all up to standard. So, the roof we had put on was dark navy blue which doesn't look great now but will be very nice with the dark burgundy siding we will have in about 5 years. Anyway, here is a close-up of my front window. You can't really tell, but the window panes are gold, light raspberry, deep green, navy blue, and lavender. It's a mottled type glass and each pane is one solid color leaded glass. It's not ornate. But, the church family, way back in the 1800's lost their artisan windows when the fire of 1865 and again in 1881 wiped out the area - actually trumped the Chicago Fire for acreage burned and lives lost - both times they lost their church building. So, determined to build a very expensive brick and stone structure that couldn't be readily burned down, they had to compromise on their windows. My living room pendant lights date to 1908. They were eventually converted to electricity. They are light champagne colored, milk glass that take 300 whatt light bulbs (two each, so when on, oh yeah....I have LOTS of light) that have to be specially ordered. Dh is eventually going to overhaul them as well. We tend to only use two of the six (dh wired them to separate switches), and floor lamps. This makes the electric bill more reasonable. However, at present, we aren't using the space. Maybe after dd's wedding, we'll have time to clear it out as a construction area. Anyway, here's the pic of the front window from the outside. It's from when we first purchased the church. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denisemomof4 Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 I will post pictures but it will be a while. When dh and son put up the stairwell, they also did some insulating, and what not. The living room looks like a workshop...since we need to redo the heating system in there, we haven't used it all winter and so there is sawdust, insulation particles, bits and pieces of wood, power tools, sawhorses, you name it ALL over in there. By the time he got it put up, it was getting so cold, that we just shut it up for the time being and then with the rocketry team, 4-H, and dh's Lyme's disease - which he is recovering from nicely, but I watch him closely and make him rest A LOT - we didn't get in there this spring or summer to recover and start making use of that area. I have a huge family room - 25 x 25 that I use for our dining room, living area plus the kitchen, baths, and bedrooms that we have downstairs in the part of the house (the river rock edition that was at one time the church fellowship hall, bathrooms, church office, and pastor's office) that has been fully renovated and has updated heating. Getting the use of the Living Room (Sancturary part) plus balcony was phase 2 of the project and we are just beginning phase 2, which is now interrupted by wedding project! My sister did get married in our living room with just 62 guests during the late summer because she didn't need the heat and we hadn't even moved in here yet so therefore, hadn't taken over the area to build the staircase. We did, however, refinish the floors and woodwork so that it would be gorgeous for her wedding. My parents, two of my aunts, and two cousins (not to each other, whew!! :D) were all married in the "living room" besides my sister. Unfortunately, my sister's marriage was a bit of a disaster and didn't last. But, the others are all good. My brother, sister, most of our cousins, and I were all baptized here as well and then there are many elder family members whose funerals were held here. It's a good place to live. (Old United Methodist Church) Dh and I wanted to marry here, but my parents attended at rather largish church at the time, 350 in attendance on Sunday mornings, and because dad was the head deacon/elder, felt he absolutely had to invite all of those people. The sanctuary here was 30 x50 and if you totally, completely, shoulder to shoulder, packed people in, couldn't handle a body over 200 and I think that might have included chairs behind the back row of pews and chairs added to the ends of the pews! So, though we pleaded and begged, the man with the purse strings one. It's the only time my dad seriously pulled rank on something that meant that much to me. :sad: We used half of the living room (25 x 30) for some bedrooms. Now that the balcony is done, we'll finish the rooms upstairs for the boys and I'll maybe, just maybe, get a woman cave...no boys allowed..stay away from my quilt supplies! :D Here is a picture from the outside when it was being built. The cornerstone was laid in 1898. There was some delay getting it done due to finances and it went slowly, very slowly, until the first service was held in 1908. The church family had been here since 1865, but in two separate, devastating fires that swept the county, lost their previous white-clapboard churches. Miraculously, though scorched, some of the sugar maples survived...it's really strange how nature works...take out the building, leave the trees! The river rock edition, which you cannot see, was added around WWII. Okay, this was rather off topic. But, anyway.....this is where I live. Faith, it is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! We want a virtual tour! forget the wedding and work on this first. Be a sport. PLEASE??!!!!!:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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