Category Archives: Uncategorized
Chicken ‘n’ Dumplings for Dinner with Family
So, there are options. There is always a trade off. You can make Chicken ‘n’ Dumplings the fast easy way or love making them from scratch.
What’s the fast easy way? Run into the grocery store and grab a Rotisserie Chicken, Box/Can of Chicken Broth, and a can of Buttermilk Biscuit dough. Bring the broth to a boil, drop in biscuits that you tear into four pieces per biscuit. Add chicken that you tear from the Rotisserie chicken. It’s actually a fairly decent solution for a semi-homemade meal. I’ve made it that way a time or two when I was pressed for time and didn’t want to wait at a restaurant or be forced into serving my kids fast food chains. It happens. You didn’t know you could make it that way? Well, now you do. You’re welcome.
However, if you want a true made-from-scratch, better-than-you-could-ever-hope-to-find-in-a-restaurant style of Chicken ‘n’ Dumplings, then you’ll need to invest a little bit of time. It is worth it. It makes a large pot, so there are leftovers, and it costs far less than the “quicky” way, assuming you keep a few staples on hand in the pantry.
Here’s how I make my Chicken ‘n’ Dumplings from scratch:
*Start a whole chicken boiling in a large pot over medium heat, and boil it until the meat is literally falling off the bone. (3-4 hours)
*Pull the chicken and bones from the pot and place in a colander by using a screen/lg slotted spoon/etc, ensuring that you save the broth in the pot.
*Cut up 3-4 medium new potatoes into 1/2″-1″ cubes and drop into the broth with a generous amount of salt and ground black pepper to simmer for an hour while your chicken is cooling.
*Mix 2 cups of flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder and crumble in 3-4 Tbsp of salted butter. (I use my hands to work the butter into the flour mix.) Add one cup of milk. Mix until a dough forms.
*Spread flour on your counter (lots) and roll your dough until it is about 1/4″ thick. Be generous with the flour on the counter and on top, because this flour is part of thickening your broth.
*Cut your dough into 1-2″ squares; I just use a pizza cutter, because it is fast.
*Raise the temperature of your broth and potatoes to a boil and drop in your dough squares one at a time into the broth. Gently stir once or twice, but do not mush them. Wait 5 minutes.
*After removing all of the bones from your chicken, add the meat into the pot. Stir once or twice. Serve.
(I always get rave reviews on them… “Better than Cracker Barrel”… “How did you make your dumplings?!”…) Now, you know.
The reason I made them today? Mitch requested them. His dad joined us for dinner. Since it is summertime and I usually only make this dish in the winter, I just served it with a salad and iced tea. Brownies for dessert were made by our middle daughter. Love. Here is a pic of Mitch’s dad and our girls, his granddaughters. Love.
See y’all later! Good Night!
Your friend,
~Amber Hamilton Henson
PS:
Like this post? Be sure to check “my Kitchen” for links to more of my recipes!
Wonder to which parties I’m linking? I have a page dedicated to “shares”, too, that links to the best parties around!
If this post is featured, please let me know and I’ll add your “featured” button to this post and my “shares” page! 😀
This post is linked:
Mom’s Test Kitchen
Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
Momnivore’s Dilemma
Daughter Sews Pillows
We’re in the process of redecorating our oldest daughter’s bedroom: new paint, new flooring, new bedding, new curtains, etc. So, of course, she’s helping, too!! (She’s 10 years old, now.)
I invited her to write a post/tutorial for this blog, describing what she made, today. Here’s her email to me describing her process of sewing new decorative pillows for her bed:
“First, I have to thread the needle. Then, I have to get the fabric and put the pattern sides together. I put the fabric under the needle and put the foot down. I sew until there is just a hole big enough for my hand. I flip inside out. After that, I stuff it. I sew the hole up, and I’m done.”
Concise and to the point, I say! Well done! Truth of the matter, threading her sewing machine is actually trickier than threading MY machine. (She has her OWN real sewing machine.) The sewing machine was on her wishlist to Santa a couple of years ago. 😉 She’s getting pretty good at sewing on it!
Again, “GREAT JOB, SWEETHEART!!” I’m so proud of her! Love.
~Amber Hamilton Henson
PS. This post is linked with love:
Scissors and Spatulas
House of Hepworths
Made In A Day
Johnny In A Dress
We Made That! (linky just for kids! @ WeMadeThat
Samoa Cookie Bars
Hey, Internet!
So, tonight after dinner (taco night at home), I spent a few minutes looking at social media. My facebook feed sure had lots of pictures of sweet treats, tonight. Cookie Dough stuffed Cupcakes, Cookies, and I’m really curious about how Heather’s Nutella Cheesecake turned out! Who’s Heather? Heather is Arkansas’s very own “Planner in Pearls!” Whether you’re planning a wedding of your own, or know someone who will soon, go check out her page if you have a minute!
Tonight, my choices were to either sit there drooling at the fb newfeed or go raid the pantry and food blog scene in order to find something to bake for MY family, too. Here’s what I came up with: “Samoa Cookie Bars”
They’re kind of a knock-off of the Girl Scout Samoa Cookies. They turned out great!
Basically, you bake a short bread cookie sheet, and while it’s cooling, you toast coconut, melt caramel, and melt chocolate. Then, assemble it all and consume. Yum!!
For the Shortbread Cookie:
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups of all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
*We used a 9″x13″ cookie sheet, sprayed with non-stick spray. Cream together the sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla. Gradually, beat in the flour and salt. It is a dense batter that you press into the cookie sheet in a thin layer. Bake for 25 minutes. Set sheet on wire rack to cool.
While your cookie base is cooling, turn the oven down to 300F and start toasting your coconut. My coconut took about 20 minutes total, stirring every 5 minutes. Also happening: Melt 12oz of caramel with 3 Tbs milk and 1/4 tsp salt in the microwave. I ran my microwave in 90 second increments, stirring and repeating, until done.
Simultaneously, use a double boiler (pot in a pot of water) to melt your chocolate.
When your coconut is done toasting, mix it into your melted caramel. Spread it across your shortbread cookie base. Drizzle with your melted chocolate. Consume. Done!
Dear facebook, the kids and hubby loved these, but for my sake, please show more diet friendly foods in the news feed tomorrow. lol. Please and Thank You!
Your Friend,
~Amber Hamilton Henson
PS:
Like this post? Be sure to check “my Kitchen” for links to more of my recipes!
Wonder to which parties I’m linking? I have a page dedicated to “shares”, too, that links to the best parties around!
Guess what?! I was featured!! 😀
This post is linked:
Bizzy Bakes
Love Bakes Good Cakes
Creations by Kara
AlderBerryHill
At Home With Mrs.M
Couponing n Cooking
I’m Addicted To Recipes
SavvySouthernStyle
TheKingsCourt4
DJ’s Sugar Shack
my1929Charmer
No Minimalist Here
Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
Mandatory Mooch
House of Hepworths
The Ease of Freeze
2805
(As always, if this post is featured on your blog, the Party Hostesses’ Links/Buttons will be pasted on my “shares” page AND on this actual post.)
Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers
Well… maybe not an entire peck, but we DID pick peppers. We also pickle pot’d. We (my husband, our 3 daughters, and I) absolutely LOVE “refrigerator pickles”. You can safely flavor and make these “refrigerator pickles” if you stick to a few tried and true techniques and recipes. YaY! First, clean your produce really well.
There are lots of recipes for refrigerated pickles out there, some with more ingredients, some with less. Some people make a collection of jars; we use one huge pot that is 1.5 gallons. Why one huge pot? Well, we’re a family of 5 that LOVES these pickles. After it is assembled, you have to leave it in the refrigerator for 2 weeks before you get to eat them. During those 2 weeks, anticipation builds. Once, we’re “allowed” into the pot, we DIVE in. A gallon and a half of pickles doesn’t last long around here.
The pickle pot is pretty versatile. At the heart of it, you use: cucumbers, onions, vinegar, water, pickling spice, and SUGAR. (Sugar isn’t pictured here, but this size pot requires a few cups.) You can buy pre-made pickling spice at the grocery store or make your own blend, like I do. You can add peppers, if you choose, but remember to poke lots of holes in the peppers with a fork! We sent our oldest daughter into the backyard to pick a few for our pot!
So, start with a layer of your cucumber spears.
(I had huge cucumbers that I cut into 16 spears per cucumber.)
Then, onion, then spice, then dill, then canning salt.
(That is an important note: table salt often has an anti-caking agent that may prevent it from working in your pot properly, and sea salt may make your pot cloudy. I use a salt that is specifically for canning and pickling).
Repeat layers. Repeat Layers. Repeat Layers. Repeat Layers.
When it is full, fill the pot 1/3 of the way with the White Vinegar & sugar mix.
Gently, shake out air bubble.
Fill the remaining space in the pot with water.
Because the pot will sit in the refrigerator for 2-4 weeks, I use bottled water to further reduce the risk of contaminates. In the name of being both a responsible consumer and proud Arkansan, I use Mountain Valley Spring Water. I buy it by the case in glass bottles that are manufactured using recycled glass that I will again recycle. Furthermore, it is bottled from natural hot springs in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Win. Win. Win. Love!
If you’ve never made your own Refrigerator Pickles a.k.a. “Pickle Pot,” we suggest you try it!
If my big pot is not your style, there are lots of options. You can find a simple recipe for making them in jars in MizHelen’s kitchen, or you can try P. Allen Smith’s version using produce from your garden. Speaking of, I really want to try his recipe for Pickled Okra soon. I had Pickled Broccoli as a side dish at Saigon Thai Cuisine (on Cantrell, here in Little Rock, Arkansas) the other day and LOVED it. I may need to pickle broccoli soon, too! I’ll let you know.
Speaking of pickles, fried pickles are a staple here in the south. However, I try really hard to limit the quantity of battered and fried food that I serve my family, so here is recipe for “fried pickles” that is actually baked! Love.
(click in photo to enlarge for easier reading) 😉
We’re having a Peaceful, Pickle and Pepper day. I hope you do, too!
“Later Gators!” and “Afterwhile Crocodiles!”
Your Friend,
~Amber Hamilton Henson
PS: Like this post? Be sure to check “my Kitchen” for links to more of my recipes!
Guess what?! I was featured!
Wonder to which parties I’m linking? I have a page dedicated to “shares”, too, that links to the best parties around! This post is linked:
Love Bakes Good Cakes
Creations by Kara
AlderBerryHill
Mad In Crafts
At Home With Mrs.M
Couponing n Cooking
I’m Addicted To Recipes
BoogieBoard Cottage
Elizabeth and Co.
HandyManCraftyWoman
PetiteHermine
ChickenScratchNY
SavvySouthernStyle
PrimpJunktion
TheKingsCourt4
DJ’s Sugar Shack
This Chick Cooks
The Brambleberry Cottage
my1929Charmer
House of Hepworths
Momnivore’s Dilemma
The Ease of Freeze
As always, if this post is featured on your blog, the Party Hostesses’ Links/Buttons will be pasted on my “shares” page and to this post!
An ORANGE day!
Today’s post is sponsored by the color Orange!! Okay, well a color can’t sponsor a post, but if it could, I think it would sponsor this post. I’m in the mood for ORANGE: the look, the feeling, and the flavors!
If you’ve been too serious lately and want an easy way to lighten up, then spread a little ORANGE around your life. As a blend of the physicality and raw energy of red and the sheer happiness of yellow, orange becomes truly the color of joy, creativity, and playfulness. Thought to be one of the most energizing colors on the plant, it is often tied to fun times, happy and energetic days, warmth, and organic products. It also a color of choice for many communication companies. Furthermore, orange is known to be associated with a new dawn in attitude. Arkansas has been experiencing higher than average temperatures and extreme drought this summer, but it is finally raining this morning. It feels great! I think that is reason to enough to celebrate by dedicating a post to one of my favorite colors, orange. I actually like the color so much, it is the color that we painted our last house. Seriously, multiple shades of orange. Click here to see my Historic House post. Now, onto more orange-y-ness.
(Click on photo to enlarge into a new window for readability of recipe!)
Let’s start by cleansing our palettes with an orange sorbet using my CuisinArt ice cream machine. It’s a great little machine. Beyond the fact that it’s really quiet, I really enjoy that it is electric and you don’t even have to add rock salt to a bucket, like most machines. Simplicity. Love it!
Let’s also make the house smell great by simmering a pot full of orange slices, rosemary, vanilla and cinnamon sticks, if you have them on hand. I always have more than enough rosemary on hand. One of the first things I did when we bought this new house 2 years ago was plant Rosemary en masse along the front of the house beside the pathway leading to our front door. 20+ Rosemary tiny plants are now growing into a Rosemary hedge. Love it!
ORANGE CHICKEN IN MY CROCKPOT
6 boneless chicken breasts, chopped into small chunks
1/3 cup flour
1/2 Tbsp. of salt
1/4 Tbsp. of cayenne pepper (adjust for more or less heat, depending on preferences)
peanut oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
3 Tbl. ketchup
6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/4 cup of soy sauce
8-12 Tablespoons of brown sugar (adjust according to how bitter vs. sweet your juice is)
red pepper flakes (I have a heavy hand with these, because we really enjoy the heat)
*Pour the flour, salt, and cayenne in a small bowl. Cover the chicken breast chunks in flour and shake off the excess.
*Pour a small amount of peanut oil in a skillet and brown the small bites of flour-covered chicken. After the chicken is done cooking, pour the pieces into the crock pot.
*Mix the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, ketchup, soy, and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Then cover the chicken with your sauce mixture and give the pot a stir.
*Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2.
*I serve this with white rice and steamed broccoli!
CANDIED ORANGE PECANS!
^(click on photo to enlarge into a new window for easier readability!)
Now, for dessert: (actually, we kind of snack on these all throughout the day, too!) This is absolutely one of our favorite recipes; it is from my Gram! I’ve labeled the recipe “secret” recipe, because I don’t usually share this recipe. It’s not a rule to keep it secret, like Mommaw’s praline recipe, you know how some Southern Traditions are, but I usually don’t share this one either. Everyone that has ever tasted these always raves about them and asks for the recipe, to which I reply “Family Secret.” However, I’m just feeling generous, today, so I’m sharing.
We’re having an orange day. I hope you have a happy, orange kind of day, today, too!!
“Later Gators!” and “Afterwhile Crocodiles!”
Your Friend,
~Amber Hamilton Henson
PS
Like this post? Be sure to check “my Kitchen” for links to more of my recipes!
Wonder to which parties I’m linking? I have a page dedicated to “shares”, too!
Linked:
Mom’s Test Kitchen
Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
ChickenScratchNY
FullCircleCreations
Mandatory Mooch
SavvySouthernStyle
TheKingsCourt4
Mom’s Test Kitchen
Five Little Chefs
ArkansasWomenBloggers’ Foodie Friday
I push pixels around
I heart photo editting apps, and pushing pixels around is fun.
I use FluidFx (set to “image sculpt”) to push the pixels around… enlarging an eye, fattening a lip, raising an eyebrow, creating a smirk, and more is entertaining to me. Then, i run it through ToonPaint app.
I snap selfie pics a lot, then when I’m standing in line at the grocery store, riding along in the car as a passenger, or any other spare moment, you can find me pushing pixels around.
The first photo is the original on the left, and the two “afters” are on the right.
This next photo was created using the same method.
In this third photo, I used one of my favorites of me and Mitch. It went through WordFoto app.
All of these photos were labeled using Phonto app.
I actually had a much longer tutorial style post written for these photos, but I think that it’s easier for you to just comment or email me (Amberdhenson {at} att {dot} net) if you need help with the app. Trust me. Working with these particular apps is easy.
In this next photo: “picblender” app shows a blend of one of my selfies and a farm photo that i snapped between Liitle Rock and Memphis, 2) a quote and a selfie, then 3) and 4) show a selfie blended with one of my pots of chives that I’m growing, labeled with “labelbox” app…
Lastly, “tinyplanets” app featuring my house:
Peek Inside Our House: “BONUS ROOM!”
Good Afternoon, Internet! How are you today? I’m GREAT! Our oldest daughter had a sleepover party to celebrate her birthday yesterday, and now, while our oldest two daughters are outside playing and our youngest is napping, I have a few minutes to myself to update this weblog! YaY!
Well, my last post was 3 of my Favorite Pie Recipes, so now I want to talk about things other than food.
Recently, I’ve promised my followers and RSS subscribers a peek inside our house under renovation!
Here is a peek inside our house:
Here is a first peek inside our home that I promised. There is only one full room visible in this photo, the “bonus room” over the garage, but there are peeks at other things throughout the house. I like that room quite a bit: vintage, chrome Wassily chairs, handknotted, vegetable dyed rug, dora maar-ish perpetual face vase, etc. Also in this picture, I see houseplants in this picture, LOTS of houseplants. I see grommet top curtains, antique milk glass lights, and a piano. The lights were a gift from my grandmother; the lights originally hung in a turn-of-the-century building that operated as a feed store in Hot Springs, AR. Also, in this picture, I see some of my rock/stone specimens sitting atop what should be candleholders and sitting in bowls. I see a portion of the fireplace surround, wall sconces, wood blinds, cabinet details, and interior support columns. I see wineglasses, a watercolor painting, corners of framed mirrors and the walnut tree in our backyard barren during winter. I’ll add photos of other rooms, soon.
Your Friend, ~Amber Hamilton Henson of http://www.WhatAmberLoves.com
Wonder to which parties I’m linking? I have a page dedicated to “shares”!
Pies: 3 Favorites!
Good Morning Bloggers! How about a 3 for 1, today? Yep, three of my favorite pie recipes in one post!! Here we go!!
My “Summer Strawberry Sour Cream Pie” included a few strawberries from my little garden!! We didn’t have enough ripe all at once for the pie, so I did use some from the grocery store. Knowing that there were a few in there from our little garden was enough to really please our little girls, though!! Love.
If I’d had a little more free time today, I would have made the crust. I kind of feel like I cheated by using a crust from the store. Oh, well; it was good, anyway! Next time… 😉
The link to the recipe that I found and followed for this strawberry pie was by willowbirdbaking.
Filling Ingredients:
1 quart fresh strawberries
1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar, reserve 1 tablespoon
Dash salt
1 cup sour cream (not fat-free)
Directions:
* Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. To make the crust, pulse flour and salt together to combine. Add scoops of lard and pulse into the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Add in chunks of butter and pulse until butter pieces are no larger than small peas, about 10 pulses. Add minimum amount of water and pulse on low. If dough remains crumbly and doesn’t come together, add another tablespoon of water. Add as little as is required to enable the dough to be rolled into a ball. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 20-30.
* Roll disk of dough out to around 2 inches larger than your pie plate and transfer it, situating it in the plate. Fold the excess dough around the edges and crimp, trimming where necessary.
* Hull and wash the strawberries and slice them in half. Set aside. Sift flour, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add sour cream, blending until creamy. Gently fold in the berries without overmixing. Pour fruit into pie shell and spread to edges without packing down — there should be spaces throughout the filling. Sprinkle the top with the last 1 tablespoon sugar.
* Bake the pie for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F (I leave the oven door open a minute during this period to let the temperature drop a little) and bake an additional 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
* Broil the pie for 2-3 minutes to brown up the top. Allow to cool completely before cutting, and serve with fresh whipped cream or ice cream.
My “Bourbon Pecan Pie” has been tried and tested multiple times, now. It has officially become a “keeper” recipe and has been written by hand in my “go-to” recipe book!! I can’t wait to share it with extended family during the holidays this fall!!
The story: I saw the recipe on Pinterest, pinned, and followed the instructions. It didn’t quite work for me. It just didn’t set and stayed runny. pauladeen
So, I made another one and cooked it for an hour, and the crust was a little overdone. At this point, I had spent quite a bit of time with the bottle of corn syrup and noticed that there is a pecan pie recipe printed on the side, so I hybridized the two recipes and my pie came out perfectly!! Here is my recipe:
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
3 large eggs, beaten
2 cups pecan halves or pieces (not “crushed/crumbled” pecans)
2 tablespoons good-quality bourbon
1 (9-inch) deep-dish pie shell, unbaked
* Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
* In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar and melted butter. Add the corn syrup, eggs, pecans, and bourbon, and stir until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into an unbaked pie shell, and place on a heavy-duty cookie sheet.
* Bake for 50 minutes
* Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Note: If your pie is not fully set at this point, cover the edges of the pie crust with aluminum foil and return to oven until it is set. Covering the edges will keep them from overcooking. 😉
PS
Mitch, thanks for shelling the pecans for me! Love You!!
Blackberry Pie and Blackberry Cobbler
Our oldest daughter and I picked all of our berries ourselves! We are lucky to live in an area where blackberrries thrive in the wild here in Arkansas. I’m kind of laughing about the notion of “wild” since we never really left the sidewalk to pick them. There is about a mile long stretch in our neighborhood where they grow really thickly right beside the sidewalk!
The link to the recipe that I found and followed for the blackberry pie was by sevenspoons.
We absolutely LOVED the pie! The only thing that I changed from theirs was to eliminate “gelatin packet” in the whipped cream topping. It was unneccessary, so long as you whip your cream thoroughly.
The Recipe:
Ingredients for the crust
2 cups shortbread cookie crumbs
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Ingredients for the filling
6 cups blackberries, divided
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Ingredients for the topping
1 1/2 cups heavy, whipping cream
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Seeds scraped from half a vanilla bean
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons milk
* To make the crust, preheat an oven to 325°F (160°C). In a large bowl, stir together the cookie crumbs and salt. While stirring, start to drizzle in the butter. Only use enough butter to dampen the crumbs – depending on the cookies used it might be as little as 1 tablespoon or as much as 3. If you compress the crumbs with the back of a spoon they should pack like sand at the beach, but not appear sodden.
* Press the crumbs into a 10-inch springform pan, forming an even layer across the bottom and a 3-inch crust up the sides. Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden and set, around 8-10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely. (Shortbread cookies, ‘Nilla wafers, graham cracker cookies, and more all work, or use a premade crust, if you’re running short on time)
* To make the filling, take 3 cups of the berries and put them in a medium saucepan with the sugar and the of the salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to a simmer. Cook, stirring, until the fruit becomes soft and the juices begin to thicken, around 7-10 minutes.
* Carefully remove the blackberries to a blender (or use an immersion blender), and process until smooth. Push the puréed sauce through a sieve, back into the saucepan. Return to the heat and bring again to a simmer, stirring often. Cook the sauce until it becomes thick, with a clear, glossy look, around 5-7 minutes. You should have around 1 cup of purée.
* Off the heat, stir in the lemon zest, followed by the soaked gelatin, stirring quickly to dissolve.
Tumble in the reserved berries, give them a few turns in the pan to coat, then pour into the cooled crust. Refrigerate for 10 minutes to start to firm up.
* To make the topping, pour the whipping cream into a bowl along with the sugar and scraped contents of the vanilla bean. Beat the cream to firm peaks, then fold in the sour cream.
* Spread the topping over the blackberry filling, return the pie to the fridge and chill until set, around 2 hours.
* To serve, remove from the pan and cut with a warm knife, wiping the blade clean between slices.
Makes a 10-inch pie.
For the Blackberry Cobbler that I made the next day, I loosely used the same recipe that I always use for fruit cobblers. This post is already pretty long, since it covered three of my favorite pies, so I’ll write a separate entry for cobblers soon! I hope you enjoy the pies! Let me know!!
Your Friend, ~Amber Hamilton Henson
Like this post? Be sure to check my “my Kitchen” for links to more of my recipes!
Wonder to which parties I’m linking? I have a page dedicated to “shares”, too!
Guess what?! I was featured!
Old House became a “Historic” House
Let’s accomplish a few tasks all at once with this post. I’m going to tell you a little story about how a couple (my husband, Mitch, and I), through meticulous budgeting and money management, bought a house for $37,500 and sold it for $255,500. My friends and family that have kept up with us for years through Facebook have seen and heard this story, but knowing roughly what our annual income is, Mitch’s new co-workers recently wondered aloud as to how we can afford to live in the house in the neighborhood that we do, now. I’ll answer that with this post. Second, I’m seeing A LOT of blog posts linking to other blogs linking to other blogs that show home improvement, restoration, DIY projects, real estate transactions, and more. I thought that having already gone all the way through the process once, our story and what we did may be of some value to others currently going through the process.
Basically, we bought an old house (built in 1902) that was a few blocks beyond the borders of the “Governor’s Mansion Historic District” in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. Mitch and I were newly weds. I was 18. He was 22. We saw the huge space and had a dream. Overall, the neighborhood was pretty rough (high crime, condemned houses, etc.), but there were these little dots of inspiration, too. Within a block or two, one or two houses were newly remodeled/rehabilitated houses, a couple were under construction, and few dilapidated ones had “for sale” signs. So, even though the condemned houses and old-homes-that-became-boarding-houses still outnumbered us by far, there were indicators that a change COULD be possible. Our friends and family openly said that they thought we were crazy to choose to buy such a rough house in such a rough area. We knew we weren’t. While simultaneously attending college full-time and working as a receptionist full-time, I started planning and tackling projects. Mitch, with the help of his dad, brother, and my brother, worked tirelessly. My grandmother was a saving grace, gifting funds multiple times. Among the very first projects we tackled were to take down all of the metal bars on the doors and windows in order to give the house a “friendlier/homier” feeling, having a professional security system installed, and putting a pretty new roof on the place. The house was structurally sound, but every surface of the interior needed to be replaced. Interior plaster, floors, ceilings, and fixtures had to be replaced, the second story had been stripped all the way back to just the framing beams, for the most part, and the big front porch was about to completely fall off, it seemed. The yard was barren and empty, except for one lovely, mature pecan tree in the backyard.
For many years, we really didn’t have any sort of hobbies or spare money to spend on anything other than updating our old house. See, while lots of people took out big construction loans, refinanced after every project and kept their projects fully mortgaged, we didn’t. We saved and paid for each project one at a time, acting as our own general contractor and hiring professionals as needed for central heat/air conditioning, new electrical breaker boxes, and rough plumbing. Mitch and I insulated, hung new drywall, painted, installed floors, built closets, built bookshelves, installed all of the outlets/switches/lighting, installed all of the tubs/sinks/toilets, re-built the front porch, built fences, installed landscaping, and more.
When we bought the house, we thought we would tackle it all in a year or two. However, since we took a pay-as-we-go and DIY approach, it was actually a decade before it was all done. Interestingly enough, the more changes that we and the few others kept making were encouraging to the rest of the neighborhood and potential buyers. One by one, almost all of the houses in the area began to change. Real Estate prices went up. Crime went down. The boundaries of the “Governor’s Mansion Historic District” that were/are controlled by the Capitol Zoning District Commission were extended to include our house!
Did I mention that during those years spent renovating, Mitch worked full-time and took on automotive restoration projects for profit, I graduated with two degrees, we had two daughters, and were expecting a third daughter when we decided to sell it? The addition of a third child soon to arrive and the needs of our growing daughters who wanted neighborhood pools, bike paths, room to roam, access to a newly constructed public school, and so forth are what ultimately necessitated the sale of our beloved house downtown.
Important message here. See the photo that shows the floorplan of the house and so forth? I believe that in a “buyers’ market” you have to do whatever it takes to help sell your house, if you’re truly motivated to sell quickly. In Arkansas, most online real estate listings do not include a floorplan, but in the event that a buyer might see our house on the internet first, we wanted it to be memorable and for them to be able to envision the spaces. Seeing how the rooms actually connect and flow from one another is very different than using just photographs and trying to imagine how it may be laid out. It paid off. Our buyer was from out of state, saw it online, wanted to see ours specifically, even though it was a cluttered market with several other homes similar to ours, he chose to visit ours and wrote an offer. I never had the opportunity to ask, but I’d guess that being able to see the floorplan was a tremendous help and a deciding factor as to which houses were worth taking the time to visit.
(Dear Readers, Include a floor plan of your home with your photographs when you are selling your home online. Taking the guesswork out of it all for your buyers and real estate agents instantly creates a degree of familiarity and comfort with a piece of property compared to those that forget to include the floor plan. I used Adobe Illustrator to create ours, but a simple sketch to scale by hand would get the job done, too, or you can probably hire a local graphic artist or college student inexpensively to visit the property, measure, and create an illustration for you. Having an illustration of the space plan/layout of the house is also a useful reference for other agents that show your home! When we were buying our new home, we were astounded at how few listings included floor plans on their marketing materials. Online, it was impossible to guess how much square footage was wasted by hallways or what sort of distance existed between bedrooms and bathrooms. Furthermore, without a copy of a floor plan in hand, going to an “open house” where potential buyers outnumbered agents can be like walking around in a maze sometimes. Rooms get overlooked or viewed twice, etc. Include a floorplan. If you’re in central Arkansas and looking to buy or sell, I recommend the services of Scott Heffington. Having him represent our house as a selling agent was fantastic. We will be using his services again in the future.)
Okay; Mitch, my husband, just read my draft of this post and isn’t convinced that my descriptions of the work we did adequately portray how dramatic the transformation of the old house really was. So, on that note, I’m adding a few before/after photos. It would be nice to have more “before” pictures, but we don’t. We were so focused on improvement, we just didn’t think to take many “before” photos. (Dear Readers, TAKE BEFORE PHOTOS! You’ll be glad you did!) The next picture shows the old house in the beginning, then when it got a new roof, then years later after it was painted, storm windows added, landscaped, fenced, new slate pathway, etc., etc. The right side shows the upstairs interior views as it was when we started versus how it was when we finished the master suite level of the house.
I miss my house. I absolutely love my new house and new neighborhood, but even if I say that I PROFOUNDLY miss my old house, old neighbors, and the friends we made along the way downtown, it is an understatement. It was a great house, with great memories inside, and a style that was completely of my own design. We’ve been in our new house for almost two years now. It is a fantastic house. It is primarily a brick and stone exterior, which means a lot less maintenance than our old painted wooden house. It has a great family-friendly floorplan, the craftsmanship of the finishes are great, and for the most part, we really like the fixtures throughout the house. The previous owners were the ones that commissioned its construction, so as a result of being a custom home, it came equipped with lots of bonus features and meticulous attention to detail. I’ll start showing you some of this in future posts. We’ve made a few changes, too. We’ve painted most of the interior, built a wall of bookshelves, swapped a few fixtures, changed bedroom carpet for new wood floors, etc. It’s still a work in progress. I’ll post photos of these new projects soon and tell you about a few major projects that we still have planned! Stay tuned!
Last photo shown is a photo of our new house in our new neighborhood.
Thoughts? Questions? Please, use my comment space on this blog post or email me directly AmberDHenson@att.net
See you in the blogosphere soon!
Your Friend, ~Amber
P.S.
Hi, again! Please, see my new “SHARES” page for info leading to other blogs/sites and ‘zines!
This post is a featured article in Hat Trick Magazine!! Click on the issue cover to read more!:
Guess what?! My post was featured on a great site! Here’s the button link!:
I’m linked:
Verry Merry Vintage Style
Home and Garden Thursday @ Blissful Rythm
Waterize My Photographs
Hello Bloggers!
Chances are, if you use Pinterest, you’ve seen photos of manicures and pedicures and animals and barns and more that appear to be photographed beside some sort of gently rippling pond. Well, some of those photos may have been taken beside an actual pond, some may have been Photoshop’d, but a A LOT of them have been edited using “WaterMyPhoto” app on a phone or tablet!!
Click here for the iPhone/iPad app.
If you’re one of the many people that like to add captions or quotes to your original photos, like I do, then this app is a fun one to play with. It really adds an interesting tranquil effect that pairs well with tranquility quotes.
Here are a few examples of my creations:
• vignette on one of my tabletops that includes a Buddha and quote.
• my self-portrait with a quote.
• my house, that actually is on top of a hill, in the spring
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I have many, many favorite photo editing apps that I plan to review one or two at a time on this blog. If you have a favorite that you recommend, let me know!! If you enjoy iPhone/iPad photo editing apps like I do, please use my comment button to add links to your work or email me AmberDHenson@att.net and I’ll include links into this or future posts!
See you soon, in this blogging realm! Your Friend, ~Amber Hamilton Henson
P.S.
Hi, again! Please, see my new “SHARES” page for info leading to other blogs/sites!
what AMBER loves 