Friday, September 2, 2016

History of our home

The original owner of our home located in Hyde Park, Utah was a women named Mary Anne Morrell.  She was a widow and mother of 4 young kids when she had the home built.  This is the story of her and her husband...and her husbands OTHER wife.     

Joseph Morrell was born February 11, 1856 in Bethnal Green, London. 



Mary Anne Morrell (Daines) was born December 19, 1868 in Hyde Park, Utah.  She had 20 siblings!!



In 1861 Josephs parents moved the family to Logan, Utah.  Just 3 years after the town had been settled.

He married his first wife Margaret Wales on February 20, 1879.

Joseph worked in Logan for the United Order Manufacturing and building company as a clerk.  in 1879 he went to work for ZCMI in Logan.  

He eventually opened his own clothing store in 1890 .  It was located on the west side of Main Street between Center and First North. 
Joseph Morrells store: "Morrells"

 It was very successful, which allowed for him to serve in other capacities.  He served as President of the Logan knitting factory, as trustee of Brigham Young College (Logan), he was on the board of the Utah Agricultural College (later named Utah State University), was in the State legislature for one year in 1892 and was a member of the Logan City Council as a Democrat.  He was a Bishop for the Mormon Church from 1885-1888.  

On October 23, 1898 (with the consent of his first wife) he married Mary Ann Daines as a second wife.
They were married in Preston, Idaho. She lived with Joseph and Margaret in Logan until she became pregnant.  She than moved to Preston, Idaho.  

Mary Anne and Joseph had 4 children together.  The first baby Marriner Daines Morrell was born September 3, 1900.  The second baby Hattie Morrell was born July 25, 1902.  The third and fourth babies Lyman Daines Morrell and Lillian Morrell were twins, born on June 22, 1904. 
   
He was the Cache Stake President of the Mormon Church from 1901 to his death in May 1906 at age 50.

There is not a lot of information about Mary Anne and Josephs life together, but I did find a few pictures of them with the kids:  

Mary Anne and her 4 kids

I think this is a small part of a larger picture.  I think these were Margaret and Josephs kids,
because they are too old in this picture to be Mary Annes and Josephs.

Mary Anne and her 4 kids





After Josephs Death on May 30, 1906 Mary Anne moved back to Hyde Park, Utah.  She never remarried.  Around this time She had a home built at the cross roads of Center and Main Street (Our home).  I am guessing she received some of the money from Josephs successful clothing store to build the new home.  It was known as the "Mary Morrell home".  At the time the home was considered "one of the newest and Best homes in the community".  There was a special quarter built on the East side of the home that was used as the city post office.  A women named Miss Lydia J. Daines served as the Post Master until her death in 1939.  

This is a picture of Mary Anne Morrell sitting oh her front porch, and a picture of the same porch now:
                 


Mary Anne lived in the home until her death on April 18, 1952 at age 83... at that time I believe the home was put up for sale and purchased by the Sidney and Jenness Hurren Family.  They lived in it for roughly 60 years. 







Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Sideboard Before And After

I had wanted a sideboard for our dining room for a long time.
The one that matched our dining table 
was almost $600...
we couldn't afford that since Shaun is going to school 
for his Masters degree.
So I set out to find a cheaper one.
The cheapest I could find was at TJ Maxx,
it was $399.
So I set out again to find a used sideboard.

I found this sideboard at a local store,
Called Savvy Furniture & Consignment!
It had been there for a few months, so it was on sale
for $137!

I bought it, but I was unable to pick it up right away
(I had surgery the week before).
The couple that owns Savvy was so sweet,
they offered to deliver the sideboard to our house!
If you ever need a good deal on a unique furniture/decor
piece, you should definitely check out Savvy.
They have new items everyday!
(I have also sold a few items thru their store)


 Since the piece was built in the 1940's,
it had some wear and tear.
So, I power sanded the stain and sealant off
(Always wear a mask when doing this).

I bought a deep kona shade of stain at Hobby Lobby
and only applied one coat, in order to match our dining table.
I also bought some new hardware at Home Depot.

After the stain was dry I applied the polyurethane top coat 3 times.

I put the new hardware on and voila! 


I hung the mirror in the wrong spot, and had to patch the holes..I still need to paint them 

I really like how it all turned out!
And I also love that I can take pride in the fact that I made it pretty again!

BEFORE & AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER


 Thanks to whoever decided they didn't want this awesome 1940, solid wood,
sideboard anymore.
And double thanks to Savvy for delivering it while I healed from surgery!





Monday, September 21, 2015

Bathroom BEFORE and AFTER

The bathroom is finally complete!
We got delayed several weeks because the company
that we ordered the toilet from sent us a
defective one,
and than they accidentally sent us a SINK to replace it with,
instead of a new toilet...
so we just barely got the new toilet tank this morning...
(NEVER ORDER FROM NATIONAL BUILDER SUPPLY!!)

Since this is a 1917 home,
I wanted to renovate more than update this bathroom.
So I went with a classic black and white hexagon tile...
white bead board and 4 inch wood trim along the floor.

The vanity has very clean lines and a dark finish
to compliment the black color in the tile floor.

The light has a vintage-y look and I love how
it looks paired with the red mirror.

I painted the walls a grey/green color called 
ESCAPE GRAY
from Sherwin Williams.

And the human anatomy prints
are from an ETSY store called

They are a cute little couple from Pennsylvania
and they have very good prices,
excellent quality
and a HUGE selection!
ps-let them know I sent you when you order something!

Here are the Before and After pics!!


Before
After




Before
After





Before
After






Before
After



Before
After
Before

After




After


Vanity Light from Lowes
The National Anthem Prints: Foot Bones, Heart, Hand Bones




The National Anthem Prints: Baby in womb and Rib Cage

BEFORE


AFTER


Thursday, September 10, 2015

Bathroom Design

Just when I thought the bathroom renovation was over,
we wake up to a wet floor in the
bathroom....

Come to find out the toilet we ordered
from Toto
(A very nice toilet brand worth every extra penny)
had a defect.
It had a slight crack that was not completely sealed
and therefore it took about 10 days to start
leaking onto to the floor.

I called the company they had me send over pics of
the crack, to make sure it was their fault and 
not our contractors fault.

They immediately sent a new tank that
afternoon.
We should get it by Monday.

Anyway,
here is what is going into the bathroom
We originally bought the vanity on the left, but decided to exchange it for the one on the right

The mirror...Look at that baby checkin his Abs!

Im in love with this sink and pegasus faucet

The prints I ordered from National Anthem on ETSY

The crack that took 10 days to show itself

Fingers crossed the new toilet tank gets here on Monday...or sooner!



Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Kitchen Doorway Transformation

 Nobody cares about this part of the transformation of
the kitchen as much as I do...
But look at the before and after pictures at the very end of the post.
It's pretty crazy how much difference some new trim
made on the total look of the doorways!!!
The Doorway (to dining room and hallway) Before we did anything
Old yellow plaid baseboard covered with old kitchen carpet glue



Ripping off the old trim
Old Trim GONE

Gold metal trim casing GONE

New Trim up on Left Doorway

New Trim up on both doorways, and new paint color started

BEFORE:


AFTER:




BEFORE:


AFTER:

A little bit of new trim can totally change the look of a doorway!!