Hi Friends!

This past weekend, I was able travel to Ipswich, MA to attend Soulfest which was one of the things on my 40 by 40 list! It was so much fun going to a multiple day music festival! While I was in the area, I loved so many of the surrounding towns that I thought I’d share about it.

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If you enjoy old homes and quaint towns, heading to Ipswich is a no brainer. The houses made me drool and the landscapes were just as beautiful. Pretty gardens, old farms, and right near the ocean. So within a couple minutes, we could have been at the beach, shopping in a quaint town, going to a polo match, or even sailing the seas.

We stayed in a BEAUTIFUL airbnb that was the chauffeur’s quarters at a mansion. You can check it out here. One of my favorite parts of the stay was that they gave us a private tour of the gardens!

This is the house!

This is the chauffeurs quarters where we stayed:

We spent one of the mornings visiting Newburyport, MA. The town is so quaint and beautiful and also has plenty of beaches you can go to if you’d prefer a day on the sand.

You could also visit Gloucester or Essex!

We really enjoyed breakfast at the Ipswich Inn Bed and Breakfast. It did take a while to have breakfast served, but we didn’t mind because we met up with our friends Kori and Kristine so there was plenty of time to chat. Mary Grace and I went to Fox Creek Tavern for dinner which we loved. The design is beautiful, the food was delicious, and the server was so attentive and kind. We also had lunch at Street, and enjoyed that, too!

We went to quite a few concerts at the music festival, but we also were able to fit in another 40 by 40 by going sailing on the ocean for the first time. We went on the Fame of Salem with Kori and Kristine after breakfast and a tour of Gordon college where Kori works (loved it!).

Sailing the ocean with these beautiful souls!

My pal Aubrey also loves this area and recommended things that we didn’t get to try, but thought you might find helpful if you’re headed to the area!

Ipswich:
Christchurch Mansion
Crane Beach
Crane Estate/Castle Hill

Glouchester:
Whale Watching
Hammond Castle
Cute Shops Downtown
Beauport Hotel’s Restaurant for lunch/dinner

I hope you this helps you have some fresh new ideas if you’re looking for a weekend trip from upstate Ny! If you have any other spots you love in these areas, please share it in the comments below for others to enjoy!

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Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest travel tips, interior design trends, and kitchen and furniture repurposing projects. 

Send us a note with if you’re interested in our design services or custom furniture using our contact page. Or buy something that we’ve already designed from our furniture for sale page.

Hi Friends!

I hope you had a nice weekend! We had a jam packed weekend with Harmony playing Grace in the musical Annie Jr at school! She did such an amazing job! We are so proud of her. 💕

I was also able to check another thing off my 40 by 40 experience list! I went to see the broadway musical Hamilton with my sister in law!

Last, but not least, John’s birthday is this week! We celebrate him and love him so very much!!

For this week’s post, I’m sharing a recent custom built buffet that we made for the conference room design that I’ve been working on for Lauren Hunt, ESQ. I’ll share more about their other interior design projects in the future, too!

They wanted a stylish place for the beverages to be stored in the conference room, and Laura agreed to let us custom build one so it could be the right size and style for the rest of the space.

Here’s how it looked after John built it.

Before we painted it, we made sure the fridge fit!

Then primed it!

Time to assemble it and deliver it!

Isn’t it beautiful! It has storage, shelving for the law books, and a mini fridge! It’s a perfect combination for any room!

This buffet was done as a custom order so it’s not for sale, but we can custom build one for your home or office, too.  Contact us to get a quote or visit our SHOP page to see what pieces we do have available for purchase.

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations. 

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

Hi Friends!

If you have been following along as I’ve been trying to do 40 new experience before I turn 40, I recently made a quick stop on our way to the south to check off another experience on the list. For a while now, I’ve been wanting to visit Charleston, SC. We only had half a day to explore the city so we booked a walking tour. I can tell you two things. 1) It made me want to go back for a long weekend 2) The architecture was stunning!!

While we were on the tour, I learned about the 4 corners of law. It’s the only place in the US where 4 corners in one intersection have the 4 types of law. A God’s law, federal court, county court, and city court.

There are some famous houses in Charleston, including one that was featured in the Patriot.

The architecture was stunning. I learned that porches aren’t called porches in Charleston, they are called piazzas. Look how beautiful they are:

I also loved all the trees and flowers. Did you know that the crape myrtle tree and Japanese ficus vine were first brought to the US from Japan and planted in Charleston?

Because so many people moved to Charleston from London just after the London fire, most of the homes aren’t built with wood. They are stone or brick, but I did see one that was wood and the wood was cut to look like stone. Take a look:

This was my favorite house on the tour:

I LOVED everything about it! Isn’t it stunning?

I also loved the moss growing up these steps:

Here are some of the other houses that I really loved:

Of course it wouldn’t be a Trop trip without me stopping all over the place to take pictures of old windows and doors! So here are a few of those for you, too!

I also loved the beautiful back yards and gardens.

The best part? Seeing beautiful old homes right next to the ocean… a rare treat for me!

I hope this inspires you to try something new, explore a new city, and appreciate the creation, architecture, and the people in your life that you love the most!

There is a box at the top right of this page to enter your email address to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog. Please sign up today! 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest travel tips, interior design trends, and kitchen and furniture repurposing projects. 

Send us a note with if you’re interested in our design services or custom furniture using our contact page. Or buy something that we’ve already designed from our furniture for sale page.

Hi Friends!

As you probably already know, I’ve been working on doing 40 new experience before I turn 40! The most recent was sleeping in a castle. I searched the world and debated on everything from a full castle stay in Scotland to renting a castle in the south and inviting all my friends. I was torn about this experience because I knew how much fun any of those scenarios could be. Doing 40 new experiences in one year can be pricey so I decided to check closer to home for a weekend stay. I found the Amsterdam NY castle and for the price (about $100) and the location, I thought it would fit the bill perfectly!

I love that you can go for just one night and enjoy all the amenities without breaking the bank. It’s an experience worth doing! Maybe even surprise your partner or friend with a night for Valentine’s Day!

Amsterdam Ny Castle Hotel

Amsterdam NY Castle Hotel

I loved the look of the outside as we pulled up, but the inside dining hall area was just as impressive.

Amsterdam NY Castle Dining Hall

We settled into our rooms which were clean and looked like a cute hotel. The beds were really comfortable and the bathrooms were updated and adorable.

Then we decided to eat dinner at the restaurant in the dining hall of the castle. It was a cold winter night so there weren’t many people there for dinner. I was a little nervous that it wouldn’t be good because of that. We were pleasantly surprised that it was delicious. I had rib eye roast and John had lobster Mac and cheese.

Our besties went with us for the weekend and having friends to enjoy it with made the already cool experience even more fun! The castle has a room upstairs where you can go to lounge or play games. We ended the night playing Farkle and eating snacks! It was the best!

We also did another 40 by 40 and visited a religion I’ve never attended for a service. We went to St. Mary’s in Amsterdam while we were there.

Then we went to antique shops and even walked different areas for cool city photos. Check them out!

If you’d like to book the castle for an overnight stay or make reservation for dinner, head here!

I hope you enjoyed this post and that you all try something new this year. Even if it’s not 40 new things… it’s fun!

There is a box at the top right of this page to enter your email address to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog. Please sign up today! 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)

If you like what you see, please like FunCycled’s Facebook page to keep up to date on the newest travel tips, interior design trends, and kitchen and furniture repurposing projects. 

Send us a note with if you’re interested in our design services or custom furniture using our contact page. Or buy something that we’ve already designed from our furniture for sale page.

Hi Friends!

I hope you had a beautiful weekend! If you didn’t see it already, I’m planing to do 40 new experiences in the that I turn 40, and I’m sharing the adventures along the way! The next one to check off the list; luxury sheets! I asked for luxury sheets for Christmas, and my friend Jo Ann bought them for me!

They are so silky and soft and I love them! You could get a pair here!

For this week’s furniture makeover, check out this adorable mirrored dresser makeover.

Here’s the dresser before:

It definitely could use an update! So we smoothed out any imperfections, primed and painted it Benjamin Moore’s color Simply White. We also added new hardware and sprayed it with a protective clear coat.

If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our How to Paint Furniture post. 

Ready for the afters?

This set was done as a custom order so it’s not for sale, but I still wanted to share the transformation. Be sure to visit our SHOP page to see what pieces we do have available for purchase. Or contact us to get a quote to let us redo your furniture for you!

Thank you all for following along! If you’d like to get this blog in your email once a week, please sign up for our weekly newsletter by adding your email in the little box below my picture. 

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please like FunCycled on  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest if you don’t already. Keep up to date on the newest finds, vote on colors and give your input on our creativity. We share fun tutorials, great before and after, and new design inspirations. 

We offer interior design, kitchen cabinet painting, and custom built tables, barn doors, and repurposed furniture. Thank you, again, for working with us and for taking the time to spread the word about what we do. 

Happy FunCycling Friends,
Sarah ;)