Yard Work

Since going back to work, inside projects are on hold until summer break.  Of late, we have been working on the yard.  Over spring break, we built a privacy fence in the back yard.  I love it!

This is the back gate leading to the alley. The pergola over the gate matches the shape of the eaves on the roofline.

All told it took us three girls four days to build the whole thing.  I'm right proud of us.  We had three different guys come up and ask us for the name of our fencing company.  HA! 

Additionally, we've installed a doggy/kitty door and we have now gotten rid of the heinous catbox! Yeah!  All the furbabies love being able to come and go at will.  It also gives us a bit more leeway as we no longer have to rush home to relieve the animals.  Of course, it does mean that the neighbor cat had to make a couple of midnight visits, just to check out the place.  

Here's my front yard.  I'm slowly starting to replace the grass with herbs.  This hill is south facing and gets beat with the afternoon sun.  I'm not busting my hump trying to keep grass alive and then mow it on a hill.  So, my solution, low maintenance perennial herbs, like a true Tuscan garden.  So far, I've got lavender, thyme, oregano, mint, and a couple of oddball peppers thrown in there.  As I get more cashola, I'll strip out more pieces and plant herbs.  The pots up above are filled with basil, as I find it does much better in pots than in the ground.  

My grumpy neighbor doesn't seem to appreciate it, but oh well.  I think once everything starts to fill in and the smell fills the air, it will be freaking awesome.   

Living Room Painted

I got the living room painted last week. Used the same Silver Sage from Benjamin Moore. I'm in love with this color, it's moody and changes subtly throughout the day. I also rearranged the furniture layout for more comfortable conversation. Took out one chair and the bookcase. The orange patterned chair needs to be replaced but no money to do that for now. I like it!

I'm starting to win the war against the god-awful gold trim. I only have the vestibule, foyer, and stairs/stairway downstairs! Those will have to wait until summer. I'm not painting again until summer break. My two major projects for summer are painting and rehabbing the windows. They will be painted black which is why I didn't tackle the gold on the windows.

Dining Room Update

I finally got the dining room finished!  Or at least, mostly finished.  I think the term "finished" is relative.  The walls and trim are painted.  Took me forever!  I still need have to stencil above the chair rail, but that will come later.  Window mullions will be black when I redo them this summer.  Walls are Benjamin Moore's Silver Sage.  It's a soft grey green.  It looked awful against that gold, but once I got the trim painted, I was thrilled with the color.  The dining table needs a rug and the bar stools need recovering.  Always more to do.  AND, the last pic shows the newly painted fireplace.

Finally an Update

Okay, so apparently once a month was a stretch even. Oh well. Part of the reason I've been so absent is multifold. Part of it was a surgery (I'm fine) and a moratorium on house projects for a while. Part of it was snow (we've had lots of it), part of it was work, part of it was pure cussed laziness. Well, all that's over. I'm back in the swing of things.

Powder room is done with construction and is fully functional, if not fully decorated, so no pictures yet.

Upstairs bathroom has been painted finally. I used the same light blue ceiling paint I used in the sunroom. I had lots of paint, and the light blue mitigates some of the yellow a bit. But, it does not photograph well and simply looks white, so no pictures of that either.

Dining room currently in a state of disassembly as I'm trying to get some paint on the walls and the moldings. I'll finish base coat today. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to start the stencil. I'm going for a damask effect by using semi-gloss with the stencil. Hope it turns out. So far, I love the color. Painting all this trim is going to be pure misery however. Some of it will be stripped, some of it will be painted over. Oh the agony. It's going to take forever. Oh well.

Plans are in the works for a backyard fence. That will be a welcome change. I also settled on a plan for the front as well. Eventually, there will be a columned pergola dripping with grapes and wisteria. I'm going for an edible Tuscan garden feel. That will happen a long ways down the road though.

I will leave you with one photograph however. We have some crocus pop up in the front yard.










And, we had this visitor in the backyard.

Sunroom Make Over

Okay, so originally, my plan was to blog daily. Then it got pushed back to weekly. Now, I'm aiming for one monthly update. Life is too busy for regular blogging, and I think that's a good thing.

Over the two week winter break, I worked long hours to give the sunroom, just off the dining room, a complete make over. My friend Andy came and helped and so the first week was spent doing the necessary carpentry work. We put up the real beadboard around the powderroom (v board actually), trimmed out all the windows, installed beadboard panels on the ceiling (to hide the old asbestos tiles), reinstalled crown and base. Then I started priming, then painting. It was a huge paint job and it felt like it took forever. I think I painted for five days straight! So much trim in this room. I finally got the painting done yesterday in the afternoon. Found a couple of wonderful Craigslist rattan couches and voila! I love the fresh spring green against the crisp white of the trim. The ceilings are a pale shade of blue perfect for a beadboard ceiling, and so traditional.

Here's the before pic from when we bought the place:

Please note the dark paneling, dusty rose shag, and the radiators.

This is how it looked last night:


and in the daylight:




Pretty cool, eh? I'm tickled with the way it came out. I'll be back next week (hopefully) to post about the powderroom which should be installed soon!

Living Here

We are fully moved into the house now. Most of the boxes are unpacked and most items have found a home. There's still a ton of stuff to be done and I will be posting projects as they come up. We have our fave handy-woman coming in next week to work on a couple of little projects: sunroom floor, powder room floor and the beadboard walls in there, finishing up the downstairs trimwork as well as a couple of other projects. The next major push will be after tax money comes in. We need to get the two new baths fully installed and operational. We need to put up a fence and a doggy door. That's going to suck most of the money.

I am usually a list person: grocery lists, to do lists, errand list, etc. There are so many jobs left to be done in this house, I am afraid to make that list as I am afraid of its potential length. I think I'm going to start by picking one smallish project, like priming the trim and stairs over the holiday break. It's ambitious enough to keep me busy, but not so big as to overwhelm.

Living in the house is wonderful though. We have entertained frequently and have had several folks over for dinner or brunch. I LOVE cooking again. I went nearly a year without cooking on a regular basis and it feels so good to have homecooked food. Cooking in this kitchen is delightful. Very satisfying. I have more space than I realized and despite the loss of the old pantry, I still have empty cupboards and drawers. I don't even mind not having a dishwasher. It really doesn't take much more time to wash the dishes by hand than it does to rinse and stack in the DW. It's kind of soothing actually.

Part of our decision to move into the city was to live a "greener" lifestyle. One of the things we have done towards that end was to sell one car. We have taken additional steps like join a CSA farm coop, begin shopping at the local farmers markets, not driving everywhere all the time. It feels really good, I have to say.

Not much to post pictures of as the rooms are still kind of cluttery and haphazard which makes for unattractive pictures. I'll try to tidy up and get some new ones up soon.

My contractor, Tom Henning, has gotten his site up and running and there is a new link over on the right. Check it out as he is amazing and wonderful I cannot praise him high enough.

Moving Day

Sorry for the lack of posting updates, but we are moving in tomorrow!! I cannot wait. I am so ready for this move, I can't stand it. Kitchen looks really good and I've posted one still yet incomplete picture. I snap a good one over the weekend and try posting something Sunday. All I have to say: NINE feet of countertops....