On the Fence

As mentioned before, our property is on a corner.  We love the way this allows our driveway to swoop around, and we can enter from either street. 

The down side is that despite the very pretty picket fence, our yard feels a little too exposed to passing eyes- providing a grand view of the multicolored plastic playsets (you know, the ones I swore we'd never own... before we had kids!)

The white string (which runs in front of the tractor)
 marks where it needs to go.

After a couple of visits to the local municipal building, we obtained a permit to put in a 6 foot tall privacy fence. 

It has to be at least 30 feet from the property line, which is a bit further in than we were hoping, but those are the rules! 

We plan to plant a variety of trees and bushes on the street side of the fence, so that'll be fine.

The fence will come back from the corner of the house.

We ordered the fence panels & posts, and had them delivered. 

Next was renting the auger... there were 26 holes to dig!  Way too many to do by hand.







Progress!!!!

Mike tried to level the ground as much as possible down the 200 foot length of the fence, but it got really high on the end furthest from the house.  

So, although we were trying to avoid it, we had to do one "step-up" of the fence panels. 

While we would have rather it been all even, once the plantings are done it won't be as noticable.

And the fence is up!!!

Next Mike made the gate (so we won't have to walk  all the way around if we need to get to the other side!)

He took a panel and cut it to fit the opening he had left.  At Lowe's, he bought a heavy-duty set of hinges & a handle.

Gate open

Gate from the inside of the yard



Now we just have to stain it- we want to make it hunter green so it doesn't stand out as much.  Then colors in the future plantings will really pop! 

We plan to go out to select & purchase the stain this weekend, but since it's still going to be quite wet from all this rain, we'll have to wait until everything dries out a little to complete the project... more to come!

Getting ideas- Butler's Pantry

I am so excited about getting a butler's pantry.

For such a small space, there's still so much to consider! 

Here are things we're currently considering:

-Flooring will be wood, same as the kitchen. 

Wait until you see what we have in the works!  More on that soon (if everything works out!)

-For some of the glass door cabinetry, we'd like to have lighting inside.

-Section of counter closest to the dining room will have the Tassimo on it (providing easy access from the kitchen or dining room) .  Perhaps for the bottom cabinetry in that section we'd do half in drawers or slide out shelves (to hold the coffee pods) & have the wine fridge in the other half?

I've been searching around for photos of ideas for it's layout, the counter top & cabinet finishes.  Online window shopping :o)

- We definitely want to do ceiling height cabinets... Love the extra storage they offer up top (perfect for storing all the holiday dishes!)

- I like the way these sit on top of the marble countertop.  Don't think we'd do that all the way around the pantry, but perhaps along the back wall?

This may actually be a galley kitchen, not a butler's pantry... but it gave me ideas anyway!
- I like this light fixutre- pretty, but not distracting or competing with the dining room fixture.

- I'm not sure about the cabinet doors- I know we want some with glass for display... but not the very top ones.

I think this is my favorite so far...

-Solid doors on the very top cabinets, but glass in the others.
-A narrower, glass fronted cabinet on the right side. Depending upon space, we may consider doing something like that.
- While I normally go for dark woods, I'm really liking the cream color.  It may be the perfect transition from the kitchen into the dining room...

Of course, this is likely to change 600 times between now & completion... but it's so much fun to think of all the possibilities!

I'm collecting more kitchen & butler pantry photos over on Pinterest- take a look!

Are You Curious?

 

I love throwing the kids' birthday parties- I look forward to it all year!
Working the theme into the decorations & activites is a fun challenge. 

This year, though, we had a whole new challenge... pulling it all together in  the new house!

It was our son's 3rd birthday, and the theme was Curious George.




Here are some shots of the general decor:

Foyer table



 Monkey party hats              Some snacks- banana chips,
                                          monkey trail mix, and popcorn!



  

Dining Room

Buffet with Coffee, Donuts, Banana Chips,
Pretzels, Trail Mix, & Monkey Punch

The guy at the liquor store laughed when I told him
I needed a wine & beer somehow tying in with
a monkey on the label or in the name...
He found them: Golden Monkey & Monkey Bay!

 



We set up some free-play stations, to go with the titles of Curious George books:

-CG and the Dinosaur Discovery

(toy dinos to play with)

-CG goes to a Costume Party

(costumes to dress up in)

-CG goes to the Dentist

(Monkey Mouth game)



A little break for lunch, 
("Curious George and the Pizza")... 

... and on to play the ever popular

'Pin the Banana on George'



Luckily, it was a beautiful day, so then each child picked a musical instrument, and we marched out to the yard ("Curious George at the Parade").


We fed the goats ("Curious George Feeds the Animals").

And then headed out to the field for "Curious George Plays Baseball" (which progressed into a bit of Monkeying Around!) 




 

Once the kids got some energy out, we each made & decorated a kite.
Then went back into the field to try them out- luckily with none of the mishaps from "Curious George Flies a Kite"! 
 

All that running, got the kids hungry for some Birthday Cake! 

After singing Happy Birthday, it was Pinata Time!

I love how this little one had
no interest in the candy...
She only had eyes for George!

Goody bags for the kids,
Banana Bread Mix for the adults!



 And that was enough Monkey Business for one day!



Photography by Bonnie Raley Photography, and a few from my mom :o)



More Curious George party planning & details can be found here

Six Month Anniversary!

I can't believe we've only been here six months! 

It definitely feels like longer- which is a good thing! 
We're very comfortable in our new digs, and having so much fun making it our own.

In the spirit of keeping ourselves motivated, here's a recap the projects we've worked on so far...

Outside

Swingset/climber put together

Tire swing created

The drains/gutters on the East side of house re-done

Hardscape in front yard completed

Shrubs removed from front & side yards

Missing rails for split rail fencing purchased

Privacy fence for backyard purchased & installed

Inside

New furnace installed (during our first week- ugh!)

Family room painted

Kids' rooms painted- One and Two

Kid's bathroom painted

Master bathroom painted

Linen closet painted

Dishwasher purchased & installed

Clothes drier purchased & installed

Addition/Kitchen design floor plans complete

Little hallway painted

Plus Lots of little odds and ends!

And we've got the following projects underway!

Cutting down dead trees

Continuing the removal of brush  from back yard

Rails being replaced on split rail fencing

Removal of old picket fence from side yard

Staining the new fence
Installation of chimney cap

Kitchen extension plans going out to contractors for bid

Plus a birthday bash for my little guy, turning 3!
         (If you're "Curious" stay tuned!)

Design Meeting 3

We had our last design meeting! 

Discussion items included:
-Adding a couple of side windows on the first floor
-Having the cabinetry in the butler's pantry wrap around to the back wall
-Access options for the new section of the basement
-Installation of a drainage system (while we have the foundation exposed)
-Access to the new attic space
-Materials: stone vs. brick facing for the new foundation
-Roofing materials: a composite slate for the larger part of the new roof, and metal for the side/porch roofing.

And just when we thought we were DONE... the on-site kitchen designer stepped in.  She suggested perhaps flipping the kitchen layout to "improve the working triangle". 

The architect e-mailed over this quick rendering:

Upon further review, this is eerily similar to the layout of the kitchen in the old house!

Reasons we're not crazy about it in this house...
-Would rather view the booth from the family room, than the side of the stove.
-Seems weird to have the booth seating area right next to the dining room.
-Like the idea of having the stove near the butlers pantry for easy access to the serving patters, etc.  And there it can be staged to go into the dining room for our more formal dining occasions.

So, we landed right back where we started!  Below is the previous rendering.  (In the flip-flop above, you can see that the architect added the windows and cabinetry.)

And now, on to the construction documents!

Pick a Door

Any door...
Upstairs in the house, there is a strange little hallway that runs off the main center hallway.  It's strange because it's only about 5 feet long, yet contains 5 doorways- each with a door (clockwise from left of photo: master bedroom, office, small linen closet, master bathroom, and finally the main hallway- where I took photo from). 

That's a lot for a little hallway to handle! 

So it's a little kludgy to begin with...
and to add to it, the longest stretch of wall is drawn all over with pen, pencil,& SHARPIE MARKER!  
(Yikes! Larger photo below) 

Here's a sneak peak at the plans we have for this area...

New Master Bath Concept 1

(after the kitchen project is complete!)

Existing floor plan

The bathroom will extend into the office (labeled  "sitting room"). 

The hallway would also be extended & widened to become our walk-in closet. 

I'm sure the exact placement of the fixtures, etc. will change as we continue to discuss it over the next year... so don't hold me to any of this!

In the meantime, I wanted to clean the space up (ideally without spending any money!)  So out to the workshop I went to explore my paint options... I have a can of gray, which will go nicely with the purple bathroom.  Plus I'd like to paint the master bedroom gray again (like it was in the old house), so that'll match.

When I told Mike the color choice, he was afraid it would be too dark.  There is a ceiling light in the little  hallway, but since it is such a small space Mike may be right.  


So, we decided to mix some white paint with the gray to lighten it up.

The painting went quickly- since there isn't THAT much wall space, although it did take FOUR coats to cover the marker (I definitely should have used some kind of primer first!)

I'm not painting the mouldings this time- I'm saving that for an out & out moulding painting party that my mom and I will have!

I'm also playing with the idea of doing some kind of design on the wall... there are a couple that I've seen on other blogs that would be pretty.  And what better place to try something like that out (where it won't be too noticeable if it goes horribly wrong!)

So, until I settle on something...
here's what we've got!  --->






Random thoughts:



I'm liking these bed linens
for the gray/purple master suite color scheme.



Note to self:
Never, EVER let the kids mark their height in Sharpie!



 Update: Here's the link to where we updated this space with a painted pattern on the wall!