Catching Up- June Edition

Here are some random updates and things that were too small for a post of their own...

The lilac bushes that we moved from the side of the house are doing well... 

I'm so happy that the transplant didn't kill them!  

Hopefully next year they'll be blooming again! 

Balloon season is upon us.  We love seeing them- the novelty has not worn off!

I cleaned up the little shelf made out of crates.  

I was going to paint it, but once all the grime was washed away, you could see the writing on the side.

I liked it, so just ended up applying a clear coat (left over from the sign project) to protect it.

We were going to put it in the Nautical bedroom, but I can't decide where (the kid has too many toys!)  

For now it's sitting in the Well House.

Timber!

Lots of tree cutting going on...

See all the stumps?
Mike's gotten about 10 of the dead pine trees down from the back of our yard.

This is the side yard, looking towards the road.
(For point of reference, the edge of the barn is in the left of the photo)

Since they're all pine, we won't be burning them in the fireplace.
So, for now they're in a pile at the very back of our property.
Once all the dead trees are down, we'll be renting a chipper with our neighbor, who also has some a brush pile to get rid of.

<--- Here's the rest of them... still about 10 to go!

Getting rid of all the stumps will be phase two.

I have to say, Mike's gotten quite good at wielding the saw...
-Last month, he helped his brother with two trees (in exchange for help with the barn doors)
-This past weekend, he cut up a HUGE tree at my parents' house that had come down in a storm.  It was a tree with 4 trunks, and all landed on top of each other.  Wish we had a before photo- it was crazy!






SO many dead trees:

Yard Sale Finds

I was pretty excited about two items we picked up a couple of yard sales earlier this month!

First is a Jewelry Dresser- 

I've had my eye on one of these for a while, but I didn't want to spend a lot.

Happily, I came across this one- for just $15!

Not sure if I'll end up painting it, or leaving it as is... we'll see!

The next item is one Mike was looking for... 

A display case for items found in the yard with the metal detector. 

(Check out what we've found here!) 

This was originally from Pottery Barn & we paid $10. 

It's pretty big (three feet long, I think?) and can be hung on the wall if we want.  

For now it's on the shelf in the family room.  

We have to find a more permanent place for it...

Bathroom Demo

It's official, we've started work on the kids' bathroom.

Here's what it looked like before we moved in...

We did some minor work to get us through the last year, until we could put some time/energy into it --->

And here's where we are now...


That's more cast-iron pipe on the left.  
We've replaced it up to the first floor with PVC, and will now extend up to the attic where it vents out of the roof.

The vinyl floor is coming out.  My first thought was to do a herringbone patterned floor tile, but I've just realized that almost all of the inspiration pictures I've collected for this project on Pinterest have hardwood floors.  Plus, it might be better than tile, since the floors are pretty uneven (typical of a house this old!) 

We've bought wainscoting to put halfway up the walls.

We've decided to keep the tub, but the shower doors had to go.

 And we're going to do tile on the walls, so we ripped out the plastic.  

Check out the original construction along the side wall.... LOVE the wide boards!

The vanity has been taken out.
The new one is ordered & should arrive in about a week.

The light fixture is staying (we put it in last year).
We're getting a new mirror.

Some more old wallpaper was hiding behind there.




The window & door moldings do not match the rest of the house's, so we're going to replace them with as close as we can find.

Lots to do, but it's a start!

Barn Roof

It's been a few days since we've posted, but lots going on...

Last Saturday, my brother came over and put a new roof on the front half of the barn! He'll come back in a couple of weeks to do the back half.

Here's how the roof looked before, taken just as Nick started working on in (I forgot to take one earlier!)

Back of Barn

We picked a gray color shingle to compliment the color of the slate that's on the house.
Mike had them delivered ahead of time, so everything was ready to go when my brother arrived.

We were lucky that there was only 1 layer of roofing on the barn, so we didn't have to rip it first. 

In approx. 5 hours, the entire front was complete!  I couldn't believe how quickly he got it done!

Look how much better... 

Disregard the missing windows, the gross garage door, and the peeling paint, we'll get to that down the road!  The first step is getting the roof on so that the rest of the building is protected.

We were lucky that this past winter was a mild one... Nick said that some of the wood beneath the shingles was exposed, but none were rotted (which could have been the case if snow had been sitting on it for the whole winter!)

A BIG, HUGE THANK YOU to Nick for helping us out on this one!  

Flower Gardens Growing

I never got around to planting the Veggie Garden this year (Too much going on, so I guess I can cross that off the To Do list for this year.  Good thing we are members of a local CSA, so will still have plenty of fresh veggies this summer!)
But I'm happy to say that our flower gardens are looking great!

I'm so happy with the painted arbor in the backyard.
The clematis loves it as well!

Our flower bed along the backyard fence is also coming along nicely...
Mike picked out this climbing hydrangea when his mom was visiting in the spring.
It will spread out over 10 feet wide.  We have some string hung for support, until it's able to hang by itself!

Up in the front yard...

I added little pots of phlox into the plant holders built into the stone wall.  

They're just about done flowering.  Soon I'll transplant them somewhere else in the yard.

Here are more flower garden photos...

This table is tops!

We were running errands the other weekend, and decided to check out a new Habitat for Humanity ReStore that just opened (after hearing about all the good luck that Sherri & John from Young House Love have had at them!)

This one was in it's "soft opening", so prices still weren't marked on everything- but the people were super nice & helpful!

We came home with a side table to eventually go in the formal living room!

Couch on left, table on right

Check out how the feet on it match the Lincoln Drape couch's feet:








The top of the table is glass & lifts off...

So I placed a piece of material underneath (the same that was used on the chair and foot stool for that room)

Little by little, it's coming together.

Finding things like this are the best part!

Bathroom shopping

The emergency plumbing fixes for the kids' bathroom are complete (though we're leaving the pipes exposed a little longer, to make sure there are no issues!)
We've decided to move forward with re-doing this bathroom next.

Here's a "Before" of the room:

Last weekend, we did a little shopping!

First item we purchased is the new commode 

(bye, bye to the mint green one!)

Then we picked up a new ceiling fan/light, plus the duct kit
(we have a strong feeling that the existing one isn't vented properly...
it wasn't working when we moved in!)

I like how the fixture doesn't LOOK like a fan.

The tub is going to stay.  It's cast iron and in great shape- the color is just kinda funky.  I'm hoping that neutralizing the other clashing colors (namely the mint sink & toilet, and ugly floor!) will tone it down.
Worst case we'll get it re-glazed white.

We are going to take out the sliding glass shower doors, so I picked up one of those curved shower rods, and a new shower curtain & rings.

At the bottom, is a sample tile (clear/green glass- though the pic doesn't show it well).  We're thinking white subway tile for the shower & a strip of this glass tile as an accent.  We've also gathered some paint color chips. 

We still have to select the sink & vanity- it's currently under debate.

Plus I'm not sure what we're doing with the floor...
First I was leaning towards white tile (maybe in a herringbone pattern?)
but as I'm looking at photos online, I'm being drawn toward the ones with wood floors.  A light wood might give it an understated beach-y feel.

Lots more to do, so trying to sprinkle in some of the fun stuff along the way!

 I'm liking how it's all coming together though!