2014 Project Review

It always feels good to look back on what we've gotten done in the last year, especially when things have been super quiet lately!  But I have a feeling that 2015 will bring many more exciting projects (and I'm sure a few headaches!)

Favorite project:

Hands down, the media room!  I can't believe that a year ago at this time, we were still working on it. 

Most dreaded project:

Spackling the hallways... It's always such a mess.

We still haven't gotten around to painting yet!

Most fun project:

The tree house!  Fun to build, and fun for the kids to play in now!

Favorite furniture purchase:

This was a little tough, because we got a lot of new furniture for the media room, and then for the living room.  But my favorite has got to be the liquor cabinet!

Favorite yardsale find:

Another tough one!  I think maybe it's the pewter pitcher, since I see it the most and feels like the most useful?  (It's currently sitting on our foyer table)

Wood Shed

Remember this little red play house?  It was originally the previous owners' dog house, with a chain link fence around it.

We've been moving it around the yard and trying to decide the best use for it since we've moved in.

Some of the kids' yard toys were being stored there, but Mike figured out a better use for it- the firewood!

We had been storing the firewood behind the blue garage.  We couldn't see it from the house, but it didn't look so great from the field (the tarp protecting it from rain wasn't the most attractive!)

Mike took some old fence posts and made a "sled" by attaching them to the frame of the shed.

You can see in the photo below how the right side of the white posts are tapered. 

This enabled him to then attach his tractor to the "sled" and drag the empty shed further back on the property.

He then added some boards lengthwise on top of the posts, inside the shed.

This will keep the firewood up off of the ground.

Then the kids got to stack the fresh delivery of firewood!

It now sits back next to the goat barn.  I think it fits in perfectly there!

I love the look of all that stacked wood!

Setting the Bar Higher!

Quite literally! 

Here are photos of our dining room liquor cabinet...

 

I've had that little guy since before we were married, and we still love it.  The only trouble is it doesn't hold a whole lot of bar ware.  At our old house, this wasn't a problem because we had a full 16 foot long finished bar in the basement- brass rail and all!  It had TONS of storage!

But we've had our eye on a much bigger one at the local department store, and when it went on sale we jumped on it!

Here it is right after being delivered...

First we had to level it- since the floor definitely was not level!  Luckily it had little adjustable pegs on the bottom that we could turn to get it leveled out.

Then I got to the fun part- picking out what to put in it!

There are two drawers that keep a bunch of little accessories within reach, but out of sight...

Right now, this is all set up in the dining room, which will become the formal living room.  But now I'm thinking it may move into the new dining room, since the wood matches really well with our dining room set.  We'll just have to see!

Picking Garden Fountain

As the gardening season is coming to an end (at least for me!) I realize I hadn't posted about my picking garden in a while... and I missed the newest addition- a fountain that was given to us this summer by my parents!

After re-arranging some plants, we placed it right in the middle.  

It's more like a birdbath at this point, since we don't have electric going to that garage.  But Mike did some prep work for that before we had the driveway paved, so maybe we'll put that on next year's to do list.

 

October Yard Sale Finds!

Just when I expect yard sale season to come to an end, we get some really good finds!

Here's what I brought home...

For the Dining Room:

Oval platter with blue & purple flowers
$2

Round platter with yellow flowers
$1

Round fancy bowl (perfect for mashed potatoes!)
$3

A gravy boat
$1

Christmas decorations:

Church candle holder
$3

Icicle glass ornaments
$3 for 11 of them

For the Kitchen:

Antique Whisk
$4

 These are selling for $10-20 online.

Antique berry juicer/strainer (not sure if that's really the name!)
$6

 These seem to be around $10-15 online.

Photography Collectibles:

Elkay Film Developer Tank
$1

I'm most excited about this one.  After a quick search, I found them selling for $20-$30.



It's not like I'm going to be selling any of them, but it's always fun to find out that something I liked is worth more than I paid for it!

Happy October!

Look what's growing in the goat yard....

Can you believe that's a big pumpkin vine?  And if you look inside...

There are 8 of them growing!

We often throw extra veggies in the goat pen for a treat.  

We must have tossed some pumpkins back there last fall!  

I'm happy the goats haven't treated it as a buffet!

We picked them over the weekend and have decorated around the yard...
-2 on the fence posts of the driveway leading to the barn
-1 by the back driveway entrance, on our sign post
-2 on the stone wall at the entrance to my picking garden
-3 on the front porch

Phase 5- Tree House Complete!

We left off with tar paper on the roof, and now the shingles are up too!

Mike finished up the "bridge" that goes to the lookout tree:

It's was a bit scary, since it's over 10 feet off the ground!








And then the cargo net arrived- Mike had custom ordered it for the length & width we needed.  We got the green color so it will blend in with the pine trees.











We ran the cargo net under the bridge, so that it's more secure if the boys lost their footing on the bridge.

We're calling it complete!

The boys decided to decorate by having their guests sign in...

I'm pretty sure this won't be very cool when they're 14 years old!  ha ha!

I love this one!

Related posts:
Phase 1: Building the platform
Phase 2: Framing the sides & putting up siding
Phase 3: Ladder & roof framing
Phase 4: Roof & Rope