Backyard Decorating

A few little items that we added in the backyard!

A Butterfly house that we got as a Christmas gift:

We re-used one of the old fence posts to stand it on.  

We still have to paint it the gray of the privacy fence.

The butterfly bush is going to be re-planted from the side of the house (where it was moved before construction on the backyard began) to a spot nearby.

I've been going back and forth on what to do around the sundial.  Putting in plants would mean digging up the leveled foundation underneath- which would cause a hassle if I decide to go with the blue stone that I think I really want.  So I don't want to do anything too permanent for the time being.

I found these rocks in the craft section of the store and bought a bunch.  

They reminded me of the rocks on the beach we always went to when I was growing up!  

The boys picked out a few rocks that they liked on a recent trip to California and added them to it too.  

I think we will make this our little memory rock garden for the time being, adding a few from each trip we take!

Dining Room Demo- more stone walls

The plaster was in such bad shape on the old exterior wall, that we had to take it down.  Behind the plaster was more rock!  We just left it in place... they will sheetrock over it.

Framing was put around the pipes... they will get the same treatment as the pipes in the family room.

The other side of the room looks slightly better!

View from next to the radiator

Reverse- view from hall doorway

 We had to remove the top piece of the baseboard moulding.  The drywall guys got super thin sheetrock that they will put right over the plaster.  We'll then replace the top piece of moulding with a thinner one.

They need to patch the hole in the ceiling from where the cabinets were.

And they need to replace the section where the water damage was...

Sheetrock- Day 9: The rock wall!

The progress wasn't immediately noticeable when we got home from work, but I was SO excited (and impressed) with the work they did where the sheetrock meets the exposed rock!

 Check out how nicely he shaped the drywall to fit in with the rock...

I'm sure that had to take a really long time!  While I'm getting tired of the MANY days of this part of the process, it's moments like this that make me happy we went with the crew that we did!

This is the only bit of rock wall that will be exposed, but it's a small nod to the original construction of the house.  I love it so much!

Framing- even more

While the electricians were working, our contractor was framing out some more areas that weren't completed.


First there was the window that went into the family room.  That was finally removed and framed out to become a solid wall.

That little bit of stone to the left is what I'm hoping we'll be able to keep exposed.

Then there was upstairs in the master bath.  We decided not to remove all of the stone up here, but the wall needed to be framed out a little more to accommodate the electric.  The light brown mud is where the rock was removed for breaking through the doorway into our bedroom.

I had wanted this doorway to be a bit more to the right, so that I could put my small antique couch on the left side.  But that would require a lot more work with extra support since we'd need to move the old beams.  It seems like a smarter choice to leave it.  I've decided that it will, instead, give me room to put the antique dresser Mike got me back when we were dating, on the right side of the doorway :)

Stone Walls- all the way!

When were were doing the foundation, we found out that beneath the clapboards, the walls of the house are stone.
Now that the clapboards have been removed, we're getting a look at it!

Here's the first floor...

I've asked them to try to leave a strip of rock exposed.  It will be next to the new back door and I think the transition to new sheet rock can be covered with a little moulding.  The builder said that as long as it's structurally sound that would be fine.

Below, you can see a little window or chute of some sort was framed... not sure what this was from- it's too high from the ground to be a coal chute, and too low for a window...  mystery!

And here's where the majority of those rocks are now, since they're preparing to break through the walls and connect the new construction with the main house...

The second floor looks super cool too- especially with the diagonal beams!!!

This is the back wall of the Master Bathroom.  There will be a doorway broken through the right portion of stone.  There will also be a doorway located at the place where there's the little window on the right.

This is inside the new laundry room.

Picking Garden Wall

For the past year, we've been talking about taking a bunch of the rocks from around the property and using them to make a wall around a picking garden (similar to the flower bed we made- just bigger)

The reason for the picking garden?  Mike does all of the gardening/landscaping... but then I feel bad picking the flowers!  I wanted a garden that could be used just for flower bouquets- without the guilt :)

We selected a location on the side of the garage.

We had a LOT of rocks to work with!

In Progress
Reverse side-looking towards the back of the house

 And the wall is complete...

Mike removed the bush that was at the front corner of the garage & replanted it along the front field fence.

Next steps:
-getting the excess rocks out of the center of the garden
-roto-tilling the ground (once it stops all of this snowing- ugh!)
-do some planting (we just started researching for deer-resistant flowering plants)

Rolling Rock

Or more accurately, Rolling the Rocks.

We've got TONS of them!  So, we decided to use them to create some flower beds.

To start, we moved them over to along the fence.  (Yet another good use of the tractor!)

That's our little Christmas tree from the front porch.
Not sure where we're going to plant it yet!



Here we are, with the stacking in progress:

It's looking a little rough and scraggly now, but it IS the middle of winter. 

This spring or summer I'll post an update once we get some mulch and plantings in...