Butler's Pantry- Cabinets

The second project we worked on this past weekend was very exciting (for me, at least!  Probably much less exciting for my brother-in-law who helped us move it!)... we bought an antique butler's pantry!

When Mike's parents were visiting, his mom & I went to a barn sale around the corner from our house.  We didn't get anything major- just a fruit bowl for me, some candles for her.
BUT they had the most amazing butler's pantry for sale!

I took a few quick photos to show Mike, and dragged him back there before the sale ended.

It was originally a U-shaped butler's pantry.  The cabinetry on the left went down one wall.  The drawers in the right photo went in the middle under a window, and the glass-door section behind the drawers sat on top of the cabinetry in the far back (and was the right wall of cabinets).  It was a little confusing because the top glass-doors in the right photo are bigger than the bottom cabinetry because there was a dead space in the bottom corner.

We measured (like 5X) and poured over our floor plans to ensure that we can make it work.  We'll be putting them along a single wall- with the help of our contractor. It's long- like 11.5 feet.  With some slight modifications to the plans, it should be perfect!

We negotiated through the week, and made arrangements to pick it up on Saturday.

It's slightly less exciting that I don't have more great photos of it...
The doors & shelves were removed to ensure their safety during the move.  But, it's nice & safe in storage for now.

I think we saved a bundle when I look at how much it would have been to get new reproduction cabinetry... and I love these so much more!

Pink Wallpaper

Having a big hole in the foyer ceiling and wall is a pain, but it also help us uncover secrets of our home's past.

Like the bright pink foyer ceiling...

and pink and silver wallpaper...

There was also a wallpaper border behind the boards where the pipes run behind... It doesn't look like it would have gone with the pink, so must have been from an earlier period (before the installation of the plumbing)

I love uncovering stuff like this!!!

More plumbing...

It was a busy weekend, full of planned and unplanned projects!
The good part is that we've got plenty of fodder for the blog this week!

Hint on project #1: Here's what the foyer looked like last week...

Our first challenge for the weekend began on Friday morning.

I came downstairs and saw dripping from the ceiling.  Mike stood on a chair, pressed the ceiling, and it dripped faster.  Uh-oh.

Mike was off for the day, and I figured that he might rip down the ceiling (he generally underestimates the mess it will make, so leaves the furniture & rugs in place)... so I removed the table, shelf and painting before I went off to work.

Mike ran to Lowe's to pick up building supplies for our planned weekend project (more on that later in the week!)
<-- Shortly after, I received an e-mail with this photo.




Mike ripped the rest open, so we could take a look at what was going on up there.  We weren't sure if it was coming from the flashing on the porch roof, or the bathroom that's right above.

Turns out the water pipe going into the bathroom sink was leaking.  Apparently for quite a while!




We had family coming over on Saturday, so just stuck a bucket under the drip & cleaned up best we could.
Thank goodness they're the understanding DIY type!

But it didn't stop there.  Remember back with the mystery door, we figured there might be a leak on the foyer side?
Well, Sunday seemed as good a time as ever to open up that wall.

There wasn't any drywall- just boards nailed vertically, and paper on top (then painted).


Behind the boards was some electrical, and a bunch of pipes (hot, cold, steam, bathroom drain stack, plus a second drain pipe that doesn't join to the stack until it reaches the basement)


Unfortunately, the drain stack is in bad shape on the bottom half.  So, Mike went last night & got supplies- he plans to replace it all the way down into the basement, & consolidate the second drain into it.

Here's the best shot I have of where we are now-->
I'll have to take a wider one, showing the whole mess later.





There are two silver linings on this little rain cloud!
1- I already picked out the new paint color for the foyer, but it was pretty far down on the To Do List.  This moves it right up!
2- Mike thinks he may need to rip out the sink cabinet in the kids' bathroom to properly get at the pipes (my fingers are crossed!)  I've got a new one all picked out- Bye, Bye mint green sink!!!!

Spot the Differences?

What a difference a couple of weeks can make!

Here's a picture of the front of the house, taken a few weeks ago...

 And another taken last week... can you spot the differences?

There are a couple that should be easy, since we've already posted about them...
1- Fence is now green.  See how well it blends on the left side?  It also helps that the bushes now have their leaves.
2- Mailbox post is also green.  Minor, but looks much cleaner now.

The next few we hadn't mentioned yet...
3- The azaleas in front are now blooming (we can't take any credit for that one!
Just want to say "Yay, Spring!")
4- The Flag!

This is a 13-star flag, which would have flown at our house in it's early years!
(The house was built in either 1760 or 1790, we're still researching that!)

On June 14th, 1777, this design became the first official US Flag. It remained the official flag until 1795, when the 15 star flag was adopted (after Vermont & Kentucky became states).

My parents gave it to us as an anniversary gift this year.

Outside Progress: The Side Yard

As mentioned previously, we planned to move some of the bushes from the back of the house to the side.  Which means we needed to move the plants that were already located on the side of the house out of the way.

This is what the side of the house looked like to begin with... overgrown, full of weeds, & basement window wells that needed to be put in the ground.










Mike also wanted to regrade a bit to help keep rain water from running into the basement.


The bushes are lilacs- which I love!
But the problem was that this is the side of the house that faces the road.
I wanted plants that didn't lose their leaves, so it wouldn't be so exposed all winter long.  So the lilacs got removed, and re-planted along the pasture fence...

Here it is with everything cleared out, and the window wells in place.

The regrading was complete by the time Mike's parents arrived on Friday.

A load of mulch was also delivered last week.

After a full weekend of yard work, here are the results!

The two large bushes are the rhododendrons that we removed from the back.
We also transplanted the 2 Pieris Japonica bushes over here.

We still need one evergreen for right in the middle of the two windows.  We'll most likely get a holly bush, but the nursery didn't have any in stock.  So we left a space for it and hope to get that in there soon.

Each step was contingent upon something else, and the to-do list kept snowballing!  So, it feels good to have gotten all of that resolved.
Plus the side of the house looks so much better now that it's complete!

Here's a side-by-side comparison:

A little extra- we also planted this weeping cherry tree.  

We had one of these in front of our old house and loved it.

Here are some old photos that the town had on file... talk about overgrown!

1969- The side isn't too bad, but look at the front tree!

1981

1987

The owners before us definitely did some heavy lifting as far as getting the bushes & front tree under control.  We can't thank them enough since we know how much work that must have been (having done similar on the old house!)