Our New Deck

We have a fairly good sized piece of property (1/3 acre, which is pl-EN-ty for us) but the way we use the outdoor space is sorta limited. Just a huge lawn. Up until this summer all we really had was a brick patio (beautiful) to relax on but there is no privacy or protection from the sun and heat in the summer. And I'm no "glistener." 

In comes a brilliant idea. My awesome cousin was getting rid of all the Western Red Cedar from his deck last year and was nice enough to let thrifty John snatch it up for reuse. It's gorgeous cedar. And as luck would have it, we had the perfect spot for a small deck that would provide more privacy AND shade! We added this deck right off the kitchen. We took out a window, added a French door and voila. John even used some of the leftover wood to craft two deck chairs and we found this super cool wrought iron and wood rocker at Todd Farm for $35 that we'll fix up next year. It's great - the dogs can stick their little noses out the bottom to spy on the neighborhood, John and I can relax with our coffee or cocktail, and we can forget about the mess that awaits us right inside the door... Ignorance is... well, you know.

Eloise's Room

My sister is having a baby.  And of course I'm excited to be an aunt but I was alarmingly excited at the prospect of a nursery to force design ideas onto.  Clearly I'm no professional I just love it and if my sister likes my ideas, then, hey, free design advice for her!  That being said I tried my own design board.  She was waffling on colors since it's a little girl (to be named Eloise) so I came up with a couple of ideas to get her brain goin'.  I'll tell you at the bottom which one she's going to use.

I'm sure you're dying to know. Hehehe... She chose the middle one. Loved the gingham. Yay me. Now this is mostly a loose set of ideas that she can follow to stay on track. I'll try to get her to send me photos along the way (she's in Ohio, I'm in MA) so we can see the progress. It's fun for me. ZERO WORK. On HER house. Mine is a nightmare. Updated photos coming soon... I'll give you a teaser though. Heard from downstairs yesterday: "Well at least the bathtub won't fall through the floor." Ah THAT'S a relief. Cut to The Money Pit... 

Big Baby Steps of Progress...

More progress... because Spring is the busy season at the boat yard, it might seem like we're making baby steps but they are BIG baby steps. For sure.

Ta-da! Used to be a window...

View from outside

View from outside part deux

Door is in, and the window moved over to the left

Half the tile (so far) came up, new subfloor down

Jonesin' for a Craft Fix

Big time. So I made a new roman shade for the downstairs powder room. I guess I just get bored... ? The shade used to be a roller shade in black and white (that I made but it wasn't functional. Oops!)

VOILA!

KITCHEN UPDATE!

Well when we started the project we really had no idea what we were getting into. Actually, I think John expected it, but it still doesn't cease to amaze him how structurally unsound our house was (IS!) To me it just all looks scary beneath the covers.

So the following pictures are really just to show you how crazy strong it is now. No more bouncing at my desk upstairs when the dogs run by. Sound as a pound.

This is to illustrate how nail happy the previous "builder" was. This is the old subfloor.

There are now 12 inch spaces whereas before we were pushin' 20+. AND you'll notice a new supporting beam running through the kitchen, which replaced something that more closely resembled a twig. Crazy man did it by himself. I was sure to leave the premises when this all went down.

Every poop pipe gets wallpaper in this household.

Ireland Inspiration

Major Catch Up Part 2: The Kitchen

The ceiling came down. There was much debate about taking the whole mess down but John did it. We will gain a couple of inches and we can ensure it's all level, which it wasn't before. The way this house was built leaves much to be desired. John is constantly scratching his head in wonderment. Random shims and scrap wood make up the structure of our house. Awesome.

Supporting beam

POSITIVITY ALERT! The new Samsung microwave was installed over the oven with ventilation outside. It's like a beacon of light amongst the rubble.

Old insulation. Disgustin.

It's officially a non-functioning kitchen. GAME ON.