Underfoot in the Backyard

I can't wait to start on this project for the yard.  Pebble mosaic pavers.  If you Google them, you can see beautiful, complex ones that would take a lot of time and money, but here is a picture that I think would be reasonably obtainable for us.

jeffreygardens.blogspot.com

One that is beautiful, and simple enough to make...

inspirationgreen.com

Maybe we will make them all different animals...

maggyhowarth.co.uk



They seem to be really simple to make.  Build a mold (flat bottom with edges in whatever shape you need).  Pour in a layer of sand.  Place your pebbles in whatever design you want pushing them all the way down to the flat part of the mold.  Pour cement on top.  Then wait for it to dry, remove it from the mold, and dust off the sand. 

I told Andrew I could build the molds with some of his scrap wood, but he insists on making the molds himself.  I got the distinct feeling he didn't want me using his tools.  Hmph.

Time to look for local pebbles.

more to follow.....

This Apartment May Not Be For You.

This little studio apartment sits at the end of the driveway, along side the backyard, and we hope to rent it out soon. 

Here is what it looked like when we first bought the house...

It had some nasty carpet and that back window had no glass in it, so the wildlife could come in and out.  In the back corner was a makeshift closet.  The bathroom is on the left (not pictured).

This is the "in progress" photo.  We ripped out the carpet, removed that closet, patched the walls, and brought in some cabinets and counter tops to be installed.  We chose a more neutral color in a lighter shade for the walls.  Right now, the finishing touches to the bathroom are happening and the floors will hopefully be installed by next week, so we can move in a renter.  This leaves us with one small dilemma.....

Do you tell the new renter that someone has died in the apartment?  Yes, died.

Sooooo, Andrew met one of our new neighbors this week!  It wasn't too long before the "big news" came out. It wasn't anything really sensational like an axe murder or gunfight. (The post title options on that alone would have been great)   According to our new neighbor "Stump" (the name he gave us, not one we gave him) it was a sad, tragic ending of a young life by overdose (our words not his). 

The thing is, Andrew and I aren't the least bit superstitious, and I had honestly forgot about him telling me until tonight and, of course, I thought "Well I'll have to blog this!"   But, this could reduce the appeal of the place in some people's eyes. so lets just keep this between us. 

We'll post the "after" pictures soon!

 

Inspiration

The funnest part of a renovation is probably picking out the color palette for each room.  We've been scouring the web looking for inspiration.  The house we live in now has some bold, dark colors, but we're afraid the new house doesn't have the ceiling height to pull them off.  We'll need a lighter palette in most of the spaces.  Here are some inspiring pictures that I found. 

from KatyElliot.com

These doors are from somewhere in Italy and I am in love with this pale green blue.  I love how clean, light, and peaceful these colors are.  This palette could translate into a bedroom like this:

yournestdesign.blogspot.com

This will probably be the color scheme for the upstairs bedroom, although we will leave the walls white.  The headboard and foot board will either be grey or black and we can pull in the green blue with the bedspread and pillows.  The floors will be wood, and we think maybe a large pile shag rug in a pale off-white under the bed.  FUN FUN FUN!!

I'll leave you with another inspiring photo, although I'm not sure where in the house we can use this palette.  Maybe the enclosed porch?  I love this photo.

yournestdesign.blogspot.com

I'm already a terrarium fanatic, so I love these green glass bottles.  It's just beautiful.

Homemade Blueprints

Since we don't have any blueprints of the house, I decided to draw up a general floor plan of the upstairs and downstairs.   I didn't have any graph paper and it is not to scale, but here it is anyway...

There are three downstairs bedrooms, but we will use the front bedroom as Andrew's office, and the back bedroom will be my art studio.  ( I am grateful to have a husband who is so supportive and generous!!)    The dotted line between the Kitchen and the main Living area was a wall, but we decided to rip it out to make the house feel more open.   The entrance to the downstairs bathroom will probably be moved. We are still hashing out ideas over the overall bathroom design.

The upstairs has a lot of potential storage space between the walls and the pitch of the roof line.  This will come in handy since we don't have much closet space anywhere in the house.  The main upstairs area will probably have bookshelves and a sitting area.  We also have plans to install Murphy beds in this area for when we have guests since we will only be using two rooms as actual bedrooms.  Murphy beds were a feature in a lot of bungalows and are great space savers. 

Plant People, We Need Help!

Obviously someone once loved this house and planted lots of things all around the yard.  We have a lot of plants we cannot identify.  I already had Andrew rip out what I thought were weeds a few weeks ago.  Turns out they were hydrangeas.  Ugh, made me sick.  So, I am going to post some pictures below.  If you know what any of the plants are, please leave a comment.  Thank you!

Picture 1.  We are told this is a fig tree.  I believe this is correct because I've seen these leaves performing a very important task on classical sculptures.

Picture 2.  This vine runs along a fence that will probably need replaced on one side of the driveway.  What is it, and will it flower?  

Picture 3.  I love the shape of the leaves on whatever this is.

Picture 4.  Sorry I didn't get a close-up on these bushes!

Picture 5.  I do know what these are!!

Picture 6.  We were told that this tree hanging down from the top of the picture is a pecan tree. 

Were You Born in a Barn?

Here are a couple of pictures I stole off of the Remodelista website that we like for the barn doors upstairs.  I especially love the one with windows.

Can you spot the five differences in these pictures?...

OK...just kidding about the differences.  Boy have we (and by we I mean Andrew) been busy! The house is almost completely gutted and I think the ceiling in one more room may have to go as well.

Main living room area viewed from the front door.

Same room as above, different view.

 This is the large half of the upstairs you see from the top of the steps.  The cross ties (horizontal boards at the top of the picture on the bottom) are going to be replaced with 2x6's, left exposed and painted to match the trim.  Andrew is also going to raise them up about 6 inches to increase the ceiling height and to make that window look a little more comfortable.  Right now the poor thing looks like the ceiling is falling onto it.

 

I think this is probably the most amazing difference of any of any space in the house. That is the narrow stairwell in the almost middle of the picture on the bottom.  The picture at the top shows a closet that used to be between that stairwell and the chimney (which was hidden).   The chimney is pretty great, and will probably be left exposed.  The plan for now is two barn doors (the kind on rails not red ones with big white X's) on either side to act as a movable wall between the main upstairs and what will be a small bedroom behind the chimney.  The doors would slide in front of the chimney when open.