Oh dear...I feel so lame posting these pictures, but Andrew is seriously making me. My husband might appear to those that have met him as a gentle soul, but in reality, he is bossy with a capital B. When he likes something, there is no convincing him out of it. He'll just bite at you all day long as to why he likes it, and why we should use it, and so on...until you break, or jump out of an open window...whichever presents itself first.
The other day I really wanted to put flowers inside my iron form, which I have been wanting to do for quite a long time, but haven't thought of an idea that I liked enough to do so. Frustrated, I quickly put something together - so that I could have the spot I wanted for flowers...never did I think Andrew would like it so much...but he does. He really does, and therefore I am being told I must post pictures of it.
Doing it this way with the two rulers has given me a few ideas to work at down the road, but until then - there's this and Andrew. Thanks for tuning in, sorry for the slow posting this week - Andrew is heading out on another trip next week, and we've been busy getting him ready for it. Have a very lovely weekend!
Remember this post? Well the lilies have kept on growing, and I am so proud of them. So far everything we've planted has been growing well, even with some rather unfortunate weather scares. We'll take some more pictures of what we've planted soon, but I only had time for the lilies today.
{Lilies are getting bigger}
A couple of them have grown in a bit wonky, but for the most part they're straight and pointing to the sky. Supposedly they'll be blooming in July, and I can't wait! These are my favorite type of lilies, and if they actually bloom - I will be over the moon with excitement.
I've been slow at posting this week - things have just been busy. We're finished painting the dining room, and we really love it. Our dining room can feel rather large because of its rectangular shape, but the green has warmed it up, and made it feel immediately cozier. We didn't realize how much we would love that, but we really do. Green is my favorite color - especially this shade, so of course every morning I give a little sigh of green happiness. The dining room (as with all of our rooms) is very bare, and the only thing we've done is refresh the chandelier and now paint it - but it feels like a good start. We've got our ideas, but as with everything - it just takes time. You can see more before pictures here.
{BEFORE PAINT}
{PAINT AFTER}
While were taking pictures of the new paint job - our bullies got into one of their regular wrestling matches, and we couldn't help but take some pictures of it. Unfortunately, we aren't fast enough and their faces are pretty blurred, but I think you get the drift. Pierre is clearly a ninja (check out his high flying death grip on Addis), and Addis an assassin (slow to move but quick to kill). These bears do not mess around.
{PAINT BEFORE and try not to pay attention to my random bits on the plate rail}
For awhile I thought I would put wallpaper up in our dining room, and I still might do that, but I couldn't handle the orangey beige any longer. Don't let these pictures fool you - Andrew and I wait for bright sunny days to take pictures, but that doesn't always convey the true rough edges and colors that are throughout our house. Every room in our Green Gables is and was this orangey beige color, and we hate it. Both Andrew and I agree that we want our dining room to be the focal point of our main level, because really it is. It is the center of the house, and since we decided to go light in all our other rooms - this room we wanted dark. The dining room gets great light, so we know it can handle it.
{PAINT BEFORE}
Oh what's that? A sneak peek of what's to come? Also I would like you to guess who's paint square is whose? Here's a hint, Andrew's sample painting skills dripped all the way to our trim - which he claims was on purpose. Such a gem in my life.
Yep, that's the new lattice. What do you think? Like I mentioned before, we still have landscaping plans and exterior painting to do that will make our lattice less visible. At least we can now rest easy knowing animals (and recently large snakes) won't be able to claim it as their den.
{BEFORE}
{AFTER}
You can see more before pictures here. I have to say I wasn't crazy about the new lattice, but after seeing the before pictures - I am glad we did it. Now I've got the itch to paint, paint, and paint some more! I can see Andrew slowly backing out of the room as he's been reading over my shoulder. Sorry love, but there is work to be done!
This weekend Andrew and I took on the failing lattice that surrounds the bottom of our Green Gables foundation. We thought it would be a relatively simple task, but it turned out to be quite a bit of work. Changing the lattice wasn't an easy decision to make - though ours was falling apart, rusted, and rotting - we still appreciated the history of it. We did a lot of searching about, trying to find something that we liked, but ended up settling for a plastic type that will work for now. Hopefully down the road we'll discover a wooden lattice we really love, or find the time to make our own (enter laughter here).
{BEFORE}
These are not the most complimentary pictures of our Green Gables but landscaping is a huge task that we are slowly chipping away at, and we need to paint several parts of the exterior still, but this is about the lattice - so try to stay focused. I'll post the after lattice picture's later this week.
The other day while we were watering our ferns, Andrew found a nest. I never considered birds building nests in our hanging ferns, and fell in love with it. This little nest had been so tenderly made, each strand woven tightly. It's almost heartbreaking to have a moment where you feel so intimate with nature, as though you are being granted a brief moment into a world that is not your own, but carries on wildly around you.
I hope you find a moment like this in your weekend, and may it fill you up the way this little nest did for us.
I am not sure where to begin - this has been one insane experience. Andrew and I took the loan we got for our roof and stretched it to be able to have central air and heat put in. This would not have been possible if we hadn't gone with Mitsubishi Electric, but after doing a lot of research - we determined that this system would be the right fit for our house. However, I had no idea what a disastrous mess awaited me by making the decision to even put in central air and heat.
We were told that it would take two days to put this system in, but as these things go - two days quickly turned into four days. Because our Green Gables is nearly a hundred (or possibly quite a bit older - we learned some interesting historical details, but will save for another post) everything took longer, was harder to cut, and created the most horrid mess. The first day when they were cutting into our hardwoods and working in the basement went smoothly, it took them longer because our basement is basically a bomb shelter, but I didn't feel too stressed. Then the gates of panic opened the following day, and I am still recovering. When they were cutting into the ceiling and working in the attic, that's when everything went wrong.
Though Andrew and I had cleaned the entire attic the week before, in hopes to keep the mess at bay - it turns out the mess was hidden beneath the floor boards and spilled out of the ceiling like an avalanche, black soot covering everything in our home. Not only were we dealing with black soot pouring from every room in our upstairs, but turns out our lovely Green Gables does not have your traditional plaster on its walls or ceilings of the horsehair variety, but instead has a type of plaster that is much older, harder and thicker. Which is great on many levels, but terrible to cut into. The guys working on our house were burning through their proper, and expensive tools left and right. They eventually had to use a sawzall to cut through our ceilings. It was a disaster of a day.
One of the guys was excellent, and tried his hardest to keep everything going smoothly, and the other guy drove me crazy. He made several mistakes, and one big mistake that nearly brought out my high kick reflex. I don't want to get into it, but it about broke me. When the second day was over every room in our house up and down - was covered in at least 5 inches of soot, even our bulldogs were filthy. The second they left my neurosis went into a red zone, and I spent the next six hours cleaning every inch of our house, including our bullies. I had to do this twice in four days because of the mess that came from installing the system in our home, but that is the only way I didn't flip out and make grown men cry.
To top it all off, what appeared to be a huge black tube was hanging on the side of the house when I was outside shaking our rugs. I rolled my eyes, and thought "great, now what" and went to examine it - to only discover it was the largest black snake I'd ever seen, climbing our Green Gables! Yes, instead of a black cat mocking our already unlucky couple of days, it had to be a black snake. That strikes me as worse, no?
{The white piping hiding all the outdoor bits}
The other issue I have is when you own an historic home any work done to it (at least for me) feels and sounds so much worse. I worry about it constantly, and is anyone considering enough how old it is? If I had my way, the people working on our Green Gables would be handling it like it was made of glass. Only then would I feel any confidence in what they were doing. Andrew doesn't worry about that they way I do.
Now that it is finally over, I can say this - we love it! I mean that, it is so quiet and I can't tell you what it feels like to have a warm home (except you probably already know) but Andrew and I haven't lived in home with proper heat or air since we left our parent's - so for us, this was HUGE. I am so grateful the process is over, but I might be even more grateful to have central air and heat to begin with...let's see how the summer goes.
Today you turn two years old. Where has the time gone you sweet little bear with the one floppy ear, and the white spot on your nose? What joy you have brought to our lives inlcuding your grumpy older sister, though I know she'd never let you know it. Your unconditional love brings tears to my eyes, and takes the air from my lungs. You are (like your sister) angels in our lives, that remind us daily of everything good and sincere in this life.
Our blog redesign is finished! We've been working on it for a bit now, and finally found the time to launch it. As usual with us - we like to keep it simple. I hope you like the new design, and we'll be changing a few more things along the way - but for now we're pretty happy with it. If you are wondering how this all happens - I create and design it - Andrew codes it. We've been doing this for quite sometime now, and yes - we are self-taught incase it isn't obvious.
You might have noticed the awesome hand drawn illustration of our Green Gables - well that is not something Andrew and I can take credit for. I've been a big fan of Annemarie Buckley from Scout's Honor Co. for quite sometime now, and one of her many talents is illustrating people's homes. I love that so much, there is something timeless, and even romantic about having your home illustrated...I can't really explain it. I had Annemarie make a few changes to our Green Gables that Andrew and I plan to do in the future - overall she did a fabulous job! Andrew and I were actually emotional when we received our lovely package. Our print does include our address, but for privacy reasons we removed it here.
We had a stamp made too from Scout's Honor Co. and we felt instantly grown up when we saw it. It is so lovely that I am not even sure I will be able to bring myself to use it - much to Andrew's annoyance. Our stamp does include our address but we removed it here for privacy reasons.
Oh my goodness me, you won't believe what I spied growing - my lilies!! I can't tell you how happy this made me - I have been feeling worried since planting them that none of them would grow, that the ground wasn't good enough for them. I repeated this to myself so much over the last couple of weeks, that when I walked passed them this morning and spotted little buds coming through the dirt - I had to rub my eyes. So far they are all coming up, and who knows what the next couple of months will bring - but today I am celebrating a little victory.
I think the rose above deserves its own post, but I don't want to embarrass the loved ones that sent it to me. The best gardener I know is my Aunt Doris, what she can do with a yard is incredible. Throughout this entire process I have sent her numerous emails of insecurity and pleas for her to come see me, so that she could give me all that gardening wisdom in person...and selfishly a bit of confidence. I so admire my Aunt Doris, and with each plant I place into the ground I think of her. As I've mentioned before, I grew up moving most of my childhood, and visiting my Aunt Doris and Uncle David at their beautiful historic home in Evanston, Illinois (they've moved now) was one of my most cherished memories. I can't tell you how many school writing assignments I wrote about my time at their home with them. We took many trips there, but not enough. One memory in particular revisited me a couple of weeks ago. Sitting on my porch was a box and upon opening it I discovered that my Aunt Doris had sent me a Tiffany Tea Rose and it immediately brought tears to my eyes. I remember when she had a Tiffany Rose in her own garden back in Illinois - I remember her showing it to me and how special it made me feel. To be able to plant the thought as much as the rose in my own yard, is something I truly cherish and always will. Andrew and I picked a sunny spot for the Tiffany Tea Rose - one we can see from our windows.
Remember when I wrote this long post about hanging sap buckets instead of a window box under our kitchen window's? Are you still trying to forget? Well, I know I told you that I would post later when I had actually planted something in them, and it had grown. Fast forward a month and voilá! Being as this section is full of shade - I went with hostas. They've just started to bloom a lovely lavender color, and to be able to see them from my kitchen window's every morning is so delightful.
Happy Easter! I know we're beginning to sound like a broken record but we have been super busy with our yard this week, and yesterday we were both covered in mud. Someday I'll get around to showing some before and after's of the yard, so you can actually have an idea of the progress, but for now things have just been planted and it looks more like a bunch of dirt patches than anything worth sharing.
You might be wondering what is really taking so much time besides planting, and honestly - it is the preparing the soil bit that is killing us. Not only did we have to go about cutting down loads of overgrown-ness which has led to huge stumps everywhere in our yard that we had to dig out. They were beasts people, total beasts to dig out. We have no idea the last time our soil had any tender love, so we had to dig up deep seeded weeds that had grown through this madening layer of weed cloth cover - which was horrible to pull up. Then we had to turn all the soil, till the soil, figure out and add the right nutrients to the soil. We have very clay and in some parts rocky soil - so it has really been a ton of work. Finally, after all of that, we had to muster the energy to plant. Honesty though, we've been loving all of it. There is something about going to bed with the aches of a hard day's work in your own yard that just feels so good...very rewarding.
{The beginnings of our shade garden}
Because we've been blessed with so many gorgeous and huge trees, our front yard (especially) is completely shaded, well now that the leaves have come in. So we've had to switch gears in thinking what would work for shade. That hasn't been easy for me, because as I've mentioned before, I've always dreamed of having a total white garden, or moon garden as some would put it. Andrew and I have been reading a lot about what would work in the part to full shade category. There isn't a lot to choose from, but I think we've come up with some good ideas. We were so happy to see plants already growing, and also relieved because like I've also said many times before - we're very nervous about anything growing.
{Yay! Our Magnolia Jane has been planted}
In the picture above you can see our Magnolia Jane has been planted. I have always wanted a tulip tree, but the more reading I did, and then I talked to our local nursery and found out that the tulip trees (the ones I've always loved) are known as an antique version, and are very prone to disease. The Magnolia Jane is actually the improved version, and will grow quite large. We can also trim it to either be more bush or tree like, depending on what we're going for. We'll probably keep it more bush like, because we are hoping for more privacy, but either way - as long as those gorgeous tulip leaves bloom, I'll be happy.
There is still loads to be done. Andrew and I have split our acre up and are taking one section at a time. I am grateful for that too, because I feel like we are actually learning this way, and not rushing to get it all finished. We still have to paint our fence, and what a job that is going to be. Any volunteers to help?
First of all, let me begin by saying - we are in love with our new roof! The roofers did an awesome job, and it feels like our Green Gables was always meant to have this metal roof. I can't even explain the relief we have felt since having it replaced, but every chance we get to look at it - we do.
Second of all, guys it has been so hard to capture a picture of our metal roof...it reflects light like a crazy and always appears blue in every single picture we take. We've finally given up and have just decided you are going to have to imagine it is the same color as our shutters because it basically is, which made us so happy! We weren't sure how the two shades would work together. Our roof is an hartford green, and our shutters are a hunter green, but they've worked out well...though this picture would suggest otherwise. You can see the before pictures here.
I am playing a bit of catch up - sorry things have just been so busy around here trying to get ready for spring planting. We've had the most ridiculous weather, and that has caused a lot of hold up and frustration with planting. After several, several coats of paint - we finished the inside of our hutch, you can see the before pictures here. We didn't do the bottom half yet, so that will come at another time. I have to say though - now that we have the inside white, I am itching to paint the rest of it another color. Since we have no idea what we are really doing with our dining room, I won't be painting it for awhile. Though the peach walls in the dining room make the white shelves look a bit orange at times, we're happy to have the inside finished and love the way it turned out.
As you know from this post, Andrew and I have been clearing out our yard since fall. This pile of madness is A LOT bigger in person and I wish Andrew was standing in front of it to give it scale. Andrew and I have been spending every evening after work, digging and clearing away all overgrown-ness from our yard. We are exhausted, and last night as I crawled into bed every bone in my body ached, and it actually hurt to walk on my feet. That use to happen to me working retail, but I thought gardening was suppose to be peaceful? Only kidding, I know eventually all the big manual labor will be out of the way, and we can start to enjoy the maintaining and learning bit.
Right now, it is all about making room for the spring planting, which has all arrived due to the insanely warm temperatures. Oh these temperatures have me so depressed - I do not like summer...and that is putting it nicely. To have 80 degree temps when the trees don't even have their leaves yet, is something to behold.
Luckily, my father was able to come over last Sunday and chainsaw one of the bigger bushes we wanted to take out. Thanks dad! Though I would rather not witness my father holding a chainsaw ever again. I am way too paranoid about my parent's these days, and all I could think of is, who is going to tell my mom about his missing arm? Happily, I didn't have to break any of that kind of news.
Our to do list for our yard is ever expanding. There are days that I feel so impatient about it all, and other's that I realize that we're building roots here, just as we are planting them, and there is no rush. It is hard for a kid who has moved her whole life to understand that - I am always preparing to leave. Not this time though, and as I was looking around at all that we've already accomplished - I saw gorgeous tulip's had started to bloom at the edge of our yard. Tulips we didn't plant, but those before us had, those that too were only beginning and imagining what the future might hold.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Andrew and I took an early morning hike, and it was as though Saint Patrick himself colored the grass. It was an absolutely stunning morning with the fog clearing out, and the deer hopping about...Andrew and I felt refreshed.
Andrew and I purchased a truck last weekend. Here's how this happened...since purchasing our Green Gables we've needed a truck pretty desperately. It seems no matter what we were doing around our house, there would be hauling involved and we couldn't do it. Either we took loads of trips with our small cars, or we had to rent/borrow a truck. That was getting time consuming, expensive, and frustrating. I have never been much of a truck fan, and told Andrew that I would need a compromise if I was to purchase a truck. It would have to be a classic one. My request delighted Andrew, and we set out looking for a classic truck that was affordable. Which is basically a paradox, because classic cars/trucks are rarely affordable unless they are shells, or you look for later more popular models. We gave ourselves a strict budget, and started looking.
Thanks to my dad - I have been a classic car junky since I was in middle school. My dad and I would go to classic car shows any chance we got - I still remember us driving quite a distance to a Wendy's parking lot just because we heard there would be a classic car show there. I get embarrassingly emotional at classic car shows, or even when I see one passing us on the road - its just love for me. So by this point in my life I have my favorites, but I could never afford those now, and I am not sure I will be able to even when I am old. Even when it came to purchasing our beauty above - I had to compromise on the year.
We found our 1966 Ford F100 and knew it was the one for us! The previous owner was retired and had spent time restoring some aspects of it - but it will need continued maintenance and improvements over time, just like our Green Gables. We had to drive 8 hours to get it, but boy was it worth it! Not only do we love our truck, but it will make life a lot easier on us - especially with all the landscaping plans we have for our yard.
I can't believe I am writing this post...I feel like I need a moment of silence for what is happening today. Yesterday, the roofing company called and said they were going to start on our roof today. We weren't able to actually schedule a date, but we told them we were hoping in March. Yesterday they called and said, "see you tomorrow." We had to scramble to change our schedule to be here, and to take care of the dog's, who do not handle loads of men and loud banging all day very well. It was chaos yesterday, but they're here now and I am getting excited. Though I wish we had been able to to replace it with another slate roof like the original, we couldn't afford it and went with the second best option - metal.
{BEFORE}
Honestly, I feel really emotional today. The Lord has truly blessed Andrew and I - we knew that the roof was crumbling when we bought our Green Gables, and we worried about it constantly. Over the last eight months of living here, we've been through several bad wind and rain storms. Each time the storm would clear, we'd run up to our attic to see what the damage was. And each time we'd find minimal leakage - even though there would be broken slate all over our yard.
{BEFORE}
I am not sure when we'll have the loan paid off for this new roof, but I am not going to dwell on it. Instead I am going to think about the future, and what the new roof means for our Green Gables, and for us. It means we can now use our attic, that we can clear out the bedroom that needs major maintenance, that the damp wood that has been unable to dry because of all the tiny leaks will, and that (and the most important reason) we are giving our Green Gables yet another reason to stand strong nearly a hundred years after it was built. That is something that means a lot to Andrew and I.
{BEFORE}
Our Green Gables has two chimney's and the one in the picture above has now been removed. It had been sealed away inside, and was making our bedroom and the kitchen layout awkward, so we have plans to slowly take it down to the basement. That won't be happening for quite sometime, so I'll save that morsel for another day.
Our next project is our original built-in hutch in our dining room. Addis decided to photobomb our photo session and look at the 'tude all over her face, she has been giving us some grief today. She's 49 years old, but has mood swings like a teenager going through puberty.
We've decided to start light with the hutch and only paint the inside of it white. I know it seems sacrilegious to paint an original piece like this, but the outside of it is not actual stained wood - it is a dark paint stain, so unfortunately it has already been painted. I am open to eventually stripping it, and bringing it back to life but not right away. The inside is stained wood, but too dark in order to see the items inside of it, and that is something we'd really like to change.
{BEFORE}
The outside of the hutch is roughed up, it is has a lot of chips and scratches but that doesn't bother me. I have also cleaned the outside of it, but because of the stain paint on it - you wouldn't be able to tell.
{BEFORE}
As you can see I did not clean inside the bottom yet, but the point of showing you this picture is the strange designs inside of the hutch. The comb type pattern seems normal, like they were trying to create a wood pattern, but the finger and swiggle looking smears are just strange and they are on all the wood trim in our Green Gables. The comb pattern is not continued throughout the house, only the swiggles and finger smears are - the banister has them, and even the molding that was painted over, the swiggles show through. Not exactly sure what they were going for, but I wish they had thought it over more.
{AFTER}
{BEFORE}
{AFTER}
{The beginnings of our shade garden}
{Yay! Our Magnolia Jane has been planted}
{AFTER}
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(What amateur landscaping looks like}
{Oh hello there}
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