Olive Update!!

 

 


                           Well, with pictures like these, who needs words!

                                                       Love ya'll,
                                                          Shelli


                                 Though she be but little, she is fierce.
                                                    -Shakespeare

Sense of Time

Since moving here in April, I have totally lost my sense of time. I've been trapped in the house painting, staining, and sanding.

My internal seasonal clock was disoriented; 

to reboot I needed a garden!

Here are the remnants of the previous owner's garden.
Some of the fence posts remain and the gate is still standing.
The dimensions are about 50' x 100'.

Outside the 'fence' is a small, sick orchard.
There are five non producing apple(?) trees, two citrus trees, and one very prolific blueberry bush.

Our lone lemon(?)

The balled-up wire on this fence post was used for a grape trellis.

I've been studying the garden space from the shade of some nearby trees.

Early morning coffee enjoyed in these seats is especially good for letting the imagination set sail.

The garden has some important things going for it.....

a nice sized shed

and 

water!!

Fred and Ethel and I are spending time down here trying to get the 'feel' of the place. I'm going for a Grandma Wig vibe- a laid-back country feel, much less formal than Turkey Creek Garden. I got out my graph paper and have started plotting the area. Am gathering Pinterest ideas and looking for a fence builder. Will keep you updated on the garden project throughout the winter. The plan is to be ready for spring planting!

But in the meantime I needed a tiny, little plot for cool-weather crops. 

I am ashamed to admit this to my fellow Master Gardeners, but I threw away all the cardboard boxes from our move!!! Never stopped to think that they should have been saved for killing grass in the garden. Instead I had to use grass killer.

A quick till

Plenty of Black Cow

And transplants- lettuce, kale, spinach, arugula, broccoli, cabbage, and a few collards.

Getting up early in the morning to water the garden has been a post-remodeling balm to my soul. Enjoying the cooler morning temperatures and watching some of the leaves begin to turn and fall, has slowly begun to reset my internal seasonal clock.

Gardening has reestablished my sense of time. 

Love ya'll,

Shelli

A house without a garden or orchard is unfurnished and incomplete.

~A. Bronson Alcott 

It was such a pleasure to sink one's hands into the warm earth, to feel at one's fingertips the possibilities of the new season.

~Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

~Cicero

Gallery Wall

There are a few things about our remodel that are dear to my heart and one is the gallery wall. In this first picture you are standing in the kitchen looking out into the family room. You can just make out the fireplace on the left with the TV above the mantle. The gallery wall is behind the sofa.

Our television has always been tucked out of sight in a cabinet, so mounting the TV above the mantle was a big bone of contention between James and me. One of us wanted the couches and recliners surrounding the fireplace ready to kick back and enjoy TV with a big fire burning in the fireplace. The other one was afraid of missing favorite art work, seasonal decorations, and big vases of flowers freshly cut from the garden adorning the mantle.  There were heated debates!

If you were thinking that James wanted the TV over the mantle, you are wrong. It was me! So in our TV placement negotiations, I had to assure James that all our pretty "stuff" would not fall by the wayside, before he acquiesced. 

Putting in this gallery wall will enable us to:
             1. Enjoy paintings somewhere besides above the mantle.
             2. Hang paintings without putting a single nail hole in the wall.
             3. Change out a collection of paintings for new ones in under 5 minutes!! Yes, 5 minutes!
             4. Hang themed collections such as .... colors (orange, turquoise, and brown for Fall)
                                                                            modern art
                                                                            painting found on trips
                                                                            James' favorites
                                                                            Olive's masterpieces

We started the gallery wall by attaching a piece of picture rail molding about ten inches from the top of the wall.

Picture rail molding protrudes from the wall so that a hook can be hung over it. We were careful to screw the molding into the studs across the wall. Then we painted the molding the same color as the wall. I looked for picture rail molding at Lowes and Home Depot, but finally had to order it here www.houseofantiquehardware.com.

I also ordered rods with hooks. These rods are made to hang on the molding.

We also bought hooks. Hooks slide up and down on the rod, and screw tightly into place. The painting hangs on the hook.  Each rod can hold multiple hooks allowing you to hang pictures above and below each other.

Here's a better view of the wall with paintings almost reaching the floor. We are going to have a lot of fun with this!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.

~Michelangelo

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.

~Pablo Picasso

Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.

~Edgar Degas

Great art picks up where nature ends.

~Marc Chagall

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way —

things I had no words for.

~Georgia O'Keeffe

Sunday Schoolism #10: The Right Time To Pray

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all."

                                                              Oswald Chambers

A Hammer and Some Tung Oil

 These are the Pinterest pictures that were the inspiration for our kitchen remodel.

Our carpenter brought us some salvaged wood from an old house they had torn down. 

 These are the planks after being cut to size for the shelving.

Not exactly the rich, worn look of the shelves in the picture, are they?

The age was there, we just needed to bring it out. 

 But first we needed to add a little age to boards that were already old! What?

Cutting the long boards into pieces left straight, sharp edges.  Using a hammer, I just banged on the edges and corners until they had the rounded, beat-down look that wear and tear would have naturally given them.

Freshly cut edge and corner

Same edge and corner after a good beating!

After sanding the edges with a sanding block, our carpenter told us to treat the boards with a coat of tung oil. Tung oil isn't stain, it just brings out the natural color of the wood. 

Before and after tung oil.

After drying over night, the shelves were ready to be put in place.

 I also used tung oil on the door between the kitchen and mud room. We found this door at one of our favorite places, Old House Depot in Jackson.

http://www.oldhousedepot.com/

I chose a door that had already been stripped because I am not a masochist. 

Most old doors are hung like this, but when I had our door up on saw horses, I found myself looking at it upside down. 

Once I saw the cross, I couldn't hang it any other way. 

Love ya'll,

Shelli

Peace — that was the other name for home.

~Kathleen Norris

Childbirth, of a Sort

Remodeling is like childbirth - it is painful when you're going through it, but it is worth it in the end. Our foray into the world of remodeling is over, and although we love our revamped home,  we will never be tempted to do this again.

Joana Gaines, I hate you!!

The best part of remodeling is the before and after pictures,

so let's just enjoy some of those.

Kitchen before

     

After

My favorite change was these open shelves. We removed the cabinets on either side of the sink and replaced them with shelves made from plumber's pipe and reclaimed wood.

We did reinforce the wall behind the shelves so that there was a solid backing for attaching the pipes. The wood is reclaimed from an old home and was cut into planks that just sit atop the pipes. My collection of old crockery is front and center, but not just for looks; I use it every day.

Before

After

We had to build a cabinet on the right of the stove as there wasn't one to begin with. It looked so lopsided with out it.  I used white subway tile with gray grout. I also tried to balance my love of old (wood shelves, crockery) with a touch of new (stove hood).

View from kitchen into den

Before

After

Removing upper cabinets and putting tract lighting in their place created a much more open concept. I love the brightness of the lights. That counter top is now so brightly lit that it is the perfect place for projects of all kinds.

Backside of same counter top

Before

After

Let me say a word here about the flooring. We used vinyl plank flooring. It is basically a plank (6" x 48") of PVC installed just like regular wood flooring. It is indestructible and easy to clean with a plain old wet mop, but the selling point for us was that vinyl plank can be laid over any other flooring, except carpet of course. That meant that the ceramic tile in the kitchen and dining, as well as the linoleum in the hall and bathrooms didn't have to be removed. This saved us a pretty penny on labor as well as enabling us to avoid scraping and jackhammering!!

I put it throughout the whole house.  Since we are a gardener and a grease-monkey living in the middle of eight wooded acres, I wanted easy-to-clean flooring in every room. We love it!

Desk in kitchen

Before

After

I have already written a post about the recreation of this desk (see An Authentic Fake), but I had to include it now that it is a functional part of the kitchen. Those are rolling pins in the wine rack.

 Next to the desk is the door to the mud room. We removed the existing door and rebuilt the opening to accommodate an old door from the architectural antique place in Jackson.

More about the cross in a coming post!

The door slides on a rail system mounted in the mud room. The mudroom contained five doors!! Closing one so that another could be opened was a logistical nightmare. Turning this door into a slider cleared up a lot of room as well as uncomplicating things.

Washer/dryer area 

Before

After

The carpenters told me they had never seen a women rip out big cabinets to put in smaller ones, but I love having a hanging rack for clothes as they come out of the dryer or that must hang dry.  I used the same pipe and old wood from the kitchen to tie it all together.

As I planned this remodel, I tried to keep furniture placement in mind. It was a relief when the hall tree fit on this wall by the back door.

The door to the right of the pantry is the half-bath.

Half-bath

Before

(Note fuse box reflected in mirror)

After

Couldn't help myself! I miss my chickens so much and it will probably be another year before fencing, garden, and coop are in place for chicks, so this bathroom will be my solace in the meantime.

 Fuse box is hidden behind this flea market find.

My substitute flock!
(Decals ordered on line.)

A Hobby Lobby touch

And the best part of all........a gift from James, who has the best eye!!

He gave this to me after we first moved into Pine Cone Lane. We had the entire remodel ahead of us and when I unrolled this fabulous piece of hand quilting and embroidery, the idea for the 'chicken bathroom' was hatched.

Now I realize the rooster is crowing because the remodel is over!!!

I feel like crowing too!!

More before and afters to come...

Love ya'll,

Shelli

Any home can be a castle when the king and the queen are in love.

~Author Unknown