Ah Summer! 2021

 

Hello Friends!

I am still here, happy and healthy.  This summer has been a whirlwind of activity! But it has been filled with all the good things in life!! Family (lots of family visiting!), diy projects, sewing, gardening, crafting, going to the beach, porch sitting, small house projects, berry picking...... 

Last year I had a really hard time finding words..... which is one of the reasons I haven't been posting much. What was there to say about last year, except we survived? 

Last year also had me reevaluating a lot of things in life, just rethinking what direction life was going and what direction I wanted it to go. I am sure a lot of us did that!  I have been a bit on the fence with this blog. Should I let it go? I am on Instagram and really love the inspiration and creativeness of it. 

But, I have good news! 

Do you remember the Sister House I purchased last year? (aka the house next door) The renters are moving out in a few days and boy do I have plans!! I am so excited to start restoring her! So, for the time being, I will keep this blog as a way to share the renovations. So stayed tuned!

Can you believe it is already apple picking time? The little apple tree has produced a bumper crop this year! I had to buy myself an apple picker on a pole to reach them all. I haven't picked all the apples yet, I need a little time to make some pies and apple sauce first!

We haven't spent a lot of time on the front porch this year because of the construction dust! They decided this was the year to replace the road, crosswalks, driveway aprons and sidewalks. Boy, is it a mess! We will be thankful when it is done.

I finished my new quilt this spring. It has been so nice! I love how colorful it is. It was a nice comforting project to work on last year.

I was super excited to finally go blueberry picking! We found a farm that isn't too far away and Mandy and I had a lovely time. It was a beautiful, rather warm, day. Fruit trees and bushes are so beautiful.

This Spring I finished up patching over the old heat vents and rearranging trim, but I will save that for another blog post. I also did a few small projects including hanging hooks in the bathroom and floating shelves in my bedroom. Oh and I also repainted my bedroom walls a slightly darker pink!

So Friends, that has been the summer in a nutshell! 

I can't wait to share the journey of Sister House with you! 

Do you  have any big exciting projects coming up?

Summer Porch, Hydrangeas and Wallpaper!

Hello Friends! 

I am not sure where July goes, every year it seems to be shorter and shorter! It all starts off with a nice long weekend for a project ( Like wallpapering! Keep reading!) and whizzes right by ending with a couple of family birthdays. Whew! Here are a couple of highlights from the month.

 In our family, holidays are not only the perfect time to see family, they are the perfect time to round up a group of relatives for a project! (If you remember, last year my brother-in-law came to help demo the Brick House basement.) This year, Mandy and I went up to visit sister Becky and helped her paper her living room!

 When we were young we helped our Mom wallpaper a couple of walls and hang boarders. But we have never tried doing an entire room! It was fun! But like most projects comes with challanges.... Thankfully Becky picked a smallish repeat and a busy enough pattern that most mistakes were easily blended!

I am terrible at taking after pictures (or if I do, I then forget to take before pictures!) and with two little boys after pictures are filled with toys and motion seconds after everything is back in place. But you can see how lovely the wallpaper is and the elegant touch it adds to the room! Very fitting for the age of the Farmhouse. The pattern also reminds us of our Grandma's 1970's avocado green wallpaper, similar pattern just a different color!

As promised! Here are pictures of the little wicker and wood table! Looking right at home!

 We gave the porch another quick cleaning as our Aunt came for a visit and we knew porch sitting and talking was high on the list of things to do!

 This yellow rocker was a new addition last year. I love it! It actually is a folding and rocking chair and folds flat for storage. So facinating! I love the pale yellow color and am planning on matching the paint and spiffing it up.

The pillow is actually a class sample I made, but when it has done it's job it will come back to the porch! Fits in perfectly, doesn't it?

 I can never resist taking a few pictures of the cottage in summer. Perfection! We are so grateful for this house every day!

 It has become a tradition to plant geraniums in the front beds. We talk about planting something else, but I always come back to geraniums. They never let you down! (They always remind me of the first summer I owned the house. The inside was an ugly construction mess, so one Saturday I planted flowers and painted the steps for a bit of beauty! That post is here.)

I am loving the softer coral color this year.

I am so excited some of my other hydrangeas are blooming this year too! Most of them are tucked away behind the boxwoods and no one but myself can enjoy them. But it is exciting to watch them grow and there is always next year!

I also moved my room around in July! It was so fun and a great time to give everything a good dusting! I am really loving the new arrangement. Somehow it really feels like me. But I am going to save that for another post! For now here is a sneak peak!

Paint Projects Around the House

This was the first year this peony bloomed! I think I need more of the variety! 

 I thought you might like to see a couple of pictures of the freshly painted bathroom! Ah! Fresh paint always feels so nice!

I ordered a bent "Radiator Brush" from Wooster Paintbrushes. The minute I saw it on amazon, I knew I needed one! So far, I have only used it for painting the front of a radiator, so not sure it if really helps reaching behind and getting all the nooks and crannies. But it sure is cool!

Besides painting the radiator in the above picture, I have also been working on two more radiator that will be installed this fall. So far, I have them scraped and primed. 

It is amazing what details they put on these old beauties!

I think I mentioned before that I painted the back entry/stairs the same time I painted the bathroom. This space gets a lot of traffic, so I decided the steps also needed a paint re-fresh. It is hard to find a time when I know the ins and outs will be at a minimum! So far I have only been able to paint the blue. Since the squares are all ready there, I just used a craft brush to re-paint the squares and border. I still love this feature!

 Also getting a coat of paint is this little table I picked up at a garage sale! It was covered in silver spray paint when I got it. This is just after I finished washing it down with hose. All the old paint just came right off!

That is when I discovered the "wicker" wrapped around the legs wasn't actually wicker! The wooden legs were turned on a lathe to look like ridges of wicker. Isn't that cool? I am thinking it must be 1900-1920s, with possibly a replaced table top.

Isn't it sweet? I am so excited to have discovered this little gem. I was going to buy another small table from Ikea for the porch, but this one is much better! 

 I had to sneak in a few summer flower pictures too! The baskets on the fence are so lovely this year with geraniums.

 And Kerri enjoying a little porch time with us!

 It is almost hydrangea season!

Last week marked the one year anniversary of the Brick House! Gosh! I can't believe it has already been a year!