Room for More

The HOA gave me a good excuse for more plants!

Recently, the HOA decided to crack down on exposed trash cans.

The bilaws say that trash cans must be inside, out back, or hidden from the road.

We often keep our trash can in the garage,

but

sometimes the heat of the summer can make the trash a little intolerable.

So hubby built me a planter / screen.

The center plant is supposed to be evergreen (or yellow) - so hopefully will still look beautiful all winter.

The side plants are red day lilies.

Since hubby built it,

I could stain it to match the garage header.

And hubby made it strong enough (and heavy enough) 

to survive any B.G. storm.

I am enjoying an overcast day with not such a crazy heat index.

It was the perfect morning for yardwork.

In Its Place

 AH!  The shelf is done.

Hubby was gone all day Thursday and Friday,

so I put my finishing skills to use.

This time, I tried a paint wash.

I used equal parts elephant gray chalk paint and water.

I brushed it on, let it soak a minute, then wiped it off.

Almost goof-proof, because you just wipe off any mistakes!

The other benefit is that you can still see the wood grain.

After "staining," I wiped it down with a dark paste wax.

Today, hubby added some metal hardware and put it in place.

It is not "styled" yet - but I will be experimenting for a bit to come up with something useable and decorative.

I also look forward to having a space for my nativity come Christmas!

Now it is off to finish prepping for the bus ministry class tomorrow.

The usual teacher is away, so I have a little more to plan.

Designed for A Particular Spot

 Last Saturday, hubby built me a shelf for the Living Room.

It will house some general everyday supplies,

some throw blankets,

a plant (or 2 or 3 or ...),

and our printer which has been homeless since we moved in!

Currently, it sits in the garage waiting for a certain woman to paint or stain or stain and paint.

I think I want to experiment a little on some extra wood for a new type of finish, but we will see.

I look forward to seeing it in its new home and having the fun of decorating it.

I enjoy making my home unique and making our home meet our needs.

Are You Ready?

 We don't get an abundance of visitors.

We live outside of the "easy" drive for church friends.

Family gatherings are few and far between.

But I want to feel like my guest room and guest bathroom are ready if someone were to drop in.

This post will not apply to many readers because either

1) you have guests often

or 

2) all of your bathrooms and bedrooms are used regularly

But there may be a few folks who can benefit from this tip.

Keeping the guestroom ready just involves freshening the bedding once a quarter if it has not been used.

For the guest bath, I "rotate" the towels.

My home has a neutral grey tone throughout.

I have chosen to accent with sage and denim blue in all rooms.

So I have 3 sets of towels:

blue, sage, and a deeper sage.

Each Monday when I clean,

I take the towels from the master bath and throw them in the wash.

Then I take the towels from the guest bath (if I have had no company) and put them in the master bath.

Then I take the third set of clean towels and put them in the guest bath.

So weekly, I have freshened the towels for guests.

When I first began homemaking, I would not have been able to do this - 

I had themed bathrooms.

They were so fun and I enjoyed them immensely.

Who doesn't like little fish or rubber duckies?

But I do like the simplicity of being able to use any towel in any bathroom

and even being able to hang them in any bedroom because the colors all coordinate.

Today was one of those longer project days.

Hubby was not going to be home for lunch,

so I could make a mess.

One of my jobs was to clean the "rust" off the lights in the bathroom.

We couldn't believe that there were rust stains already, but ...

...I found this little product and it worked great.

Another job was to get rid of Valentine's and Winter's decor in favor of the Spring decorations.

Because I Needed Some "Sunshine"

 As I said last week,

I love Valentine's Day,

but I do recognize that prices are inflated for such a flower and candy-centered holiday.

Hubby often just gets me a helium balloon.

I am as cheered by a balloon as Eeyore (which is surprisingly cheery).

And sometimes a live plant joins the offering.

And thus we avoid some of the gouging.

While I shopped on Friday,

the highly inflated prices were highly deflated.

Since hubby was out of town for 2 days,

I bought myself some $4 sunshine.

(Don't worry, he approved)

And for a few days,

the decor in my bathroom is elevated with some yellow roses!

Mums the Word

 Last week I mentioned that the front of the house just needed some mums.

They have been purchased and planted.

And in true "If you give a wife some mums ... " fashion ...

"... she'll want asters and pansies too."

The front landscape bed was just "green,"

so the pansies brighten it up between the phlox and bushes.

And the asters and pansies just brighten my morning workouts on the patio.

The blueberry bushes are still small enough to share the planter box.

When it gets just a bit cooler, 

I am sure we will add a nice pumpkin or two under the shepherd's hook.

Success

The weekend's projects were a success.

God provided beautiful weather for the task.

The patio project was begun on Wednesday with a power wash.

Then Thursday, it got a coat of stain and one coat of sealant.

Friday morning it got another coat of sealant.

Then we waited 24 hours and put it all back together.

At about the 28-hour point, a brief rain moved in -

sealant had cured well and nothing was harmed. 

The color was not as dark as I had hoped,

(in fact, to look at the before and after pictures, you really can't see the difference)

but it is a little more "finished" looking

and the patio is sealed so hopefully it will age better.

Then ...

since the tree ring went so well,

hubby used the same pavers to outline the front landscaping bed.

It went well and we are both pleased with the results.

Now, I must get off to the cleaning.

It is awfully nice to clean with the windows open this morning!

And this afternoon, I will put some mums in the hanging planters

and within the tree ring!

Fall Projects

 The cooler autumn weather will inspire anyone to be outside

(at least anyone in this house).

After a little debating,

we finally decided to create a defined tree ring around the front cherry tree.

We went with a simple grey paver and it was put together in no time.

The zinnias are just about ready to be replaced with fall mums.

The cherry tree still needs to fill out, but all in good time.

Of course, with how well the project turned out,

and with a few extra pavers,

I thought ...

why not outline the front bed in the same way!

So it is a project for the future.

The extra pavers are just waiting their turn.

The real project of the weekend is to stain and seal the back patio.

The planters have been moved,

the patio power washed and dried.

Today we hope to get the stain on.

We are using a semi-transparent stain in a dark grey.

There are 3 applications each separated by about 6 hours, so it will take us a few days,

but we are excited to see the results and also to add some longevity to the concrete.

Here is the before picture.

After picture will hopefully be here by Monday!

Happy Home-iversary

It was exactly 1 year ago that we signed the papers on our home.

What a fun year it has been!

We have enjoyed our own space - inside and outside - 

have enjoyed learning about yard care and some inside maintenance

and we continue to enjoy dreaming about improvements as time or funds allow.

We have been so thankful each day for God's provision of a home.

We are truly blessed.

In addition to the home itself,

He continues to provide for the payments plus extra.

As of this morning, God has paid off 85% of our home.

It appears that on our second "home-iversary," we may actually own our home outright.

In honor of our home-iversary,

I have focused on some "Spring" cleaning this week.

When asked what this entails:

it involves moving furniture and appliances to clean,

it involves cleaning the curtains,

it involves going through cupboards and closets,

it even involves cleaning on top of the kitchen cabinets (which still had sawdust from the installation).

At this point, I have the "little" guest room with its "big" closet

and I have the laundry room left to clean.

As I have cleaned and found "homeless" things, this last room has become a bit cluttered.

I have also been waging a new war.

We have had an invasion of Japanese Beetles.

We first discovered them on the apple trees

and they have since found the cherry tree out front.

We have seen their evidence around the neighborhood.

I think we caught it before the damage was at crisis level.

I had planted nasturtium and marigolds which they were not supposed to like -

but later found them living in and under the marigolds - so much for that theory.

I tried a homemade mint spray - again a scent they were supposed to hate - 

they would fly away for a bit and then come back as happy as could be.

I tried a commercial "natural" spray which again worked for a couple of hours,

and then they were back.

I have now installed two "beetle" bags.

While I may be calling the beetles from the whole neighborhood,

they are working to keep the swarms off of my trees.

I also broke down and dusted my apple trees and serviceberry tree.

Quite the lesson to learn on my home-iversary.

 

And, it looks like we will have neighbors in the backyard VERY soon.

We are praying for nice quiet neighbors.

Two houses are just about done (but not purchased yet)

and the third should be going up in the next 2 weeks.

It will be nice when their yards get some grass to extend the green that we see :)

The Best Job on Earth

 I have been blessed in marriage.

From the beginning, nearly 21 years ago,

hubby has been in full support of my being at home.

I love taking care of my home.

I love researching food and exercise and health.

I love being available for ministry opportunities.

Much has been going on around home with Spring.

There have been plants and plants and more plants.

There has been grass patching until we can overseed this fall.

There have been rock garden and perennial garden work.

There has been lawn fertilizing at least twice this spring.

There has been budgeting to pay for it all.

But the progress has been much fun

and the new learning has been enjoyable.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Greeting guests with a little color on the hanging plants.

And we added some creeping phlox to the rock bed.

While blooming it was quite beautiful.

We also snuck in some lavender which will smell so good in the afternoon sun.

Our new garage door ...

insulated, reinforced with struts for the severe winds, and windows so it won't be so dreary when working out or using as a second dining/living room.

There is some life in the perennial bed.

And you can see the green stripes in the lawn where we reseeded and the peat moss added a little extra fertilizer.

An extra pot of lavender - a tribute to the Pacific Northwest.

I Never Finished

 I realized a few weeks ago that I never really finished the new home tour.

I had been a little stuck in a few rooms

or was waiting to finish something.

So I will continue the tour with the master bedroom.

I had been stuck on the curtains because I just had one color.

Then I was happier with two colors with one pulled back.

There are curtain lights behind the curtains to add just a bit of light as we chit chat at night.

There is the repainted dresser.

And yes, we are already using a fan, because it is too early to start the air conditioning.

It is fairly simple,

but I think we have landed on the finished product.

(unless I put a chair in the corner for reading)

The Happy Accident

 It appears that last week was the approved week to ship plants to Bowling Green, KY.

I am only waiting on some phlox that are supposed to arrive this coming Friday.

So last week, I spent working on the perennial bed.

I had a great time in a beautiful week digging, turning, planning, planting.

I even had the company of a crew working on the neighboring house one day.

Then we had a brief storm on Friday night.

As hubby and I watched the water running through the garden like a river and pooling in random spots,

we knew that if we didn't make a change,

the little plants would die.

So Saturday, he built me a dry creek - 

a sort of canal for the water to collect in.

I replanted and think that most, if not all, of the plants now have a chance.

What a blessing that we could fill the bottom with construction debris behind the house.

We could dispose of unwanted clay behind the house.

And our little garden has quite a bit of character ...

a happy accident.

a ready source of drainage rocks 

our pile of sod and clay

We spent the rest of the day learning more about "lawn farming."

Hubby aerated a small portion,

I removed some thatch,

and we patched some bare spots.

We just enjoyed a beautiful day together appreciating the blessing of our little home and its small piece of land.

Photo (and Event) Dump

It has been a crazy "March."

They say it is in like a lion and out like a lamb.

It seems as if we are going to come in and go out like a lion.

The weather tomorrow is supposed to get "ugly."

At the beginning of the month, we had a wild storm.

We weathered it all right, but determined that our garage door was not strong enough for "Blowing Green," after it dented in during a wind gust.

It turns out our door was only rated for 20 mph winds.

A new door is on order with a wait time of 4-6 weeks.  

It will provide more insulation, protection up to 90 mph,  and the addition of windows since we use the room as extra living space much of the time (and hubby's work-from-home office.)

We were supposed to have "Donut Day" back in mid-February,

but sickness has been like a wrestling match around here.

We have gone around the ring with sinus issues and coughs for over a month.

We finally had our donut date last Saturday.

The new little shop did not disappoint.

They serve up hot mini gluten-free donuts with a choice of toppings.

We went for blueberries and cream (at least this time).

It will not be our last visit to Gus's.

After our donut date,

we built the blueberry bush planter.

Yes, we did not wait another year.

It is now in place and provides more privacy

and the promise of more greenery.

The apple trees and blueberry bushes are now planted

and we will wait for the growth and fruit in a year or two.

You can see the footers of two new houses in the background.

And just today, my serviceberry tree and lilac bush arrived.

The serviceberry is in the back right corner

and the lilac is in the back left corner.

In the front is a dead or "mostly dead" boxwood.

We took it out of the front and it was only in a bucket all winter.

It was a pretty harsh winter for a bush in a bucket.

I am hoping it has life,

but it may not make it.

Now we wait for the perennials that will fill the rest of the garden.

And there you have it - the update!

Now I have to get back to taxes.

I think this is a record of lateness - 

but the last forms finally came in last weekend.

Just In Time

 We thought we might have a little longer ...

but the day has come ...

Today the ditch witch was in the backyard.

It was there to mark off a new build.

The lighting is poor, but the orange fencing is there to keep the construction mess from our yard.

Since our backyard is the back of a pie shape, 

there is room for two builds in the back.

Here comes the first of the two.

Do you see the funny-colored "pile" to the left of the fence?

That is the sod that we removed for the new perennial garden.

It is not in the "new build" lot.

I guess our new "privacy" planters are just in time.

The new house will be ready in July or August.

We hope to make a longer, but less deep planter (or two less deep planters) for in-between...

for my future blueberry plants!

I won't be without something to look at this Spring

while I watch the construction from up close.

We are glad that it is going to be a one-story home and not a two story!

Pretty, Private, and Practical

 As has been mentioned ...

I LOVE PLANTS!

But I have a small problem ...

because my lot is so small

and much of the "usable" space is an easement or setback,

it is hard to plant very much.

Earlier this year,

I discovered a "COLUMNAR" apple tree.

It does not grow wider than 2 feet.

Perfect for my small lot.

But again, I am not sure that I could even find a space for this little guy!

BUT ... he could be in a container!

So hubby built me some very large planters for the patio.

They will be home to the apple trees (pretty),

they will provide a sort of privacy fence from our backyard neighbors (privacy),

and they will produce fruit (practical) by the second year.

While probably not growing the "orchard" this year,

we hope next year to expand to patio blueberries and/or blackberries as well.

And hubby will again build some more planters - probably slightly shorter and not as deep.

Hubby made the planters on casters that lock so that we can move the planters depending on where we are sitting or which neighbors are outside at the same time we are.

We can also move the trees closer to the house when the Bowling Green crazy storms are threatening.

On this Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for hubby's efforts for me.

He has had a busy week of travel, but made sure to finish these before the trees shipped!

Return to The Scene

Well, this is the scene of the "crime."

The decorations have changed with the seasons

and the step ladder is stronger and more sure.

I believe that all of the medical bills have trickled in finally and my wrist, 

though not what it was, is not hindering my activities.

Today, I am not cleaning the front entry,

but rather I am repairing.

We believe that in the haste to get the home ready by its promised date,

that the contractors painted the door jamb on a humid or rainy day and the paint was peeling and chipping.

While the fix was under warranty,

we really didn't want a repeat performance,

so we decided to fix it ourselves.

So yesterday, I sanded and primed,

and today, I am repainting.

There is a nice window this week of warm, dry weather,

and based on our experience last year,

the wet weather will be here soon enough.

A Typo?

 I am beginning to think that the name of our new city is a typo.

I think that instead of Bowling Green, it should be Blowing Green.

This sure is a windy town.

But with that, we are also enjoying the frequent thunderstorms that we just didn't have in Oregon.

There is nothing like being inside on a stormy night watching the lightning and listening to the thunder.

Did I Mention that I Have to Paint?

Today is surgery day.

It appears that I get a plate and some screws.

And ... quite the lengthy recovery.

Hubby has been great helping his one-handed wife and just taking on a second job.

There are still some extra projects that have been going on.

I am glad I finished some projects that were already started.

In fact, I finished the dresser the day before the big fall.

One project was refinishing a dresser for our bedroom.

We sold 2 dressers that we had purchased when we married.

I had refinished them in OR, but we just needed to downsize.

We still have 2 dressers from hubby's grandmother.

But ...

we were tired of the French Provincial style.

this one is waiting its turn :)

So we turned it into more of a farmhouse look.

I was confused as to how to get the look I wanted.

I love the look of a wood top,

but the dresser had a laminate top.

I tried to sand, but to no avail.

Then I found a paint online that is made of wood chips.

I ordered it (again with survey money),

and it actually worked.

The top of the dresser was painted and then stained like regular wood.

I used "Coastal Blue" chalk paint and then distressed it.

And I spray painted the handles.

The other project was a console table that hubby made for the living room.

I so wanted a place to decorate for the seasons and a place to set things on the way in or out of the house (ie phone, wallet, bag).

It also is a good place to set a drink at night while relaxing on the couch.

Hubby quickly put this together using some leftover wood from the closet project and $12 of additional wood.

Stained top and shelf

Chalk paint on legs and aprons.