Wednesday, May 24, 2017

This and that

Things have been going fast and furious here not leaving much time for blogging. Now if I could only remember what they were. Circling, meowing cats, who want a second breakfast, are making it hard to hear myself think right now.

I planted geraniums in front of the house even though I said I wasn't going to.
I was going to wait until we got the invasive vine under control in that bed.
For now, it has been pulled and mulched over, but is coming up again
everywhere.
I do know that we continue to work on the house and it is slowly coming together. We had some major painting done which caused things to be put back into boxes and furniture moved. The disruption was worth it, though. There's nothing like a fresh coat of paint to brighten things up. The walls hadn't been painted in several years and were worse for the wear.

Also, the entire house had dark, wood stained doors and woodwork which Ward loved, but we decided to change to white to lighten up things. The long, tedious process of painting stained wood made it well worth it to hire painters for the job. The dark wood got four coats of paint along with sanding in-between. Ward painted some moldings before we moved in and found it a very frustrating process. So much so, that he was ready to rip the molding off and go buy some new. Anyway, the painting is done and the furniture is back in place.

While moving the furniture back, we tried several different configurations. Some of the placements feel just right while others will do as we figure out what might work better. Sometimes function doesn't always jive with what looks best. (BTW, do you ever notice on the HGTV shows that have a TV in a room they're featuring, don't have any of the furniture facing it? Looks good, but how practical is that?) We've also started to hang some of our artwork and it's good to see it again.

In the meantime, our range stopped working. Thank goodness, we have a microwave because it was about a week before Ward was able to fix it. Luckily, it was an easy fix and we don't have to take advantage of the Memorial Day sales to buy a new one.

Also, a large window almost fell out of it frame and into the yard while I was cleaning it. Ward was around and came to my rescue as I was precariously trying to hold the window in place. The window is back in its frame, but not safely, so we've fixed it so no one tries to open it. I would really like new windows, but I'm not sure that's next up on the priority list. The list of major To Do's is still pretty long, but all it takes is time and money, right?

The cats have come back and along with the meowing, they are gently poking me for more food. Consequently, I've lost my train of thought, so until next time...

Here are a few pictures of what's happening at my house.


Before: You can get an idea of the woodwork, floors and walls when we bought the house. The picture does a good job of hiding the wear and tear.


After: New floor and paint with white doors and woodwork.




The office, which you can see on the edge of the above photo, did not get painted and still has the darker woodwork. Not sure what we'll do with this in the future. I like the doors the color they are. 


This is a my great grandparents' marriage certificate. They were married in 1902 and that's their picture underneath. This is one of the things we hung recently.


The middle window is the one that almost fell out.


16 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing. I like the white woodwork, it looks so fresh! I love the marriage certificate. That is a true treasure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was very lucky to get the certificate. I have 23 cousins and it could have gone to anyone of them. However, my aunt decided that my sisters and I would appreciate it the most and gave it to us. Among us, I won it in a drawing. I didn't have the certificate and picture hanging together at the last house, but I found the picture as I was unpacking some boxes and thought why not hang them together? I really like the pair.

      Delete
  2. Wow - I agree that the white trim looks beautiful - and it looks so nice with the taupe - or whatever you call that color - of the walls in the entryway.

    Here's hoping your geraniums work out OK despite the vine. I spent the day digging several wheel barrows of bindweed roots out of the front yard. I'm thinking if I just worked on it 8 hours a day for the next 10 years, I might get it under control! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We had quite a bindweed problem at our old house. I spent a lot of time trying to control it. I finally had to give up the spot we had for our vegetable garden and just mowed the area. Another bed, I took all the flowers out, I sprayed what was there and then pulled it every time it came up for two years. That worked pretty well as that bed was not as bad as the vegetable garden area. Other beds, I pulled the bindweed all of the time and kept it under control so it didn't take over everything else. BTW, do you know that bindweed can have roots 20'deep?

      The problem with these vine weeds is that every time you cut a runner, you get a new plant from each piece. In my front bed, I have pulled all of the problem weed a few times, but not dug it because of this problem. And what I find interesting is that in many of those spots there are 4 or 5 new sprouts where there used to be only one. And that was just from pulling--no digging or cutting. If you find some successful methods for controlling this kind of weed, let me know because they are in every bed here at our new place.

      Delete
    2. Gah! Bindweed is the bane of my existence! I have tried EVERYTHING! Seriously, I've tried pulling, and cutting, and weed barriers, and roundup, and even bindweed mites (I think they all died - sigh.) Anyhow, the only place I've had any luck at all is in the vegetable garden where I dig down a foot or so both at the end and beginning of the growing season. Soooo... I'm hoping this approach will at least make a dent in the front yard. I've literally taken 4-5 wheelbarrows full of roots out of there, so I figure it's gotta help. Time will tell...

      Delete
    3. Good luck. All I can say is that I feel you pain. :(

      Delete
  3. Wow,you have done a LOT! Glad to see you are making it so homey. I would have planted flowers, too--I love to see flowers in the summer. Thanks for giving us a peek! Hope you have an enjoyable long weekend--don't just work on the house, have a little fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I better start planning the fun. We had hoped to celebrate my son's birthday, but he has to work. Also, we might go on a hike with my sister if we can manage to get out among the rain showers.

      But quite frankly, we have more house chores planned than anything else. Next up is the scraping and painting the wood around our deck doors. We need to pay attention to that before any more wood rots.

      Delete
  4. Oh wow, I LOVE the house and what you've done with it! Very very beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am very pleased with how most of it is turning out especially since I'm not one who is particularly good with decorating. I was annoyed for a while that we spent so much time and money fixing and cleaning the house we sold and had to move into a dirty house that needed a lot of work. However, now I see it as we've gotten a chance to put our own touch on things.

      Delete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, Hannah. I didn't mean to remove your comment. Clumsy fingers, I guess. I like the moon phases, also.

      Delete
  6. I love the white trim and doors it brightens everything up. Also the entry with the new floors is so dramatic I had to scroll up and back down to see it was the same space.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Lois. You have an eye for this kind of thing, so I appreciate your comment. I didn't really have the best pictures for comparison. You know how it is. You get in the middle of things and don't think about taking pictures until it is too late.

      Delete
  7. Your house looks wonderful, June!

    ReplyDelete

What do you think?