Small Improvements make me Happy

I can now hang my stems upside  down. A $29 investment, 10 minutes installation time, and et voila. (I love The Container Store.)

On another note, Honey Boo Boo admitted "when I practice, it pays off." If you haven't seen Honey Boo Boo, she's an American girl competing in pageants, who's speech requires subtitles...for her and for the whole family (think  "Toddlers and Tiaras" meets  "moonshiners").

Roof

Although my home inspector said the roof had a few years left, the possibility of a wet winter scared me. So...I love this roof, and also the contractor that I used.

I realize that's a funny picture. The yellow/grey square is the top half of the kitchen window. I put a curtain there.

But you can see the grey and textured roof, and the fascia that I painted grey. I'm painting all the wood around the house grey. Except the front door, that's going to be yellow to match the yellow screen door.

Backyard Update

When we were in Ireland, I woke up one morning with the strongest feeling that my relatives had finished the backyard demo while I was gone. The feeling was so strong, that when we turned from Waring to Galewood at 11:3opm on the night of return, I would have sworn the shed was missing.

I was wrong.

But this weekend, I arranged to get another construction dumpster on site, and Tim and Matt spent hours working, taking the patio wall and the shed down.

Tomorrow, Sunday, they'll return with jackhammers to finish the job.

It's going to be fun landscaping that back yard. Can't wait.

Backyard

Most of the patio is down. Next major project is to finish demolishing the patio wall, take down the brown shed, rototill the hard soil, and start designing how I'm going to plant or not plant.

I also decided that a covered patio will work well with this house.  I've got some ideas.

The Living Room

Some people say I need a bigger TV, but honest, when I swing the brown swivel around, I'm next to an open window, and I'm only about 5 feet from the TV.

And I don't really care that it's small.

And I brought my favorite pieces of furniture here. Not that I left Tim and Danielle with junk, but really... my favorites are here.

See that fancy lamp to the right? That belonged to Toni, who gave it to me. It's her Aunt Marion's lamp, and I'm one of two people who think it's beautiful.

And in the far corner? Those are some of the wooden-shafted golf clubs that my dad collected in the 60s.

If he had to pay more than a quarter at a junk store, he was annoyed.

Toni's Great Idea

Tim and I knocked down part of the wall between the living room and the kitchen.  Brother Matt introduced me to Mitch, who does fabulous finish carpentry work. He also moved an electrical outlet from the floor to a spot right below the new bar.

The result is a space to sit and watch the cook, or pay bills, or fold origami, or sort mail.

The first is the view from the living room, and the 2nd is the view from the kitchen toward the living room.

Oh, and did you notice I have new windows throughout?

Once again, thanks, Toni, for suggesting this! Love it!

Lost and found and some updates

I lost my camera on Tim and Danielle's wedding day. Found it yesterday, and so now I'm happy to post some / many updates.

I've been living happily in the house since August 5, which was also the weekend that Tim and Danielle and Eden moved into 50th Street. I could only bring bedroom furniture over, because I needed to leave the 'downstairs' furniture at 50th, so the 50 or so people who would gather there for the wedding reception ... more seating.

See? someplace to sleep. I've got furniture, and I've hung art on the wall.

Next...
the 60 years of popcorn ceiling has been forever banished with new plaster. If anyone needs a plasterer, I've found a terrific one.