Whitewashed

I love the look of exposed beams, but sometimes (such as when you have 7 foot ceilings)  a coat of whitewash is preferred.

Here are some of my favorite examples:

here

here

herehttp://www.dustjacket-attic.com/2012/05/apartment-in-madrid.html

here

Digging a hole 2.0

We dug up the remainder of the bricks and underneath found what is most likely an old well that had been filled in and used as a rubbish dump. The curved blocks are granite and would be quite attractive in the yard. I'm tempted to keep digging, but we are preparing to leave soon for a lengthy summer adventure and it would be unwise to leave an unattended, gaping hole. For now we will fill it in and wait for the right time.

Digging a hole

We tried to garden today, just Olive and I. I haven’t gardened in a few years and need to re-assert dominance over the invasive plants currently having a party in the back yard.  Gardening as someone with SLE has a couple of challenges. First, we are all basically allergic to sun exposure.  That means wearing 100 SPF, long sleeves and big floppy hats. It also helps to work in the early morning or late afternoon, to avoid the strongest rays.  The other challenge is stamina so projects need to broken into 1hour pieces. 

This short work window means cutting the project list to the most essential, so here are my top 3:

• Build stone or brick pathways and a patio area large enough to set out the Brown Jordan furniture inherited when my parents moved.
•  Plant lots of native plants and flowers to create a wild meadow look—and minimize the need to mow.
• Put out containers to grow some veggies. I’m hoping I can move them with the sun and maybe have tomatoes by late summer.

We started to dig a deep hole in order to bury the huge pile of dandelion carcasses pulled up this week.  The plan was to bury them too deep to germinate and then to transplant day lilies on top of that mess, because daylilies seem be able to grow anywhere. But around here, plans have a way of morphing into never ending projects. I picked a spot where the leaves have piled up and nothing seems to grow there but bumblebees and nightshade.  Digging is Olive’s favorite sport. If you could see her face you would see she is grinning gleefully.

Just a few shovelfuls and we hit brick.  This is the second house I’ve lived where a previous owner has buried bricks in the yard. I suspect our missing chimneys are buried out here somewhere and thought I had found part of one but these aren’t chimney bricks, plus they’re stacked five high, and form a circle.

Aren't they lovely? I wonder how many other people have a patio buried in their yard?

w.i.p.

So, the workroom makeover is in full swing. I could tell you that I forgot to take “before” shots, but I’d be lying. I took them, but all they show are my piles of crap covering every horizontal surface so I’m not going to post any yet. Maybe after the room is done and I can counter with pictures that show I am not a complete slob.

Besides the workroom, I’ve also been rearranging my bedroom. By “rearranging” I mean: dismantling my closet entirely, setting up my antique brass bed,

 deciding (much to my daughter’s delight) the bed was too high (my nightstand needed a booster seat);

 and too “girly” (it is, and yes, the room is really that purple. It used to have dinosaurs on the walls too.)

and moving it into her room, setting up a will-do-for-now bed from the thrift store, building a new garment rack from iron pipe to replace the dismantled closet, and then deciding to completely reverse the layout of the room, and decorate it like the set from a Chanel ad. To accomplish that last part means finishing the demo of a wall-to-nowhere that has been waiting to come down for about 5 years, and also means some drywall repair.  At this point I decided the bedroom flip would have to wait until I was finished with the workroom. 

And here is a DIY from my dad: He didn't have enough room to store his extra art work in the garage of their new condo, so he hung everything. 

Progress

The painters are close to being finished. The house looks so much fresher, and my neighbors are pleased also. Having a tanned, fit, shirtless guy hanging out on a ladder outside my bedroom window is just a bonus.  

Moldy Oldy

Meet my house. It was built between 1829 and 1836 and has been used as a parsonage, a meeting house, a livery, and an income property. Now it is a home.  The paint in this photo is probably 10 years old, and has faded and is starting to peel. When I was choosing the paint, the color looked really nice on the 1" x 1" chip in the paint store. Only when it was on the house did I realize it looked like pea soup. On the up side, ours is always the creepiest haunted house on Halloween.

Today the painters arrived early to scrape and prime her in preparation for new colors, and I hope to have a dramatic before and after post tomorrow.

Putting together a little corner to take photos.
Before: A mishmash of paint, graffiti, age, and peeling calcimine paint.

After lots of vacuuming (the peeling paint and dust from sanding), filling, sanding, filling, sanding again, priming, and two coats of  paint. The painted wall is still rough, but there is a marked improvement.