A Patriotic Porch

Every year I have a problem committing to one color pallet for my summer decorating. Sometimes I mix it up. Sometimes I do hanging baskets full of petunias or mixed flowers but it takes a lot of dead-heading all summer which I am not very diligent about. This year I opted for ferns.

Feeling patriotic...maybe as a reaction to the all the stuff going on in our country, I decided the front porch would be red, white and blue; I'm a military brat, after all. Firstly, I am child of God and he has blessed me greatly by setting my boundaries in this nation. Is it perfect? No, this side of heaven no country will be nor was it ever meant to be. I have studied history with my girls these past 14 years I am convinced that there is no other cure for the evil in men's hearts than the gospel of Jesus Christ. This country, albeit imperfect, is my temporary home and I praise the Lord for it. Happy 4th!

Joining the parties: 

The Dedicated House, The Pin Junkie, Katherine's Corner, The Charm of Home, Life with Lorelai, Bluesky At Home, Finding Silver Pennies, Pieced Pastimes. The Boondocks Blog, Imparting Grace, Jann Olson, My Pinterventures, The Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Celebrate and Decorate, Our Home Away From Home, Katherine's Corner

Mom Cave Finished and Industrial Light Dressed Up

One year ago we hired a company to build a garage for us. We weren't really thinking it would take all that long as we know how we work when on a project. Being on someone else's time table was an education in patience but we were able to park in the garage all winter and not having to clean snow off the cars was worth EVERY penny. 

Once the hired work was done Mister got to work installing the insulation and drywall. Painting was done to the walls and the floor. Next up... lighting. I wanted some industrial lights I had seen at a local antique shop but upon inquiry decided I could not justify the $300 they were asking. Time for a trip to Home Depot. I found lighting for $29 a piece but not quite the color I was looking for. You guessed it.... I headed to the paint aisle.

Link

I purchased a can of gloss green Rustoleum spray paint.

I wiped the outside of the light down with alcohol and a cotton ball to remove anything that might hinder the paint adhering. Next I taped it down to a piece of cardboard making sure to preserve the brushed nickel rim. I don't want that painted. The whole thing got laid on a tarp in the yard. Let the painting begin!

1st coat:

2nd coat:

3rd coat:

And Mister installed them for me.

We added a smaller pendant light to the stairs. I purchased the lighting kit and glass shade for $20 total and sprayed the glass the same green color. 

Finally, all my stuff gets moved in! This is a huge space. I can leave my easel up, 

I have a sitting area

Tons of room for my stuff...

and a lot of room for fooling around, disco dance parties and girly sleepovers.

One year after engaging a builder to erect a two story, two car garage on our property we can declare this job complete! Thanks for spending time with me and following along.

Please consider subscribing to receiving email updates or following along on Instagram or Facebook.

Linking up to these parties:
Our Home Away From Home, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, The Dedicated House

Shut The Barn Door!

So our trip to Home Depot birthed the idea for a barn door at the bottom of the stairs! There is no heat or air conditioning so I will have to rely on a space heater in the colder months and to keep the heat in Mister says I need a door. Umm... okay! Isn't he the greatest! Some girls want diamonds but I am perfectly content with a barn door, insisted on my my man. And, he will make it to our specifications so I can still get furniture up and down the stairs.

I ordered the hardware through Amazon. Link here.

Mister bought... wait for it.....

Shiplap!

He had to frame in the doorway a bit so we had somewhere to mount the hardware. He also drywalled and later painted the stairwell.

He layed 7 8ft lengths of shiplap together on the floor and fastened them together. We want the big door so we can get furniture in and out. He used 1x2" strapping to frame the door out, locking the shiplap in place and cut a cross piece, gluing and using a brad-nailer to secure.

The door is huge! It glides beautifully and it is a nice addition to the whole project... after all, who doesn't love a barn door?!

Next step is moving into my new space!!! 

Thanks for spending time with me! You can be notified of new posts by following along on Facebook or Instagram or sign up of notifications to your inbox in the column on the right. 

Linking up to these parties: 

Stone Gable, Our Home Away From Home, Celebrate & Decorate

We Passed Inspection

If you've been following along you know that we built a garage and signed the contract with the builder last May. (Whew! That year went quick!) Half jokingly we said we wanted it done before the next snowfall. Who knew they would take us literally? We parked our cars in the garage December 5th, 2017. Just because we were parked in there didn't mean that we had passed inspection but it didn't stop us.  And, it snowed four days later!

The finished garage is 24'x24'. We lowered the height of the head room from 12' to 10' to make the structure not look like a huge monolith next to our house. While it is not as big as it originally was on paper, it still fits both cars, a snowblower, a small workbench, and storage under the stairs.

The upstairs space will be a place for me to work on my crafts and store said craft material instead of having it spread all over my house. This is a dream my husband and I share. To have a place to set up my sewing machine without having to take it down from the dining table every night is a fantasy I have had for a long time... Back when my girls were little I used to sew a lot for them. Nowadays, I can't be bothered most of time because of the hassle of having to get everything out and put away again.

Mister got busy lickty-split and insulated the walls. He's a go-getter and if you hear nothing else from me on this blog hear this... do not marry a man who is not a hard worker.

Time for sheetrock. The girls and I held the sheetrock in place while Mister fastened them to the studs.

No pictures of that because I was holding sheet rock.....

My 1st idea was to put pallet wood on the walls inside the dormers. A friend had several pallets and kindly brought them to us in his pickup. Mister quickly axed that idea. There are just too many cuts and angles to accommodate. Okay then, I will use them to make either wall on the sides of the garage pallet walls. Too much, said Mister. Okay, just one wall then? Agreed.

I checked all the pallets to make sure they were wood I could use. (Important step if you're using this wood in your living spaces. You can find instructions online or in Pinterest.) Mister got busy ripping them apart... What? Oh, no, I wasn't going to do that. Well, after the unsuccessful dismantling of one pallet Mister said, "Not happening". I know how to choose my battles and this is not a hill I want to die on.

Ok, next idea... blackboard paint on either side wall. I'll think on that one a bit.

Mister taped and mudded all the seams and allowed them to dry.

He had to do a couple coats of joint compound and once dry, he sanded it all while I spent a "girl's weekend" on the Cape. Yes, I am one blessed woman.  It took him 6 hours to sand everything! Hard worker, girls!

Everything got a coat of white paint and he painted the subfloor with gray porch and floor paint. No, no fancy flooring for me. Remember this is going to be a work space and storage.

Once the white was on everything I couldn't believe how bright it was in there. For now I have decided to not do the blackboard paint but I reserve the right to change my mind.

Mister had an idea. I ordered some hardware from Amazon and Mister and I made another trip to the Home Depot. Why? Well, you'll have to come back soon to find out.


Thanks for stopping by and following along. You can be notified when a new post goes up by signing up in the column on the right or following along through facebook or instagram.

Garage Progress

If you read last week's post you know that we decided to have a garage built. The New England winters have proved too much for this lady.

We cannot do this on our own so we hired a builder. We met with him in May, contracting not only for a garage but for a shed, also. Our main concern was getting put on his schedule and being in the garage before the first snowfall. It is May so that gives them plenty of time.

A new shed was built and the old rotting shed was removed. That wasn't until August.

The ground was prepared and a foundation was poured. This took way longer than I thought it was going to. The Lord is obviously still trying to teach me patience.

Because of the large trees that flanked the driveway there was a lot of the root system in the ground where the garage will go. That soil is not good for foundation building as the material will rot and breakdown over time. It had to be removed and better soil brought in. Yup, we had to buy dirt. 

And we wait. That soil now has to settle, rest and pack down. We had to water our dirt to help it pack down. I am so impatient! 

Finally it is concrete day. It is September 21st. School is back in session! I am not sure what I thought was going to be the timeline for this but I am pretty sure this was not what I was thinking in May. 

Now we wait some more. This concrete has to cure. 

3 Weeks later the framers showed up. No warning, no notice...at 6:30 in the morning! 

These guys worked sun up to sun down. Three days later the framing was complete! Now we're getting somewhere. 

The original plans did not take into account some changes that we had to make. Because of the available land we had to build on we had to change the size and we lowered the height so that the garage would not be taller than the house. Nobody explained that to the framers... oops. That took some time to fix to accommodate a wall of windows upstairs. 

Once that was done we had to wait for inspection. That took almost 2 weeks or waiting! 

Once the framing was done we had to wait for the electrician. He's a busy guy. In our area this is a dying breed- we need tradesmen. And, we wait for inspection . Next up is siding. 

The siding went on so quickly that apparently I didn't get any photos of that. We chose a white vinyl siding. 

December 5th we moved our vehicles into the garage and waited for final inspections. 

It was literally just in time. The first snow of the season came December 9th. 

When you are having others do the work you are on their time table. We did say we wanted to be in before the first snowfall and they did accommodate. Next time I will be more careful with my words! 

Now, I have a huge space upstairs that will be my space for crafting..... the plans were already in brain but we will be doing the work ourselves. Oh, boy! 

Thanks for spending time with me. If you've not yet subscribed to this blog would you consider doing that? The link is in the column on the right. Thanks, again!