February '17

What a busy month!  Productive...what a productive month.

 

We have been working on projects non stop and I love it! For starters, I spent the month of January and February getting my garden boxes ready.

 

Adding a special cocktail of soil, hay, ashes, egg shells, organic banana peels and duck poop. Yes duck poop. My ducks have a pond and once I fill it, I let them get it down until I'm left with their "mud" in the bottom. I then pour this lovely aromatic mess in my garden beds. Now I'm finally starting to plant!

We also adopted 5 grown chickens from a friend getting rid of her flock, bringing our flock to a total of 15.  Plus our 4 ducks and we are rolling in eggs!  Seriously rolling in them.

 

We've been working on some outdoor Clayton projects...like a new clubhouse where we removed his old swingset and a newly built porch bench. Both from scrap wood. You know that makes me happy!  I'll do a post on the clubhouse later, but here is his new bench:

 

The headboard was my great grandmothers and we made the seat out of wood recycled from his swingset.  It looks a little awkward because it's so deep, but that was intentional for Clayton.  All of our projects have been custom to his needs and how he'll use them.  It's his "daybed". ;) What you see sticking out underneath is our mantel drying out.  Which of course was another February project.

 

Me and the baby-man set up camp in front of the fire while George went hunting. We literally spent the last weekend of hunting season like that.

 

And then...George also harvested the first deer from this property!  Family property for over 30 years and the first deer was dropped this year. He got a kick out of dropping one in his backyard (the very back of property, not right by our house). On the last day of hunting season too.

 

Then I have been working on crafting for the antique mall.  I'm experimenting. Trying different things.  Seeing what I like doing most and seeing what buyers like. And of course furniture fun... 

Vintage side table makeover:

 

Reclaimed coffee table:

 

Reclaimed lumber makes me sooo happy.

And lastly we've been tying up a few loose ends in our backyard so it functions better and allows us to enjoy it more.  So close... post those projects and Clayton update soon.

Milling A Mantel

Sometimes I have no doubt the people around me think I'm crazy. An innocent  shade of crazy of course, but crazy none the less. I'm not. I just come up with these ideas that people think are ridiculous and have very little (to no) faith in. I think I just believe in myself and some of the people around me more than they do. For example:

"I wanna build a house for $50,000."

 This one got a lot of laughs and enough doubt to last a lifetime, but we ended up building a nice quality (yet unfinished cosmetically) house for under $57,000.

"I want chickens and ducks, and maybe a goat and some version of a homestead."

 Everyone wondered why I would want any of this since I can get what I need at the store. They also mostly thought it would be a passing phase. NOPE! :) Sans the goat because I want to travel and a goat would make that difficult.  Poultry not so much. Or more recently...

"Hey George, lets pull a big log from the pile leftover from clearing the property for our house and mill our own beam for over our fireplace."

 I say things and I get the crazy look.  Sometimes from George, sometimes from our parents, neighbors or friends.  There is always someone who gives it to me. The way that I want to live and the things I value are sometimes just a step further than any of the rest of them or in some cases completely different and folks end up in a combination of doubting my commitment, doubting my process and not understanding in general why the hec I want to do the things I want to do.  BUT none of that makes me crazy...just misunderstood. ;)

None of it should come as a shock to anyone though. I have a mom who has always collected everything and nothing at the same time always trying to create whatever she could. My stepfather is the strictest of strict do-things-yourself kind of person that led him to be a man of many trades.  I grew up in a house built by my dad and PawPaw (and my mom and over the past twenty something years modified by my stepdad). My dad does a lot of tinkering and is also known to tackle projects himself and greatly appreciates old things. And my Paw Paw was always working...always. He was moving and grooving and gardening and mending fences and feeding chickens and building things he needed around his home to make it function better. And even my neighbors Julie and Greg who for many years were like another set of parents since I practically lived at their house with their kids had a profound influence on me as I watched them DIY and garden and such. When you look at my influences, it should be no surprise that I would randomly let George know we were going to tackle this project.

...And of course Clayton's influence too. Every way in which he he molded our lives has made all of the skills and lessons about working and creativity and DIYing from those around me growing up even more needed and wanted.

Now if only George can believe in the crazy as much as I do! Bless him, he follows me even when he's full of doubt. Of course sometimes I think it is just so he can prove me wrong...which he usually doesn't. Because I have more faith in his abilities than he does!

So anyway... this weekend my crazy led us to milling our own fireplace mantel. Bless my soul, I am in love.  Milling my own mantel ranks up there with one of the coolest things I've done.  Whether it's food, furniture, lumber or whatever, our society just goes to the store or orders online, etc. to get what we want. Most of us never take part in the "start to finish" or any part of the process for that matter.  So to stand there and participate in and watch this log become my mantel was awesome. It humbles me and makes me so appreciative for what I have. It makes me so appreciative for the values I hold dear and for the way I want to live. It leaves me longing for that kind of high everyday. More DIY, more growing our own food and raising our flocks, more being involved and being a hands on part of all that goes into our life. I never expected to be here...in this place...but I am so blasted thankful I am and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  The last decade has been super tough with high highs and low lows, but it has led me to this amazingly beautiful place. So far 30 has freaking rocked my socks off! If things keep up like this I will be the happiest old woman ever! Pray it's true!

Back to my mantel...We pulled the log from the pile nearly a year ago (at which point the log had been cut down for two years) and immediately attempted a straight edge cut using the chainsaw.  Well, George will tell you it was tough as nails to do and the result was more than a bit wonky.  So we left it. For months, I would peer over at the log wondering if it truly would be transformed into my mantel. Finally I reach a "$&@? or get off the pot" point.  So, for $25 I ordered a chainsaw accessory off Amazon that was going to make or break my mantel idea. The idea is that you use a milled piece of lumber as a guide for a straight edge. The accessory slides along the milled lumber while connected to the chainsaw in a way that allows it to mill a straight line.

 

I didn't even tell George until it arrived in the mail because I knew he would be doubtful. But like a champ he gave it a try... And it worked!!! It worked like a charm. We will be using this accessory all
the time now.

 

Now my mantel has made its way to the back porch to dry for a long while.  Because it's heart pine and I want it good and dry so I'm not putting lighter knot over my fireplace. Yes, people do use heart pine for mantels. Google it. I am just in love and cannot wait to get it up down the road. We even left a tiny bit of a live edge on it. Just beautiful.  It already has dried out so in the few weeks it has been on the porch and the color is changing. Just love it!

 

Vintage Booth: Progress

Now that George is out of school and I’m not playing teacher or tutor to him, I have some time on my hands.  Truth be told, this is one of the only times in the eight years since I had Clayton that I have had this much time.  Clayton was sick with his kidney disease and a few other things when he was little, then he got cancer, then his back, then we physically built our house ourselves and immediately after we moved in, George started school.  This feels like the first good chance I have had to breathe and relax a little.  But since I don’t like being too idle, I am taking this rare opportunity to do something that while it is for my family, is also very much for me; my vintage booth.  I have a booth in a local antique mall that I have had for the past couple of years.  It has been something that was filled with items people donated to help Clayton’s medical fund. 

Over the past couple years, it has functioned in that way and been perfect because I could leave and do what I needed to do with Clayton and not think twice about it.  Since this model works so well with my life with Clayton, I always wanted to do more with it.  I have been hoarding ideas and things for projects I have wanted to do for years and I am finally getting to them.  I have all kinds of things I want to do with the booth to provide a small income for my family for fun things and medical bills, but also for my soul.  I LOVE working on projects like this.  It relaxes me and I get so much enjoyment from it.  So I have been super excited to have the time to finally customize my booth and make it my style and start to craft my own inventory, which is my ultimate goal.  Baby steps though.

This past week I have added a burlap backdrop, fabric covered wall, board and batten treatment and now I am adding a decorative weathered tin roof!  I looked on craigslist and didn’t see the rusty corrugated style tin I was looking for.  And then I realized that weathered tin is exactly the sort of thing my Paw Paw would have in his enormous old barn.  So after talking to my grandmother she told me to come look around and see if I could find any.  I hadn’t been in his barn since he passed.  Not many people have.  It was emotional because that barn is my Paw Paw in every way.  I spent so much time in that barn growing up with my cousin Adam trying to tinker around with Paw Paw.  I have so many fun memories of being in there and I always loved it.  My favorite days were the ones when he had the huge double doors flung open and we would go in and out playing here and there munching on kumquats and satsumas.  His barn is a treasure trove of things from burn barrels to hammers and absolutely EVERYTHING in between.  He was definitely a collector of things... but in an organized way.

At some point, the family will go through it.  And while I certainly can’t speak for anyone else, I can say that for me the idea of messing with anything is hard.  It has to be done, but it is hard.  It still feels like his and the idea of dismantling his system of stuff is just…tough.  His personality covers every square inch of that barn.  It’s why I knew he might have the rusted old tin I was looking for.  This is exactly the kind of project I would have turned to him for help with had he been here. :(

After not finding any tin in the barn, I went to go look around back where I remembered him having some stuff when I was a kid...yes there was a decent chance it would still be there.  As I started to round the end of the barn where there is a carport, I saw it; against the outside wall was my rusted tin.  I started doing the hyperventilating crying thing.  I knew Paw Paw would have it and he did.  Even when he is no longer here, he managed to help me out.  As George stared at me wondering what he should do, I finally caught my breath.  I had not missed my Paw Paw that intensely since he passed. I know, I know…I’m sure I sound like a goof to some people.

Now that I have my tin, George made the supports and I am staining, painting and weathering those, then we have to cut the tin and hopefully by the end of the week it will be hung.  Progress!  I'll post pictures once it is.

While the last couple of years, the booth has been a hodge-podge of donated items and even some of mine and my mom’ things, I am trying to sell off the old and craft the new.  Moving forward I only want to fill the booth with handcrafted items (by myself or George), vintage finds or repurposed items; all of which need to be my personal style.  I think I will have more success with the booth by filling it with things I love that I would want to buy myself.  So I’m excited for a little extra income (I hope) and lots of crafting in my future.  It will take a little time for the booth to fully evolve but the process has started which is a win!

I’m also trying to get the more time consuming booth renovation over because come February, we will be coming and going to doctors again.  Clayton will be due for checkups with ALL of his doctors.  Yay...

Tiny House Week Part 4: Not So Tiny Kitchen

I love our kitchen now, but it took a full two years to get to that place.  Whether it was cabinets, or cabinet paint or shelves, we have only been able to finish the kitchen a little at a time and so it took quite a while to get to the point where I could see my original vision coming true.  Folks might think well if it was only $30 or only $100 or whatnot, then why did it take so long to finish?  The simple answer is that if we added up all of the "only $30" expenses of unfinished projects in our house or yard, that total would get big quick.  So depending on available cash flow and seasons and what needed to be done when, we have just been chipping away at everything as best we can jumping from one room to the next or from the house to the yard.  The complicated answer would include all of Clayton's $50 copays, prescriptions and fun things like insurance or flat tires, etc.  Life happens and most of the time the things that you HAVE to prioritize are the ones that are the least fun or satisfying.  Here is a quick look at how far we've come:

These were the only upper cabinets we had until recent months.

I decided I didn't need an apron sink and have no regrets about that, but I LOVE my white cast iron sink.

Between moving in and now, the picture above and below are the only photos I could find of the kitchen.  They were when I was experimenting to see if I wanted to stain the lower cabinets at all.  But I decided the oak wasn't suited for that with the look I wanted.  You can't really even see it with the odd coloration of these photos.

Those days are behind us and YAY for where our kitchen is now, because I love it!  We knew from the beginning that in spite of having a smaller house, we were not going to sacrifice a reasonably sized kitchen.  I enjoy cooking and I almost always have a dog, kid or husband in there with me, so space was necessary.  I also like a rug under my feet in the kitchen and not hard flooring.  Because of that, I designed our kitchen so that a 5x7 rug would fit right in the middle.

Obviously we had to take into account having space to open the fridge, dishwasher or oven, but we had to consider layout first.  The main question was island or peninsula.  We went with the peninsula and though sometimes I think an island would be nice, I'm sure if I had an island I'd think a peninsula would sometimes be nice.  So no regrets.  I also choose to have a counter all one height on the peninsula verses the bar style alternative.  We had the bar style in our last home and I just wasn't the biggest fan of it functionally.

We just added the cabinet closest to the window and the cabinet over the fridge in the last two  to three months.  Both of those have exponentially increased our storage capacity; which was not bad to begin with.  Having those two cabinets makes everything feel so much more complete.  As did the addition of the open shelving in the spring.  Just like the bathroom, I knew I wanted open shelving, but I also knew it needed to be VERY affordable.  One of the more industrial looking DIY options I had found, added up quickly when I went to Lowe's to get materials; so I scrapped that idea and kept looking until I found the iron corbels I used in both the kitchen and the bathroom on eBay.  I think I was able to do the kitchen shelving for less than $45.

One of the projects we have left is to add trim to the area between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling to give the illusion that the cabinets go all the way to the ceiling and the top is simply open.  Eventually, we'll add a backsplash as well.

I do have one kitchen regret.  I wish we had gone ahead and done can lights.  We did the fluorescent because it was cheaper and quicker than the can lights and we were ready to be done.  We can always go back and change that if we ever want, but it certainly isn't a priority and not something that bothers me much.

This picture captures cabinet color best.  A dark blue-gray.

And just to drive on home my point that we have just recently gotten to this "happy place" with our kitchen, we literally just purchased the stools (on clearance) in the last two weeks.  Almost all of our kitchen progress was made between the two year and two and a half year marks.  I cannot even describe how much function we have added to our kitchen in that time.  For example, when I see Clayton sitting at the counter like a big boy eating or doing school stuff, it just makes my heart so damn happy.

The wall opposite the window houses our "drop" station and Clayton's school/food storage area.  Clayton knows where his snacks are all stored, so that way he can go in and out and get them on his own.  And upper storage is always a must for hiding things from the little bugger.  The upper cabinet was in my parent's home growing up all my life and was a buffet/china cabinet style piece of furniture that I had George hang on the wall for me.

So that's it.  That's our kitchen.  DIY from top to bottom with a few projects left:

-Add trim to upper cabinets/ceiling to give a more "finish" appearance
-Add trim/framing around backside of peninsula
-Add trim to window, make a valance.
-Add backsplash
-Add side panels around fridge for more "finished" appearance.

And honestly, it will probably be another couple years before we finish what's left.  But that's OK.  We aren't going anywhere.

Tiny House Week Part 3: Tiny Bath

I'm going to preface this post with saying that you'll see more of our house and our personal things and style in the coming days.  I have no idea what anyone might be expecting, but know that our home is filled with things we love.  We have family furniture that has been passed down, hunting trophies on the walls, family gifts or special tokens are found throughout.  I have a rule and it is if I don't love it, it can't come home or it has to go.  So our home is full of things we love that make us happy.  It is our own eclectic mix of country cottage, classic clean, lake house, hunting camp, farmhouse love.  We have been fortunate to have been given some beautiful pieces both furniture and decor.  We have also worked to DIY items and used my passion for thrifting to our benefit.  We are so blessed to have a roof over our heads and running water in our faucets and try never to forget that that is what matters.  The fact that we have a home to fill with things we love makes us more fortunate than many.  We try to live a modest lifestyle, we try to remember the gifts we've been given by those who love us and we try to never forget the gifts God has blessed us with.  I'm am very proud of our house and the sweat we put into building it with our own two hands.  I am also very proud of the love, hard work and blessings that have allowed me to turn it into our home.  But no matter how much we or anyone else loves their home, I think we should all pause to appreciate how amazingly fortunate we are to have simple things like a roof over our head, running water, AC in the summer, heat in the winter, the ability to refrigerate food, washers and dryers, a piece of land we can call our own and in most cases, basic security.  We are just so damn lucky that we were placed in these lives and not a less fortunate often more violent alternative.  

So thank you God for all you have blessed us with; most importantly of which is Clayton and our safety and security.

Amen.

So...we only have one bathroom...and it is small...and I LOVE it!  Working within 1000 sq ft, I had to make some choices about where to allocate space.  Ultimately, I chose a large closet and a small bathroom.  Why you ask?

1) I don't want to spend more time then absolutely necessary cleaning a bathroom.  Smaller bathroom=less cleaning.

2) Storage space was more valuable than a large bathroom.

We had a huge master bath in our old house with walk in shower, garden tub, his and her vanities and a toilet closet.  But it just wasn't all necessary.  So when browsing Pinterest while planning I saw the picture below and realized that was all we needed.  The bare minimum.  And you know what? We don't miss the big bath at all.  The only thing bathroom related we would change is having a second bathroom.  The small addition that will one day come will remedy that.  Sometimes George and Clayton get their wires crossed and Clayton doesn't know how to wait very well, so he's peed off the porch a time or two.  So definitely a second bath one day.

Inspiration Picture. Source Unknown.

We were in this house for two years before I finally added shelving.  With such a small vanity, the open shelving storage was very welcome.  We pared our bathroom accessories/necessities down to what we really needed and we have plenty of space for everything.  We don't feel like we are lacking anything; we don't miss anything; we are completely content with our tiny bathroom.

One thing we did to make the bath feel larger since technically this is our forever master bathroom, is we utilized the dead space beside the shower.  We considered doing floor to ceiling skinny built-in shelving, but settled on a bench instead.  I have to say that was the best decision because it makes the shower feel large, open, and with the combination of white subway tile, very light.  Since that addition made our entire tub/shower opening too wide for a traditional shower curtain, I used two curtain panels.  The combination dresses up the bathroom and makes it feel more master-like in spite of its small size.

And all the tiling was done by yours truly.

And my shelves! Oh, how I love them. I knew I wanted something open or door-less, but I had to decide on style.  Which technically was dictated by price.  These  pretty ladies were what I came up with and the whole project cost less than $35! Woot, woot!

Sources:

Curtains- West Elm clearance

Van Gough Tree print- wedding gift from my sister

Vanity- freebie from friend's parents' reno...even can with faucet. But the counter I DIYed.

Vanity mirror- freebie (still deciding on proper makeover)

Shelving brackets-eBay

Wire basket over toilet- World Market

TP Basket- Pottery Barn clearance

The bathroom isn't quite done.  Here's what's left on the list:

-paint vanity, replace knobs

-finish vanity mirror makeover

-add backsplash piece to vanity counter

-add one shelve above door and bath bench

And then of course the whole house needs trim added or replaced (door casing); and all trim and doors have to be painted.  The great thing is that we can get to that stuff in our own time and aren't rushed.  Back again tomorrow...kitchen maybe? Or master?  Depends on which one is cleanest I guess :)

P.S.  The future 2nd bathroom won't be any bigger than the first :)

Tiny House Week Part 2: Clayton's Room

Building on yesterday's back story on taking a leap of faith and building our own house, I want to stress that we did it because of stress.  We needed to change our lives and dismiss the idea that we were "suppose" to live a certain way and instead forge our own path to make our lives better in spite of all the obstacles we had been given.  Life with Clayton was too complicated for both of us to work.  And one income was too stressful for the life we were living.  The stress of everything had become overwhelming to both of us.  So I started making very deliberate efforts to eliminate stress everywhere it wasn't absolutely necessary.  I then developed ways for us to divide and conquer as best we could.
I rock at being Clayton's advocate and medical manager; so naturally, that became my role and allowed George to stress less over that.  I also manage our finances, which means George can do his thing and go to work everyday and not have to worry so much about crunching the numbers.  I predominantly carry those burdens for us and that allows George to focus on what he needs to focus on which is being our provider.  And to ensure he would be the best provider possible, we agreed he would finish his degree.  Which again helps me stress less because my husband will have his degree which will give him a leg up in addition to the many skills he already has.  And all of that allows me to worry less about our potential for economic stability.  Then building this house and living with our new monthly mortgage meant we had more money for prescriptions and copays for Clayton and I was able to again, stress less about finances.  So we divided and conquered the inevitable stresses and eliminated nonessential stresses; that I'll talk about in another post next week.
Ultimately we just focused our energy on eliminating stress and learning to manage our lives in a healthier way.  Having a special needs child makes you worry even more then normal about your health and we knew that we would never be able to sustain any level of decent health under the pressure we were under.  Stress wreaks havoc on the body and we have stress enough for an entire army.  Hands down, what we have done so far are the best things we have ever done and I am so grateful we were able to learn these lessons now and change our life accordingly now rather than later.

Anyhow, that is the thinking and motivation behind the plan for the house we built and the small additions that will come.  So on to the good stuff. 

While I'm sure no one was interested in my closet, I think a number of people have been curious about Clayton's room.  Probably more so since I revealed how small it was yesterday.  So here you go:

The view from the master.

Storage is the big issue in such a small space.  That said, finding storage that worked best for Clayton took some doing.  He makes a mess of everything.  I mean everything.  You cannot keep a room tidy with him.  I'm not just talking about his things, but your things too!  It definitely takes effort and lots of trial and error to figure out what will help him to keep things tidy.  Originally I hoped the basket on his shelf would work and even made cute little labels for him...fail.  So I tried a few other things and I finally found that one huge toy box in the living room was the ticket.  I still sort things into his baskets, but when it comes to getting him to clean up, one centrally located place for everything was the ticket.  As far as storage in general in a small space goes, we make the most of the space in his room and are still improving it as needed.  His bed has a built in dresser on this side and room for open storage behind the drawers.  The efficiency of the bed has been what makes the small space work.

A more recent addition from cleaning out our closet was an unused shoe storage hanger that I used to add vertical storage for his "bay-bees".  The best part is that he loves it too!  Usage of vertical space is really one of the main themes in our home. You can also see our unpainted doors and unfinished trim work in these pics.  Eventually we will replace all the stock trim on door frames.  Probably a ways off though.

His personal Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Storage on the side of bed under his little "bar".

I know the pictures aren't the greatest since they are iPhone pictures, but that's how I roll. So...oh and I took them in natural lighting so you can see his room gets plenty of light in spite of being small.  He loves it.  For whatever reason, small clubhouse like spaces are his jam.

Sources:

Wooden airplane- Thrifted from kids resale
"Bay-Bee" door hanger- Walmart
White book ledges- George built years ago
Book basket- The Rachael Basket from World Market

Labeled baskets- Target
Green shelving unit- Mine from when I was a kid
Rug- Estate sale
Bed- Amazon
Hanging house- Belonged to my mom
Mickey mirror- Belonged to my nephew
Nightlight- Restoration Hardware
Bedding- Tommy Hilfiger, Ikea, Pottery Barn Kids
American Flag art- My mom purchased at a charity auction

Unless we need to add more vertical storage, I don't see us doing anything else to his room.  It is only temporary after all.  More of our house reveal tomorrow and at some point I'll reveal our future plan for the (small) house addition as well.  Keep checking back!