Friday, May 24, 2019

Apple Blossom Time 2019

It's Apple Blossom time over here! I love this time of year. And this year, I have two trees to enjoy! But we will get there in a moment....

 You don't mind way too many pictures of beautiful apple blossoms, do you? Good. I can't get enough! And alas, it is a very short season....


 The little apple tree didn't flower quite abundantly as last year. But it was a long hard winter. I am enjoying what it has!


 I'm so glad I took these when I did! Our weather has been a little more volatile then usual. The day after it was very warm and now it is back to rainy and chilly....

 The other apple blossoms I am enjoying this year, it the crab apple at the Brick House! This old tree is so huge and beautiful!

 I have been working on getting all the flower beds weeded and defined at the Brick House. It is so fun to suddenly see a shower of petals raining down!

 Mmmm… don't you love that color?

This week marks the one year anniversary of the Brick House! Even though I didn't technically buy the house this month, this is when I first looked at it and accepted the counter offer. My, what a year! I loved (almost) every minute of it! 

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Brick House: Kitchen Before & After

Are you ready for a dramatic change? Even though I didn't change the layout; changing the wall color, countertops and appliances made a real difference! 

 I had almost forgot I took the upper cabinets down.... From the first the didn't look right to me.

 Oh that orange! Yikes!

I traded this fridge with my brother for a stove! It was just too big for the kitchen!


 I'm not a fan of the no-cabinet-hardware look. Doesn't look finished to me! So I added simple handles and knobs.



Mandy and I took some of the cabinets that we took down and added them here. I think it looks a little like an old fashioned wall of cabinets! I wasn't sure how the space of baskets would turn out and no one else seemed to understand what I was trying to do, but when I finished they agreed it wasn't  bad!


There are still a few small things that need to be done. But I have found a lovely family to rent and they will be moving in the end of the month!! They are so excited about the big yard and all the flowerbeds. I am so excited and yet at the same time sad.... Even though the Brick House is still mine, I didn't think it would be this hard to turn the house over to someone else..... I have loved refreshing it and bring it back to life!
Now it is time to get back to my cottage and work on a few projects there!

Friday, May 3, 2019

Brick House: Bathroom Before & After







BEFORE

BEFORE

BEFORE

A big improvement, wouldn't you say?!
A lot of things needed to be refreshed; the paneling removed from the walls, the space eating vanity removed, the sad flooring and dim light. We also installed a baseboard and door trim, curtain rod, toilet paper holder and hooks for towels. Plus all new plumbing!
BEFORE
This is one of the only before pictures I have with the carpeting. Couldn't wait to get it out of there! 

Looking down the hallway toward the back bedroom. Plenty of lovely wood floors!


 I love how the sun comes in through this window on the stairs. It faces west and gets the most beautiful evening sunshine!



As soon as I tidy up the kitchen and remove the last of the tools, I will be back with more before & after pictures!

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Brick House Update: the Basement and Limewash



We had a little excitement a couple of weeks ago as suddenly one night after heavy rain the neighbors tree leaned over. When I was working on the house the night before the tree was fine, next morning it looked like this. From the looks of it the poor tree had rotten roots, so once the ground thawed there wasn't anything holding it up anymore. Thankfully, it very gently sagged it way to the ground and the neighbor was able to chop it up before it came down with a crash and damage the Brick House tree (Which it was leaning on!).

 The last two weeks have been concentrated on the basement. Not very glamorous. Basements and attics are not my favorite spaces. Too dark and too many possibilities of creepy crawly jumping out at you. 
But since the laundry area at the Brick House is in the basement, I have been trying hard to make it less dark and creepy.

 So I decided to give Limewash a try! Limewash is also called whitewash, but whitewash can be confused as painting any surface with a thin white coat of any type paint. Where as Limewash is good old fashioned Whitewash made using hydrated lime. 

 It really isn't as scary as it sounds. The basic recipe I found online several places. I ended up using more lime then usually called for. It made it "stick" better and I wanted a nice thick white coat. Limewash has been used for centuries as a inexpensive coating on houses, masonry, barns, outbuilding and outhouses. It is a very breathable coating, naturally anti-fungal because of it's high alkaline level and a bug deterrent.
Sounds perfect for a basement, right? 

I mixed two gallon batches at a time. Using a one quart canning jar to measure I used two gallons of water, one quart pickling salt and 8 quarts lime. This makes a very thin mixture that is slightly thicker than water. But when it goes on brick (at lest my thirsty bricks) it thickens up and sticks. When I painted it on wood, it looked thinner for longer.

Before Limewashing
Here are a couple of before photos. The walls weren't too bad. But they certainly could use a freshening up!

Before Limewashing
Definitely helps brightens the place up!

We have also been working on the basement steps. They needed a railing. But when we went to add a railing we discovered the bottom step was rotten and wouldn't hold the post and bolts. So we also replaced the step. In the photo above I was in the middle of painting, hence the half white post!

I have also been working on the basement stairwell walls. When we took the plaster ceiling down, an inch or two of the walls also came down. We had to take a small part of the new drywall down to run a wire for a the outside light. The larger spot to the right was where the old switch was. I patch lath back in and ran the wire over the ceiling to the other switch there. Now both switches are together and it tidier. And now I was finally able to plaster the walls!

One side done!

This side drying. Next up; limewashing the plaster!