Some Changes With a Little Paint and Sweat...

My husband and I have been very busy with both of our jobs and me finishing my graduate school work. With one more class to go and all my work completed, today I finally had time to go outside and garden. I wish I had taken before pictures of our overgrown gardens, but I think you will get the idea!

These are the daisies that I thought would look so 'wonderful' in the front garden... but, my husband was right, they needed to go...

Now just the hydrangea and some drift wood sits in the garden... no cost spent here.

Now I need to show the amount of work has been put into the front of the house... with very little cost. This is the picture of the house when we first looked at it... we didn't even own it yet.

This was when I came home with a can of solid stain for my husband to try on the house. He ended up painting the entire front of the house with it. This sparked a new project of ripping out trees, sanding the house and painting it. We still have one more side to do!

 This is the front of the house now with the shrubs taken out, a freshly painted door (as seen on a trip to block island) and new paint on the house. We bought some more hydrangea which we planted in the front of the house (you can see two out of the four have flowered, very small). So in a few years will have some nice bushes filled in.

This was all a more cost effective way to make your house look nicer with of course some blisters. We still have more work to do on the front such as new steps and front light. But... we continue to move forward on our projects!!

Increased square footage

On a recent visit to Maine, my husband and I were relaxing one night chatting about various things. Of course, we started talking about our house and the renovations. We have been going back and forth about our "third bedroom" in the house. Right now it is used as an office, but we are turning into the sole purpose of another bedroom. The room being tiny already, we decided to steal space from the closet and make the bedroom bigger. There will still be a closet off to the side in the room, which is perfect. We also have room in another location in our house where our linen closet can go.

Finding places to store "things" can be challenging!!

Eric begins to take down the doors, etc.

I want to help... drew a little picture first.

Sooo much fun!!

Getting closer...

The new closet, the very last bit of yellow carpet is ready to come out!

That's a crawl space in the back. We are going to put a door over the open space, as well shelving for our books. We envision this space as a mini library. Hardwood floors getting put down in the "library".

This is picture driving the vision. I know the sizing is not the same, but at least you can get the idea! This is a closet turned library as well.

SO, we took away storage space from one location, but adding it to another place. Lesson learned? Be creative with the space in your house!!

Get some more great idea's here

Filled with Greens

Spring is my favorite season and I am already seeing the first sign in my backyard... snow drops! I can't wait for the bright greens to start blooming, but I still have some time to go. While I wait for spring, I always have my house filled with tons of indoor plants. I also scattered greens and Queen Ann's lace around the house. It's nice to have some sort of normalcy through all the hammering and air compressors!

I put the small arrangements in vintage medicine bottles... thanks Erin, I am going to need some more!!

I learned recently to not throw away your green onions! If you place the roots in some water they will re-sprout! Look it's working!!

The hydrangea's may have died from my valentines day gift, but I separated the greens from the arrangement and put scattered them throughout the house. I got that vase for 1.75 at an antique mall in Wells!

Here is my orchid collection. The first gift my husband ever gave me was an orchid plant... I still have it and it just spiked a new flower this week (far right). Orchids only grow flowers 1-2 times per year, so don't throw them away once the flower dies! I also have a mini rose bush there that I will plant this spring.

More greens... this arrangement was eaten by Walter today while I was out shopping... haha.

All of these plants were given to us.

Arrangement in the bathroom. Our "ugly" hand soap is almost gone... haha.

Newest edition to the house. Look! The stairs are all re-done now.

So, I have learned to have some sort of greenery in my house during the winter months really helped me through. I also have another plant that is "recuperating" after an anxiety attack Walter had after I forgot to put him in his crate. I felt the plant needed it's privacy during this tough time... haha. Also, it is important to note all the plants are real! I am not a fan of fake plants.

Guest Bedroom re-do part one

Once we finally got the room settled, we decided it was time to put the hardwood floors down... here are beginning and middle progress photos. I finally got used to the nail compressor gun. SUPER LOUD and can even be heard from outside!

We choose white oak flooring, when the staining is added the wood grain is beautiful!!

Emptied the room out good bye ugly carpet!

He was suppose to start in the morning, but he wanted to rip up that carpet!

Goodbye ugly heater! Walter enjoys all the changes.

Making room for the wainscoting.

Floors almost down!

He is such a hard worker! And yes, he is getting a nice roasted chicken dinner with pumpkin pie tonight!

New Roomate

I have learned that renovating your house means making room for ALL the tools that go along with it! My husband has been working very hard on our stairs... Goodbye ugly yellow carpet! Now we have the table saw ready for laying down our new hardwood floors in the guest bedroom and office! All these wonderful changes means dealing with all the tools that go along with it. Here are just a few pictures of what living with renovations is like!

These are all the parts for the stairs

Getting VERY crowded

I couldn't use these stairs for a few weeks!

Time to get organized!

Here is our new roommate, the table saw. "He" will be with us for an extended period of time.

So, it's been exciting! I can't wait to reveal the before and after pictures of the stairs. We are taking advantage of the winter months. In the above picture on the floor, my newest project is in the works!

Calling All Beach Goers!!

On a nice warm weekend morning, Eric and I can be found walking the beach looking for driftwood and shells. There are several projects we have going on with the driftwood, but the shells have one purpose right now... and that is finding a new home in our driveway. We collect bags full of shells... pour them in our driveway and then our cars crush the shells down into a very small white/purple pieces. We just feel this adds to our beach bungalow! It's free and makes for a fun DIY project!

These shells came from Maine

I just toss them around the driveway

I step on the shells that are big and may not crush easily

We have been doing this for awhile... these are some older crushed shells

I hope this inspires some ideas for you!!

Loft: before and after

This is our loft area that we decided to make a guest bedroom. Here is the before and after pictures! The "before" picture was the previous owners things, before we moved in.

Before

After

The upstairs loft is still a work in progress, but as you can see it has come a long way already! The bed fits perfectly... and we can't wait to rip up that carpet! I am on the hunt for a desk that I can stress a little bit and some (self created) artwork to put on that big open wall. The quilt on the bed was a gift from my mom and dad... it was made in the 1800's and in very good condition!

This view is from standing by the window, you can get a better idea of the bungalow styling of the house. The framed artwork is a Bob Marley quote with all our families best wishes from our wedding : ) It's a nice reminder walking by it everyday. We are trying to stay a little festive with our lights around the railing!