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19 | Our Unique House Numbering

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Will you love it? Or will you hate it?
Well, that’s the question! We’re pretty sure we’ll have some mixed opinions on this idea we’ll be sharing with you today, on our unique house numbering. And we are really o.k. with that!

Because, if you’ve caught on yet, you may have noticed that our style within this sacred space which we call home, definitely leans towards the creative and eclectic side. (And if you haven’t caught on to that yet, you’ll be seeing a whole lot more proof in the upcoming posts!)  The fact of the matter is, as two artists keeping a home and raising a family together, and who do most everything needing to be done, ourselves, we don’t really thrive much on making everything around us match, or looking normal and conventional. With many projects, we simply enjoy pushing ourselves to think outside of the box. It gives us incentive, to get tasks done.

How can we do this project, and make it functional and efficient, but different than the expected?

How can we complete this project, in a way that will make us smile every day at home?

These are the questions we ask ourselves. And so that’s the mindset that came into play once again, with this idea of uniquely numbering our house.
WHICH by the way was a project we did last spring; 2016
That’s important to note, later on.

Now, lots of people come to our home, for various different reasons. Some will love all of the very different things they see, and some will not. We don’t even aim to please anyone but ourselves. We want our home to be a place we love to live. Just like everyone else, we imagine. But what we do hope, is that people who come here will look around, and just keep see things they find very interesting.  And in doing so, we hope that they will feel….intrigued. Or amused! Maybe inspired.  Any of the above, or something else entirely.  

The fun for us, in most projects that have to be done, is the creative process. We say that all of the time. Brainstorming new avenues . . . . being excited about pulling together even a slightly unique idea . . . . presenting something that stands out, as different, or unexpected . . . . those are simply forms of joy to us.  Not all projects we have to do, or choose to do, but as often as we can, when we feel so inclined.

So before we get to the unique house numbering, we’ll first share with you a very quick little conventional home improvement project, for our conventional reading-friends . . . .

. . . . the wall underneath this flower box in the front of our house. UGH! I have always hated it. We have more of this hideous material, as concrete steps to our mid-level yard, and then as the back retainer wall; both of which we will also rectify the appearance of, in due time.

But here is our solution for this concrete wall you see there first.


Michael simply refaced it, with these rumble stone pavers, adhering them with construction adhesive. Big improvement if you ask me. Even as conventional of a solution as it is, it is much more pleasing to the eye. Don’t you think? I can’t even wait to blanket the ugly stuff everywhere else, one way or another. (Who knows what we’ll come up with!)

But let’s get to the main project of this post; the unique house numbering.  Thanks for you patience.

First, you really should know though, about the sketchy comings and goings at our house . . . .

. . . . that, many people a day, who have nevah-evah been to our home, need to find our house. We’re talking an unusual amount of people. One might suspect illegal activity, if they didn’t know the facts. Or know us. The reason we have such high people-traffic though, is because [Read more…]

The Way to Easter in the Heart & Home

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Whatever seasons or holidays we are in the midst of, they are most always reflected in a little bit of decor details around our home. I’ve just always enjoyed the changing of seasons, the anticipations of family holiday celebrations around the bend, and weaving that inspiration into the fabric of my homemaking.

But increasingly over the years I have found, that the way to Easter in the heart and home, doesn’t come so easily.
I don’t want to bring out the Easter specific elements of our decor in the weeks before Easter.  I don’t feel drawn to embracing that beautiful spirit of Easter joy just yet, that I know is on it’s way, come Easter Sunday morning. I don’t jump on the anticipation of excitement, as I do with any other approaching season or holiday.
But I do know why.
[Read more…]

Our Open Farmhouse Kitchen Shelving | Before and After | Home Project

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The slow transformation of our kitchen continues, and this is another one we are so happy with how it turned out. What a great big difference it has made, getting rid of our cabinets, and building custom open farmhouse kitchen shelving!

A Bit of the Back Story

In this project, we were actually undoing a change we made many years ago.
One of the many reasons we bought this house in the first place, was because it had a lot of floor cabinets in the kitchen, and none on the walls! I really didn’t want a kitchen that felt closed in by a lot of cabinets mounted on the walls, that I would have a hard time reaching anyway.  However, it wasn’t long before we realized, the floor cabinets alone just didn’t provide enough storage for everything. 

And so Michael bought basic ready-made cabinets at Home Depot, installed it on our one empty wall, and then added oak trim and handles to match the rest of the floor cabinetry . . . .

I really grew to hate it.

It’s been there for at least 20 years. As much as I grew to despise the look of it, it was necessary for storage, as far as I could figure, for far too long. The floor cabinets stored plates and bowls, glasses, pots and pans, and storage containers.  And the drawers stored what drawers do, of course: utensils, herbs and spices, a junk drawer, etc. So the cabinet on the wall stored cereal boxes, crackers, rice, and that kind of thing.

I began to dream about open cabinets, with dishes and all in there. And I had come up with a good plan of how to rearrange everything in the kitchen that still needed to be stored. (Just put all that was up in the wall cabinet – cereals, crackers, etc. – down in the floor cabinets, when all of the dishes, bowls, etc. came out.)
But I wasn’t sure open cabinets was what I really wanted. Then I started thinking about open shelves. But as much as I thought about it, I couldn’t see in my head exactly what it would look like, that would look right in our kitchen. Until I did.  However, explaining it to Michael was not painting a good picture for him. I was being clear enough in my description, but he just didn’t think it was going to look good.  As I gave him the details, he kept questioning me, like….“Really?”. 

It was unusual. Because you see, with any big or small home projects we have ever done, we have always planned the whole thing together. We most always have the same vision, the same expectations, and the same excitement. But this time….Michael didn’t see it, what he was expecting was not good, and he definitely was not excited. 
This time, I had to ask him to just trust me, and build it like I’m saying.

And he did.

plain white kitchen cabinets Good-bye, boring ordinary cabinets . . . .
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[Read more…]

Our Rec Room Reveal

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We are pretty excited to reveal to you our new rec room, and show you around a bit! We’ve got to tell you, it’s been our plan to make a rec room downstairs for some time. But so many other projects of one kind or another just kept pushing it back. This is the story of our life. You know? But then, pretty suddenly, we decided we needed to get the rec room done. The kids and their friends just needed a big fun space of their own in the house to hang out in; especially on the hottest of summer days, or the bitterest and most miserable of winter days. Also, our oldest daughter’s college friends have been coming to stay here now, too. So one can stay downstairs on the futon that opens up to a bed. Anyway, once we did decide it was time to get the rec room done, Michael went at it and finished it in a flash!  [Read more…]

Old Junk – A Big Old Rusty Clock Makeover & An Old Cabinet

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Are you an ‘old junk’ lover? Do you love going looking for old junk, and get butterflies at the opportunity to bring some of it home? That’s ME to a T! Sometimes, I don’t even have a clue what I’m going to do with the old junk I’m bringing home. But I know I’ll think of something! (That’s the other part of the fun! Right?!).

Well, previously I shared in a post on our Facebook Page, a few photos of some old junk I picked up the weekend prior, of a big old rusty clock, an old cabinet, and a little bird bath/feeder dish. I promised I’d let you know what I did with them.

Here I am, keeping my promise, with a post on it! (Well, 2/3 of the promise, anyway.)
Since I have the most to say about it, we’ll start with . . . . . .

The Big Old Rusty Clock


Here is the clock, the way I bought it. Now, knowing photos tend to really confuse actual scale of objects, I want you to realize that this clock is actually a foot tall! So it’s bigger than it may appear, if you imagined it to be a close-up of the size of a regular alarm clock this style.

I actually ‘settled’ for this clock, in the antique store. The first one I saw was that old-style 50’s turquoise-blue-teal (you know the one?), but extremely chipped, worn, with rust coming through everywhere. I loved the look of that one, more than this unpainted one. The problem was, it just went out the door, in someone else’s hand! Ha haha! So, we bought this one instead, with the plan that I could create the same look as the one I originally wanted, with a little creativity. Somehow. As soon as I figured out how. Because the thing was, I just didn’t care for the ‘finish’ of this one, which to me, really looks like it was almost manufactured to appear rusty. The rust is far too….uniform, to be convincing. So, my plan was to try and fix that.

It did end up being one of those projects where, as soon as I got started and past that moment of ‘too late to go back now’, I got that sinking feeling like, ‘Oh no, what did I just do? What am I doing? I’m ruining it!“. But in the end, I was happy with it.

But quickly, here was my thought process, getting to the happy point.

I got thinking about where it would ultimately be put, and, I realized that old teal color wasn’t the ideal color. I mean, I did have a choice at this point! I didn’t have to make it the same color as the one I originally saw. Considering where I knew I wanted to put it, the most ideal color would be a cream. I did the best I could to replicate the texture of the look of the original clock I saw.

And here is how it came out . . . . . . [Read more…]


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