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Our New ‘Old Farmhouse Bedroom’ – A Bedroom Makeover You’ll Want to See!

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After a lot of dreaming, and then months of hard work by our own hands, an old farmhouse bedroom is finally a reality for us. 

You should know that Michael’s and my bedroom is the very last bedroom we have finished in the house. Three of our kids’ rooms were finished from new construction when we had the addition put on, and the fourth’s was a renovation. Finally (after 11 years of finishing the rest of the house ourselves), it was time for our own room to be done.  It’s a renovation and makeover all-in-one, and we are excited to show you all how it came out.

Now, it’s a medium size room, about 11×20’, so I hope we can all squeeze in there together. Let’s try!

COME ON IN!!

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…]

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…]

Bartering; It’s a Beautiful Thing

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One of the awesome things about having skills, and owning your own small businesses especially, is the ability to barter with other small businesses!  Michael and I have made some fantastic bartering agreements over the years, that have really made us feel like we got quite a deal. They have also enabled us to get more tasks accomplished sooner, than we otherwise would have been able to.

    Not sure exactly what bartering entails? Here is an official definition of the term:
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

bar·ter
/ˈbärdər/
verb
gerund or present participle: bartering
  1. exchange (goods or services) for other goods or services without using money.

    “he often bartered a meal for drawings”

    synonyms:

    trade, swap, exchange, sell

    “they bartered grain for salt

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I bartered a few deals when I had my photography business running. Michael has bartered many great deals in his business, over the years. Michael works full time for our church now, but he still runs his own business on the side that started 15 years ago or so. He is a truck letterer and sign maker, and so the majority of his many client accounts are small local businesses; men with families they are trying to support. We always make an effort to support small business people, and do our part to help our own community thrive. We know many have done the same for us. Needless to say, Michael is tapped into a vast array of blue-collar trade services, and has known them all long enough to know who does the best work.

For example, Michael has exchanged his truck lettering or sign making services for [Read more…]

Pots and Pans – DIY Organization Hanger

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We have always made eating dinner all together around the table every night, a high family priority. But quite honestly, making yet another family meal/dinner, is not always Michael or I’s favorite thing to do around here, towards the end of the day. Especially when both or either of us are in the middle of work, or some project, and need to stop what we are doing to go cook in the kitchen. But our disgruntled state can go from bad to worse, by the time we get the pots and pans we need out!  Ugh!

I don’t know where you store your pots and pans. But we have had ours in a cabinet on the floor under the counter, for years. Forever, for as long as we’ve lived in this house, actually. So to start, we’ve had to bend way down there, or just go head and get on the floor, to get what we need out. Or, to put clean pots and pans away, for that matter!  They only pile and nest so well, with some being the same diameter as others, but deeper pots. So there’s always a real tipping-factor going on.  And then there are all of the covers!!  So if all of the clinging and clanging isn’t enough to frazzle the nerves, everything falling out of the cabinet onto the floor, or sometimes onto our toes, will!

It’s about that time I remember THE WINE.
I don’t know what it is about a glass of wine, or something a little alcoholic, that makes cooking so much more bare-able. Sometimes even enjoyable, if you drink enough!  Ha haha!

But I had gotten to the point where I had really had it, dealing with the pots and pans cabinet. And for years Michael and I had randomly mentioned getting one of those grand pots and pans racks, that suspend from the ceiling. But you know, time really gets away, when we both hate spending money.  So on a recent Saturday, as I was headed out shopping with my oldest girl, I eluded to our pile of pallets outside by the wood shed, and said, “Just whip out something, please! It doesn’t have to be beautiful! I love rustic.”  (Because this is most always a point of contention, between us.).

By golly, he did it! [Read more…]


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