The Homestead Archives | Page 3 of 30 |

19 | Our Unique House Numbering

May 26, 2017 By Laura 3 Comments

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…]

We Lost Our First Chicken to a Predator | The Interesting Story of When and How

April 20, 2017 By Laura 2 Comments

DISCLAIMER:
This post was published with special permission from one of our two teen triplet boys, Shane, who is featured in this real life story of ours quite a bit. He read it and approved it. I have always checked with my kids before sharing their business or photos anywhere online. It’s just the right thing to do. – Laura

–

It finally happened on a late Saturday afternoon, this past December, actually. After keeping chickens for nearly 2 and 1/2 years, a predator finally got one. And it was all kinds of sad. Of all of the ways such a loss could have gone down, and any chicken it could have gone down with, it was about as sad as it could get, if you ask us.

(Just a picture of our chickens from last year, for your enjoyment.)

Before we tell the sad little tale, we have to say first, that we still maintain that our predator deterrent set-up has been working very well! It was never meant to be, nor going to be, predator-proof. But it has definitely done it’s job well in serving it’s intended purpose, in deterring hawks, especially. It was only a matter of time though, that a more unusual situation with a predator would arise, and well….that time came.

[Read more…]

The Way to Easter in the Heart & Home

April 8, 2017 By Laura 1 Comment

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

February 25, 2017 By Laura 3 Comments

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.

Good-bye, boring ordinary cabinets . . . .
.

[Read more…]

Tropical Hibiscus and Blueberry Bush Blessings

July 20, 2016 By Laura 1 Comment

No one could have known how sad I have been this season, without my gardens to work in, and watch grow.
But I have been. Until I was blessed by surprise, with a Tropical Hibiscus and Blueberry Bush.

We had decided to completely overhaul our garden area this year, in an effort and plan to re-plot and grow a lot more of our own food. Although I’ll be the first to admit, there’s been many plans made over the years, that never materialized. And considering we’re deep in July here now, with little accomplished still, I’m losing hope on this one, too.

But I’ve happened to get a lot of joy and satisfaction out of working in the soil and growing things in my gardens over the past years. Growing anything, beautiful or nutritional. This year, however, there has been nothing out there, but dirt. Then, some gardening-related joy came my way. On two separate occasions, I was given these two very unexpected gifts:

A Tropical Hibiscus and a Blueberry Bush.

And oh, how they helped soothe my little gardenless-woes! I have been loving having them to tend to, and seeing them grow. But what makes them mean the most to me, is where they came from. Let me tell you a bit about that.

The Tropical Hibiscus

This is probably the kind of beautiful plant that I would always want to buy, but never buy for myself. And therefore, I would have probably never had something so bold and lovely. But now I do.

And how is that? Because . . . . a very special and thoughtful young man in my oldest daughter’s life, surprised me with it. I think he got quite a surprise, himself, by [Read more…]

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

A Bit of the Back Story

A Tropical Hibiscus and a Blueberry Bush.

The Tropical Hibiscus

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