Shade of a Beech Tree

Mudroom: Ready for paint

2009-11-14T09:27:00.004-05:00

The mudroom walls have been plastered and a coat of primer applied. Ceinling was painted so we could finish the lights.

Now, for the paint. I read this article about the Best Green Paint but when we got the paint chip it seemed a little dark, so we're going with the color above it on the strip. Sherwin Williams Shagreen is the color we will be applying to the walls this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed that it works out!

Guest Room, Before

2009-11-10T07:00:00.005-05:00

Here's a "Before" photo of our tiny guest room.

I recently rotated the bed to have the head under the window and the foot toward the door, which has opened the room up. Previously the head was against the wall on the right. Its amazing how a simple thing like a 90 degree rotation of large furniture can change a room.

I want the room to look like this, minus the twin beds:

photo from Domino magazine

The room needs a headboard, new curtains and wall sconces. Little Green Notebook posted an interesting tutorial for roman shades, reusing the old metal blinds installed by the previous owners.

It also needs some new furniture. I have plans for a bedside table with outlets so guests can charge their cell phones, and a small dresser with space underneath for suitcases. I am hoping to find something existing among the stuff in our basement that can be reused.

And, a new coat of paint is obviously in order. I hope to get this room in order before Christmas, when we have family coming to visit. Once again, I learn that I don't do anything without a deadline!

Mudroom Update

2009-11-04T19:22:00.003-05:00

The wall hangers came and hung the walls. This photo is from the back of the basement, looking toward the walk-out. Jeff hooked up all the recessed lighting and did the framing and strapping before he ran out of energy and called in a pro to put up the wall board.
Now its really, really time to design the mudroom.

Autumn in New England

2009-10-30T19:24:00.003-04:00

Here's a photo of our house taken today. You can see the Copper Beech above back of the house. I have to admit, I won the battle this year and the heat was turned on about a week ago. You can see winter is on its way.

Happy Halloween!

In over your head, Part 2

2009-10-19T06:23:00.001-04:00

We met with the realtor to view the house down the street.

First Floor bathroom had a burst pipe recently and it was patched. We had to do the same thing in our house.Gross old bathrooms in desperate need of updating

Nice tall ceilings, pumpkin pine flooring, large moldings:
Reading nook with arched windows
Large windows with lots of light.

What I didn't get photos of: Extensive water damage, termite damage, leaking pipes with rust and corrosion, and the icing on the cake: a bulging leaning foundation.

So. I guess that's that. We'd be in over our heads.

How to tell when you'd be in over your head?

2009-10-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

There is a house for sale a few doors down. We've had our eye on the house because 1) we're suckers for houses that look like they need love and 2)It has lot that's double the size of ours.

This house has a lovely double tombstone door and it looks inviting enough from across the street.

But when you notice plants growing up and out the side

The sagging porches

with the bees flying from a hole in the siding

The snow fence left over from the garage/barn that imploded last winter during a heavy snowstorm

It makes you think twice.

The yard, currently overgrown and not level, has potential. I hate to say the house is a knock-down but I highly doubt there would be much worth saving, since I know there is at least 1 window that's been busted for over 3 years and its been a rental for more than 5 years.

I am waiting for a return call from the realtor, hoping a tour will push me off the fence. I'm just not sure which side of the fence I'll be happy to land on!

Come to the light...

2009-10-07T10:58:00.002-04:00

I have been searching for the perfect set of wall sconces to flank the bed in the guest room and the search was over when I saw these from 1st dibs posted on Maison21.

I wonder how you turn them on?

Be our guest, be our guest

2009-10-05T07:00:00.003-04:00

The Smallest-Guest-Room-In-The-World needs a makeover. This room has gorgeous pumpkin pine floors, which only appear in 1 other room in the house, but the room is so small I feel pangs of guilt every time I make someone stay in there. If it had a new coat of paint and some atmosphere, I wouldn't feel so badly about treating my house guests like sardines.

I looked through old Domino Magazines for inspiration.

Do you think its true that a bold color would make it feel larger? I think a dark blue like this would make people sleep better, but I'm not sure it would really feel any larger.

I love the gray upholstered headboard and the nail-head trim that is everywhere now. This blue on the wall seems cheerful too.
I love these twin beds in gray with the matching curtain, but I don't know about the Bone White paint on the walls. It just looks dingy to me.

I'll post a "before" picture as soon as I find one that isn't too hideous.

What a strapping guy!

2009-09-30T07:00:00.003-04:00

The strapping is up on the basement ceiling and the lights have been temporarily placed. Yes, we know they're upside down, we just want to make sure we have enough lights in the right areas.

Its almost time to really design the mudroom area of the basement. Time to figure out Google Sketchup...

Fancy New Heat Pipes!

2009-09-24T07:00:00.001-04:00

When adding new walls to the mudroom, we had to re-route the heat pipes to be inside new the walls. I'm sure the proximity of the heating pipes to the outside walls are part of our heat problems anyway.

To do this we used PEX piping (orange pipes in the above photo) and to avoid having to buy the 100$ crimping tool, we used SHARKBITE push fittings.

We also use the WATTS push fittings since SHARKBITE doesn't have a 45 degree.
after it was all hooked up, we fired up the boiler. Of course, the pipes didn't get hot. We needed to bleed the system first.

About 20 - 5 gallon buckets later, the air was purged from the system and the water ( and heat ) was flowing. Don't worry though, Jeff promptly shut off the heat and it will remain off until Novemeber.

Next up: Strapping the Ceiling! Will the fun ever stop?

The spoils from Brimfield

2009-09-17T07:00:00.003-04:00

Brimfield is filled with stuff. Good stuff, crappy stuff, and sometimes stuff I'm actually looking for that I'm willing to buy from someone who was really nice.

I went to Brimfield in May and scored this cabinet on my way out of J&J's field after a "Maybe just 1 more pass down this aisle".

I spoke with the man and his wife who were selling it for quite a while, and I think they gave me a good deal, and he helped me load it into the truck.

I didn't have the guts to pull an Eddie Ross and paint the whole thing. But I did like the way this looked:

So I just painted the inside with BM Decorators White in a Semi-gloss leftover from the kitchen paint job.

And moved it up to the little nook in the living room. I love the height it adds to the room, photos of which will be coming any month now.

A man's vacation home is his castle

2009-09-02T19:00:00.003-04:00

This is the Castle on Sebec Lake in Maine. When we visit our friends there, the kids love boating past it. Everyone is looking for a glimpse of either Cinderella or Malificent, and it really makes you wonder what life would be like if one were royalty.

Dogtown Commons

2009-08-25T07:00:00.002-04:00

We took advantage of the sunny weather in July to walk/picnic at Dogtown Commons near Gloucester, MA. Dogtown is an abandoned settlement on Cape Ann that dates back to the 1730s. We had a great day checking out the wisdom from Mr. Babson carved into the boulders, and I recommend reading The Last Days of Dogtown, by Anita Diamant.

Mud Room progress

2009-08-17T17:34:00.000-04:00

Jeff has been tackling this project in his spare time, and I wanted to share some of the progress as he turns the basement into a finished mudroom.

We started with the cold room, which was insulated with Icyene last spring.

Jeff then framed out this wall.

That's as far as we've gotten.

Mud Room

2009-07-29T07:00:00.001-04:00

Our house is missing a foyer. No mudroom, no coatroom, no "keep the detritus contained" room.
We are sick of tripping over the pile of shoes that accumulate, even though we have a nice shoe rack, and we determined we needed a mudroom. Looking to the walk-out (or in our case, walk-in) basement, we found a place to build a mud room.

The goals are simple:
1. Look stunning
2. While containing all our clutter

Here's where I looked for inspiration.

I like the varying heights of the shelves, good for the vertically-challenged in our house:

The retractable closeline in this photo is brilliant. Perfect for snowpants and mittens after sledding or raincoats after playing in the monsoon:

I like the upper cabinets here to keep everything out of sight. Since our basement has a low ceiling, this is out, but I can still dream...
This is pretty much what I want to end up with:
An open locker for everyone with a bench for sitting while you slip on your shoes, and an open hole for the inevitable pile of shoes. All this while looking good!
All photos from BHG.com

Summer o' Fun!

2009-07-11T07:00:00.001-04:00

We bought the Beechnuts a swingset for their upcoming birthdays, and to prepare for its delivery, we had to make a level spot in our tiny, sloping yard.

Jeff dug the trenches and used the laser-level to create a platform out of 4x4's.

I ordered the mulch and then did the research in true "Ready, Fire, Aim" fashion, and discovered some people bed their playground areas with pea gravel. Yes. Rocks. Doesn't that seem mean? Our kids are accident prone so even though we are surrounded by termites, I felt that the mulch might reduce the number of hours spent pinning down a crying child to apply neosporin and band-aids. (Sorry Dad, I went with the wood mulch.)

Swingset installed! Begin Summer o' Fun!

Baking for 1

2009-07-06T10:06:00.004-04:00

The newest Beechnut has turned 1! To celebrate, I baked a rainbow cake just for the birthday girl. I'm sure Martha Stewart would fail me on the final presentation, but all the children at the party approved of the cake!

The cake recipe came from this site, found through Tastespotting. It was pretty simple to make and the kids went nuts when they saw the inside. I also made cupcakes using the same method and they were pretty popular.

Happy Birthday, Beechnut2! We love you!

Before & After: Dining Room

2009-07-02T07:00:00.003-04:00

The kitchen remodel has caused an avalanche. A big slow avalanche that takes 12 months to make any real progress. The red paint in the Dining Room was giving me anxiety when compared with the new beige-y paint in the kitchen.

Here is the "Before" Dining Room in the least flattering photo I could find:

When I realized the Beechnuts and I had plans to be away for a few days, I bought the primer and paint for Jeff to tackle the painting in our absence. As soon as we left, Jeff stared at the paint cans, reached for the phone, and booked a painter to do the work.

The blue-gray of C2 Melodic makes the room feel much larger and airy, which is exactly the feeling I wanted. I hadn't realized how the former red paint was so overwhelming until it was gone.

We moved the map to be centered with the room, not the section of wall. Now it is centered with the chandelier and the dining room table.

The buffet came from our friend's parents who didn't want it anymore.

I unpacked some long-forgotten china and silver.

I bought the fabric for the chairs in the Pottery Barn Bettina fabric to match the curtains (bought on sale).

I think the rug should be different, but I'll live with it for now.
A painting on-loan from my sister in London gets a more prominent position in the house.

I love the pattern in the curtains and chairs, I think it makes the table that once belonged to my grandmother feel young. Well, younger!

Exactly how shady is that Beech tree?

2009-06-25T07:00:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to take a photo of the tree for which this blog is named, but its really impossible to get far enough away to capture the entire thing. These are the shots I recently took so you can see how large the trunk is. The previous owners built the deck around the tree, the photos posted 5 years ago with the real estate listing caused Jeff to fall in love with the house.
This photo was taken with my back to the far corner of the house, looking over the back yard.

This photos shows the beginning of the canopy, it extends well above our 3 story house.

This Copper Beech is one of several in our town. We have struggled to grow a lawn under it for a few years now. When I walk around town and see that other owners have given up the fight and just mulched their entire yards rather than complete with the tree, I wonder how many more years until we admit defeat also.

It won't be this year, though. I'm still hoping there is a true "shade grass" out there...

House Envy, x100

2009-06-23T07:00:00.007-04:00

I saw this website, 100 Abandoned Houses, and spent the rest of the day dreaming about the former glory in these homes.

I'm sure they would disagree, but wouldn't it be fun if one of our siblings lived next door in a mirror-image house?

This is my favorite:

On the Road: San Francisco

2009-06-17T21:01:00.005-04:00

We spent a little summer vacation in San Francisco last week, but it wasn't all fun. We spent many hours diligently researching various home improvement topics.

How to reshape the driveway:

Lombard street

Improving home security:

Alcatraz

How to add curb appeal:

And of course, what research excursion would be complete without a visit to a child-friendly winery:

Larson family winery

We had a great time in San Francisco and Sonoma and are looking forward to future trips for additional "research".

First harvest from the CSA

2009-06-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

This year we bought a share in a CSA and this is what our half of the share looks like:

As part of the share, we have to work 7 hours on the farm. I went last Sunday to do a few hours of weeding, the highlight of which was getting to ride in the back of a pickup truck from the parking lot to the fields. I haven't done that since I was a kid!

The share this week consisted of:
Baby turnips,
Radishes,
Beet Greens,
Turnip greens,
arugula,
mixed greens,
and a head of lettuce.

It will be fun to figure out what to do with all these greens... I'm sure it will involve bacon!

Everything's coming up roses

2009-06-03T18:00:00.008-04:00

After all the French drain excitement, I'm happy to report I planted some grasses and flowers that are still alive after a few weeks.

From the far end of the bed, I have:
1. Lavender. This plant has been very happy in this spot and smells lovely when it blooms. When I was in the hospital last year, the big Beechnut brought me a little bouquet of the flowers and it made my hospital room smell heavenly for the 4 days I was there recovering from the birth of the little Beechnut.
2. A tea rose, with dark pink blooms. This is new, and I pinched off the 3 blooms that blossomed to encourage root growth.
3. Miscanthus or zebra grass. This is new and I hope it will add some height and interest to the other flowers planted.
4. Climbing rose. I wanted to show that I have managed to keep this rose bush alive for 3 years going. Its rewarding me by flowering this year. It smells rosy too.
5. Lots of mint and lily of the valley. These were planted by the previous owners and I'm trying to beat back the mint. Its really only useful around the Kentucky Derby when we make mint juleps.
6. Forever Summer Hydrangea. I have hopes this will be large with big blue blossoms, but I think the flowers are a few years out.

Closeup of my climbing rose bush. I think we'll build a bigger trellis next year.

Some of the big rhodies in bloom, with my little peony plant. I think it needs more sunlight than the current location offers, maybe it'll get moved in the fall.

Lately, I've been feeling like this:

Busy like a bee!

Front Door

2009-05-12T06:44:00.001-04:00

I have been thinking a lot about a different front door. This is the current state of affairs.

Close-up on the 3-over-3 door. Notice the extra molding around the entry. Between that and the placement of the non-working door bell, I feel confident the front door was once much larger.

I think I want an elegant double tombstone door, like these pretties from my neighborhood.

I like this front porch too and the bright red color:

These people have a breeze-way entrance that caught our eye, for the kitchen entrance:

Another contrasting color on the door:

I'm not a huge fan of this colonial-style door on this house. This green house is right next door to the yellow house above.The colonial door on this house seems to work with the front porch:
I'm going to use this as an excuse to visit Brimfield and the salvage yards, this gives a little bit of focus to feeling like a kid in a candy shop at the flea markets this summer!

In the ditches

2009-05-06T19:35:00.000-04:00

While we waited for spring to be sprung, Jeff picked up the axe, long-arm lever, and shovel and dug out the side garden with the hopes of improving drainage and keeping our basement dry.

The previous owners built a flower/herb bed along the driveway. I've used this as a place to grow tomatoes since its the only part of our tiny lot that gets full sun. This year we joined a CSA, so its being turned back to a flower bed.

There are 2 problems with this garden:
1) It has no drainage so water runs right back through the fieldstones into the basement.
2) The dirt and mulch was piled up above the sill effectively creating a termite super-highway. If I put on bug-o-vision glasses, I'm certain I'd see signs proclaiming our basement to be a termites' vactionland.

So, Jeff dug a ditch 18 inches deep

and added a lot of drainage rock

and a PVC pipe wrapped in landscape netting.

He added some rocks back on top of the pipe

Pulled off the lower rows of siding.

Added some Boracare to the termite areas. There were several of these spots. Not surprising to find these spots since we already replaced the wood on the interior of this wall.

We added a rain/snow barrier that would divert the water directly into the drainage pipe.

Then went some more gravel, and a piece of trim. The trim still needs to be painted, but I'm ready to add flowers, so this is the "final" photo.

Now, its off to plan a flower garden!