the galley

THIS.

West Galley

Northeast Galley

Northwest Galley

Took two years and three months to achieve and still isn't finished. Note the south/sink is unpictured, but that's a whole 'nother story. I love the stories of this Portage! I like the beginnings and the endings and the middles. The ending are so especially meaningful after what came before them, though. Like the floor discovery a month after we moved in:

'neath leveler, plywood, and three layers of laminate lies shining hardwood like buried treasure

open

shut

Then there is the story of What To Do About Awkward Corners where the ancient brown refrigerator full of mold used to block the teeny tiny up high windows (see West Galley photo above). We tried a cupboard, but we needed a place for Kaya's kennel, so a card table covered her bed until the glorious day - last Saturday - that Brett built a counter to my exact specifications!

I have been waiting so long to write this post, and even though there is trim that still needs painting, floors refinishing, and the fridge (why does refrigerator not have a D but fridge does? why?! why?! why?!!) still seems far too big and bulky and always half empty besides, I am positively smitten with my little hub of homemaking.

Look how close I've come to my inspiration! Look what I want to turn the south/sink corner into! Look what you should get me for all the rest of the birthdays of my life!

People have been asking if we have any big summer projects, and I would totally love to get a functional garage door or sliding glass doors for the north porch transformation dream, but ya know what? I have a pretty kitchen galley, so I don't care about those other things. At least for today.

other days

Some days, like yesterday, you have a nasty sinus headache and feel like your life is a total failure. Fortunately, the sun goes down and the searing affliction fades, and with rest your  normal work can resume. Other days, the absence of misery puts a spring in your step, and you can tackle your massive organization project with joie de vivre!

The North Porch: stuff to save, sell, & salvage

Outside of North Porch...

Fireside Porch inspiration?
(wood stove instead of fireplace)

beauty and the mess

Only a little snow left, patches and puddles. Since two years have transpired since we got our home, and we have only 10 items remaining (five of which are optional) on the 77-item list I typed up that first month, an update is in order.

In December 2012 my sister Abi helped me paint our crumbly, cracked, stained, smudged, and crayon-scribbled EntryWay/DiningRoom. After months of deliberation, the perfect color finally dawned on me: a roasted coffee chocolatey brown. Behold, the transformation:

BEFORE - white-ish walls, different furniture

DURING - Abi paints over the color we did not like

...facing west, only the top edges left.

 (Drumroll, please:)

AFTER

AFTER in regular light

AFTER with enhanced colors

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty stoked. You can still tell that the trim is mid-stripped, exactly the same as it was when we bought the house. We hope to strip and refinish all the trim eventually (one of the five non-optional items left) as well as refinishing all the wood floors which need it pretty bad. Super exciting, and yet so easy to put off indefinitely. Besides, I've got summer gardens and trips and markets and celebrations to keep me busy.

Technically, shouldn't this room be called the Mess Hall? I definitely had to excavate the mess before I took this picture (as you can also see in the 'before' pics). It's also the entryway where coats, boots, bags, mail, and all manner of cast-offs get piled on a daily basis. But I'm open to suggestion, especially if they sound tidier.

“O, how this spring of love resembleth the uncertain glory of an April day”
- Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 1, Sc. 3

porthole aka library

Another room remodeling post! This past week a friend came over to help me paint and Brett put up our bookshelf (in it's 4th home in 4 years!). Oh, and we call it the Porthole because it is the port side of our house, but I like the allusion to "Portal" because books are like Portals to other worlds... Feast your eyes:


North wall - the color is Poplar Summer


East wall - only 9 ft wall in the house


South wall - it's really got a colonial vibe going with the cream & green


close to 700 books in storage from May 2010 - Jan 2012


ex libra dregge!

[new: March 2013 update]

 

oh the possibilites

THIS is my kitchen inspiration:

THIS is the current corner in question:

Materials (pictures below) include:

• 2 IKEA shelves with hooks
• 1 pallet winerack/cookbook shelf
• a piece of pegboard & paint

My area is limited, but I want to utilize as much space as possible yet not make it look crowded. I love multi-functionality. I love natural lighting. I love brick chimneys. I love all the stuff pictured below.

idea collage... stay tuned?

the order of the day

Good order is the foundation of all things.--Edmund Burke

Order is the shape upon which beauty depends.--Pearl S. Buck

We adore chaos because we love to produce order. --M. C. Escher

Ah, how I love a good organization spurt! Does wonders for the soul.

Jewelry on a dolled-up bulletin board in my craft closet.

Ribbon and wrapping holder made out of an old frame.

Our pantry, before & after. (Thanks to Brett!!!)
We switched the door hinges to the opposite side which makes it far more convenient, and I'm sure I can think of something to put on that bare inside of the door besides a plastic bag dispenser...

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.--Eleanor Roosevelt

lamplight

Now that Brett has quit his night-and-weekend job, he has more time to work at home. All of the projects I have been hoarding up are gradually coming to fruition. For instance, the indoor/outdoor lights I found on the curbside, in a box marked FREE?

- have become frugal, functional, fabulous wall lamps for a room with no ceiling lights!

poop deck

Four months and one day after we closed on our home and moved in, we can no longer say we are camping out: we finally have a fully functioning bathroom, complete with a shower. Luxurious, right?

Here are the incredible before & after pictures:

March 2011

July 2011

A clawfoot tub and pedestal sink have been my longtime dream, as well as the white trim, and I think the lemony yellow and sandy neutral combine to give this room a clean, bright feeling.

I still have to make tough decisions about where to hang my shelves and towel bars, but at least I can do my thinking after a cool shower. Ahhh. There is plenty of room for storage in the adjoining linen closet, so our toiletries are entirely accessible. I sketched out a floorplan of The Portage in case you're curious.


I don't know about you, but it still feels surreal to grab my towel and shampoo and not walk across the street...

bargainmongering

Remember that $10 OFF Kohls coupon I got a summer dress for Norabel with? I got another one.

Apparently they are desperate for my few cents (although this time I spent a whopping $2 - dang, they got me). I nearly stocked up on $5 henleys from the 80%-off rack, but found this beauty irresistible:



More deals of the day. We ordered a faucet for our clawfoot bathtub. The cheapest one at Lowes was $150 and had to be custom-ordered. No thanks. We tried to check at the ReStore but they were closed two weeks in a row. Then Brett found a gooseneck on Ebay for under $20! Ideally we'd like a barclay to match our sink, but we'll make do with the cheaper version until we have hundreds of dollars to spare.

above: faucet we ordered
below: ideal sink-matching faucet

Oh, and I found a grilling spatula for Brett for nineteen cents. Even though he already picked out his father's day present (a router). I figured he is worth the splurge.

crow's nest

before

after

before

after

I love it. The color is called fresh pear; Elanor came home from the hospital wrapped in a blanket this color, and I've liked it ever since. Especially paired with pink or aqua or brown. Fitting too, for a summer baby who was named after a flower and a bird, to have a garden-fairy-dinosaur themed room. The chandelier is just a bonus, as it came with the house!

first of spring

Another day full of grace. This morning was our first thunderstorm of the year, but even the rain couldn't wash away all the piles of snow. NorahBell is both eager and recalcitrant to adjust to our new home, this place without a name on wild rice street.

Brett has just laid the tiles in our bathroom! Still grouting and edging to finish, and then I can paint, and we can install our fixtures, and then it won't feel so much like camping anymore. We found an old cast iron clawfoot tub on craigslist for $50, and I keep sneaking out to the garage to look at it.

I OWN A CLAWFOOT BATHTUB. AHH!!!

I'm still holding out for a pedestal sink, sectional, and washing machine. A chest freezer and the shower attachment/halo for the tub would be nice too. I'm confident that if I wait long enough, I can find everything I need for the right price... or free! I'm in no hurry. *smile*

Next on the agenda (after the bathroom is completed) is the kitchen tile & painting. I made a running list of everything we would, ideally, like to tackle in the next five years. We'll see where we are then. Oh, and I'll post some more pictures soon!

wings, fields, bones

Today is the last day of January and the snow is pouring down again. I've had a fairly productive day, one that allows me to relax and let grace sink in this evening, in the company of family.

Waiting de-motivates me. All my effort concentrates on endurance. Do the next thing. And the next, and then the next. So, I haven't had anything worthwhile to write, and I absolutely don't want this blog to be mere catharsis.

Events have transpired: I got to paint my in-laws' kitchen finally! My sister visited and together we met up with dear old friends. Brett's work has been suspended until the company gets a bid, which means we have gotten to spend much time together and pay bills out of our savings for a little while. In the past five months we were denied by five lenders and the sixth approved us so we were able to make an offer on a house this last week, just when I was about to start apartment-hunting. A gift we are making led us to explore several local antique shops which are tantalizingly quaint, and to our happy amazement we have acquired an authentic ship's helm.

I think a snowy field is one of the most restful, potent sights in the world - not barren at all. With all due respect to poet Langston Hughes, I offer this modified sentiment as an expression of what it looks like to give our dreams over to the Author of life.

surrender dreams
for when dreams end
life is a broken-winged bird
that God will mend

relinquish dreams
for if dreams fail
life is a barren field
Spring shall unveil

The truth is, I need God to crush my dreams. I know this might sound harsh. But if I build my house upon the sand it will be washed away. This capacity to dream such vivid dreams is surely meant for more than my benefit alone. I may not want refinement, but I need it.

Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which Thou hast broken rejoice. Psalm 51:8

another name

If you couldn't tell: the snow makes me want to write.

I have also been reading, Betty Smith and Don Piper, but here is one quoteworthy:

"Come and have breakfast." said the Lamb in its sweet milky voice.

Then they noticed for the first time that there was a fire lit on the grass and fish roasting on it. They sat down and ate the fish, hungry now for the first time for many days. And it was the most delicious food they had ever tasted.

...

"Please, Aslan," said Lucy. "Before we go, will you tell us when we can come back to Narnia again? Please. And oh, do, do, do make it soon."

"Dearest," said Aslan very gently, "you and your brother will never come back to Narnia."

"Oh, Aslan!" said Edmund and Lucy both together in despairing voices.

"You are too old, children," said Aslan, "and you must begin to come close to your own world now."

"It isn't Narnia, you know," sobbed Lucy. "It's you. We shan't meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?"

"But you shall meet me, dear one," said Aslan.

"Are--are you there too, Sir?" said Edmund.

"I am," said Aslan. "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there."

-Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C. S. Lewis

Remodeling update: I was finally able to paint my in-laws' dining room walls today! Kitchen is still in progress, but a new stove is going to be delivered sometime this week. Brett had to work Saturday, and is at work now (Sunday), but then the plant won't have much to do for a few weeks, so he has to bank hours while he can (it'd be lovely if he got our anniversary off... *smile*). I am holding on to hope that I get to paint the kitchen before Christmas!

The Avalanche

I love living with my in-laws. Partly because they are two of the most awesome people on the planet, and partly because they let me help restore their hundred-year-old house.

When we moved into the back "apartment" of their home, we got to pull up the carpet, rip the wallpaper out, and paint it a lemony yellow. It's fun to experiment using someone else's walls. I just had to try it - and I love waking up to the sunshine shade - and now I want to try it in a bathroom when we get our own house.

For a few years now I've been developing a color palette for our Someday Anchor's Rest, built subtley around a ship theme, with white, red, and turquoise. Maybe seafoam. I don't want porthole windows and I refuse to use a single seashell, but I wouldn't mind an antique ship's helm lying around like some people keep old wagon wheels, and maybe if my curtains billow a little like masts it wouldn't be so bad...

...the semblance of our future galley?

This past week, however, my hands began to itch for a project, and Andrea had often mentioned how she had always wanted to remodel the kitchen but it had never really happened. Our bedroom sits directly above the kitchen, so I decided that stripping and painting would be no sweat, and Brian and Andrea were celebrating 30 years of marriage on August 23rd, so what better gift than a bright new room?

Little did I know what I had begun. As I picked ever-so-slowly at the wallpaper (which had cemented itself to the wall so permanently that hot water, DIF solution, oatmeal, and putty knives combined had little effect on removing the stuff), I discovered that underneath was a hodge-podge of surfaces around the kitchen. Brian took a look and within minutes was prying away at wallboard, trim, and plaster. Suddenly my project is taking on a slightly larger scale. A simple coat of fresh paint turned into a pass-through, new walls, new ceiling, and new countertops.

photos courtesy ASJ

The first photo is the current state of the kitchen. Notice how far I got stripping the old wallpaper? And the now-window-that-once-was-wall? Andrea likes the warm earthy tones in the second picture; we will see how it turns out! We picked up a design book and a pile of color samples, and while Brett ripped out more ceiling I made a collage out of the elements Andrea liked best. Her inspiration and centerpiece is the Carl Larson.

During all this, Norah wanted to express her creative side by drawing a face all by herself:

Norah's First Face!