Our Old House

Even with all of the big projects going on inside the house.. we have found a few minutes for some projects outside.
We have lots of plant life trying to take over our yard... we found a way to corral a few of them.

Our poor wisteria didn't even look like it was going to survive the winter, let alone have a place to climb. These trellises were on sale at Jerry's.

When we moved into the house, this rose bush was taking over the porch. I have tried to keep it under control, but it likes to run wild. Hopefully the trellis will help a bit.

One of the first things you see when you pull up to a house, is often the mailbox. Our mailbox was old and leaky. We had more wet mail than not this last winter. The post was rotting and was listing to the east. We propped it up with rocks, but it was determined to lean lean lean! 

So now, we have a new pretty (non-leaky) mailbox...

It stands up strait!

pretty!

So a little back story. As we have discussed in previous blogs, our family room is a total mess. We have it totally striped to the studs. After a lot of different ideas, we have decided to take it back to it's original intention and return it to a garage. it means storage, and it might even be dry storage when we get the roof fixed!

So anyway, this left us trying to figure out options for a 'study' area for AnJ and I when we go back to school. Janet and I have been convinced that The Master Bedroom was once two rooms. And everyone knows that a 3 bedroom house is worth more than a 2 bedroom house.. even with a garage. So.... guess we get to do more demo!

 The good news is... we were right.

Look ma... its a hole in the wall!

A threshold.

So now that it's open, let's put a door in it.

This is now an empty doorway to the soon to be "Library." We took the door and frame to put in the bedroom.

Woo HOO! Now there is a door!

So what was up there.......

ended up down here. So far we have three contractor sized black garbage bags full!

So old house, old paint, old plaster... when we started out, we were just going to smooth the texture. Then the paint started coming off.	.

It's hard, dirty work, but much easier with our favorite tool!

And of course when you start messing with old plaster... it tends to fall apart.