Front door

When we moved in to this house, the front door was red and the back door and side doors were bright royal blue, the shade of blue you see all over Greece on the domes of churches. I had planned to replace these door colors eventually but we continued to disagree on door color. My mom wanted eggplant or blue, Kevin wanted brown or red and I wanted green. Then this summer in the blazing heat and humidity, the front door began peeling, first a red layer and then a blue layer of paint until we were left with a metal door that was primed only.

Ugh! All the paint peeled off, leaving behind white primer. I sanded the door with the orbital sander and then painted it.

It was time to do something about the door color and perhaps conveniently, my husband was out of town and therefore, didn't get much of a say in the color I selected. He was home though to watch the kids play in the sandbox while I painted it.

The color is Forestwood by Sherwin Williams and I think it coordinates very well with the exterior of the home as well as the new muted brown stain on the deck. So far I've painted the front door and the back door, inside and out but the deck door is still eagerly waiting its turn.

Compostalicious

We really like compost around here. Any of my plants that grow outside in our garden flourish in it, especially when compared to the plants in my greenhouse that are grown from organic soil arriving in bags from Agway.

There are many styles of composting, usually dependent on the composter. I happen to be a lazy composter - that is, the type of gardener who piles things into the compost and lets them simmer on low for a full year, without doing a thing. The chickens are very helpful in this department, as they regularly till the compost with their capable feet, seeking bits of food scraps and juicy worms to supplement their diet.

The old scrap wood compost bin on the left and the new scrap wood compost bin on the right. Once we till last year's compost into the garden soil this fall, we'll face both the bins in the same direction.

But one thing we do not like about composting with chickens is that they flatten out the pile so that instead of a neat mound of compost, (with a hot middle) you end up with bits of corn husk blowing around your lawn after the chickens have clawed through it. So, it was time for me to build another compost bin. With the slim bits of scrap wood left over in our barn for the task, it was much more of a challenge this time than last time. I solved the problem by using a middle support beam so that I could use smaller scraps of wood. I still need to add one or two thin boards to the bin. Kevin shoveled and raked up all the compost, which was as rich and dark on the bottom as chocolate cake, into the new bin. Let's hope it holds up for a good few years against the chickens!

Catching up

You may be wondering why you haven't heard from us in so long. Some of the reasons include, William was sick for 7 weeks this summer, although not continuously, Savannah has been busy with various summer camps, Kevin has been busy with a new position he accepted at work which has kept him traveling, and I've been busy trying to juggle everything from a sick baby, full-time work, a daughter who needs to be driven all over the place, a husband who has been away, house guest after house guest, and a million other garden and farm things that needed my attention (and on a small enough amount of sleep that I'm sure it qualifies as sleep deprivation, which makes me a little loopy and cranky).

Some of the things we've completed this summer include refinishing and staining the deck, a chore my mother mainly took on herself with some help from Kevin. We love the new deck stain (Tugboat by Behr), which complements the house siding color and the natural colors of the outdoors. We hope this will give us three more years on a deck that will eventually need replacing.

Here's the deck before, with paint peeling off, a view from afar.

Note the blue door that is also about to go...

Also, there was Savannah's play fort, a gift to her for her birthday from Mommy (who built it from scratch) and Daddy (who paid for the cedar lumber).

The playfort stage 1 is a success.

It doubles as a pirate lair.

Doesn't she look smashing as a pirate!?

Her other birthday gift was the adoption of a pair of two-year old female guinea pigs, a privilege she earned by being responsible for so long. She calls them Butterscotch and Katie (aka Fraidy Katie), who tends to be a bit more nervous about life than her sister. First I built them an indoor cage.

30" by 45" indoor cage made from cube grids and coroplast.

After Savannah read all about guinea pig care, she told me they needed an outdoor hutch or play area so I first built an A-frame structure for the girls that we moved around during the day to give them plenty of fresh grass to eat.

A-frame for the guinea girls made from scrap wood, hardware cloth and chicken wire.

Then I discovered that guinea pigs can be housed outdoors for much of the year in our climate so I built them their own proper hutch, which contains a metal cage that can be moved from the hutch to the ground so they can nibble on fresh grasses.

Savannah feeds the girls fresh hay.

Blue skies on the farm.

Kevin didn't like the first model of the hutch, which I just built from imagination, no plan in writing first, so I added a back wall to give them further protection from the wind and rain (what rain???) and provide more shade during the day. Since the guinea pigs can't nibble on the wooden frame of the hutch, which I constructed all from scrap wood, I decided to stain it the same color as our deck so it will weather better. Now the guinea girls stay outside all day and night unless the temp drops below 60F. Their droppings fall down the bottom and can be added directly to the compost pile behind them and Savannah brings them crab apples and treats and holds them.

Fancy outdoor living for the guinea girls.

Complete with the Kevin-approved rear wall for added protection.

Time marches on

As William has been busy growing teeth, his big sister has been busy working on her first loose tooth, which last night, became her first missing tooth.

Savannah's first missing tooth!

It took her a while to decide if she wanted to keep it or let the tooth fairy take it, but she finally decided to let the tooth fairy have it. She was repaid for the favor with some sparkly dollar bills and a fairy dusted certificate of her first lost tooth.

William in the meantime is busy walking everywhere and of all the hobbies to take up, his new favorite is cleaning. Here he is cleaning the top of the wood stove with a clean wet wipe. He also takes toilet paper, wets it in the sink and cleans out the sink basin. Funny little fellow!

Above all he loves to copy his big sister.  Here they are "reading" together on the sofa, a new part of our daily routines.

Floating shelves

For too long I've been working on these floating shelves. I built the shelf arm supports a few weeks ago then put the sleeves on hold for two reasons. One is that my little guy was sick and has needed me 24 hours a day so there was no escaping for mommy to the garage. The other is that I was afraid to get started with rip cuts on my circular saw, mainly because the directions include so many warnings about things that can go wrong...and the saw is heavy, not exactly a girl friendly tool but a necessary one.

 Here are the frames hanging out in the garage on Sunday.

And finally here they are screwed into studs on the first floor, awaiting their sleeves, which were drying in between coats of paint in the garage. The new shelves are intended to display my daughter's artwork and her slowly growing collection of awards. I wanted a way to quickly change out her artwork since she creates it regularly in her weekly private art lessons and I don't have the room (or the intention) to drill holes in all the walls to hang everything up.

Now Savannah has her own "art gallery" and she can display her karate belts and trophies.

You can find these floating shelf plans are from Ana at Knock-off wood. Thanks Ana!

A grownup picnic table

One more item on my "build" list has been crossed off. I started building an adult size picnic table using plans from Ana at Knock-off Wood last weekend and finished in less than a week (that's with two kids running circles around me, allergies, work, and a million other projects that are in various stages of progress at the moment). When it was all done, we hauled it out to the shady area near our largest maple tree and enjoyed our first dinner outdoors together. This was a big improvement for the little guy who, upon finishing his dinner, got to crawl around in the grass and play in his sandbox, instead of throwing blueberries on my oriental dining room rug...

Because we already had the paint, I decided to also paint the adult version in cilantro, just like the Big Kids' version I made last month. Hmm, reusing the outdoor paint I already had, how very green of me. (Hee, hee!)

My mom helped me with the kiddos while I was building and sanding, and also helped me paint the table boards and hold the leg supports in place as I predrilled the holes for the deck screws. I modified Ana's plans only slightly because I thought a 5 foot long table was too small. This one is 6 feet long and a bit of a challenge for little me to move with a helper. Instead of spray painting with two topcoats of Rustoleum's clear enamel for outdoor use, I painted it on this time. I will definitely paint my topcoats in the future, the enamel goes exactly where you want it to and nowhere else,it's faster and easier to handle with less fumes.

Thanks Ana for providing so many great plans! Turns out I love building things and enjoy the smell of fresh pine sawdust, which is a good thing since these days I'm pretty much finding it everywhere... (think of all the places you  find sand after the baby plays in the sandbox and you'll get the idea!)

Piano table

My daughter has been taking music classes this year from The Music Studio in Albany. This program is definitely one of the jewels of our area and we are lucky to have discovered it so early. Savannah loves her classes and practicing on her keyboard at home. Up until now, this has been her keyboard at home...

Yes, I know, it's on the floor of her bedroom so she has to sit down and sort of bend over to practice. And when her little brother decides to attend one of her "concerts" he ends up crawling all over it and inevitably pushes the button to play "Livin' la Vida Loca" at high volume.

A week ago I decided to design my own piano table for her. I built it on Mother's Day and finished it today. It's 24" high and 36" wide and 15" deep to accommodate the keyboard and the space in her room beneath her window. The legs and aprons are 1" x 3" but beneath the aprons are 2" x 2" supports. The top is made from two 1" x 8" pine boards.

Here it is, ready to move into its new home this afternoon! I think she already has enough pink going on in her room, so I painted it with two coats of white paint and two of a satin enamel. The white paint is Sherwin-Williams' Harmony, a no-VOC paint that's great for environmentally minded people and for painting indoors since there are no fumes.

And the after photograph! I'm so relieved my measurements and design plan worked out. There's just one little thing...I forgot to build her a piano bench! But, I bet you can guess what I'll be building next.

Modern farmhouse bench

I finally finished my modern farmhouse bench. I built the bench during one William nap, but have been "finishing" it ever since.This bench has impressed me with how solid it is. It is only 37" wide to fit the 38" wide hallway.

I wanted a walnut type finish but after four coats of an oil-based stain, I still wasn't happy with the results. Oil-based stains are not nice to work with in my opinion. The volatile chemicals in them require wearing a NIOSH mask and because it's important that the piece remain dust-free while you're staining it, you basically must stain your work indoors, but because you need really good ventilation, the only truly safe place you can do this work, is inside the garage with the doors open. And then after each application it continues to stink for hours. I love the look of stained wood and will try a water-based stain next time I have the hankering for that look. I also like how easy it is to work with and the changing nature of it. If it's not what you envisioned, you can always add another coat.

Finally, I bought a can of walnut spray paint and dusted over the stain with the paint. Then I sanded once more with 120 grit and ended with two coats of an indoor semi-gloss coat. It still needs a colorful pillow or a basket of books beneath it, the window needs some sort of curtain header and the wall, which is recently painted needs pictures and perhaps a floating shelf or two or three...but here it is in the home it was built for.

Here's my lovely bench sitting in the garage back in April, waiting for me to finish it.

Kevin was patient about not parking in the garage for two weeks and didn't make a big stink about my unfinished project that was taking longer than expected. The plans for this bench come from Ana at Knock-Off Wood. Mine is modified to fit a much smaller space though. I wanted a bench to fit at the end of this little-used hallway where there's a nice window view. I recently painted the hallway with Sherwin-Williams "baguette" in Harmony, which is a no-VOC paint, and plan to hang some pictures and redo the trim work in the hall, which I discovered was plastic, sometime this month. Then perhaps it will truly be a finished project!

Update May 22, 2010: Here is the bench in its finished reading nook.

William is one!

My baby turned one today! For his birthday I made him an over-sized fire engine red sandbox. I held up the paint samples in the store and this was the one he chose. He loves it!

William climbed inside before I even had the chance to fill it with sand. The black cloth is weed cloth that I stretched across the bottom of the sandbox and stapled in place. It permits water to run through it but will prevent the weeds from growing through the sandbox over time.

The frame is constructed from 2" x 12" non-treated pine and the sandbox is 6ft x 6ft. I hadn't yet added the corner seats, but got to it in the afternoon. The corner seats are 2" x 4" picnic bench-style seating, which is big enough for adults and creates extra support. Under the corner seat you might see the snaps I screwed in to the side. A tarp snaps into place to cover it up to keep animals, debris and rain water out. (I designed and constructed the sandbox myself!)

As I filled it, the kids jumped in and got to work with their sand toys.

Savannah was thrilled when I added her little digger. William likes to help fill the bucket. He also likes to throw sand out of the sandbox...

William enjoyed it so much, he thought it might be the perfect place to take his afternoon nap.

Maybe not! At least with a binky in his mouth, he doesn't put sand in his mouth.

For his birthday we ate some of his favorite foods; eggs and pear for breakfast, edamame, oranges and pasta for lunch.

And there was a cake... strawberry cake with fresh strawberry cream frosting and vanilla pudding, made from scratch.

William actually liked his first bite of cake and had five or six bites, clapping in between, which means either he likes it or "more" in his version of ASL.

We practiced our walking (William takes 1-2 steps on his own and then quickly holds onto something as we cheer him on), went swimming in the pond, had a paddle boat ride, played in the sandbox three times, and patted the chickens. The only thing missing was a tractor ride for the birthday boy, but we can save that for next weekend. Happy First Birthday Baby!

Swisher lawn

It takes an extraordinary amount of time to mow the lawn around our homestead, even on the riding mower. Of course this is time that could be better spent playing with the children, the chickens, or both. Kevin's solution to cut his mowing time in less than half, is a Swisher trail mower.

I know, "swisher" is a terrible name, reminiscent of horse tails swatting at flies, or windshield wipers on a bus, but the contraption, however named, is clever and works well. It attaches behind the John Deere and is offset so Kevin can mow a width of about 100" at a time. He bought it used and saved about $600 this way.

With all this free time, why not take the kids for a paddle boat ride around the pond?