A Temporary Inconvenience

With the majority of the Phase 1 projects complete it's time to start planning for Phase 2 which will include the laundry room and powder room.  Our powder room is TINY and very dated.  About a year ago I found a copper vessel sink on clearance at Lowe's and knew that I wanted to use it in the powder room.  What we didn't know is what the base was going to look like.  The vanity it small and we don't love the position.  Andy wanted to mock up a few options so he started demolition.

We discovered several layers of wallpaper, paint and flooring.

The original base design was similar to what was there previously but without the cabinet door on the bottom. We thought it was just OK but decided to try an option that would extend left, toward the door, to provide more counter space and fill an otherwise useless space between the wall and vanity.

Andy mocked up a narrow, rectangular vanity with a rounded base under the sink.  The final top will be a bit more free-form and will transition from the flat, rectangular section to the rounded front more gradually. But the mockup was good enough for us to picture the final product and keep moving forward with the demolition.

With the room cleared out Andy removed the drywall behind the vanity.  We plan to tile this entire wall floor to ceiling so the drywall will be replaced with new backer board.  It also makes some of the plumbing and electrical work a bit easier.

With the wall out Andy got to work on the floor and discovered several levels of flooring.

And now it looks like this. We ordered our tile last week so hopefully we'll start work on the new powder room in the next few weeks.

Weekend Mini-Projects

While Andy had the chainsaw out a few weeks ago we decided to remove some old boxwoods.  We want to do some work in the backyard next spring and so it made sense to take advantage of the fall yard waste pickup since the Township only picks up in the fall.

While he was working on tying up the branches we discovered two snakes.  The bigger one (2+ feet) was too quick (and scary) so I only got a picture of the tail.  

The smaller one (maybe 18") went out in the grass.

And then after all of the snake excitement he managed to get the new knobs on the bookcase doors that I previously painted.

Amazon Green

After what seemed like months of samples and trips to paint stores we decided on a color for our new front door.  The door was installed in January but we needed to wait for warmer weather to paint.  It took me so long to pick a color and find time to paint it that I almost missed my chance. We decided on a Benjamin Moore Color called Amazon Green but I think it looks more teal.

Here's the original door.

And the new door after it was installed in January.

Andy took all of the hardware off more me before I painted.

And it looked like this after two coats of paint.

A Little Trimming

We have a dogwood tree out back that we never really liked.  It's not a bad tree but it doesn't get enough sun to get more than a few blooms, it had been neglected for several years before we bought the house, and now it has scale.  It could have just used a trim but we have started to work on some plans for the backyard and decided that it just needed to go.  Plus, Andy loves any excuse to use his chainsaw.

Andy had to cut a replacement piling top for the shore so he was excited to get working.

Then he got right to cutting down the largest branches.

The tree got smaller...

And smaller.

Until there was just the main trunk left.

TIM....

BER....

He had to dig out around the stump to cut as much as possible.

And in about an hour we had one less tree and lots of bundles of branches for the yard waste pick-up in a few weeks.

Now we just need some grass.  

Cool or Creepy (Part 3)

We have some snake wannabes. You see, we have worms, lots and lots of worms.  But they are approaching small snake size and I'm finding it hard to still like them.

And worm poop -- I had no idea. Do you know they leave these little mounds and that people actually collect and use to make (for lack of a better description) "poop-juice" to use as fertilizer? Or to be politically correct, Worm Casting Tea.

These piles are everywhere -- our garden, our yard, around the base of trees, under the bark of dead trees.  It's certainly not a bad thing.  I just wish there was a little less of it. So now if you see these piles you will know the dirty truth.

This one was close to 12" all stretched out.  Definitely more snake than worm!