Potager Entrance: One Year Later

Last year I had big plans for the entrance to the potager.

Iris behind lavender behind lamb’s ear. The large bush is lilac.

Unfortunately we killed one of the lilac bushes died. Otherwise the entrance to the potager is starting to take shape.

Viewed from behind the potager fence the iris are blooming.

We’ve derusted, painted and erected part of the fence that was salvaged from here.

Step around the fence and the view changes.

Spring in Maryland is soooo gorgeous.  Plants that have died back in winter shoot forth with great elegance.

Lamb’s ear in front, lavender in the middle and iris at the back of the potager entrance bed.

The iris have grown and bloomed.

The vista through the garden to the Wee Little House at the back of the yard.

The lamb’s ear are lush.

The downward arrow points to lamb’s ear and the 3 unlabeled arrows are first year lavender plants. The boxwoods are ready to put in wooden planters.

The lavender is budding and by next year the plants should fill in the gap between the front and back of the potager entrance.

Compare my crude drawing from a year ago to the garden entrance’s natural beauty.

We’re so blessed to watch God’s hand at work.

When you look back over past plans how do they measure up?

New Shelves in an Inconspicuous Spot

We have a darling shed that we call the Wee Little House which holds a lot of necessary-but-I-don’t-want-it- in-the-house stuff. And we’ll be storing house items that are in the way during our planned renovation.

The shed is flanked by developing woodland gardens.

One of the worst areas of disarray is the side where the mower and gardening tools are stored.

The downhill side of the shed has sliding barn doors to allow access for large items.

After we took apart the catchall closet in the front hall we had some nice lumber to make shelves so I suggested Charlie put some in  ”his” part of the shed.

When the doors are open it’s clear this area could be put to better use.

The sides are hiding all nature of clutter.

This looks like a Dr. Seuss topsy-turvey stack.

Once cleaned out, the side alcove was the perfect place for some shelves.

The cross members provided a head start on the shelf installation.

Using the structural elements of the shed walls to hold the shelves Charlie carefully cut and notched the lumber to make permanent shelves tucked into one side.

Three sturdy shelves in place.

Oddly enough once the shelves were built a lot of the clutter just disappeared.

Shelves are a good start but a few special purpose hangers would be useful.

On the other side he has assembled the long-handled tools: shovels, picks, rakes, etc.

The long-handled tools could be stored on the wall along with our wooden ladder.

And we got rid of the snow blower  and some old jugs of oil which we had never used.

What gives you the impetus to CLEAN UP?

Peg in the Wee Little House

We keep most of our tools in the Wee Little House which could be a lovely potting shed if ’twere not for the tools all over the place.

The shed wall has some room for storage since I moved the metal shelves to the Cottage.

Charlie had come across some used pieces of peg board along with a myriad of attachments for holding various tool.

Old but usable pegoard

I painted the board with some navy spray paint and Charlie screwed them securely into the wall of the shed.

We just screwed these pegboards to the wall.

Then we both got busy trying to figure out the best way to sort the tools and hang them onto the wall.

Peg boards can hold a large variety of items.

I’m pretty sure we’ll be tweaking this project for years to come. I think we should put a frame around it.  I’m not sure Charlie see the point.

We can use the trim we took from around the front hall closet to frame the pegboard.

I also think we should get rid of some of these tools. Another difference in point of view. Oh, well.

Do you own multiples of handy items? Do you ever let them go?

Getting Rid of 50 More: Shedding 10

I started my second 101 tasks in 1001 days on November 14, 2011. Item #49 is “Get rid of 100 things”.  In 2012 we lightened ourselves of 50 items seen in these 5 posts. Here, here, here, here, and here.

A whole load of yard clutter including the safe heading for the metal recycler.

Since we’re halfway to the goal I’m energized to get rid of stuff here and now starting with clearing out some drawers. I will count items from the same drawer as one item. Let’s the drawering begin.

1.  I removed a large box of old papers from a four-drawer filing cabinet.  Rather than show another box of paper (and it was a big one) here’s the now neat and ready-to-use drawer. (I actually finished the whole cabinet – 4 drawers.)

Naturally I already have plans for the drawers in this cabinet.

2.  Charlie donated one of his unused keyboard stands to church.  It’s out of here.

It doesn’t look like much but opened to an X-shape a sturdy keyboard stand is essential.

3.  A soldering iron which no longer works. Don’t worry we have at least 2 more.

This soldering iron is plugged in but not heating up.

4. We’ve been storing partially filled jugs of oil in the shed. Not any more.

Why were we saving these?

5. I’m not exactly sure what this Plexiglas window was used for but I listed it on Craigslsit for free.  Maybe somebody wants it. (Two quick responses from the Craigslist posting sent this home with a teacher who’s using it in a theatrical production.)

We have no use for this lightweight window.

6.  Vintage louvered bi-fold doors from our former junk closet.  We were sending them to the ReStore but our theatre teacher (see #5) took those also. Woo-hoo.

Extra tall louvered doors are just what someone has been looking for.

7.  Snow blower with no key. Supposedly this machine works but we really wouldn’t use it anyway (because Charlie likes to play in the shovel snow) so a friend of ours who knows all about machines (and has some spare keys) has agreed to take it off our hands.

This snow blower was tucked in the shed where we need room for more useful items.

8. Our demolition rubble pile is history.

Nothing left except our fieldstone and some concrete dust.

9.  I worked on this strawberry pot last year but decided (since the bottom was broken out) to get rid of it. It cracked into a dozen chards which were trashed.

The chives bloomed and the violas cascaded from their holes but this pot is history at The Glade.

10.  An old working (but not well) electric broom with a broken handle. We actually have about 4 or 5 different style vacuum cleaners so this one is rubbish.

Superbroom . . . history.

Ta-dah.

Do you save or toss?

Storing Vases, Hmmm?

Last week I took apart and packed up our catchall closet.

The closet is empty now but the vases needed a special storage spot.

Everything was either boxed up or put away except for the vases and large bowls which are difficult to pack because of their bulkiness and fragility.

One of the bowls that needed a storage spot.

I found the perfect spot. We have a cabinet in the shed which (I had forgotten) was almost empty.

Vintage wood cabinet has deep shelves, perfect for vases.

Now it’s full of vases, planters, and large bowls.

The closet is fill and the glassware is protected.

Of course, after I packed the cabinet up Charlie said he had been planning to use that space for his tools.  Oh, well. Early bird catches the worm.

The beginning of organization. Woo hoo!

Now the vases are packed in the Wee Little House, the shutters are lined up, and we’re clearing the clutter out of the house.

What are you putting away for safe keeping?

Etsy Ribbon

I ordered some of this ribbon

Black and white diagonal stipe ribbon

which is associated with this blog post.

Can you see a similarity?

Yes, I have another idea.

Are your ideas so complicated that they must come together in multiple steps from a variety of sources? Or is your life simpler than that?

The Glade – Retro Edition

The Glade was built in 1946. At that time it was a tiny place: 3 upstairs rooms and a kitchen and living room downstairs.

The original house was tiny and we’re not sure of the kitchen’s configuration.

About 50 years ago someone added a two-story room at the back of the house.

The addition (shown in the picture as the room with the blue bed) was added in the 1960s.

When we took out the front closet to make way for a doorway from the back of the house to the front we discovered these things:

• some old wallpaper,
• the original baseboards, and
• linoleum tile.

Here is the style from the late forties or early fifties in our formerly tiny house which is destined to grow even larger.

We found this 3 inch wide strip of wallpaper from the late ’40s or ’50s.

We uncovered wallpaper in the front of the house which oddly enough is in my color palette. The palette had been totally changed by the time I moved in in 1997.

A close-up of the wallpaper shows the simulation of a nubby weave with shades of grey, green and white.

Then there’s the baseboard which appears to be a 1 by 4 board with a decorative trim piece on the top and shoe molding in front.

The baseboard is trapped behind a powder room stud which means that wall was not original.

I love this old style baseboard. Someone had replaced most of it with scanty door trim.

This narrow door trim (leaning next to the door) has also been used for baseboard.

Maybe one day I can recreate this substantive molding in the entire house.  My immediate goal is to add something like it to the new construction.

The original linoleum tile is still on the floor and looks grey with years of grime on it.

Finally the linoleum tile which was filthy dirty washed up to be a swirly warm grey with some ochre and green mixed in.

This was probably the kitchen tile which goes well with the wallpaper swatch above.

I really enjoy trying to figure out how the house originally looked.  I’m sure the house historians that do this for historical and other important residences have a great time putting their research to good use.

Does your house have a structural history? Design history?