Spring is in the air #operationlandscaping

I always find it hard to balance working on the inside projects versus outside projects.  So much to do but yet so little time. 

Jim and I dabbled in gardening while in Southie...rooftop container gardens were our jam.  So once we bought a house we were psyched about having a yard and imagining all of the grandiose gardening that would occur.  But we weren't too sure what to do about the landscaping around the house.  That was somewhat foreign to us.  Thank God for the web, books and knowledge from Jim's mom somehow we have been able to muddle through.

We pretty much removed all the old existing landscaping since most of it was dead anyways and it was too formal for my taste.  Jim and I cut down all the old shrubs then we had a company come in and remove the stumps.  Then we hit up all the end of season sales at a couple of local nurseries.  We saved a ton of money waiting till the fall to buy shrubs and plants since most places mark things down 30-50% off.  We planted all of them the day after the Halloween snow storm (thank God for the help of Jim's mom and Bob planting all those shrubs (about 30 total)...Jim was on crutches so he couldn't help...how convenient right???  Just kidding Jim!).  I still get twinges of soreness whenever I think back to that.

Anyhoo, it's been fun to see how things have taken off each year.  And each year we learn a little more.  And of course I'm always daydreaming of where I can create new gardens.

So here are some pictures of our landscaping in early April.  We've been working on a few things that I'll share in the near future.

This is an area right near our back door.  It our herb and boxwood garden.  We would eventually like to elevate this area and remove some of the boxwood's to another area of the yard and maybe add more herbs.  The goal with this garden is to hide the ugly bulkhead.  All of the herbs (with the exception of basil) survived the winter and are going strong.  We have thyme, lavender, mint, and oregano planted here.

This little perennial garden is on the side of our garage.  This area was just all grass that Jim and I dug up, laid a flagstone patio and re stained a bistro set that used to be my kitchen table when I lived by myself.  We would like too add more perennials in the future, add some twinkle lights and remove the swill pit. In this area we have climbing roses (those are what are climbing up the gray trellises), bleeding hearts, day lillies, foxglove, allium, irises, rosemary and some perennial I'm not sure the name of (oops!) 

The left hand side of the perennial garden.

This is the side of lady land that I have dubbed hydrangea row.  We have a blue hydrangea and the other two are peegee's.  I just love hydrangea's.

Still along Lady Land.  You can see the lone iris that was blooming.

Our new fence.  We have plans to add landscaping along the side of the fence.

This is behind the library.  We have a few rose bushes planted here along with some day lillies, and tick seed.

And our big, old, beautiful hydrangea tree. My favorite.

Along the side of the library.  Here we have a few rose bushes, a hydrangea bush and some wine and rose bushes planted.

The front right of the house.  We have a rhododendron, two azalea's and some boxwoods.  I would love to add a flowering tree in the corner to add some height to that area.  We also want to add more flowering shrubs at some point to give more color.

Looking at the front of the house.  More boxwood's and some tulips.  We were hoping for early bloom tulips to bring some much needed color but these tulips are late spring blooming.  We have to work on planting some early blooming buds in the fall.

To the left of the house....more boxwood's.  Don't mind the weeds.  They'll be gone when we mulch next weekend.

Our azalea is blooming already!

More boxwood and a rose of sharon.

And those things on the end that look like weeds are actually peonies!  Another one of my favorite flowers!  Can't wait till they bloom in a few short weeks!

And the front of the new fence.  We moved the urns that were on the front steps to here.  We have plans to dig up and create new landscaping all along the front of the gate so those urns will make sense in a few weeks.

And just some shots of some flowers that are blooming.  Below is of a tulip which is now bright pink and full.

And a Hyacinth and one lonely Pansie that seeded itself from last spring.  We didn't have much luck with the Hyacinth this year but I'll try again next year.

 And a blurry picture (I literally took about 50 pictures and they all look like this.  Amateur photographer right here!) of an iris.  Irises are just so stately. 

Right now we're battling dandelions.  I'll be back with how we are trying to overcome them.  Sadly, they are still winning.

Open shelving #kitchenrenovation

Hello?  Hello?  Anyone still reading this?  Long time no see!  We have been keeping busy with projects but some are taking longer than expected and quite honestly nothing worthy to blog about.  One of the projects in question that took a lot longer than we anticipated was the building of the open shelves in the kitchen. 

We knew we wanted to use wooden corbels and I really wanted antique ones but finding 12 matching ones in the dimensions we need proved to be a lot tougher (and costly!) than I thought.  We decided to check out the Unfinished Mill Store in Canton and wouldn't ya know they had corbels for $2.50 each!  I couldn't contain my excitement...corbels are at a cheap price and that I could paint??  I was sprinting to the register!

But of course we had to modify them due to the shelving's depth.  Our dinner plates are 11" deep so our shelves needed to be 12" deep.  But our corbels were only 6" deep.  Not gunna cut it.  The support brackets should be at least 2/3 the deep of the shelving unit.  So Jim came up with a brilliant but still attractive solution.  He took two pieces of wood that he ripped with his table saw (I even got to rip some boards!)  and then mitered the top board to make it look fancy.  I love the results!  Isn't Jim getting so handy??? 

Enough chit chat...below are the open shelves on either side of the window.  Ahhh I love them!  They totally complete the farmhouse chic look I was going for in the kitchen.

A view of the right side shelves.  Sooooo glad we decided on white dishes when we registered for our wedding 4.5 years ago (btw how has it been 4.5 years???).  I love the impact they have all grouped together and I love how we've added pieces through the years...all from different places but yet they all go together.

Close ups!  I tried to add some chotchkies on every shelf.  You know me and my chotchkies...A succulent in a green vase for a pop of color behind a milk bottle that Babci gave to Jim.

I saved the top shelves for lots of chotchkies (while still be practical).  Each piece has a story of how we got them...many were gifts, some we had before we were married and some I've bought from yard sales, thrift stores and antique stores.  The back gravy boat was off our wedding registry, front gravy boat is an iron stone piece I bought at the antique store that I love in NH, the covered casserole dish was a house warming gift (thanks Alison and Bob!), the white ceramic bread basket was a Christmas  gift from Mama Staunton and the stacked popcorn bowls were Jim's before we were married. 

A lil pop of color on the middle shelf with that orangey/coral canister (thanks Target clearance!).  Thinking of putting a tiny succulent in it for even more color.  Here is where our drinking and juice glasses along with our round bowls, corn on the cob dishes and serving dishes are stored.

Side view of the the left side shelves.  This is also a good picture of the corbels.  You can see where Jim mitered the top board.  I think they look like we bought them that way.

Another succulent (can you tell I love succulents!?  Also thanks Krissy!)  They're just sooooo easy to care for.  I hope they do Ok on the shelves since they won't be in direct sunlight. Behind it is another glass milk bottle from the dairy farm down the road from us. And our dinner plates and luncheon plates are stored here as well.

On the shelve above is our appetizer plates and our rectangle dinner dishes along with a blue gurgling cod that Mama Staunton got for Jim for Christmas.

And above are two more pieces of ironstone...the cake stand and the pitcher.  The cake stand I scored from Goodwill for $1!!!!  And the pitcher I scored from a yard sale for $2!!!!!!!!  Can you believe the deals I got on those???  Along with a mini strainer that Mama Horne gave us because she knows my love for all things mini (isn't it so cute?!), a french butter keeper (another Christmas gift from Mama Staunton) and a cloche I scored from Goodwill for $1.

We made the right side shelviing stop before the end of the peninsula so as not to hit anyone in the head when they sit down.

And since I'm a shortie I have to use this beauty to get things off the shelves.  Mama Staunton did give us her great uncle's step stool that I plan on painting a fun color to replace this.  But until then this works just fine!

Lots more projects in the works.  I'll be back with some yard work that's been going down.



Fridge Coasters #operationorganization

Does anyone find keeping your refrigerator clean such a battle and chore?  I sure do!  How do refrigerators get so dirty so quickly?  And when I start to think about how dirty my fridge is I get the shivers and close the door hoping the cleaning fairy will come clean it for me.  So far, she hasn't shown up. 

So with the arrival of the new beverage center I thought it would time to fun up our fridge and clean it out.  I know it's fairly new but for some reason it already had crumbs in it.  Annoying! 

Here's a few before shots of the fridge.  Looking pretty sparse huh?

Pickles and Sprite Zero anyone?

Condiments, juice and milk on one side.

Our fridge is on the smaller size so my quest is make good use out of each and every square inch of this fridge. 

But I'll get to that later.  Check out these fun fridge liners.  There's a party going on in my fridge!

Aren't they fun?

I purchased them from a company call Fridge Coasters.  They are made up of recycled materials and you should replace them periodically as they get stained.  They are made of a cardboard like material.  But the great thing about them is no stain to clean on the actual fridge because let's face it, cleaning the drawers and compartments of the fridge is less than my idea of a good time.  So anyway to make the process easier is a win in my book.  Plus I mean look at the fridge, doesn't it make you smile?  They come in various sizes to fit your type of fridge. 
Next up, organizing the fridge.

Let's talk...beverage centers

Well our last appliance to purchase has arrived and is in! 

 

We, well ok ok, Jimmmm, did a lot of research on it.  We went back and forth about purchasing a wine fridge vs. a beverage center.  A wine fridge can either be just for whites or it can be a dual zone wine fridge that holds whites and reds and houses them at their appropriate temperatures.  The more we debated the options the more we leaned towards a beverage center.  A beverage center basically has a couple wine racks as well as some shelves where you can store beer, water, soda, etc.  It just seemed more flexible and more importantly would free up valuable refrigerator space. 

 

So beverage center it was. 

 

Jim and I both would pop in independently and together at the Yale Appliance Outlet Center in search of a beverage center.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find the deal of the century there.  Jim, the crafty researcher he is, found a website where Perlick (the Arien of wine fridges/beverage centers) sells discounted/floor models.  Lo and behold, we found "the deal of the century" for a Perlick beverage center (you'll typically see Perlick at restaurants and bars as these are mainly commercial items).  Just a call to Perlick and we had the item within a few days.  Jackpot! 

 

It is a panel ready and it is technically an ADA compliant beverage center so it's a tad shorter than normal but it was nothing that a filler panel couldn't fix.  And since it's panel ready + wrong pantry door cabinets that we got to keep once the new ones were installed = Jim's gotta another project added to his honey do list!

 

Finally the beer has a home!  And it looks all neat and tidy!

 

The two wine racks...and apparently Vitamin Water racks too...told ya it's a multi tasker!

The full shot.  Ain't it something??   Just wait till it has its panel on it...

 

 

 

 

We love it and I love the space we have back in our fridge.  We are ready for a party at a moments notice!  The pantry is inching there, little project by little project.

 

Paint radiator cover same color as cabinets

Paint shelves and shelving trim same color as cabinets

Select a wall color

Paint the walls

Install pendant light

Install crown moulding

Paint the trim

Paint the pocket door

Install the beverage center

Get the new cabinet doors (as they sent us the wrong ones originally) and install the chicken wire

Organize and pretty up the cabinets and shelves

Make a window treatment

Fix window trim

Make and install panel for beverage center

 

Finally! New doors and hardware #pantryrenovation

The new doors are in!  The new doors are in!  AND the knobs are installed!  Ok ok so the doors look slightly horrid right now especially since food is just thrown in there haphazardly and there's nothing in the middle of the doors but just wait till they have chicken wire in the middle....oooooh ooooh these suckers are going to go from ugly things to shining bright like a diamond cabinets.  Stick with us to see the project through and you'll be able to see my vision.

Close up of the knobs...all antiquey brass and white shiny ceramic knobs.  I love them and I think they compliment the pulls.

Small things happening but as I type this Jim is working away on the pantry.  Whata guy! 

AND I get to partially cross something off the list!  Ahhhh God I love crossing things off...even if it is just partially:

Paint radiator cover same color as cabinets

Paint shelves and shelving trim same color as cabinets

Select a wall color

Paint the walls

Install pendant light

Install crown moulding

Paint the trim

Paint the pocket door

Install the beverage center

Get the new cabinet doors (as they sent us the wrong ones originally) and install the chicken wire

Organize and pretty up the cabinets and shelves

Make a window treatment

Fix window trim

Finishing touches #kitchenrenovation

Our general contractor came back from his vacation and finished up a few things.  One of them being the dishwasher panel.  We got the incorrect sized panel in the original cabinet order and it takes about a three week wait to get the corrected cabinet so needless to say we had one naked dishwasher....poor thing!  But it's naked no more thanks to a fancy new panel and pull.  I love how it blends seamlessly with the other cabinets.  And of course I love the chance to use the pull again.

 

 

 

 

The cabinet baseboards were installed.  Just that little detail makes the cabinets look more complete.

 

 

 

And I duck taped where our open shelves will go on either side of the window.  They'll be about 12" deep with wooden corbels holding them up.  The top shelf is higher up but this is where I'll put less used items like serving platters and pitchers.  Looking to the right of the window.

 

 

To the left of the window.

 

And a full on shot.  And yes those are dishes and glasses on our counters.  They're there for now until we get those bad boys installed. 

 

 

Still lots of to do's that is now on our shoulders.  Here's a project breakdown to keep us accountable:

• Make open shelves
• Paint open shelves
• Hang open shelves
• Paint crown moulding
• Paint back of peninsula
• Hang roman shade
• Finish under the upper cabinet of the coffee station
• Paint trim
• Second coat of paint on chimney
• Touch up wall

Till the next time!

Drawer liners #operationorganization

Renovating the kitchen was a great excuse to finally organize it once we moved everything back in.  I never really had the motivation to organize the kitchen when we first moved in since we knew we would eventually be renovating it.  If I had known it would take us three years to pull the trigger on the renovation I probably would have done a better job unpacking and organizing when we first moved in.  Hindsight is 20/20 though right?

Well, we're taking advantage of the fresh start and putting time and thoughtful consideration into where things will live.  I'm sure it will be a constant evolution until we find a system that works for us but in the mean time I'm having fun with it and looking for more ways to inject some fun, colors and texture into our otherwise neutral kitchen.

So off to Sewfisticated I went in search of three different patterned fabric in fun colors.  Now it's a party every time you open a drawer.  I just measured the insides of the drawers, cut out the dimensions on the fabric and covered the fabric with clear contact paper I picked up at Staples.

It was easy to do, just time consuming.  And it's far from perfect but I'm okay with it...trying to live by the motto of it doesn't have to be perfect to be pretty...anything that makes me smile gets an A in my book.

This fabric is my favorite.  There's just something about it.

We're still working on what will go in the drawers and a little more organization is in order for inside the actual drawers. 

Last night Jim made some amazing chicken tacos on the range.  Isn't it so pretty and fun?  It's so nice to have the kitchen again and have fresh, homemade cooked meals. We're also having fun using serving pieces that were such a pain to get to in the old kitchen.