House Pictures

The long awaited update with pictures has arrived - it's like you've won a giveaway isn't it?

It's been so long - where to start....let's see.....
The middle of February Dan finished the trim on the windows. He stained it the same as the outside siding - thinking it would be cool to tie the outside with the inside. After he'd finished it just didn't set right with me...maybe because there wasn't any of that color on the inside - maybe it made that wall look like an exterior wall...I just couldn't put my finger on why... So the little critter in my head responsible for scheming starting working quietly in the corner of my mind. Keep your eye on the fireplace to the left in the picture - we'll get back to that later.

With the windows done and the pendant light installed it was time to remove the scaffolding and get to work on the flooring. As expected without the monstrosity of scaffolding the great room looked huge - hence the name great meaning large as opposed to the interpretation I'm accustomed to when referring to myself - fantastic!!! Ha Ha Ha!

Dan enlisted the assistance of child labor to help.

After a few lessons she was on her way!

We had a consultant
and a government inspector.

It was all very meticulous work!


Back to the fireplace. I decided that what it needed was a touch of copper. Actually I got the idea last summer when redoing my sister's kitchen at Windy Meadows. We did a venetian plaster in Sherwin Williams Sweet Cream (very light creamy orange) above the chair rail and the bottom was Chivalry Copper. I added some highlights on the copper with metallic paint. It turned out so well her husband asked me to do a treatment in blue for the bathroom....anyway I fell in love with the copper but couldn't get Super Hubby on board when I slipped it in as a color choice for our kitchen/dining area. So like a good wife, I put the idea aside waiting for a target of opportunity.

After we picked out the house colors Super Hubby agreed with me that the fireplace needed to be a darker color until we could get it stoned. Unfortunately he picked a color to close to the wall color and it would have looked like a mis-die lot. So he agreed that I could go darken it up.....I waited and thankfully I did because with the window trim a redwood color I had my inspiration to use the copper and tie it all in. This turned out harder than I thought - when I showed Mr. Sherwin Williams the color I wanted to change the already tinted can to - he shook his head. Something about that color being a light base with some black in the color made it impossible to go to the Chivalry Copper which was a dark base with some other dark color. What we got was a muddy pumpkin. That's Super Hubby applying it and mumbling under his breath that he didn't like it. I had not revealed that it was only step one! Back to the paint store portion of the story....I had Mr. Sherwin Williams open the metallic and see what it looked like over the muddy pumpkin - I loved it! So home I went with a gallon of Muddy Pumpkin and two quarts of Metallic Copper.

Super Hubby cut in the pumpkin as mentioned and then just finished it all since it was mostly ladder work. He kept hoping it would look better in the morning - boy what a shock he was in for!
He went back to tiling - our child labor lost interest after about three tiles. Which was a good thing because the pattern is really complicated - the schematic had to be posted on the wall for reference.


I woke up at 4am to put on the first coat of Metallic Copper - goodbye Muddy Pumpkin. Hello roller marks!

I started rehearsing my speech for when Super Hubby saw it. "Don't worry Dear, it's only the base coat, it's supposed to look blotchy". I got my chance a few hours later and Super Hubbies response was "but is it supposed to look amateurish?" I explained it needed a crossed brush stroke treatment on top to finish it off - it's a work in progress. He immediatly went and got the 25 foot ladder and took the quart of metallic. This was a great sacrifice on his part because he "doesn't do random" On the pych charts he's a square - everything aligned and even and centered. I on the other hand am a squiggle and do random very well. So...he's on the ladder and I'm below telling him where he needs to "be more random" add a stroke here, scruff up a pattern there.....it went amazingly fast and turned out so awesome I can't even describe how pleased I am (guess I better take a picture to show you). I immediatly went over and crafted a mirror to match.


I bought the unfinished mirrors at The Home Store for $8 each - it is sponsored by Habitat for Humanity and they sell new and used building materials. The proceeds go to building houses for low income and needy families. It is an awesome project and they have great deals. Items are donated due to overstock or contractors donate remodel unneeded items.

Sometime during all this - I painted the chocolate suede wall - what do you think?


And Super Hubby put in a tile "rug" at the entry way. It is so awesome - he is definately an artist!

Monday I will show you the cork floor in my studio.

No PIctures - just blisters!

Just a word to give a quick update so you won't think I've gotten lost or buried!
This weekend we started the tile in the great room! Woooo Hoooo! I thought I'd have time to work on my window treatments but as it turns out my painting license was not revoked I merely had a restriction put on it. "No painting after dark".

This came about shortly after I painted two walls in the great room one evening last week. Unbenownst to me, by the light of the day it looked pretty rough.

I was on a high, either from paint fumes or because I was actually allowed to paint in a public area of the house(I had been on my apprenticeship and only allowed to paint closets, bathrooms and my craft room.) Unsuspecting, the next day I asked Super Hubby if he wanted me to paint. With painting in the great room I felt I had graduated to semi-pro league. Well, Super Hubby's response knocked the wind out of my sails. He walked me over to the great room walls I had painted the previous evening complete with chunks of foreign matter painted onto the wall and missing spots where the primer showed through. He politely said "no thank you". How was I to know that the roller pan had old paint stuck to it until I filled it with new paint and went to town on it? How was I to know that those florescent lights which save energy do so for a reason, it's because they don't put out any real light - just ambiance?

I felt pretty bad because I'd caused him more work to fix my mess and I couldn't help out as much. So I made plans to do other things....line the kitchen cabinets with shelf paper, touch up my craft room paint, and make window treatments. Then I learned that my license merely had the "no painting at night" restriction so my plans went out the window. I painted two more areas of the great room, helped set up the tile for installation, lined the kitchen shelves and did gopher work. I was busy but it didn't feel like I accomplished anything - ever have those days? Luckily Super Hubby's Uncle and Cousin came to help lay tile. It's a big job and hard to do alone.

Well the chandelier pendant came in today so that will go up tonight and then the scaffolding will come down. I have come to think of the scaffolding as a part of our decor - I'll miss it and have to think about filling that big open space.

Carpet comes on Thursday so all the last painting has to be finished and the transitions to tile areas have to be complete. Maybe there will be time to put in my cork flooring in the craft room before then.....

Painting Update - House Tour

Folks, we are closing in on the painting - could even be done this weekend, which is good because the tile just came in so it's time to move on to something new. Sixteen days until we hope to be done - gotta flip that construction mortgage to a conventional one! Everyone say a prayer it all gets done!

Anyway thought you might like a peak at the craft room colors!




Actually it is a little different because that was taken during a painting break. That's how I intended it to look, but I got carried away and forgot to cut in the left side, I just continued slapping paint around the corner and none of the original Morning Fog left to fix it back. So, I had to paint the top of the green wall the darkened Morning Fog (blue) like the rest of the walls. So the majority of the room is the blue color and the short wall is blue on top and hep green on bottom - divided by a chocolate chair rail.....not many would love this combo (or even like it) - but I do! I'm smiling just writing about it - there's something about that color - it makes me happy!

My husband falls into the first category - actually his exact words were "that makes me want to puke" followed by "is that the final color?" He's not smiling....

Terri saw the sample colors and is still laughing - and to think she purports to like green....I think she meant forest green though!

Just in case you didn't get enough - here's another look....these colors are truer and show the darker morning fog all around. The divided line will be covered by the chocolate chair rail.....love love love it!
That's looking out my craftroom door into the great room. See those boards? I painted those too, well stained them - all 197 of them. Just waiting now for Super Hubby to put them on the ceiling of the great room - 25 feet up. That's Min-Wax polyurethane in natural in case you were wondering - that's why I have hep green in my craft room....I didn't want the ceiling boards to be natural, I wanted a light oak, hubby "always dreamed of them being natural", sooo we all have to compromise - I think I got the better end of the deal - what's not to love about hep green?

It really does look pretty close to these colors - especially the green - gotta love hep green!

Oh and while we're touring the house, here's what the cabinets look like -

and one actually hanging....that's Super Hubby there...
The cabinets are all in now - looks amazingly like a kitchen....maybe pictures of that tomorrow! But you know me and the flash drive - often parted when needed!

We purchased the cabinets from Rail Salvage - these puppies are solid oak 42" tall. Our ceilings are 10 foot so we needed to go with taller cabinets. Eventually there will be a shelf and crown molding around the top of the cabinets - some day.....The cabinets were a really good deal.... The salvage yard uses every square inch of space and then some... things are packed in. The cabinets are new, so it's not a reclaimed salvage, I think its a wholesale and overstock place. But, they have the cabinets all the time, you have to search for other items - I really recommend these places as a resource when you're on a budget or want a good deal. I also found an iron coat hook - you might see that someday - if I can find it!!!! hmmm.

Post Script to my post -
Will ya look at that - check out The Inspired Room.....how about them apples? Green apples that is.....looks like a trendy hep green to me - who's the fashion princess now huh?????

Update on the House

I haven't shown you a picture of the house lately....the Lowe's tyvek paper is just about covered up and it almost looks like a finished house! It is very exciting. I have been helping my hubby (that's him on the ladder) in the evenings to put up the siding. I have learned my lesson about ladders and only help up to the top of the porch....my nephew Brian has been helping with the high stuff. Thank you, thank you!!!!

This is Ashley, aka The Princess helping Dad out. The girl's got skills!

This project is either going to kill us or make us very happy! The verdict is still out!

Staining Complete!

Hurray - last night Ashley (aka The Princess) and I finished staining the siding for our lodge home. Dan was working on the electrical with his brother John, and Ron a second brother was mowing the farm! All was right with the world!

I love it when I can scratch a big project off my to do list! The bad part is I was really counting on using the excuse of staining to get out of many other projects on the pending list. Now I must tackle them.

First I need to really get creative because I have two big craft shows coming up in the next 45 days and I don't even know where my craft stuff is.

At the moment all my worldly possessions are boxed up in the garage below the structure we are building, soon to be called home. At the moment "home" is a motor home parked beside the garage aka kitchen/living room. We sleep in the motor home and do our other living in the garage. (Except for the socially unmentionables which are done in the portapottie out back - please pray for a warm winter!) We wash our laundry at Terri's (we told you this was a co-op farm.) A corner of the garage is dedicated to a small sitting/TV area and a counter for food prep. The deep freeze, fridge and microwave are also there. We use a single burner propane camping stove to round out the gourmet kitchen ensemble. It all works really well and shows how resourceful you can be when you are reduced to the bare minimum. I have so much materialistic junk...oops, stuff.

I would really like to have one of those Food Network chefs like Rachel Ray or Bobby Flay or Giada cook in my kitchen! Maybe it's more like Dinner Impossible! Your mission should you choose to accept it is to prepare in 30 minutes a scrumptious hearty meal for between 1-3 adult men (these men don't eat asparagus! and you never know how many will show up), two teenage boys (requires lots of meat), a 8 year old princess (who would like to be a vegetarian), an exhausted 30 something college student (who doesn't like fat) and me (who loves it all) using just a microwave, grill and camp stove! We also have one of those turkey fryers to use in a pinch! In case The Food Network is listening - I don't want you to use what is in my pantry - I would like a gourmet meal the likes of which I could never make on my own! If you used the crap in my cupboards it wouldn't be worth cleaning up for you all to come. I'm talking truffles, saffron, quail, Kobe beef - you know use your imagination and wow me! What we could really use around here is a shopping spree to the Fresh Market! (I love that store!!)

Here's some background on how we got to the Bohemian lifestyle or as Terri likes to call it "every hippies dream". We moved out of our rental home and onto the farm July 1st. We hope to be able to move into the house by Christmas. I say move in and not done, because by all accounts of those who have gone before us in the great home building experience you are never done building a home - I'm sure Lowe's is happy to hear that!

We are framed and in the dry, finishing up the electrical, ready to put in the HVAC and putting up the siding. The clock is ticking!

The Staining Continues....

This weekend was fun packed! With the emphasis on PACKED!

Friday evening Terri sauntered up the hill and we with the assistance of a bottle of Bogle 80 - tore through about 46 boards which we are staining for the outside of our Lodge Home. It went so much quicker with the wine and gossip! Although this Bogle isn't going on the re-do list it was nice enough for the purpose.

Saturday we'd hoped to finish the staining of the siding but we got some much needed rain which kept the air to humid for the stain to dry. The next project on the To Do list was putting in a fall salad garden. Down in La Trois Belle we have two raised beds. One contains sunflowers and sweet potatoes and the other was a Three Sisters garden with squash, corn and beans. The concept worked well but we should have waited about a week between planting the sweet corn and beans. The runner beans wrapped to tightly around the corn at to early of an age and smothered the corn. We cleared the sisters bed to make way for broccoli, lettuce and spinach. The weather is just turning cool in the evenings. That time of year when you can almost smell the crisp clean frost in the air and you long for a bonfire. Well really you're longing for marshmellow s'mores. Hopefully we have about 30 days prior to that first frost coming. That should be enough time to enjoy a few salads and prolong the fresh green taste of summer.

With that project accomplished we worked our way down the driveway trimming branches and discovering an old path that led to a dilapidated bench. We cleared away the leaves and trimmed the wayward shrubs to discover that the path was lined with rocks. It was once a cute sitting area intended as a resting point on a walk to the road. Now I wouldn't trust the bench to sit on these days, but it looks cute just at the edge of the driveway half hidden, inviting you to sit a spell, relax and take life easy. What a wistful dream at this point! Perhaps it's repair is a good spring project, before you can plant but are itching to be outside. With a sense of satisfaction at finishing more than we'd intended, Terri went to study and I helped the Princess with a felting project. It was great fun.

The next morning I decided the property needed some sprucing up so I tackled the weed-eater. With one thing and another the weekly maintenance has gotten away from us a bit, although many of the weeds are in their full flowered splendor they had to go and give way to civilization. There are many spots for nature to take it's course but not the entire place! It was a larger project than expected but it sure does look beautiful all trimmed up. It gives me joy to look at a job well done!

After taming the wilderness I was informed by the Princess that it was time for a make-up session. Ashley is a big fan of putting makeup on me and I in turn apply it to her. We have been playing this game since she was two (she's eight now and I am painfully aware that soon will come a day when she won't want to play with her mom anymore. I enjoy each moment as a precious gift.) The more outlandishly fairy like the better. The process usually involves a lot of glitter, extravagant hairdo's and dangling earrings. After being suitably fairy dusted I returned to tackle a few more boards before the weekend slipped away.

One thing I've been doing as I stain the siding is add a little of whatever I'm doing to the Olympic Stain. So Friday I christened a board or two with a few drops of wine and Sunday I dusted some of the fairy dust from my cheeks onto a board. I figure there is a lot more that goes into a self made home and if drinking red wine and playing fairies makes us smile, it should put a good spirit into the house also.

Totally exhausted I dropped into bed. I had a few minutes to think before I dosed off... and I used them to reflect on how things are going. Although times are tight financially and time-wise and we must make every action count (sometimes twice) I thought overall, This Indeed Will Do!

PS - despite my best efforts to scrub the sparkles off my cheeks I still had a few attached Monday morning. It made me smile when my co-workers thought I'd been out clubbin'. Just another wild weekend at ThistleDew and I danced a jig down the hall.

The Pella Windows are in!

Hurray, the last of the windows went in last night. They are beautiful! I'm just concerned about who is going to clean them next year!

The bad news is, the area is now clear for me to continue to stain! So tonight it's back to the grind stone and finish up the remaining 150 boards. Tomorrow I should have pictures of the window installation and also some pictures of our flower beds.

Vertigo Saga

When I got home from work yesterday, much to my surprise there was my husband in the middle of the great room on the top rung of a step ladder, balanced on the top level of scaffolding stretching above his head to hang the ceiling fan fixture from the center beam! Then over to the side was my nephew (Terri's middle son Brian) leaning against the chaise ledge atop an extension ladder at about the 15 foot level. They renewed my queasy feeling. We talked about my daring feat of yesterday, which I was extremely proud of after which I immediately asked Brian what he was doing the next day....he readily agreed to help Uncle Dan with the east end windows and spare my life. I asked if he wasn't concerned about heights and he laughed that shy little embarrassed teenage boy laugh which I interpreted as indication that I was an out of it wimp!

I danced a jig and told Brian he had earned the coveted favored nephew status crown. It might take a bit for my other nieces and nephews to de-throne him!

The other good news was that with the scaffolding in the middle of the room and the top level using my staining boards, I was off for the evening. This is good and bad, as it just means that I have to make up for lost time this afternoon! I'll post pictures as soon as I can get my husband to download them to a memory stick, he's a busy guy!

Ultimate Expression of Love

Have you every had an opportunity to demonstrate how much you love someone? I'm not talking about remembering to buy flowers for a special event, I'm not talking about really going out of your way to treat your love like gold. I'm talking about a true blue self sacrificing demonstration of just how much you love someone and your willingness to put it all on the line, no matter the outcome??? Have you? Well after this weekend I have....I can honestly say I put my life on the line for love. Not only for my love, but for the project he loves.

Although I was a Marine for 23 years and did a lot of physical feats I must confess that I am uncomfortable when my feet are not planted on terra firma. I know it's crazy, I know I have a picture of me rappelling down a 30 foot tower, just me, the rope and the guy on belay that I am trusting with my life. But let me tell you, there is a great difference between being suspended in the air in a safe swiss seat controlling the guide line with a redundancy down below in case you get crazy and forget to put the break on; and standing on ancient scaffolding 25 feet up with no guard rails....it is enough to make you sick....literally!

Although our farm is a co-op so to speak and we generally share complicated tasks, especially labor intensive ones, through a trick of fate I was the only one available on Sunday to assist Dan (my hubby) with the final two rows of windows in the great room of our house in progress.

I have alternately called this area of the house a cathedral and a lodge. If it all goes wrong, we can always rent out the living room for church services and weddings! It is very tall and impressive. Originally the house was going to be two stories with the center great room's cathedral ceiling soaring up both stories. Due to financial concerns we had to take off the upper story but Dan was committed to keeping the cathedral ceiling. The man is 6'3 and has spent more than 30 years hitting his head on low door frames, hanging chandeliers and ceiling fans....all of which are now his enemy! He was determined to have space to stretch his arms skyward without risk of limb. You have to respect his decision, he's got the scars to justify it. My hindsight recommendation is that any do it yourselfer should not even consider a cathedral ceiling higher than 18 feet.

Why 18 feet? This is the height at which I can reasonably function. Although on paper the difference between 18 and 25 is only 7, it is one of those tricks of physics which makes anything above 18 feet about double the height. Although I lack scientific proof...the air must also be thinner because I could hardly breath up there. Let's just say the baby labor breathing techniques came in handy! It is hard to believe that the carefree romper that I am was reduced to near paralysis because of 7 feet! But there you have it, I have admitted to a weakness, my enemies are circling now and my super hero cape is in jeopardy. The only thing left is to prove I am in charge and can concur this fear.....

So Saturday evening my hubby says to me, "I'm gonna need you to Cowgirl up tomorrow". "Oh" I say, wondering what task he has in store for me....I'm thinking he wants me to get the lead out and finish staining the siding. I stained 42 10 inch x 15 foot boards on Saturday (only 200 more to go!) and had considerable muscular soreness mainly in my back. My love handles haven't taken this kind of abuse in ages! Well to my surprise it had nothing to do with the staining, he wanted me to help finish installing the Pella Windows. To give you an idea how big this task is - we had to make two trips to Lowe's to pick them all up. (Another reason Lowe's loves us so!) Picture the front of a lodge entirely of windows - 25 feet up, A frame shaped, that's the front of our house. Crazy, I know!

I had watched Dan and his brother John install the middle two tiers Saturday while I was staining. The scaffolding seemed to work well and they were rapidly developing a system which with each window reduced the time it took to install and seemed moderately more safe. So I laughed and said no problem....I'm game. Terri and I always get into trouble thinking we can do something we've seen somewhere else. We're even considering devoting a site to projects that we scoffed at but then didn't quite accomplish....

By morning the scaffolding and the cathedral ceiling had doubled in size. It was like one of those storybook tales in which the offensive item took on a personality of it's own and became a monster.

Taking a deep breath I climbed to the third tier and assisted as he installed the left hand triangle which completed that row. This is at the 18 foot level. I was uncomfortable but I could actually walk across the boards without holding on. I chanted my mantra, "don't look down! don't look down!" and seemed to be alright. It took about an hour to install the window. Dan helping me inside and then he scurried up the exterior extension ladder on the outside and nailed it in place. Coming down off the scaffolding, I was proud. I had looked my fear in the face and deep breathed it away! I was all powerful! Right up until Dan said, "OK, let's build the next level". My mantra changed to "I can do this" and we started to build the next tier.

My good friend Cindy's father (God rest his soul) had a construction business and we were able to borrow the scaffolding from her. The scaffolding is about 30 years old and missing several of the "x" shaped metal pipe supports. Dan made two sets from piping he had, (he's a really handy guy) but the final set needed to be made from lumber as we were out of piping. We're all about recycling at ThistleDew! Anyway we measured and adjusted and got the scaffolding together, dragged the 10"x 12 feet floorboards up to the top (me pushing from the ground and Dan hauling from above). It didn't look so bad! High yes, but definitely do'able. Ashley, the princess, was in charge of lunch and we were treated to the best PB&J sandwiches ever! No more procrastinating. Up the ladder!

I got to the top of the ladder which just reached the scaffolding floorboards which would then require me to shimmie onto the boards and stand up. Well that was the theory, I actually got some type of peculiar lockjaw type illness which affected my entire body because I couldn't let go of the ladder. I was frozen, well parts of me were frozen, the other parts were sweating profusely! Dan hollers that we can raise the ladder a few rungs to make it easier to step onto the boards. Well that unfroze me and I was down the ladder.

My next effort worked much better. I was able to step off onto the scaffolding and cling to the rafters. I had to stand there and collect myself and practice my mantra "don't look down! don't look down! It was working ok. Dan encouraged me to admire the view, but when I looked off over the trees and saw the neighbors silo three farms over, I thought I would throw up. Mostly because we were the same height!

I must admit that I was pretty useless. Dan kept saying encouraging things, like "you are doing exactly what I need you to do" and "don't worry you're doing great"...you know, totally useless words to distract me from the horrors going through my head. The only thing that kept me from throwing up this entire time was the thought of having to get back up on scaffolding to clean the windows, and that it would discolor the raw wood around the windows and we can't have that!

Dan hauled up a window and I kicked the cardboard off the scaffolding after he removed it from the windows. That was my first big accomplishment at this height - I say that because it required me to only hold onto the rafters with one hand. My next feat was to walk to the other end of the scaffolding, I think this took me a few minutes - it was twelve feet after all! We got the left top triangle into the hole, leveled it with the shims and then Dan left me holding the suction cup and rafter to climb up the outside. This is the part that really scared me. I am on a relatively safe all be it ancient scaffolding, terrified and my husband is climbing up 30 feet on an extension ladder propped against the roof! Watching him sway in the breeze and lean over with a 10 pound cordless screwdriver 30 feet in the air was a harrowing experience. My stomach was one giant knot. "Don't throw up you'll mess up the windows" remained my mantra. Dan made a comment about me looking a bit stressed so I blinked a few times to ensure my eyeballs wouldn't pop out and said I was fine and that it would be great if he could hurry.

I must say that my admiration for Dan increased that day. I was a ninny when he was doing things twice as scary. I noticed during the installation of the right hand upper triangle that Dan's hands were shaking a little. He was a bit nervous himself. He said you just had to do what was necessary. Dan definitely imbibes the ThistleDew attitude, he indeed will do.