A Long Cold Spring

I was beginning to think Spring would never come.  The cold weather clung to us with an icy grip and refused to let go.  In mid-April we thought it was starting to retreat and the snow began to melt creating icy rivers of gushing water.

A river of melting snow behind our house

That wasn't the last of it though.  It snowed all day on April 28.  April 28.  All. day.  Thick fluffy flakes.  I wanted to cry  ...  and move South.

But the cold has now finally passed.  The snow has (mostly) melted and plants are beginning to show signs of growth.  I have begun the work of winter clean up and spring preparations.

The first task was to survey the winter damage.  The sheer weight of all the snow we had this year took its toll on the trees.  Broken limbs littered the ground and I spent hours pruning away ripped and torn branches.

Some trees were snapped right in half but the majority will survive.  Perhaps a little thinner than they were before.  Others received emergency repairs.

A large branch on this birch is partly split from the trunk and is being held together temporarily.  My hope is the bark will eventually grow over and heal the wound.  It's not a surefire solution but I'm hoping it might work.

Around the garage I cleaned out the flower beds, removing some old plants and making space for new.

Dead plants littered the beds around the garage

Post clean up things are looking a lot neater

Although the vegetable garden still needs a lot of work I have managed to plant some spinach and lettuce.  I'll need to work hard though to get beds ready for the big plant in the next couple weeks.  These tomatoes will need to move from their hut on the porch to larger quarters.

The same goes for the flower garden.  Tulips and daffodils are starting to sprout but they are having to work through a layer of dead leaves to get to the sun.

Lots of clean up is needed to get the garden looking good for summer again.

And it wouldn't be spring without a few household chores as well.  We finally got round to fixing up the front door.  After we painted the exterior of the house the door looked pretty ratty.  The old wooden screen door kept blowing off the hinges in the winter storms so we found a tight fitting storm door to replace it.  Then we decided that ugly old metal door had to go.

The screen door was replaced first with a proper storm
door but that metal door just looked wrong

We found a perfect vintage door to replace it but it needed some work.  Cracked glass was replaced, a new coat of paint was added as well as a brand new lockset.  This is the result.

It looks better than new and suits the house much better too.

How is spring coming where you live?

This Wasn't Intended

I got up this morning thinking about weeding the soybeans.  They are engulfed and desperately need some attention.  Would you be surprised if I told you that didn't happen?

While in the bathroom hubby ran in and grabbed some cleaner.  The cat threw up.  Again.  He's getting old, it happens.

10 years and counting

While cleaning up the mess Jody said, wouldn't it be great if we just tore up this carpet, it's disgusting.  And I agreed.  So we did.

This is what it looked like when we started.

I mean, who wants to work in the garden in this heat right?  Ripping up old carpet is so much more fun.  (I am being sarcastic here, hitting up the beach would have been a lot funner)

Ever since we moved into this house we've wanted to tear out the carpets.  They were installed approximately 30 years ago and they look it.  There are indents where furniture used to stand, the colour is washed out and there are stains.  Time and money has been spent on other renovations though and the carpets have been ignored.

We still don't have the money to deal with this issue so we rather hoped the floors underneath would be intact and usable.  The first look at what was underneath was pretty hideous.

Carpet underlay stuck to plywood.  Yuck.

Four hours of scraping and pulling nails ensued.

As we made our way around though we found some spots were perfectly intact.  Yah!  Something salvageable.

This section looks downright nice, except for the missing stain.

So now we have another project on our hands.  Right after I get that weeding done of course.

The Big Unveil

It's been a long time coming but I feel like I can finally unveil the latest house renovation.

This photo was taken within days of moving in.

Some of you may recall way WAY back that we discussed painting the exterior of our home.  For those of you newer to my blog it started back in 2010 with this post.

That original post was written when we had just bought the house and we were still dreaming.  What would we like to change, where would we start .... so many possibilities.  That was long before things like leaking roofs, leaking bathrooms, and rotted porches showed their ugly faces and took up all of our time.  Instead of choosing renovations we're starting to learn that the renovations chose us.  Thinking about replacing a door?  The upstairs plumbing will no doubt give way and demand attention instead.

So the colour schemes we dreamt about for our house were put on hold.  For four years.

We lived with a white house with black trim in the meantime.  It's not that the colour scheme was bad but we craved something a little more interesting.  All white paint meant that from a distance the intricate shingle work wasn't visible.  It was a feature of this house that we treasured and thought should be shown off.

Over the years the paint has started to peel as well.  Greying shingles were visible in large patches making the home look unkept.

Looking at the wall you can see large spots starting to appear

 Last summer we started the work of stripping the house.  Scraping and sanding for months so we could start with a blank slate.

Sanding the shingles means that a new coat of paint is more likely to stick well and last longer.  At least that's our hope!

It took most of the summer to prepare the house.  By the time we were ready to paint the summer was almost over.  Including the warm weather we needed for paint to cure.  The primer went on and some of the paint but we never managed to complete the job before it got too cold.

Windows were covered and Jody sprayed on the primer but we didn't get much further

So this spring we anxiously waited for the days to grow warm.  Unfortunately it was a cold spring.  Rain and cool temperatures kept us indoors waiting until June.  Then out came the paint buckets once again and work began.

I'll be honest.  There was some arguing about colour.  As many of you know I favour bright colours.  Jody does not.  I like bright and cheery and he likes subtle and classic.  I argued but he won this round.  I will concede though that the results are fantastic.  Although I did force him to go with a darker shade of beige on the base.

Ultimately the colour scheme is white, cream and dark tan.  It's not a huge change but the shading does exactly what we wanted.  It brings attention to all that fantastic shingle work.

Diamond patterns, castles, and corbels are all brought to life by a shift in colour.

It's a funny thing though.  All those creams and whites look different under different light.  I attempted to get photos that were consistent but it was impossible.  In bright sun the house looks almost white.  On shady days the colour turns darker.  Evenings it looks pink.  Photograph one side of the house it appears quite light and turn a corner it appears dark.  Colours that are exactly the same look completely different on separate parts of the house.

My neighbour commented that the colour looks different every time she drives by.  So you'll have to take my word that the house is white and beige with brown trim.

Despite the difficulty in photographing I think it looks good in every light.  Jody was right, you can't go wrong with subtle and classic.

Slow Drains, Cracks and Leaks

Houses can be really frustrating, can't they?  Some days I just want to tear my hair out.

We had been contemplating renovations for this season.  There's a long list.  The exterior paint job on the house still isn't finished.  The gutters need replacing.  The driveway could use some gravel.  The front door has a pretty serious draft.  All important fixes and just the tip of the iceberg.

Remember this?

We had pretty much decided our plan of action and ....... not gonna happen.

Houses are like that aren't they? It's true.  Especially houses circa 1890. They have an agenda all their own.

It all started when Jody left town. The upstairs bath started to drain slower .. and slower ...... and slower ......... until it completely stopped. That was frustrating but workable. It’s amazing what a little vinegar and baking soda can accomplish. I got it running again, somewhat. When Jody came home he decided to look at the plumbing.  Just lift up the ceiling tiles in the downstairs bath and take a peek at the pipes .......  No.  That's NOT going to happen.

Our downstairs bath has ceiling tiles we can lift to access the upstairs plumbing

Frustrated yet?  Turns out the bathtub's plumbing isn't conveniently located under the ceiling tiles.  That plumbing is located in the hallway.  Sealed under drywall.  That’s not smart.  Some implements of destruction were required .....

look up... way up..

The good news is the pipes were located and a hairball the size of a large rat was removed. Well maybe it was a rat but we'll never know for sure.  The good news is I can now take a shower again without standing knee deep in water. Small victories.

That should have been the end of the story. But it wasn’t. Of course.  Two weeks later I was cleaning the bath and I hear Jody yell STOP WHATEVER IT IS YOU’RE DOING!!!!! You see, we hadn’t patched up that hole in the ceiling yet. Turns out that was a blessing and a curse. There is a leak. Had we patched up the hole we would not have known. But we didn’t and now we do. And my frustration level is rising. Little wonder really.  The plastic backing in the surround is full of cracks. Cracks that are leaking into the wall.

Definitely not the most stylish bath you've ever seen.  The oh so lovely plastic walls in the bath are the culprit.

Which means it needs to come out. And if you’re going to fix that, you might as well fix the entire bathroom.... Say goodbye to a new front door. Our budget has been seized by an unexpected bathroom renovation. So if you were wondering why my pinterest account has a sudden influx of tile and bathroom related pins, well, now you know. Let the renovation begin.

Triumphs and Tragedies - Summer/Fall 2013 Edition

I have neglected you and I sincerely apologize.  I have a list of excuses but they are irrelevant.

We need to catch up.  It's been a long summer and fall is half over.

The beautiful colours of fall have arrived

So much has happened since we last spoke.  There have been some triumphs.  We got a new couch!

Only took 4 years living in this house but we have a comfortable, brand new, lovely couch.  It doesn't sag.  You can't feel the springs.  It doesn't sit mere inches from the floor.  We are very happy. (did I mention I've never owned a new couch before!  I really am excited)

The veggie garden has been spitting out enough zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes for a family of 12.  Our large freezer is full.  Completely full.

Anyone want some pumpkins?  seriously.. get in touch

There's tomato soup, fresh frozen tomatoes, pureed pumpkin, pesto, spinach, peas.  All organic, all grown with our own two hands.

Some trees came down ... on purpose.  They've been standing dead for some time and were in unfortunate locations.  Like next to the power pole.  We had put off getting it dealt with.

We left the base standing for the bugs and birds

I feel much better now that's out of the way.  I can quit worrying about our tree taking out the neighbours house and think about all that extra firewood keeping us warm.

It's not all roses though.  There is always the flip side.

We have been scraping, sanding and painting.  (hahaha, and by WE, I mean Jody)

scraped and ready to paint

It has been a load of work.  Sore knees, sore backs, and loads of arguing.  Yup, life here ain't always pretty.  When you have two very stubborn people with very strong vision things can get a little out of hand.  I like colour.  A LOT of colour.  Jody wants subtlety.  There is no middle ground and the weather has turned cold.  Too cold to finish the job.

putting on the primer

So for now the house sits in limbo.  I foresee this argument continuing right through to spring.

and speaking of roses ....

Our rose hedge is looking a bit trampled these days.  Looking at it lengthwise, above, the middle seems to be missing.  One foggy cold morning we found a car in our front yard.  Upside down.  Everyone is intact which is good.  We'll be a bit sparse on blooms though come next June.

and of course I visited the compost again.  We all know by now what that means right?  (think unwanted animals, or click on this link for a refresher).  The compost has become my nemesis this year.  I had taken a Friday off work to try and deal with some fall chores before the really cold weather sets in.  Cleaning up excess compost was on my to do list so away I went with my pitchfork.

I'm starting to get a little neurotic about going near the compost these days

We can now add wasps to the array of animals taking up residence in the compost pile.  That ended the day quite quickly.  Not to mention painfully.  I think I should just walk away from composting this year.  It's obviously just not happening for me right now.

Harvest Time

Jody complained the other day that our kitchen really needs to be renovated.  There's no space in there he says, I can't find a counter to work on, something needs to be done....

Now I don't totally disagree.  A kitchen renovation has been in the works since we bought this place. Newer and more spacious cupboards, an extra sink, dishwasher - yes to all the above.  But the thing is, our current problem has nothing to do with the kitchen as it stands.  My dear husband seems to have overlooked the fact that the real issue is that every single inch of counter space has been overtaken by produce.

A sample of the summer produce this year

From where I'm sitting now I can see on the kitchen island a pumpkin, beans, several sweet and hot peppers, several plastic containers full of wee cherry tomatoes, as well as a container of roasted tomatoes.  On the kitchen counter there is a salad spinner full of parsley, several cucumbers, and two extra large bowls of tomatoes in various stages of ripeness.  The kitchen window sill is serving as stage one of ripening for all the green tomatoes.  On the stove there is a stockpot full of tomato soup.  Even the bathroom has been overtaken - the sink is currently stuffed full of basil resting in cold water.  And let us not forget the food that is actually in the fridge.

What the heck are we going to do with this all this bounty?  It's a question that I struggle with each year.  How to preserve, process and cook the unending supply of food that the garden throws at me on a daily basis.  I'm sure there's a few other gardeners out there struggling with this issue right now so I thought I'd share a few ideas.

Step one - get yourself a massive stockpot.

Step two - make copious amounts of soup.  I like tomato soup as it uses large quantities of tomatoes but another favourite is a Spicy Chicken soup which uses both tomatoes and fresh made salsa (the salsa gets rid of uses up tomatoes, carrots, peppers, garlic, cilantro and onions. bonus).  Carrot soup, and pumpkin soup are staples as well.

A girl can only make so much soup so my second line of defense is a vacuum sealer.  Chop up fresh tomatoes, cook down your pumpkin, blanch your spinach and seal it all in the vacuum bags.  Easy as pie.  Actually easier than pie really.  I haven't even started baking pies yet.

As you might be noticing, kitchen tools feature heavily at this time of year.  We just invested in this fancy Cuisinart blender to help get us through the preserving season. 

Loving this for fresh made salsa and pesto.  We eat the salsa on the spot but the pesto freezes really well for use in the winter.  If pesto feels too complicated just zip through some basil and olive oil.  Once processed spoon it into an ice cube tray and freeze.  These little basil cubes are perfect for throwing into a pasta sauce later on.

Not everything needs to involve expensive tools though.  A quick and easy way to preserve parsley is simply stuffing it in a ziploc bag and freezing it.

Reach in the freezer and break off a piece as you need it.  (Thanks to Brenda for this tip!)

Drying is another simple and effective way to preserve food.  Garlic, onions and herbs all benefit from this.  I grew onions for the first time ever this year.  Proper onions.  Not marble sized rocks that smell like onions.

These babies are big, and tasty.  But they need to dry in order to store for the winter.  So I've hung them from the rafters in the garage to air out for a couple weeks.

After that all hard work the best thing to do is make cake.  Who doesn't like cake?  Chocolate zucchini cake and carrot cake go over pretty well this time of year.

and finally, my last resort.  Give it away.  Inevitably I get overwhelmed and co-workers like this time of year because they get a never ending supply of cucumbers, zucchini, basil, beans, and tomatoes. 

Recently I discovered something new though, the PEI Food Exchange.  This group is finding ways of distributing excess produce from farms and gardeners.  Whether it's a trade or giving it away to people in need they can use your garden excess.  There's never a reason for food to go to waste and this is a perfect way to make sure it gets to those who want it.

House Renovation #127,891

 Well maybe not quite that many, but it sure feels like it some days.

Anyone want to take a guess what's going on here?

If you look closely at the photo below you can see the paint on our house has been peeling quite badly for some time.  I often find strips of paint laying in my garden beds.

First step, scrape it off.

Next step....

Built in Shelving

Since purchasing this house 3 years ago we have tried to take on at least one renovation each year.  It's a slow process but it means we are never too stressed about budget or time.  Last year we tackled one big renovation by putting a new roof on the house.  We also managed a smaller renovation too though.

There is a built in cabinet in our living room that has been bothering us since moving in.

Now I love built ins.  They provide storage space without taking up a lot of room and they do this while looking beautiful.  A well done built in can also add value to your home.  When we first saw this house I was thrilled to find a built in but I wasn't thrilled that the shelves were sagging in the middle due to lack of support.  Or that the largest shelf was at the top instead of lower down.  I also hated that the bottom of the cabinet was open so that plumbing pipes were visible.  It needed a makeover.

I should mention.  This is NOT, like many things in this house, an original piece of work.  It was done by the previous owners.  If it had been original we would have taken care to preserve it.  As it was, we decided to remodel.

The first step was removing the mouldings and taking out the shelves.

This also provided a grand opportunity to remove the wallpaper.  I have absolutely hated that wallpaper since the day I set eyes on it.  I couldn't rip that stuff off fast enough.  No more cabbage roses for this girl.

Next we contemplated how we would put the space back together again.  We liked the large space at the bottom for storage but it needed to be enclosed so those pipes wouldn't be visible.  In the upper cabinet space we wanted room for books but also for electronics.

The shelves were built in three sections.  Essentially each shelf was created as a box.  Unlike the free floating shelve we had before, the boxes provide ample support so sagging will not occur again.  They also enabled us to add drawers to the space.

We decided that rather than a background of drywall, pine board would be added to give some rustic appeal.  We do live in a farmhouse after all.

Some critical thinking was necessary at this point.  Since we were adding electronics it was necessary to make sure all the power cords could be accommodated but would not be visible.  A power bar was installed inside the lower cabinet area and holes were drilled in the shelving so cords could run down to the power.  Along with the plumbing pipes it makes the lower cabinet a bit ugly looking but the addition of doors fixed that problem.

The power bar is visible on the right hand side of the cabinet
and the power cord exits through a capped hole in the base

Another issue was that the previous incarnation of this cabinet did not include a base.  The bottom space was open right to the floor.  We intend to remove the carpet in this room eventually and that will change the height of the floor so it was impossible to guess what size the cabinet doors should be.  The answer to this issue was to build a false bottom.

The new base under the cabinet doors now perfectly matches the existing baseboards.

This solution worked really well as it not only means we can change the flooring at any time without issue but the false base matches the existing baseboards.

The final touch was paint.  Like our previous renovations we opted to remove as much dark wood as possible.  We used the same cream trim colour as our piano room and used a darker shade of cream milk paint for the cabinet doors and shelving.

A little contrast was added by making the drawers and cabinet pulls out of walnut.

The final result is a much cleaner looking, more functional space.

Now if only I could have one or two more of these.  I've already run out of space for my books!