Strawberry Fields

Things are coming right along in our strawberry patch. We're getting lots more flowers, and many flowers are turning into little green berries. Nothing is ripe quite yet, but we're getting close! 

One Man's Stump . . .

Is another man's coaster?

BEFORE: Maple stump section

After: End-grain Maple coasters

My neighbor had a big stump in his driveway. It was too heavy to move, so I offered to take a chainsaw to it. I'm always looking for an excuse to fire up "the beast," and this past weekend, we put some wood chopping fury into the big old stump.

Once we sliced up the wood, I realized we were dealing with some really pretty maple. I asked for a small chunk to take back to the shop, Bryan obliged.

We counted 20+ rings in the entire stump

Cutting the stump into a cube was the biggest challenge. Once I had a flat edge to work with, I used a miter saw to chop up the wood into coaster slices.

The wood is surprisingly stiff. Almost feels like slices of light rock. We counted the rings, and it was something between 20-30 years old.

Bottoms up.

Trial run

Island Dreaming

  
Chris and I (well, mostly I) have gone back and forth many times on the design of our future kitchen island. When we knock out the wall in our kitchen the room will get much larger, but it's still a bit boxed in with walls on all four sides, so we want to make have things feel as open as possible. That said, I'm obsessed with adding as much storage as possible to our current storage-free kitchen.

So there lay our dilemma. The design-obsessed side of me wanted a nice, open island that would feel light and not imposing in the new kitchen. But the practical side of wanted to pack as many drawers and cabinets into the kitchen as possible.

Well, to Chris' great joy (and in response to his pleas) the designer side won. This weekend we found the perfect island to give us a nice, classic, open feel in the new space. 

Photo courtesy of John Boos

The walnut butcher block top will be tough and beautiful, the classically shaped white legs will be light and open (and leave plenty of space for some stools underneath) and the design overall feels open and classic. I gave up my ideas of storing stuff in the island, mostly due to the fact that we plan on adding LOTS of cabinets other places, and also plan on making the cabinets as "smart" as possible by customizing them to our needs.

Since landing on our decision, I've wavered a few times. Each time I do I just remind myself of what I'm most excited about with having an island in the kitchen - this will be a comfortable, special space to gather with friends and family and prepare meals together. I think we found the perfect means to that end!

Peg Board Makes the Shop

New pegboard wall section in basement finally gives my tools a home

Our basement has been through many phases since we took ownership two years ago.

Year one, it was a catch all for anything that did not fit upstairs. Basically, junk covered the entire floor, piles upon piles of boxes, bags, and other stuff that you wonder why you have.

Year two, we put up shelving - and consolidated stuff into plastic containers. A big win. Also, I claimed part of the basement as the "wood shop" by taking all my random tools from the garage and putting them in the front section of our basement with a new workbench.

My friend Orion gave me a section of extra peg board from his garage. I mounted it into the wall today and installed the pegs — and I can now say that no workbench is complete without a peg board wall section to compliment the space. All the junk that was covering up space on my table is now on the wall, organized and entirely visible all at once. It's like walking into your own Ace Hardware, which is pretty cool.

Where the wood works

I think the peg board wall is a right of passage for any guy. Something like taking him from dude to man status.

Special thanks to Orion for helping me get my stuff in order. See that clean workbench? Guess it's time to make a new mess.

Rare view of a clean workbench

Hen and Chicks

 

Isn't hen and chicks the best plant name? I've always loved them. So, as we finished construction of our garden steps this winter, I looked forward to planting some hen and chicks to grow in the cracks.

The project had to begin with us filling this big crack between the steps and the wall with rocks.

Then, I backfilled over the rocks with gravel. Once that was finished, we were ready for the little plants. A friend of ours had an abundance of hen and chicks, and shared them with us. I nestled them into the cracks and corners of our steps.

 

We can see some of the larger "hens" from the house, and it's so fun to see the cute little plants breaking up all the rocks. I hope they settle in well and make lots of "chicks" to keep filling in along the wall. 

Let There be Light!

  Bottom light fixture lit up. We're obsessed with the bright, warm colors it makes.

There are some things in our house that cause us to ask, "How, in 85 years, has this not been done?" One of those things is our hallway landing. I forgot to take a before picture of this particular project (sometimes you just need to get things moving along) so our old Italia post will have to do.

The landing of our stairs has a huge window, but no light. No sign that there's ever been a light there. So at night, it's dark. I mean, really dark. And, the sloped ceiling casts weird shadows, so you can see every little bump in the plaster along the stairway. Basically, it was creepy and ugly.

This has bothered me since we moved in, along with the fact that the light at the bottom of the steps was totally in the wrong place, and also an ugly light. (Again, no before photo so you'll just have to trust me).

The good news, though, is that it's been fixed! My parents visited for Easter, so my handy dad was kind enough to re-wire the entire outlet (3 lights, 2 switches) and give us light in the stairwell!

 

Do you see the little fixture peeking around the corner? 

 

Landing light up close.

 

And on. Can you tell we're a bit obsessed? 

Moved and upgraded bottom light fixture. We bought and returned 3 different light fixtures trying to find the right one.

 Thanks, Dad!

Unexpected Encouragement

Today while I was doing some further research on marble counters (this is what I do) I came across this picture and nearly fell out of my chair! These are our colors! Well, very close at least!

Photo courtesy of gardenweb.com

I can't tell you how many times in planning the kitchen I've thought - I just wish I could see how it will all look together. Well, this is about as close as it could ever get!

This kitchen has so many things we plan to put in ours: dark wood cabinets, white marble countertops, light backsplash (although ours will be porcelain subway tiles - this looks like some sort of stone mosaic tile) stainless appliances and wood floors (but ours will be more honey-toned). It even has an orangey-red wall!

All it's lacking is some schoolhouse lights, a farmhouse sink and a butcher block top to the island, but it's amazing to see all the colors we're working on in one photo. And the best part - we really like it!

I take this as a sure sign that the kitchen gods are smiling on our plans.