Walls and Tile

If you're wondering how the bathroom remodel is going, the answer is that I've nearly picked everything out.  My contractor is on vacation in sunny Florida, so construction won't be starting for a while.

Since I'm bringing you along for this process, this is what we're up to so far:

Above, are the towels, floor tile, paint colors, and shower tile I've chosen so far.  I picked up the Cynthia Rowley "Quatrefoil" towels at HomeGoods before I moved up from Florida.  They were a steal at $7.99 a piece, and I got 5 or 6 of them, with matching hand and wash towels.  I like a white towel, because they're a cinch to keep clean... when all else fails, use a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and let them soak for a while, then dry them on the clothesline on a sunny day.

The floor tiles were picked up quite some time ago from one of those builder-supply discount stores in my general area, called Grossman's Bargain Outlet.  At 80 cents a square foot, I really couldn't beat that with a stick.  I was lucky enough to pick up 3 boxes.  I also found some matching bullnose wall tile that will go around the bottom of the walls for $2.47 each at Home Depot.  

The paint was probably the one thing that I really had trouble coming to a decision on.  Normally, I look at something and it is a definite yes or no.  I know what I'm looking for, and it is either it, or it isn't.  As evidenced by my still-unpainted bedroom, I have paint issues.  For the bathroom, however, I finally settled on Behr's Ocean Pearl for the walls and Sea Salt for the ceiling and the trim.  

The shower tiles are Home Depot's stock glass mosaic and runs $4.99/sq foot.

I wasn't going to replace my 1.6 gal/flush toilet, but decided to do so to save water with a 1.28 gal/flush model with cleaner lines than the existing commode.  

The sink will also be replaced, since I really dislike the current sink setup which takes up far too much room in such a tiny space, not to mention, the previous homeowner cut large holes in the bottom to allow for the existing plumbing, so the cabinet is mostly unusable as storage space.  I would like a small sink, since the current one is only used to wash hands.   Nearly all of the tooth brushing and primping action goes on in the downstairs half-bath.  Yes, it is weird, but it's more convenient for us.  After the remodel, tooth brushing might just move upstairs.  We're living on the edge, people.

Field Trip!

Remember the inspiration pic for the front porch?  Well, the first order of business was to procure an antique iron shabby-chic bed frame so that the southern sleeping porch could evolve.  Enter Craigslist.

I have been scouring "local" Craigslist ads for a few weeks now, looking for the right sort of bed frame and then a couple of nights ago, found one.  It was in Erie, about 2 hours away, and it was still available.  Today was a lovely, sunny day with not one flake of snow in the air, so I hopped in the car with Daniel, my British-accented GPS.

It turns out, this little treasure was at a small antique furniture shop called The Blue Cupboard.  It's like stepping into the brain of Rachel Ashwell, but better.  It is small, definitely comfortable, and the owner/interior designer/decorator, Stacy, couldn't have been nicer or more accommodating.  Seriously, I wanted to move in.  I inquired about a pastry stand that was in the workroom, but was in the process of waiting for a coat of paint.  Stacy had it painted while I shopped, and it dried completely on my way home.  

Stacy also creates custom furniture, and the pieces I saw recycled gorgeous antique bits and just made them wonderful in all the right ways.  There is also high-end furniture for sale at really great prices (like an armchair that I really want, marked from $1198 to about $600 and some change).

Of course, I took pictures.  I couldn't go on a proper field trip without sharing it with all of you.  So, without further ado, The Blue Cupboard:

I love, love, love this dresser.

There's the armchair.  See the white iron headboard leaning against the post?  That is mine.

I also picked up this industrial stool for a song.  Isn't it gorgeous?

I want this table, too.

I love this cabinet.  LOVE it.  See that round thing on the lower shelf?  I bought  that.
There is a better photo of its twin, which is for sale on EBay at present.

This is the twin that is floating around on EBay.  It is actually a light fixture, but I love it as-is.

More cabinet.

A custom island that Stacy made.  She also made the tin bookend that is on top of it.
Said pair of bookends would easily make a great set of corner shelves.  I wanted them, but had to economize.

The chair with the buffalo plaid pillow on it is a new chair.  It was definitely gorgeous.

I would love to have this full-size bed frame

One of the islands Stacy remade.  The top is distressed, and will be epoxied.  There are antique corbels on the other side that are lovely.

I love the Hazel Atlas mason jars on the fireplace mantle.  

Here is a close up of those tin bookends

This is a nearly 8-foot long bench with a custom cushion.  It used to be in a church somewhere,
but, I think it'd look much better in my living room.

I want this table in my dining room.

A little table that would be great in a small entry to catch keys, or to put
plants and photos on

A tin ceiling tile, framed

This was really sweet, and would look perfect in my entry.  The glass knobs really made it sparkle.

Well, there you have it.  Well, almost.  Here is the pastry stand that was painted while I shopped:

Isn't it sweet?  It still needs to be roughed up a bit.

If you are in the greater Erie area, you can find The Blue Cupboard at 5412 West Lake Road in Erie.  It is super easy to get to, and I highly recommend you visit if it is at all possible.  They're on Facebook, too, so you can stay informed of estate sales they are putting on as well!  

I'm definitely going back.  It is simply too awesome not to.

Banish the Curtains

My office gets a decent bit of light in the early to late afternoon; but, since there is a house right next door, separated only by a very narrow alley, keeping the curtains open wasn't an option.  I had some gold/yellow moire fabric curtains that did little to improve the light situation.  I tried to change it out with a white roman shade, but that didn't offer much of a solution either.  

Here's a before:

Ignore the chaos on my desk:  I was filing things when I took the photo

The awkward window trim right next to the wall definitely did little as far as getting a curtain rod with pretty finials:  the one closest to the wall would always have to be removed.  Each window has fantastic hand-carved plinths, with 4-inch belly board trim around them; it bothered me to cover it all up.  

I thought about applying etching cream to the windows, then decided that'd be too permanent, and likely, too messy.  I did the next best thing:  I ordered a couple of rolls of Con-Tact "Frosty" Roll Adhesive Liner.  It isn't quite wide enough to cover my window in one sweep, so there is a tiny bit of a line where the seam meets.  It makes a vast improvement, though!

The gorgeous, streamlined AFTER

To prep the windows, all I did was wash them with vinegar and dried them well.  Then, I measured each pane, and simply cut the Con-Tact paper to fit.  Peel, apply carefully, and push out any air bubbles with a flat edge (I used my bench scraper).  Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

Plenty of light comes through, and my neighbors cannot see me working away late at night while I'm in my pajamas (or dancing along with the Ellen Show, for that matter).

Indoor Morel Habitat

Today, my morel mushroom habitat kit arrived.  Morels are delicious wild mushrooms, and one of the fleeting joys of spring.  They look like a small sponge on a stick, and are hollow inside:

black morel, via Wikipedia

They are rather finicky about where they set up shop in the woods, but once found, a morel "spot" can last for years.  You just have to beat all of the other morel hunters to them.  As with all wild mushrooms, if you're not 100% positive of what you have, DO NOT eat it.  Every year, a handful of people die from eating poisonous wild mushrooms.  

This is also why I have decided to grow my own.  Growing up, I used to go mushroom foraging with my mom and aunts.  In the woods of New England, we'd forage for lion's mane, chicken of the woods, and chanterelles.  Every so often, someone would get lucky and find a morel.  Sadly,  I never quite picked up the skill of identifying the safe ones from the poisonous ones, even after reading a few books on the subject.  

After some searching on the internet, I found GMHP, the Gourmet Mushroom people.  I did some research, ordered a kit for about $35, and today, assembled my kit.  It can take a few years for this to start fruiting outside, but I'm hoping for ANY results in an indoor growing bed.

My research revealed that I would have to "grow" the morels in compost, but not manure.  I finally settled on organic earthworm castings which I picked up from Amazon.  I knew that the earthworm castings wouldn't have chunks of decomposing wood chips, which can be bad as far as mushroom growing goes.  Morels like pH neutral soil, at about a 7, leaning toward the "sweet" alkaline side of the pH spectrum.  Some wood chips can be acidic, like pine.  So, wood chips avoided successfully.  Next, the kit states to bury kitchen waste (coffee grounds, peelings and the like) in the soil every so often to introduce biological material to start to decompose.  This makes complete sense, as in the forest, leaf litter would cover the ground every so often.  I also ordered some mushroom substrate growing medium.  Essentially, this is organic rye flour mixed with minerals to keep it airy.  It isn't a necessary step, but I want my morel spawn to have a boost in the growth department.  Lastly, keep it in the shade (or with a maximum of a couple of hours of sunlight per day), and keep it moist.  Then, wait.

To make my kit, I recycled a plastic storage container that was just taking up space.  I poured the earthworm castings over some straw, mixed in the rye flour substrate, the coffee grounds from this morning, and some organic garden lime to boost the pH a bit.  Then I crumbled my "brick" of morel spawn (which looks like a moldy clump of dirt) over the whole mess, mixed it all in, then watered it.  It is sitting on the front porch at the moment, pretending that it is winter outside.  In a few days, I'll bring it back in, check on the moisture level, then keep it in the unused dining room/seed starting headquarters.  If nothing happens, I'm okay with that, since it can take a few years to fruit.  I might keep it in the workroom in the basement once fall hits, to mimic a mild winter.  It is cold in the basement, but not freezing... definitely around 40 degrees, though.  This is what the process looked like:

Bag o'castings, aka. earthworm poo

Rye flour substrate

Straw on top of castings

Morel spawn.  Those white mold-looking filaments are going to be mushrooms!

Mixed all together

I'm sure the day a mushroom starts sprouting, I'll be jumping about with glee, and taking photos of it like it's a newborn baby.  That might not be for quite some time, so I'll leave you with this quote, "Falling in love is like eating mushrooms; you never know it's the real thing until it's too late." -Bill Balance

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The Swamp

This is the side yard:

That swath of blacktop is a tiny, private road.  Small cottages were built on the property at some  point, so one part of the yard is somewhat surrounded by tiny houses.  If you look closely, to the left above the arm of the swingset, there's a diamond-shape in the lawn.  I think at one point, this area used to be a driveway, and the diamond, a planter.  There are concrete bricks tapped into the ground there.  Quite likely the worst part of this bit of yard is the soggy nature of it all.  

The lawn dips for about 24 inches on the house side and creates the trough of no drainage.  What to plant, then?  This fall, the girls and I planted crocus and tulips in the diamond for some spring color IF the wet nature of the soil hasn't rotted them away.  Next, I'm going to plant 4 elderberry bushes here.  Elderberries will tolerate a number of harsh soil conditions, wet soil being one of them.  

In my spring garden planning, I also ordered 3 apple trees.  THREE.  Two of them are rooted to dwarf stock, but the other is a big mystery.  In fact, if anyone has any information about the root stock on the apple trees sold by Seeds of Change, I'd greatly appreciate it.  I emailed them, but still waiting for a response.

So, where were we.. 3 apple trees; 4 elderberry bushes; 4 Nanking cherry shrubs.  Wait--what? Cherry shrub?  That's right.  I was just as surprised as you probably are to find out that there are sour cherry-like fruits on a shrub.  There is even a Wiki on it.  Far less maintenance than one would have for a cherry tree, I'm all for the shrub version.  These were shipped bareroot, and after a long soak in a jar of water, they started leafing out.  I wasn't expecting them to be shipped until April, but due to a snafu, I got them last week.  Here they are, leafing out on my kitchen counter, before they get transplanted to pots:

Don't mind Henry.  He's chilling out in the grape hyacinths.

I'm anxious to start seeds, as I'm sure every Northern gardener is; but, I know better to do so in my zone 5a region.  In a few weeks, I'll start onions and leeks from seed.

On the "Money Pit" front, the range finally died its big death, so I had to break down and buy a new one; it arrives Thursday.  The dishwasher also decided to break down mid-cycle, but all that is needed is a new timing element, which is on order; it is still a perfectly good machine!

As it warms up, I'll be out on the front porch, painting over the terrible sea-green.  Hopefully, there will be a few stretches of warm, dry days so I can paint the front door.  I'm not banking on that, though.  Spring tends to be rather wet in these parts.

Progress Report

In case you were wondering, this was today's bathroom-related shopping trip to Home Depot:

Moving along

This past week, we had a day of spring.  Just one day of rainy, 58*F weather to get my urge to garden into gear.  Of course, the very next day was in the 20s, and today, it's a mere 10 degrees out there, with lake effect snow on top of it all.

There is nothing worse than waiting for spring, in my opinion.  Because there is no way I can hurry it along (outside of using copious amounts of fossil fuel, I guess), I did the next best thing:  I planned my spring projects.

My front porch can be seen in the banner.  It is big enough for a sofa or a daybed, and enclosed in glass.  In the late afternoon, the sun shines into the porch, heating it up.  This isn't bad in the winter, but in summer, it makes being out there nearly unbearable during the day.  At night, it is lovely, and I'd like to refashion it as a southern sleeping porch.  So, here is the to-do list:

1.  Install breezy curtains that block the afternoon warm-up effect.

2.  Paint the horrid sea-green colored wainscoting.

3.  Repaint the front door from the horrid purple-red to something classic.

4.  Make it a functional space with a daybed of some sort.

I really like the feel of this:

from Vintage House