Happy Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Last night we went to our friend's pumpkin carving party and here are pictures of all of the pumpkin victims.  Steve's Where the Wild things are pumpkin won crowd favorite while my witch is well, just a witch.  There is a picture of Steve's prize below. 

Gutters

Just wanted to post pictures of our new gutters....just in time for the crazy thunder and rain storms last weekend.  We opted for 5" half rounds and 3" round downspouts and had a local independent gutter guy do the deed for a good price.  We considered (or more like I did) doing the gutters ourselves last summer, but what can I say, we are burnt out and really want to keep the rain out and not let it in by not doing it right.
     Good decision is what we are thinking.
Here are a couple pictures of prep which included trimming the rafter tails (again, out of omph as well as daylight and rain-free hours), painting and priming that tails as well as soaking the galvanized metal piece sin vinegar to remove some of the galvanized portion and then spray priming with rustoleum oil-based paint for metal.  ...we will probably not get to painting them until next spring...or summer.

Steve doing final paint prep for the garage gutter-we only did the north side because it gets foot & paw traffic.

primed gutter brackets 

 

My new loves-Heywood Wakefield

On Sunday I had to go to Rejuvenation to get some nickel hardware to replace the brass hardware on our bathroom door since we finally got the doors stripped and are prepping them for stain.  Anyways, while walking in the backdoor, I happened to notice what looked like some pretty cool chairs that looked pretty craftsman.  Well, anyways, I snuck back outside while my friend was selling some lighting to salvage and took another look only to find 3 arm chairs with leather cushions and almost immediately fell in love...even though they appeared tattered and dirty and had some minor imperfections. 

      With that, I had to ask the price as well as find out more, at which time the price was awesome compared to new arm chairs I was researching for purchase and I was pointed to 3 more inside that were already restored with a good wood cleaner and leather cleaner/conditioner.  Sitting in the chairs was a dream and when measuring (I just happened to have a tape measure in my purse among several heavy pieces of door hardware) their compact 25"x25" size, I was in love.  Furthermore, I found out that the chairs were in original condition and were Heywood Wakefield, made in Portland, used for a masonic lodge in Washington and then bought by a collector and stored for years. 

I took a picture with my cell and called my husband, telling him he had to come see.  So...less than two hours later, we had purchased a pair of the beauties.  Below are pictures of them (lighting is different in each but they have same color finish and leather more closely resembling the second picture) after Rejuvenation restored them and pictures of their labels.  Based on the label, they were made between 1921-1925.  So comfy and also have built-in beverage holding arms. Love them!!!!!!!!! 

Can't you just picture all the old masonic lodge men sittin', chattin' and drinkin' their beers now?

 

 

What I think of kids I know: A Slam Book

When I posted about hidden treasures, I wrote about finding a slam book.  Well, the "book" or what is left of it is one piece of paper, front and back, that slams children that the child who wrote this (I imagine it to be a girl because she writes of a boy being her "honey" in it.)  Anyways, it is hilarious from what I can read and I especially love how the first edition is written in pencil but it looks as though she went back to it from time to time, making updates in pen.  From the mix of print and cursive, this was maybe completed by a third of fourth grader and her little friends.  Sorry for such dark pictures

( later changes in parenthesis)

_____means I can't read what it says

Caralee  (moved) Ward ---"fat stuff"

Katy Woodfine--- "the temper wouf"

Violet Seifort--- "crab box"

Deana Norville---"sting"

Elinor Brenton---"just too perfect"

Janet Slocum---"more fun"

Helene Schneider---"sassy"

Barbara Jenkins---"a little baby"

Connie Miller---"silly"

Lois Water---"adroup"

Doris (moved) Anderson---"bashful"

Doloris _________----"A little Cat"

Majorie (moved) King---"Sloppy Joe"

Jeanna (moved) Gibson---"Stubborn" I and-nov______

Dorothy Swicegood---"liar"

Walter Eniedi---"shy"

Robert Bell---*paper torn off

Billay Shieve---*paper torn off

Robery Coffyn---*paper torn off

Jimmy *paper torn off

Carl *paper torn off

 

back side

Stanley Jensen---"silly"

George Yager---"goldylocks"

Richard May---"mushy" with a captill # ("my honey")

Jack Mallonee---"Sloppey"

Theron Northrope---"meany"

Donald *paper torn off ---"dummy"

Dick Guilke---"sprad" huh

Curty Seifort---*paper torn off puss"

Betty Rogers---"sluyory *paper torn off

Nan Olsen---"shy *paper torn off

Jeannette Kalivoda---*paper torn off

Melvin Sa Sota---Flirt with a capital  F

*paper torn off Rands---Army and Mary *paper torn off

A Very Blustery Day

This past weekend marked what we were told is going to be the last nice weekend (meaning no rain) for awhile.  Therefore, Steve and I had a lot of painting to do around met taking an all day continuing ed calss on Sat, Steve watching the football game and going to the pumpkin patch (did I mention I love fall).   So here are pictures of the way we worked around the very blustery weather.  We tarped the front side of the house so that we could paint without huge amounts of leaves and other yard debris flying onto the wet paint.  The trap flew off several times and Steve woke up this morning to the trap having completely fallen down and taken down several ladders that were weighted down with rocks.  Seemed to have worked as we avoided having little things stuck to our fresh porch paint.

 

beautiful fall trees changing color across the street

In addition, we found (although I accidently deleted the picture) that wrapping tarps around the siding after we painted it each evening this week (it was dry to touch when we wrapped the tarps around), we avoided the spots we were getting on the paint from the overnight dew or precipitation.

Bathroom Before and Current

I realized that I have never posted pictures of our bathroom and there are reasons for this but hopefully those reasons will disappear by spring, so what the hell, why not show off our little gem.

Our bathroom has been let's say less than desirable since the day we moved in.  During our inspection and all the rest, no one seemed to notice that the bathtub had somehow survived almost 100 years without a shower attachment.  That was for starters. Not to mention the hideous wallpaper, baby blue paint, miserable 1980s sink and vanity, peeling vinyl floor and just overall awful. However, the bathroom did have it's original medicine cabinet which I just fell in love with and it is a decent size.

lack of shower and lovely set-up the day we moved in

Steve geri-rigging by adding galvanized pipe with 90 degree fitter and shower head attached.

Bathroom on inspection day

Well, we thought that this would be a very short term solution and I pictured us having a brand new, lovely, sparkling white with everything new (but of course looking old) within 3 or 6 months, tops.  Three years later, here we are with shower curtains still stapled to the wall, a thermos (yes, I typed that correctly) and closet bar holding up the outer shower curtain and our gerri-rigged set-up.  However, I do have to say that despite that it almost scares our guests away, it has been practical and has kept us clean.  Not to mention, no leaks (knock on wood).

For the last 2 years, I have been collecting parts to our bathroom (excluding the clawfoot tub we bought within the first couple weeks we lived in the house and stored for two years but sold because we realized that this was not exactly practical for kids and I do not love the shower experience of a clawfoot tub...too many shower curtains sucking you in).

These have included:

• sink bought in the seconds dept. at rejuvenation because it had been used in one of their photo shoots...we broke down one day in the last year, ripped out the old sink and vanity and put it in
  
• rejuvenation toilet-had an awesome coupon
• pottery barn side drawers for near the sink-hooked up my little bros discount when he worked there
• some towel bars and toilet paper dispenser-pottery barn discount
• california faucets sink faucet-again, the little bros discount from pottery barn
• cal faucets shower and tub faucet-awesome online sale 
• tub-found on super discount at rejuvenation-exactly what we currently have but drain on opposite side (right now it is by the window which is less than ideal)

So while we have a garage full of parts, the bathroom will seem super cheap when all we really have to buy is tile and toilet and get a cabinet built for the side of the tub. Right?  I really do mean it when I say that we will have my dream bano in the next 6 months as that was part of my criteria for having a baby (along with an awesome vacation (check) and hardwood floors being refinished (in process of quoting and scheduling).  Will post tile ideas soon (have been collecting for 3 years now).  Also, does anyone know where I can purchase a solid black, wood toilet seat with old-style polished nickel hardware???  I have searched far and wide and yet to have luck.

Here are a couple pictures of our bathroom in it's current state-Steve is chipping off layers of paint which have exposed the faux plaster tile (poor mans' subway tile).  While Steve doesn't want to save it, I would love to but it is doubtful based on the poor condition and the fact that is is completely destroyed where the original wall toilet and sink were hung....let alone that when Steve makes up his mind it is a bit hard to reason with him but we'll see.

They came in twos

Well,

   It's been awhile since I have posted but darn it, we've been busy and I've been tired (pregnancy does that sort of thing to you).  Anyways, changes include hiring a friend, Scott to help us out with siding and various other projects that are driving me crazy or are beyond our current level of patience which seems to be getting shorter by the day.  He re-sided the entire porch-quite a task, just finished cutting out rafter tails to size in prep for the gutters that will hopefully be up by next Friday (we hired this out as well-can you tell we are getting burned out?).  Other projects include help with patching the cut off window sills on the exterior of the house which I feel will make the house look so much better.  He is amazing!

They came in twos you ask?  Well, we finally took a trip to Portland Nursery last weekend to pick up the much debated conifers for our front yard.  My brother, the landscape architect, initially wanted us to get conifers that would eventually reach 60 or so feet tall and just be huge in our opinion while we wanted something more on the dainty side.  After much research, we found that the mountain hemlock was just the right size, getting only ~8' wide and 20ish feet tall (about 6 feet tall right now).   We planted them last weekend and love 'em...one is a little crocked at the top but I feel it adds to the charm!   They frame the house very nicely.

 ~mtn hemlock on south side of house near column~

~mtn hemlock on north side of house near column~

If the rain holds out for us, we hope to finish painting the new siding tomorrow (we caulked, sanded patched holes and painted today until the rain came) so that we can plant all the plants by the garage that make the house look like a nursery.  

Happy Fall!  I love fall!  My favorite season!