FIGS!!

 Figs, Figs,  everywhere! 
Can't believe this is the same tree that I was worried about just 6 months ago! I am going to have to start looking for Fig recipes soon. 
Let me know if you're a fan, I am happy to share! 

Here are a few shots of the yard. 

I have been here there and everywhere this Summer, so John has been keeping up with the yard for me. 
It is really coming along!

The backyard is great. Definitely enough room for a party, a tent, a stickball game ...whatever!  

I need to put a couple of chairs out on the patio before we list next week, and get the mail slot installed. 

I am not sure if I ever mentioned in previous posts but, the little house is at the end of the street. 
These days (at least here in RVA) we call this is called a Cul de Sac. In NY, we would have called it a dead end!

Whatever the name- it makes for a very quiet spot.
 The only people coming down past the little house are going very slow, and turning around.

Here's a look @ the view from the front door. 

                                                                                                    

John also picked up and assembled the kitchen Island 

 while I was away. 

( Does he know how to spoil me or what!?!)

The transition between the Living Room ( oak) and the Kitchen (pine) is barely visible now that it is stained. 

I know that kitchen  floor was a lot of extra effort - but I am 100% sure it was the right choice for this house!

I was heading over to do some very specific things at the house tonight. It was such a nice evening that I thought that I should take advantage of it and get some work done.

On that "TO DO " list was hanging the shelves in the kitchen. 

At,least I got one done! I spent way too much time measuring, so I made a template to avoid having to do the measuring 3x  for each shelf (3 shelves... so 9x)

Over the last 22+ years, John has sold me on the "Measure twice ( or in my case 3x) cut once" Plan.

After my happy experience with the cabinet knobs- I think I'm going to change that to ...

Measure 3x - then make a good template , so you never have to measure again! :) 

I think templates are brilliant and completely under appreciated! 

(  I admit to leaving the level in the photo on purpose. I love when something is perfectly level! This will be a stack of three shelves, so don't worry. It will look great! ) 

The trouble was - once I had my great template, I knew that I did not have to stay focused on the shelves , I could just get back to that tomorrow and move on to what I really wanted to work on ...

Lights! 

Here is a picture of the kitchen with all of the lights on. The microwave is not plugged in yet, but that will have lights underneath too.

Here it is withouht the Pendant on.

Ahhh - 

My favorite way to leave the kitchen.

At the end of the evening, dishes done , dinner put away - time to relax!

The open concept ( living room / kitchen) is great- but if the kitchen only has bright task lighting , it can be difficult for everything other than cooking!

Back to the yard ...

This desperate Hydrangea was crying to be cut! 
I cut off a few blooms to allow it some room to breathe.

I will work on getting better photos tomorrow or the next day. 

Have a great night! 

B

P.S. I was feeling terrible about not updating , so I stayed up to get some quick notes down.

Please excuse any glaring typos!!

( and - Kristin feel free to chime in with corrections :). I've counted on you to be my eagle eye editor since college, so have at it!)

The Devil is in the Detail!

I always wondered about that expression. 

I mean, really - what on earth could that mean , except...the details are evil?  They are going to try to destroy me?  They are going to break down my soul? 

Well - maybe that last one is true ;) 

Actually, I have read that the expression originally was translated from an expression that really said , 

God is in the Detail

This of course is more of a positive comment about taking the time to make sure that all work is done well. Noting that quality, and workmanship are important, and Good. 

God is in the detail of the little house. 

There are just a few still left to finish - so I am hoping He's also sticking around as a cheering squad for this final stretch! 

I am still struggling with the awning, but I hope to have that sorted out this week.  John has been hard at work edging, mowing and mulching for me, whenever he gets a few minutes away from the office. 

The 3rd bedroom/office is fairly narrow, so I was able to get a really nice remnant for a reasonable price, and have some money to put toward additional padding.

This is the only carpet in the house, so I wanted it to be cozy.  

It did not photograph that well, bit it has a nice texture to it. 

Here are the doors of the Master Bedroom closet. 

This closet space had been reconfigured sometime in the 70's or early 80's. Prior to that , both bedrooms must have had the same small standard closet. 

I knew that I needed an update, but could not figure out exactly what to do. 

I invited my friend ( and fellow realtor) Sean Craft to come by and take a peek. 

Sean's suggestion was to scrap the overlapping /sliding door idea ( since I did not want it anyway) and add a fixed section in the middle. 

Hmmm - sounds simple, right? 

But where would I find something that would work for that plan? 

After wasting way too much time measuring every closet door, exterior door and even large shutter in both Home Depot and Lowes , I decided to scrap that and go search the ReStore. 

Ahhhhhhhh

( This is not a simple Aha sound from me - this was the sound  of a choir of angels singing joyfully as I looked across the hundreds of doors at the ReStore, and saw these! ) 

I actually didn't believe that they were going to fit, even though I had the measurements with me, and I had checked multiple times. 

It just seemed too unlikely, but - there they are! And they fit! 

So, once finished, the doors on either side will swing open, but the narrow panel in the middle stays in place. It is still one large closet, there are just (2) entrances. 

They looked so interesting when they were  up, that I decided that white trim paint was not nearly exciting enough to put on them.

My first thought was to do a wash with a french linen chalk paint, with the dark wax on top. 

This was a flop! I hated the mottled look of the wood coming through the paint. I had hoped the grain would look nice, but it just looked messy. 

So - 

I added another coat, and I think I will probably stick with the clear wax to coat them. I like the contrast of the flat matte against the semi gloss trim. ( Hard to see in the picture, and the trim was still one coat shy of completion in this shot!) 

They will also look better once we add the trim to fill the gaps between the doors, and the doorknobs. 

I am really excited about this too. 

On that same exciting day, looking across the stack of doors, I found this! 

This door - with the wonderful 2 over 2 window ( a favorite of mine!) is a perfect fit for the laundry room! 

It is amazing how much light pours into this space , even on a cloudy day! 

Yes, I know, it has a mail slot. My children all made sure that I was fully aware of that :) 

I love a mail slot. I think it's great. This way if they are out of town, and friends want to drop something off ...in it goes!  I added one at my house, and now I am not sure how I ever got by without one. I love it! 

I finally decided on a plan for the laundry room floor. I wanted to add some character, but did not want it to be too "girly" so... I decided to copy the pattern from the original light fixture that had been in the hall. It will add a touch of the 1948 design back in.

I love this Farrow & Ball Paint, and have used it a ton! It seems to be virtually indestructible ( at least fairly resistant to high traffic from all of my teens anyway!)

Here is the finished product. It's a simple design, but I think it makes a big difference in the room.

I am still keeping the appliances and the floor covered in armor ( as much as possible) , but I wanted you to see this picture. 

It gives a sneak peek at the kitchen floors, and also shows the great custom cabinet that Marcus built for me this week! 

The Refrigerator is "Counter Depth" but that means different things to different manufacturers. To me, counter depth should be 24" - or at least the box should be 24" with the doors extending from there.  You'll be able to see in the next picture down how far beyond this one goes. The sheetrock, to the right of the fridge , comes out 24" . That was part of the thinking for placing it in this spot. I thought it would be the perfect depth to fit right in that corner. 

It is not quite the fit I was going for, but I am really happy with the built in cabinet! 

Here is the view of the refrigerator cabinet from the laundry room. You can see the above cabinet lighting in this one. It is not set up on the other side yet, but it will be above and below all of them. 

I am a fanatic about lighting in a kitchen! 

This /These might be my new favorite things! 

They're Awesome!

I thought at the time...this is frivolous, Do I really need to spend $3.79 on this item? Is it really going to work? Am I just wasting money? 

HA!

These silly little plastic things are worth $10 each - I love them! 

They are just little templates, I know. And, yes ....I know that I could make a template myself. I have in the past done just that. But these little babies made the entire kitchen hardware installation take about 10 minutes tops! 

Everything is lined up perfectly - in just the right spot. 

Definitely money well spent. 

If I use them again on the next house, that will just be a bonus. 

Here are some updates from the garden. 

We have at least (4) Rose of Sharon blooming around the yard. 

Some are purple, and some are white. 

The Fig tree, that was cut down to a nub, has decided that he wants to live! No figs yet, but I bet we will be seeing some soon.  

And this beauty on the side of the house. 

I imagine it is some type of Hydrangea, but it has a leaf like a Verbena - so I am not absolutely sure. 

 Either way - it is about 8ft tall with these cascading branches that are just now starting to bloom. 

It's gorgeous. 

Our  rainy July has really given this yard a nice chance to rebound from being cut back so far. 

It is almost time to let the little house go. 

I am having the kitchen faucet installed this week , the water line to the fridge, and then of course the Awning , but after that ...the sign will go up. 

I am not sure that I will be ready - but...it has to happen, and it is exciting. 

Of course, I would love to have any of you by anytime! If you are out this way, please call. I am happy to let you in to take a peek. Who knows - you might have a friend that needs a cute little house ;) 

B

Oh My - July 10th - Already? Boy, are we behind!

It's finally time for the fun stuff!

Yipee!!

I was torn between these two choices for the granite.

This one has some gray and green and purple dots.

This one was gray too - but had much more of a blue tone to it.

I knew this one was definitely the more traditional of the two, and would likely appeal to more buyers, 

But... I loved the first one, so I am going to have to hope that someone else will too. 

Here is the finished side room. I had not planned to make it so blue, so I am really glad that it turned out okay. 

We pulled out the huge closet, and replaced it with  IKEA closet, built in now with the base trim & crown.

The Laundry room still needs work, but I  did get the light fixture changed finally!   
This is a terrible picture - I know. 
A friend suggested this spot idea. That way there will be task lighting for all of the different areas of the room. 
                                              

This one is in the Living Room

This is the Side Room\porch light.

Back bedroom - I have the same fan in the other bedroom

The Hall light ( I know - this is the wrong bulb!) 

The kitchen Pendant for over the Island 

This is an up close shot of the granite that I chose.

My husband's comment was "It's no wonder that you like this one. It has freckles." 
( I might have a few, or a few thousand, myself) 

I love this sink

It's really deep - so if you need to wash out a cooler, or scrub a child ,  or even a Thanksgiving Turkey ...it will fit! 

I hate a little sink. 

The only thing worse ( in my opinion ) is two little sinks! When we had that double sink in our house, that was simply an invitation to leave one full of dirty dishes! 

( The strips on the wall were just there for me to visualize how many shelves I wanted to add. I decided to go with 3. ) 

Left to do :

Finish painting, Replace the awning, plant the flowers in the window boxes, Add door knobs to all of the interior doors, Install the kitchen shelves, finish the laundry room floor, Add all of the above & below cabinet lighting installed, and  Have the plumber install the kitchen faucet & hook up the water to the fridge/ice maker....

Okay, that sounds like a lot, but - 

we really are close - just not quite there. 

Have a good weekend

xo 

B