sweat equity
Happy new year! We spent the last four or five days of vacation making serious improvements to the house. It's been a spurt of warm winter days so we we are able to open windows to paint, get outside to dig, and tractor a little. We also hired a Durham fireman and his buddy to build us some new shed doors for the tractor shed.
I know you love a before and after:
They did an incredible job and we are so pleased. In a couple of months, I'll be able to paint them and it will look so much better from the road. ("Curb appeal" doesn't seem apropos without a curb, but something like that.)
When my dad was here visiting over Christmas, he took initiative to rebuild the hearth around the outside fireplace. It looks much more intentional and beautiful for evening fires now. We love it!
I've also transplanted 6 volunteer trees from natural area into some deliberate locations near the fenceline by the road and also around the yard. I'm so excited to see if the magnolias, white pines, and catalpa will take root. This morning I saw 5 bluebirds fighting over who could sit on the biggest baby magnolia, so that seems like a good sign. We also started an epic battle with a hundred-year-old honeysuckle, which stands way over my head and is the most insanely tangled gigantic beast. We've chopped down about 2/3 of it with many more snarls to go.
Meanwhile we hired professional painters to repair and repaint trim all around the exterior of the house, which was definitely overdue. They haven't quite finished but it looks much better and better-loved already.
Soon I'll share some before-and-after pictures of the boys' bathroom, which we repainted a fresh coat of blue-gray, and I'll be touching up the trim with white paint and scrubbing up the tile next.
Here's to another year of adventure, imagination, and serious elbow grease.
I know you love a before and after:
They did an incredible job and we are so pleased. In a couple of months, I'll be able to paint them and it will look so much better from the road. ("Curb appeal" doesn't seem apropos without a curb, but something like that.)
When my dad was here visiting over Christmas, he took initiative to rebuild the hearth around the outside fireplace. It looks much more intentional and beautiful for evening fires now. We love it!
I've also transplanted 6 volunteer trees from natural area into some deliberate locations near the fenceline by the road and also around the yard. I'm so excited to see if the magnolias, white pines, and catalpa will take root. This morning I saw 5 bluebirds fighting over who could sit on the biggest baby magnolia, so that seems like a good sign. We also started an epic battle with a hundred-year-old honeysuckle, which stands way over my head and is the most insanely tangled gigantic beast. We've chopped down about 2/3 of it with many more snarls to go.
Meanwhile we hired professional painters to repair and repaint trim all around the exterior of the house, which was definitely overdue. They haven't quite finished but it looks much better and better-loved already.
Soon I'll share some before-and-after pictures of the boys' bathroom, which we repainted a fresh coat of blue-gray, and I'll be touching up the trim with white paint and scrubbing up the tile next.
Here's to another year of adventure, imagination, and serious elbow grease.
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