Comforting Color

Blustery day outside.

Means a comforting food inside.

Some for us.

 Some to give away.

 

Colorful pots and pans,

 

And a pumpkin, sausage, creamy, cheesy, from scratch casserole to be enjoyed by many.

Chinking

Are you tired of hearing about these old logs?

Me too!

They are only a giant feature in our living, dining and kitchen area.

It is like a painted accent wall....

Times 100.

Or maybe times 1000.

Or maybe times.... Never mind... This could go on for quite awhile.

Would you like me to explain why I think it is so awesome?

cricket... cricket... cricket...

I will take that as a yes!

They add texture.

They are a great natural element.

They ground the rooms, and can stand up to and balance out all my other white things.

They are old.

And now!!!! They are chinked.

Chinked with a homemade concoction that only my husband knows. I do know that he didn't buy anything for it. Everything was gathered from the Earth.

Which is hippy talk for dirt.... and sand.... and wood ash... and water.

And sweat.... and tears... and love.... and.... You get the point, atleast I hope you do. This project was a lot of work, hard, hard work. But we love the out come. 

What do you think?

Reason to Celebrate

By the screams and shouts you would have thought they were given a huge present. Something really special. Something to celebrate.

But these girls of ours.... Upon opening the door last night, saw snow.

Our first snow.

We quickly jumped in the car to take a quick, nighttime drive. It was pitch black except for the bright white, huge flakes of snow.

We headed up the mountain. Saw a fox and enjoyed being a family.

And this morning, it was still here. Only a skiff of snow, but a beautiful skiff.

That makes even the chicken coop roof look beautiful.

Those girls were right. This snow, this beauty, is definitely a reason to celebrate.

Can't We Just....

Three simple words. Words that can make my husband cringe. He tries to tell me that he really can't do everything (like I think). But he keeps proving himself wrong and proving me right. Because he really can do EVERYTHING!

Laura- Can't we (read you) just move this opening over?

Timothy- You mean that opening? The one that is 100+ years old and totally structural?

Laura- Yep!

Timothy- And log?

Laura- That's the one! Won't it be awesome! It'll solve all our problems! All you have to do....

Timothy- ........

Laura- It'll separate the men from the boys. I mean, who else do you know who has done this?

Timothy- .......... sigh........

And so it began.

See that little tiny doorway... Keep looking, it's pretty hard to see... Over there on the left side of the picture.

That doorway is what separated the dining room and kitchen from our new living room.

We started by measuring and using tape on the wall so we could see what our new opening would look like.

Then brought the chainsaw in. The best part of the chainsaw in the house was that our neighbor happened to be looking out his window and said to his wife, "I just saw Tim start up his chainsaw and walk into the house!". They came over a few days later...

He made a pulley system out of a ratchet strap. And cut. One. Log. At. A. Time.

Then... We brought the logs back into the house and started piecing them back together to fill in the old opening.

Then made some more cuts.

Aaaaannnnndddd the long awaited new opening was done!

First Impressions

This little red house has always had a bit of charm to it. The way it sits on its lot, the trees around, the mountain views. But if you look closely you will see that the charm is actually rag tag. Take the front door for instance. Seems ok, right? Until you notice that it is actually pretty small.... and metal... and boring. Replacing it certainly wasn't the first thing on out list, but we knew it was bound to happen.     

So when a solid wood large door came up for sale on our local online yard sale, we decided it was time. Of course it wasn't a simple job. Timothy had to reverse the way it swings and widen the opening. Don't forget that the house is over 100 years old, originally a log cabin and not even close to square. He is awesome though and figured it all out and I love it!

 Now just picture all the hardware black and the trim around the door painted white. Because... well... life happened. And this front door project has joined the very long list of Almost Done projects.

And Almost Done is way better than not done at all.

A Log Story

Those logs.

They sure threw me for a curveball.

We first met during The Flood. 

They are not my first choice of building material.

But once we saw them, we knew they would be staying exposed. I love history and I couldn't imagine covering something up that had been cut, drug and placed all by hand to build a little cabin all the way back in 1905. Regardless of my personal preference and taste.... the logs were staying.

And they thanked us.

British Colonial + Mid Century Modern =

This dresser.

Atleast, in my opinion. Especially when it was white. We have had the dresser for 5 years and since moving to the new house it no longer fit. We had the space, it just no longer looked quite right. This house is old and it likes old furniture. So my little Mid Mod dresser had to go.

After trying to sell it at both a yard sale and Craigslist with no luck I decided to spruce it up a bit to highlight its very cool detail. 

At a 3am breastfeeding/brainstorming session I decided on blue. It needed to be a dark in your face blue.

You can now see its character and original hardware.

Now this sweet little dresser has a new home.

What do you think of the color change?

Spring Has Sprung

I have finally accepted that Spring is here in Western Montana. I was in denial for quite awhile, because I never felt like we had a proper winter. Last year we had a fabulous winter filled with tons of snow and cold temperatures and it was perfect. This year it was mild and boring.

Since I can no longer deny the changing of the season, and my beloved winter is over, I have decided it is time to embrace it.

We currently have 8 baby chicks. By we I do mean the girls have baby chicks. They did chores through the winter to save up their money to buy their very own chickens. They have complete plans for an egg business.

Spring time flowers are popping up. Which I am extremely grateful for. Especially since I didn't follow any transplanting rules or guidelines.

AAAAANNNNNDDDDD BABY WILSON NUMBER 3 IS ON THE WAY!!!!!!! We are beyond excited!

Actually..... Baby is well on it's way....

We only have about 3 more weeks before the due date and can not wait to meet him or her.

Happy Thursday!

New Table

About two years ago we bought a large oak table and seven mismatched chairs off of Craigslist for $50. I then sold five of the chairs for $10 each. Now that is my kind of purchase.

The table is nothing special, but it is big. It was just your run of the mill oak, cheap table and I am your run of the mill oak furniture hater. Unless they are real wood floors or real oak beams I say there is no place for oak in my home.... I am a bit opinionated about this... wink. 

When we bought this table we already knew we would be painting it. It just took two years and a home purchase to make it happen.

But it did happen.

 After lots and lots of prep work aka sanding, priming, sanding again, then adding a few screws here and there to make it less saggy and more solid we finally got to put this beauty on the chairs!

 After three, yes three coats of paint with sanding in between each coat the chairs were done! The table got the same prep and three coat and sanding treatment as the chairs. Except we used a nice white paint for it.

 Let me tell you. I love, love, love this table. It is bright and I love it. Most everything in my house is white so a few bright blue chairs were just what this kitchen needed.

 So far I have been pleased that I can put my other favorite colors and table decorations with it without it clashing too much.

 I am planning on a dark brown table runner to get me through the fall and winter and to cozy it up a bit for those seasons.

A funny thing about the chair color is that a year ago I stopped by the house my husband was painting and loved the door color and told him that it was what I wanted for our chairs. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I walk into the paint store and three minutes later pick out the exact paint color that was used on that door without knowing it. Atleast, I know this color isn't just a phase;)