In honor of Earth Day---our "recycled" house!

 Just a few in progress photos.  Other than a bit of touch-up and cleaning, the front is DONE!

On this one, you can really see the BEFORE and AFTER

Unfortunately, the white downspout (to be painted) and the strange green rosebush hide the awning from the front.  Time to give that rose a trim!

 

Awning before.  They just don't make them this well anymore!

Time to let Husband rest for a few days. :-)   Onward to the south side!

Happy trails,

bobbi c.

One step forward, two steps back. . .

Or maybe that should be TEN steps back.  Although the front of the house is ready for primer and Husband has done magic with hiding where the former second front door used to be (YAY!), other things have slowed down.

It's the amazing disappearing front door!

Since I last wrote, we've had a "spot of bother" as my Brit friends say.  First, during my garden shed re-do, I somehow managed to rip some of my organs and/or perhaps set some kidney stones loose.  The doctors are indecisive.  They suggested aspirin and rest. Riiiiight. 

I'm not sure HOW it happened, but if I had to guess, I'd say it had something to do with the behemoth clawfoot tub, antique wood doors that weigh 50-lbs. each, and my mule-headedness about not bothering Husband when trying to move them around. Yep, that could do it.

Gee, that thing can't be THAT heavy, can it?  I'll just give it a shove and get it outside!

So that project is temporarily on hold while my innards heal.  Hopefully.  Stay tuned, because there's more. . .

 I walked into the shed last week and the STANK  knocked me over.  We've had issues out there before with the ancient plumbing and the fact that some unnamed agent sold the place as a two-bathroom dwelling with nothing more than an toilet and a big hole in the floor out in the cottage.  The problem with cement slabs is that you have no clue what's under them. Surprise, surprise! as Gome would say. 

So.  Long story short.  Crumbling clay pipes.  Sewage from the Big House that flows downhill.  Underneath the cottage.  $1,000 to tap into the city sewer at the street.  Many bijillions of dollars more to get the pipes from the house to the street.

Not to mention the Likely Demolishment of the Garden.

So, maybe it's time to re-assess what I was going to do this spring, and concentrate on plants in pots out back where I KNOW they won't be digging.  Or I hope they don't be digging.  Maybe I'll get more writing done?  I'm a "glass-half-full-of-tequila" kinda gal.

But, if I EVER again speak the words "I want a house nobody else wants," just shoot me, 'K?

Happy trails from Texas!

bobbi c.

The back is done!

Mostly done.  All I need to do is finish the back door, which will be a totally different color.  Or not. LOL.

Before. . .

And After!

1930 Texas cottage remodel, in progress.

Stay tuned for more adventures in remodeling!

bobbi c.

And the answer is----Red!

Red, or more specifically, Brownstone Red (True Value Weatherall paint) has been chosen as the trim color for our Texas bungalow/cottage repainting project.  The window sashes, scallopy-things around the porch, shutters and awnings will be dark green.  The doors?  Undecided.

Funny thing, I dithered around with samples, test patches, etc. then choose the same colors that are on the curtains in the room facing the back----yellow, brown, green and red.  LOL.  Oh well. At least I'm consistent in my choices.

The brackets are dark chocolate brown, and the trim is the red.

Why are they painted only so high?  Because that's as far as I could reach.  LOL

Stay tuned for more progress!

bobbi c.

Making progress with painting

Dear friends,

I've been busy working on projects inside for the Taylor Artist Guild shows coming up in the next few months, so haven't had much time to post.  Husband Rudy has continued his work on the outside painting, with a short vacation for the flu.  Ugh.  We decided on a muted, Tuscany yellow for the base color, and perhaps a nice green, barn red, or pumpkin orange for some of the trim.  I thought I'd post a pic so you can see we haven't been slacking.  LOL.

One of these days, I'll write that book.  You know the one.  How NOT to Buy an Old House. 

Happy Trails from Texas!

bobbi c.

Decloaking the cottage, and more pergola pics

Dear friends,

We are, as they say, gluttons for punishment.  No sooner did Mr. Husband finish the pergola project I talked about here, than he continued the work we started a few months ago ripping the 1950s aluminum siding off the house.

What can I say?  We don't like to be bored!  I will admit, I'm usually the instigator of these crazy projects.  I'll get all tanked up on caffeine, go outside, find my gloves and start yanking on stuff.  By the time I'm too tired to continue, Husband has decided it was his idea in the first place.  I'm evil that way.

I promised to add more pics of the pergola, and here they are.  These are of the underside, showing how the fan is mounted, and the cloud painting I did on the lattice.  Alas, it needed to be darker to show up in such a sunny area, but I'm tired of messin' with it, ya know?  I cannot tell you how much nicer it is sitting out there, under the trees, with that fan going.  It also helps keep the skeeters away, too.

Underside of pergola with outdoor ceiling fan and lattice covering

Another view

And just to show how really crazy we are---here are photos from the progress Mr. Husband has made on tearing the siding off the house.  Surprisingly enough, the antique pine underneath is in really good shape.  It will take a boatload of caulking, scanding, scraping, etc. and THEN repainting.  But before then, every little scrap of the house has to be uncovered.

I do have a method to my madness.  I wanted to paint the house, and painted aluminum siding soon starts looking very bad, especially in our hot climate.  (I keep thinking about the traveling aluminum siding peddlar, "You'll NEVER have to paint again!")

So, here we are.

 The first bit of excitement was seeing that there used to be an interesting trim piece over the window.  Apparently it had been removed back when they put the awnings over the windows.  I'd LOVE to replace it, but we've already discovered how wonderful those awnings are at keeping out the heat and the sun, and how much the inside of the house heats up without them.  Maybe I'll come up with some alternate plan.  We already have storm windows on the inside, since we still have the original windows. That helps with air infiltration, but does nothing to block the brutal sun.

 The second bit of excitement was the discovery that the eaves were made up of the original pine beadboard, from the 1930s.  I LOVE me some beadboard.  I have to tell ya, we really have that shabby chic thang goin' here!  I suggested to Husband that we just put some poly over it, to let the naturalized weathering show through.  Did he love that idea?  No.

Third bit of excitement (can ya tell I don't get out much?), was uncovering the scallopey doo-dads around the back porch.  If I have my say (and sometimes I do), those are staying.

The wooden corbels are in good shape, so far. In this photo, you can really tell the difference at how it looks.  On the left side  are the eaves and corbel encased in the metal, on the right, they've been uncovered.  In this photo, almost all of the gable end has  been uncovered.

I'll add more photos as we continue this project, which might take QUITE some time to finish.

Luckily, Mr. Husband and I have nothing better to do.  LOL!!!!

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

A New Pledge of Allegiance--to the Earth

I saw this floating around various places the other day, and thought it appropriate for the blog.

"I pledge allegiance to the Earth and all the LIFE which it supports.  

One Planet, in our care, 

irreplaceable,
with sustenance and respect
for all."

Works for  me!

Go plant a tree!

Happy trails,

bobbi c.

And the walls came tumbling down....

Dear friends,

I've mentioned in my last post how my greenhouse shed, one of the reasons I wanted to buy this property, was found to have termites and the front wall had rotted because of a leaky roof.

Since then, Husband Rudy has been methodically taking the whole thing down--a little at a time.  Luckily, the weather finally cooperated and the last few days have been really nice.

In this photo, you can see some of the original antique pine ship-lap siding that we discovered underneath the vinyl.  We removed it carefully and will be using it to build another shed or small greenhouse.  The roof has been torn off, the windows and insulation removed and most of the walls are gone.  The side wall of the garage emerges, along with one of the original windows.

In general, we saved every scrap of wood that we could.  Even after that, there's still a huge pile that we have to send to the landfill.  Something I am NOT happy about.

A few days later, after some wonderful rain, the rest of it's down.  Did I mention that de-constructing a building makes a huge mess?

A large raised concrete slab is left.  There's room for potted plants, a set of patio furniture, and maybe a tiny shed.  And the ancient pecan has more room to breathe now, too.  One surprise is how much noise that little building blocked from the surrounding streets.  I have renamed Taylor as "The Noisiest Little Town in Texas".  Who knew?

It's very obvious to us, after sitting on the patio for a few minutes, that we need to get busy designing a trellis, some more fencing, and perhaps some lattice work of some kind.  I do write plays, but the last thing I want in my garden is a public theatre. :-D

 

Elsewhere, in the garden, my plants are very happy with the recent rain.  So are the snails.  Sigh.  And this one-year old garden may not be pretty in spots, but we're already growing some food and building up the formerly abused soil.

You'll notice the old awning leaning against the garden bed.  It makes some GREAT shade for tomato roots.  And the clothesline pole makes a nice, sturdy structure to attach a piece of cattle panel to--cattle panel is great for climbing beans.

It's coming together, slowly, but surely.

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

Well, we've gone and done it now! 1930's Cottage with Gardens

Dear friends,

In my last post, I mentioned our search for an older home in Taylor, Texas. After looking at homes there, I narrowed it down to three. I didn't go looking for a house this old, and I didn't go looking for a house this size, but this is the house we ended up with.

Cared for by twin sisters (Millie and Albina) their entire lives (AFAIK), I've named this old gal TWIN SISTERS COTTAGE. Built in 1930, with 1500 square foot (larger than I was really looking for), she has long-leaf pine floors throughout the entire house, walls made of a "sandwich" of wallboard, planks, studs, more planks, and more wallboard. There's a detached garage with greenhouse and guest cottage, and the house sits on over 1/4 acre covered with heirloom roses, native plants, flowers such as daylilies (at least two varieties), purple coneflower, Texas sage, iris, mature boxwoods and crepe myrtle---you name it, it's there.

I'm especially thrilled to find the property shaded by two varieties of ancient pecan trees--native Texas pecans, and papershells.



I've always loved the fashions, homes, colors and styles of the 1930's, but never dreamed I'd be able to live in a historical home of this kind. I'm already all in a tizzy about how to decorate her. Here's a start for the bedroom---a quilt made in the 1930's by my great-grandmother. It will be my inspiration for my color choices.


More to come!

Happy trails,

bobbi c.