Winter Workings: Phase 1

I have been pretty quiet over on Oxford Handmade the last few weeks- you know Christmas, parties, whatnot.  But honestly, most of the silence is because Marco and I have been working on a little side project we like to call  Living Room Makeover 2013.

(Technically, it started in 2012, but just go with it ok?)

This is where our living room was sitting at the beginning of December:

Charming right?  That MDF bookcase on its side acting like a sideboard.  The 31 decorative pieces on the mantle.  The 6 mini tables in the living room.  That second picture is actually a during picture, but it shows some good before-ness too.  Continue to just go with it.

Well like I mentioned here, we had some winter plans that we needed to get started, so when Marco's office closed for the holidays, get started we did.  Suddenly our fireplace wall looked like this:

Blank except for the Instagram photos and the Trevi fountain canvas.  That's also why that picture of the couch is so cluttered, most of the stuff just got moved across the room.  Then suddenly through the power of the internets, the room started to look like this:

Turns out that phase one of Living Room Makeover 2013 involved 60 feet of bookshelves plus 12 feet of table height surface space.  We added trim, filled in the holes, painted, painted again with a different white, and we when we finally sat down on the couch four days later, we were looking at this:

I waited a whole 72 hours before putting our books and collections on the shelves to make sure they cured nicely, but I gotta tell you, it was a little painful waiting that long.  Having these shelves makes the room feel so much more balanced.  That weird corner, to the left of the diningroom opening (you can see it in the picture right above), is suddenly useful.  Plus the trim along the bottom of the shelves makes them look like they've been there forever.

And the best part?  This bookshelf project really started the ball rolling with other living room projects. But you'll have to check back to see those.  In fact, I should probably be working on them now...

Winter Projects vs Summer Projects

I know its been slow around the ol' blog lately.  I've been working on OxfordHandmade and doing a lot of deep thinking about my future, oh and a lot of watching the entire series of How I Met Your Mother, but I digress...

The truth is, this warm winter weather has really upset our winter project schedule.  When Marco and I first moved into this house we had a lot of projects that we knew we needed/wanted to accomplish.  But to not be so overwhelmed and to help budget them out we put them in order of preference (or logic) and then ordered them again for each season. Until our list looked like this:

Summer projects:
Raised bed garden
French Drains
Deck
Workshop
Fence
Paint front door
Stain and seal porch/new deck
Flowerbeds
Update big bathroom

Winter projects:
Painting the living room, dining room, bed room, guest room, hallway, bathroom, kitchen
Remodel kitchen and laundry room/guest bathroom
Install built in bookshelves
Update light fixtures in dining room and hallway
Add ceiling fan in living room and/or update light
Add insulation to attic and winterize other areas in need
Have an energy audit
Install organization to kitchen cabinets


Now why would we want to separate the list into two parts for winter and summer?  That's easy.  No one wants to dig post holes for a fence when the ground is frozen and why would you want to be working inside on bookshelves when it's so nice and pretty outside?  Plus, this helps us prioritize and buy supplies bits at a time so we're not always storing loads of wood and materials.

Ok, that last part was a lie.  I'd take a picture of my backyard to prove we're still hoarding materials, but I'm too embarrassed, so you'll just have to trust me.

Anyhoo- the warm weather during winter working time is really messing up our schedule.  We're trying to accomplish more "summer" projects like working on our flower beds or finishing projects floating in our back yard instead of focusing on our built in bookshelves which are next on the list.  But the time has come the walrus said!  So here is an official before picture:

I just snapped it and uploaded it- no lighting, no care to clean up or move the cat out of the mirror.  That's a legit picture.  My best?  Nope.  But isn't that how before/afters work?  You take a really bad before and then a really, really nice after.

Here's hoping we can finish before it turns warm again- I have a lot of books that need new homes and a tv that needs to move out of the bedroom.  Who's up for painting 300 feet of shelving??

Boarder Project

Part of the fun of working from home is the ability to focus more on our home and homelife.  I started this project in my mind a few months ago and I am so excited to finally see it starting to take shape.  It has taken a while to collect the necessary materials, but I think the overall effect is going to be really charming. 

This is what we started with:

See how square and sharp and angular everything looks?  The windows, the house, the driveway, the boarders, the stairs, the porch... so many squares and sharp angles.  I wanted something to soften up the look and I really wanted bigger flower beds.  We thought three feet deep would do it, but I have really taken to collecting plants from friends and family so I quickly found that we would need MUCH more room.  Plus, the flowers help soften those angles as well and break up the "white space" of the house.

So I started with preparing my materials for my makeover.  Which basically meant I looked like an addict for a few days while everything soaked and then got scraped and then dried.

Just FYI:  New cat litter plus drying bottles makes for a really messy bathroom.

Then I had to plan my new curvy outline.  I just used water hose and guestimated where I thought I'd want my new flowerbeds to go.

Soon it was time to start digging.  I had planned on trying out several methods to find the "perfect" method. I thought I'd scrape off the topsoil (what little there was) and move it to where we needed it.  Look!  Recycling! Saving! Gardening and stuff!  But what I actually did was call my Daddy.  He brought over his mini tiller and we tilled the line twice, then used a shovel to brake the soil up a little bit more.  We actually only did this "break up the soil more" step on only have of the new line and I wish we had done it the whole line.   There are a few bottles I need to adjust and that extra step really was worth it.

I wish I had photos of the ditch, but I don't.  I was too busy laying out bottles.  Sorry.  And I don't have big reveal pictures either because it turns out- we were short about 40 bottles.  But I can show you an in-progress sneak peak!

Oooohhhh.  Curvy.  Bottle-y.  A little bit messy.  But getting so much closer!  I just hope we get a few more warmer evenings so I can finish it and share.  So if you're into wine, and you happen to have a few green/brown/blue bottles hanging around... I'd be glad to take them off your hands.

Anyone else making the neighbors worry?  Or calling in reinforcements to help dig up trenches?  Anyone else get into all kinds of trouble when their husbands are away for work??

Good morning!

The following makes the burg very nervous. The Pooto does not care and can sleep through anything. Including his sister's non stop barking.