Recycled Christmas Tree...feed the birds!

 This year, I hated to throw my Christmas tree on the curb just yet, so instead I stood it on the back deck. My yard has no shrubs yet....and I think that is why I don't have many birds. They don't have any cover. Then I decided it looked pretty bare, so I collected some pine cones, and spread them with peanut butter and pressed birdseed into it. Just like we made in grade school!

 These were messy and fun to make.

 I tied them on to the branches with bits of ribbon. It looked great! Next thing I knew, it looked like this:

And the culprit is the squirrels of course. So I tied it off to the railings. That seems to have worked so far...no more falling trees.

 The squirrels are really enjoying it. I've had a few birds, and I hope they tell their friends.

The temperature dropped way down, and I went out and got a heated birdbath at the local Big R farm store. It's super cold now, below 0 and it is still keeping the water open. I also moved the bird feeder with the squirrel guard up to the railing.  Seems to be a great way to enjoy the Christmas tree a little longer!

Bathroom Shower Doors Removed

There are so many things I want to do to this tiny bathroom, but most will have to wait because it's just not in the budget right now. I've been frustrated with not being able to get these shower doors really sparkling clean, so I decided to just take them out. I did this at the old house too. It's easier to launder a shower curtain than keep shower doors looking good. Today I took the screw gun to the frame, and hauled it to the curb.

Now I've got a clean shower curtain and liner. I don't know that this shower curtain will make the cut, but it looks fine for now. That old track for the shower doors was sealed with caulk, but there was still a lot of water and yucky mess under the track. I'm glad it's gone. Someday I'd like to put a tub/shower in, and tile the tub/shower walls. I'd like to tile the floor too.

I'd love to put in a sink like this one:

I like the shape and the fact that it has a towel bar right there where you need it. Cool floor too. 

I like the wall color in this one. Kind of a beach glass, or water color.

When I was antiquing last week I bought this great mirror to go over the sink (when I get it replaced). I love it and it's tall. That artwork will hang over the towel bar opposite the sink.

I guess I need to go work on putting the towel bars in, because when  I threw out the shower doors, the towel bars went with them!

Salvaged path, trellis, edging in the garden.

I'm trying to spend my money on shrubs and perennials, so I couldn't see spending 29+ dollars each on trellises. So I went to my aunt and uncle's farm and scavenged around. This was a looong ladder, and my uncle cut it in half for me. Just propped them where I have some morning glories planted. It might need some chicken wire for the plants to climb, but I can still add that.

The bottle tree needs a few more bottles. I guess I'll have to sacrifice for the cause and drink some wine selected by bottle color! The iron pieces are parts of a farm tool (rake?) that I bought at a garage sale. I've got some cosmos planted in there and these should help keep them upright when it rains.

My friend Warren colored the pic up for me, showing what the ladders would look like if they were stained to match the deck, with and without the rungs painted colors. I really like the one with colorful rungs, but I also love the old weathered look they have now. Looking at these pics, I can see how much simpler it looks with the ladders matching the deck color.  I wish I could change the deck railing from sunbursts to straight as well, and I will one of these days. I think the sunburst is a bit too contemporary for my bungalow, plus the gaps are too wide to be safe with little children.

Art Studio Table

I just bought this awesome vintage table from one of the dealers at Old City Hall Shoppes (like us on Facebook too!). I think the enamel surface will be great with all the paint and such that gets slung around doing mixed media work. I'm working on this little room that's off my living room, and it will be my art room.

 Here is the little room right after the wallpaper was stripped.

Here it is again after I'd moved in, and was organizing. Well now that room as been a catch-all for everything, and it's time for me to get busy making it workable. I've got a commission I'm excited to start working on, and now that the shop is slowing down for the winter, it's time!

Thanksgiving Eve...

Setting the table, making deviled eggs and looking forward to having the family over tomorrow.

Movember

Movember 11: 15 min stairs, 15 min walking
Movember 12: 30 minute walk with Hawkeye
Movember 13: 2 hours washing windows at new house...up and down the ladder.
Movember 14: 15 minutes doing crunches, plank, pushups, squats...30 minutes walking with Hawkeye

Unpacking..

 On Saturday, friends and family helped me move the furniture over, so it's starting to look like home. I'm using all the same curtains and rods from the rental. Yesterday my mom and dad hung some lamps and curtains, and we started hanging artwork. I even spent my first night there last night. I still have lots of things to get out of the old house, especially out of my basement there. Yuck. But it will get done. One thing at a time.

I like to buy artwork from artists I meet along the way. This quilt over the fireplace is by JoanE Lipinski, a Pontiac, IL artist. I saw it in Wallworks (local gallery) long ago, and Joe gave it to me for my birthday. The colors have faded a bit, but it's still one of my favorite pieces.

Movember 7,8,9,10...and progress on the bungalow

My workout the entire week has been at the house. Sanding and sealing woodwork, washing windows, moving day with all the hauling of boxes, moving furniture, loading and unloading trucks. I drop into bed exhausted each night.

I love it when I get to do a job where you really see a big difference like washing windows, or a couple of days ago, sealing woodwork. I'm using a wipe-on polyurethane. I gave it a light sanding with very fine paper first. The woodwork looked so dried out, and the poly makes such a difference!

 Here I've done the top of the buffet and the top two drawers.

The mantle is done except the bottom board only had poly wiped on half way across.

Movember 4, 5, 6...Moving!

So I was not going to count moving as exercise, but I've been painting and cleaning and packing for the last few days. Since I'm sore and exhausted (good signs of lots of activity), I'm going to count it as my exercise for the last 3 days.

Here are some pics of what is going on at the bungalow the last few days.

 Wright's came and installed the kitchen floor. I'd love to have done tile, but it doesn't fit in my budget right now. This is a high quality vinyl from Wright's in Pontiac. It's the same line (but a different pattern) that I had put in the back entry at the old house. Here you can see the old floor, under the new floor. It's perimeter glued. I also had them run the vinyl down the stairs to the basement.

 Here it is with the backsplash. The color is actually more like it is in the first photo.

Ron Ingram is painting 3 of the rooms. He and his helper stripped all the wallpaper off today, and painted the ceilings yesterday.

 Here is the dining room without all the wall paper.

 And my little studio minus the paper that covered its walls.

In the living room, Ron started painting the khaki color on the walls. This color is matched as closely as possible to the walls of my little rental house, because I enjoyed the color so much.

We also got the bedroom painted, and moved the furniture into my bedroom and the guest room. We scrubbed the kitchen floor when we realized that it was staying under the new floor, and moved the old appliances out. I had lots of help from family and friends on these projects, which helped sooo much! Today I painted inside the linen closet and the bedroom closet and lined most of the kitchen cabinets with shelf paper.

Cozy Bungalow

I bought a house! It's in my old neighborhood and I love that...I already know lots of the neighbors! Here are some pics we took the day I got the keys:

 I'm going to love this. It's a nice big south facing front porch...and it's shaded by trees...ahhhh.

The dining room has a pretty buffet with little mirrors across the back. The living room has a fireplace! All the windows on this side of the house are original, and I'm glad because they have lots of character. The windows in the other side of the house have been replaced and they are mostly in the bedrooms.

This is the other end of the living room. The little room through the French doors will be my art studio. The stairs lead to finished attic space.

The fireplace. I'm thinking built in book cases on either side of it. I've seen that in lots of craftsman style houses, and I could use the book storage space.

Here is the kitchen. The sliding door leads to a nice deck.

More of the kitchen. Wright's is coming to replace the kitchen floor soon, with something that matches the back splash better than blue plaid.

Not a big kitchen, but I think I can make it work.

Living Room

Living room looking towards the front door.

I'm excited to work on this. It's just right for me: not to big, and not too small. Most of the work are things I can do like painting and gardening, because the former owner kept the house in good shape. Hawkeye and I are looking forward to having fires in the evening...we have both missed that in our rental house.