wild things

There is a whole lot of lounging and ruminating happening around here these days. The bucks seem wily and restless, and the does are very restful. Babies should be born any day now!

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in our element

First, I have to mention that these are all pictures from last year. Last summer to be exact. I was looking through my photo folders in search of a few favorites, for an order of postcards I just placed. I was so taken by everything that fell within the season of summer, that I got distracted. So distracted that I got delayed on ordering.

As I walked back to the house from the garden this afternoon, I was struck by all the details of this season, which is really settling into it’s own. The lavender in full bloom, and the poppies starting to open, and the doors wide open, and all the garden starts getting so big all over the porch. I was filled with happiness and excitement. We are in our element here on these warm sunny days. To get out of bed and throw on a simple tank and a cotton skirt… to go straight outside and be amongst the birds… to linger in the garden and observe new growth… to sit out on the patio late, sip wine, and listen to the frogs on the lake… it feels like a little bit of paradise.

What’s your paradise like? I looked that word up and loved this simple definition:: Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless.

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a few things

 

 

 

Liking lately…

Espresso drinks and chocolate. Mmm, need I say more…

One of Gram’ Althea’s paintings. Makes the hallway feel more like part of our home.

Our  torn up bathroom… and my new vintage LL Bean cardigan.

Studio cleanup mission… accomplished!

Living room dance parties, to the tune of Michael Jackson (sorry, no photos of this one!).  Here’s one to get you out of your seat!!  xo

 

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drying herbs

 

 

It’s so rewarding to have enough herbs to harvest, eat, cook, dry, and use whenever we need or want them. And I know that I am not the only one drying herbs this time of year. There is so much abundance of food right now. It’s exciting and it is really testing my proficiency of eating, steeping, drinking and making! I love this time of year so much.

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hey, june

 

Hey, June – so happy you’re here. When these photos were taken, just a couple days ago, I wondered if you’d ever make it.

 

It’s June 3, and we are experiencing our first hot day of the year. Even the breeze is warm. It’s been a peculiar year, with lots and lots of rain and unseasonably cool weather. I know we aren’t alone in that. The garden has been slow to really get growing and some things got such a poor start I may replant. There are still starts waiting to be be put in the ground. They are so ready! I think this is their week. I have found myself a little frustrated at times, but mostly I’m enjoying the process of learning. We have SO much to learn, and the plants themselves are amazing teachers.

 

We keep on planting, propagating, transplanting, harvesting, digging, planning, digging and planning. This space we are creating is still new to us in many ways, but bit by bit, it is taking on a new shape. We have really been enjoying all the hard labor, and as we make our way around the different parts of yard, we develop a closer and closer relationship with the land we live on. It’s exciting.

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simple things

Whipped up a quick little something for our home the other day. It was enormously satisfying for such a simple little thing. It’s always super rewarding to make things for our home, though I rarely ever do, for lack of time. I made this pillow cover with a gray vintage plaid wool, backed with my favorite-in-the-whole-wide-world Romanian hemp canvas. It’s an envelope style cover, and went over an existing pillow we had that has been laying around. Brand new now! I like adding texture to our home with natural patterns in natural materials. Adding a little color to our super natural palette is fun too. That aqua blue and golden yellow wool blanket is a really nice Pendleton I found a couple weeks ago. After 3 thorough washings it has become a new favorite, and with the addition of the new pillow I feel like we have a brand new sitting area.

I hope you all are enjoying the weekend. And Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there.

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at home

Happy weekend! It has been a full one here, with the sore muscles to take with me. Had an exciting first of the year, and was able to work outside in shorts, bare arms and flip flops. Oh my, I think I was born for sunshine. My body feels so happy. Many loads of dirt and compost were moved, a shoulder load of golden plum tree branches were bicycled home – and starts from those branches planted, lots of seeds were planted, furniture was moved in and moved out, bread was baked and yummy food prepared, glasses of wine shared. I used to get stir crazy, feeling housebound working at home for days on end, but  there is so much to do and experience right here close to home. It is really satisfying to feel content with where I am.

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roof progress

Hello! Where have I been? What the heck is going on with that house, you ask? Well, here is some of what we have been up to this month. When we bought this house we knew that the first thing it would need was a roof. You see, the house had (and yep it still has) it’s flaws, and that big flat roof there in the front was one of the biggest. There were a number of leaks, causing mold and dry rot and inviting wood eating bugs and according to the neighbors, everyone who has lived in this house has suffered the plight of this roof, for years. I won’t go into the details, but the design was flat out crazy. To just replace the flat parts really would have been pretty simple and relatively inexpensive, but it just didn’t seem right to do the same crazy thing over again and so, we ended up with what has become at least a 3 phase project. I am happy to say it seems we are entering phase 3… but for now, here is a walk-through of most of phase 1.

That photo above shows the house as it was when we bought it. In fact, that photo was taken the first time we ever looked at it.

We started by taking down that storefront type board. It was rotting, unnecessary and really unattractive.

We have tried to save everything that is salvageable, and we kept every bit of solid wood from going to the dump. There have been quite a few instances already within this project, where we have been able to reuse some materials.

We decided to completely remove the porch covering. One of the worst leaks was just to the right of the top of the door. It was very moldy in there and pretty well infested with carpenter ants, and you should have seen the inside of the coat closet, which is just on the other side of that wall. Have you ever seen a wall growing fur?? This is also the south side and on the Oregon Coast, sunshine can be a really big deal! Being the sun lovers that we are we felt like we really wanted to open this side up as much as we could. We may even add a window in the future.

Here we have cut back the overhang quite a bit, minimizing everything down, preparing for the new one over the porch, and the new fascia. The porch covering is gone and those strange blue bedposts that used to stick out of that planter box are gone too.

Part of the plan to change the flaws, was to pitch this little roof over what is now the utility room. This would eliminate the most problematic area and update the look of the house a bit. The garage roof, unfortunately, is still pretty much flat although we removed some of the flaws that were in the old design (like downspouts within the roof structure, all of which were located in high spots!).

The framing of the new little pitched roof – our contractor’s fantastic idea.

In the next few days I hope to focus on some indoor projects a bit. There is a potentially exciting discovery I want to explore, which I’ll share the results of later.

Enjoy the day everyone! And thanks for visiting.

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project 1

The very first thing I have wanted to do in our new house is to get the carpet in the main floor bedroom out.  Immediately.  It didn’t matter what we would replace it with, or even when.  Something went on in this house, which we can only begin to guess about, but this particular carpet was saturated in urine.

So here we have my first project.

My mom was visiting this week and she helped me pull the staples and carpet tackers out the following day.  It was very satisfying to get this out of there and to air out that room for real!  Simply cleaning up this one room has changed the overall feel (and aroma) of the whole main floor.

We’re starting to research paint, and are currently leaning toward natural clay plaster.  It comes in the most beautiful earthy tones, from pinks and yellows to blues and browns, and it’s entirely natural and from the earth.  And hopefully, we will have flooring ordered sometime in the coming week.  We’ll see how it goes.

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we made it!

After long weeks and months of patient (and sometimes not so patient) waiting, we finally have the keys in our hands and are able to officially call our new house “OUR HOUSE.”  It is still sinking in!  In addition to this, my entire family came for a visit – the first time all of us have been together here on the coast, where my sister and I have both lived off and on for nearly 10 years.  This visit just so happened to fall on the day the deal closed, so this last week has been beyond crazy. My brother’s birthday was on Friday and mine was yesterday and I feel like my attention has been demanded in 9 different directions at once.  I have been stealing every possible moment to work on filling orders and I want to say THANK YOU to my customers, who have been so incredibly awesome and understanding this week.  Things will start to level out again tomorrow and we are excited to develop a new rhythm in our lives.  There are great plans in the making and I am so excited.

And now, it’s time to get to work! I’ve got sewing to do and then carpet to pull.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

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