Spring time and upcoming new arrival!

Our long and cold winter has finally turned to spring! Flowers are blooming and we are loving being outside enjoying the warmer weather. David has been busy planting our vegetable garden and cleaning our backyard up from the winter. 

We installed two new bee hives early spring, but only a few days after they arrived, we had a visit from another local visitor: a bear! He destroyed one hive completely and damaged the second. You can see his nose impressions in the comb frames. We were able to salvage one hive which has now requeened itself and is doing well. We also have a new electric fence!

 

Our neighbor shared the following photo with us of our house from earlier this century. It was taken from the parking lot of the gas station next to our house. Our house had a porch on the front and no addition for the bathroom which currently exists.

We have been busy preparing for a new arrival - we are expecting our second child next week. He will be sharing our room for the first few months so we decided a minor make over was in order. If you remember from the photos of the house from when we first moved in - our room has bright teal trim and maritime murals on all the walls.

Since we are limited on time and had to live in the room - we decided on a cosmetic make over for now. My dad painted the walls a crisp, light grey and the trim a dark grey. We added bright yellow curtains, a new rug and artwork to the walls. The corner makes a welcoming home for the bassinet and baby items.

 

Left (view from french doors seen in before photo) 

Right (Window with mirror is window you see in before photo)

We have also started a major renovation project upstairs. We are converting the second room above the kitchen into a craft studio. You can see in the before photo that the room had old wood paneling and low ceilings.

The first step is demolition. All the paneling has been removed and the ceiling. When removing the dry wall ceiling, we discovered a second ceiling several feet higher. It was interesting to see the different wall papers that were revealed underneath.

 

Left Photo (almost the same angle as before photo)

Right Photo (window on the right is the window seen in previous photo)

More photos has the project continues. This room will be a great test for how the work on the rest of the second floor will go in the future.

The last year ... inside edition

The last year has been busy with lots of things, but we have taken it slower with house projects. We haven't taken the year off completely though. 

We were excited to add a player piano to the barn from our great neighbors. The piano is powered by a foot pedal and plays music from punched rolls. We have quite the selection and Margaret loves dancing as David plays the piano. The piano made it first appearance at our Barn Dance this past August. Photos from the festivities here.

 

In the main house, one of the most significant changes was in Margaret's bedroom. We said good bye to her crib in September and introduced a toddler bed. In a few months, the crib will return as we welcome Margaret's new baby brother into our family.

We did some comestic work on the second floor before the summer in preparation for a visit from my good friend Amy. We painted and decorated the hallway and furnished the front bedroom (which we had originally painted when we first moved in).

 

In the hallway, we added a foot treadle sewing machine that we found in the barn when we moved in. With some simple cleaning, it looks quite different. Above we hung an embroidery piece created by my aunt that plays homage to my great grandmothers yarn shop in England.

The bedroom was outfitted with a twin bed, dresser and new rug. We painted a telephone table and headboard also found in the barn when we arrived white to make the room.

Next on our plan is demolition upstairs and repainting our bedroom. Stay tuned for updates!

The last year ... outside edition

I can't believe it has been almost a year since my last post. We have had a busy year with lots of toddler activity although fewer house projects than our first year. We have been enjoying living here and taking time to do other things! David has enjoyed working on the outside of the house especially adding to the landscaping and gardens. Margaret and I have loved spending time exploring the yard.

   

We added honey bees to our backyard last spring. My parents and Katie have had several hives at their house for a few years and were excited to expand to our backyard. We have already enjoyed lots of honey from the hive and look forward to adding a second this spring. They are great for pollinating our trees and the vegetables in our garden.

David enjoyed planting our vegetable garden for the second summer. We had great success with cucumbers and were able to eat and pickle lots. Tomatoes had a rough season, but we enjoyed lots of roma tomatoes later in the season. We had a beautiful flower bed in the center of the garden too.

 

We bought a swing set off Craig's List, repainted it and added a new slide and swings. Margaret loves playing on it - especially the swing, slide and telescope!

 

Our chickens continue to do well. We add three new hens to the flock bringing the total to nine. The new additions are Dominiques with pretty black and white feathers. They all went on strike for a few months late fall, but have now started laying eggs again.

 

 

We have had a lot of snow this winter already - but it has not stopped us from being outside. Margaret loves playing in the snow and was more excited this year to try snow angels and sledding. Even the swing set enjoyed some winter use ;o).

We love spending time in our yard regardless of the weather!