Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The Kitchen is FINALLY Done!!!

 After starting in January, taking a break over the summer and picking it back up in September, we've finally finished everything.  Well almost, the inside of the pantry (behind the closed pocket door) still needs to be painted but that will get done sometime in the next 2 weeks.  

It was a great project and the best news is that we're still married!!!
I'll provide details in a bit but wanted to get the pictures posted now for y'all to see.







Saturday, May 26, 2012

He's Home!

And we put him to work on his first morning home.  
But mowing the lawn on the John Deere is not really work.



Friday, May 25, 2012

Missing Sarah Richardson

I can't be the only one out there who misses Sarah and her too funny side kick, Tommy.  So, I decided to get my Sarah on and commissioned my favorite neighbor, Rose, to work on some guest towels for us.

The timing is great because we'll have about 11 guests for Memorial Day weekend.  Problem is, only 6 of them will know for sure which towel is theirs, guess I better get to work on 7 to 12.

PS. Did you know that if you click on the picture you'll see a much bigger image?  Try it.

Monday, May 14, 2012

A Whole Lotta White

It was recently pointed out to me that I hadn't posted pictures of our living room after the ceiling painting was complete.  Well, here it is.  There've been a few other changes including new shades on the front window, new pillows and a smaller chair in the corner.  I'll post updated pics very soon.




Saturday, May 12, 2012

Deck Changes

We've lived with the treated pine deck for a year now with plans to change the railing and stain it the same color as the patio cover on the rock deck.  Well finally we got a round to the staining part and are very pleased with the results. 
Notice  Fat Albert & Margene don't seem to mind the color of the unstained deck.

Here's my DH at the mid point.  Like everything else we've painted, it was done with a brush and a rag.  Rollers just seemed to add too much stain and that stuff's not cheap!

 The final result is quite dramatic and the contrast between the dark wood and the rocks on the house and the adjoining deck looks great.  It's not finished yet as we ran out of stain just as we finished the top and are now waiting for some dry weather days to finish the undersides that can be seen from the river.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Dinner & Vino

 I should have titled this post "Retirement Joys include having a dinner party on a Monday Night" but that was too long. From the quality of my photos you might say, there was a little too much vino consumed by moi.  

We had lots of fun getting to know new friends and action thriller novelist, Bob Doerr.  You could call it a "book club meeting" (Ann & Mary will approve) as we discussed Bob's previous books and his upcoming 5th in the series.  But, having only been to one book club meeting in my life, I'm not sure discussing books after many bottles of good wine really qualifies.

If you're interested, here's an Amazon link to his 3rd  novel that my DH says was his favorite, I'll be reading it on my next vacation and let you know. http://www.amazon.com/LOOSE-ENDS-KILL-Bob-Doerr/dp/1590957180/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336511781&sr=1-8

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Backsplash Update

Well I've caught up on my blog posting because we just finished this project today.  It took us FOREVER to find a backsplash tile that worked with the colors in the floor tile and that we both liked.  So here it is and we did it ourselves.  We're very proud and if you can squint your eyes and overlook the nicotine colored cabinets, you can see the beach house vibe we were going for.  

Cabinet painting will not happen until September as we have too much fun, and family/friends visiting planned over the next 4 months to disrupt the functioning kitchen till then.  In case anyone is wondering we used Clayhaus tile that is handmade in Oregon.  We couldn't be happier with their product and the color we used is called Steel.  Pretty gutsy of us to do our first tiling project with an expensive tile, but that's how we roll.  

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Big Changes

Sorry for the blurry photo, this is our first meal cooked on the new range.  It's fabulous!  This picture reveals other newness, countertops (Bianco Carrara Marble) and floor tile.  
 Here's a better shot without me in it.  The stove, microwave/oven and countertops are in and the backsplash area has been prep'd for the tile.  You can see the new lighting my DH installed above the range.  Big improvement and he didn't electrocute himself.  Yay!
The most dramatic change  happened over 3 weeks in January with the installation of new tile throughout the entire house.  It's a dramatic large format tile that contrasts wonderfully with the white walls.  Now we just have to do something about those nicotine colored (thanks LZ) cabinets.  We'll be installing our backsplash tile and then choosing a color for the cabinets. Deb, I need color help! 

Second Oven

Here's Larry working on the removal of our vent hood in preparation for installation of the new Micowave/Convection Oven Combo.  I really would have liked to have a professional vent hood but since we decided not to change the footprint of the kitchen or replace the cabinets, this seemed like the best way to go.  I'm loving the space we gained to the left side of the range now that the old microwave is gone.  

Now that it's installed and I've used it, I'm loving having 2 ovens.  It really works great as a small oven that, because it vents through the roof, doesn't heat up the kitchen.  I asked Larry to mount it a little higher than is normal so that it would look less crowded over the range.  Wait till I post the pictures of the new range and backsplash.  It really looks like we know what we're doing in the kitchen!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Tomato Time

I haven't given up, even after last years non-crop.  We had beautiful tomato plants with almost no tomatoes.  My neighbor, Rose tells me not to be discouraged as last year was an unusually hot summer.  Second hottest on record to be exact.  But I think Ann had it right when she said my garden looked a little crowded.  This year I've scaled down the number of plants in a box and my DH built me another to plant in.  Hopefully, I'll have enough to share this year.

Here's a couple of pics to see how they started.

 The first garden has 4 tomato plants, 3 are BHN 602s, 1 is a Black Krim.  The BHN 602 was voted best tomato at the San Antonio Rodeo this year and the Black Krim is an heirloom type that had a very dark skin and interior.  My heirlooms last year didn't do well.  I may have picked varieties that don't do well in the heat here. On two opposite corners I've planted basil and rosemary.  We have a very mediterranean garden going this year.  Wish me luck.

The new box has 3 tomatoes,  all are Celebrities, and I added 3 globe eggplants to the far end.  Maybe one to many but I'm greedy.  I also planted two small herbs, thyme and oregano, that will grow until the tomatoes crowd them out.  

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Architectural Salvage

Gonzales Texas is the place to go for anything old, crusty and fabulous.  We found two old porch pillars (they're not exactly the same, but close) to place on the short wall that divides the kitchen from the family room.  We're not sure if this is a load bearing wall (do you remember the 3 cedar log posts that were there in the beginning?)  but, these two pillars seem to be holding things up.

Here's a before shot of the post we put in temporarily after taking out the cedar logs (I'll find a pic of the logs and post later).  It's also a great shot of the front of Larry and Domingo and a fabulous old jack, with chippy green paint and rust, that Larry has refused to sell me, so far.  I plan to wear him down though so watch for a future post on my new (old) jack.

Last thing, notice the black and pink granite counter tops?  Stay tuned for changes... 

Did we tell you about the tree?

Hello to all of our followers out there in blog land.  So sorry for not posting in ages.  We've been busy!  I'll try to catch you up on all of the happenings here, especially after receiving a personal plea from an Argentinian follower who explained he was "hooked" and thought we might have died!

So, about the tree.  Seems that when the master bedroom was added to the house there was a little tree in the way.  Our renovations (about which I will post soon) uncovered the trunk that they had just left in place and put tile right over the top.  No mortar or anything down into the hole, just a tile over the top.  I'm still hoping we'll find money or treasure buried somewhere but so far, just this tree.