The Housing Slump

With the housing market beginning to slump, of course, I've decided that keeping my house up-to-date is more important right now that thinking about selling (no, I'm not nuts. I love this place). So, the bathroom project is moving along. There isn't much more expensive stuff I want to do once this is done. This is the bathroom that I wanted from the start and am finally getting it.

My whirlpool is being renovated. The shower head is now gone and the plumbing has been refitted to make this just a tub. The ceramic surround matches the shower. There will be an oak molding that will go around the tub to tie in the oak surround and finish the look. The raised decorative border is a very important part of this design and the single stone with a pewter rose and edges in the center is a tile we found hidden behind other stuff at a tile place where we visited. This tile is a one-of-a-kind and I thought would be perfect for my bathroom. It is in the center of the picture window that will overlook the mountain,if that window ever comes! We're now looking at about 20 days backordered. The oak trim pieces will go on early next week. Husband will be putting that on and got the adhevsive he will need from our tiler.

Once a 5x5 walk-in closet that wasn't used in 5 years, this is now a custom shower that really adds to the bathroom. Other than the plumbing fixtures, a grab bar and a glass shelf that will not be seen until you are actually in the shower, and of course, the door, it is basically finished. Some baseboard will need replaced and the painting done, but it shouldn't be long before I get to use my bathroom again.

My luxury bathroom is starting to come together. I think it's really quite nice. I can hardly wait to use that shower!! Did I tell you this will add about 125% of it's cost to the value of my home?

The Continuing Saga

Well, the bathroom remodel started off on the wrong foot. Our handyman, Meryl, caught us so off guard the first day and had my already overwhelmed husband in a total tizzy. I got home from work that day just in time to avert a potential mess. I came within a hair of throwing Meryl out of my house. But I didn't.

Three days later he was back again to work on the job he had started. I didn't have to report to work until later in the morning and had a chance to chat with him some. We discussed a few things like how he was going to approach this particular job and with that understanding, I ran off to the workplace.

He's been back several times since then to continue working on the demo of the closet that will become a shower room and we've been doing a lot better. Husband figured out that he should keep himself busy and away from Meryl who does a rather good job when he's not bothered. His demo and prep work is almost complete now. We are expecting the mason's to arrive within the next week or two when the tile comes in. We're also waiting on the picture window that will be installed over the whirlpool tub. Once everything is here, the bathroom should come together rather quickly.

The tile I picked out is a light cream with a gray swirl going through it. It has a lovely embossed taupe decorative tile that will also be used around the shower and the tub. Then there are lovely "buttons" of the same cream/gray with a nice Fleur in the taupe and a light turquoise to break up the tiles. I'm getting eight of those.

I'm planning on stealing away with one of the tiles while the mason's are installing it to select paint for the bathroom. I'll be the painter. I have some eggshell paint that is the current wall color and I will keep that for the ceiling. Even the ceiling inside the shower will get this paint. As far as the walls -- I've not yet decided. I'm thinking of something like a faux stone look for the bathroom. We're also planning on ceramic tile on the floor in the future. But that is something easily done by the homeowners. I've also see a lovely idea of stencil around the picture window and maybe the side window as well.

Since my colors in the master's suite is a cream/taupe with splashes of plumb and hunter green, I'm think a nice grape arbor stencil around the windows and mirrors would be wonderful. It will be decorated with ferns and other moisture loving plants at the picture window and the shelf that opens at the top of the shower.

I'm figuring this will take the rest of the summer. But it'll be nice when it's done. I can hardly wait. In the meantime, I'm using the spare bathroom and it's just so small compared to the master.

Garden Trees and Birds

When we first built this place, 5 years ago, it was a field of weeds and soybeans. Even the next spring, the farmer planted soybeans right up to where the builder was building my house. When it came time to grade, the builder said to wait until the farmer took down the beans. Well, he didn't take down the beans until mid December. I was furious! It was the driest, hottest and most uncomfortable summer there was and I had approximately 200 plants that needed (and I mean NEEDED) to be planted and the grading wasn't done!!!! We finally forced the builder to at least grade the front to the road so we had somewhere to start. However, he did refuse to plant grass -- too hot; too dry.

We planted eight trees. Three of them a good size and the rest very tiny. All but two were shade trees. I wanted native shade trees because that would draw in the birds and wildlife. Or, hybrid varieties of native shade trees. I planted a beech, red oak, Norway maple (OK this one isn't native but I liked the color), spruce, locust, poplar and two dogwood. That year we had chipping sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, ravens, bluebirds. The only squirrel I saw that summer was a dead one that somehow got into the soybean field that encroached all the way up to the beech and poplar trees that were planted 70 feet from the back of the house. I wanted those beans GONE!!! I saw a couple of field thrushes and our very friendly tree swallows. We learned quickly to keep the garage door shut after getting a couple of the swallows in the house, driving the cat absolutely nuts. We shouldn't forget the Hummingbirds either. They started coming around almost immediately, so for the first time I actually put out a feeder for them and could watch them. I got at least three a day.

That was 5 years ago. Today, I have exactly 55 trees in the garden, the soybeans are gone and the grass has been planted. I'm still keeping the big shade trees as close to native as possible. The woods around me have a good number of American Elm that seem to be doing OK. But the threat of Dutch Elm disease is still a very big threat. I wanted an elm, so I planted a Chinese elm -- not as pretty or majestic, but with a root system that suited the area better; deeper and more narrow than the American elm, and is much more resistant to Dutch Elm disease. I now have two nice sized red maples and I just planted a white ash, both of which are also strong trees in the woods around me.

The birds have also increased in numbers. I still have the chipping sparrows and tree swallows, blue birds and red-winged blackbirds. But this year I've seen a red-bellied woodpecker frequently checking out the oak and beech. There have been over a dozen hummingbirds that visit the feeder, house sparrows have moved in, purple finches have visited enough in large numbers to make me wonder if they are considering nesting in the garden, gold finches are nesting in the garden, Robbins and cardinals are becoming frequent visitors. A pair of mud swallows have a nest above the front door. If I leave the nest there, they will raise their young without making to much of a mess of my porch. And this morning, orioles visited, playing in the forsythia and in one of the largest of my rose bushes.

I have room for one more shade tree. I haven't decided which tree I want there so I may spend a couple of years thinking about it. But I am now working on the shrubbery, trying to plant natives that would add to the garden as well as draw in the wildlife, especially butterflies and birds. One of the plants I've found by accident is the native milkweed. It's a weed (or a wildflower since I really like this plant) with a fragrance that is heavenly. It is the only plant that the monarch butterfly will lay it's eggs on, and it's also quite pretty and tall. Two seeds ended up in a garden patch last year and I let them grow. This year, yes, they spread and I now have a patch of milkweed. Of course, I have hybrid varieties of milkweed throughout the garden as well as some native varieties that are somewhat different from the one that just grew. But the hybrids don't seem to be visited quite as much. The wild one is covered with butterflies and bees and is intensely more fragrant than the hybrids. I'm sure I'm going to have to weed it out eventually or it'll overtake the entire garden, but it is a plant that has won a place in my garden and I will keep some. I had quite a number of generations of monarch butterflies in the garden last year with just two plants. I hope I have more this year with more plants.

As my garden grows and the trees start maturing, I'm seeing more and more different varieties of birds here. I still haven't seen the larger woodpeckers that I can see in the woods, or the bluejays. But they will come, I'm sure. I have rabbits now, though I think I'd rather eat them than let them eat my plants and they will draw in foxes and other predators such as hawks. The squirrels will eventually come when the acorns and beechnuts become more plentiful. Right now I'm just enjoying the growing number of bird species and of course all the babies that are learning to fly in my back yard.

Old Friends

I found an old friend last evening and called her. We had worked together so many years ago and had celebrated each other's weddings, birth of children, divorces, family deaths and heartaches. She and her girls accompanied us and our Captain to Newfoundland swim meets and made applesauce together. After I had left Historic Strasburg Inn, our get-togethers became more spaced until we finally lost touch. I was so glad I found her. I'd been looking for her for some time but last night, trying to locate her again, I came across a name I'd not seen before. She had gotten remarried and this strange name is what led me to her. It was a stroke of luck. I spent an hour on the phone with her doing some basic catchup but we're planning on getting together once again for more indepth catching up. We haven't decided where yet, just a date. I'm looking forward to it. There's a lot to talk about. We've been through so much together and could only scratch the surface yesterday.