So happy :)

This is what we were starting from: the original beadboard barrel vaulted ceiling over the front door.
This was uncovered when we removed the steel siding and aluminum trim. I had seen it in old pictures of the house and wanted to put it back in place - luckily, it was still there! Dad attempted to remove the chipping paint, but this was more of a job than anyone wanted. So we installed new, freshly primed and painted beadboard in its place!

The underside of the overhang (and the wood face with the arch cut out) was wrapped in the same PVC I used for the trim everywhere else. This will be resistant to rot and will hopefully last a really long time!

After using a plumb bob to find where the center of the pillar would be, we got to drilling the hole for the lag bolt that would secure the base to the step. We actually just expanded the holes from the previous bolt holding the iron posts in place, which was much easier than drilling an entirely new hole in this solid old mortar.

One down. And the roof didn't even fall in! ;)

After bolting and gluing a piece of pressure treated (and primed) lumber to the step, we wrapped it in PVC and made this base to support the new pillar. We used a spade bit to drill a hole down into the base to receive a wooden dowel. There's a corresponding hole in the top plate as well. 

Voila! Snapped into place and fit perfectly on the first try!
We glued the dowels and pre-drilled and counter sunk four screws into the top and bottom of each pillar.
You could hang a (tiny) hammock from these babies!

On pillar (and day) number two, I started out solo when Dad was called into work.
Since we had already done all of the hard work in trying to figure out how best to do this job, the second pillar went much quicker!

My grandpa came over after we had lunch and helped me trim a half-inch off the bottom of the second pillar.
I failed to account for the the slope in the step from side to side to help with water runoff...so one of the bases is a tad higher than the other if you look closely.
No matter, though...we trimmed the pillar, installed the dowels into either end, and snapped this one into place all the same!

I couldn't stop looking at these yesterday - I was so happy with how everything turned out!

Mom and I filled the screw holes, sanded away any excess, and caulked all the joints or seams all around the ceiling, arch, and top and bottom of each column. After a coat of paint, this is going to look even better than it already does.
HUGE thanks to everyone who helped! This was the last big construction project around the house and it was such a weight off my shoulders to actually have these popped into place and finished that I was all of the sudden really inspired to throw down grass seed and start focusing on this ratty looking lawn of mine! ;)

6 AM

Since I never really see the outside (or inside) of my house at 6am, I've never really seen it in this light.
From this angle, it almost looks like things are coming together! ;) 

Blooms on my new hydrangea on the front corner. 'Limelight'

Moonflower getting ready to close back up for the day.

My succulents hanging out, looking pretty. :)
At the bottom of the picture, you can just see the little sprigs that were grown from cuttings and recently transplanted into this large metal bowl. So far, so good!

SO much respect for landscapers!

This is where we started: dirt mounded up from re-pouring the sidewalk, dead grass, rocks all over the yard..and the random nail here and there left over from roofing and siding projects.
Pretty much a mess!

Cleared the river rock from around the house, laid my landscaping fabric, and trenched in the stones for a nice border.

Added wood mulch inside the rock border, raked up the dead grass, rocks, and junk with a steel rake, and smoothed everything out.
This picture shows the before (foreground) and after. Now the yard is a nice clean slate - hopefully the grass seed I threw down yesterday will start taking off over the next couple weeks!

So..I got myself into another project. I read about a method of organic fertilizing called compost tea - it's all of the benefits of spreading a layer of compost, but it's liquefied so it reaches the roots faster.
I bought a fish tank bubbler to aerate the water so helpful bacteria would grow during the "brewing" process. 

Ideally, you'd use a rain barrel, but I don't have one - I just used City water from the hose and let the bubbler work at it for a while.
Compost tea in practice at Haaaavaad Yaaaad ;)

Make a giant tea bag filled with compost and suspend it from the lid of the can into the bubbling water. Add molasses to feed the bacteria, and a little organic fish fertilizer if you can get it. All in all, it's a great shot of nitrogen to the soil, it helps the root system of the grass reach deeper and increases the lawns drought resistance. And it's organic - even if it doesn't work exactly like it's supposed to, there's nothing in it that's going to hurt anything. Pretty cool process!
Compost Tea

Easter weekend

Finally getting around to installing the drawer organizers from our trip to Texas...another IKEA find!

The second drawer is a little lighter on the organization, but everything still has a place.

The highlight of Easter was looking through piles of old family photo albums and laughing at everyone's hairstyles :)

Solarium: Start to Finish!

This is what the house looked like in the listing when I bought it - cute right?

Nice little sitting room right inside the front door and adjacent to the living room.

Then I saw this. Everything might have been easier...if I hadn't seen this. ;)

So, naturally, we ripped everything apart..

..and fixed the things that needed fixed..

Here's mom/former roommate finishing up the last of the insulation. As with the rest of the house, the wiring was completely redone in the solarium, as was all the insulation, wallboard, wood floors, and trim..though, a lot of the woodwork throughout the house was salvaged.

Hooray for drywall!

..well..sort of. See, I got a deal on some really nice windows; so, rather than replace the two that were there, I decided to take it back to the way it looked it that damned old picture.

Finishing up the new windows and front door.

All in!

Testing out my new grilles :)

Trim is up and ready for sanding (which left dust ALL over the house), priming, and painting!

As of last night: all painted and ready to go! (As you can also see, the greenhouse is in full swing..)

Looks pretty good, if I do say!

Fancy pants windows with fancy pants trim

Dad came over Saturday morning and we started working on trimming out the windows in the solarium. We've got a couple more adjustments to make, but otherwise, we're ready for paint!

Tying up loose ends

Well folks, the weather is turning colder and we’re running short on daylight most days after I get off work. That means we’re having to take better advantage of our weekends..before the snow starts flying!

Finished up some of the trim pieces around the bay window that hadn't been done. Looking pretty good up front!

This past weekend was a long one, thanks to Veteran’s Day. Saturday was a busy day for a number of reasons (more on that below) and my office was closed Monday, so we were able to get quite a lot accomplished in a fairly short amount of time.

Story time: Friday night was spent doing a little grocery shopping and getting ready for my mom’s surprise party the following night. She specifically requested no party, but it was her 50^th – we HAD to! So, Friday night was prep night. Saturday, it was my job to keep her distracted from my dad and sister while they put the pieces together and got everybody rounded up. I find the best way to distract anybody is to have them haul stones for most of the day..

Get to work.

Anyway, the party was a success and the birthday girl was REALLY surprised, so that was a lot of fun. Mom and Dad have both helped me out a lot over the last year and half (..or 25, but who’s counting) so it was nice to be able to do a little something for her.

The day after the party was pretty much a lost cause. I did do a little laundry and a couple dishes, but it was mostly a day of recovery from Saturday’s festivities. I hadn’t over-indulged as much as some, but I had hauled enough of that rock to have difficulty climbing stairs! Basically anything from my butt cheeks down was feeling the burn from all of our landscaping.

This was the process: string line, spade for trenching, gloves for moving stones. woof..

I rolled the stones back out of the trench and lined it with landscaping fabric to (hopefully) keep weeds from popping through.

I'll fill this with mulch - it's going to look so good! :)

I couldn't believe how far the stone went! I thought for sure I'd run out before we got everything done, but we actually had a few little pieces left over. That's good living.

Monday saw more work inside as the temperature dropped – that meant finishing up some of the baseboard and random trim pieces that hadn’t been done before, filling holes, and touch-up painting. This detail work takes a little longer, but makes such a big difference when it’s done!

I had to have my (new) drywall patched to account for the new windows being slightly smaller than the old ones.

I also put in a special order for these grilles to give the look of divided panes - I think it makes the house look better AND is more in keeping with the details in the old pictures I was given. 

Testing out my grilles....ignore the painters tape :)

We also trimmed out the front door and finished up the baseboard in the solarium. I'm always amazed how FINISHED that baseboard makes everything look!