Finished Paint Job

Finally, the painting, trim, gutters, and shutters are done.

Paint From the New Millenium!

Our house is finally a new color, after nearly 40 years! In the last post, we put up pictures of the painting progress. Today, it is done. Pacific West Painting did a FANTASTIC job and we are so happy to have gone with them! We used all of our original materials (door, garage, etc) and they sanded it down to the point where it looks brand new. We could not be happier. The only thing that would enhance it would be some landscaping, but that is a whole other issue.

Here is the house:




And the garage:






Back of the house (we got new doors too, more on that to come):


And, just for fun, this was our original rendering of the house with a new paint job:


Kind of close, eh?

Paint in Progress

We need new paint. The house hasn't been painted in who knows how long. Not only that, but our doors are falling apart, and our garage had a big hole in the back.

We finally set up a schedule for painting with Bill Dumond from Pacific West Painting. He sent his men out to prep the place and they have been hard at work! Here are some pictures of the progress they have made so far:





Remember this?


This is the back of the garage now:



And we picked a color!

Dunn Edwards Serene Thought:


Our trim will be Swiss Coffee, with a door the color of Red Contrast. We will also get shutters in navy blue (actual color still undecided).


Very exciting and necessary!

New Back Fence

After about a year of talk, we finally set aside a weekend with our neighbors to build a fence between our two properties.

You can see their old seagrass fence:


Here is the finished result:


Much better!

Gardening Fun

Back in the winter, we decided to start growing some vegetables from seed.

You may recall this:


Then we put them into our garden bed outside. We used a method called "Square Foot Gardening", which divides your plots into 1 square foot areas (as opposed to rows). You can read about more about Square Foot Gardening here http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Here is the garden in the beginning stages:


After 3 careful months of growing, we had our first crop!


We harvested some Swiss chard and spinach for dinner the other night, along with lettuce for a salad, hence some bald spots.

Andrew is digging a trench for irrigation:


Lettuce:


Carrots with chives in the background...I think it is time to harvest!


Broccoli:


And a beautiful and healthy tomato plant growing in my compost bin! I can't wait to find out what kind it is:


In addition to all that, our avocado tree (which we thought was barren this season) rained down some manna on us:


Now it is time to plant tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and summer goodness. BTW, check out your local farmers market for some inexpensive veggie pots. We got a ton of tomatoes and squash for $1 each yesterday!

Windows!

It hasn't been fun living with windows from 1938. To begin with, the glass was single paned and did nothing to keep the heat out on a hot day, or to keep the heat in on a cold day. Another problem was the cracked and peeling glazing. The third problem would have been the cracked glass. And last, but definitely not least, was the painted glass. Yes, you read that right. The previous owners PAINTED some of the panes in order to maintain some privacy from their neighbors. WTH?! Had they never heard of curtains?

Here are some examples of the original windows:

Lovely bird decal in the living room


One out of THREE painted windows on the north side of the house. This one is in the bathroom


Cracked glass in the back room


Gross window screens


Peeling glazing (paint) on the front bay


We replaced them with vinyl Simonton windows. In some rooms we can crank it open like a door (a casement window). In others, they are double hung so we can pull down the top part for ventilation. And they all open towards you (like an oven door) for cleaning. Awesome. We got the "perimeter" style, which really matches the lights we originally got from Lowe's.

One of the windows. You can really see the perimeter style here.


Men at work



The final result:


We would like to thank Westlake Windows and Door for doing a fantastic job.

If you would like to see all 69 pictures of the window process, click here.

Composts and Gardens

So, we have been wanting to make a garden and a compost bin. If you don't already know, composting is a great way to reduce your trash and to make great soil for your garden. Basically, it is a bunch of natural stuff that decomposes and breaks down over time. We throw leaf litter and produce scraps in there, as well as any plants we are throwing out and coffee grounds. It is pretty neat to watch the pile reduce.

To find out what types of things you can throw into your compost bin, click here Composting 101

Here is our raised bed garden. We have put down tarp in there to act as a barrier from weeds and underground pests.




We got some seeds and started seedlings in the house. We have: mesclun, basil, eggplant, romaine lettuce, broccoli, swiss chard, jalapeno peppers, and bell peppers.

Here is a picture of the mini greenhouse:


Here are the little sprouts. The swiss chard is in the background with the red stalks, and the broccoli and romaine is in the foreground.


Pretty cool, eh?