School House Rehab
Trying to leave our little slice of America better than we found it!Things You Don't Want To Hear From Your Neighbor
August 19, 2013
A couple of weeks ago, I posted this status update on School House Rehab’s Facebook page: “Our new neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves and surprisingly… THEY ARE NORMAL! Also in their favor, they came bearing peanut butter cookies. I sound surprised about “normal” neighbors because boy, have we had quite the track record in previous years. Maybe that’s a blog post in the making…” Well, here we are. In Robert Frost’s Mending Wall, he writes, “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors.
Cape Cod Getaway, Part II
August 15, 2013
I promised you I’d be back with the second part of the Cape Cod recap, so here I am. Don’t worry though, I’ll be back next week with house updates (the kitchen cannot be called “finished” quite yet…still workin’ on it). You can read about Part I of our Cape Cod trip here. We left off with this sassy lady. She didn’t end up popping on those wayfarers, but isn’t she a good sport for trying them on for me?
Cape Cod Getaway, Part I
August 12, 2013
It’s been a while since I’ve done a “getaway” post, so now seems as good a time as any to get one up here. We’ve been back from our 4-night Cape Cod getaway for a little over a week now, and I’ve finally had a chance to go through and edit the pictures. For those of you who like the posts where I’m mostly quiet (less wordy) and you get to see lots and lots of pictures, then this post is for you!
Refinishing Dad's Dressers
August 8, 2013
So… remember when I sanded down my dad’s old childhood dressers to prep them for refinishing? Oh, you don’t? Well, I’ll forgive you because that was nine months ago. That’s right, this project was started in November and it’s finally coming to fruition in August. Dude. Things take time. I know what you’re thinking: “What a slacker…” Okay. I did mostly slack off on this project, but I have a couple of good excuses.
A New Nightstand For Under $16
August 5, 2013
A few weeks ago, I hit up a tag sale in my hometown while I was visiting my family. My dad told me a colleague of his was downsizing, and she decided to hold the tag sale to sell a bunch of her things. I knew I wanted to swing by to check it out, but I didn’t think I’d buy anything, because I didn’t really need anything. The only thing I was possibly “in need of” was a nightstand.
State of the Garden (Early August 2013)
August 1, 2013
I can’t believe it’s August already. The summer is jetting by. It’s not “flying by” as it would if you were on a passenger plane, but “jetting by” like we’re on a Concord. Am I right? Matt and I just got back from a 4-night mini-vacation to Cape Cod, and as soon as I find my real camera, I’ll post some pictures here on the blog and show you what kept us busy in a place that I’ve been visiting my whole life.
Painting the Rocker!
July 26, 2013
Brace yourself for a 10 on the excitement spectrum. The first porch rocker has a painted frame and is ready for Suzan to do her thing! I’m so pumped. Last time we talked, you knew I decided to refinish the frame of the chair in some capacity, but I had yet to decide on a material or a color. After my meeting with Suzan, I was pretty much convinced that Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint was the medium with which to work.
A Naked Rocker
July 23, 2013
Don’t think I’m trying to fool you with the title of this post. By the end of it, you will see a naked rocker. Guaranteed. You’re welcome in advance. If you don’t remember where we stand in this porch rocker undertaking, refresh your memory here. To refresh your memory without reading the first rocking chair post, I’ll fill you in. Basically, I was sick of the worn-looking front porch rockers and since they were left to us for free by the people who lived here before us, I decided to sink a little money into them in the form of a professional crafts(wo)man that would weave new cane onto the old frame.
Landing Some Color
July 18, 2013
I’ve been making great strides in the porch rocker department and I’ll have some pictures and updates for you early next week! In the meantime, I did a lil’ shopping and a lil’ spray painting. You may remember that the landing at the top of our stairs was pretty bland. I brightened up the heat register here, but besides that, we’ve done nothing except put in some hardwoods when we moved in.
Chair-ity Begins
July 15, 2013
When we bought our house back in 2009, the owners left behind a few items that we absorbed as our own. We considered it a quirky form of charity. After all, we were young and had just spent a giant chunk of our savings on a run down ex-school house, so we were willing to take what we could get. Luckily, we didn’t inherit anything gross like pillows or bed sheets.