Dining Room Remodel- the beginning of the end

7' wide Red Oak Planks

We are locked and loaded and ready to get this dining room finished!  Our 1100 lbs. of red oak wood flooring arrived this week.  The Laird ripped out the carpet, and we cleared out all the stuff that had been stored in there for the past 2 years.  Here are the details.


We wanted long length, wide plank hardwood flooring in the dining room.   Two years ago, we purchased our kitchen flooring from Lumber Liquidators.  Naturally I started my flooring search with Lumber Liquidators and brought home a few samples that seemed close to the color of the stairs that land in the dining room.  Unfortunately, Lumber Liquidators widest plank is 5" (which really doesn't feel that wide- we have some in the kitchen).  The second problem is that none of their pre-finished oak quite matched the color of the stairs.   So began my Internet search for our other options.

 Flooring.org had a great selection of what we were looking for.  They had planks up to 12" wide!  Not to mention long length boards up to 10'.  Because I finished out stairs 2 years ago when we purchased the house, I do know the exact color stain that was used for the stairs.  Though it is a ton more work, we opted to go with the 7" wide red oak planks in various lengths ranging from 2' to 10'.  Though shipping cost more than buying locally AND unfinished wood is going to be a lot of work- we are going to get the exact floor that we want.  Not to mention the prices at flooring.org are great.  The price we paid for 7"wide, long length tongue and groove boards is less than the 5" unfinished from Lumber Liquidators.

The dining room getting prepped for flooring installation

The PLAN:
Floors:  We will be installing 7" wide Red Oak planks.  They will be stained with Miniwax Provincial and seal with polyurethane.

Walls:  Pine paneling will either be taken down or painted white.  The Laird will be building a storage window seat with two 30" wide, floor to ceiling bookcases on the right and left of the window in above photo.  The right side of room will be finished with board and batten wainscot to the Laird's eye level, with a shelf on top.
* The wall by the stairs may also be a built in bookcase.

We'll be working on this room as often as we have time over the next few months.  Though we have a lot of work ahead of us, this is the beginning of the end of large scale renovations/ remodeling.  We are so close, I can almost taste it!  After two years, it will be so nice to be finished with all the major work that needed to be done to the house.

Top Bar Beehive

Our Top Bar Beehive has arrived!

So originally we ordered plans to build our Top Bar Hive.  Upon reading and studying the plans, and discussing where to locate the 12"wide cedar boards and Plexiglas, the Laird and I both decided it would be much easier to just order the kit of pre-cut & pre-drilled parts for a top bar hive.  Though it cost a bit more than building from scratch, we know this route was much less of a headache.

Bee Thinking has been a great resource for our beekeeping needs.  I have been very pleased with the quality of their products and excellent customer service.  Check them out! I got a wonderful book from them called, "Top Bar Beekeeping" by Les Crowder.  Though I have read a couple books about Top Bar Beekeeping, this one had valuable information that I hadn't read in the other 2 books.  It has wonderful color photos too!

We have a few steps left until the hive is fully assembled and ready for bees.  We will have to wait until spring to get our bees and start this journey.

This hive took about an hour to put together.  The hive is made of Western White Cedar.  It has a wooden top/ lid and a screened bottom.  It also has a hinged observation window.

For those new to the topic, there are 3 main types of hives used in the United States.  The Langstroth Hive is the most common hive- it is made of stacked boxes. The Top Bar Hive.  And the Warre Hive.



The Top Bar Hive tends to provide a more natural method of beekeeping, for a few different reasons.    The shape of the top bar hive mimics a hollow log that bees would often naturally build their hives in.  Another reason is that unlike Langstroth hives that have frames & foundation for bees to build their comb, the top bar hive simply has top bars.  These bars have a small ridge that the bees build their comb on from top to bottom.  Rather than building comb cells upon a foundation with pre-designed cell sizes, they are able to do what they know how to do and make the cells sized for the different brood that will hold them (workers, drones and queens).  This small detail supposedly makes a difference in that the bees fit their cell perfectly, rather than an imperfect pre-set cell size- which may account for the rise of wax moths.  Just a speculation I read about.  Top bar bee keeping tends to try to keep things all natural and beekeepers try to avoid using pesticides and miticides as well.  Another factor for maintaining the health of the hive is the fact that you harvest the honey and wax together every time- which means the bees are constantly building new comb, and therefore lessens the chances of disease and pests storing up in old comb.  Though this contributes to the fact that Top Bar Hives yield less honey than Langstroth hives, we are not entirely concerned as we expect to have more honey than we know what to do with from this hive.


Our hive has an open/ screened bottom which helps monitor ventilation within the hive, and also facilitates inspection for mites.  The hive also has a cool observation window on the side, which allows friends and visitors to peek into the hive without fear of getting too close to the bees.  The few times I have seen been through an observation window have been fascinating.

We are heading out to our first local beekeepers meeting this weekend.  They will be discussing bees wax and how to utilize it.  I am excited for this topic as Top Bar bee keeping yields lots of wax, since you harvest the wax and honey together (as opposed to reusing the wax with Langstroth beekeeping).  We will also find out more about ordering a package of bees or a nuc for the spring.

I still have to finish the hive with a protective coat of Tung Oil.  In time, there will be more on bees and beekeeping to document this exciting journey.  This Top Bar Hive is quite fancy.  An observation window.  A screened bottom.  A hinged, gable roof.  Made of beautiful white cedar.  Our bees are going to be living in style.  I can't wait to see what it looks like with the tung oil finish!

'The Little Girl Who Lost Her Name"- personalized children's books

Recently I noticed facebook posts about personalized children's books through Lost My Name.  I decided to check it out and was very impressed with what I found.  Basically you personalize the story to the child receiving the book, with their name and a character that physically resembles their features.  The story is about a girl or boy who wakes up one morning and has lost their name.  They proceed to go on an adventure where they meet all sorts of magical creatures and characters that start with the letters that spell out their name.  You are able to preview the book you create.

I wanted to give my niece something special for the holiday, and decided this would be the perfect gift.  They offer a discount for purchasing more than one book.  Since lady genevieve has such a lengthy name, her adventure was quite full- so I decided to order a book for her 3rd birthday coming next April.  We love giving her a special book for each birthday (1st a family photos book/ 2nd Redwoodshire Stories "A Tale of Two Berries" written by daddy and illustrated by her grandmother), so this fit the tradition for gifts.

If you're interested in buying a copy, use my link  and you can get 15% off your first book and help me earn a free copy of "The Amazing Alphabet That Appeared In The Night".  I only need 3 friends to get a copy of this book for free (they do not sell this book, it can only be gotten through referrals!)  Once you order your book, you too can try to earn the free book as well.  Another bonus: Shipping is FREE!

http://www.lostmy.name/friends/sarah-nestlen-2

The Gift of Mail- a tradition of newsletters

Though this is a post from last year- it's that time of year for sending mail.  I just finished our 2015 newsletter and had it printed at FedEx/ Kinkos today.  The envelops are addressed and they are ready to mail.

Who doesn't love getting mail?  Well who doesn't love getting real mail?  Real mail meaning that which doesn't have to do with credit card advertisements, bills, ads and all that junk that fills our mailboxes today.  It feels that sending and receiving genuine paper mail today is becoming a lost art.  In a day of facebook, emails, Facetime and even blogging, "instantaneous" has become the culture.  We are so used to getting the immediate gratification of the click of a button, and so busy with our lives, that we hardly take the time to write a letter to someone we love, or send birthday/ special occasion cards.  Which also means, we are robbed of the joy of receiving those forms of communication and love as well.  If you're like me, I pretty much dread checking our mailbox because I already know the time it will take me to weed through all the junk & bills.  But there are still the faithful few who have not lost this art of sending cards and correspondence- and for those people I am so grateful.

If people are going to send cards, it seems that this is the time of year for it.  Since I was a child, I have loved all the Christmas cards that people have sent to us.  We'd always hang them up on our walls, on display to look at and admire.  And even as an adult, I have continued this tradition in my own home.

Many years ago, I was inspired by a Christmas Newsletter my parents had received from their friends.  It was visually appealing with nice photos, and very informative about the life events of their family over the past year.  I loved it, and decided that I definitely wanted to do that "when I got older and had a family".  I loved how informative they were, and especially loved the photos.  So when I got out of college, I decided I would start then.  Since we'd lived in California until I was 16, and then I spent 2 years in Connecticut and then 4 years of college in Western NY, we had loved ones across the country.  And now that I was out of college, with a new job and living on my own, there was a lot that I could update about my life.  And rather than take 5 minutes to hand write a letter to each person on the list, I could consolidate everything into an awesome newsletter and save my hand from aches.  And so began my journey into the tradition of yearly newsletters.   It's been 10 years since the first annual newsletter, and from what I can tell people still love to get them.

My newsletters evolved from being solely about me, to including details about the Laird, and now lady genevieve has been included the past 2 years.  I am not going to pretend it's an easy task to accomplish.  It does take time, as you must figure out what you want to write about and include each year.  Which involves thinking about what you did over the past 12 months.  One important part is coming up with a Name for your newsletter.  Our newsletter is called: "The N.Y.(Nestlen Yearly) Times".  We also happen to live in NY, so it works both ways.  I begin my newsletter process in October, with brainstorming a list of big updates, like vacation, or buying a house... and then come up with specifics for an article about each person of the family.  I have a MacBook, and use Pages to make my newsletters, but I know there are lots of cool programs out there to accomplish the task.  Photos are as important as the actual written content, so once the articles are written, it's fun to pick out a few photos to highlight the article.  I have always done double sided letters, and never had a problem figuring out how to fill both sides of the letter up with articles and photos (even when I only wrote about my own life).  When the newsletter was just about me, I was able to get very specific about a lot of different parts of that year.  Now that my family has grown, I have to choose my content wisely and include simply the most important stuff.  In the very beginning I would add a favorite recipe to share, or a section of fun facts (like how many miles my very old 1995 Dodge neon currently had on it).

Once the letter is complete, I have discovered the beauty of Kinkos FedEx print center.  I used to go through the hassle of saving my newsletter to an external hard drive and then taking it to the store and using their computer to then print it up.  What a hassle and time waster!  Now I can do all the work at home, upload the newsletter to their website, select all the specific print details (color/ black & white; single vs. double sided; paper weight; number of copies...etc.), pay online, select when to pick them or up or have them shipped.

I have saved a hard copy of each newsletter over the past 11 years, and have a collection of them at this point.  They serve as a wonderful "Year at Glance" to revisit the big events of each year that has passed.  I hope to put them in a notebook for better access down the road.  Be inspired to make your correspondence filled with quality, rather than a quick signature!

Thanksgiving Thoughts- 10 Ways to Love

Happy Thanksgiving...  
This sign was a birthday gift.  It hangs on a wall in my kitchen and it is a daily reminder of how to live out LOVE.  It reminds me all the ways that love is expressed through my choices and actions each day.  And that makes it a daily gift.

The holidays are one time of when families come together and celebrate.  Spending time with family can be both a wonderful time and a challenging time.  Rise above the challenges and choose to really LOVE.

And this is what LOVE is...

A Case for Composting

Recently I have checked out various books from the library in order to expand my knowledge on things that will improve our homesteading journey.  When we first moved to Redwoodshire I wrote a POST  detailing my journey to composting and what I had learned up to that point.  That was May of 2014.  That post shares how I had little experience composting and considered it a pile at the back of my yard where I could throw produce scraps.  Now in December of 2015, we have multiple compost piles, where we collect not only our massive piles of leaves and grass clippings, but we also dispose of many of our kitchen scraps.  Did you know that you can throw your tea bags into the compost pile?  Our two main motivations to compost up to this point have been to create natural hummus to fertilize our garden and to minimize our trash production (since we do not have garbage pick up service).  Between recycling, composting and cloth diapering 2 children under 3 years old, we make about 1 full kitchen bag of garbage each week.  Consider all of the garbage we would make if both our children were in disposable diapers?!?!

This past week, "How to Build, Maintain and Use a Compost System- Secrets and Techniques You Need to Know to Grow the Best Vegetables" by Kelly Smith, caught my interest.  All of these points are quoted directly out of Chapter 1 of the above noted book.

Here are some cool bits of information that further deepened my appreciation for composting, and made me want to encourage more to do the same.

DID YOU KNOW?
-Compost keeps the garden soil evenly moist, and decreases the amount of water you must add.
-Compost contains a mixture of bacteria and microbes that in turn create natural antibiotics, which can help prevent plant diseases, and help plants to be healthier.
-Compost binds with toxins like lead and cadmium so that plants cannot consume them- which then keeps them out of the food chain.
-Food scraps and kitchen waste make up 12% of municipal solid waste (32 million tons of trash) & yard waste and trimmings make up 13% of municipal solid waste (33 million tons of yard waste)-throwing away biodegradable materials wastes tons of space in landfills, and costs money and fossil fuels to transport them there.

Why spend money on chemical fertilizers, when you can make your own natural fertilizer by way of things you already have to get rid of?  Composting is better for the environment and better for you & your health- and it happens to be really easy.  The above referenced book is a great place to learn more about composting, and do it effectively.  And if you aren't interested in reading a book, just research enough to understand some of the basics of what goes into a compost,  and balancing the green and brown materials.  Then after enough time has passed for nature to do it's thing, and your waste has been converted into  dark, nutrient rich hummus, mix it into your vegetable garden or flower gardens and be impressed with what happens.  After a season of using your compost, you will surely be sold on the benefits of composting!

One things always leads to another.  First came the birds (bird feeder).  Then comes the Bees- Spring 2016.   Chicken poop is a very nutrient rich fertilizer, so we should get chickens to help fertilize our garden;)  Actually, we want chickens for nice fresh, free range brown eggs.  The chicken poop is just an added benefit for our garden.  We're confident the chickens are coming next. Currently researching chicken coop designs.

Feel free to share your composting stories in comments!

The Dawn Redwood of Redwoodshire

The Dawn Redwood has turned golden orange- which is does every Fall.  It's quite beautiful.  And due to the unseasonable, warm week we are having, I made it out to take some photos.  My 2nd post ever written mentions & links to information about the Dawn Redwood tree.  Our Redwoodshire was named in honor of this Redwood tree.

 First week of November has brought 70 degree weather to Western NY!  Nature is quite confused, as it was preparing for Winter.  A few little daisies popped up next to the fallen leaves.

Horatio the Head Mouse Catch decided the bird food bad was a decent place for his afternoon nap!

Fall at Redwoodshire

 Fall is an absolutely beautiful time of the year in Upstate New York.  Growing up in Southern California until the age of 16, I never knew the amazing colors of Fall.  Since moving to the East Coast, I have loved Fall more than any other season.  Though we don't have a ton of trees on the property showing off, we have a couple to be appreciated.   The photo below was taken from the road.  Despite all the trees blocking the view most of the year, in the Fall and Winter you can look down onto our little house and feel like flying above, gazing down upon the village- as if you were on the Peter Pan ride at Disney.

 We have a unique little spruce tree growing where the willow tree branches.  The field above is across the street from Redwoodshire.  Maybe someday we can purchase that field.  Below is the front of the barn.  The repairs have been made and we'll be ready to finish painting the rest of the barn in the Spring.  The Laird grew a few pumpkins and acorn squash this year.  The pumpkins didn't produce as much as he expected, so we'll have to try again next year.

  

The namesake of Redwoodshire, our Dawn Redwood is beginning to turn orange and loose it's needles for the winter.  It seems to have grown significantly since we moved in 2 years ago.  

The Laird and lady genevieve set up the bird feeder and filled it with food.  One of the joys of winter is watching the birds from our windows.  We enjoyed learning to identify all the various types of birds last winter.  

The Laird is cleaning up the dead branches at the bottom of our row of spruce trees- the left side is trimmed and the right side it what it originally looked like.  Definitely an easy way to spruce up this portion of the yard.

"One persons junk, is another persons treasure"- Refinishing Ladder Back Chairs

Craiglist deal- 3 chairs for $25

A couple months ago, I found these 3 ladder back rush seat chairs on craigslist for $25 (for all 3).  It was a great deal, and we needed a few more ladder back chairs to match the 3 we already had.  Telling from the price, they were in need of some TLC.  They had been spray painted cream, including the rush!!  Never spray paint the rush- it will assuredly look terrible if you do.

Original chairs

Left- Refinished, white chalk paint w/ brown wax
Center- Repainted, white chalk paint
Right- original chair

Chalk paint is pretty awesome.  It goes on very thick and dries in less than half an hour.  You can transform a piece of furniture in a matter of hours.

You may be asking: "The BEFORE & AFTER photos look the same, except for the new rush- Why repaint with chalk paint, when the chairs look almost exactly the same as when you started?   Wouldn't spray paint be faster?"

** Chalk paint is pretty awesome for a few different reasons.  It goes on very thick and dries in less than half an hour.  Therefore, you can transform a piece of furniture in a matter of hours.  Chalk paint also has a matte finish, and therefore has no shine/ light reflection.  It makes furniture look old/ antique.  Spray paint is often very shiny- though I know there are less shiny varieties.  Chalk paint also get sealed/ finished with special wax.  The wax gives the painted surface a very soft/ smooth feeling when touch.  Using the brown wax (over the creme wax) allows you to give the piece and antiqued appearance as well.  

STEP 1:  Remove & discard old rush from seats

STEP 2: Apply chalk paint with paint brush. Allow to dry for recommended time.  Sanding not necessary. Do a 2nd coat of paint if necessary.

STEP 3:  Apply creme wax over chalk paint using a clean rag.  Allow to dry for recommended time.

STEP 4:  Apply brown wax over creme wax using a clean rag.  Work small areas at a time, allowing it to dry for a couple minutes, but wiping most off before it dries completely.

The brown wax over white chalk paint, results in an antiqued finish

STEP 5:  Rush seats

Check out my previous post: How to Weave a Rush Chair for photos of my first rush chairs.  

Ed Hammond has an excellent YouTube video to learn how to rush 

Peerless Rattan has a great selection of tools and rush supplies for purchase

 We now have 6 ladder back rush chairs- 3 antiqued cream & 3 finished wood.  If you look closely, you will notice that the chair styles are slightly different as well.  Though it would be nice to have a full set of matching chairs, I don't mind mixing and matching, as it adds character to the room.

Eventually I will have to take photos of these chairs with the awesome antique pedestal table I found on craigslist!  We have quite a collection of dining room furniture- now we just need to continue plugging away at the dining room upgrades.

Redwoodshire Driveway Marker

Our house is located below the main road level, behind some tall evergreen trees and completely un-visible from the road.  Ever since we moved in, we've talked about having some sort of sign or marker to for people to look for, when they are coming to Redwoodshire for the first time.  During one of the Laird's explorations in the back woods beyond the marsh, he discovered a junk pile.  Even better, were the 2 old milk jugs he found and was able to carry back to the house. Though not very large, our hope is that the marker stands out enough for people to find our house.
These old milk jugs are very old and rusty, with a few holes.  The bottom of one is completely rusted out.  We spray painted one with some left over Rubbed Oil Bronze- which is a color I love for everything.  We're undecided about how much we like it on the milk jug.  Next we filled the bottom with some rocks for drainage.  Filled the rest of it with dirt and a post- dirt to grow flowers and a post to hang a sign and the address number.

Here is the photo progression:

We used the top of the old cedar tree that the Laird felled in early spring, as our sign post.  Filled the milk jug with medium sized rocks, and thentopped it with dirt.   We planted a few climbing vine seeds to grow up the post. We used a scrap piece of pine for the sign.  Tea stained the pine & applied a coat of polyurethane to preserve the wood from the elements.  The numbers we used are 5" in size, and purchased from Lowes.

This post has been waiting since Spring to be published!  It has served us well all summer for the fun gatherings of friends and family here at Redwoodshire.

"The Thinking Beekeeper"

Ever since I saw "The Secret Life of Bees" many years ago, before the laird and I were married, there has been a small fascination with beekeeping in the back of my mind.  I absolutely love honey, and though I can't remember anything about the actual movie, that was the point when beekeeping entered my thoughts.  Fast forward to today.  The Laird and I enjoy Redwoodshire and playing "farmer/ homesteader" with the 5.6 acres we have here.  Though we've just begun our journey, we have high hopes for the years to come.  The Laird has done a wonderful job with the garden, and we've enjoyed eating the fruit of our land and his labors.  The orchard (apple, pear, & cherry trees) are slowly but surely coming along, despite waging war against the deer who try to thwart our efforts.  Raspberries and blueberries are getting more productive with each year.  Chickens have been on the radar since we moved here.  However, the Laird recently learned that his boss is quite a homesteader and has bees!  Beekeeping just trumped chickens, and is at the top of our list of things we want to start next year.  He learned a ton from that conversation, which then launched me into research mode about beekeeping.  I checked out 6 books from our local libraries and started into some internet investigating as well.

The "Thinking Beekeeper" by Christy Hemenway and "The Backyard Beekeeper"by Kim Flottum are my favorites so far. 

Bees are fascinating and quite beneficial, and it's more than just the honey.  Bees benefit gardening & fruit trees as well.  Which is definitely a plus for us. The raw honey also has health benefits for allergies and even cuts/ scrapes.  I have been sold, and we are definitely going to venture into the world of beekeeping.  

There are 3 standard types of beehives: Langstroth (stacked boxes most are familiar with), the Top Bar Hive & the Warre Hive.  

After reading and researching, I have decided that we're going to go with the Top Bar Hive.  It is said that the Top Bar Hive is the most natural hive and also the least disruptive to the bees during hive inspection.  There is also an observation window on the side that allows you to watch the bees without opening it up.  The "Thinking Beekeeper" is a guide to natural beekeeping and top bar beehives- and was quite influential in my decision to go with the top bar hive.  

Bee Thinking looks like a great place to purchase bee hives, tools and accessories.  They appear have beautifully crafted beehives, with great reviews.  The initial investment into beekeeping is higher than I imagined, especially with the top bar beehive.  However, I am finding that many people build their own beehives and equipment.  Bee Thinking sells their hive plans.  Though there are many free plans online, we are new to Beekeeping and want to eliminate any unnecessary frustrations.  I also really love their design.  Therefore, we are going to purchase our top bars from Bee Thinking, and build our Top Bar Hive from their plans.  The great thing about getting the plans is that we can build more Top Bar Hives in the future if we grow our apiary.

Building the Top Bar Hive is one of the projects on our list for winter.  Another winter priority is renovating our dining room.  Until then...

A Barn Door Handle Towel Hanger

In searching for creatively unique options for hanging our hand towels in the bathroom and kitchen, I saw a cute idea using door handles.  Rather than using a hook or the typical towel rack/ rod, I opted for a barn door handle to hang our hand towels on- for both the bathroom and kitchen. 

I ordered 4 iron forged handles off of ebay.  We hung one to the right of the apron sink in the kitchen, and one near the sink in the bathroom.  Originally, I thought I may hang 2 near each sink, but once they were hung, I felt like 1 was enough.  So we still have 2 door handles left for anither project in the future.   Check them out! 







Another great idea from the internet!

 In the kitchen:

In the bathroom: