Current State of Finished: Our Dining Room Renovation (continued)...

For those interested and following, we have continued to plug away at bringing our dining room to a state of completion.  It's been a longish process, considering we officially started working towards an end goal back in September of 2015, when we removed the large Buck Stove from the corner. From that point on, the room has been getting a little attention here and there and the progress has been slowly but surely moving forward.  All in all, the whole room probably would have taken a handful of months if we worked every weekend straight and didn't have small children to attend to.  But that's not our life;)  We are very lucky to have the blessings that we do have, and have learned so much in the process of priorities and doing what we can, with the time that we DO have.

Here are the links to all previous posts on the Dining Room renovation- for reference as to what the original dining room looked like and the process we have traveled to arrive at this.

Jan/Feb 2017

Jan/Feb 2016: Staining & Finishing Hardwood floors

Jan/ Feb 2016: Hardwood floor installation

Dec 2015: The Plan/ The beginning

The Antique Hutch

Current Projects: Dining Room Photo Progression

This past weekend we caulked, painted, hung crown moulding, installed shoe moulding....  And we finally cleaned things up.  The dining room table is no longer a work station, it's a place to eat again.  We unpacked a few boxes of photos and set them atop the picture shelf above the board and batten wainscot.  We moved the large, temporary bookcase over to where we will eventually be building in one of the floor to ceiling bookcases, as part of a window seat unit.  We mopped the floors.  And much to our joy, it looks like a dining room.  We've been admiring it every day... actually probably every time we pass through the room going up or down the stairs.  It really feels great to know that we did this!  It's amazing.

Check it out:

Our next project for the immediate future is figuring out what to do with the trap door.  We need to trim down to size, as the wood swelled during the summer.  We also need to figure out a handle situation.  

      

Here's a cool light fixture that we found at Lowe's.  Because our ceilings are abnormally low, we were limited to flush or semi-flush lighting (not my favorite).  There are so many amazing pendant lights out there that I would have loved to get, but we needed something that wouldn't be a hazard to people of normal heights:)  I love that it has both chicken wire and twine, with a rubbed oil bronze finish.  And it was super affordable. The chicken wire ties into the amazing Pottery Barn pendant light fixture that I have hanging over my kitchen sink.

This corner is the Laird's "Jungle Corner".  In our previous residence we dedicated our whole living room to be of the "Jungle Room" designation.  Unfortunately, in our home at Redwoodshire there isn't really a whole room fitting to be the "Jungle Room".  The "Jungle Room" in our old home was painted a bright jungle green.  The walls were covered with pictures and cool "gifts" we got on our travels to other places & countries.  Every time we went on a trip we would pick up a "souvenir" for the Jungle Room.  At Redwoodshire, we now have a Jungle Corner off of the dining room.  It's quite fitting that that portion of the room was covered with pine panels- something the Laird wanted to keep.  I got him to let me paint the areas surrounding the window white, in preparation for the eventual bookcase-window seat unit.  The pine paneled portion was very strange because it was only a portion of the room and ended at the wood stove.  It's hard to say the thought process as to why the previous owners who installed it this way did this, but then again there are a lot of details that make us wonder.  

This is a view from the Jungle Corner towards the dining area, and through to the kitchen.  The pictures up on the picture shelf are in temporary locations as we still have many more to unpack & organize.

This is a view from our kitchen doorway.  This shows Jungle Corner on the left & dining area on the right.  This is our current state of finished, but the intention for next winter is to finally build in 2 floor to ceiling bookcases surrounding the triple window area, with a window seat in between.  The bookcases will be about 26 inches wide (you can see where the white paint extends beyond the window on both sides.  The bench will serve as extra seating & storage, but I imagine will look amazingly cute.  That is a project for next year, so we will be able to dream up a design in the meantime.  We also need to unpack all of our framed pictures and figure out how to best fit them on the Jungle Corner walls.  That's a task for the near future.  For now they will hang out in their new home.

My WORD for 2017

If you've read & followed this blog since the beginning of last year, you will remember that I chose the word STEWARDSHIP as my focus for the year.  If you aren't familiar with that post, check the Stewardship post here.

This year I have chosen PRESENT as my word.  In a time where we have phones, facebook, internet and every sort of thing to distract us from being present with whom is right in front of us, it's really takes an awareness that there is a problem. It takes a deep conviction to want to be the change.  I am hoping to go against the norm and choose to deny myself all the ways of escaping life or checking out, and just simplify my life.  I want to make the most of each day by trying to do less, but focus on a few things and do them well.  I especially want to be PRESENT 100% with whomever I am physically with at the moment.  I want to live in today, rather than live in the near future when "I finish" this or that project or achieve that goal.  The goal for today, is TODAY- do it well- be wholehearted.  

I have recognized this desire since I chose my word of Stewardship last year.  One of my goals was to be a steward of the TIME that I had with my children.  To be intentional about the opportunity I have at home with them, and choose to invest in them rather than bide the days away and wish for bedtime, so I could then have "me time" to do whatever I wanted.  So this year is a focused extension from last year's WORD.  

I want to grow to become a mother who values and cherishes the days that I have with my children.  I want to talk with them.  Play with them.  Teach them.  What good fruit comes of escaping life by living through the excitement of the internet or adventures of other people's lives?  What kind of investment is that in my children?  I want to focus less on the "projects" that I want to accomplish and more on doing simple things each day, and doing them well.  I want to be content and grateful with what I have, rather than thinking about the material things I would like to have or even acting upon those impulses and buying them.  I want to give away that which we no longer use or need, so that less truly is more, and we fully enjoy that which we have- rather than adding to the stockpile of material possessions we already have, gathering a layer of dust because of lack of use, or just plain being forgotten.  At the end of each day, I want to look at what there was to be grateful for in "today" and then BE GRATEFUL.  And for all the ways that I missed the mark today, I want to wake up tomorrow to a NEW DAY.  I want to be the change I wish to see.  In every place I find myself surrounded by people looking down at their smart phones, I want to be present.  Rather than be disappointed by what I see, I want to be the change.  I want to influence more people to put down their "escapes" to truly be present in this moment.

I am quite confident that this simple yet guiding word will result in a powerful trend towards being here and now.  And maybe, just maybe, some people will join me along the way.  And together we will learn the JOY and POWER of being transformed by BEING PRESENT.

At Last! Progress on the Dining Room Renovation

Since last winter when we installed, stained and sealed oak hardwood floors, the dining room has been in a state of useable- unfinished.  Technically the dining room renovation began in the Fall of 2015 when we removed the wood stove.  Remember this?  Everything about this corner just made me cringe!  Though it's a process that is taking us the slow and steady route, I know we will be so grateful when it is all done.  It's so easy to forget what "was" the original dining room, because we get used to each stage and forget a few steps before we arrived at each current state.  Growing further removed from the original dining room- and I sure am grateful!

This is a photo after we had installed/ finished our hardwoods in January 2016.  

In the Fall of 2016, we were in our "unfinished" usable state.  And then on a warm day in October the mess began with demo- of the drywall and insulation.  Due to a few factors, it was worth it for us to replace the drywall.  We covered up the hole where the wood stove exited and saved ourselves repair of where the "rocks" were randomly stuck on the upper walls (for decoration?)

 A few weeks later the Laird installed new insulation and drywall- and that made a huge difference in not only the brightness of the room, but the overall "more finished" appearance.  We also installed a cool semi-flush chicken wire light fixture that fits our theme quite well.  More details photos to come as the room comes together.  I painted the pine panelling around the window with a stain block primer.  Eventually we will be building in floor to ceiling bookcases on both sides of the large window, with a window seat- storage bench between.  

Indoor projects in the month of January is becoming a tradition.  We picked back up with steady work towards completion, and are seeing everything come together quite beautifully.

A couple weekends ago, we primed the new drywall.  Primer made everything look AMAZING!  We've never seen so much white in this corner (remember the awful dark wood stove?!).  It makes the room a bit brighter, which helps with such short ceilings.  

 

Always nice to have a little helper for painting!  Last weekend we revisited "Board & Batten" installation.  We loved how much it improved our stair well, with such little cost and work- we've planned to continue the B&B around the dining room when the time came.  And that time came!  Because our house is anything but level/ normal due the the age (built 1890 & lots of settling of the foundation), we had to measure & level every single board. This involved back and forth to the saw, to make things fit just right.

The Laird did an amazing job!  I painted the upper wall in a light grey color.  We still have to paint the B&B and the pine paneling around the large window.  But this is where we're at right now.  We will be adding a "picture shelf" to the top rail.  There is still quite a bit left to do, but we are making progress that is encouraging.  It sounds like it will be some time before we take on the task of the built in book cases & window seat.  But for now, I am beyond encouraged to be realizing our finished dining room.  It's been a very slow process, and I have to admit that each winter is has discouraged me to see our limited progress.  But I have realized that you don't really remember the unfinished once it's done, and all the work, steps, time it took to get there- you simply just enjoy what it is.  And it's nice to know that very soon we will be able to finally unpack all of our books, photos & "jungle room" artifacts and call this our dining room.

Costumes 2016- Rainbow Dash & her pet Tank the turtle

Quite excited about our costume creations for this year.  Lady genevieve loves My Little Ponies right now, and wanted to be Rainbow Dash.  After browsing the Internet of the many costumes already created, we went to the craft store with an idea in mind and found materials to get started.  My mother made me an amazing Rainbow Brite costume when I was about 4 years old.  Her costume creating abilities has given me something to strive for in my motherhood.  I think we nailed it pretty well this year.

The blue pants and shirt were purchased from Old Navy (2016) on clearance- which was a great deal.  Not to mention way less work than trying to make the body if the costume.  With that accomplished it was time to design a tail.  My Rainbow Brite wig was made of yarn, and I thought that would be a good application for this costume as well.  However, once I added up the cost of all the yarn I decided to check out the fabrics for an alternative.  Tulle was discounted, and seemed like a good option for a puffy tail.  The lady cutting our fabric agreed, as it would be lighter as a tail than lots of yarn.  We found an awesome rainbow belt material, that we originally intended to cut into the Lightning bolt "Cutie Mark".  But after checking out the actual Rainbow Dash, I realized the lighting bolt did not have all the rainbow colors in it- only Red, Yellow & Blue.  Originally I had planned to use elastic to hold the tail up at the waist.  But then I realized we could use the belt to hold the tail up.  I cut & scrunched the tulle, and sewed in onto the inside of the belt.  Yellow, Orange, & red sewed to hang straight down.  Purple, Blue, & Green sewed to come out the top of the belt.  I did this to give the tail a little more body.  Then I sewed velcro to the outside and the belt attached at the tail.  Then we made the Rainbow Dash wings and stuffed them with fluff.  I created little arm straps with elastic and covered them with the material to match her outfit.  Next came the wig.  Originally I tried to make the wig with an elastic band around the head, and the tulle tied on, like how my mom had made my yarn wig.  It basically turned into an upside down rainbow tutu.  I did not like it, and then decided to use a friend's design to create more of a mane.  I cut a 3 inch strip of white felt, the length that I wanted the main to be.  Then I cut 2-3 holes into multiple rows down the length.  Then I pulled tulle through 2 of the holes, with the tales sticking out the back.  I covered a headband with the wing fabric, and sewed some ears.  Used a glue gun to attach everything.  The lighting bolt cutie mark was made out of iron on patch material.  I had to purchase both packs of colors, in order to get the colors needed for the bolt.  I cut them to shape and then ironed them onto white felt.   I attached it to a loop that could easily slide on and off the belt.  So easy, looks great!

Little man got to be Rainbow Dash's pet turtle- Tank.  

Redwoodshire Eggs & and an Egg-speriment

I thought it would be good to get current, as it's been many months since our last post.

The chicks have grown up and are laying the most beautiful eggs!  We currently have 12 chickens-  11 hens and 1 rooster.  One of our 2 Americanas is now known as "Cinderfella".  Somewhat disappointing as we were hoping for more than one blue/green egger in the batch.  They are wonderful!  Every day is so exciting when we visit the coop and peak into the nesting boxes for the days eggs.  One week ago we got our first blue egg!  So very exciting, for sure.

This Fall, a friend and I both had intentions to start doing some home schooling activities for our 3 year olds.  Our friend turned her basement into a very cool school room.  She invited us over one week to do some activities.  It was so inspiring, and I offered that they could come over the following week and I would put together some activities about Bees and the letter B.  And our home school co-op was born!  Each week we take turns leading a handful of activities with the girls, with a focus on a letter of the alphabet.  This past week we focused on the letter E.  Tracing & writing the letter E, reading a couple books about eggs, a fun experiment (egg-speriment) and then eating eggs prepared 3 different ways (based upon the book "Two Eggs, Please".)

Organic is all the rage these days, and don't get me wrong I definitely believe it is better for all of us.  But the truth of the matter, is that some people purchase "organic" because of the label, but don't really know how different or better it is, than the "non-organic" label.  Our egg activity, demonstrated that backyard, free range chickens are superior to even the factory "organic" eggs.

We decided to make hard boiled eggs, Scrambled eggs, and Sunnyside Up eggs.  I knew that our backyard/ free range eggs have a deep school bus shade to their yolks.  Recently I hardboiled some non-organic factory eggs from Wegmans, and was taken aback at how pale the yolks were.   We compared yolks from each of the different procured eggs.  The amazing part was while we made the "sunnyside up eggs".  We cracked 1 Wegmans organic, 1 Wegmans non-organic, and 2 different backyard eggs (one from Redwoodshire, and one from another friend backyard flock).

Check out these beautiful photos my friend took our our eggs.

Dark chocolate brown (Copper Maran)- Light brown (plymouth barred rock or Yellow Comet)- Light Blue (Americana)

Clockwise from the smaller dark yellow yolk:  Redwoodshire free range/ non-organic egg.  Light yellow on right: Wegmans non-organic egg.  Large dark yellow yolk on bottom: Backyard, non-organic egg (older hens).  Light yellow yolk on left: Wegmans Organic egg.

The backyard eggs, though not organic have much darker yolks than both of the Factory procured eggs.  The darker yolk is due to the free range diet rich in varied nutrients.  Notice how minor the difference is between the two lighter yolks.  The one on left is "organic."

WOW!  I am convinced that backyard eggs, organic or not, are far superior than factory eggs from the store.  From reading about all the nutritional benefits of backyard, free range eggs, I already had a basis to believe they were what I wanted to feed my family.  But having cooked them side by side and seen the very obvious difference in yolk colors, I am completely convinced that backyard eggs are superior than their factory procured counterparts.

With all of our hens in the laying rotation, we have so many eggs.  When the days lengthen in the Spring we are going to have even more eggs on our hands.  We have begun selling our Redwoodshire Eggs to friends in the area for $2/dozen.  Once we switch over to Organic Feed, eggs will be $3/dozen.  I don't even feel like I have to convince people that they are worth it- because I know that they are.  If you are health conscious about putting the most nutritious food into your body, you should definitely consider the hens your eggs come from.  Even if you cannot keep chickens yourself, you may be able to find someone local who is raising backyard chickens and selling their eggs.

If you are local and would like Redwoodshire Eggs, please get in touch to be added to our egg schedule.

Photo credit: L. Desormeau 2016

Hive Inspection #2- Day 25

OUR HIVE INSPECTION in photos

1st Hive Inspection- Pollen filled cells

We inspected the hive for the second time today- just shy of 2 weeks since our first inspection.  I have been so eager to get inside the hive, but have patiently waited until today.  After our last inspection we looked up what we saw and found out that the dark yellow, half filled cells were pollen stores.  I thought that I saw eggs in the bottom of the cells, though I wasn't sure if they were eggs or my eyes were playing tricks on me.










Second hive inspection today (day 25 since we installed the swarm) was very exciting.  We saw the queen again, though our photos were blurry, so we have nothing to show.  Next time.  We saw lots and lots of capped brood.  White, squishy larvae inside some cells.  Tiny little white eggs.  Capped honey cells at the top of the comb.  It was a full compliment of the honey bee stages of life.

Removing top bar #9

Top Bar within the hive

This bar of comb demonstrates capped honey- light capped cells along the top of comb.  The dark cells below the capped honey are stores of pollen.  Then a few uncapped cells.  The bottom half of comb, covered with bees is capped brood.  The dark cells amidst the capped brood, are vacated brood cells (where bees have matured and left their cell).

Within the darker cells, there is a tiny light colored tic-tack- that is the egg.  This observation means that our queen is mated and laying eggs.  Success!!

At the center of this photo, one row above the capped brood, are 5 open cells containing larvae.  They look like little white packmen.  The dark cells below, are already emerged bee cells.  The cells at top of photo are also cells where bees have previously emerged.  What you see within the cell is the junk left behind from the bees growth and transformation.  The bees on those cells are likely cleaning the cells up and getting them ready for a new egg.

This much anticipated hive inspection lived up to my hopes.  During and after the inspection I was high with excitement about how fascinating and cool bees are.  Observing them in action is so wonderful.  I visit our hive multiple times a day to see what I can see.  I have actually observed the queen pass by the window twice.  Though not a lot changes from visit to visit, I still love counting the bars of comb and watching what they are up too.  Hopefully we will get a photo of that queen.  Maybe next inspection we will try to get a photo of the different members of the hive: the Queen, the worker & the drone bees.  I absolutely love photographing our bees, as so much more can be appreciated from the photos after the fact.  They are beautiful creatures indeed.

HoneyBees- week 2 update & 1st Hive Inspection

Memorial Day marked 2 weeks since we welcomed our swarm to the Top Bar Hive at Redwoodshire.  We've been watching them daily through our observation window, and they have been very busy.  At day 12, we did our first hive inspection.  Unfortunately we only took a couple photos, because we were focused on inspecting the comb- which was territory completely unknown to us.  And it seems as though we probably made a few mistakes in the process- though nothing hugely detrimental.  The inspection went well and was so fascinating.  We were blindly going about it, as we noted what we saw, but were not entirely sure what everything we observed was.
Check it out:  The dark golden filled cells are stores of pollen.  The light cells are filled with a clear liquid, or empty.
DAY 12- Hive Inspection

And the Laird spotted the QUEEN!!  He's been talking about needing to find the queen, to which I always responded with cynicism because there are thousands of bees in the hive.  But sure enough he spotted her-- which made us both quite pleased.  We have a queen!  I think we spotted some eggs within the empty cells, though we are not entirely sure.  On our next inspection, hopefully we will spot some larvae or capped brood cells.  

DAY 15:  Observation- Spotted the queen through the observation window- though I didn't have my camera to take photos.  Check out the bee entering the hive-- notice the pollen filled back legs!  I can't believe I got such a cool photo.  The bees are quite active today.

There are 9 good sized bars of comb visible.  I spotted 2 smaller combs started on bars 10 & 11.  About 1/3 the length of the hive is filled with comb- as our TBH can fit 30 top bars.  

  

In other news, our Queen Anne Golden Raspberries survived the transplant and have sprouted leaves.  Of them, 9 out of 11 plants are thriving!  The red raspberry row is growing like crazy, and is covered with blossoms and berries.  And the blueberry blossoms have started becoming berries as well.  It's our third season, and it's going to be the best one yet!

News in chickens:  One of our little Amerucana chicks, Belle appears to be sick with Wry Neck.  We're researching in on the internet and doing our best to remedy her condition-isolation from other chicks,  baby vitamins & tuna in water.  She seems to be doing slightly better, but is still under the weather.  Queen Mother & Diana have been enjoying their days free ranging in the yard, while the 4 little Marans are getting used to the coop.  We finally finished securing the run below the coop, and they are utilizing that as well.  The Laird is trying so hard to get that garden planted, but with re-fencing the garden, finishing up the chicken coop, bee business, yard clean up....  he's a bit behind.  The garden is taking a toll due to all the other projects before us.  Hopefully this weekend we will get everything in and planted.

This is all the news fit to print at Redwoodshire.  Bees, chickens and berries.