We had a terribly productive weekend, and it felt great to again roam the familiar aisles of Home Depot and work on the house. Our achy Monday morning muscles were a fair tradeoff for a clean yard and 75% complete baseboard trim – but more of that in a bit!
Saturday was Project Get the Damn Tree Out of the Yard.
We ended up renting a (very large) chainsaw from Home Depot. Along with the saw, our rental also included gas, oil and this charming outfit for Ryan. Safety first!
We found a taker in Ipswich who will haul away all the wood larger than 4” in diameter cut in 18” lengths, so Ryan jumped into tree limb removal while I pulled out the veggie garden and our annual plantings.
After many runs up to the town transfer station, we had a neat wood pile and the backyard cleared.
We’d intended also to mow the lawn and weed-wack the sea grass, but both machines were on the skitz. I used the manually-powered little mower my parents picked up for us in Vermont, which worked pretty well. Unfortunately, we’d let the lawn grow so long (shame, shame) the Caitlin-powered mower had some substantial ground to make up, let alone the generous spray of sawdust. But we did what we could.
Ryan also spent some time on our sideboard design.
We’ve decided to paint it a slate blue with a dark wood top and paint the trimmed out columns white. Ryan also had the fantastic idea of using boat cleats for drawer and door pulls. Love this. We’re thinking we’ll go chrome rather than the other option of brass. I’m struggling a bit with this, as I am a gold sorta girl (please see my engagement ring), but the brass feels dated and I think the chrome will go nicely with the slate blue and grey walls. Not to mention the
formal china we’ve selected is silver edged and will also look fantastic with the chrome accents.
At 9:01 on Sunday morning, the compound miter saw, table saw and compressor were turned on (you’re welcome, neighbors).
Ryan began installing a two-piece baseboard in the nook and worked out from there.
I followed behind patching nail holes and filling in corners with wood putty.
In addition to baseboard galore, Ryan also trimmed in the bathroom, mudroom, and front doors. Hooray! This place is really starting to look like a finished space!
While we worked inside, Tela luxuriated in the sawdust from the previous day’s activities. What. A. Weirdo.
At the end of the day, I returned to the nook, sanded the wood putty, and painted the trim with primer to get a peek at how the final product will look. It is be-yond.
We also plan to add a quarter-round piece to the very bottom of the baseboard trim, which will help in finishing the baseboard at the (somewhat bumpy) flooring.
Towards the end of the day, my parents came by to lend a hand and join us for dinner. After a quick tour of the project, Dad busied himself fixing the lawn mower and weed wacker and Mom turned her attention to planting tulip bulbs. Ryan and I chose white and yellow blooms and were expecting a cute little row of tulips somewhere in the yard come spring. After finishing her work, Mom informed me that she planted 95 bulbs! Can’t wait to see the show next spring!
There’s the Phantom Gardener caught in the act. She says to dig a hole about 6 inches deep and suggested planting the bulbs in clumps of 3 or 4 so that the tulips will grow in little clusters.
After addressing our small mechanics issues, Dad also continued with the fall yard clean-up, helped Ryan cut down the sea grass and generally spiffed up the place. He also informed us that contrary to our belief that the sawdust might improve the poor quality of our soil,
cellulose (fancy word for wood pulp) takes forever to breakdown and so, we (okay, mostly Dad) raked up as much of the remaining tree carnage as possible.
We had a delicious dinner in the nook after all our hard work. Note to all: Ryan and I are happy to host any visitors who come ready to work and also bring a steak and bottle of Chianti.
And finally, I'll leave you with some more glamour shots of a downstairs that is really starting to look like real, put-together rooms... weird! Please excuse the Tela photo bombs.
