Admittedly, I am extraordinarily behind in logging the adventures we've had around the state this summer. But not without good reason, my friends!!
Any spare time that I could have used to compose, edit, and post, I used instead to design and craft every square inch of a home edition that we've been waiting on for, like, 8 years. It's not completely complete - but what DIY project ever is? It's close enough for me, though - and I am so proud of my husband's hard work - that I just cannot resist a little virtual bragging here at Seven Thru the State. I'll try my best to spare all the boring (read: my favorite and most intricate) details. Just remember that I'm a girl and a bit on the chatty side when I get excited, so that might prove to be a bit of an insurmountable challenge. Let your eyes feast on the before, during, and after pictures of how Joe and I have invested our every minute and dollar over the last 365 days. So here we go!
A little demo here, a little build-it-yourself 3 car detached garage project there, and suddenly we were left with a former attached garage that was begging to be transformed into a living room.
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| Behold, the beggar! |
When I look at this vision of chaos, I can't help but be overwhelmed with gratitude for what it's become. I owe a heaping amount of gratitude to God, Who not only provided for our every need (and then some), but Who also gave my husband countless talents, as well as a desire and the ability to learn new skills at a moment's notice. Mega-congrats to Joe, who "built these walls with [his] hands," and did all of the EVERYTHING that went in to wiring, plumbing, cutting, designing,
et cetera-ing!
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| Dad Schmiesing, offering a free consultation. |
On the other hand, we do always like to invite a few willing fathers-in-law, brothers, and friends to help out with the grunt work. Here's a little proof that we can't do it all ourselves. (Thanks, guys!)
While some walls come down, others have to go up. And check out our flock of little apprentices! Ain't they cute?
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View from the kitchen, looking northwest.
Thomas looks on while Joe dismantles the wall that was between the former garage and living room.
The pass-through wall dividing the kitchen from the living room had come down the year before. |
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| Getting the plumbing just right before closing it all in. |
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| Little boys are eager to assist! |
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| 3 little people look on while Joe, Dad Schmiesing (right), and Dad Kerg (shaded by Bruno) do some prep. |
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| Anonymous woman on a ladder - obviously irresponsible. |
We spent a considerable amount of time on walls. Turns out - if you can power through the hanging of sheet rock, taping, spackle, sanding, re-spackling, priming, painting, floor laying, and trimming - one day, you wake up to half-finished rooms!
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| Our cheery mudroom! She now boasts a washer, dryer, counters, shelves, and plenty of space for stinky shoes. |
Those who know us are familiar also with the name of our house: Providence Cottage. We decided to bring that inspired name inside the house, and opted for, what we consider to be, the perfect marriage of the cottage/rustic/old world looks. (Okay, that's (mostly) a load. Really, it's a budget-friendly approach, and there's lots of room for forgiveness when it comes to the details. "What? A huge scratch on the floor? It's part of the
look we're after.")
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| Applying the Venetian Plaster was.... a process. I should have known, from all the online tutorials I watched, but when it happened in real life, I felt a bit like Michelangelo working his magic on all that fresco business in the Sistine Chapel. Apply. Dry. Reapply. Buff. Shine. Prayyouloveitbecausenowitspartofthewall. |
Amateur is our middle name, so there were bound to be mistakes. Errrr - there were bound to be times when bits of our vision didn't turn out to fit the overall project quite like we thought it would. For instance - the floor. Painted plywood is totally in (so we came to learn thanks to the internets, though we were doing it to be cheap and eclectic), but grey floors with a blue wall turns a cozy room into a refrigerator.
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| Chilly, no? |
Don't want to pull up the newly laid floor? Don't want to pry all the hundreds of nails holding it in place? Not feeling like busting through 3 coats of grey Dutch Boy Floor & Porch paint? That's fine. Just go buy some birch hardwood plywood, stencil 200 square feet of floor with a 24"x24" filigree, put down 4 coats of Vera-thane and
viola!!! Fridge no more!
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| Beauty underfoot is always worth the re-do. |
Then, there was the closing of doorways with all the memory-evoking doors of my childhood. Re-purposing has never been so fulfilling!
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| This was the front door of my parents' home. Through it I walked every day - from the time I was 3 years old, until I left home the morning of our wedding. Now, the next generation skips through it on their way to the mudroom. |
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| We saved a storm door from an old exit. The bonus was that I got to be the hard-core drillin' mama and blow the smoke off the bit. |
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| This door (awaiting its trim) was in Joe's parents' house. A solid piece, it lends a touch of "sturdy" to the living room and bathroom. |
Winter 2014 set-in, and the home improvement fund ran dry. I had two nasolacrimal surgeries, a root canal, the furnace died and had to be replaced, our washing machine broke, and both cars needed sudden and major servicing. Soooo, household survived the winter without the wood stove we were dreaming of. A few space-heaters kept the ridiculously cold Ohio winter at bay... for the most part. In addition, we had the occasional
Seven Thru the State excursion to help distract us! We managed just fine, and used the ample time to research Vermont Castings Wood Stoves (we went with
Encore), to choose a brick that goes well with blue walls and a red stove (an unexpected amount of design effort, here), and to learn how to design and lay a hearth. And guess what? Spring came, and we were ready to dive back in to the world of DIY!
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| Half the load of bricks and a few bags of mortar waiting to be mixed. |
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| Laying it all out for a dry run. |
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| The hands that work so hard to surround us with rustic charm. |
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| A close up of the rough-ish look we've got goin' on. |
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| Whistling while he works, after a brief melt-down the previous day. No man can be expected to lay brick for 8 hours straight (no meals - the mortar might dry) and not loose it a little! No matter - in the end, he crafted the centerpiece of our home with unmatched skill. |
In case you've ever considered cutting a hole in your ceiling, your attic, your roof - or all three - just be sure to center it, line it all up, and plumb it. Remember your dad saying, "Measure twice. Cut once." Lastly, note well the clearance requirements for a stove that reaches an internal temperature of 1100*F. Noone's asking for a redo on this kind of task!
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| The first cut was - praise God - the only cut! |
The pressure was on once the roof was opened, but Joe is always up for a challenge. The stove pipe gave us a bit of trouble (a peculiar length was needed), but in our line of work, it's standard to have to go the extra mile in the name of cost-efficiency. We bought a standard stove pipe and chimney kit from a big box store, instead of the matchy red enamel kit that costs... too much...just, too much! All the extra planning is worth it when you know you'll enjoy
this for the rest of our life:
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| On the Solemnity of St. Joseph - This is the first "break-in" fire. |
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| You can cook on this bad girl! Bonus!! |
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| A quite afternoon where the kids read by a crackling fire. |
The next stage was the creation and placement of the mantle and book case. It required Joe's carpentry and sawyering skills, as well as a dose of stain and poly from me. But it's April/May/June, an the garden needs tending, aaaaaand the state parks are calling - so wait we must!
In the meantime, I got stir-crazy and we decided to restore an old set of lockers for the mudroom. They'd been collecting dust for several years in that 3 car garage I mentioned. Actually, Joe was storing tools and kites and other useful items in them - but I drove a hard bargain. I mean, look at them! They need cleats and sticks and ball caps in them, not
tools. Did you know they make John Deere Green spray paint? You do, now!
Joe was still dragging his feet on the mantle.... but I had $20 to spend on paint for the dining room wall. I may have blown the budget....
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| The lilies are homegrown, too - just like the kids! And no more boring white dining room! |
Oh, right! And then there was the antique dinner bell we snagged from an estate auction. After the baby dismounted, we stuck it on a hand-hewn cedar post (good job on that, Honey!) and planted it off the back porch amid the roses and lavender. Minor side project.
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| Ringing this ol' bell gives you an earful of 1850's cast iron. |
Joe's inspired by cool July weather, and opted to put on the chaps and oil up the chainsaw. He crafted a fine ash mantle. The tree had come out of our woods. Fully dry, it was ready. Joe used a vintage draw blade to peel the bark and make it a work of art.
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| What I would give to add the audio on this picture! |
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| Previewing the piece before staining, sealing, and mounting. We chose an Early American stain to warm it up a bit. That made all the grain and age show up in a really lovely way, too. Wins, all around. |
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The bookcase.
Like all the thresholds throughout the room, Joe made it from old barn wood that we were given. I stained it to match the mantle, but you really have to see this piece in person to view the old machine work on the boards. |
I am extraordinarily blessed to have this as the place in our home that draws us all together every night for the Rosary, for stories (currently, a dramatic reading of Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring"), for laughter, music, love, and merriment with friends and fine whiskey.
It may not be perfect, but it's ours. We made it together... and with the help of the Almighty - just like all the good and worthy things in our life.
I'm satisfied that our hand prints, blood, sweat, and - yes, even tears - are all over the humble Ohio dwelling that we call... home.
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| Venetian Plastered and polished impressions of (L-R) Thomas, Rosemarie, Leopold, Bruno, and Iohanna (footprint). Tucked away discretely in a secret corner, but there for as long as we are. |
