Script house number

I found a shop on Etsy called RetroAZ, they cut out numbers and letters out of metal. They have an amazing font that they're using for house numbers so I ended up buying one but I super-sized it to 25" wide! I can't wait for it to get here!! Follow #retroaz on Instagram.

Mod Box needs your help!

Mod Box are in the final days of a kickstarter campaign to launch this product. They have a little over half the goal met. If this is something you'd like to have for your home, check it out!  By pledging over $180 you help them and you get a mailbox! Even a $25 pledge gets you a $25 credit towards your future purchase.

Retro bird houses by Etsy shop Mid-Century Wood Shop

Check out these retro bird houses and other fun things over at the Mid-Century Wood Shop!

Target - Spring Decor - Cement Garden Ball

I spotted these cement balls at Target and I wanted them soo bad! I keep telling myself to make my own but I never get around to doing it. Maybe when they go on sale I'll buy the large one. It weighs about 20lbs and 15" wide. Drools...

My plans for making some small sized ones involves collecting vintage glass globes which I find really cheap on my thrifting adventures. Next spend the day filling them with a mixture of cement and peat moss. The peat moss keeps them light. I want to have my yard littered with them!

How to images from http://littlevintagecottage.blogspot.com

Plastic topiary balls

I visited my local Homegoods recently and I kept finding myself walking past the floral section. Flower wreaths, the moss but then the fake plastic plants made me stop in my tracks. Hmmm, ok, I hate the idea of fake plants but man did I miss seeing green. I thought of the planters by my front door and how I was tired of starring at dead mums. 

The balls also have little lights inside them too, I think I'm liking them….  

Steel House

Loving these rustic modern home numbers and mailboxes. Check out more at Etsy shop Steel House.

Outside & inside - Plus giveaway winner

As you can see by the image I posted yesterday, the outside of my home has come a long way! It looked more like a jungle than a front yard. Thought I'd post these images to enjoy the summer a bit longer, leaves are already falling down and it's getting a bit chillier.

Now on to the inside. Ok, we finally found the right man to install our custom stove, but we have to wait until 24th to finally see it in. Can't wait to test this sucker out!

So how did we get this 1000lb stove in the house? Well after taking off the door and inner bricks we were able to roll it inside using a piece of plywood with wheels we got from Ikea (knew those wheels would come in handy one day.) So it's been sitting there taunting me, it won't be that much longer now. No more chilly nights when this thing gets burning.

Giveaway time.
Ok, and the winner of my fabric is.......

Marja van de Nes! Send me a message with your contact info

Outdoors

I love spring and summer! Now that the weather has been nicer I have ditched my computer to be outside. I've been planting hostas here and there, and I'm working on a slate walkway on the side of the house. I want to show you more photo's, but nothing really looks that great yet. Thats the problem with plants, it take a few years for things to start looking great.

Off to get my hands dirty, have a good weekend!

Car Port

Not sure what the architect who built my home was thinking when he designed a carport for a home in NH. I can understand carports for homes out west, but in cold NH?

Back in 2009 we had an Avante garage door installed. I'm so glad I went with it, yes it was a bit more expensive than a traditional door, but this house isn't traditional.

The back of the garage has a doorway to the patio, but there is no door. We always wanted to do it outselves, but 3 years came and went and we never did anything. We really didn't know where to start, so we called in the professionals.

We got a local company to build a frame and install a simple flat door. I asked for a little window above the door to match the other doors in the house. Once the weather gets warmer I'm going to paint the frame gray and spray paint the door yellow to match the front door.

Walkway revisited

Back in 2010 my husband and I got working on a new walkway to replace the flagstone path in the front yard. At first I didn't really know what I wanted, but eventually we settled on really big concrete circles. They were a lot of work, but in the end it was worth it. Every time anyone comes to my door, I get so many compliments!

How did we make them? Well that is a good question. First we dug out the area a good 6"-8" deep. Then we shoveled and packed-in crushed stone, about 4" worth, on average. At first we were clueless on how to make the circle molds for the cement, but then we discovered Wacky Wood at a specialty wood mill. It's a plywood product that bends easily without breaking. So we cut a bunch of strips of Wacky Wood, laid them down and held the shape with stakes on the ground and screwed everything together. We then added rebar reinforcement inside the molds to prevent cracking and breaking problems. The bulk of the cost was hiring a company to pour the cement and finish the top surface of the circles with an anti-slip texture. We initially wanted to do it ourselves, but sometimes it's worth hiring the experts.



End result, a very unique walkway. We really love it and hope you'll be inspired by it.

Mushroom picking

I was in my back woods trying to pick up sticks and rake up some leaves from the Irene aftermath when I saw them, everywhere! These are pictures of some of them.

Around this time of year when I was little I used to go mushroom picking with my grandmother. It was so much fun! Some she would slice up and dry and others she would pickle whole. I would never eat them at that age, I was always kind of grossed out by eating mushrooms from the woods. I'm sure I had unknowingly eaten dried chopped mushrooms in sauces and soups but the pickled ones looked slimy and I always made sure to stay clear of those


There are lots of identification books out there and If you really want to get into this many areas offer mushroom foraging walks. I remember wanting to go on one in the boston area but the class was full, so start looking now.

Bamboo in cold climates

About 4 years ago when I was in house hunting mode, I came across architect Chaewon Kim that built these two funky homes in Cambridge, MA (pictured above). The houses were amazing, but we weren't to keen on the location. The one thing that amazed me even more was the bamboo plants growing against one of the homes (2:21). I remember the weather being really cold and they they were green and ALIVE! Ever since then I've wanted some bamboo of my own.


Recently on a wim I searched for a bamboo nursery and found a place called Greentop in Rockport, MA. They specialize is all kinds of bamboo plants, planter systems and design & consultation. All I can say is wow, I felt like I was in Disney World! It's by appointment only so please call before you go.

It was literally a maze. Greenhouse after greenhouse after greenhouse filled with plants. They had small running bamboo, enormously tall bamboo, anything you could imagine! All of their plants can handle New England weather apart from a few indoor plants. I bought a 10' tall indoor shade tolerant plant called Bambusa multiplex varigata and I also got a smaller lime green bamboo plant called Pleioblastus viridi-striatus, which I plan on growing outside. After seeing all that they had to offer, I would really like to get some larger outdoor plants, but I still need to come up with a plan. In warmer climates bamboo will grow fast but in a colder climate bamboo grows slower, so that is also something to think about when buying.

If you live nearby you should check this place out.

Landscape project

For the past few weeks I've been cutting down small trees, branches, grass clippings and I've been throwing them into a small ditch that was at the end of my driveway. Then I ordered 200 cubic yards of soil from a local construction company and had that dumped on top. My husband and I raked out that mound and now it's flat enough to do something fun, but what to do?



I bought a bunch of random bushes and plopped them down and it looked horrible, so I've decided to do a grid with two types of plants, the blue star juniper and the lemon thread false cypress. I really like these bushes but plans may change down the road. In the middle I want to make a house number display either out of wood, cement or maybe even metal. Cement is a pain, but will look so nice. First I'm going to make a dummy out of wood.



These designs below I really love (even though some are really mail boxes).
House number wall by www.atomicindy.com
Diy mailbox designs from http://modfrugal.com
Cement mailbox