How to Reuse Old Lime Mortar On Your Stone Foundation
If you have a historic stone foundation that needs repointing, you’ve probably already figured out that you’ve drawn the short straw and have to chip out the old lime mortar from the foundation to repoint with fresh lime mortar. If you’re wondering how to reuse that old lime mortar to make new lime mortar, or even if you can and should, you’ve come to the right place. I have some recent experience with that. Someone has to be the test subject. Might as well be me. Important consideration for reusing old lime mortar: Old lime mortar can only be reused as sand. Over time, lime mortar essentially turns into limestone,…
Under-A-Table Trash Cabinet – One Year Later
I love pretty pictures as much as the next person, but one of my favorite things about DIY and makeovers is learning how they hold up over time. A little more than a year ago, we built an under-a-table trash cabinet. Today, I’m updating you on how this area of our home has held up to heavy, daily use. Would that be considered literal trash talk? We needed a place to hide our trash and recycling. That’s how this project started. We have a galley-style kitchen and, storage-wise, it’s small. Only one wall has any cabinets or countertops, and that’s where the sink, dishwasher, and range are located. The opposite…
Happy List: #441
Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. What a joy to see you here. This week on the blog, I shared the next installment of our Reconstructing a Fieldstone Wall series. I also shared all the ways I’ve been customizing visors or hats. Want to take bets on how long it will be before I have to update that post because I’ve come up with more creations? Housekeeping Note: Handy Husband is building us a new website. (Yes, he’s wildly talented.) He’s been working on it at night for months now. If all goes well, we are hoping to switch from this layout to the new one later this summer.…
DIY Custom Visors: 4 Ways to Decorate a Plain Visor
Got a plain visor or hat? Not for long, you won’t. Today, we’re going to discuss 4 ways to customize a visor or a hat. In a land of hats and visors, I’m a visor-wearing gal. If we’re talking fun things to do, I love to customize a visor to give it a little pizazz. It’s pretty much the greatest compliment to have someone ask, “Where did you get that visor?” and I can say, “I made it!” These decorating and customizing ideas are visor-centric, but can easily be transferred to hats as well, especially if you have a sewing machine. Please note: I did not use a sewing machine to…
Reconstructing a Fieldstone Wall: Part 3, Sloped Section
It’s time for part 3 of our rockin’ Reconstructing a Fieldstone Wall series. Today, we’re talking about the part of the fieldstone wall that is now sloped. It’s a small section, only about 3 feet long, but it caused us more headaches than that time we accidentally purchased decaf coffee and didn’t realize it. This sloped wall was like the tiny pebble in your shoe. How something so small can cause so much grief is beyond me. Good thing I have a blog to tell you all about it! So, let’s get into it with a quick recap to get you up to speed. The plan for the sloped section…
Happy List: #440
Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m delighted you are here. This week on the blog, I shared some Handy Husband-approved gifts for Father’s Day. Depending on when you read this, there are at least two things on the list that you can gift right up until the last minute. We also celebrated our seventh anniversary. That would be our house anniversary, not our wedding anniversary. We passed that milestone decades ago. Anyway, if you’re new here, the before photos in that blog post might surprise you. What I hope doesn’t surprise you is that the Happy List is designed to be happy, curious, and light. It’s my antidote…
Colonial Farmhouse 7 Year Anniversary
Seven years, folks! We are celebrating seven years of living in and loving this money pit Colonial Farmhouse we call home. Not going to lie, though. After we dealt with squirrels – there’s never just one – in the attic this winter, I did wonder for half a second if we really love it here, or if it’s Stockholm Syndrome? Can that happen with a house? Maybe it’s best if we leave that one unanswered, and we’ll take a trip down memory lane instead. Here’s our Colonial Farmhouse, the first time I went to look at it. Imagine our real estate agent standing next to me, cringing a little while…
Last Minute Father’s Day Gift Ideas – No Clothes On This List
Father’s Day is less than a week away. If you need a last-minute Father’s Day gift for the dad or father figures in your life, I’ve got you covered. These are Handy Husband-approved items, so that means there are no clothes on this list. No neckties. No BBQ grilling items. No golf-related items. What’s left that a dad could want? I’m so glad you asked. Check these out… Rechargeable Jumper Cables | Walmart / Amazon These rechargeable jumper cables that allow you to jump your car battery without needing another car have 127,000 reviews! We’ve owned these jumper cables for two years and have used them recently (yikes!) to get…
Happy List: #439
Hello, hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. It brightens my day to see you here. This week on the blog, I shared how I upcycled tissue box cardboard. I hope that blog post inspired you to not necessarily make what I make, but to think twice about the items you might usually recycle. However, if you do make something, I’d love to see what it is. I also shared the demo we did on our stone walls out front. Even the newly constructed wall had to be taken down 16 inches or so to adjust to our new plan for the shape of the wall. You can read about…
Reconstructing a Fieldstone Wall: Part 2, Demo
Welcome back to our Reconstructing a Fieldstone Wall series. Today, we’re talking about the fieldstone wall demo. Unfortunately, we have to take the wall apart before any reconstruction can happen. I’m using the word reconstruct instead of rebuild intentionally, as we are not starting this wall from scratch. We are using the existing wall footings, the original stone, and a historically comparable lime mortar to bring this fieldstone wall back to life. It’s a small nuance in terminology, but one that I think is important in the realm of historic restoration and preservation. That doesn’t mean we won’t make some design tweaks in the service of putting our stamp on…
