Building Fieldstone Stairs: Part 2
Welcome back! We are building fieldstone stairs. This is a DIY project we’ve never attempted before and may never attempt again. We have just enough confidence, competence, and delusions to approach new projects with an “everything is figure-out-able” attitude. Today I’m going to overshare our process for building fieldstone stairs. Please note when I say fieldstone I mean actual stone taken out of the ground (my backyard) and used in its natural form. This is not stone purchased on a pallet from the stone quarry that has even, predictable dimensions. That would make this project infinitely easier – a concept with which we are wholly unfamiliar. Let’s get into the…
Building Fieldstone Stairs: Part 1
My friends, it is time for our next project, building fieldstone stairs! Have we done this before? Nope. Is that going to get in the way of a good time? Maybe. This project needs a little context, so let’s step on up and get to it. Where will we be building fieldstone stairs? Outside, of course. There is a set of wood stairs in our backyard (4 steps) that we walk down to get to the first floor of the Carriage House. The stairs are set in the middle of a loosely stacked fieldstone wall and below a slightly out-of-level flagstone. Why we are replacing the old steps? For kicks.…
Happy List: #397
Hi! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am so glad you are here. This week on the blog I shared the reveal of our Carriage House gym. Someone commented that they admired our tenacity in tackling this project. I love that word – tenacity. What a fantastic compliment. Speaking of persistence, we also celebrated our six year house anniversary! Six years of loving and working on this old house of ours! Time has flown by. I hope this Happy List leaves you feeling inspired and encouraged! In addition, I absolutely welcome the opportunity to connect with you and hear what you are doing and how you’re feeling. That’s a…
Colonial Farmhouse Six Year Anniversary
Time flies when you’re restoring, renovating, and generally making a home! We have been the stewards of this colonial farmhouse for 6 years now. The anniversary was actually in June, but I was ankle deep in mortar dust with the Carriage House renovation. Besides, it’s really a blip, as is our ownership, in the grand scheme of this old gal’s 250(ish) year history. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I enjoy poetry. It is so relatable because it often captures what we are feeling but don’t know how to express with our own words. There’s a poem called Old Houses by Robert Cording. It…
Stone Carriage House Gym: Part 10, Reveal For Now
It’s the big TADA or, as most refer to it, Reveal Day for our stone Carriage House gym! We have been working on this phase of the Carriage House gym expansion for four months! I have documented almost fifty individual work sessions on social media. Truthfully, it was more than that, but I spared you a bit of the tedium. I have no good or bad value to place on the amount of time this project has taken. It is what it is when you’re DIYing your way through your evenings and weekends. I can’t tell you what tv series is good to watch, but I can tell you my…
Happy List: #396
Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am so glad you are here. This week I shared an update on the ceiling of the Carriage House. I might have a reveal post for you soon! Then I shared pictures of how I’m using the vintage bottles we dug out of our backyard this spring. I had so much fun enjoying my house and delighting in these simple pleasures. I hope this Happy List leaves you feeling inspired and encouraged! In addition, I absolutely welcome the opportunity to connect with you and hear what you are doing and how you’re feeling. That’s a little bit selfish of me as I…
Vintage Bottle Bud Vases
A couple of months ago we dug up some vintage bottles from our backyard. Some folks have a garden in their backyard and dig up things like potatoes. We dig up vintage bottles. Perhaps we could trade? Anyway, it’s not that unusual to dig up “garbage” in the backyard of a really old home that existed before a person driving a big truck collected your bins of trash every Friday at 4 a.m. You can complain about a lot of things in modern society, but waste disposal ordinances seem like a good thing to me. The vintage bottles we found were in surprisingly good shape for having been buried for…
Stone Carriage House Gym: Part 9, The Ceiling
We’ve discussed floors, walls, and now it’s time to discuss the Carriage House gym ceiling. You wouldn’t think a ceiling would be very interesting, but the Carriage House has a gorgeous ceiling. Trust me when I say, when you are laying on your back staring straight up while trying to bench press your body weight and the only thing you have to distract you from the strain of your questionable choices is the ceiling above you, you’ll be glad you took the time to make it look gorgeous. When I say gorgeous, I mean that in a rustic sort of way that’s appropriate for this building’s age and style. We’re…
4th of July 2025 Break
Hi, Folks! This week I’m taking a blog break for the 4th of July holiday here in the U.S. We have some fun activities planned. We have some projects to start and maybe finish. Basically, the usual! However, we might get a little wild and not set our alarms in the morning. I’ll probably still wake up at the same time anyway because my brain is fun like that. If you’d like something to read this week, please try one of these goodies from the archives. For your architectural interest: In Praise of the Mansard Roof You might have seen these if you visited Paris or the New England area.…
Happy List: #395
Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. It feels so good to have you here! This week on the ol’ blog I discussed our favorite new meal – savory s’mores. You must try this at least once this summer or fall. It’s one of those simple pleasures you can delight in. I also shared that we installed another time capsule on our property. This one is in the Carriage House. I have SO MUCH FUN with this sort of thing. I’d also like to remind those of you that live in new houses that your house will be old someday. That’s how time works. So, feel free to leave notes…
