Curved Fieldstone Wall: Part 5, Porch Wall
We’ve been working on rebuilding a curved fieldstone wall in front of our house. Part of that wall connects to our front porch, and a little oopsie occurred to the porch wall while doing demo. We didn’t intend to touch the porch while doing this curved fieldstone wall project. We know when our plates are full. Unfortunately for us, the unintended consequence of jackhammering three inches away from the porch was that the vibrations traveled, and we cracked a section of the skim coat covering the porch foundation. That was fine. We could probably fix it. Then, much to our horror, the cracked portion of skim coat FELL OFF the…
Happy List: #402
Hello! We’re closing out August on today’s Happy List. This season has felt like it has flown by for us. How about you? This week on the blog was all about the stone wall we are building. I hope you aren’t sick of it yet because this is our life now, and I write about what’s happening in our lives. On Monday, I shared the progress we made on the first section of wall. On Wednesday, I shared the incomplete reveal of that wall. I only say incomplete because the area is surrounded by stone debris as we continue to work on the next wall section. As always, thank you…
Curved Fieldstone Wall: Part 4, REVEAL Section 1
It’s reveal day for section 1 of our curved fieldstone wall! Can I get a WOO to the HOO? I know some of you made a woohoo sound in your head, so thank you for that! We are fortunate to live on a property that is framed by low fieldstone walls. 250 years ago, our property was much larger than it is now and would have been farmed. We assume the stone walls or fences were built as a practical way of dealing with all of the stones that were pulled out of the soil to make it arable. Fast forward to the present, and there are multiple sections of…
Curved Fieldstone Wall: Part 3, Progress Section 1
Progress feels good, and we have made significant progress on building Section One of our curved fieldstone wall. If you missed Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, those are a rockin’ good time. Here’s the section of wall that we are rebuilding. With all of the rocks out, that area looked kind of weird. Scratch that. There was no “kind of.” It looked flat out weird. Best we get to remedying that. I started by repointing a section of the front porch foundation that we exposed during the wall demolition. Not only does this foundation need repointing with lime mortar, but this way I’ll be able to secure…
Happy List: #401
Hello, hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am absolutely delighted to see you here. This week on the blog I shared the second installment in our fieldstone wall series. How many installments will there be? I have no idea. I wish I could tell you though because that would mean we were close to being done. Ha! I also shared some of my favorite fall crafts. I know, I know. It’s August. But the early bird gets the pumpkin spice. As always, thank you for being here. I hope the Happy List is a bright spot in your day and leaves you feeling inspired and encouraged! Part of…
13 DIY Fall Decor Ideas to Make When You’re Feeling Crafty
Most of us get the itch – the crafty one – and need to create something, anything! Today I’m rounding up 13 DIY fall decor ideas to make when you’re in the mood to be crafty. I’m sharing these now because I know as soon as Starbucks releases their pumpkin spice latte later this month some of you will ditch summer faster than a child’s ice cream cone melts on a swelteringly hot day. (P.S. Never order a little kid a cone. Always a dish of ice cream. Always. Thank me later.) These 13 DIY fall decor ideas are not listed in any particular order. I wouldn’t be able to…
Curved Fieldstone Wall: Part 2, Demo Section 1
In case you missed Part 1, we are building a curved fieldstone wall. Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say we are rebuilding a curved fieldstone wall. Today’s post is all about demoing the first section we are rebuilding. This section of wall connects to the front porch and serves as a retaining wall for a flowerbed. Demo is supposed to be the easy part of any project, right? Hahahahahaha. Easy might not apply to concrete. Or maybe easy just doesn’t apply to anything we do. Once again, the hammer drill with a chisel attachment was our MVP for taking down a stone wall, but we did use a hammer…
Happy List: #400
Welcome to the 400th edition of the Happy List! Should we celebrate with cake? Perhaps cake is not needed when you’re surrounded by sweet friends who stop by weekly to check in and read the Happy List. Thank you for being here and for giving me a reason to keep compiling the list for 400 weeks. Something that didn’t take me quite 400 weeks to install, but close to it, was curtains in the Carriage House. I shared pictures of those on the blog this week. Also, and this is big, I shared the new project we are starting on. We haven’t tackled anything that really affects curb appeal in over…
Curved Fieldstone Wall: Part 1, The Plan
Drumroll, please! Our next masonry project will be to rebuild a curved fieldstone wall in our front yard. Who’s excited for this one? *raises my own hand* I am excited for this project mainly because this fieldstone wall has become a major curb appeal issue, and not in a good way. Remember the children’s rhyme about Humpty Dumpty? Now imagine Humpty Dumpty sitting on the wall, and the reason he fell off was because the wall collapsed under him. That’s the sketchy situation with the wall in front of our house. Most of it is a low, curved fieldstone wall that is only a couple of feet high. There is,…
Carriage House Curtains For a Long Narrow Space
I recently added new curtains in our Carriage House to break up the long narrow space, and I’m going to have to file this under “things I should have done a long time ago.” Talk about a change for the better! Our Carriage House is roughly 9-feet wide by 30-feet long. Have you ever decorated a tunnel? That’s the situation with our Carriage House, and we have to fit a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and an office into the space. I have received many well-meaning suggestions to add wallpaper or wainscoting to this space to give the walls interest. However, because it is such a long space, those options will cost…
