Four years ago today...

 ...I wrote my very first blog post. 

Four years. 

How did that happen?!!

I want to take this day to thank each and every one of you for being here to share our journey with us.
I am profoundly grateful for your interest and support in our house and our lives.  I am especially grateful to those of you who take the time to leave comments for us- you have absolutely no idea how much your comments motivate me!

Four years ago I could never have imagined that I would come to know so many like-minded "house people" from across the globe.  The world feels that much smaller because we all share the same
 love of home.   

Dan and I greatly appreciate the house-love you give to us. 
Thank you so much.

~~~~~~

At four years, this feels like the right time to take a short intermission and unplug for a while.  I have more to say and more to share, so I promise to be back soon...
but, until then I will leave you with these fall "around" the house photographs!

 

That is our house in the middle of this photograph!

xxojoan



this and that, and OH- we found my GATE!!!

So...yesterday we had a large fertilizer spreader delivered to the house.  Since we moved in we've been paying a lot of money each year to have the property fertilized and treated by a small local company.  When Dan realized that the cost of the spreader could be paid for in what we normally pay for just two of the five yearly applications, he bit the bullet and bought a spreader for Big Blue.  (For the husbands, whom I am told read the blog ;),  it is a Land Pride FSP700.  It is a 563-lb. capacity broadcast spreader that runs off of the PTO from Big Blue.)

We purchased the spreader from the same local company where we bought Big Blue.  The nice salesman delivered the spreader in his company pick-up truck on a pallet.  As he and Dan were unloading the spreader he showed Dan this huge wasp nest...  

Just that very morning as he was driving along it fell into his truck!   Dan asked what he was going to do with it and he shrugged, not knowing.  Sweet-husband Dan told him that I collect nests and the man then kindly handed this gem to Dan for me!   I came home from a walk with Ella to find this on the dining room table!   Upon close inspection it had a couple of "live" occupants, so it is outside until I am sure they are gone.  This is the first one I own that is completely intact, so I am thrilled!  You might recall me coveting this one from last year here.

And, speaking of going on walks with Ella...  this is not her pumpkin costume for Halloween (I do not condone dressing up dogs ;)  though I do call her "Pum-kin" when she's wearing it , and it is not Ella dressed as a "school crossing guard" which is what Dan thinks she looks like, but is instead how she is attired for safety on our walks in the fall.  We are surrounded by trails and turkeys and hunters with bows and guns, and since we walk often in the woods it is always good to be safe.  To watch her run at full speed is like watching a pumpkin being shot from a cannon!

I just ordered, and received, some additional note cards from the very talented Patricia of pve designs.  I love having personal "house" stationery and if you would like your own house as art I highly recommend contacting Patricia!

And last, but not least.... we found the gate for the vegetable garden!  While out antiquing two days ago we ran across a fabulous table that would be perfect as a work table in the loft.  I was a few steps ahead of Dan and at the very second he was saying... "Now, if we could just find your gate," my eyes landed on a gate and I gasped!  It was tucked into a booth and after pulling it out I realized that it was the exact "vision" of what I had initially wanted- it was tall (64") and had an arched top.  It was priced a little over budget at $275, so we made an offer of $200 and the dealer countered with $225, which we accepted.  After further examination we came to the conclusion that my "gate" wasn't a gate at all- instead was an antique iron window frame that had been cut out of it's original iron frame work.  Since we love to repurpose things this only made it more perfect!   Luckily we live down the street from a man who does welding and he'll be able to attach the iron hardware so it can be used as a gate;  and let me just say- if you don't have a welder down the street I suggest you put your house on the market immediately and move a street where you have one!!! :)  I had no idea how much we would use a welder and it is so nice to have him close by!

Have a fun Friday.... Ella is!

(photo taken yesterday as it is raining and foggy and fabulous today!)

Fall from the inside out

Fall is here in New Hampshire!  The maples that line the drive are turning yellow to orange, and we still have a lot of green on the trees.  I thought it would be a fun perspective to show you what fall looks like from inside the farmhouse and from the vantage of the porches out.  It's the time of year when you walk by a window and casually look out and literally gasp as the color is so brilliant and beautiful!

This is fall at the farmhouse...

from the master bedroom upstairs porch-

 from the upstairs south guest bedroom. 

the spot of bright green on the tree in the right pane above the old limb cut is a little fern that comes back every year.  it is so sweet to see the fern growing so high up in the tree.

from the master bath:

from the upstairs porch towards a neighboring hillside:

from the front porch steps looking straight out,  across our neighbor's property to the hill beyond:

from the front porch looking up:

from the front porch to the west. 

you can see we still have a lot of green leaves on the trees:

from the front porch to the adirondacks:

from the living room. 

I love how the fence looks through the antique wavy glass of the original windows:

from the entry through the front door. 

it was extremely windy when I was taking this photograph and I love how the leaves are captured mid-air blowing across the gravel drive! :

from the reading room

again, you can see the wavy glass in the top panes:

from the master bedroom looking south:

and, from the master bedroom looking east:

pumpkins around the house

happy weekend!

birthday presents

As I've mentioned before Dan and I were married on my birthday in July.  Early on he started the tradition where he "made" my birthday presents.  While thinking about writing about this year's present I realized I never showed you last year's...  

stones under the back porch!

The granite support pillars were already existing, but it was just open space between them.  When we purchased the house there were old huge Montauk daisies (3-feet tall by 4-feet wide huge!) in front of the porch which hid the open/ugly crawl space.  I transplanted the daisies to a garden along the front drive last year.   I felt the house needed the weight of stones under the two-story porch for scale, not to mention I thought it would be a beautiful addition and finishing detail to the house as a whole.  The original vision is to have grass up to the stones.  We have had to leave this area for last as it served as access for trucks to unload materials when we were renovating the barn.  This spring and summer other projects have taken priority and we are just now working to start to lay sod in this area (you'll see a tiny bit of some in the last photo).  This area is a very symbolic project for us as it means we are finishing up the house renovation and don't need the area for work trucks!

Isn't it beautiful?!  Dan did a wonderful job dry-stacking the stones (which are all from our property by the way.)

For the side of the porch we used pieces of antique hand-cut granite foundation that were removed from the barn during renovation.   These two pieces were originally one huge stone that had to be divided in two to make them maneuverable to work into the tight space.   It was an exciting day the day we realized that this last large piece of stone would just fit under this side of the porch.

But...
before we can lay sod this year's birthday present needs to be completed. 

A small herb/vegetable garden!  

Granite edging will define the space as demo'd in this photo,  and will be slightly raised to keep the gravel that will surround the raised beds in and the perimeter grass out!  There will be a black picket fence to enclose the area that will sit on top of the granite edging.  The garden will be accessed through an antique iron gate - more on that in a moment.

This year's birthday present begins with the scraping/leveling of the area.

My wood director's chair;)

The gravel you see under the kitchen windows is a french drain that we had put in our first summer in the house.  I painted all the basement (cellar) windows gray to blend into their surrounding granite.  Painting them white, as is often done, would highlight them and draw your eye.  I wanted your eye to go to the house, not to the basement windows!

Thick weed blocker is a great base for the gravel.

Boards for the raised beds being measured out.

It's a small area, but (hopefully;) the perfect size for the two of us.  It is also easily accessed from the kitchen mud room which is the black door up the granite steps.

Here is where we are at today! 

The first load of gravel has been laid.  (Dan drove Big Blue to the quarry which about 20 minutes by tractor;) from the house!)  Old whiskey barrel rings hold down some weed block to keep the weeds from growing (I had a nice crop of them growing before I devised this method;)

Before Dan can build the picket fence I need to find my gate.  I want an antique iron gate.  I think the iron is a needed element with all the wood on the back of the house and it will give the little garden importance.  The problem is I can't find one!  I've been looking since last summer and haven't found "the one" yet.  So, if you live in New England or just beyond ( New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, eastern New York) would you do me a  big favor and if you happen to be out and about and see an antique iron garden gate will you send me a picture with info?!!!  We love a good road trip, so we'll drive for a gate!! 



The photo below shows an antique iron antique garden gate that I found that I think would be almost perfect- it is a little wide for the space (42-inches) and  is  $425.... not in my budget.  I don't want to spend more than $200.  I love the arch top to this gate... sigh. 

I'm looking for an antique iron gate that ideally measures between 36-38 inches width and 36-50ish inches height with a price tag max of $200!   So, if you can help a girl out I would really appreciate it! :)  xx

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