great things start with a solid foundation

This past weekend we broke ground on my crafty shop, "bootsy star". We have been having perfectly lovely weather, and it kept up for us, so, yeah! On Friday we headed down to The Rebuilding Center to look for supplies. My goal is to repurpose as many materials as possible. I'd like to say that it's because I'm very green, and that is true! But it's more that I really like the look of old things better than new...not to mention they are most often better made. Anyway, so at The Rebuilding Center we found a lot of wood that would work perfect for not only my foundation, but the walls. We picked it all up for  just $150 bucks. Time to get to work! Saturday we (ok, pretty much James) put together the frame for the foundation.

wait- before we start...is my ear protection on correctly?

here is the wood....and penny

time to get started

but first penny wanted to inspect the wood...she had a few things to say

the foundation frame was put together on friday

now up on the cement block post things

Our plan for Sunday was to get the frame up onto the foundation, install the installation and then put in the subfloor. That was a lot...but we did it! We headed to Home Depot to get more materials. We ended up spending about $350 on the subfloor, insulation, deck nails, bolts and the cement blocks.

lets start by making sure this thing is level

doesn't this look tilted? it's level, really

time to bolt the frame to the blocks

insulation is in place

installing the subfloor

attaching the subfloor to the frame

ahhhhhh the foundation and floor are done

this is the view straight up from the floor of the shop

 It was a lot of work! By 6:15 on Sunday night James was sore and tired! I'm thrilled that we got a great start on my crafty shop. I'm already picking out paint colors and storage ideas for the inside. So excited!

make way for bootsy star

Finally! Finally, after six years of wishing we are starting the work of building my crafty shop 'bootsy star'. Hurray!

I looked at a lot of different plans, and when it came down to it, picked a basic cape cod version. I want a shop that is a rectangle shape and can accommodate the cool windows we picked up years ago. (more on those later).

Here is the sketch:

I bought the plans for $16.95 from the website www.icreatables.com. They have a really big selection to choose from.

I plan to put in a sliding barn door rather than a regular door, and it won't have to opening doors on the side; that is where the aforementioned windows will be. 

Here is the first step.... choosing the space on the property and staking it off. I'm so excited to get my crafty shop going! I've got some great ideas swirling in my head and I can't wait for my own work shop to get crafty in!

Penny is either helping or about to get brained

Penny is really not helping 

I'm not sure what Hunter is doing in the background over there?

Can you tell where it will be? Nestled in some trees

Add caption

View from the front of the shop

View from the side 

Of note, this is our 2009 Christmas tree. Cool, huh?

View from behind. I will be able to keep an eye on the ladies

The plan is to actually 'break ground' on bootsy star this Friday. I've already been looking at interior paint colors and shelving ideas, so team Wilson really needs to get a move on! 

spring weather and yard work

Saturday brought us some perfect spring weather so we decided to spend the day outside doing some yard work. We have many trees that need to be cleared away. We had the chainsaw and tractor going from 9am-4pm! We were so tired at the end of it but loved getting that done. I think it was really good for my spirit to spend the day out in the sun, doing some physical labor. 

and here we go- these trees are all coming down

James vs tree clump

this bird was hunting some unlucky being in the gully behind our property

the sun started peaking out at about 9am

cherry blossoms at last

the girls came out to play

and so did penny

post chainsaw....and now the clean up

during our lunch break I baked a cherry pie

I really did help with the clearing, I swear

we put all the debris on the property border as a sort of fence/compost pile

yeah, progress!

trees cut down and mostly cleared away. now you can see all wallless library!

yesterdays eggs- only Clementine didn't lay

Hunter on the look out for lions

and now we have a place for knick knacks!

I felt like the bathroom needed a shelf but I couldn't decide exactly what I wanted. I found a handmade shelf at a antique store for $2.00. I painted it the same gray that I used for the tub and the wall pipe. It turned out like this:

a disaster, and not even a beautiful one

After rethinking the fancy I decided to go for something basic and found one that matches the frame for the newspaper. 

classic!

But, needs a little something....don't you think?

ah, that's better!

Ah, that's better. A few pieces of my milk glass collection and of course I put a (vintage) bird on it!

bathroom cabinet plans

James will start building the bathroom cabinet any minute now! Some of the styles I like look like this:

mirror(s) mirror(s) on the wall

I hung these mirrors in the bathroom today. I've been sidelined with a back injury so have not been able to do the painting I had planned. bummer!

The wall that these mirrors is on will be home to the ladder type towel rack James is building for me.It will look something like this:

I found this here

I'm going to paint mine white....

It will fit perfectly between the wall and the tub- especially since it will be custom made!

ah, there is Penny, our photobombing dog!

pretty pen cup

I decided to take a break from bathroom painting and whip up a quick pen cup. Th is is about the easiest and cheapest craft out there. Take a clean glass bottle (this one had cherries in it) and some paint (this paint is leftover from the chicken coop)

see how Penny is always photo bombing me?

Pour a bit of paint in the jar and swirl it around to cover the sides. Hang it upside down to dry. I used a clamp and then hung up up over some grass, since paint will drip out. When it's dry you've got  your color on the inside of your vase/pen cup/whatever holder.

How cute and easy is this?

touch ups in the bathroom

This morning I decided to complete the touch up painting in the bathroom that I've been meaning to get to for about 11 months. Poor James. This is how he spent is 7am on Saturday:

James in the tub!

whenever I see this paint I think of that song "divine thing" P.S. this is a Portland company. Shop local!

note the dots. It's a a style (design?) element I have throughout the room

bathroom curtain

Since we don't have any neighbors, I'm not very concerned about window coverings. In fact, I'm not into them. I wanna see the great outdoors. Especially when I'm taking a bubble bath! That aside, I felt it was time to put up a simple curtain (we have not simple ceiling and crown molding, so I didn't want the entire room complicated).
I chose muslin fabric because it's super thin and lets the light in. I wanted to have dots, to follow the style element of dots we sorta have going. I could not find any fabric that fit my needs so I decided to paint the curtain myself.
Lotta Jansdotter has a cool book of stencils that I used. It's a quick and easy process:

Lotta Jansdotter Stencil book

fabric paint- I mixed black and white for the perfect shade

stenciling happening atop the ironing board

and here it is!

I'm happy with how it turned out and how simple it was to do. Ok, what's next.....

its time to organize!

I am attempting to organize and downsize. I have a tiny house and its too cram packed with s.t.u.f.f. Take my bedside table, for example. See how  much stuff was stacked on a tiny table? (not pictured are the lamp and alarm clock)

so: 9 magazines, 6 books, 1 nook, a card from james, 2 book marks, a watch, some lip balm, and 33 pony tail holders. whew

I don't think anyone needs the sheer volume of reading material that I had going on there. And t.h.e.r.e were all the hair ties I couldn't find! Feels good to get this stuff put away! Now, on to the closet.....