Just got this baby from a nice fella in Palmdale who had it listed on craigslist.
This’ll come in handy for many a home project down the road, but presently we’ll be using it for all of the table lamps that’ll be populating Little Orchard Home (our shop!) in July.
Here’s a lil’ peak at two of the lovelies that’ll be in our shop, Little Orchard Home, launching in July…
Left: Coffee Sack Throw Pillow. 100% jute burlap post-marketplace coffee sack upcycled into a throw pillow and trimmed in hemp braid and hemp cord. Triple washed, lined in cotton, and filled with duck feathers.
Right: Vintage Barkcloth Throw Pillow. Vintage barkcloth that once dressed the windows of a mid century home in the Hollywood Hills, crafted into a throw pillow for your warm modern home. Duck feather fill.
Stay tuned for more barkcloth beauties, reclaimed wood table lamps, and pendant lights.
… our 2 year wedding anniversary! We will celebrate with roller coasters early in the week. The next free day will not be for such merrymaking, however. It’s for haulin’ some concrete. Yeah. I can’t wait?
Remember The Mold House? (Quick background – it was a room slapped on the back of the detached garage that the previous owners had their children living in. It was full of toxic mold, and we tore that thing down).
Remember all of the wood that we pulled out of it?
Watch the last of it burn. Die, Mold House.
We rented the jackhammer in the morn and got right down to work.
Here’s the offending stem wall.
It will offend no more.
It fought back, lemme tell ya. The drill bit got caught in some hard clay and it took about 45 minutes to free it. Mentally, Armand was breaking down. He had a laugh that was equal parts mania, murder, and defeat. In the end he won, but was his soul scarred in the battle? Only time will tell.
We also encountered large chunks of redwood embedded in the ground just below the surface. Those would have to come out before tilling.
The color was amazing.
And now we wait. The next day that the both of us have free, we’ll rent the stake truck and take the last (for now) concrete load to the recycling center. Then we’ll be able to till.
Tomorrow we get the jackhammer and bust out the last of the stem wall under The Mold House. After that, it’s a matter of waiting for an appointment-free weekday for the both of us. Then we can haul out the rest of the concrete, finish digging the drainage ditch, lay the drainage pipe, and get to making this yard beautiful. Oh, how long it’s been!
We began our work last June, so this makes it a solid year of demolition. I am beyond ready for some beautification. Seriously.
Meanwhile, sun tea is steeping.
From the Waterbury Republican-American -
WATERBURY — Ms. Mary “Lucy” (Russo) Roke, 80, of 17 Manchester Ave., died, June 3, 2010, at Waterbury Hospital surrounded by her loving family. She was the widow of Francis Roke Sr.
Lucy was born in Waterbury on June 30, 1929, daughter of the late Phillip and Josephine (Pezzella) Russo. She was a graduate of Wilby High School. She worked for Worth’s Department Store for 36 years in sales and for the City of Waterbury for the past 19 years.
Lucy collected for the Sunshine Fund, enjoyed cooking for her family, crafting and crocheting, and was a big contributor to the Prayer Shawl Ministry at Basilica of the Immaculate Conception Church. She was an avid N.Y. Giants and N.Y. Yankees fan.
Lucy is survived by a son, Francis Roke Jr. and his wife, Linda, of Georgetown, Texas; a daughter, Diane Tansley and her husband, Robert, of Waterbury; five grandchildren, Michelle Tuite, Erik Roke, Jarrett Roke, Brooke Tansley and Scott Tansley; and three great-grandchildren.
We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon.
This is a bit of a milestone for The LOH – our 100th post!
Here’s what we’re looking at now:
Here’s the extremely general and basic idea for the front:
Pardon the funhouse-y perspective, lack of second floor windows and pergola over the front door, and the out of proportion shakes. Among many other things.
This gets us two parking spots – one all the way down the drive and one in front of the house. The constant switcheroo of tandem parking gets old. This is what we have now:
My car is in front of the truck.
Function comes first, then we’ll make it beautiful. With this new space plan, we’ll be able to fit in two more cars tandem-style when we’ve got company.
Back in the earliest days of this blog I tossed around some ideas, turning this…
…into this:
Well, after getting a couple of quotes from stucco companies we found out that it’s a $20,000 job. Gulp. Also, the sandblasting to take off the old stuff would devastate the landscape – ours and our neighbors. Time for a new plan.
Fiber cement siding is a siding product made of Portland cement, ground sand, fibers and other additives. It is an installed siding, as opposed to an applied siding like stucco. It’s a green alternative due to its durability and is designed for easy installation by diy-ers.
Here’s the one that I love:
It’s Cedar Impressions made by Certainteed.
I’ll post our new idea for the front of our house later – it’s a biggie!
I carted this clunker across the nation when Armand and I drove 3000 miles on our move out west. I haven’t used it in 5 years.
It didn’t arrive in one piece, but it was nothing that a screw couldn’t fix (hey now, mind on sewing).
So how rusty am I?
Well, practice makes perfect, but not bad for after a 6 year hiatus.
Armand and I are waiting for a day off for the both of us to lay the drainage pipe so that we can till, but I’m going to get started on the dressings for the straw bales. Summer is here, and I’d like folks to be more comfortable in their shorts.
Also, I’ve found a source for vintage designer drapery fabrics from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, so I’ll be busy whipping up some goodies for your happy nest feathering. Shop opens in July :)
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