July 2011

East Side

       It has been a very long time since I have updated my blog.  A few folks from the class reunion asked if I would add some new pictures-so I thought that I would take the opportunity today to do so :-)!  The inside of the house is almost finished, we only have painting of the moulding and doors to complete and install and Alan is building some shelves on both sides of our fireplace.  A few odds and ends and that should be it!  I will post some inside pictures when we are finished (or at least close to being finished)!  Is anyone ever really finished?
     In this picture you are looking at the East side of the house!  Alan needs to finish the elephant ear on the right side and you can see that he has some trim work to take care of around the siding.  It may be hard to see-but the siding above the window on the left side of the pictures has a shingle look to it-we are going to place this same siding on the dormers in the front as well.  As you may know, a lot of old homes had this kind of treatment (of course in wood), so we thought it would add a little character to the house.  If you remember from earlier pictures, there was an airing porch above this window with a door from the bedroom above going out onto the porch.  Although I would have loved to keep this porch-it was a wonderful place for leaking-so we decided not to keep it.  

      

Garage

 This view shows the garage facing towards the south side of the property.  You may be curious as to why we placed such large windows in our garage.  Well...my hope is to use this area (Alan found a clearance countertop at Menard's which is placed below the window) to start plants.  This is an ambitious goal for me as I have not been much of a gardener-but something that I really hope that I can accomplish!  As a kid, we often had a garden or I would go to my Grandma's house and help in the garden and I remember how much better the veggies tasted that came from the garden.  Also, since we don't have so much of a yard to keep up-it will be much more manageable!  In addition, we were able to get these windows on a super deal from a local glass business!  Towards the back you can see our new rain barrel that Alan is very excited about-me too.  Below the window-we planted a couple of raspberry and blueberry plants.  Almost all of the wood used to frame the garage was from the rafters of the old house.  Yay!                                                                                      

     Just another picture of the East side of the house.  We planted a Mountain Ash tree and added some perennials at the base.  Towards the back you can see a basement window-Alan needs to add some trim to that.

East Side

 Obviously this is a picture of the front of the house which faces the North.  We really enjoy sitting out on the front porch-it is nice and cool.  I have scraped and primed all of the wood on the front and the front porch has received it's second coat-I just finished that today.  The rest of the trim on the front needs a second coat of paint as well.  I love the creamy color.  On the second floor you can see the dormer area and this is where the shingle siding will be placed.  We also installed a new screen door in the cranberry color.  The front two large windows will remain-however Alan will be installing sash kits in each of the sections so that we can open the windows-I'm still baffled that not one window in the Dining Room or Living Room was operating.  Strange!  Although you can't see it in this picture, Alan has added an awning window on the West side of the house and will add the other awning window soon.

Perennial Garden

     This is my new perennial garden-located on the south side of the property.  You can see our neighbor's house in the background.  They are terrific neighbors....Robert and Denise :-)!  I have to brag a bit regarding these perennials-several I picked up at Fleet Farm on clearance for a .05/each.  I'm also appreciative of all of the offers for free perennials to add to the yard-and I promise I will ask you for these "freebies".  Thanks!

 From this view you can see a bit closer the front of the house.  The gutter on the house is temporary and will be replaced by a cream color gutter as soon as Alan finishes this side.  On the right side of our house you can see another neighbor's house-Sherry-she has been so inviting as well.  We appreciate her and her family.

Petunias in the window box-original window box minus the broken birds that were attached.

      Here you can see a picture of the garage.  I am so proud of my bricks that I cleaned.  I think that they look terrific!  It is nice that we were able to match the brick.  The mortar is as close as we were able to match it.  We have some lights to install on either side of the garage door.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!  Our goal is to complete the outside and get the grass planted in fall.  Keep your fingers crossed and then it will be time to focus on finishing the inside.  I really love our Little Brick House in Manitowoc-it feels like "home".