53 Gordon - Kitchen/Living Room/Family Room Remodel

Remodel project from winter of 2014-2015-

My husband is responsible for all the hard work! 

Here we go...

The Living Room as you entered the house when we bought it.

The Living Room Now

View of Living Room from the stairs going upstairs: Notice the wall on the left - that was the wall dividing the living room from the kitchen 

Same view, be slightly further to the left and you can see the old entrance way into the kitchen and the funny island that was there. There was about a foot between the edge of the island and the sliding door. 

Not shown in all the pictures - the fan over the island.

The room now with the wall gone.

This shot shows how the living room, kitchen and dining room once were and you can barely see the edge of the half wall with dowels on the right - the shot is taken from the front door. The half wall with dowels separated the entrance from the living room.

The front door - you can see the half wall and dowels barely here on the left side of picture.

At the bottom right,  you see a touch of dark brown - that is the stairs leading to the hallway and bedrooms upstairs.

And now...the half wall is gone.

You can see the front door here and the stairs leading to the hallway and bedrooms.

To the right of those stairs are a set of stairs going down to family room.

Dining room before...

Friends fought over who could have these drapes and light fixture.

Note the nice wallpaper border...it was in all the rooms.

The dining room now.

Trim was added to the window where there was none before.

Table and chairs were purchased on Craig's List and redone. There are two leaves for the table and more chairs.

Kitchen before -

This is the view as you entered the kitchen. 

The sliding patio door is on the left -

The kitchen now...

New sliding glass door.

Door leads out to a deck and the grass yard.

Buffet came from a consignment store, and window was a gift from a friend.

Using two of the dining room chairs in the living room.

This side of the island are two sink cupboards I found at a warehouse for $50. The other side of the island is the old island. We put them together with a fair bit of space left in between and then put a siding over the sides. We used corbels to allow for an overhang - though they are mostly decorative. The marble slab is my favorite thing of all.  The island is nearly six feet square.

Couch purchased on Craigslist, as was the coffee table.

Added molding to this window too and replaced the baseboard  - went with something much wider.

We found a new front door on Craigslist but haven't installed it yet. It has windows!

 Family room  before - you can see the dining area and kitchen.

Sliding door on left goes out to flagstone patio.

And now...

Family room before.

How did I not get a photo of the TWO fans in this room?

The ceiling isn't that high and they were dangerous!

The family room now -

This picture doesn't do it justice - the photo is over exposed, but gives you the idea.

TV console from Craigslist - the rest of the furniture in this room we had.

This photo is too dark, but the light coming in from the patio prevented a good photo.

The photo is taken from the door coming in from the garage.

The wood floors are bamboo - same as the floors in the living room level.

More to come as we move to the laundry room and bathrooms...

I imagine we will put those on hold until next winter.

End of July 2014

Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho,

It's off to work I go...

One day, when I retire, I think the thing I will enjoy so much is being able to putter in my garden in August and into the fall.

Each year I return to work the end of July, just as the garden is becoming full and beautiful. Then it becomes a weekend, even every other weekend, treat for me. I will certainly miss my morning coffee sitting amidst the flowers. Sigh...

It's kind of funny - (maybe sad?) that I'm probably the only one who enjoys this. The UPS man, the refridgerator repair man, family...they all arrive and head into the house and miss the garden altogether. Because we fenced it off from deer, you actually have to enter into the garden through the arbor, and most folks just don't.
This photo is taken from the far side looking toward the arbor and the path to the house.
Almost no one sees this - except for you and me.
It's my own little paradise.

It simply amazes me what can happen in 60 days...
Check out the photos below from early June.

This wagon was a Mother's Day present.
It looks big here, but is really just two feet wide
and four feet long.
Love it!

We've had such weird weather this summer. Windy and dry in June, and now wet - very wet at the end of July.
The tiny Aspen saplings are coming up everywhere - and I love that! These went from just a few inches high to 3 and 4 feet. Maybe some of them will survive the deer munching!
We haven't had the deer out front in droves either...hmmm.

The walkway we added in the spring to extend
the walkway to where folks park.

Another shot of the Aspen saplings in the foreground
next to the pump.
IF they make it here, that would be awesome
 next to the front door!

The deer have left these plants alone outside of the garden. Most of it is Siberian Cat Mint and yarrow (which hasn't bloomed yet) and they don't like that. However, come fall, if they are hungry - they'll eat it too. Hard to tell in the picture but the Siberian Cat Mint is more than waist high.

With the recent deluge of rain, I've had to stake the delphinium as they are so tall, the rain weighs them down and I come out in the morning and they are laying on the ground.

Delphinium

Siberian Cat Mint

Black Eyed Susan

Cashmere Sage

Veronica and Daisy

Cashmere Sage, Catmint and Lilies getting ready to bloom.

The Coneflower is blooming.

Coneflower

Hadley's Patch - the sign is lost in the growth.
It shifted from featuring blue and yellow Columbine,Poppies, and Lupine to a host of Delphinium.
The Phlox will follow.
The Hops vine is over the top of the arbor.

Hadley's Patch.
The Columbine is in front, though not blooming.
I've left it to go to seed, as I did the Poppies, so I can gather the seed and hopefully spread them.

Hard to tell here, but the Delphinium is so tall, it reaches all the way up into the Aspen tree (not blooming yet) - I'm six feet tall and it's way over my head.

Blue Flax.
One of my all time favorites.
It's hard to get a true blue flower.
I put seed everywhere and was very disappointed to not see it everywhere!
I'm hoping maybe it takes a couple of years before it blooms?
I'm determined though, and will get more seed again this fall and keep trying. I would like to have it all over the hillside.
It blooms forever. It's been blooming since early June.

Clematis almost 6 feet tall, but hasn't bloomed yet.

The Autumn Joy should be beautiful come September/October.

I started with one of these plants - I think it is Helitrope. It smells wonderful! I left it last year and it went to seed - the wind blew - it is everywhere in the garden this year.
I pulled up a bunch, and still it is coming up everywhere.
Sitting in the garden - it smells SO good!

The Cranesbill is almost 4 feet high!

My favorite flower of all - the Delphinium.
I was worried I lost them all when the voles ate them to the ground. Fortunately, they came back after we got rid of the voles.

The Helitrope that came up everywhere!

There are enough flowers blooming that I can have cut flowers in the house!


Going back a few months...

Early in the summer I was challenged with moles and voles.
The moles were active in the fall and the spring digging up earth and creating a mess. I thought I had taken care of the problem and then all of sudden my Delphinium and any other plant that had leaves was disappearing one by one. I would go out and find the stalk and leaves sticking out of the rock wall.
Back to the internet...it was Voles. So, we set out some rat traps and proceeded to kill 15 or more. Some large, some small. They resemble field mice, but were devastating to the flowers. Unfortunately, we also caught one bird and one snake.

In the beginning, I was really intimidated by these traps and needed Jim to set and empty them. Over time, no big deal and I was doing it myself.

Jim, armed and ready for battle with the Voles.

Success! Keep in mind - these aren't mice traps -
they are rat traps.

The garden beds in June. You can see off to the left that the plants have been eaten to the ground. I was so upset!

All through June and early July we had a huge bed of Columbine. They are gorgeous!

Poppies. What's not to love about them?
Loved their orange next to the purple/white of the Columbine.
I left their pod on and am waiting for it to dry to collect the seed. However, the daily rains are making me wonder if I'll be able to do this. When I checked today, the pods were soggy!

Hadley's bed - full of Columbine, Poppies
and Bleeding Heart.

Another variety of Columbine.

Columbine
Who knew they spread so easily?

Lupine!
I lost one this year, but the other three came back.
I love them!

I'm not sure just why puttering in the garden gives me so much pleasure, but it does.

At 9,200 feet it is a short season but I revel in the time I have.

Each year, the garden looks different. One year, one plant will thrive and another takes a break. The Obedient plant disappeared this year. The Iris didn't bloom. The Peony didn't bloom.

What causes this? I don't know. I feel like a by-stander who's job is to do the best I can to care for these plants and then wait to be surprised by what happens.

It's been a strange year. Colder than normal, with high winds that really almost spoiled June. End of July we are now getting hard, long rains daily where we were praying for a few drops in June.

I've never seen so many Aspen shoots coming up - does that mean the adult trees are dying so they are sending up shoots? I'm hoping these daily rains mean these Aspen shoots have a chance of becoming mature trees.

Every year it's different, but I do know that I love the green and lush that come from the rains. It's been five years since we've had this kind of moisture and I am glad for the earth.