Our Dream Greenhouse Build

Hi Friends!

How are you? It's been a while since I have popped on here. We have been busy with an exciting project and I want to share it with you.

The front yard on the north side was so ugly and the grass was non existent. As soon as we closed on the house, I began to brainstorm about giving it some curb appeal. Below is a before picture of the North West corner of the yard. The only thing in the photo is the little well house. Anything else visible through the trees is at the neighbor's house. 

 Early in the spring of our first year, Bill built four raised beds. This area gets the best sun on the property. 

Additionally, we had a deer blind left in the back yard. It got a white shabby makeover and we dragged it around the the front yard and placed it in a corner. It reminded me of the Mr. McGregor's garden shed in Peter Rabbit. Bill would be happy if it disappeared, but I love it and I thought it added an anchor to the yard.

The well house got another new coat of paint. 

I just knew a pretty greenhouse would finish off this part of the yard. Two years ago, we had so much going on with our addition to the main house that the greenhouse took a backseat to everything else. 

In late February, we staked out a 16 x 10 foundation. 

Bill dug the footings, laid the rebar and in March we poured the foundation.  

   I had hoped to help with every step of this process and I did help with the rebar and concrete but it wasn't fun. I must have complained too much because by the time it came to set the haydite blocks, I'd been fired. 

                We hired a wonderful young man from church to help us. My role in all of this was providing lunch and treats. 

Bill followed the Fibonacci Sequence and the golden rule of building as he created this plan. It was a step by step process rather than a master plan at the onset. We did a lot of design consultations along the way. The partial wall and the pitch of the roof were two of these design consultations. 

Once the rafters were installed it was easy to envision the finished product. We were about a month into the build at this point. 

Painting each piece before it was installed was so much easier than doing it afterward. 

I was the primary painter.

He began sheathing the lower portion of the walls. 

We intended to use some antique windows that we bought a few years ago. They were in the way when we worked on the main house so I set them by the curb. A lady snatched them up within an hour. She had some windows on her greenhouse that needed to be replaced. Perfect! 

Rather than antique, Bill wanted to build the windows so that they would be uniform and easier to install. I love that they mirror what is on the main house and they should be maintenance free for years to come. 

There are ten windows that open for ventilation. The rest of the openings and the roof are ribbed polycarbonate sheets. We were a little over two months into the build at this point. 

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It took some special primer to stop the bleed through on the wall panels. 

The floor is brick look concrete pavers and rocks. 

It was time to work on the gable ends. We found a darling stained glass window for the east gable end that faces the house. I wanted to be able to see it from the house rather than from the street. 

The street end got a window of seeded glass. Unfortunately, we couldn't find two matching stained glass windows. 

Bill created the gable vents. 

We found a baker's rack on Facebook marketplace for $40.00. Once the west gable end was finished, we were able to put it in the greenhouse. Initially, when we went to see it in person, it looked huge but it's actually a perfect size for the proportions of the greenhouse. 

The sidelights and door were the final step in the build. 

This is beyond my anything my dreams could have imagined. It adds the focal point to the front yard that this house needed. 

This will be a working greenhouse but it's too hot for anything right now. I don't over winter a ton of plants but there will plenty of room for those that make the cut. We do need to plan heating before winter gets here.

 I'll also start a few seedlings early for next spring. 

Here are some interior photos and a photo dump. 

It took 14 weeks from start to finish. 

I'm so proud Bill. He and our helper did such a great job. 

This is a definite labor of love from my husband and he's added tons of skills to his word working abilities. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

I appreciate all the support that I've received over the years. 

I hope to blog again soon. I think it's time to ditch posting to Instagram because no one ever sees it and Pinterest is just filled with Ai images. 

I long for old school photos of real homes. 

That's all for now, 

Katie 

Round Up Of My Favorite Fall Projects

Hello! How are you? 

Over the course of 14 years of blogging, I still get inspired to create every autumn. I've been searching Pinterest and YouTube for fall crafting ideas. I realized that I have done some fun fall DIYs over the years and that it would be fun to share them with you. 

Let's look back on some of my favorite autumnal ideas.

Some of these, I still have and use. Others items didn't make the move with us. 

This year is the first year that I decorated the country house with all of the fall decor that has been consolidated from both houses. 

I still have the ticking stripe pumpkin that I made one year. The real pumpkin stem and vintage ticking is why this little pumpkin is a keeper. Ticking stripe is classic even though the colors aren't super autumnal. 

I adore the little concrete squirrel. It is one of the first things to get pulled out each fall and it remains one of my favorite little pieces. 

One of little ears has a chip after years of irresponsible packing but that doesn't take away from his charm. 

This is how I styled the pumpkin this year. 

The squirrel planter was thrifted and he is a cutie! 

One year there was a plethora of buffalo checked pumpkins painted out of Dollar Tree finds. 

This was a ton of fun to do but it didn't last as a decor element for me. For a while all the black and white checked items came out to the new house but eventually, I purged them from my collection. 

The pumpkin in the image above, had the orange bleed through. That was disappointing considering the work involved in painting buffalo check. This year I recreated the look using scrapbook paper. 

The new checked pumpkins go with the valance in our laundry room. 

I also made this pumpkin pie. 

I don't have it anymore because it was a full sized pie. It was too big of an element for styling. I prefer the mini pies now. 

I made this adorable Apple Pie a few years ago. This started my love for faux mini pies. I still have it and I'll pull it out in a week or so. 

The crust is made out of air dry clay. The apple chunks inside are styrofoam. They were both painted to look like they are supposed to. Now, I make my crust out of natural canvas duck cloth and then there is no painting required to get it the correct color. 

This Honey Pie is my latest creation. 

It is my favorite pie so far. 

I created some scarecrows in the summer of 2021. Life was still weird at that point and creating was such a means of escape for me. I made one for our city house and one for the country house. The both escaped the purge when we moved. Since my rooms aren't open too much to one another, one is in the den and the other in the living room. 

This one ended up being a favorite so he's taken a place of prominence. 

My favorite creations usually birth out of me during fall and Christmas. It is the coziest time of year and perfect for crafting. 

This year, I went on a faux bread making binge. 

Mother Thyme inspired these creations. I also watched Sweet Home Living With Tracy Cambell. 

When they say it will expand, believe it. I overfilled and then had to cut some away with the bread knife. Then some of them shrunk a little. I don't care, they are adorable. 

That is about it for now. 

Is anyone still reading blogs? I assume you are if you have made it this far. 

I looked at Liz Marie after a long while and I noticed that she hasn't done a blog post since the spring. 

For all I know, she could have switched to different platform for writing. 

I'm so glad I didn't leave Blogger. It has served me well. 

I hope to see you again soon.

Katie