Wednesday, April 28, 2021

A Week In East Texas

Hi, Friends,
How are you? I hope you are well. 
Bill took some vacation time last week so we went out to East Texas. 
We got a few things crossed off of our "to do" list. 
Let's have a look shall we? 
While Bill went to buy the mower, I sewed up some new curtains for the kitchen. 
Some store bought curtains from Walmart were able to tide me over until I had time to make something a little more custom. 


The light green gingham has a fresh, springy feel and the vintage lace cafe´ curtains are just too sweet. 
They give the kitchen window a charming and old fashioned look. 


  Bill purchased the mower but we needed to wait for its delivery so the mowing wasn't going to get done early in the week. There was still yard work to be done, however. 
Bill began burning the brush pile. It took about a day and half to get it all burned. 
There are still plenty of dead tree limbs to pull out of the woods but since everything is leafed out, we can't really see them. Woodland clean up may be able to wait until fall. 
Since the front bed is taken care of, I planted a few more flowers in the back. I have an overall picture of how I want the yard to look but I tackle it one bed at a time. 
Some overgrown and too shady daylilies were moved to sunnier locales. I doubt they will bloom this year but hopefully we will have flowers by next year.   
We have a few things coming up in the new raised beds. 


Piecing some quilt squares was a goal for the week when the weather outside wasn't conducive to clean up. 


Red calicos have been hanging out in the craft closet for about a year. 
I have to be in the correct frame of mind to quilt. 
All the reds were assembled and a pattern began to emerge. 


In between stoking the fire he resumed demo on the quonset hut. Getting the shower out was a huge milestone and Tuesday morning we got it and some sheet rock to the dump.  



Improving the curb appeal of this property has been the focus the last several weeks. When we drove up to the house after the dump, I was ready to paint the quonset hut. The cabin was painted in March. The last of the tan had to go. 


This structure was rented for $500 a month. 
The taller portion that we call the cabin is fine. The quonset was a mess. Leaks and mold were plentiful. 
These types of structures are used for vehicles. They were not designed for humans. The insulation was too close to the metal roof which caused issues.  


As Bill got further into the demo and with the price of lumber, he realized that rebuilding this for guests isn't feasible right now. He is going to convert it to his shop and use it for storage. 
Initially he thought about moving the quonset off to another spot on the property but he decided to leave it in place which meant I could finally paint it.  This seemed like it was going to be an odious task but it really wasn't that bad. I did the sides. Bill did the top. 
We were done with the first coat in a couple of hours. 


No more tan!


Bill braved the carpenter bees and primed the trim and eaves on the cabin. 


I was of no help with this. It was too high for me so I painted the front door a sweet cherry red.  
The color is called Sun Dried Tomato also by Sherwin Williams. 


The mower arrived on Thursday. 
We took turns mowing like a civilized couple. 


It was a lot of fun. 


There was some assorted scraggly trees and weeds growing around the base of the trees.  We cleaned all that up. We cut down a few small trees that had sprung up in weird spots. 


We need to repair some grass but it looks so much better. 

On one of the cooler afternoons, I was able to piece the quilt squares. 


I'll show it to you once the quilt top is finished. I hope to get back to it next week. 

Bill snuck away to pick up my anniversary present. 


Stock tank pool number two is ready for water! We need some warmer weather first though. 


We still need to prime and paint the porch eaves. 
This Friday, the propane company is coming out to move the propane tank. 
The exterminator is coming to treat the cutter ants. 
Things are really shaping up. 
My brother is coming today. We will hang out and go antiquing.
 Bill will continue demo on the quonset hut. Once that is done, we can move the lumber and I can begin painting the interior of the cabin. 
I've started to get the beginnings of a vision for this space. 

 
It feels like we hit several milestones this week. 
The cabin is coming along and the front curb appeal is so much better. 



That is all for now. 


Katie 



5 comments :

  1. What a nice piece of property. I can't wait to see how it progresses.

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  2. It looks so nice. I love the red door!

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  3. You have done mammoth work in the week. It looks fabulous!

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  4. Katie,
    everything looks nice!! I too love the red door!! Thanks so much for stopping by!! Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

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  5. It all looks so nice!
    Love the green gingham curtains and lace in the kitchen!
    sounds like lots of fun for your both in East Texas.

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