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 

East Texas Addition Update Spring 2024

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I meant to write a blog post last week but I left my laptop out in East Texas. I could have pulled out my old Macbook but that would have been way too frustrating to add pictures to the post. I have pictures for this post and I think you need pictures. 

We have made progress with our plans to move to East Texas permanently when Bill retires. We have a tentative date and it will be here before we know it. 

If you have been following, we bought a little house out in East Texas in the fall of 2020. We talked at that time about our "five year plan". If we liked the area, we hoped to make it our new home. 

From a relational standpoint we are well settled and have made friends and have found a church home. 

The house, however, is a little small for all our stuff. We will be downsizing some of our possessions but I would like to be able to fit all our pretty and sentimental things. 

We spent a great deal of time last summer chatting about what to do. We had some friends from a company called The Plan Factory come out to dream with us about how to add on to this house. They took our ideas and made them better. 

We picked up the final plans in April so we have been busy in recent weeks meeting with contractors in order to get started. 

There were a couple of things that we needed to do. When I say we. I mean, Bill for the most part. 

We painted the front porch ceiling and posts. I love the fresh clean look of the posts. 

The screen porch in E.T. has been a cat lock so to speak. It is a place where we can come and go and there is less chance of Caroline escaping. At both houses, she hears the click of the lock and she comes running. She's escaped here a couple of times and each time I freak out. With workman coming and going we needed a safe place for her to hang out so Bill enclosed part of the front porch with screening. We can lock her out on it and we also have a bug free place to hang out while construction is going on in the back yard. I can keep my pretty porch decorations for the duration of the construction. This is temporary until we are finished. We are enjoying a new point of view, however. 

We are doing four things to the house. We are enclosing the back porch and carport to add more dining and living space. 

Last summer's unbearable taught me that I need spaces that I can use all year. Two seasons will not cut it. We are building a new back porch which we will screen. It will also have three screened sides and the ceiling will be insulated so that it isn't an oven in July and August. 

We are building a small addition which will give us more closet space, a bigger bathroom and a bigger laundry. 

We are creating a small library nook in our bedroom by taking out a closet and a shower. 

Here is an inspiration picture. This was designed by an architect friend of my cousin. 

Ours won't be this big  and we won't have this many book shelves, 

That gets you up to speed on what we are doing. 

Here is a look at what we are doing to get ready. 

First, we needed to get the propane company move the propane tank. 

That was easily done! 

 I wasn't here when they moved it. When I did arrive I didn't even notice it. It is way more noticeable in the photos. It looks like a giant blimp. 

While I was away, they also decided that a tree needed to be cut down. 

I wasn't happy about losing any tree, but no matter which way we went with the addition, we were losing a tree. I had hoped this one could be saved, however. 

I will have a nice new flower bed. The roots of the tree prevented anything but baby oaks from growing. 

Next, we had to move the shed that was next to the carport in order to get the renovation started. Bill wanted to tear it down three years ago but we needed it to lock up tools. We used it a ton during our first stage of redecoration. 

For about a year, we have asked shed movers and several other contractors if they could move it for us. 

They all said, "no". I can get a brand new shed moved here in a heart beat but no one wants to move an old shed. They would tear it down for me but we still need it for storage until I get a "she shed." 

Our neighbor and his tractor came to the rescue.  We are so thankful for his help. 

Here is a photo of the carport with the shed gone and the shed in its new spot. 

I have to cross quick sand in order to get to it and it needs some cosmetic work but it will do.

Bill needed to remove the old screen from the back porch so they can chip away some and level the concrete. It slopes away from the house to drain water. 

He has also started taking down the ceiling of the carport to see the structure. He thinks it looks fine but our framer will come out and have a look. 

They have also removed the guttering and set it aside so that it can be reinstalled after we get a new roof.  

That is about it for now. 

The plumber comes soon to do the rough in plumbing. Once that happens, it will be time for concrete. 

That is it for now. I hope I wasn't all over the place with this. Thanks for stopping by to see how we turn our weekender into our full time home. 

Heres a peek at our neighbor's free range piggies. 

Let's hope they don't get picked up by a herd of ferrel hogs. 

See you soon! 

(I hope.)

Katie