Jenna

The Little Birdies In Our Backyard

Published on August 16, 2013November 18, 2014 by Jenna1 Comment

I rarely go in the backyard here at the rental. There’s nothing out there but a hillside of mossy weeds for the dogs to run in and a small grouping of trees. Granted that’s on purpose since we decided not to do anything in the yard because we knew this was a temporary residence and we’d rather spend money on something permanent at the new house.

That being the case, it was unusual for me to venture out into the trees to spread some flower clippings. I like to throw things that will biodegrade out into ‘nature’ rather than in the trash can whenever possible. It’s just one more way to recycle in my mind. As I stepped into the trees I came face to face with a little bird peeking out at me from around the other side of a tree. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera on me to get a shot of him checking me out from around the tree and every time I’ve gone back out in search of him he’s no where to be found. I believe he was a downy woodpecker because he matched the pictures I’ve found online for that species.

There is a bird feeder out back and the trees provide a nice little oasis from the suburban area nearby, so I can understand why birds would want to hang around. I found it quite nice to be still and listen to the wind in the leaves while I waited for Mr. Woodpecker to appear.

It’s been almost two weeks with no sign of him. Although Mr. Woodpecker is apparently camera shy, I did spot this little sparrow. He flitted around from branch to branch and then flew off in search of a less populated hang out.

During another visit to the ‘woods’ I discovered this nest in one of the trees. I was excited to see who might be inhabiting it, but I haven’t heard a peep or seen anyone visit it yet. I guess whoever built it has moved on to a bigger tree.

And every time I venture out into the ‘woods’ my little assistant tags along with this “What the heck are we doing mom?” look. I think she hopes we’re on a quest to find the perfect throwing stick and doesn’t understand why mom seems to keep looking up rather than down. 🙂

A Sweet Freebie!

Published on August 14, 2013August 11, 2013 by JennaLeave a comment

I love browsing the “Free” section of Craigslist because you just never know what you might find – like a hot tub! The other day I spotted an ad for free raspberry plants. I’d been planning to add raspberries to our landscaping and/or garden at the new house and thought even if they weren’t in great shape I just couldn’t beat free, so I called the number.

The lady told me they were growing behind a trailer she was renovating and I could go anytime to take as much or as little as I wanted. She also said that they were producing berries already, they just weren’t turning red. I told her I’d come by the next day to get them. And the next day it rained. All day. I decided to hold off and see if the weather cleared, which it did the following day so off I went, with boots, gloves and shovel in hand.

When I arrived I was shocked to see a thicket of plants along the entire back side of the trailer. They were almost as tall as me and growing like weeds. I picked out the plants with the most berries that were the easiest to get to and started digging. They came up fairly easily, so hopefully I got enough of the roots for them to transplant well. I took about 5-6 plants as that’s all I had containers for at our rental right now and kept a few of the feeder branches that broke off but had small roots. I wish I’d taken a picture of just how full the back of my truck was, but here’s what I ended up with once they were planted!

It’s hard to tell from this angle, but the tub in the back is just as full as the one in the middle. The first tub holds the iris I traded tulip bulbs for in Kodiak and was able to bring with us when we moved this winter. You’ll notice there are also some tall purple flowers in the back of that tub. I collected those from the same place as the raspberry bushes since they were right next to the bushes and would have been demolished in the process of me digging. Hopefully they take and can be transplanted into our yard next season. They seemed to be growing on their own all around the site so I’m thinking they might be a local wildflower. Here’s a closer shot. Anyone know what they are?

The raspberry branches I kept ended up in their own planter. That little bucket was the only thing I had left to plant in! I’m not sure if any of them will take root, but I figured it was worth a shot.

The hubs and I wondered if they might be salmon berry bushes rather than raspberries and set out on an exhaustive Internet search to see if we could confirm that theory. I’ve come to believe they are in fact raspberries based on the leaf shape, but if they develop purple/pink flowers next year they might just prove me wrong. And just to prove that they do in-fact produce fruit, here’s a shot of one of the berries.

I decided to leave everything be for now and let them settle in. If it looks like they take root I might prune them a little in the fall, just before winter to clean them up before the move. If we get into the house before the first frost I’ll get them planted in the ground, but if not they can winter over in these tubs once I wrap them. Either way, I’m now planning for a sweet harvest next summer – provided that the dogs or the moose don’t get to the berries first! LOL

Shut the Front Door! It’s Purple!

Published on August 11, 2013February 6, 2014 by Jenna2 Comments

I don’t remember where I first heard about the trend of painting your home’s front door purple, but the instant I did I was sold. And soon after I started noticing several purple-hued doors around Kodiak. Now that I’m in Anchorage, I’m usually too busy watching the other drivers around me to notice door colors, but I’m sure there are a few out there. Apparently, the trend is spreading because I found several examples on Pinterest!

Our builder’s foreman called the other day saying it was time to pick out our front door, which brought the idea of a purple door back to the forefront. We picked out this door with a craftsman style leaded glass insert, but apparently that one is special order and takes 3 weeks to arrive. Unfortunately, our builder needs to install the door next week, so we told him to get something they had in stock similar to what he’d had in the models we’d seen. This is the style he chose as seen on another of his builds. I tweaked it to be purple in Photoshop, granted not the exact shade I’d choose but close enough for a visual (sorry for the rainy picture, but I didn’t feel like traipsing through the mud to get a closer shot).

I’m not crazy about it, but it is nicer than just a plain door. Unfortunately I then saw this one (also tinged purple via Photoshop) on another of his models and like it better, even though it’s just a different glass insert. I think it fits our ‘craftsman’ style more. I’ve asked him if that style is the same price and if so, can we get that one instead. We’ll see what he says.

Regardless of which style we end up with, I think a purple door will add a nice pop of color to our entry way since the house will be tan with a medium/dark brown roof. I’ve considered adding faux shutters to the windows later on, which I might do in the same color to contrast with the pretty window box planters I’d want to add if I did add shutters. Because one project always leads to another right?!

Now I have to pick just the right shade of purple for said door. I’m feeling a bit like the lady in this ACE commercial who wants a purple, but not a PUR-ple. You know, the perfect color. I’m thinking something deep and rich like an eggplant. Something in this shade would be nice. We picked up a swatch of Behr’s Mata Hari at Home Depot today and really like it.

I’m considering having them paint both the exterior and interior door purple. It might seem a little odd, but it is my favorite color and honestly, having one side purple and the other side white seems just as strange to me, so in a way it makes sense. Maybe only in my head though. What do you think? Should we paint both sides or just the exterior?

Thrift D’ Creations

Published on August 9, 2013 by Jenna2 Comments

Did you know I have an Etsy shop full of hand-made hair accessories, home décor and seasonal items? One of my favorite items to create are customized vinyls like this one I made for my sister with my Silhouette.

Although they can be used on just about any surface, I typically apply them to a platter for display. I’ve also created signage for my photography business Jenna D’ Photography in the same way, which I put on our vehicle windows.

I hadn’t thought to market the ‘monogram’ design as a wedding gift, but I recently received an order for one for just that purpose and think it’s a wonderful idea! It’s certainly a unique gift that the couple will appreciate and only receive ONE of!

I’ll be adding items for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas soon, so be sure to stop by and see if there’s something you’d like to add to your décor or accessory stash. And I’m always open to custom orders, so contact me if you have something in mind!

I’ll Take That As a Yes!

Published on August 7, 2013August 6, 2013 by Jenna2 Comments

In my last post I mentioned that we planned to add a hot tub to the back of the house near the slider in our Master Bedroom. We originally thought we’d purchase a smaller close-out model as our ‘joint’ Christmas present to ourselves, but while browsing Craigslist recently I noticed that they tend to pop up for FREE with only minor issues. Apparently many people get them or inherit them when they move in and don’t want to maintain them, so they want someone to haul it off to make room for other things. Works for us!

We’d called about one advertised as ‘working but has a crack due to water being left in it over the winter and freezing’. Apparently so did a lot of other people and we were too far down the list to end up taking it home. It must have been fate because the other night I spotted another post for a free hot tub that said it ran, had a new pump and heater, but had a small leak. I emailed the contact and asked to come take a look the next afternoon. Luckily, I was the first to do so because the gal said we had first dibs before she responded to other emails.

The hubs went to look at it after work Monday night and made arrangements to come back when the lady’s boyfriend was off work since he owned a nearby equipment rental business and could load the massive 8 PERSON tub on our 4-wheeler trailer with a forklift! So, later that afternoon the hubby went back to their house with our trailer in tow and came home with this.

It’s in desperate need of a good scrubbing, but upon inspection of the inner workings it seems to be in great shape albeit home to many creepy crawlers – who didn’t seem to faze my hubby from inspecting every nook and cranny.

From what my jet engine mechanic husband can tell, it just needs a fitting on this pipe (photo on the left) next to the power box replaced so it looks like its match on the other side (photo on the right), and a new plug.

Hubs estimates the fitting to be under $15 and thinks the plug should run less than $50! There is a hot tub store nearby so we plan to take it by there to confirm the parts needed and order them.

The standard cover was included, although it too needs a good pressure wash. The new heater is still in the box, so we’ll keep it as a spare if everything works fine when we fire it up. It also came with a box full of chemicals to maintain the PH and whatnot. I haven’t checked for expiration dates on any of it but I’m sure there’s enough in there to get us started and figure out what we’d need to have on hand.

I’m sure this will be one of the first items ‘set up’ upon move in, and plan for it to be in use when we do finally have a house warming party! We plan to build a deck off our bedroom to match the builder provided deck off the dining room and have a lower area between them covered with pavers or gravel for additional seating. The hot tub will sit on a paver or concrete pad just to the right of the deck off the bedroom so it’s an easy step down into it rather than having to climb in and out of it on the deck. That plan also eliminates the need for extra support beams and braces when we build the deck, saving money yet again.

Now I’m on the hunt for ideas on how to update the worn exterior paneling on the tub, which I’m thinking can be lightly sanded and restained or painted. I’m sure Pinterest will have a host of ideas for that rather large project! But the elbow grease will be well worth it in the end! And the hubs and I will be singing Phil Vassar’s “Hot Tub” song while enjoying the fruits of our labor! 🙂

Another Step Toward the Finish Line!

Published on August 5, 2013 by JennaLeave a comment

We went to visit the house again this weekend so I could see the placement of the tub in our bathroom and the fireplace. Matt had seen both earlier in the week when he was there, and did bring home pictures, but I needed to see it in person to make sure all was well. When we arrived we saw the plumbing had begun, with most of the major items already being run.

Laundry room plumbing and kitchen pipes with stove ventilation.

Kitchen sink lines and drain. Vents for the laundry and kitchen up through the roof.

Hall bath plumbing.

The Master Bath tub looked good in the corner, so I decided to take a seat and test it out. That’s when I saw this face! I’m pretty sure she was impersonating Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”! Thank goodness that wall will be solid when everything is done! LOL

We also noticed several heat duct openings, which we believe to be the returns, although there were several of them! Including one in each bedroom and the great room.

The fireplace is looking mighty nice and so is my very large studio space. We’ve confirmed it’s just a smidge smaller than our Master! 🙂

Here’s the view of the fireplace from the dining room/kitchen.

While we were there we tested out some furniture arrangements with scrap wood. I think this layout of the chair and couch will work the best as I plan to have a table or dresser behind the couch for storage.

The back of the house is starting to fill with the necessary exhausts for the HVAC and fireplace but there should still be plenty of room for the hot tub we plan to install outside our Master Bedroom!

And just to prove that there are moose in the neighborhood we spotted this cow on the way to the house as she crossed the road because apparently it IS greener on the other side.

I explained to her that while I welcome her in my yard for more photo ops, if I catch her eating my flowers and garden plants we’re gonna have to make some less moose friendly arrangements.

This was the response I got. I don’t think she much cared.

Flooring Update

Published on August 4, 2013 by JennaLeave a comment

Unfortunately, the Traffic Master Allure Ultra flooring I described in this post came in a little more over budget than we were willing to stretch so we decided to keep looking at options. Good thing we did because we soon learned that Traffic Master isn’t the only company with a product toting these features. Apparently Shaw Flooring has a ‘luxury vinyl plank’ that is essentially the same product with the same installation and guarantees, but at a price that comes in right AT our budgeted allowance!

And even better is that the flooring vendor our builder likes to go through carries the product in-stock. Granted he will have to place an order to provide enough material for our whole house, but he said that wouldn’t be a problem with enough advance notice and since we’re still at the framing stage I think we’ve got a little leeway still.

We chose the Northampton Cascade Acadia which has a variety of tones that will play well off our darker cabinets and leather furniture. It’s a little different than the Allure Ultra we picked out, both in color and texture, but I like that it looks more like real wood than the Allure does and less texture means less hiding places for dirt and dust which trigger my allergies.

Of course I had to prove to myself that I wouldn’t change my mind later, so we brought home a few sample planks (thanks to the very nice salesman at the flooring store!) and I laid them on the floor in our living room next to the rug and couch. I also placed the Allure flooring next to it for comparison. A week later, I’m sure I like the Shaw flooring better and I haven’t seen a single sign of the dogs constant scampering across it! Although the pieces have migrated across the floor a few times thanks to furry fliers heading for the door when you say we’re going on a walk or for a ride! LOL

Here’s a closer shot to give a better feel of how it will look installed. The light glare makes it look a little darker than it is in person. The previous picture does a better job of showing the real colors, but I still think it will look great with the rest of our decor. Don’t ya love when you find something you like better than the original item you found that was over budget? I sure do! 🙂

Moving Right Along…

Published on July 31, 2013July 31, 2013 by Jenna1 Comment

We went to visit the house again last weekend to find the roof almost complete! Here’s the latest:

The front porch where I’m want a rocking chair in the corner for savoring our slice of mountain view.
The garage. Tequila is standing in the doorway to the laundry room.

The garage from the laundry room doorway.

The kitchen and great room from just outside the laundry room.

The kitchen, studio and entry way from just outside the laundry room.

The dining room and kitchen from the great room. The laundry room is off to the left.

The entryway and hall bathroom.

My studio is taking shape! EEKK! 🙂

Guest room #1

Guest room #2

The Master Bedroom!

From the rear, garage side. I’m thinking my garden will fit nicely in that area behind the garage there!

The rear, bedroom side. A little extra cleared room as part of the backyard.

And the best part of the site visit was finding this little gem just a few minutes away from our home! SOOO going to be making friends with the owners for access to an AMAZING photo location! I’m already dreaming up cool ideas for family and senior sessions here!

A Master Closet Case

Published on July 29, 2013July 31, 2013 by Jenna2 Comments

As promised, here’s my plans for our Master closet. We decided to forgo having the builder install any shelving in the closets because we didn’t want to have to ‘work around’ the builder basic shelving or worse rip it out to make it functional for us. So without further a’do here’s the grand plan for our closet!

We will each get one side of the closet – of course mine is the bigger side – and my full length jewelry cabinet mirror will hang on the back wall. There is a funny little indent into the closet at the back because of our toilet being in a separate room in our Master Bath which is next door to the closet. At first that made me worry that it would be difficult to design around, but in the end it worked out pretty well for what we needed.

My side will have double bar space, laundry baskets like this, a couple shelves and a tall hanging space. Here’s the drawing of the layout. I still need to measure everything out, but since it’s a simple design I figure we can move things to fit the materials and space.

Matt’s side will be much simpler with just two rods for hanging and a top shelf along the entire space. We don’t really use the shelving in our rental’s closet so we figure we don’t need much in our house.

The funny little pop out wall will hold my high heel shoes with something like this and my boots will sit in a pretty copper boot tray at the bottom of the wall. I plan to add some sort of hanging space for my larger costume jewelry that doesn’t fit well in the mirror cabinet above the shoes.

Then the back wall will hold the mirror cabinet, which we plan to mount in the wall. Based on our preliminary measurements of the framing it should fit between the studs with just a slight shaving of the boards.

The crawlspace access is almost smack dab in the middle of the floor of our closet so we plan to put down an area rug to cover it. I figure you usually come into the closet from the bathroom to get dressed and thus want something soft and warm underfoot while choosing an outfit anyway.

Since it’s a fairly simple layout we should be able to get it set up the first day we’re in the house, especially if we measure and purchase the materials before hand, so they’re ready to be installed. The simple design also means we won’t be spending oodles on some fancy closet kit either! I think that might just be the best part of the whole project!

So that’s the master plan. What do you think?

Potty Pondering…

Published on July 28, 2013February 6, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Now that the house is starting to take shape and I can envision the rooms within the framed walls, I’ve started thinking about details of each space. The one in particular I keep pondering the most is our master bathroom. Although I love the layout of the Master Bathroom, there isn’t much space for storage so I’m trying to incorporate storage into my design. Of course that means I have a host of ideas pinned just waiting to be put into action. Here are a few!

I plan to start with making the vanity super functional by framing in the mirror and adding shelves like this where I can display frequently used items in ‘pretty’ containers.

Inside the vanity there will be lots of organized storage with something like this. Luckily, I spotted bins similar to this at the dollar store the other day so it shouldn’t cost much to create!

Then after we settle in I want to up the ainty with a hidden drawer around the sink bowls out of the false drawer fronts. It’s perfect to hold my makeup and brushes, while the hubby’s side can house his razor and brush along with other daily use items.

I also have plans to add shelves like these above the toilet to store extra towels and toilet paper along with a few decor items just to make it pretty.

Because of the layout in our bathroom there isn’t a good spot for a towel bar within easy reach of the shower. This revelation led me to consider using towel hooks on the tiny sliver of wall next to the shower similar to this instead. I’ve really come to love the idea because I’m constantly trying to get the towels folded and hanging evenly on the double bar we have in the rental right now. Plus using hooks should make the towels dry faster!

The shower will have built in storage with two niche shelves similar to this designed to hold shampoo and other necessities. That means the shower caddy we currently use can go live in the guest bathroom!

And since there really isn’t a logical spot for a towel bar in the guest bathroom layout I’m going to put them behind the door like this. Such an great idea for a small space! I love this idea for hand towels, especially since it goes with my ‘seaside’ decor in the guest bathroom, but I plan to use it on the wall next to the vanity rather than under the window. Definitely better than those ugly towel rings, which I despise.

I also love this idea for both bathrooms! How unique is that! And super simple to change out! Apparently there is a wealth of styles and varieties to choose from, so I’ll have to pick something different for each potty!