And Then There Was A Mudroom

When we bought our house, the back porch was this concrete slab with a wooden railing. Here, our home inspector is standing on it.

We didn't initially expect it, but the back door became our main entrance to the house. The door enters into the kitchen, which means that dirty feet and coats had no place to live and I began to dream of a mudroom.

I mentioned this idea to Uncle Leonard, home renovator extraordinaire, about a year ago. He called in July and said "I'm thinking about coming up to work on the mudroom for Alex's birthday." Who was I to refuse help to make a renovation dream come true?

So it was that in the hottest month of the summer, mere days before a Japanese exchange student arrived, that Alex and Leonard put up some walls. "How many windows do you want?" Len wanted to know. "A wall of them?" I answered and the next day they were installed. Sometimes even I am amazed at how our crazy life rolls along.

Our exchange student Yukari arrived in time to see the roof installed, one day before a big birthday gathering for Alex. She took the noise and construction dust in stride and even climbed up to the roof, seen in the picture above at right.

Finally in early August, the mudroom got a door, another window and a third side. It was a real room, the first wood-framed structure Alex had a hand in building. And that's when construction halted. The mudroom was functional so we started filling it with 'stuff' - shoes and boots, coats, seeds, harvested vegetables and more. I dried herbs and peppers on the windows.

The remaining finish work inside will happen....someday... I envision drywall behind the coats and on the roof, an updated light fixture, and bead board below the windows. We'll build or buy shelves for storage along the window wall.

In the meantime, we love having an overhang when we're unlocking the door. Now that it's cooler, we can use the mudroom as semi-cellar storage. The room also creates a valuable air pocket that makes our home more energy efficient.

Thanks, Uncle Len a.k.a. Krash, for jumpstarting the mudroom!

Bathroom Update {Before & After}

Two weekends ago, I decided to tackle a long overdue bullet point on the 'house to-do' list: the first floor bathroom. This teeny tiny bathroom was decorated by the former owners with butterscotch textured paint and big black shelves. The dark colors made the loo seem even smaller than it was. The toilet paper holder had only one attachment point and was forever falling out of the drywall.

Oh, and Lil discovered she could use her fingernails to 'draw' on the textured walls.

Over three days, I repainted in light beige, replaced the toilet paper and towel holder, and switched out the light-sucking shelves with a simple etagere. The paint was left over from another room in the house. The accessories cost a total of $60.

Ah. Much better. Why did it take me four years to update this bathroom?

PS. Lots of great events are coming up - Holiday Food Gifts on Sunday at Franklin Park, Will Allen next weekend, Tomato Preserving Tuesday the 19th. Reserve your space soon!

The Affair is Over - What Now?

The house we were pining over has another lover. In other words, it is in contract, but not with us. Garlic sprouts are peeking out of the soil here at home and there is new growth on our many perennial plants. The yard is more attractive than it was a month ago and part of me wants to stay here to reap the harvest from our fruit trees.

Alas, we still don't have room for bees, grain fields, rabbits, or the orchard of our dreams. When the dogs bark at each person that passes by our busy sidewalk, I want to pack up and move somewhere more secluded.

There is also the consideration of Lil's schooling. We are 90% sure that we will homeschool next year but did enter the lottery for the school a block away. If, for some unforeseen reason, we need to enroll her in public school and she manages to be selected for the lottery school, it would be awfully convenient to live here.

Briefly last week we considered a rebound deal, a bigger old home on a quarter acre in an up and coming area of Columbus. Again, someone else signed a contract before we could fit in a showing.

We're unsure what our next steps will be in the home search journey. What do you think?

Cheating

The time is right for starting seeds, drawing up garden plot plans, and making tree orders. Like any obsessed gardener, I lay awake at night imaging the beauty that will bloom in the spring and lavish us with fruitful production through the summer. Except I feel like I am cheating a lover.

I am not planning for my garden, the one I can view out the back window from my house in Clintonville. I have barely any seeds started for the earth I worked and richened for the last three years.

No, I am mentally arranging a would-be garden, one that would cover vast swaths of the four acres around a house we looked at this autumn, a house still on the market.

I am imagining a pumpkin patch, a bigger chicken coop alongside bee hives in an orchard, community garden plots, and a sugarbush. Alex is considering meat goats and rabbits. Lil wants a cat. We are having a family affair with another home.

Last fall when we saw the house, twice, we decided to stay where we are through the holidays and reconsider in spring. It is now almost spring and we still see more opportunity than risk in this 'other house'.

The list is posted on the fridge of all the small things we need to update on our current home. Super De-Clutter Woman is attacking all areas of the house. By the time the grass is green again we will be ready to list and buy and sell.

There are so many things that need to fall in place that our dream of a bigger homestead remains a crap shoot. What if there is a negotiating impasse? What if the potential house has structural issues we didn't see on the first visits? What if we move in June or July, too late to plant at the new place but too early to harvest at the old?

I don't care much about the what ifs. I am willing to put in the tiring work to stage and pack, tolerate last-minute showings, and risk having no garden at all this year. I am madly in love.