House Projects 2022 | Project #1

Each January, Ron and I sit down with pencil and paper and discuss the house projects that we'd like to accomplish in the coming year. We actually list everything that we would like to do in the future (that list is long!) and then choose a top five for the current year. 

This is flexible. If we finish the top five, we can choose something else. If one of the five doesn't happen for some reason or another, we can substitute . . . or just not accomplish it all. Sometimes there may be a bit of time in which we can fit a smaller project so we'll go ahead and do that. Or sometimes our priorities change during the year. The main thing is that we keep moving forward with our vision and keep chipping away at our goals. 


This year, we have two main projects in our top five, and three smaller projects. In this post, I will tell you all about the first project. 


PROJECT #1:
BASEMENT STAIRWELL MAKEOVER

Looking from the dining room, through the basement stairwell, into the kitchen.

Between our dining room and living room, there a dark little space that leads to our basement. I always avoid showing it in photos because it really doesn't connect visually with anything else in our house. It is covered with the same paneling that is in our master bedroom, has the same pressed board ceiling tiles, and the stairs have the same carpet, leading us to believe that those spaces were completed or updated at the same time. 

(To clarify: The master bedroom paneling is now painted, and the room has a new ceiling and hardwood floors. We did that makeover in the winter of 2020. I don't think I ever showed you the full "after," just a few glimpses here and there. Oops.)

We will only be working on the stairway area. The basement itself needs a lot of work, but that will be for another year.

Looking from the kitchen, through the basement stairwell, into the dining room.

Here are our plans to update the basement stairwell:

1) Replace the pressed board tile ceiling with drywall. This is an aesthetic change. Drywall will look so much better. You can get a glimpse of the tile in this photo of our master bedroom before the makeover. 

(Note: Ron and Ryan hung the drywall last week. It is unfinished, but it already looks better!)

2) Paint the walls and trim. The walls will be Antique White (color match of an old Valspar color), the same as all of the other walls in our house. The trim will be the same tan that is in the living room, dining room, and hallway. It is a very slightly lightened color match to Linen White, an Olde Century Color. 

3) Replace the ceiling light. We have a double saddle light from Irvin's Tinware. (We've had this a while, but we think that we purchased it on eBay.)

This is the current light.

4) Remove the carpet. Because this is the same carpet that was in our master bedroom, I did not have high hopes about what was under it. The bedroom had a tile floor under the carpet, so I imagined the same tile or maybe even particle board. Would we have to replace the treads? That would be a big project.

But a few days ago, Ron cut into the carpet on a lower tread and . . . lo and behold . . . the treads are PINE! I am thrilled! We'll have to do some refinishing, but they are certainly usable and I think they will look great. I will probably look for a stair runner because this house often has old people (some of them live here!) and babies and safety is a factor, so I want to soften the edges of wooden treads. 

tile floor that was under the master bedroom carpet

5) Build a half door/baby gate at the top of the stairs. This is also a safety measure. 

When we moved into Pineapple House, we were puzzled by the wooden bar that was across the middle of the doorway. What was its purpose? It couldn't prevent a child from falling down the stairs, nor would it keep a pet upstairs. We eventually came to the conclusion that it was a safety feature for older people. The bar was easily raised and lowered, but it was at a height that would prevent an older person from accidentally falling down the steps when passing through the space. 

Over the years, we have used various approaches to keeping little ones from getting to those stairs. Sometimes, we are in the dining room and we keep an eye out. Sometimes we have slid the piano bench over to the dining room doorway. When Ryan and Sarah became foster parents to Baby K, they bought a baby gate that fits in the doorway, but because Manzy's litter box is in the basement, we have to allow clearance at the bottom. 

When Kati and Andrew have visited and we have had to have the baby gate up for days at a time, Ron has stepped over it 😱 to avoid moving it and putting it back for a quick trip to the basement. Before their Christmas visit, I made him promise me that he would NOT do that! (Wives, are you with me?!) 

We have looked for a baby gate that would be more permanent with a door that an adult can easily open and close, but the need for clearance at the bottom has made that search challenging. Ron has decided that he will build a half door that will meet all of our specific needs for that space. We anticipate old people and babies in our house for years to come, so it's an investment in the future.

See the mysterious bar? What do you think its purpose is?

6) Install a door at the bottom of the stairs. This one is a "maybe." If we use the basement as a bedroom or guest room or even a sitting room/game room with a sleeper sofa, a door would give privacy from the upstairs. So we may install a door (Ron already has one), or we may defer that to another time. 


This stairway update will certainly brighten and freshen this dark little space! The plan this week is to finish the drywall and (hopefully) begin painting. One step at a time . . . 

I will be back soon to tell you about the biggest project that we have planned for this year . . . the one that I am most excited about! 

House Project Goals 2020

I have told you all about our completed kitchen. It was a slow remodel that took a little over three years from start to finish, but we finally checked the last thing off the list.

I gave you a report on how we did with last year's house goals . . . what we accomplished, and what we didn't.

I even told you all about our pesky wall. 

Now it's time for me to share our house goals for 2020: 

CONTINUE LANDSCAPING and BUILD FENCE     

We'll replace (again) the limelight hydrangea in the bed in front of the house, and then we'll move around to the south side of the house, straightening the border, tidying the beds.

We have the materials to begin a fence across the back of our property and we hope to begin soon! We have imagined our backyard as a little oasis to enjoy outside our big picture window. Since last winter, the lot that adjoins ours to the back has been sold and a new house is being built, so we think that the privacy is another incentive to start on that fence! Wasn't it Robert Frost who said, "Good fences make good neighbors?"

GET THAT PESKY WALL RIGHT     

As I told you in this post, we have another plan for that wall in the dining room! When Ron has a break between bigger projects, he will make a frame for the "Peaceable Kingdom" print. We're hoping for success this time, but one never knows!  

PAINT KITCHEN?     
This one is a "maybe."

My long time readers may remember that parts of the kitchen trim have been painted three times already. (Full story ~here~.) You may also remember that I promised Ron that, even if I didn't like it, I would not ask him to paint the kitchen again. (Well, not until it really needed painting . . . but not just because I wanted a color change.)

I am keeping that promise. I will not ask him to paint the kitchen.

But . . . 

(You knew there was a "but," didn't you?) 

But if we had seen a wonderful color at a restaurant in Lancaster . . . and if I had happened to ask the lady in the restaurant what that color was . . . and if she had kindly taken my phone number, done some research, and left a message on my answering machine with that information . . . and if Ron had mentioned that we might paint the kitchen this spring . . .

Well, what would you do? 

REMODEL MASTER BEDROOM
This is our biggest project of the year, and we're smack dab in the middle of it right now!

When we first saw Pineapple House, we knew that this would be our bedroom, even though it is not the biggest bedroom of the four. First of all, it is in a separate wing from the other bedrooms, so it is the most private. It has an adjacent bathroom, as well as a little vestibule into the wing. It is mere steps away from the kitchen and morning coffee. And it has charm with its angled ceilings, tiny windows, and mismatched closet doors! 

This is what we plan to do in the master bedroom:

1) Replace the tile ceiling with wallboard. This is what has prevented us from tackling this room before now. Replacing a ceiling is a big deal. At least, it's a messy deal. However, Ron did not want to paint the room without doing the ceiling at the same time, so we have waited. But now is the time! 

2) Paint the paneling! 🎉This will make a huge difference in this room, making it brighter, fresher, and more cheerful. We are painting it the same color as all of the walls in our house. (It is a color match of an old Valspar color, Antique White.) 

3) Paint the trim. Actually, we'd both like to paint the trim in Behr's Decorator White (the same color that we used in the other bedrooms), keeping the background color palette neutral. But the windows in this room are brown, obviously chosen to coordinate with the paneling, and I am afraid that the brown would stand out like a sore thumb against white trim. (Even if we could paint the vinyl part of the window, there are still the brown grilles between the panes.) Most likely, we will paint the trim Quaker Green (as in the vestibule outside the bedroom), although we have also considered the same tan that is in the living room (based on Linen White, an Olde Century Paint color). 

4) Replace the floor. The room had carpet, and we are not carpet people. I assumed it would be a simple thing to replace it with hardwood. Apparently I was waaaayyy out of the loop as far as flooring choices. Laminate . . . bamboo . . . engineered hardwood . . . solid hardwood (except that it is not simply lumber, but a layer of wood over a wood product) . . . too many choices! And none of them seem like "real" wood to me! Sigh . . .

5) Construct and hang wooden shutters for the three windows.  

Despite the challenging choices in remodeling this room, we are excited about having a bright and pretty bedroom soon! And it must be soon, because our Kati is coming for a visit (and a baby shower!!) in March, and Ron and I need to be out of the guest room and back in the master bedroom before she arrives!

(Nothing like a deadline for motivation.)

Those are the projects that we hope to accomplish here at Pineapple House in 2020. 

Of course, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." (James 5:14)

Updating the Master Bedroom

photo by Bekah

Last week, we painted the master bedroom.

We had done our last update nine years ago, right after our son Ryan got married. Ron had replaced old ugly ceiling tiles with wallboard, we had stripped wallpaper, and bought new bedding. Then we painted the walls a pale taupe, and the trim white.

I liked the look initially, but it wasn't "me." All the other rooms in the farmhouse have off-white walls , and the trim is painted some colonial color. (If you peek at my Pinterest board "I Could Live Here," you'll see the pattern!)

So when we decided to make our bedroom a little more of a retreat, and Ron said that we could paint the room, I knew exactly what I was going to do. We went from tan walls and white trim, to white walls and tan trim. Aren't we just two crazy kids?! 

We used Behr's Swiss Coffee for the walls. For the trim, we also used Behr paint, but had it color matched to duplicate the color we have in the living room, which originally was color matched from an Olde Century Paint color that I think was Linen White. I love this color, a non-yellowish tan which serves as a neutral, but is a definite color. (Did that make sense?)

Of course, undoing the room in order to paint provides the perfect opportunity to make other changes! (Right, ladies?)

Over the years, I have decorated the master bedroom based on what was available or things that were given to me. At one point, my great-aunt had given me an antique wash bowl and pitcher set. It is a fabulous family piece, and includes, not only the wash bowl and pitcher, but the cold water pitcher, soap dish, and chamber pot. It is decorated with yellow and pinkish-purple flowers and has gold accents. The only problem is that I am not drawn to those colors (for my home) and never use them in my decorating. After many years (and dreadful wallpaper chosen to go with the set...but didn't quite), I decided that I would pack away the wash bowl and pitcher and save it for another family member who would one day love it!

This time around, not only am I not going to follow the trend in choosing paint colors, I am not going to decorate around anything that I do not love. 

That doesn't mean that everything in my room is my ideal. I am on the lookout for a bedside table that could also serve as a desk to replace the nightstand. I am also keeping my eyes out for an armoire to replace the large bureau. I think a taller piece would have the same storage but with less width, opening up the space. I'd not say no to an antique chest of drawers to replace the stock one that is there now. No hurry. There is nothing wrong with the pieces I have now (except that my taste has changed), and so I can patiently wait until the right thing (at the right price) comes along, if ever.

But what it does mean, is that any choices I make will be things that I love. No more hanging a picture in my bedroom just because it doesn't go anywhere else. No more lovely white Martha Stewart bedskirt that I bought on clearance but it just isn't me. No more decorating around stuff that is the wrong color or the wrong style or just "meh."

(I feel compelled to add that there is nothing at all wrong with making do. I have done it for years! Sometimes the budget or circumstances dictate that you make do with things that you don't love. Thank God for His provisions and be content! I am speaking as one who has learned this lesson. And now, after thirty-five-plus years of making a home, I know my style, and am simply making choices to eliminate what doesn't fit and wait for what does.)

How about a little tour of the "new" room? 

We'll start with the "before" (tan walls, white trim, and a few things that didn't make the cut), and then move counterclockwise around the room from the door.

photo by my friend Frances

photo by Bekah

photo by Bekah

photo by Bekah

photo by Bekah

~ childhood photos of Ron and me ~

What about you? Do you know your style? Do you love everything in your home? Are you willing to make do until the right thing comes along? 

Let's talk decorating!

Linking with Joanne at My Not-So-Empty Nest for 

Make it NEW Monday!

House Project Goals 2019

Two whole months (and a couple of days) into 2019. Is anyone besides me still talking about goals for the "new year"? Most likely, not! But a promise is a promise, and so I am back to finish this little series that I began in January . . . before Kati got engaged and before a spring wedding was planned! 

These are the House Projects that we're planning for 2019:

BATHROOM REFRESH  This is not a complete remodel, but we're tackling a few things in our main bathroom, the one that the girls share and that most of our guests use.

We have two and a half bathrooms in this house and they all have pastel tile. Hello, 1950's! The sage tile in the main bathroom, however, is pleasing to my eye and it blends with our color palette in the rest of the house, so we're going save ourselves a big remodeling project and leave it alone.

This is what we are going to do.

• Paint the walls and all the trim. We are using the antique white that we use on all the walls in the house, only this time we'll use that color on the trim as well. With all the green tile, it would be too "busy" to introduce another accent color, so white it is. 
• Hang a new ceiling light. You cannot see the old fixture in the above photo (bad blogger), but we have chosen a four light saddle light something like this. 
• Remove the fluorescent light above the vanity. We haven't found vanity lights that we love, so we're not going to put any for now. If there is not enough light, we'll come back and add some later. (Bekah never turns on the fluorescent light that is there now, so she probably won't miss a vanity light.) 
• Make shutters for the window.

That's it. The project is already underway, but we have not made a great deal of progress so far. (So many other irons in the fire.)

SOUTH WALL of the KITCHEN  You've heard me talk about this before! It's been in the plan ever since we've lived here. We have made a lot of progress in the kitchen, but this south wall still needs some work.

• Move the washing machine down to the basement. 
• Move the refrigerator over to where the washing machine sits now. This will involve some re-configuring of the upper cabinets, but it will allow space for a longer section of countertop instead of two short sections on either side of the fridge. 
• Build a drawer and cabinet unit to fill in the empty space. 

LANDSCAPING  We are planning to tidy and replant some of the beds around the house. We'll start with the front this spring and move clockwise as time/budget allows.

We're also considering putting a fence across the back of the property. For thirty-eight years, we lived in the country where our views were farmland and woods with houses in the distance. Here at Pineapple House, the spring and summer views are fine with our large forsythia hedge and a big oak tree on the lot in back of ours. But during the winter, we look out of our big picture window in the living room and see the next street and cars coming and going and, well, we're hoping to create a little backyard oasis. Maybe some evergreens or shrubbery. I am picturing hydrangeas and boxwoods. (We're open to suggestions!)

GUEST BEDROOM  This is a surprise project for this year, but it's one that I am quite excited about!

I am calling this bedroom my "consolation prize." It is actually Kati's bedroom now, but as you know, very soon she will not be living here. (Cue the lump in my throat.) I will miss her terribly. But you all know how much I love house-y things, so I am consoling myself with plans to decorate her room a new guest room!

This is the photo from the ad.

I have already purchased an antique pineapple post bed. I am planning to use a matelasse coverlet, either one that I picked up at a booth at an antique market a few years ago or a newer Martha Stewart one that my mom offered me. I am looking for a dresser. I have an old Windsor rocking chair that I will bring down from the attic. (I may replace it with a wing chair in the future.) I am considering repainting the bamboo table that is on my  sun porch (it belonged to my paternal grandparents) to use as a night stand or I may just keep my eye out for something else. I am also thinking about a rug.

I've never had a dedicated guest room before. Because all our bedrooms were needed, having guests simply meant that someone gave up their bed or their room for a time. But it will be fun to have such a room (we anticipate Kati and Andrew using it the most!) and it is super fun to plan and decorate it.

PAINT MASTER BEDROOM  This is the project that I am the least excited about. Let me explain.

I am so excited about decorating the guest room. I was planning to start as soon as the wedding was over. But then I realized that all of Kati's things will still be here. Other than what she has packed in her honeymoon suitcases, everything will remain here until she and Andrew visit for Bekah's graduation. Then her earthly goods will be loaded up and make the move to their new home. (Actually, it will be Kati's "new" home; it is Andrew's home now.)

I decided that I would have to begin to decorate the new guest room in June.

But then . . . Ron tells me that while Kati's room is empty, it would be the perfect time for us to temporarily move into it while we paint the master bedroom. Ugh.

He's right. (I hate that.) Our bedroom walls are paneled and a couple coats of white paint will brighten it considerably! It also needs a new ceiling and we'd love to take up the carpet. But those are bigger projects for another time. Paint will make a big difference.

(It's only that I am chomping at the bit to get at that guest room. But I'm a big girl. I can wait.)

(I guess.)

Those are our house-y goals for 2019. 

Since the year began, we have had changes in our time and in our budget. #wedding

So we will just do what we can do, chipping away at our goals. Making concessions. Making adjustments. Taking it one step at a time. Moving forward.

I am reminded of these words of truth . . .

"Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'" 

(James 4:15)

And I say "amen."

Summer Plans

The (formal) school year is finished and we've made the first homemade ice cream of the year. It must be summer. 

Now it's time to make some summer plans. Of course, I've been making summer goals for a long time. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, Now is the time to implement the summer plans!

Here are my goals:

Make new curtains for my dining room. 
I made new ones to replace the faded ones that hung in the dining room last year. But then I decided that I really liked those better in my bedroom, so up the stairs they went. Of course, I brought them back down after a few days because the dining room windows were bare. When my friend Frances took my house photos back in December, they went back upstairs for the bedroom shots, and then down again for the dining room shots. When we updated the master bedroom, I took them back upstairs. But when we had guests, they came back down again. All of this back and forth is ridiculous...especially since I have had the fabric for the new ones since January, and since I can make them in a couple of afternoons or one whole Saturday.

Top: Curtains in the bedroom
Bottom: (Same) curtains in the dining room (photo by Frances)

Make a colonial floor cloth.
I am really excited about this! I love the look of floor cloths, and I have the perfect place for one. The braided rug in front of my kitchen sink is falling apart and needs to be replaced (before someone breaks a limb!). A floor cloth is also easier to clean than a rug, which makes it a good idea for a food prep/garbage can area.

I have been gathering inspiration and instructions and I'm going to try my hand at this. Bekah is also excited and wants to help. I'll bring you along too, if you'd like!

photo via Canvasworks Floorcloths

Organize, organize, organize.
Summer is always the season in which I put my house to rights. I will be cleaning out cabinets and closets and the dreaded laundry room. (Very few closets in this old farmhouse means that the laundry room is a catch-all. By the time the school year ends, last summer's cleaning and organization is kaput and the laundry room is a danger zone!)

Last summer, we slowly worked our way through the house, allowing two weeks per room. That worked out well, so we'll probably do something similar this year.


Plan for the next homeschool year.
That is fun! In fact, planning is almost as much fun as actually doing it. I'll pray and ponder, make reading lists, make a rudimentary schedule, do some reading, get my ducks in a row, order a few things...all over the course of the summer.


A summer recipe series on the blog.
Although I have done a winter and a summer recipe series since I started Soup On Tuesday in January, 2012, I almost decided to forget about it this summer. The idea that I had wasn't coming together and I couldn't get enthused. But I really like the discipline that a series gives me to be creative and try new things, especially during the summer when I am most likely to get into a cooking slump. So after a brainstorming session (or two or three), I have come up with a simple plan. I will be sharing recipes for summer fare...a combination of new (to me) recipes and some tried-and-true family favorites, all using typical summer foods.

Join me each Wednesday (although I'll begin the series tomorrow...on a Thursday!) for my Savoring Summer recipe series.

Have some fun!
Ron doesn't take any vacations in the summer. But who needs a vacation to have fun? Not us! We have mini-vacays all summer long.

~ Grab iced coffees at Dunkin' Donut and then do drive-bys. We love this! Slowly driving through older neighborhoods, ogling houses, snapping photos, sipping our coffee. A cheap thrill.

~ Go to the beach...the "little beach" with Kristin and the grands (so named because it is not at the ocean) or the "big beach" (at the ocean) with my mom and my sister.

~ Spend a summer afternoon reading magazines while indulging in one of the Starbucks summer coffee flavors at Barnes and Noble.

~ Eat snow cones and then go to Target. (Life's simple pleasures and all that.)

~ Visit my sister and go to the bigger Target in her town. (Have I told you that we love Target?)

~ Celebrate birthdays. If you are a long-time friend, you know that we have a gazillion birthdays and anniversaries in July and August. Thus, we spend a good part of the summer planning for birthdays, shopping for birthday gifts, thinking about birthdays, hosting and attending birthday celebrations, and hoping that we're not forgetting something!

What are your plans for this summer?

The Pineapple House

When we began to consider moving, there was a small list of specifics that we were looking for in a new house...

• All of the main living spaces to be on one level. (We would consider a two-story if the master bedroom and bathroom were on the ground floor, but we preferred one level.)
• More than one bathroom.
• One area large enough to gather with our extended family. This large area could be a living room or a great room or a large country kitchen like we had in The Farmhouse. We just knew we needed some kind of space for Sunday afternoons and holiday dinners and birthday celebrations. 
• Small-ish yard.
• A garage or shop or barn for Ron.
• Charm!

Okay, so maybe charm was not a requirement, but after living in an older home with pretty moldings and quirky spaces and pine floors for thirty-five years, we were hoping to have a wee bit of charm in our new abode. 

I began to explore online real estate listings: Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia. One of the first houses I saw had this beautiful fireplace wall,

and I was drawn in!

The house actually met most of our criteria. It was all on one level. There were two full bathrooms and a half bathroom. There was a two-and-a-half car garage. It oozed charm! 

But...there were no pictures of the kitchen (did that mean that it was tiny, or in disrepair?) and no mention of a dining room. A space for a table was a must! Was there any large gathering place in this house? 

For weeks, we looked at house after house after house online. Every time we'd go out for appointments (which was often!), we'd drive by one or more of the houses that were for sale. None of them seemed just right. We drove by the one with the lovely fireplace wall and tried to figure out how in the world there could be a gathering space based on what we knew about the other rooms via the online photos. We finally decided that we'd never know whether it would meet our needs unless we simply went to see it for ourselves, so we called and made an appointment with the listed realtor.

On New Year's Eve, we went to see the house. We walked in the back door and there it was...the kitchen, which was not tiny and not in disrepair! And it had charm, including large casement windows that opened into the sun room!

Then we walked into the room we didn't know was there. Not only was there a dining room, but it was large and it opened into a large living room (the one with that wonderful fireplace wall)! There was our gathering space...more than adequate, and also beautiful, with hardwood floors and crown molding and lots of charm!

While Ron chatted with the realtor team about heating and nuts-and-bolts and everything else, we girls took a self-guided tour of the bedrooms, dreaming about which room could be whose.

Then we peeked into one of the bathrooms and my jaw dropped because there on the wall was a wooden pineapple that Ron had made when we were making folk art back in the '80's!

Ron's pineapple

A sign? Perhaps!

Although we did look at some other homes after this, our hearts were captured by this one, and it is the one that we now call home!

Not only does it has every single thing on our search list, it has so much more!

• It is a very solid, well-built and well-loved home. (We have met the former owners and they have shared details of the thoughtful planning of their father when he remade the bungalow into a rancher to accommodate their growing family.)
• It has that lovely fireplace that drew me in.
• The house has lots of natural light, including sidelights (which I love) on either side of the front door. 
• There is crown molding in every room.
• I adore a multi-pane picture window...and there is a lovely one in the new living room! ~swoon~
• Ron and I have a cozy little suite that is separate from the other bedroom area. 
• There is fourth bedroom that we are going to use as a school room/office. 
• There is a sun room.
• There is a finished basement (which the grands are very excited about). 

Our first Sunday afternoon gathering in the new house...

I had to take two photos to get everyone in! (And I'm still not sure that I did...)

Looking through the picture window...the kids playing a game in the sun room.

When my friend Jill learned that we were leaving The Farmhouse, she told me that she was praying that we'd find a house that we would love as much, and that we would have peace about the transition. We think that those prayers were answered. 

We are so grateful for this gift that is beyond our dreams! We pray that the Lord's name might always be glorified here!