The Jerome Project: June 2011

The Downsizing:

The Downsizing: Follow our adventure as we prepare to send one child to college, the other to kindergarten and attempt to renovate a tiny, circa 1950 farmhouse of just under 1200 s.f. The house has been sitting vacant for several years following a past renovation attempt that went awry by a previous owner. Our goal is to accomodate an active family of 4 (plus Mulligan the Westie) in a much smaller (yet stylish) space which will hopefully free up more of our time and financial resources. In addition to renovating the house and half acre of land, we'll be doing some serious editing of our possessions since we're coming from a home twice the size. The property borders an up and coming development featuring new homes along with a town center, shopping, and schools all set in a rural farm village setting.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Rustic Chandelier

An interesting idea...

We needed a chandelier for our favorite room in the house.

I liked the $2500 wine barrel chandelier from Restoration Hardware, but...

I came up with this idea for a dyi budget friendly version that fits our rustic setting. Pretty pleased with the results.

A night-time viewing

Great ambiance...

Took an old wooden ladder and suspended it from the rafters with rope. Hung patio umbrella lights leaving a few ends dangling.

And for a much more reasonable price, we have the perfect light for our setting!

Just incase you're interested here are the details:

Wooden Ladders available with paint splatters and in about any length you need can be found online from "A Rustic Garden" (arusticgarden.com) This one was about 48" long and cost $29. Lucky you if you happen to have one of these laying around, I didn't.

Shooting Star Umbrella Lights $20 (Home Depot) Umbrella light set has 20 ends coming out of center ring all on a brown cord

50' of 1/4" Manilla Rope $6 (Home Depot)

Friday, June 10, 2011

This Week's Hot Projects

And I do mean HOT! Whew, thank goodness most of this project was in the shade...

Planted a row of hydrangea bushes across front porch. Seriously tough digging! We decided to go with the large pine bark nuggets figuring that would be the least maintenance next to pea gravel and hoping that we don't have to replenish as often as the fine stuff. It wasn't very fun crawling under the porch on my side to spread it! Minimal and low maintenance is the theme for landscaping this property. The days of spending hours watering all the lush landscape are over.

These little gems have been on my wish list for a few years now. Oak Leaf Hydrangea (Pee Wee variety will only get about 3 ft tall and 3 ft wide) White flowers that fade to pink and leaves turn burgundy in fall. Ooooh la la.

Our existing porch furniture worked out fine on the front porch. Probably wouldn't have selected this fabric for here but since I completely redid this furniture just 2 years ago, we'll go with it for a couple more years.

Finally hung the first picture!

It's an original Clyde Butcher photograph. He's a big time Florida photographer and the picture belonged to my dear friend Molly. It's fitting that it's the first picture we've hung. I have a few others from Molly's collection that will soon find the right place.