Category: Current House

Q and A: Year 2

Published on by Our Humble Abode

Happy Memorial Day!  Thank you to all who have protected and served our country.  We’re busy working on a few projects, but I wanted to pop in with a quick post today.  Let’s answer your questions!

 

Q:  How about your biggest project fail (from the distant past or more recently)?

A:  Hmm, some of my smaller failures include ombre shower curtain, wire Moooi pendant, picking light blue and all pink paint colors, and nearly everything involving a plant.  The biggest failure I can think of is the large basement bedroom at our first house.  From a function stand point, it was great.  The design wasn’t my favorite though.  Obviously design is very personal, but this room didn’t fit in with the rest of the house.  Perhaps if we stayed there longer it would have changed.  I think the reason we don’t have as many large failures is because Ben and I balance each other out in the home improvement realm.  I think pretty and he thinks practical.  Take away one person and it doesn’t work.

Q:  Your favorite project to date?

A: Hands down our first house kitchen remodel.  That whole room was such a labor of love.  Building our own cabinets took a lot of time and effort and the wood counters are divine.  Add white marble to that mix and I’m in love.

Q:  What project you’re most looking forward to at the new house (even if it’s not happening for a while).

A:  Ooh, that’s a good one.  Again, I’m going to say kitchen, despite lacking a solid plan.

 

Q:  When you want me to come visit. ;) Okay, you don’t have to answer that one. I know you want to come visit me, so I’ll just keep waiting.

A:  Anytime you’re willing to babysit or help paint.  Haha.

Q:  When are you guys gonna quit your jobs and become full-time bloggers?

A:  Ha, I quit my day job six years ago!

Q:  When did you start offering advertising on your website? How many visitors/page views was it when you decided to start offering?

A:  The first month we had more than my blog BFF Jen advertising with us was August 2011, after fifteen months of steady blogging.  At that time, we had about 400 blog subscribers (more through readers) and received just over 50,000 page views that month.  Since then we’ve more than doubled our subscribers and page views.  Our ad rates were only $15 per month, which we’ve recently increased to $20.

That’s all we’ve got.  Do you have another question for us?  We’re always happy to answer.  What did you do over the long weekend?  What are your plans for today?

Gimme a Giveaway: Simple Blooms Boutique

Published on by Our Humble Abode88 Comments

This giveaway is closed.  See who won here.

This giveaway is for the girls; babies, children, and adults alike!  Simple Blooms Boutique has cute accessories like headbands, hair clips, and brooches for all ages.

Mauve Baby Headband:

Chartreuse Girl Headband:

Gray Satin Brooch:

Chartreuse Bobby Pin Set:

I thought these girly accessories were so cute I couldn’t resist getting one for a little girl I know.  This fun gray and yellow headband will go with a cute dress for a perfectly frilly gift.

Cute girl things make me wish I had a girl.  I’ll live vicariously through others instead.

The Goods: Any two items from Simple Blooms Boutique.

To Enter:  Leave a comment, which can (but doesn’t have to) include our Just for Fun question.

Just for Fun: If you could have any flower or plant growing in your yard, what would it be?  Hydrangeas for their big clumps?  Large delicate peonies?  Dainty orchids?  Dandelions because it would mean you’ve got your own yard?

For additional entries:

1.  Add Simple Blooms Boutique to your Etsy favs, come back and leave a comment telling us what your favorite item is.

Contest Closes: Thursday, May 31st at 11:59 pm, central time.

Number of Winners: One!

Ships: Anywhere in the United States and our neighbors to the north, Canada!

Other Info: We will select the winner using random.org and announce on Friday, June 1st.  Good luck!!

Back Yard Beginnings

Published on by Our Humble Abode19 Comments

I realized you haven’t seen much of our back yard.

Once at the top of the driveway, there’s a hollowed out area for a future shop, a lame set of stairs, and retaining wall.

From the driveway, the hill climbs about four feet, extending to the patio.

At the edge of the patio is a two foot tall retaining wall with steep hill above.  Plans are coming along and we’re figuring out materials and prices, but we have a general idea of what we want to change here.

Over at the far end of the house, near the pool room is a set of stone stairs to no where.

Climb up those 18(!) stairs and there’s a small plateau area mainly used by deer.

That big rock at the top left of the picture above is nearly centered on the sliding door and fountain.  I’m standing right by that rock here:

In fact, our lot is so steep you can actually walk on the pool room roof from the back and it’s easy to see over the house from this plateau.

Solar panels from the 70’s are on the roof, but they’ll have to go because they’re causing the roof to leak into the pool.  So that whole blue angled thing will go once Ben starts the big roofing project.

We love the privacy and size of the lot, but it is a challenge, in many ways.  More research and planning and we can start working.  What are your favorite low water/low maintenance plants?  I’m looking for a mix of evergreens and flowering plants.  Everything needs to survive with minimal water because Montana summers are usually dry.  Hopefully you all can give some suggestions!

Dog Bed

Published on by Our Humble Abode34 Comments

Here’s a super quick, cheap, and easy dog bed.  All you need is a set of standard pillows and pillowcases.

Sewing machine optional, but it makes this quicker.  I promise, those of you afraid of a sewing machine can do it, one straight line is all it takes.  Just pin the pillowcases together along one edge.

I put my factory sewn edges together, but it’s up to you.  Then stitch a straight line 1/2 inch from the edge, all the way down the case.  Put a pillow in each case and you’ve got a dog bed.  I bought new pillowcases for ten bucks at Target and used old pillows we already had.  If you’re buying all new supplies it would cost around $20.  Not too shabby, especially because this is super easy to wash.  Here’s Miss Priss enjoying her comfortable new spot.

If you don’t have a dog, your kids might like this for slumber parties or lounging around.  Just after I stuffed the pillows in, both V and E flopped down, staking their claim.  I might have to make another…

What kind of dog bed do you have?

Demo-licious

Published on by Our Humble Abode9 Comments

Nice weather means Ben doesn’t want to stay in the house working on the bathroom.  What does the man do instead?  Tear stuff apart, of course.  Just after closing on the mountain house, Ben took his aggression out on the pool and bathroom.  This time, the hot tub bothered him, so it had to go.  Can someone explain why boys love demo and destruction so much?  Because V and E watched so intently.

Yes, the boys rocked 80’s wear; Zubaz and tie-dye.  So, he pulled it up, cut the water lines, hauled it to the deck, and proceeded to cut it apart, Dexter style.  But he didn’t throw the pieces in the ocean, just the dumpsters at his work.

After the tub was out, V wanted to get in the hole.  He and Ben assessed the situation.

This is what we have to work with.  Ben plans to fill the hole in with gravel until the floor is even.  If we want a hot tub, we’ll buy a stand alone spa to go here, on top of tile.

We don’t need seating with out the tub, so Ben tore it out, too.  So this:

Has become this:

Hurricane Ben made it outside, pulling out a stacked rock wall.

Now we’ve got several rock piles until we get a dumpster in here for the roof removal.

After a heavy rain last week washed dirt down to the patio, we decided landscaping has to happen soon.

I think we’ve figured out a rough plan, which will include excavating over a foot of dirt and rocks as well as carving out a small part of the back hillside.  We want to tame the hill out front, too.  First step, pulling out weed block and mulch.

Our weekend wasn’t filled with destruction.  Ben installed our new central vac and I tested it out yesterday.  More on that in the near future.

Until then, I’m wondering if you’re working on landscaping?  What is your biggest challenge?  I’m terrible at landscaping plans, and the steep hills only complicate things.