The Paint Looks Great!

I love the paint color i chose for the interior walls in the Crafty Cottage. It looks great and it still keeps the cottage bright but it has added a richness to the walls. I kept the ceiling and window trim white and together it looks great and really helps show off the ceiling. Tim and I painted the cottage yesterday morning and while the paint was drying we thought we were going to need another coat and ran into Newport to purchase another gallon. Once the paint completely dried it looked great so we will use the paint for touch up and to paint some of the furniture that is going into the cottage. Next up? The floors. We have decided on wood floors and so now we are researching what type will be the best for the cottage. The floors need to be durable and easy to clean up. So Wednesday we will be getting the floors and then we will start installing them. The Crafty Cottage is really coming along and I am getting very anxious to finish it up and move all of my craft supplies in the cottage and then get to work on items for the Holidays!

A New Church And Primer Too

Lisa and I visited the First United Methodist Church in Newport, TN. Our friends Larry and Linda attend there when they are here in the area and so they invited us to come so we did. The church is a beautiful red brick building with a tall steeple. It looks like a church that would be in this area. FUMC is over 150 years old and they still use their chapel for their early service. The Sanctuary is beautiful and it reminded of the Church that Tim and I were married in. It is a much bigger church than the one we visited in Parrottsville a couple of weeks ago and the choir is very good. We felt very welcomed by the Pastor and the congregation and this Wed. night I am planning on going to their choir practice. I think I may have found my new Church. After Church we had lunch with Larry and Linda and another couple from FUMC at Ruby Tuesday. We had a great time together and it is always a great way to start a Sunday. While Lisa and I were at Church Tim was busy putting on a primer coat on the interior walls of the Crafty Cottage and also painted the ceiling and window trim white. I am hoping with the new color on the wall that the white trim will look good. Today Tim and I will begin painting the interior walls with the new color paint, vanilla. The Fall colors are beginning to show more each day and our view is getting prettier by the minute. I was told that it is a little early for the leaves to be changing so I guess we are having an early fall. I wonder what that means for Winter? Check back tomorrow for the new paint color!

Storage Shed Shopping

With the Crafty Cottage getting closer to being finished we can start thinking about our next project which is a storage shed. We have been looking at storage sheds for a little while and thought we were close to a cecision until we passed some insulted storage sheds last week on our way to Pigeon Forge. We went to see what they were yesterday and they are pretty cool. The insulated sheds are made with fiberglass walls and a tin roof and they were really well built. Their pricing was closer to wood sheds so we have some decisions to make. One more thing that will aid in our decision, beisdes price, is to build it or have it built for us. Tim is a "do it yourself" person so we will more than likely build it ourselves. So we are still discussing the pros and cons to all. Time will tell so keep checking back to see what we do. Tim finished up the little bit of trim that we had left after we got more from Lowes today. I also picked out a different paint color for the wall. I chose the color vanilla as it will be a little darker than the white that is on the walls now. I think it will have just the contrast I am looking for and it will go nice with the ceiling and floor. We did some floor shopping too and we think we have found the flooring for the cottage. It is a darker shade than I thought I would like but it should go well with the paint and the ceiling. We are going to look at Home Depot to see what they have before I make my final decision on the floor. When we got back from shed shopping we checked out a couple of football games and I made up a hamburger stew using the left over stock that I froze from the pot raost I had a couple of weeks ago. It is my own creation and it was good. I made up a gravy with the leftover stock then added cooked ground beef, carrots and potatoes and let it cook on low for over an hour. It tasted good and Tim requested it again some time. So it was a productive day and although we still have some decisions to make we are keeping an open mind as to what to get. Check back and see!

The Trim Is Done

The trim is done on the interior walls of the Crafty Cottage and with each day we get a little closer to finishing it up. When we used the recycled bead board paneling we had one small problem, the interlocking flaps were not on all of the panels we used so there were some seams on the walls that needed to be covered. We chose thin strips of trim to cover the wall seams and a thicker wood trim for th ceiling, windows and corners of the cottage. The trim looks really good and I have to thank Tim again for all of his hard work. He is really making sure this cottage is going to be nice for me. Thanks Tim! So, with the trim up Tim started painting the walls while I went to the Laundermat, WooHoo! The eggshell color I chose is really more white then I wanted for the walls so it has become the primer for the walls and we will head back to Lowes today for another color of paint. I have had suggestions of pale yellow or a light green but I really want the light and not be tied down to a specific color for decorating so I am just going to go with a little darker tone of white like a vanilla. We are also going to go out and look at storage sheds today. We thought we had decided on the kind of shed we wanted but while we were driving to Pigeon Forge last Sunday we saw another Shed place so we are going to go check those sheds out. We are going to use the storage shed to house our washer and dryer and our freezer along with all of the things we have in storage in Jacksonville. So hopefully next month we will be going to Jacksonville and cleaning out our storage unit and bringing back our stuff to the farm. Of course today is also College Football Saturday so we will be watching football today too! The Florida Gators, NIU Huskies and Oregon Ducks all have byes this week and the South Carolina Gamecocks and Missouri Tigers are playing eachother tonight so I know at least one of my three teams playing will have a win! Go NAU Lumberjacks, Gamecocks and Tigers!

Trim + Paint = The Week End

We went into Newport and to Lowes and purchased the trim and paint we need to finish the walls in the Crafty Cottage. I decided to paint the walls Egg Shell. That way they will still be light but won't be white. The tongue and groove ceiling looks so good that I wanted a color that would make the ceiling show more. I learned a few things while I was at Lowes yesterday. The first thing is that I have a love/hate relationship with Lowes. Some days it is great in there and others not so much. Here is my love part of the relationship, they do have plenty of employees available to help you. We were asked several times if we needed help and they seem to carry a very good inventory. We have managed to find everything we need when we shop. My hate relationship is their customer service. Now, being in retail for over 30 years I do know a few things about customer service and I also know that good customer service is not that hard to do. Customer service on the salefloor is great but at the check out there is a lot of room for improvement. Okay, enough about my love/hate relationship with Lowes. The second thing I learned is about wood and the different qualities there is for wood. Since we have used recycled wood in the Crafty Cottage we purchased similar quality of wood to match up with what we have been using. We needed a 1x4 to trim the windows and the price differences for that one piece of wood ranges from $1.67 to $12.97; that is quite a difference. Did you know that a 1x4 actually measures out to be a 3/4"x3 1/2"? A 2x4 is actually a 1 /1/2" x 3 1/2" inches. Before I knew this I thought a 2x4 was 2 inches by 4 inches. See, I did learn some things! We purchased our trim and paint which means that for the next couple of days we will be busy working on finishing up the interior walls of the cottage. Thanks for hearing my rant on customer service. Maybe I am too picky...NAH! I have posted some picures to show how the Fall colors are beginning to happen here at the farm. I love this time of year and I am really excited about getting to see the colors change. It is so pretty! Okay, I have to get to work on the cottage. Check back tomorrow for more pictures!

The Walls Are Up

Tim and I finished putting up the rest of the bead board paneling in the Crafty Cottage. We had finished the main area of the cottage on Monday and yesterday we finished the area of the cottage under the loft. It was a little easier working in that area and now that all the paneling is up I have decided to paint the walls. Thanks to all for giving me your opinions. The consenses was to paint! Now to figure out a good color that will keep the walls light and bright but not white. We are headed to Lowes again today for more supplies. We made a list of items we need to complete the walls like trim and paint and we are going to look at flooring too. Now that the walls are up I can really start visualizing the craftroom and where I am going to place all of the furniture I have so far. I had purchased a table from IKEA when we were in California that I will use for my desk and I we are going to purchase a work bench I saw at Home Depot. I am recycling some shelving units that George and Lisa have graciously given me from the cabin. Tim and I will have to clean and refinish them but they will be a great addition to the Crafty Cottage. So, by tomorrow the trim should be up and I will be ready to paint the walls over the week end. Tim and I did take a few minutes to go down to the area at the farm where he found the huge acorns. Lisa looked up what kind of tree these acorns are from and it was called a Burr Oak. All I know is that they will make a great addition to the fall acorn candle I am making Lisa and will probably add to mine. Check back tomorrow and see what color paint we chose for the interior walls of the Crafty Cottage.

More Visitors At The Farm

We had our second visitors at the farm, Larry and Linda VanderWilt came for a visit yesterday. Larry and Linda have a second home not too far from Parrottsville and are up here now so they came over for a visit. We are long time friends from Orange Park and we had a great time together hanging out at the farm. Lisa is also friends with them so she joined us too. I made lunch for everyone and after doing a tour of the Crafty Cottage, Lisa's new house and the farm we all sat down to lunch and dessert. Linda made me a beautiful Fall sign for us to hang on the RV and it looks great. Thanks Linda, I love it. While Tim and Larry were out exploring the farm Tim found me some more acorns but not acorns I have seen before so I will have to redo my Acorn Candle and put some of the ones he found in it; they are huge. Larry found something that I have never seen before but will now know what it is if I ever come across one again. He found Owl throwup aka owl puke. It looks like a paper ball and inside there is hair and sometimes little bones from what the owl is eating. Larry said, looking at the ball of owl puke, that the owl was a big one. So, we spent a great afternoon with friends, had good food, good conversations, gifts and I even learned something new. Not a bad day! Thanks Larry, Linda and Lisa for making it a great day and please come by anytime!