The Potting Shed on Hilltop Farm

I know I was supposed to talk about the inside of the house, but I have all winter for that!  We'll be inside when it's cold and snowy outside. 

Right now I want to share something we did outside.  Something that just made me fall in love with our house all the more.  You see, at our first home, Dave built me the coolest greenhouse ever.  And it was the one thing I missed.  So this year, starting in March 2019, Dave started building a greenhouse for me.  We have quite a bit of land.  37 acres total.  And we thought of several places to put it.  But the one place that kept making the most sense, as far as actually using it goes, was on the basement patio.  I know, it sounds crazy.  But there is running water, electricity, it's close to the house so I can pop in and out quickly.  And the thing is, it's not an actual greenhouse that you heat all winter long.  My old one wasn't either.  But I can start seeds in it.  And it does provide a place to play around in the Spring, when it's still too cold to be outside.  And it's really great to have a place to pot and re-pot plants.  

You can see the area by looking out our bedroom window.  The way we figured out the size of the greenhouse, was to set the "furniture" in it the way I thought I wanted it.  This is how we made a lot of our building decisions!  

Yep, that looks about right.

You can tell by the way Dave is dressed, it's cold outside.  The picture below was taken on March 31.

Let the framing begin.

 

We didn't want to cover up our basement window.  Remember, we lived in this one room in the basement for 3 1/2 years while we built our house.  And this patio was used all the time.  I used to say in the Spring, Summer and Fall I had two large rooms, but in the winter, just one.  Because I counted this patio as a room.  But since we moved upstairs, we are on the porches all the time.  And this patio seemed to be going to waste.

Looking down from the bedroom window again.

As with all building projects, we had to make some decisions.  One of them was window size.  We wanted to use the windows that were already in stock at our local building supply store.  They had 

two smaller windows, as shown, or one large one, about the same size as the two smaller ones.  As you can see I opted for the two smaller ones.

We had a hard time deciding how we were going to hang the windows.  We used these little 'thingys' to hang them.

One thing I knew I wanted from the beginning was a Dutch door.  Who doesn't love them, right? This door was left over from our house.  We made a mistake in the direction the door swing open.  But we saved it "just in case we needed it later."  Well it was perfect to use for the potting shed.  It wasn't a Dutch door until Dave worked his door magic and made it one!

(there is a finished door picture later)

One thing I wasn't sure about was the reclaimed wood he used for siding.  I love old wood, so that wasn't the problem.  I was afraid it wouldn't look good next to the house.  And I wanted a white potting shed.  More of a cottage look.

But then I decided it wasn't going to matter because we would be putting cute garden-y stuff all around it anyway.

This picture is looking down onto the roof.  We used this type of corrugated roof on the old greenhouse and it works great.

There's a little clean up that needs done, but it's pretty much finished.  May 11, 2019.

This gives you an idea of where it is, in perspective to the house.

 Are you ready to see inside?  We didn't buy anything new.  All of this stuff was in our pole barn, and we moved it from our old house to this one.

Notice the shelves between the two sets of windows.

 There is a wider shelf along the bottom row of windows, and another shelf below it for storage.  I use the shelf to do work on in the summer as you can tell.  But this spring I'll be starting plants from seeds, and these shelves are situated where they get lots of sunshine.

 I store potting soil in the double washtub.

Another thing I love about the place we put the greenhouse/potting shed is that it created the cutest, coziest nooks on the patio.

 

We're big into lights around here.  It gives the place a homey, festive, fun, cozy atmosphere.

It's amazing how one small thing like a little greenhouse can change your whole perspective on an area of the house.  I come downstairs almost every day now.  I'm motivated to get the basement cleared out and cleaned up and usable again.  I love it!

Stay tuned to see what else we did down here this summer.

Cindy

Upstairs Bedroom

I want to show you one of the upstairs bedrooms, but before I do that,  I want to show you some furniture re-dos. 

Last July, while Dave was bike riding, he saw this on the curb for trash pick-up!  He went back the next day with the truck and it was still there!  It did NOT have the green handles.  He was just seeing what they would look like, because he didn't think he'd ever be able to find handles to match the other ones.  And the top was all messed up.  He was going to use it for a workbench in the garage!!!  WHAT!  I said I wanted to use it in the upstairs bedroom and he said it would never fit!  

We really needed to update/paint some of our furniture.  However, you might recall I was  D.O.N.E.  painting.  O V E R  I T!  So, I suggested Dave make friends with Joanna Gaines and Annie Sloan on You Tube.  He did!

I don't have a before picture of this chair, but it was very bright and shiny red with a very modern cushion material.  I picked it up at a garage sale for $15.00. 

And this was under the very modern material...

 

So, I got into my material stash. 

 We have a winner!

TA DA! 

 Next up was this old night stand.  I bought it in the early 1990's and painted it mauve'! 

Do you say MAWWVE or MOOOOOVE.  (long ooooo like mow)

Either way, I love it now.

 This bookshelf, which I KNOW needs styled,  was white with old yellowed varnish.  I was at a friends house in a nearby town and it was sitting outside in the rain.  I said I'd take it and he brought it to our house a few days later!  It's a great memory because he has since passed away. 
Anyway, don't you think Dave did a good job painting!

 And the best.....I got this bed for $10 at an auction a few years ago, knowing we were going to need extra beds.

 So here is one of our upstairs bedrooms, and this happens to be the one everyone loves.  You'll see why...

 Cute little extra window up high to let in more light.  The door leads into the upstairs foyer.

Yep, this room has a balcony/porch!

Funny story...when we first started building this house in 2010, my then seven year old niece was telling her cousins about "their room!"  She said, "you should see it.  It has a balcony.  Do you know what that is?  It means we can go outside, but we won't be touching the grass!" 

The plantation shutters came from Lowes.com

When we first talked about moving to the country, I wanted an old house.  He did not.  We both like old furniture and stuff, but he did not like working on old houses.  He said, "what if we build a new house, but make it look old.  We can give it character."  I thought that was a great idea.  A wonderful compromise.

 

 We have a pond across the road, that has a creek that runs through it, that is surrounded by a woods. It's hard to get the pond all in one picture, so hopefully you get the idea.

I tried to do a panoramic view which never works for me.

You can also see the front of the house which has my herb garden.

 And the basement patio area, which is another post for another time!

 I hope you enjoyed the upstairs bedroom TA DA post!!!

Cindy