Showing posts with label springbrook ranch. Show all posts

The Springbrook Ranch of my Dreams

Monday, November 10, 2014

Marc and I always daydreamed about having a home with a name. For me it comes from loving Pemberley, Green Gables, Misselthwaite Manor, and other fictional homes that thrive in my imagination. So when we bought Springbrook Ranch we were both pretty tickled to have a home that already had a name given to it ages ago when the original owners kept horses and a small chicken farm here. I mean, all the best stories start in a home with a name, right?

So although our real three acres is full of weeds and gopher holes, trees that need to be trimmed and the wretched wretched deer that eat all my flowers (I will get you yet my pretties), I just want to show you the Springbrook Ranch that I see in my dreams.

Of course it has the cadillac of chicken coops. Heck, I want to live here!

And my chickens will eat in synchronized formation because I will become a chicken whisperer. I really like chickens.
Maybe my chickens will wear designer chicken outfits?
Or maybe not.

We also need pygmy goats. For reals, they will eat all our weeds and SAVE us the money we spend every year to have our hills cleared. Plus, the cuteness is killing me.
Not to mention how I will become a master goat cheese and goat milk soap maker. 
They will love me and come running when I call them.

My vision of myself serenely making my own cheese that I serve my friends on long tables under trees strung with fairy lights on soft summer nights is so vivid I can almost touch it. Don't bother me with tiny details like the fact that I've never milked anything and am actually a little afraid of goats.

I want to make cheese.
And soap!
Then there's my massive, glorious, imaginary vegetable garden.
It will all have to be on an automatic drip water system though because I have dehydrated more tomato plants than I care to count in real life. But I can change!

Clearly the whole operation will run on solar energy. But that's not all! There will also be an adorable, personal sized windmill. Of course.
Because not only are we industrious, we are energy efficient (for pretend).

We already have bees. I just need to paint the hives in beautiful colors.
Oh and get twenty-seven more.

So that's what I dream of. When I'm not imagining we live in a perfect, tiny condominium perched over a bookstore/bakery in the heart of Paris. 



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Wallpapered Stair Risers

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Post edit...if you are here looking for a how to on wallpapering stair risers, I finally did mine and you can read how here! It turned out be-you-ti-full :-)

 For my next trick, I mean project, I'm hoping to really update our entryway. I've been messing with it forever, but now that we've bought the Ranch I'm willing to put in some real elbow grease (money, as always, is questionable).

 The space is pretty small, but since it's the first thing you see when you come into our home I'm hoping to give it a little more pizzazz.   

 Here's how the stairs look now.

One of the things I'd love to try is painting the risers, or maybe using wallpaper on them.
I started out looking at chevron patterns, like this:
www.homedepot.com
And then I saw this:
via
It turns out this is actually wallpaper. Beautiful, no? I plan to paint the walls a moody grey which makes me like this picture, also done with wallpaper:
Via
But I want walls that are a darker grey, and a pattern that is a softer yellow. What do you think of these two wallpapers that I found on the Home Depot website?
OR
I kind of love them both, but the floral costs $45 a roll and the geometric print is $86 so there's that. I think the geometric is more on trend with decorating right now, but the floral might fit in well with our this old house vibe?

Anyone done any wallpaper projects, by the way? Paint and me are best friends, but the only thing I've done with wallpaper is take it down. I actually have no idea how hard this plan might be.

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The (Almost) Finishing Porch Touches

Monday, September 10, 2012

I'm thinking another post about our house painting project may be kind of overkill, but I'm putting up the porch pictures just the same because it is the best part. If you've painted a whole house yourself then you know what I mean, it's the little details that finally make it look good.

 If you want to follow the process, here are links to the other posts.

So here it is.
I so love a red door. The little detail I love the most is the hook for dry cleaning we hung on the inside of the lattice on the right. Hooray, no more dry cleaning sliding off the bench and getting walked on by the dog...not that that ever happens here.
I also like the bench painted black. I started out painting it with the orange/red we used on the shutters.


But after moving it on and off the porch mid-paint we decided all black would be better.

Now, even though we have more windows to trim, I'll try to resist talking about it here. Good times though, right?

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House Paint Update

Sunday, September 9, 2012

I tried to be fresh and modern, I really did, but the trim paint colors that won are black and red. I guess I'm just a traditional girl at heart, and after painting the green I kept coming back (like Leslie and Linda recommended) to the craftsman colors. 

Let me refresh your memory, here is the house before we started painting.
And one more time now that Marc and I have agreed on trim colors.
We kind of ruined the plants that were in the planter box under that front window with our ladders and spraying and stomping and whatnot. I'm still trying to figure out what to plant. Maybe some boxwood as a nod to our time in Virginia?
We also ruined those metal awnings over the windows. We couldn't get them down so we could spray until we turned into the hulk, and I guess that makes me She-hulk, to tear them apart and throw them off the roof. Now we kind of regret it but at the time it seemed like a good idea. Wonder twin powers, activate!
Katie and I took that down with a bow saw. Go girls! OOPS,  just in, Phallic is spelled Phallic.  What a funny phallic word.
I'll put up the pictures of the front porch tomorrow. Right now Marc is bugging me to come cut his hair. (That link has a really bad picture of Marc; sorry hon.)
And before you ask if we're all done, let me share this little gem with you.

 It's franken-window and we will never be done.  Thanks for all your input, it was super fun hearing your opinions!

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A Floor With Layers

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Since we bought Springbrook Ranch Marc and I have had such renovation fever. Unfortunately we don't have the funding to support all of our ambitions. So sad. But last weekend we couldn't stand it. We were laying in bed on Saturday morning reveling in the fact that no children were up yet when Marc rolled towards me and asked, "Want to take up the kitchen floor?" "Absolutely!" I said. Spontaneous demolition is so my idea of fun!


We decided to start out in the little hallway off the kitchen so we could sort of see what was under there without making too big of a commitment. It turns out there was A Lot under there, under the current linoleum was another layer of linoleum that looks like fake bricks, then a layer of stained plywood, and finally the unfinished, paint splattered wood floor. My floor, like an ogre, has layers.


We kept asking each other "Why did they do this?" It makes me wonder what people will say about my decorating decisions years from now. Will some young homeowner be moaning, "Why did they take down ALL the wallpaper?" 


We thought for a minute about trying to salvage the stained plywood, but the brick linoleum was stuck to it with tar and we couldn't get it clean with mineral spirits or a blow dryer (both tips I found on the internet). It turns out the only option was a double team crow bar attack. It was sweaty work, but super fun.




Here's Marc's booty in action! It turns out that the flooring is not a continuation of the lovely oak floors in the rest of our house, that was disappointing for a minute but then I remembered all of the beautiful painted wood floors I've been seeing on the internet. I told Marc we should try that instead of refinishing and he is all for it. Yay. More fun for the whole family!


I REALLY like this yellow patterned floor.
Photo from Things That Inspire
Marc isn't totally sure about the big yellowness. He likes this one.
Photo from Things That Inspire
And we both love this shiny green one.


I've been reading up on how to do this and am really excited to go for it. We are painting the house next week though and it is a huge job, the current paint is in pretty bad shape. Still, stay tuned, hopefully the kitchen will be our next project.

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Turkey Lurkey

Friday, May 11, 2012

 Another thing I like about our house is that we have wild turkeys. It is pretty funny to hear them gobbling up a fuss out there.


Of course our dog goes crazy. A couple of times he has almost caught one, but it turns out turkeys can fly. The very best part about the turkeys is that Marc can stand outside and do his extremely realistic turkey call/song/cry and when he does the turkeys all gobble back at him.  


You can't pay to see something that great.


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Happy Home Owners

Thursday, May 10, 2012



We bought our house. I am so happy.I love Springbrook Ranch and I have learned serious appreciation for many a previously unnoticed blessing by living here. In The Book of Mormon it says, "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things," and in the Doctrine and Covenants (additional Mormon scripture) Eve says, "It is better for us to pass through sorrow, that we may know the good from the evil."


Yep, it is a true principle. Just think, if we hadn't lived for three years in a house that was for sale I would never have felt the tremendous joy I now feel knowing that NO ONE can call me to let me know they are coming in an hour to poke through the dirty secrets of my house otherwise known as the garage and laundry room.  
This is the mini orchard, two plum trees, two apricot and two apple.
And they can't make any stinking offers on it either leaving me frantically searching the internet for viable rental options that keep our kids in the same schools. Because we own it! And it is MY big project now! Ha!


Living here has also taught me to be happy when my kitchen sink has hot AND cold water, to feel satisfaction when I cook a meal with only two burners on the stove, to be grateful that I have my own room that I don't share with a nine year old daughter, and to absolutely love the cool California nights that blow through that room and allow me to sleep even though we don't have air conditioning.


Yes, Springbrook Ranch needs a lot of TLC, but I am dying to get to it.  After holding back on home projects for so long it will be fun to start putting all the things I have imagined into practice! Marc is so excited. I am not just saying that. Actually, we both agree that working on making our space beautiful feels like the rhythm of our life and we look forward to getting back into it. He just worries that I'm going to spend too much money.  When have I ever done that anyway? Luckily, there are a lot of things we can do that are inexpensive but will make a big difference in how the home looks, feels, and functions.  I get a big thrill out of making a beautiful improvement using more time, creativity and elbow grease than money.


And I'm excited to start sharing them here too.  




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