Baxter turned 5 on Saturday.
We gave him our best helicopter tail. (This video isn’t quite the best example, but it gives you an idea of his very special wiggles and wags).
We went for a hike with his furry friends.
He got lots of scratches from cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas.
And we didn’t laugh at him too much when he got ice cream in his eyebrows.
Happy birthday to our best dude.
To kick off the “My Favourite Tool” series, I’m pleased to welcome Sarah in Illinois back to the blog.
When I tried to think of my favorite tool, my first thought was my cordless drill/driver. But that is not necessarily my favorite, it is really just the one I use the most. So I thought of our wood shop and what tool I really enjoy, and I decided it would be the compound miter saw.
A few years ago Steve and I decided we could use a compound miter to install some baseboard. So we went to one of those discount tool stores that buys by the pallet and is known for low prices but also low quality. We bought a very cheap saw, and it got us by for a while.
But Steve started dabbling in cabinet making, and we discovered that you truly get what you pay for. Steve was so frustrated with trying to make precise cuts for the corners on the cabinet and announced that we were buying a nice saw. In fact, I am surprised I didn’t find our old saw out in the driveway when I got home! Ha!
We did a little research and decided on this one:
We are very happy with our decision. The quality of our cuts improved greatly. We have used it to cut baseboard, crown molding, door and window trim and laminate flooring. Steve has been so happy with it when making cabinets. I feel so comfortable using it for almost every cut I need.
We are still debating the design we want to use for the doors so that is why they are all open right now. I am so proud of his craftsmanship.
We have a long list of tools that we want to add to our line up (a Kreg Jig is the first one that comes to mind), but the compound miter saw has to be our best purchase so far.
I think I am supposed to say that I am in no way sponsored for this post, which I am not. But if Hitachi wants to contact us, Steve will volunteer to sing its praises! He loves that brand of tools! 😉
Thanks, Sarah. I’m feeling very justified in including a quality compound mitre saw on my wish list! If you want to keep up with what Sarah and Steve–and their saw–are up to, follow Sarah on Instagram. And if you missed Sarah’s last post, here’s her introduction.
Stay tuned later this month. More “My Favourite Tools” entries are coming up.
Last year, I finally bought myself an official carpenter’s square (also known as a speed square). Now to most people, I’m sure this doesn’t seem like a big deal. Once I had it in my toolbox, though, I felt so much more official. Marking right angles and 45 degree angles is a piece of cake. I can even do more official carpenter-y things if I am so inclined.
I’ve had an informal tool wishlist bumping around in my head for awhile. It was time to finally write it down (especially since September is my birthday month–ahem, family). I thought the blog would be a good place to share it–and get input from all of you.
In fact, I’ve also reached out to a few other bloggers and asked them to share their favourite tools. So over the next few weeks, you’re going to get to hear from some other people, see some inspiring projects and maybe even find some tools to add to your own wishlist.
Some of the items on my list are like the carpenter’s square–relatively minor and decently attainable. Other things are a little more–shall we say–involved (as in I’ll need to save up for a little while).
I’d really love to hear your suggestions and feedback. What are your favourite tools? Any can’t live without gadgets? What should I add to my list?
Simple tools
Power tools
Heavy duty tools (and tractor attachments)
Matt and I are fortunate that most times that we need a tool, we’re usually able to borrow it from one of our Dads (wood splitter, air compressor, nailer, hammer drill, tile saw, sturdy extension ladder).
Over the years, our Dads have also passed along a lot of their tools to us (skillsaw, table saw, socket set, drywall tools). Of course, we’ve also bought some of our own equipment too (sander, Kreg jig, quality drill, favourite hammer, chainsaw, tractor–and all of its attachment$). It would just be a bit handier to have some of our own tools on hand.
What’s on your tool wishlist? Any tools that you’ve bought, but wish you hadn’t? For those tractor owners out there, I’m really interested to hear what’s your favourite attachment?
And be sure to tune in for more inspiration from other bloggers coming up.
The meadow behind the barn has popped out in a mass of wild flowers.
Baxter and I enjoy walking the path that Matt keeps mowed around the edge of the field. With the flowers blooming, the air is filled with the sound of buzzing bees.
Now if only we could find their honey… I love comb honey.
Matt and I have talked about adding hives to the farm. That’s definitely a someday project though. For now I’ll enjoy the fields and the flowers and the bees and the wonderful walks.
Do you have wildflowers blooming at your place? What’s your favourite walk in your neighbourhood? Do you have bees flying around? Who else is a honey fan?
We’ve crossed an important milestone in the garden. We are now fully enclosed. I finally built the gate last weekend.
The first step, and the most time consuming part of this project, was to plumb my posts. The fence posts were anything but straight. They were meant to be fence posts, not gate posts. You might recall that this only became the gate when my nephew and I cut through the fence rails.
I found two 4x4s and ripped them down for each post. They were attached to the posts with the longest screws I could find. Not too difficult. Just fiddly, but worth it so that I could build a rectangle gate rather than a trapezoid or parallelogram.
So I drew up my plans and got to the easiest part of this project, the gate itself.
I made the outside frame, added a centre brace and tested the fit. It was too wide. I knew my tape was sagging when I measured the opening, but I thought I’d compensated enough. Ugh. Baxter was very concerned.
I unscrewed one end and trimmed off an inch, and that fixed the problem. This still wasn’t a difficult project. I squared the gate and added my diagonals.
Our usual chainlink mesh adds some extra stability to keep everything tight and square. We had both 4 foot and 5 foot chainlink on hand. I picked the 5 foot because I wanted it to run all the way from top to bottom. I’ll borrow my FIL’s heavy duty wire cutters and clip off the excess height. (Allow me to brag a bit by pointing out our extremely tall tomato plant towering over the mesh).
Even though these are just 2x4s, the gate is pretty heavy–a factor of being 7 feet wide and nearly 5 feet tall. I’m considering adding a little wheel on the underside so that we don’t have to muscle it all the way open and closed. I just don’t want the wheel to be too tall because I don’t want much of a gap between the gate and the brick threshold I put in. As well, if the wheel ends up tangled in the grass, it’s not going to be much help. I may end up with just a handle of some kind to make the gate easier to lift.
While I’m still sorting out these details, the gate is just propped in place. The other details I’m trying to sort out are the best hinge solution. Between the narrow 2x4s of the gate, the tapered 4x4s of the posts and the excessive weight of the gate, there isn’t a clear hinge choice. I really value Home Depot’s easy return policy in this situation. I can buy pretty much every option and bring them home to see what will work best. (And I did buy a handle and small caster as well).
Hinged, handled, wheeled or not, the gate is still doing its job.
And the vegetable garden is continuing to take shape.
What have you built this week? Have you ever constructed a gate? Any thoughts on whether the wheel will work? How long do you think it’ll take for the new wood to weather so that it matches our fence?
Searching for a spot to put the bouquet of very tall gladiolas that my Mom brought to the farm, I eventually found my way to the piano in the dining room. With the pretty flowers in place, I took the opportunity to photograph this piano, which joined our family about a year ago.
It’s a new addition to Matt’s and my little family, but not to Matt’s extended family. It’s his Grandma’s piano. This picture shows her at the piano with Matt’s two older brothers.
I played piano for many years, eventually earning my Grade 8 from the Royal Conservatory. My parents bought an electric piano for my sisters and me. A few years ago, they gave Matt and me the piano, which I really appreciated after not having a piano in my life for many years. However, I’ve always wanted a “real” piano. There’s something about wood and wires that was important to me.
Last summer, Matt’s aunt gave us his Grandma’s piano. I don’t play that often anymore–and when I do, my fingers are so rusty that I spend most of my time on scales, chords and arpeggios–but I’m still thrilled to have a “real” piano and especially one with family heritage.
The arrival of this instrument led to a bit of a game of musical pianos in our house.
My childhood piano moved to the basement. Its ability to play songs on its own and various other instruments aside from just piano is always a hit when the nephews come to visit.
We also had a third piano–the one that came with the house. This piano has lived in the cold cellar since we did the basement reno. It was a monster–big, heavy, beat-up and badly out-of-tune. Even if we could have lifted it, it wouldn’t have fit up the stairs. But I was adamant about keeping it because it was my “real” piano.
Well, once Mama’s piano arrived at the farm, I gave Matt the green light to get rid of the squatter piano.
(Piano aficionados may want to skip the next part).
The piano came out of the basement in relatively small pieces. The harp was still a monster to haul up the basement stairs. Matt did most of the work dismantling and evicting the piano. We have to extend thanks to my Dad, who dropped in for a visit and ended up swinging the sledgehammer and helping to carry the harp up the stairs. Then Matt’s Dad came by with his truck and helped Matt take the harp to the local charitable metal donation bin.
I did keep one piece of the old piano: this key, which now sits on top of Matt’s Grandma’s piano.
On the back side of this key, there’s a very faint signature. I think it says Ernest Pare Feniseur. I’ve type the name into Google, but haven’t turned up any results.
Decorating the rest of the top of the piano, I have our valiantly persevering cacti, a metronome that we found in the house, my Mom’s gladiolas in my grandmother’s vase, Matt’s grandmother’s metronome and two candlesticks turned by my Dad (topped with candles that were burned at our wedding). Yes, I’m just a wee bit sentimental.
Together, they all make a pretty special corner of the house.
Who else played piano growing up? Do you still play? Anyone else have a piano at their house?
The field across the road has been in grain this year for the first time since we moved to the farm. Saturday, a combine was hard at work harvesting the crop.
I’m pleased to introduce Sarah, also known as Sarah In Illinois. Sarah is a long time reader and commenter on the blog. Over the years we’ve exchanged a few emails and gotten to know each other a bit. It seemed like Sarah and I were living similar lives in a lot of ways, so I asked her if she’d like to share some of her story here. Sarah doesn’t have a blog of her own, so I’m happy to turn mine over to her today.
Hi! My name is Sarah, and I am so excited to stop in and share with you. You may have seen me leave comments here as “Sarah In Illinois.” When Julia asked me if I was interested in an occasional guest post, I was flattered and honored. I hope my contribution to this site will be interesting to read!
I really enjoy reading everyday life/farm living blogs and I think it stems from having pen pals when I was in elementary school. I loved to read how everyday things were done differently in other countries or even in other areas of the US, and I view blogs as a modern version of a pen pal.
Steve and I
A little about myself: I am in my late 30s. I have always lived near small towns in rural Illinois. In fact the population of my current town is less than 1,200. I am engaged to my boyfriend of over 6 years, Steve. Steve sells seed, farms for another person and more recently he started farming for us.
He has 14 year old twins that are often with us, and our pets include a German Shepherd, a Chocolate Lab, a barn cat and 3 hermit crabs! Both of our sets of parents and my brother live less than 15 miles from us and his siblings and our extended families live not much further away than that!
Completely peaceful rural living!
I attended college and received a bachelor’s degree in construction management and a minor in architectural design. I chose that area of study because I love old houses, but I never went to work in that field. My parents owned the automotive parts store where I worked growing up, and when they sold it I continued to work for the current owner. So my love of old homes is really just a hobby, at least for now.
Until a couple years ago I lived alone in a huge old farm house. There was never a shortage of projects there and with my dad’s help I learned so much about home renovations hands on. After 10 years, I began to realize that the house was really too large for me both physically and financially. And it was about that time Steve and I decided we were ready to move in together, so I said goodbye to my farm house and moved in with Steve.
Our current house is smaller, but of course there is a long list of projects we want to accomplish there too! Steve and I have tackled projects together with nothing more than a quick look on YouTube and a run to the home improvement store. We have replaced windows, tiled floors, built walls, textured walls (often called knock down) and our next project, that we plan to do all on our own, is a two room addition!
Knock down is so, so messy!
When I am not at work or working on home projects, I like to bowl in a league, read self-help and dystopian fiction, watch TV with Steve (thank goodness for DVR!), paint with acrylics, feed and watch hummingbirds, and run. This year I decided to try to make healthier decisions and so I started training and ran my first 5K in July!
My first 5k!
I plan to share some of our projects in the house, in the yard and in the garden in future posts. Like Julia and Matt, we love our pets like family members so I am sure they will make an appearance occasionally.
I hope you enjoy my posts and if you have any questions or suggestions, you can email me at tharpsarah77@hotmail.com. You can also follow me on Instagram: sarah_in_illinois.
Thanks so much, Sarah! I had pen pals growing up too, but it’s been awhile. And I don’t think I ever had a pen pal in Illinois. It’s great to learn about your life there. Country living, DIY home reno, pets, running, living close to family, dystopian fiction… I feel like we could be the same person (except for the hermit crabs, of course)!
I mentioned last week that we had some issues with the cold water tap in our main bathroom. I started to think that the solution might be a bathroom reno.
I really don’t want to do anything to this bathroom—including fixing the taps—until I can do everything.
And by everything I mean go back to the studs and start over.
The layout of the bathroom is decent: big linen closet, large vanity with good storage, long counter and double sink. Plus the basics: tub-shower combo, toilet, window.
However, everything is old, chipped, discoloured, beat up–or, in the case of the countertop, Care-Bear-coloured.
We were able to get the tap working again, so we’re not hauling out the sledgehammers any time soon (yay for the wallet, boo for my bathroom beauty). To cheer me up, I dove into my Pinterest board and pulled out some inspiration to share with you. I also need your input on a couple of areas where I’m not sure what to do.
For general inspiration, I really like what Jenna Sue did to her guest bathroom in the most recent One Room Challenge. It’s a clean, country space with lots of personality. I probably want something a bit brighter (more white), but I love the overall feel of her space.
Source: Jenna Sue Design
So let’s dive into my not-so-loved space, okay?
My plan is to leave the fixtures in the same places (likely–I’ll talk about what might change below).
I want a new vanity (I’ll stick with white) with lots of drawers for storage and a beautiful white/light/natural coloured countertop. Undermount sinks (for function) with shiny retro look faucets (for form).
I like how this vanity squeezes in another drawer below the sink. Source: One Week Bath
Above the vanity, what do you think would work best for a mirror? We have a pretty big bathroom, but I like how the sheet mirror makes it feel even bigger. I’ve seen some cool ideas to get the space-expanding effect of the sheet mirror but in a little more stylish fashion. Or should I just go with two big wood framed mirrors? (That would let me do some fun wall-mounted sconces).
Source: This Old House
I’ll break up all the white with a beautiful solid wood built-in floor-to-ceiling linen closet. Again, I want lots of drawers, but I’ll probably do glass doors on the upper half. I do okay at keeping the linen closet tidy, but there are always those mismatched sheets, shampoo bottles or tissue boxes that aren’t as aesthetically pleasing to have on display.
Sources: Maple and Magnolia (left), Redbud Construction Services (right)
My biggest question is whether I should try to separate the tub and shower. It would be a bit of a squeeze to fit everything in, but we could probably do it. Is a country style claw foot tub worth it? If we keep the tub and shower together, how would you get a country feel?
With the high iron content in our water (even after it runs through our filtration system) everything turns orange very quickly. I’d rather not have tonnes of grout to clean, but one of those acrylic monsters doesn’t say “farm” to me. I also don’t love getting up close and personal with a shower curtain. What would you do?
Source: A Country Farmhouse
The floor is an area where I’m open to having a bit of fun. A patterned cement tile like Jenna Sue? A wood-look tile? Really retro with black and white?
I also like the idea of wood planks on the walls. We currently have fake paneling that’s been painted. It’s so stained, that no matter how many times I wipe it down I can still see where pictures hung in the past. I think real wood would be a step up. But would that be okay in a bathroom? I like a really hot shower, so I’m worried about how the steam will affect the wood.
Source: Apartment Therapy
Lighting is still TBD. I actually really like the cut glass swags that we have currently. In fact, you might remember I found a vintage light to match them. However, I’m not sure that they go with my vision for the new space. Do I just do pots and sconces?
Hmmm, I still have lots of things to sort out apparently. Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t have to dive into a full on reno.
What would you do with this space? What style is your dream bathroom? What fixtures are on your wishlist?
The benefit of using the old longe ring for the garden meant that we already had a fence. However, it was a beautiful sturdy weathered wood fence. Perfect for form, not so good for function when it comes to a garden.
The ring was used to exercise horses. Meaning anything smaller than a horse could fit through the fence.
Matt and I decided to add chainlink to keep the bunnies and other hungry creatures away from our garden.
I had collected a few rolls of chainlink from the ends of various people’s driveways, but the ring is so big that I had to buy three more rolls. So this project was definitely the most expensive part of the garden so far coming in at nearly $300.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to buy posts or anything else besides staples. We made use of the wood fence and stapled the chainlink to the existing posts.
Lesson learned, we should have thought a bit more about who does what.
I stretched the fence, and Matt hammered the staples. I have less muscle than Matt, so stretching the fence was hard for me. Matt has bigger fingers than me, so he hammered his fingers a lot while he was holding the staples between the links of the fence.
Matt wasn’t going to give in though. There was no way he was switching roles. So we worked our way around the garden taking breaks to hammer the ground in frustration or slap mosquitoes who just won’t go away this summer.
When we reached the end of a roll, we joined it to the next section by weaving in a single strand of fencing. Just twist, twist, twist until the wire reaches the bottom. (To separate a section of fence, you just reverse the process and untwist one piece of wire. Your fence will easily split in two.)
Eventually, we got a rhythm. A lot of it consisted of us asking each other, “Ready?” And then, “Hold it, woman!”
Our marriage survived, and our garden is fenced.
Fenced, but not gated. We bought wood for the gate last week but haven’t built it yet. So we are still welcoming the hungry creatures–horse-sized and smaller–to our garden.
The thing that I like about the fence is that the chainlink is pretty much invisible, so we still have the aesthetic qualities of the wood fence that I fell in love with from the start.
And to be honest, our garden isn’t really under threat from the local wildlife. Our beans were munched shortly after they sprouted, but the rest of their gardenmates have survived… and thrived. In fact, I think Matt would be happy if a hungry hoard descended on the zucchini.
Home on 129 Acres 