Chop chop

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

This spring, as I tidied up the woodpile after our first winter with a working fireplace, I did a very scientific calculation of how much wood we would need to stockpile for the next season.

We had most of two rows of firewood left after about three months of having fires every night. We planned to have fires every night again, but we’d be starting much earlier this year than last year (given that the fireplace wasn’t finished until Christmas last year).

I figured three complete rows of wood would do.

When a tree came down in the big field, that was our sign that it was firewood time.

Matt’s Dad arrived with his chainsaw, and he and Matt went to work. In an afternoon, they cut the fallen tree into lengths, and trailered it back to the house.

After their afternoon of work, it was clear that the downed tree was just one trunk out of four. All of the trunks were dead, so we decided it was best to take them all down.

The following weekend, Matt’s Dad was back. He brought three chainsaws and his splitter this time.

We went with our usual division of labour: Matt and his Dad headed out for the tree, and I started up the splitter.

After I had split the first two loads, Bax and I headed out to the field to check on the progress. The remaining three trunks were down, and one trailer was full.

We filled it again (and added a puppy) and filled Matt’s Dad’s trailer (he didn’t get a puppy, but his extra deep trailer took basically a double load of wood).

Back at the house, Matt and I finished splitting and stacking. I got my triple row of firewood.

And then some.

Good thing, because fireplace season has started earlier this year. We’ve already had a couple of fires, which are so, so nice… although I’ve not photographed them (#bloggerfail). I am so glad we finally have a fireplace to enjoy this fall.

Have you done any tree clean-up at your house? Who else is enjoying fall fires? Have you put up firewood this season?

Getting my act together

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

A month ago, I said it was time to get my act together, and I posted my fall to-do list.

I’m most productive when I post regular updates to hold myself accountable, so today is about sharing where I’m at in getting ready for winter.

And I am pleased to report that I’m getting my act together.

The vegetable garden

Hang the gate
Edge the garden
Put in raised beds
Spread manure

Okay. Perhaps this isn’t the best way to start. Beyond the harvest and clearing out the dead plants, I haven’t spent much time in the garden. My plan is to make the garden my focus for November.

The bird feeder

Reattach feeder bracket – My cousin who made the birdfeeder post for us originally very kindly bolted the top bracket back into place.
Install a sleeve for the post – I put a section of pipe in the ground so that the post can just slide into place, no hammering required.

I restocked our seed supply last week, and we have a steady stream of blue jays, chickadees, juncos and a whole bunch of other birds I can’t identify visiting the feeder every day.

Firewood

Tidy up the trees – Matt and his Dad went to town.
Put up another row of firewood – As Matt and his Dad cut, I split and stacked, and we are set.

More details about our latest lumberjacking episode will be coming in a future post, but for now gaze upon our woodpiles.

Get Wiley ready for winter

Change the oil – My handy cousin (he of the birdfeeder) changed the oil for us.
Check the battery contacts – My handy cousin also made us a little sleeve to tighten up the battery clasp, and Wiley’s starting so smoothly now.
Remove the mower deck – Done. There will be no more grass cutting this year.

The house

Take off the screens
Clean the heat pump filter — Done
Clean out the gutters — Matt’s done this twice in October, and he’ll probably have to do it at least once more.
Turn off the outdoor water
Annual service and filter replacement on indoor water system — A new to-do

The house is another area where we’ve not done a whole lot. What does that say about me that I’m putting less time into the roof over my head as opposed to the property around my house? Thankfully, Matt’s on it.

Anyways, three categories out of five are completely done. That’s pretty good. Now to keep the productivity coming before winter comes.

How are you doing on your pre-winter to-do list so far?

Spooky Hallowe’en mantel

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

As cute as the pumpkins were on the fireplace mantel, I had a different idea for Hallowe’en decorations.

It’s a little bit haunted forest with all of the twisty branches.

And it’s a lot haunted forest with my collection of skulls.

I had the idea for a little while, but it really came together when Matt’s Mom brought home these silver candlesticks for me. They used to be Matt’s grandmother’s (the same grandma that had the piano). Their tarnished finish was perfect (although I’m sure not up to Mama’s standards–and I’m sure she never thought they’d be displayed with skulls either).

It looks extra spooky with the candles lit (although it doesn’t translate in pictures very well).

Happy Hallowe’en, everybody.

How are you celebrating? Have you decorated for Hallowe’en? What’s your preferred Hallowe’en style: spooky ghouls or cute pumpkins? Does anyone else have a creepy collection?

Fall mantel

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

There have been some beautiful fall home tours going around the blogosphere recently. I’ve held off on bringing fall inside, trying to hang onto summer just a little bit longer. However, now that it’s October, I can’t deny that fall is here.

This is our first fall having a working fireplace, so that’s where I started my decor. Behold the fall mantel.

The black lantern, wooden sphere tealight holders and antlers have become staples on the mantel. For fall, I added two wooden candlesticks that my Dad made and a whole bunch of pumpkins.

These 10 pumpkins are probably only about half of what the garden has produced this year. From what I’ve read, squash (and pumpkins) need to cure in a warm-ish place before they’re stored for the winter. So this display is about both form and function. (And yes, that’s the Blue Jays game on the TV in the background. Summer continues even into October. Go Jays!)

I love the barn beam mantel so much. The wood against the stone is beautiful. Now with the pops or orange and black it feels right for fall.

The only thing we have yet to do to fully embrace fall is light the fire.

How are you decorating for fall? Have you had a fire at your house yet? Did anyone else grow your own pumpkins? Any suggestions of what to make with the pumpkins (besides jack o’ lanterns)? How about tips to store the pumpkins? Who else is watching the baseball? Let’s hear it for the Jays!

Not quite a spring mantel

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Despite the snow flurries that fell thick enough to coat the ground this weekend, I’m pretty sure it’s spring. Easter was early this year, but not that early, right?

It seemed like it was time to update the mantel for spring. We still light the fire most nights, but the snowshoes on the mantel seemed to be a bit out of season.

For me, styling a mantel is like styling a bookshelf–challenging.

I replaced the snowshoes with some green glass bottles. I separated the pair of antlers and spread out the trio of spherical tealight holders. But I’m not sure it’s working for me.

I’ve learned I really like the pop of black from the lantern–and the glow of the candle at night–but I’m wondering if maybe I should do without it for the spring.

The glass bottles seem a little small to me. And I think their watery blue-green tone says summer more than spring.

I’d love your input and advice on what you’d do. Here are your constraints:

The stone needs to be the main feature of the fireplace. That means no covering it up with a huge painting or mirror, although something smaller might be acceptable.
I want balance, but I don’t want symmetry. Matching topiaries at either end of the mantel with a perfectly centred hurricane are not me.
Bigger is better when it comes to tchotchkes. The fireplace is 8 feet wide and 9 1/2 feet tall and close to 4 feet deep. It’s a monolith. From the mantel to the lowest point of the ceiling is 40 inches. The accessories need to be equally large scale so they don’t get lost.
I’m cheap, so there’s no way I’m spending much money on decor, especially if it’s going to change seasonally.

This post from Kim at Tidbits and Twine has an easy formula for styling a mantel. I particularly like her layers of anchor, weight and filler. However, I’d have to put my anchor off centre. 🙂

Here are some of the things I’m thinking of:

Something living (or more likely, given my luck with plants, a decent replica of a living thing)
Large crocks or bottles (or urns or tarnished trophies?)
Candles or lanterns of some kind (maybe an oil lamp or a candelabra could be fun)
Some appropriately “farmy” accessories (wagon wheel hub, grindstone, antlers)
Something appropriately seasonal (is there something that says spring besides the obvious tulips and hyacinths?)
Art (even though I don’t want a central painting, a smaller scale painting or sculpture or mirror might be nice)

This picture speaks to me. Even though the fireplace is a completely different style from ours, are there some lessons I can apply?

Source: Verdigris Vie

Help me bring spring inside, even if it hasn’t arrived outside yet. What are your styling secrets for mantels? What accessories would you use?

Sprout

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I’ve had a post sitting in my draft folder since December. Back when we were deep in the fireplace redo, I wanted to think about something prettier. So I wrote about styling the mantel. In that post, I listed some of the things I was thinking of for decor.

At the top of the list was something living (or more likely, given my luck with plants, a decent replica of a living thing).

Well, it turns out that I may not be able to keep plants alive when I want to, but the mantel is taking care of the something living all on its own.

In the joint between the two barn beams, a little plant has sprouted. I thought it was just a cobweb, so I “picked” it before I realized what it was.

The barn beams had been laying outside for who knows how long. There are some worm holes, some soft spots and, obviously, some seeds. The indoor climate is apparently just what this little sprout was looking for.

Not quite what I had in mind when it came to mantel decor, though.

Farmhouse fieldstone fireplace

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

There’s lots of discussion these days about adding character to our houses. I believe a home should reflect both the people that live there and its setting. For me, this is one of the misses with our house. Our ranch-style bungalow looks like it could be in any neighbourhood from the 1970s. Inside and out, it doesn’t reflect its farm setting. So my mission since moving here has been to inject a little more country into the house.

Just before Christmas, the living room got a huge (literally) injection of country character with our new stone fireplace.

Whew. That’s a lot of philosophy for a fireplace. More pictures.

The fireplace is beautiful, safe and, best of all, it works.

In a time when people are painting and white-washing over brick, tiling and drywalling over surrounds, a huge stone monolith like this is not necessarily in style. However, for me, this is one of those timeless designs that is about the farm, not the trend.

The stone is Bluewater by Natural Stone Veneers. It’s real stone that’s been sliced to form “tiles” about 1 inch thick. You can order both corner pieces and flats. It’s a way to get the look of a stone fireplace for much less cost and much less labour. In fact, as my mason was doing the stone, he commented how close the Bluewater was to the fieldstone that’s found naturally in this area. Exactly what I was going for.

Just like real stone, the veneers are irregularly shaped. Our mason had great attention to detail in putting this stone together. Take a look at the upper half of the fireplace near the centre. See the diamond-shaped stone? He saw the special shape of this stone and worked to feature it in the middle. He chose the stone directly below the diamond specifically because of how its notch fit the bottom of the diamond.

The mantel is barn beams from our own farm that we had milled at a local sawmill. We used two beams sandwiched together to get the depth we wanted. They’re finished with three coats of clear polyurethane.

The woodbox was a mid-project addition. This is why it’s important to be present during renovations like this. As he was building the fireplace, my mason said, “You have a lot of space here now that we’ve removed the chimneys for the decommissioned furnaces. Do you want a woodbox?”

I hadn’t even considered that possibility, and now I can’t imagine the fireplace without it. It’s really handy to have a place to store extra wood, but it also makes really nice visual. This is the side of the fireplace that faces the kitchen. As much as I love the stone, the woodbox breaks up the monolith and makes the view much more interesting.

The wood bucket is an old washtub that Matt and I bought at an antique store several years ago. I take the whole bucket outside, fill it with wood and bring it back inside–really heavy, but a really easy way to bring a big load of wood inside in only one trip.

Initially, I had a very, very plain rectangular fireplace screen in mind. However, since having this one, I find I like the contrast of the arched top with all of the other straight lines we have going on. It’s simple to move the screen to the side when I need to tend the fire. Surprisingly, the handles never get hot.

The grate is from my grandmother’s house. It sat outside at my parents’ house for years until my Dad brought it up to the farm one day last month. It fits as though it was made for the fireplace–just another example of how things work out the way they’re meant to.

We’ve had the fireplace for less than a month and already it’s been well-used. I’ve split wood, cleaned out the ashes and had lots and lots of fires. Last week temperatures were in the -20s. It was so nice to come home from work, light a fire and have dinner in front of the warm glow.

For me, nothing beats a real wood fire. In its function, as well as its fieldstone facade, it’s a perfect fit for our country farmhouse.

And just to remember how far we’ve come, here’s the full 14-day project:

Soooooo much better.

Tips for renovating with your dog

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Hello everyone. Holidays are officially over and it’s back to the regular routine.

Except, that is, for today’s blog. I have a different type of post for you.

As you know, before Christmas we redid the fireplace at our house. Today isn’t the full project post, but that’s coming, I promise.

As part of the renovation we had to make some special considerations for Baxter. Today, I’m sharing some of my tips for renovating with a dog over at ThatMutt.com.

Baxter and I would both appreciate it if you’d click over there to read today’s post.

And for That Mutt readers who are dropping in, welcome. My husband and I live on a 129-acre farm in Ontario, Canada. I blog about our adventures in country-living and DIY renovating, which of course includes our favourite furry fellow, our dog Baxter.

Here’s some links to help you get to know us:

More posts featuring Baxter
All of the fireplace posts (except for the final reveal. You’ll have to come back again if you want that one 🙂 )
Top posts of 2014

Thanks, Lindsay, for featuring Baxter and my reno tips.

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon will be here.

And yes, we actually have a working chimney and a way for St. Nick to enter for the very first time.

A full fireplace post will come in the new year.

For now, I want to say thank you all for reading. Have a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy the holidays.

Fireplace update – Week 2

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Work on the fireplace continues. Our mason originally expected this to be a one-week project, maybe a day or two over. But it turns out our fireplace is large. After two weeks of 9+ hour days, the fireplace is not yet done. But we’ve come a long way.

Last week, the fireplace looked like this.

Now, it looks like this.

You heard a little bit about the hearth stone on Friday. Before I get into the other activities from the week, Baxter has a video to share with you about carrying in the slab.

A few other things happened before we were ready for the hearth. First, the chimney went up both inside and out. As you may recall, the old chimney was pretty much the whole reason for this redo. It’s surprisingly thrilling to have a big, solid, proper chimney. My Dad and I still have a bit of flashing to do, hence all of the wrapping.

The cinder block rough-in was completed, and then the firebox was constructed. That’s what our mason was working on in this photo that you saw on Friday where he’s sitting inside the fireplace.

The second most exciting part of the week was installing the mantel. When he was building the structure of the fireplace, our mason installed four pieces of rebar. The bars went back into the block about 2 feet and were securely cemented in place. They stuck out on the face of the fireplace by about 1 foot.

My Dad and I drilled carefully placed holes on barn beams that matched up with the pieces of rebar, and then Matt and I slid the beams onto the bars. Voilà, mantel. Or half a mantel. This photo shows the first beam in place. The second beam goes on in front of this one and hides the ends of the rods.

This weekend, I gave the mantel a few coats of clear varathane to protect it and bring out the quality of the wood a little bit more. I’m giddy over this mantel. The rough barn wood is just so beautiful.

If the mantel was the second most exciting, what was the first, you ask? Absolutely the most exciting development of this whole project was seeing the face stone going on. I picked the stone fairly quickly, but then I doubted myself for the past three weeks. Had I picked the right stone? Would it look good in our house? Would I like it once it was installed? Should I have made more effort to source other options?

Well, I love the stone. It’s exactly what I was envisioning. Rough field stone that looks like it could have come from our own farm.

Here’s another montage of how the fireplace has progressed from the start up to now.

We have at least a few days yet to go. By the end of the week, everything should be done (although I can’t promise the post-reno clean-up will be complete).