https://themodernredneck.blogspot.com/ life changes. Mine sure has, and I am starting over.... but I loved writing this when I did it year ago.... so I plan on keeping this...I merged everything I could into this one blog.... come on over.
10/21/17
4/3/17
Spring has (sorta) sprung.....
I mean, it's 60 today....and it's gonna snow on Thursday. So, it's sorta here. We got out in the yard and raked the last of the leaves this weekend..... I have a HUGE pile of stuff on the front lawn just waiting for the Habitat for Humanity truck to arrive..... and we have less than 10 weeks left of school! Bring on summer!!!!
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| Even the dragon is out of hibernation! |
It's been a year. A year. I hang my head in shame......
I got a lot done though. We traveled this past year. A lot. We put up ship lap.... a lot of ship lap We bought things for our business. A lot of things. We sold a lot through our business. A lot. The boy is growing up.... a lot. We've bought two vintage trailers to work on this year.
Here are some pictures.... and I promise..... I want to make this my home and business sounding board.....so more posts.
we'll start with the new bathroom/laundry room. This is looking into the new bathroom. To the right is the toilet/sink...behind that wall by the black cabinet is a stand up shower. This is the Mr. and the boys bathroom...it's off the mudroom/laundry so it's the perfect place for dirty people to go into and get clean...without messing up the rest of the house!
Here are some pictures.... and I promise..... I want to make this my home and business sounding board.....so more posts.
we'll start with the new bathroom/laundry room. This is looking into the new bathroom. To the right is the toilet/sink...behind that wall by the black cabinet is a stand up shower. This is the Mr. and the boys bathroom...it's off the mudroom/laundry so it's the perfect place for dirty people to go into and get clean...without messing up the rest of the house!
This is the laundry room part of the room....
New walls. New ship lap. New ceiling. Old cabinets and rugs. The 9 behind the door is from my grandfathers gas station.
More soon. Like really soon. I pinky promise.
3/16/17
More and more shiplap
My little ranch is turning into a farmhouse. Honestly, there isn't much difference. I like the shiplap (always have...even WAY before Joanna....I'm from Texas ya know?). The shiplap in the dining room now gives that room some character. All that needs to be done now is a few pieces of trim...trim we don't currently have...so I took the final pictures anyway. We are finishing the trim this weekend..and building a shiplap wall in the bedroom..... so there will be more pictures next week (hopefully) ....
These are some before pictures...there have been MANY before pictures sadly... when I bought this house, this room was the living room....and it had tri colored shag carpet and the west wall was a wall of smoked mirrors.... so, there have been many, many changes in the past 13 years....
BEFORE
These are some before pictures...there have been MANY before pictures sadly... when I bought this house, this room was the living room....and it had tri colored shag carpet and the west wall was a wall of smoked mirrors.... so, there have been many, many changes in the past 13 years....
BEFORE
The picture below was when my Mr. built my current dining room table (reclaimed lumber and a very old cast iron base that was painted red) . That is the west wall and the north wall.
The picture below was what the room looked like before the shiplap. That's a 48 star flag... it now resides somewhere else. This is the East and South walls. The south wall is where you enter into the kitchen/tv room
SO now the AFTERS...
This is the west wall, from approx the same place as the first picture.
This is also the west wall, I traded my Dad a 1940's blue medicine cabinet for this Jelly cabinet. My Mr. and a friend of his made the steelhead sculpture for my birthday last year. I realized too late for this photo that the art on the right was too small.... I have since changed it out to a larger black and white block print....and yes, that's a box of Star Wars puzzles in the chair seat. ORIGINALS...don't judge me. The winters are LONG....
Below is the South wall. The map is from the 1930's, the table is a post office sorting table from the 50's.
This is the East wall. The buffet is marked "Detroit Industrial Furniture" and I have never come across another piece of it .
The only picture I don't have is of the North wall, and that's because it's boring. It's just a wall of windows with Grey drapes on it.... so there's that.
Anyway, this is what I was working on...now we're moving to the bedroom, and the living room.
onward and upward.
2/14/17
I must be out of my mind...
I'm prepping for a colonoscopy on Valentines Day... how....un romantic.
I hope everyone else has a fantastic day!
1/28/17
clothing, capsule wardrobes and hoarding.
I want to put this out there right now... I am not a hoarder. Not by any means. I do though, have a lot of things. Often, I wonder if I could pare those things down...and I do a lot of purging of un-used and unnecessary items on a regular basis.
About a year ago.... I started thinking and researching capsule wardrobes. You can take a peak at my pinterest site (link over on the right side!) and you will find a file loaded with pictures. I thought long and hard about if I had the ability to pare down to a capsule wardrobe... after all..I have over a hundred pair of shoes. Approximately the same number of handbags, and close to that number if not more actual items of clothing. I have a bedroom we made into my closet/dressing room. So, after thinking about it...I realized I could not do an actual capsule wardrobe...and that I honestly didn't even really want to. I chose another path.
About 6 months ago, I decided I wouldn't buy any new clothing.... I would ONLY buy clothing second hand. Thrift stores etc... Now...this doesn't include underwear, socks or hats. Notice I didn't mention shoes? Well, my town has a large well known shoe manufacturing plant...and they donate shoes to the local thrifts ALL the time... brand new... and I don't actually need any shoes...so that didn't make the cut.
I didn't mention this 6 months ago...because honestly, who wants to start a new plan, talk about it, fail...and have to talk about that? Not me. So I kept my mouth shut. Now that I am half way through the program.. I feel that I can talk about it. It's gone very, very well. I purchased my son a new belt and shirt in this time frame ( he loved the shirt... and the belt was needed because he grew taller...not wider) I purchased my husband a new pair of pants. He's an odd size..and I don't find him things very often. He had to have a new pair of khakis when he fell and ripped the pocket. I purchased two vera Bradley bags...but at a merchandise outlet (new overstock items) for 7 bucks each.
Now, that doesn't mean I haven't bought new clothing. If you look enough, there's all sorts of new, with tags, clothing at second hand shops all the time. Even more gently worn, or not worn at all clothing for all members of the family. Find a thrift store in a good , upscale location, and you can make out like a bandit. My son decided around Thanksgiving he wanted to start wearing long sleeve button down shirts. I bought 4 for him, two Ralph Lauren, One Tommy Hilfiger, One Gap Kids...all 4 for 9.17 cents. Two had never been worn with tags, two were basically unworn and in perfect condition. I've gotten New levis with tags attached for 4.99. I get clothing for myself ALL the time...and when I tire of the item, I donate them right back. I haven't spent more than 5 dollars for a piece of clothing in 6 months.... and because I don't need much, I can focus on getting the best quality and fit. It's not as easy as going into say, Macy's or TJ Maxx and picking out a pair of jeans...but it's very satisfying. Because I'm looking for quality and fit... and less for specials, or savings, or sales, I've purchased less, but every piece important.
My brother once said he was sure the world had produced enough cargo shorts already, and that he no longer needed to purchase any new. He went almost exclusively second hand over a year ago. I decided to join him...and you know what...it's worked. I spend a pittance for my clothing now...and I don't feel guilty about having a few more clothes in my closet than I need. When I tire of them, they get donated again.... and someone else can wear them. I think I proved to myself it can be done, and now, if my son needs new track shoes...I have no issues going down to the sporting goods store and buying him whatever pair he wants...because I know that I have saved a TON of money on our normal wardrobes.
About a year ago.... I started thinking and researching capsule wardrobes. You can take a peak at my pinterest site (link over on the right side!) and you will find a file loaded with pictures. I thought long and hard about if I had the ability to pare down to a capsule wardrobe... after all..I have over a hundred pair of shoes. Approximately the same number of handbags, and close to that number if not more actual items of clothing. I have a bedroom we made into my closet/dressing room. So, after thinking about it...I realized I could not do an actual capsule wardrobe...and that I honestly didn't even really want to. I chose another path.
About 6 months ago, I decided I wouldn't buy any new clothing.... I would ONLY buy clothing second hand. Thrift stores etc... Now...this doesn't include underwear, socks or hats. Notice I didn't mention shoes? Well, my town has a large well known shoe manufacturing plant...and they donate shoes to the local thrifts ALL the time... brand new... and I don't actually need any shoes...so that didn't make the cut.
I didn't mention this 6 months ago...because honestly, who wants to start a new plan, talk about it, fail...and have to talk about that? Not me. So I kept my mouth shut. Now that I am half way through the program.. I feel that I can talk about it. It's gone very, very well. I purchased my son a new belt and shirt in this time frame ( he loved the shirt... and the belt was needed because he grew taller...not wider) I purchased my husband a new pair of pants. He's an odd size..and I don't find him things very often. He had to have a new pair of khakis when he fell and ripped the pocket. I purchased two vera Bradley bags...but at a merchandise outlet (new overstock items) for 7 bucks each.
Now, that doesn't mean I haven't bought new clothing. If you look enough, there's all sorts of new, with tags, clothing at second hand shops all the time. Even more gently worn, or not worn at all clothing for all members of the family. Find a thrift store in a good , upscale location, and you can make out like a bandit. My son decided around Thanksgiving he wanted to start wearing long sleeve button down shirts. I bought 4 for him, two Ralph Lauren, One Tommy Hilfiger, One Gap Kids...all 4 for 9.17 cents. Two had never been worn with tags, two were basically unworn and in perfect condition. I've gotten New levis with tags attached for 4.99. I get clothing for myself ALL the time...and when I tire of the item, I donate them right back. I haven't spent more than 5 dollars for a piece of clothing in 6 months.... and because I don't need much, I can focus on getting the best quality and fit. It's not as easy as going into say, Macy's or TJ Maxx and picking out a pair of jeans...but it's very satisfying. Because I'm looking for quality and fit... and less for specials, or savings, or sales, I've purchased less, but every piece important.
My brother once said he was sure the world had produced enough cargo shorts already, and that he no longer needed to purchase any new. He went almost exclusively second hand over a year ago. I decided to join him...and you know what...it's worked. I spend a pittance for my clothing now...and I don't feel guilty about having a few more clothes in my closet than I need. When I tire of them, they get donated again.... and someone else can wear them. I think I proved to myself it can be done, and now, if my son needs new track shoes...I have no issues going down to the sporting goods store and buying him whatever pair he wants...because I know that I have saved a TON of money on our normal wardrobes.
1/15/17
1950's Tini Home
Here is my latest project... I got it right before the snow flew....
and I put it out here...overlooking our river. It's rough. Really....really rough. Smells like a barn inside. It's kinda gross actually. BUT.... I can fix it and make it better...and then it will be my studio...or as people like to call them now.. ."she shed"
More later.
1/9/17
Laundry room, then and now.
This was my old laundry room. This was looking from my kitchen area through what was once an exterior door, into a shoddily constructed add on laundry/mud room / garage area. Seriously, it tilted to one side. It was tiny. (less than 12 feet deep) I tripped once and put my hand through the wall. When we demo'd this, 40 years worth of critters and ant debris made everyone want to gag. It was horrible. It is gone.
We blew it out. this shot is looking from the (new) far back wall (and new bathroom) towards the house. Instead of maybe 12 feet, it's closer to 30 feet long now.
I decided shiplap was the best wall finish for this area.... (this pic was taken in the laundry area towards the new bath area)
Which I had to paint white of course
It needed a matching floor to the rest of the house...
and a new, interior door....
(the number 9 behind the door was from my grandpa's gas station)
the ceilings are low in this room (7 ft) due to the roof pitch... I got that beadboard cabinet for a steal!
This is the view from the laundry room to the bathroom....
the bathroom is my Mr. s It's what he likes to call farmhouse industrial. It's not 100% done yet.... the shower is in, the toilet is in, both work... he just needs to attach the sink faucet and drain and hang a mirror, and do the floor trim... but he's been laid up with a shoulder injury...
The poles hanging from the ceiling for my hangers and clothing are handicapped grab bars I got at our local habitat for humanity for a couple bucks... they work great and hold a ton. The coat rack on the right is gone now. It didn't work out. Too big. It's still narrow. But I had to keep my garage...so we could only take so much space....but this works. It's much better than before.
This is the last part. It's off to the right when you enter the laundry room, and has a door out to the garage. It was wasted space before...but now it's home to my Brasilia mirror I bought for 11 dollars. It's HUGE. It's HEAVY. This is the only place it can go. Under it, is a bench we built, and under the bench is the cat litter area.... so not wasted space any longer.....
So there is what I have right now. I would take a final picture, but I'm doing laundry...and it's real life messy...... Maybe tomorrow.
1/8/17
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