Hello, Downstairs Bath. Once again, we didn't do anything to this room except add the furnishings. I love that it has the original tile and that the tile is a pretty shade of green rather than the hideous pink's and blue's that you usually see in bathrooms from that time period.

Speaking of the fireplace, it's my favorite part of this room. I love the color the former owner's painted the bricks. I've dealt with my share of old brick fireplaces in the past and have always painted them white. I would have never thought to have painted a fireplace this color. I think it makes it even more warm and inviting. When it came to the age old question of what to put over the mantle, my first inclination was to purchase some fancy artwork to put over this important focal point of the room. However, when I placed this el cheapo print from Walmart (yes, Walmart) over the mantle for shits and giggles, it just seemed to fit. It even complimented the pink marble mantle and made it look a little less hideous. By the way, I do not for the life of me understand why someone would choose a slab of pink marble for a fireplace mantle, but to each their own. I finished the mantle off with birch candles from Pottery Barn, a fake plant from Pier 1, and a little birdie candle from Pottery Barn. I know, fake plants are so tacky, but I needed some green up there that I couldn't kill and thought this one was more tasteful than most.



Exhibit A: The sad real live plant in this photo. Fake plants fare much better around me.

As promised, one of the first things we did was take down the faux shutters. I think that made a huge difference in the look of the house. Next, we pulled up the 2 bushes on either side of the porch steps. I'm not sure what kind of bushes they were, but they were not pleasant to look at, in my opinon. They must have been there a long time, because the roots were deep and well established. It took Jerry a whole morning of pulling on them with a chain hooked to his truck to get them to finally release their grip on the earth. We shared high fives once the deed was done. While Jerry played in the dirt getting rid of weeds and thinning out the monkey grass border, I planted flowers in the window box and porch planter. Once that was done, I put out pine straw to define the flower beds. Finally, we hung the porch swing and house numbers, and with that, we were done with Phase 1.

Here's a look at some of the plants and flowers we have planted so far:

Petunias, White Vebena, and Sweet Potato Vines.


White Vinca


Jerry's Beloved Tomato Plant


Confederate Jasmine


Phase 2 consisted of tackling the plethora of poison ivy and sassafras trees around the old oak tree in the front yard. Roundup wasn't even going to touch that stuff, so Jerry spent a whole day hacking away at it with an ax. He made a pretty good dent in it and then attacked it with the lawnmower and some roundup. It made a big difference, but there is still work to be done if we ever want grass to grow there. It's been too hot to deal with it lately, so we've abandoned the fight for now. Little poison ivy plants are starting to return to the surface, so we're going to have to get back to it soon.

All that brown area around the tree used to be 6 foot high with poison ivy and baby sassafras trees.


Massive Wisteria Vines - Love them! Especially when they bloom in the Spring. Won't be getting rid of those.


Phase 3's mission was to do something about the ugly concrete blocks buried in the ground in front of the steps. I guess they were meant to be a sort of threshold, but water pooled there when it rained and grass and weeds grew out of the cracks. It wasn't very attactive or functional. Jerry's sister had some leftover chipped marble from a project in her yard, so we were all too happy to take it off her hands. We decided not to pull the concrete blocks up, but rather throw dirt on top of them to level the ground and then sprinkle the marble rocks on top. We really didn't want to buy dirt, because, you know, it's dirt. As luck would have it, the state came by and scraped up a strip of dirt in front of our yard in preparation for the widening of the road. Next thing you know, I'm driving the truck while Jerry shovels up dirt from the side of the road and throws it in the back. Jerry said he felt like he was part of a chain gang. Once we got the rocks down, we realized very quickly that they were none too comfortable to walk on. We decided that we needed some stepping stones to finish up this project. First we went to Lowes, but they only had prefab concrete blocks shaped to look like stone. I was cool with them, but Jerry was not a fan. We ended up finding a store that sold natural rocks 30 minutes away, so we purchased 5 rocks for $20. They were actually cheaper than the fake ones from Lowes, and yes, I'll admit they look much better.
Finished Project:

The Swing that Jerry Built - You all know how I love to get my swing on. Jerry and I enjoy relaxing on this after a long, stressful day.

The Old Building - It's fun to go exploring in this building. It's filled with old tools and items from years past. We even found a pot belly stove in it! I swear, we spot something different every time we go in it. I've got my eye on it for a future photo shoot.

Bird Watching

Lemon Thyme and My Old Friend Froggie


And, yes, I even love the old, busted up water spigot, because nothing says country like an old busted up water spigot.


Well, there you have it. The outside of our house. We still have a lot of work to do, but I'm happy with our progress so far.

More Before Pics:

More After Pics: