Tag Archives: Menards

Outdoor Sink/Potting Table

So.

On Friday I bought myself this magazine

at my happy place, Barnes + Noble:

magazine small spaces big

Look at this idea

for an outdoor sink/potting table!

magazine sink in backyard

Do you see what’s happening here?

Looks like someone put some legs

on an old sink,

hooked up the faucets to the outdoor spigot

+ placed a galvanized bucket underneath

to catch the drain water.

G E N I U S !

magazine-sink-in-backyard-1.jpg

Wow, could we use something similar

next to our back door,

replacing this bench + birdhouse vignette:

backyard next to door

Here’s the same space in yet another configuration,

being photo-bombed by Chloe the Dachshund.

backyard next to door with chloe

As you can see,

we have the galvanized bucket-drain situation handled.

We also had a long, vintage kitchen sink,

similar to the one used in the magazine,

magazine-sink-in-backyard-2.jpg

but wouldn’t you know it — we SOLD IT!

Seller’s remorse!

No worries, though.

I bought this vintage cutie at a garage sale for $10!

sink from yard sale

Sorry for the bad snapshot,

but you get the idea — isn’t it perfect?

Now all we need is a table.

Perhaps G.O. could make one himself,

like this project from last summer,

table with pipes that greg made

for which he repurposed an old wooden ironing board top

+ some black pipe from Menards.

Sold it, though!

He could make another large table/island

like this recent project,

table ski jet

made from reclaimed lumber

+ an outboard motor shipping frame.

Turns out we sold that, too,

but we might just still have this old table:

table white top painted green sides

We got it at some long-past flea market

or perhaps another garage sale.

I can’t remember;

nor can I remember if we still have it!

I’ll check, though, so stay tuned!


Our Long + Winding Road

Work on our upstairs bathroom is still crawling forward.

Our vanity light search took so long

that I’m calling it the long + winding road.

Thought I had it handled,

but the light fixture I wanted cost $104-something.

G.O. nixed it + said it was too expensive.

Buzz kill!

disappointed dog

People!  The struggle is real!

Once again, it was now up to me to find something stylish + nearly free.

Let’s begin.

I love these swing arm light fixtures:

swing arm light fixture in a bath

Yes, they are stylish, but wow, they’re expensive!

Everything I found + liked was in the $200 ballpark + up.

Until this happened:

Amazon has dozens that are less than $100!

See for yourself:

$49 on Amazon:

swing arm light fixture

2 for $99.99 on Amazon

swing arm light fixture pair

Way to go, am I right?

But wait.

I didn’t want to quarrel with G.O. about it, + what if it did look crazy!?

Long story longer.

I caved, as one does, + here’s what we bought at Menards for only $24.97!

upstairs bath light fixture box

I chose chrome because we have a chrome IKEA Runskar faucet

IKEA bathroom fauccet

I love those cross handles!

But wait.

menards-mix-and-match-light.jpg

In reality, the light fixture’s chrome was so shiny,

you could see it from outer space!

No can do.

BUT WHAT NOW!?!?

I punted + decided that the light needed to be black.

 We’ve got a lot of black going on in our bathroom . . .

IMG_3318

. . . + black light light fixtures + faucets are a “thing’.

The paint on modern fixtures is a matte — or flat — black . . .

black-faucet.jpg

. . . but neither our bathroom not our chrome fixture is modern.

Then I got an idea.

What about a shiny black, as in vintage porcelain shiny black, like here:

sconce-hannah-e1516123221270.jpg

Now I’m feeling more confident!

Fast forward a bit, + here’s our glossy black light fixture,

after G.O. spray painted it glossy black:

upstairs-light-fixture-frosted.jpg

Looks like I’ve jumped ahead to the shade portion of our light fixture saga.

As you can see, with this project,

you get to choose your fixture + your glass shade.

upstairs bath light fixture box

I narrowed the search down to two — one frosted + the other one clear.

I chose clear, because that’s what’s happening now.

Plus, the Edison-style bulbs are just fun, aren’t they?

upstairs-bath-light-fixture.jpg

There are other things to reveal about our bathroom,

but I shall share them at a later date.

Now you know why our light fixture search was such a long + winding road.


That Time We Almost Had A Green House

It’s official.

I am somewhat obsessed with green now.

You may recall my Pinspiration greens from Sherwin-Williams.

I recently blogged about painting our upstairs bath sage green.

paint green sage

We chose Unusual Gray (at the bottom) for the walls,

with a ceiling of 50% Contented (second from top).

Our bathroom, very much in its “during” stage:

My green obsession has me plotting to use a lot of sage green upstairs,

so stay tuned for that.

Meanwhile, I now have just a wee bit of color remorse

re: the exterior siding of our Dutch colonial.

surprised baby.jpg

How’s that possible?  I’m asking myself,

when I truly love the white + gray + black scheme that’s out there now?

IMG_2326

IMG_3198

I was perusing some older blog posts the other day,

when I came across some siding choices from 5 years ago.

As one does, I’d placed some color samples on the house

for what I call “the admire”,

which is what I do when I am trying to decide ANY-thing.

Notice that there are 2 gray siding samples at left + 1 green sample at right.

siding of green long view

Even 5 years before my green obsession developed,

I was seriously considering green siding!

Too late now, of course, but for fun, here’s a close up of the green:

siding of green close up

I forget the name of the siding company,  but we bought it from Menards.

IMG_3200

Shall we look at some green houses + wonder “what if”?

siding of green craftsman

Found on Pinterest — source unknown

Check out the stunning details on this next beautiful home!

The Adirondack chair + container of blue hydrangeas are so “me”!

siding of green with white adirondack

Domino magazine — I must subscribe!

And, saving the best for last, this cottage charmer.

Looks like they used the same colors as we did in our bathroom!

Extra points for painting the front door + the window sashes

with the same (beautiful) darker color!

Disclaimer: I would totally fall on those steps!

siding of green round arch door

Found on Pinterest — source unknown

I still love our white house with the gray gables, though.

I think it’s timeless, + the white first story + contrasting color second story

is definitely a “thing” when it comes to Dutch colonials.

img_3193-e1515241668568.jpg


Finally! Our Informal Hedge!

From the minute we closed on our Dutch colonial,

I have been trying (but failing) to design our lot line landscaping.

Then this happened.

Just last weekend, I found (my favorites!) Oak Leaf hydrangeas

at Menards, a Midwestern home improvement store:

oak leaf alabama

$11 each for one gallon size plants!

Can you believe it?

Yesterday we drove to a Menards about an hour away,

to find enough plants (7 total) to  make our informal hedge.

Like this, hopefully:

oak leaf hydrangea big hedge

Back to NOW — here we have our new plants,

marching along our lot line, at left (below).

Imagine, if you will, what our hedge will look like, in a few years:

Good things come to those who wait!

Oak Leaf hydrangeas grow to 6′-8′ tall by 6′ x 8′ wide.

This means our backyard will be less of a fish bowl.

Our hedge will begin + end  between 2 large existing trees —

a huge walnut (L) + a gorgeous maple (R):

Oak Leaf hydrangeas have cone-shaped white flowers

which turn a pretty, faded pink as the blooming season progresses.

Yes, those flowers are gorgeous,

but in my opinion, their leaves are the all stars.

Look at what happens in the Fall:

Is it any wonder that Fall is our favorite season?

Anyway, I am so relieved + happy,

after suffering through all those months of indecision.

oak leaf hydrangea 2

It’s hard to believe I found one of my favorites,

+ at such an affordable price!

Fingers crossed we’ll find the time to plant them THIS week.

Stay tuned!



Small Updates

Long time — no blog!

Here’s why:

G.O. , not pictured, has been busy

painting everything at our old house.

 I’ve been sewing like a bee on some new merch

for my biz, RedBird Vintage Home.

Like these:

Zoom zoom!

All this working + sewing means not much progress on the Dutch colonial.

Fear not, though . . . we have completed a few projects.

Let’s start with the new closet doors in our bedroom.

Those 6″ long window sash pulls came from Menards.

They’re big, beefy + slightly industrial, don’t you think?

The doors, while new, have the same 5 panels as our originals.

See for yourself:

G.O. painted them the same dark color, Black Magic by Pittsburgh Paints.

Let’s have a look-see at our powder room door:

black powder room door number 2

Don’t you love the way the black doors pop

against the pale colors of our house?

And please.

How swell is my very beloved, vintage LADIES SIGN!?

powder room door with ladies sign two

It used to hang over the powder room in our old house,

+ not long ago, G.O. finally brought it over.

There’s more to share,

so stay tuned!

Continue reading


Main Bathroom Vanity Happiness

Now that the tile is up + running in our bathrooms,

it’s finally time for us to choose our vanities.

Let’s start with the main bath, downstairs:

IMG_4863(1)

There’s room for a 36″ vanity, which will sit to the right of the toilet.

Above it we’ll hang this ginormous medicine cabinet from IKEA:

IMG_4862(1)

I have big plans for a custom re-do for it, involving crown molding.

Of course, I will share later, as that’s how I roll.

* * *

Back to the vanity.

As I type, G.O. is headed to our local build-o-rama, Menards,

where he will order our awesome vanity!

Stay tuned!

* * *

First, let’s have a look-see at something I briefly considered:

vanity -- menards with farmhouse sink

I know — how awesome is that farmhouse sink!?

About a week ago or so, I posted this photo on my FB page,

where it received many favorable comments + likes!

“So, why did you not choose it?” you ask?

Well, that farmhouse sink maybe the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,

but seriously.

Who needs a huge, deep sink in the bathroom?

I can think of only one good reason, + here she is:

chloe at the vet

If I could bathe Chloe the Dachshund in a deep farmhouse sink like that,

there’d be no more on-my-hands-and-knees at the bathtub, already!

But back to the cons.

Look at the counter space, or lack thereof:

vanity -- menards with farmhouse sink

I’m pretty sure that this would be

what G.O. calls “all ‘looks’ — no function” or something derogatory.

And speaking of which, check out this very funny naysayer-in-training!

It seems G.O. has a 9-year-old apprentice!

IMG_4840(1)

So early, the boys learn the fine art of nixing everything we like!

(I’m sure he’ll make someone a very fine husband, one day!) . . .

. . . because look how cute he is,

posing next to the vintage-style refrigerator I want!

(Blue tongue courtesy of a blue raspberry slushie from Sonic.)

IMG_4872(1)

* * *

But back to the vanity.

Here ’tis:

IMG_4834(1)

Disclaimer: this is 48″, I think, while ours will be 36″, with doors, no drawers.

This is kind of perfect for our hacienda, don’tcha think?

It checks off all my bathroom vanity hopes + dreams,

which include the following:

1. Designed like furniture, with the legs

2. Shaker-style doors

3. Marble top with an expensive-looking ogee edge!

IMG_4836(1)

4.  Cool, rectangular under mount sink!

IMG_4835(1)

Another disclaimer: that faucet, mercifully, is not included.

Please.

must have something with cross handles!

Like these:

faucet -- signature hardware -- new york widespread

Signature Hardware — New York widespread

Anyway.  Back to our vanity.

IMG_4834(1)

As I mentioned previously,  it looks expensive.

It’s not.  The regular price (at Menards) is a mere $599!

It’s currently on sale at a mere $499!

Wow, it’s going to look great, so of course, I can’t wait!

Stay tuned, as always!

* * *


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