Pointed Playhouse and Garden

71 degrees, dry and sunny.  The smell of mosquito spray is in the air.

Over the past week and a half we have had cold weather, rain, high winds and warm sunny weather.  Much work was done putting in the garden with help from my daughters and I was also very fortunate to have my brother Peter fly out and help put together the interior and even spread some mulch.

The nursery said that I should be careful what I wish for when planting wisteria but I decided to give it a try on the far, lower corner that will hopefully hide some of the pump station that sits next to the Pointed Playhouse.  I might have to move it later if it gets out of control.  I ordered ten yards of mulch and six of compost and have continued to expand the beds a little on the lower, west side of the house and also on the other side of the bricked in area on the east side.  The compost is all in and about half the mulch still sits on the driveway covered with a blue tarp (I have great neighbors that have not complained thus far).  Some of the other plants are hosta, columbine, hydrangea and forget-me-nots, egg plant and two types of squash and more that I cannot remember at this time. 

Some of the plants are in the expanded beds before the mulch went in.

In goes the egg plant.

Planting the yellow squash.

Found a toad in the corner.

I had to run into the office for a meeting during one day this week and Peter offered to spread a little mulch.  I thought that it was going to require about five or ten wheel barrows of mulch but when I came back he said that he counted about twenty five.  A great workout!

Mulch keeps the water in the soil, the weeds down and builds muscle.

About three inches gets the ground covered.

Found another frog on the east side.

Peter said that this plant (right) is poisonous.

An old piece of carpet that we had from when we had the office carpeted several years ago went up in the loft area.  A German baby crib that is made from pine and well over a hundred years old also went up in the loft to act as a temporary railing until I get the time to put in an actual railing that will attach to the loft floor.  I've decided that the aluminum ladder will also need to be replaced with a wood ladder and I'm thinking that I will build bookshelves on the left as you enter through the doors and incorporate the ladder to make it look a little like shelving that can be climbed to get to the loft.  I could also create a raised area for the electric wood stove, which provides a little heat, into the bookshelf system.  A lamp, table and two bean bags give the girls enough to get some reading done.  An old thatched roof doll house that I built for the girls sits on the floor.

Relaxing with the spiders.

My favorite project this week was the refinishing of the kitchen cabinets.  We sanded, primed and painted the boxes and made a breakfast bar out of the smaller of the two cabinets that my neighbor gave to me.  Turned feet were attached to the underside and Peter came up with a scallop design that went around the top edge and even a small strip went above the small kitchen window.  The color for the cabinets was premixed in a quart can that I had stored in the garage and might have been used to test a color before we bought a full gallon.  It is a light sage color but darker than what went up on the outside of the playhouse.  I added a little bit of green to this paint in another cup for the scallop trim.  The two paint colors go well together.  The counter tops were made from large solid pine boards made from smaller pine pieced that have been finger jointed on the ends where we could not see them.  The eight foot piece against the back wall is beautiful and made from two boards that we glued together using biscuits and has wood knots running throughout.  The stain on the wood counter tops is called Ipswitch Pine.  A small facing edge was added to the larger counter and we used the palm router to round over the top edge.  After we added a small back splash made from the same material it all came together and I'm very pleased with our work.

Master craftsman Peter "Norm" Trepp

Is that a fridge?  Gosh, if we only knew what we could put  inside.

As you can see from the above picture the back wall appears to have rough cut pine boards installed vertically.  Well, sort of.  It is actually the very real looking paneling that we found at the home center for only $15 per sheet.  We also picked up some lighting that was strung across a beam over the breakfast bar and put the print of the original Pointed House in a frame that is now hung on the back wall.  A couple stools and cut evergreens to go in our Irish tap (thanks Nanna) in the corner and it all really came together.

A mat to keep the girls feet clean before they walk on the Qashqai kilim.

Small inexpensive lantern hangs outside.

Scallop detail, cabinet boxes and even the door hardware has been painted.

Small bird paintings that the girls have done hang on the wall.

It was a fun but tiring week.  I'm very appreciative of my brother for taking the time away from his family and flying all this way from the west coast.  I drove him back to the airport at noon and the girls soon had ballet rehearsal and I was left alone to carve up some cheese and sit in my chair and think about our accomplishments. 

It started to get cold again and so it was time to lock things up and get some rest.  I'll write a little more when more happens.