Painting Progress: Prettying up the Pantry

Next in line for a fresh coast of paint after the dining room was the pantry.

I wanted the kitchen and pantry to be the same color in an effort to help tie the two spaces together. Inspired by the Pottery Barn room seen here, I got a sample of Benjamin Moore's Newburyport Blue. After painting a test patch of color on the walls, I immediately fell in love!

Here's a look at the pantry before (so long yellow doors and linoleum!):

A while back we replaced the old, plain fixture with a lamp-post inspired pendant I picked up at an antique shop (click here for that post) .

And here's a look at the repainted, revamped pantry:

 

 

We are FLOORED - Part II

Last Spring we had the original fir floors upstairs refinished (click here for that post) and always planned to have the main level floors refinished this year. After painting all the rooms on the main level, it was finally go-time for the floors.

Under tiles (many cracked), linoleum and layers of paint we found beautiful, original fir floors throughout the main level. There were a few old, improper patches that had to be addressed and patch correctly with fir. What would a home improvement project be without a few surprises?

Here's a look at the transformation:

Dining Room - Fir floor restoration

Kitchen - Fir floors under tile

Kitchen - Fir floors under tile, Old patch had to be repaired

Old patch in the kitchen...like it never happened!

Pantry -Fir floors under linoleum

Staircase to side door and basement - Fir floors under layer of paint

Entryway - Fir floors under tile

Entryway - Fir floors under file

Privacy Please!

One of the first items on our to-do list upon buying this house was to add a privacy hedge along the North and East side of the property. But as timing, weather and the seasons would have it, the hedge didn't go in until recently. We opted for well-established English Laurel bushes and found a supplier out of Canby, OR that had amazingly low prices (although it did take almost three months to fulfill our order). We bought 27 4-6 ft Laurel bushes but in order to fill our large order with same-size plants, the company gave us 6-8 ft Laurel instead. We certainly can't complain about that! Here's the first few bushes as they arrived:

Our handy man, Enrique, got to work and after two days of digging the 27 bushes were in the ground. The hedge instantly gave us more privacy in the yard and became a much-needed separation from the sidewalk and street. Within a few short years we should have a very solid hedge that reaches 10-12 feet high. David has already put his hedge trimmer to work sheering up the sides of the bushes and we'll let the top growth aim for the sky until next year's trim.

Here's a few shots of the new hedge:

 

Here are a few before-and-after comparisons to the property as it looked when we first bought it:



To complete our quest for privacy in the back yard, we extended the existing fence out to the property line. After a year or two of weather exposure the new section should look just like the existing portion.