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| My first decent bird photo with my new camera |
My annual look back at last year's accomplishments begins with the completion of several projects in order to find space for mom in our house. Our prefab garage was erected Halloween eve 2018 and last year we finished the interior and added touches to the exterior to give it a barn look. Upstairs over the garage would house my
Etsy vintage shop and my old space in the house would become Mom's renovated apartment!
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| Anthony installing handmade barn board window ledges |
Anthony and I completely finished the second story of our little barn garage by ourselves for the exception of hooking the main electrical line to the house. During 2019 we hung sheet rock and painted, installed a door between the non-insulated garage and upstairs
Etsy shop area, installed a mini split heat and air system, and installed flooring and shelves. Then the fun began when we had to move the racks, cabinets, clothing, and boxes of vintage upstairs. Any and everyone that came to our house was put on notice that their price of admission was hauling a box or piece of furniture. My husband's brother got stuck helping us haul the biggest piece of furniture up the stairs. Thankfully he figured out how to get the old train station wooden bench through the doorway!
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| Anthony's barn board bookcase |
I couldn't be happier with my set up and am so much more organized. I currently have 9 consignment clients and sell mainly on
Etsy and
Ebay. I have a photography area, shipping station, computer desk, and plenty of room for storage. I'm most in love with the big windows and the barn board detailing made from an old shed that stood on my family farm. My talented husband decorated the front of the barn garage with some and built a bookcase and window ledges out of others. I found an amazing 1930's green gas station light on
Etsy for the front exterior that I also treasure.
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| Busting out a wall, Snoopy cat strikes again |
We also began the interior work in Mom's basement apartment. Finishing a bathroom, creating a hallway, installing new windows, a new entry doorway, and installing a small kitchen. The four window replacements were super easy while busting out the new doorway was the hardest. The creation of a kitchen was not too difficult but all the details were time consuming. Installing Pex hot and cold water lines was super amazingly easy but the laminated counter top was a bit tricky. We utilized the family barn boards again for accents in the kitchen and all the cabinets were randomly discovered at two local Habitat Stores.
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| Beginning of cabinet build, amazingly it comes together! |
I sadly didn't participate in construction after early Spring because my arthritis gave me such a fit. I so wanted to hammer and saw but my wrists would not let me. Having RA and
Sjogrens for 20 years has been a royal PAIN. My Morton's
Neuroma in one foot has thankfully calmed down after the cortisone shot that provided a lot of relief but the other foot is echoing this ailment. My husband has pretty much had to do all interior house renovations himself. I pick up a caulk gun every now and then just to remind me how much I love construction work. I still do all the design and cabinet hauling since the Habitat and Lowe's folks are so nice to load everything for me!
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| My favorite photo of Cesar |
We had a few pet events last year. Our little broken down cat, Cesar hurt himself early in 2019 and was dragging his legs behind himself. He is much better now and just has a little limp. Somehow late in 2019 he managed to get an ear
hematoma and we decided surgery would have been horrible for him so we're letting it deflate on its own. We also lost our chicken Big Red to a hawk so we had to start locking the chickens under a wire run for most of the day.
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| A memorable photo I took of a Tiger on a Clerodendrum |
Mom is doing really well but is very anxious to move in this Spring! It's going to be an eventful and challenging year as she needs to also sell her condo. I really really hope we can have some downtime after she gets settled.
I'm starting 2020 with a new camera. So there will be a lot for me to learn.
~ Rebecca
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