Update on the Hill Country House - Appliances in!

My appliances are in!!! I really almost hate showing my kitchen still unfinished, but this is it so far. My cabinets still need crown molding. The island countertop (the red cedar one) is not installed yet either. The wood supports you see poking out will be cut back and hidden by a "skirt" when finished. 

The pot filler above the range is not installed and the vent surround still needs primer and plastering.

For some reason, the plumber didn't hook up the water to this faucet and to the dishwasher line, so although the dishwasher is installed, it isn't functioning yet. These are actually dishwasher drawers. They came free if you bought a range and refrigerator. 

The refrigerator still needs door panels to match the cabinets. It is a 48" refrigerator built in to the wall. Those blue things taped to the front are trim pieces for the sides.

Here is a view from the other side. You can see that we had to remove the wall board from the inside of the wall. It turned out that the space was about 1/2" too narrow! (We paid to have the wall built to the refrigerator specs and we paid to have it dry walled and plastered! It hurt to have to tear some of it down!)

My dual fuel range is in! (We still need to plaster the vent surround and the pot filler has not been installed yet.) It is a 48" DCS (made by Fisher-Paykel). The ovens are electric but the burners are gas.

We haven't even started on the pantry, so that is still looming ahead. We have the cabinets for it sitting by just waiting!

We went "high end" for re-sale value. We are following the realtor's advice on that for homes in this area. 

I can't believe I'm going to have these great appliances! I can't wait to bake bread again!

Mountain Cedar (actually a type of juniper) has started speading it's pollen all over the hill country. I am miserable with sneezing and itching eyes if I go outside even long enough to get in the car. (Despite Nasocort and Zyrtec!) I am trying the old German settler's folk remedy of swallowing juniper berries for two weeks, starting with one the first day, two the next.....up to seven, and then counting down. I probably started too late in the season.)

Be sure to join me on January 20th when I show my Tammy 4 All Seasons as part of a blog hop by that name. I have managed to get a little stitching done between trips to the hill country!

December Hill Country House Update - Kitchen

The kitchen is coming along! The stone has been installed and we are waiting on the flooring to go in. We still have crown molding to put on the cabinets and top of the vent surround. Some cabinets need paint and the vent surround needs plastering. After this photo was taken, the electrical outlets were finished and those blue boxes you see on the penninsula are now nice ivory covers.

Here is a photo from the other side of the columns. The red cedar island top you see is not installed yet and is only set down there to see how it will look. There is still a plastic cover on the countertops. The stone masons actually left it in place and it is mortared in where the stone comes down to the countertops! We will have to figure out a way to remove it without scratching our counters! The cabinet to the right of the vent does not have it's shelves and door yet and the cabinets connected to it has not been painted. We still have a lot to do, but now I can see my vision coming to life! 

This is panning to the left of the island. You can see the cabinets still need crown molding. (There is some old molding still attached to some of them.) I will also have to choose lights for over the island and the window sink.

The pot filler is due to be delivered today!

My kids were all here for Thanksgiving and we went up to the hill country house for a day. My grandson doesn't have many chances to climb trees and that was very much on his "want list"! He went from tree to tree having a great time! 

I hope you have the chance to do something you love today!

Hill Country House Update and a Babysitting Adventure!

Things are moving SLOWLY in the hill country! We did finally get the countertops installed after 9 weeks of problems that delayed everything else! Once they were in, the Vent-a-Hood was installed and then the vent surround went up. We had a local craftsman make the surround. We will be plastering the top, curved part of it.

The walls with no dry wall will have limestone rock installed.

It was supposed to go up a week ago, but surprise, surprise - all they have done is chip a few rocks for the column three days after they were scheduled to start and we haven't seen them since! 

The floor was supposed to be started this week, but they are waiting on the stone to go up. We have also had to postpone delivery of the appliances because the floor needs to be down first.

We did get the cabinet installed for the back entrance.

I also got all the painting done and "spruced up" the bedroom a little before my kids see it. (I will decide later how to decorate it, but it looks clean and neat for now.)

(See the little wicker chair to the right of the bed? I found it a few weeks ago at a thrift shop - $13!)

While all the work at the hill country house WAS NOT getting done, I was a thousand miles away with my grandkids. I asked the youngest what he wanted to do while I was there. He said, BAKE!

I gave him a Christmas cookie magazine that I had picked up in the airport and had him mark every recipe he wanted to make. Then we spent two days that weekend baking. 

We started with hand washing! (Do you see the little mosaic trivet in the picture? His daddy made that when he was 9 years old!)

He was very proud of what he accomplished!

He made 6 batches (all different recipes) of cookies (all safely stored away in the freezer for the holidays). He even woke me up at 6:00 in the morning on a Saturday because we had dough chilling overnight and he was ready to bake!

I also taught him how to make chicken tamales. He did everything himself during all the baking and cooking!

There are now 4 dozen tamales in the freezer.

Although I didn't get a good picture of it, my granddaughter wanted to learn to make fudge. She made two batches - one chocolate and one Dreamsicle (creamy orange like the ice cream bars we used to get as kids!). She is already an accomplished cook. Her time these last few weeks have been taken up by soccer and softball.

I bought a few dollar store village pieces and let her paint them each with glossy white paint. Her brother helped her glitter each roof and tree with sparkly snow. This is only a temperary set up for a picture. They will arrange them nicely closer to Christmas.

After all the fun with grandkids, I came home this past weekend to find that it is fall in the hill country!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week (if you're in the states!). If not, just have a wonderful week!

Another Chair to Reupholster and More Progress!

I love shopping at thrift stores! The Salvation Army store in Kerrville is really a fun place! We were there last weekend and  I found another chair for $4. I think that it has nice lines.

$4!!!!

I can learn to upholster on this chair and not be terrified of wasting a lot of money! 

I love the carved details on the front legs. I'm thinking this will make a nice "occasional" chair. One to put in a bedroom or something. I have no idea yet what I will cover it with. I really love the very old velvet that is on it, but it is pretty rotten! It needs new support in the seat, also!

We moved the refrigerator in the kitchen (of the hill country house) and I taped off where I wanted the range and range hood, cabinets, etc. to go in that space.  here is my inspiration:

(photo by John Bessler, page 104 in Better Homes and Gardens Kitchen and Bath Ideas magazine, Winter 2013. This magazine is FULL of inspiration!)

We're waiting on electrical and plumbing before the cabinets can go up! I had to go through and decide where I wanted outlets and lights. What a wonderful thing to be able to decide on and not just depend on what is already there!!!

We ended our day with a cookout just for the two of us! My sweet husband did it all! He had two big ribeye steaks (mine is the one in back that is getting a little more cooking time). The corn on the cob seen on the rack was crispy and sweet! The foil container has sliced potatoes and onions. They were my favorite! Wow! The onions just melted and became very sweet!

Speaking of cookouts, be sure to join us for the Perfect Picnic Blog Hop that is going on right now. My day to post is June 9th! 

See you then!

Update on Hill Country House, Mid May

We spent Friday night and Saturday morning at the hill country house hauling construction debris to the landfill. On Friday evening, we walked around the property trying to think of ways to landscape. This is going to be a challenge. I'm used to planting tons of colorful flowers, but the deer population would have them eaten up in a night! There is also the problem of planting in rock! I have no doubt we will figure it out. It is not our top priority right now.

I would love to know the stories this interesting tree could tell me! I love that it has survived obvious adversity and has tripled in the effort!

I found these Prairie Coneflowers growing there. I am assuming they are not as attractive to the deer as most of the vegetation .

I haven't done my research yet to find out what this Texas wildflower might be, but these are growing there also. These are the unopened buds.....

...and these are the opened flowers.
(My thanks to Donna, who let me know that this is Antelope Horn Milkweed. This is loved by Monarch butterflies.)

A contractor is starting on some kitchen work today. He will do the things that we know need a professional touch. We will come in each weekend and do the things that we know we can do! It's exciting to finally be on the construction side of this remodel instead of the demolition side!

I am reusing some of the kitchen cabinets in what will be my quilt studio. Here is my rough sketch. It has already been changed some because we no longer plan to put the media room beside the quilt studio. (It will no doubt change several times before we actually get to the stage where we are working in that area of the house. My husband has threatened to take away my "thinking license" because I keep coming up with new plans!)

Here is the rough sketch so far!

I just had to share this old photo here. 

My granddaughter was only 2 at the time (she is 11 now!) and we were remodeling a kitchen in our house in Georgia. She was so excited about helping! Remodeling has been a part of our life for as long as we've been married!

I am working on a picnic quilt for the upcoming picnic blog hop. I can't wait to share it with you!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! I was given a new Bible. (Mine was lost in the fire. I do miss the notes and underlined passages I had spent many years on. Fortunately, the message has not changed! I can start again filling the back pages with scriptures that fill me with joy and hope.) 

Have a wonderful week!