Hatching A Coop (Part I)

With our chicks safely tucked into their brooder box for the next couple of weeks, it was now time to start planning and building our chicken coop.
Pinterest proved invaluable in collecting information and inspiration. There are so many different types of coops around, from plain and utilitarian to fancy and whimsical, in all sizes, colors, and even architectural styles. After a while your vision goes blurry and your brain will stop working. It's great to have pinterest to collect all the inspiration in one neat spot:

 

(check out my chicken board here)

We really, really loved the Hobbit Hole type of coops, but for our small urban backyard, space considerations played a major role in deciding on a coop design. Since we are required to keep our hens safely fenced in and need to protect them from birds of prey and the cats during the day, we needed to include a run while keeping the coop a whopping 5' away from the property line to boot. Not a small feat when half your yard is already taken up by an above-ground pool and two A/C  compressors - ugh!
That pointed us into the direction of two-story coops, the kind of coop with a run as the ground level and a cute little ladder going up to the second story penthouse!

Like this one.

 (Pin here)

Or this one.

(Pin here)

We also discovered the Smartcoop (tm) online and really, really like its look, but there were a couple of details that didn't mesh with our requirements, for example we wanted a coop with floor for our silkies (they aren't big on flying and roosting due to their fluffy feathers) as well as a separate door to access the nesting boxes, so we didn't go for that one.
However, after building our coop and adding up the expenses I'd say go for it, especially if you aren't handy with tools. Right now they are even offering free shipping!

At the end of the day we decided on a two-story coop with fold-up roof for easy access and clean-up, a separate door for access to the integrated nesting boxes, and a bottom run. Those two stories with a measurement of 3'x4' give us 24sqft of living space for our chicken without additional attached run (future project alert!).

Not wanting to use pallet wood due to its chemical soaked nature we went shopping at the big blue box first! Stay tuned!

Painting Me A Yard

Being so up close and personal with my staircase, hours at a time over weeks, and thanks to sudden cold snaps indicating that spring hasn't officially arrived yet, I'm more in the mood for digging in my yard, planting all kinds of cool, interesting and exotic plants and generally turning my weedy back yard into a beautiful green oasis behind my house (that, and the front yard, of course).

Alas, for the time being this will have to wait; at least until after stripping the last spindle and, you know, maybe painting the house first?

BUT ... I just couldn't help think about it, pin plenty of pretty pictures on pinterest (here, if you want to see what catches my eye) and even check out some books on landscaping small yards from the public library.

Our back yard is small, and about half of it is taken up by the above ground pool we need to keep us alive and Little Man and friends entertained during the sweltering hot Florida summers. Like ceiling fans, it's not a pretty asset but a necessary one. Anyways, small yard. It's plenty for us and the pup to romp around, have barbecues, grow some veggies, keep some bees, and more while not overwhelming us in sheer size when it comes to maintenance.

In order to just fiddle and  tweak a few ideas I'd seen on the internet and liked very much, I sketched in the fixed points in our yard on a piece of paper:

• the back door stoop and steps
• the pool
• the ac compressors
• the steps to the shed

Then I slid that sketch into a sheet protector aaaaaand .... grabbed some dry-erase markers so I could doodle and draw and experiment with shapes to my heart's delight without having to re-draw everything!

 

If a design doodle didn't turn out right, I could just erase it without having to draw up a new sketch - so much easier than digging up that yard again!

 

Here are a few designs that turned out not looking shabby at all. In this one, for example, I enlarged the current patio to include the area along the house all the way to the side entrance and added a garden swing like this one here in the corner.

  

In this design I went a bit crazy with the whole circle lawn idea. It's better suited for a bigger yard than mine. It did sound like a good idea when I first thought about it ...

The husband is not a big fan of checker board lawns but I'm still digging them a lot (maybe because I'm the one mowing the current lawn). Maybe it's a bit too contemporary for our Little Old House though. The dotted areas are gravel and the boat-shapes are stand-ins for hammocks. We don't have large trees for that purpose but plugging some sturdy 6x6 or even railroad ties into the corner and adding hooks would work just as well.

We are expecting yet another cold snap this weekend with temperatures dipping down as low as 37F at night (Brrrrr ... cold) so I'll spend the next evenings doodling and driving the husband insane with all kinds of crazy new ideas I'll bring home from the Home & Patio Show on Saturday. What are your plans for the weekend? Doing anything fun?

In the Mood

... for more mood boards!

Yep, you heard that right. More mood boards!

On the quest for a more cohesive look for our sweet master suite consisting of bedroom, dressing/walk-through closet and bathroom, the husband and I have been digging through various sources of inspiration such as a slew of catalogs from Pottery Barn, Ballard Design and Restoration Hardware, board after board on pinterest as well as movies, TV shows and of course the creme de la creme, other DIY and House blogs. Well, okay, -I- have been trolling these sources and then presented the husband with my findings for a final "yay!" or "nay!"

In the end, both of use seem to gravitate to a style that can be best described as "NYC Loft meets Farmhouse Charm" or "Restoration Hardware goes Country"... heh!

With that in mind, both dressing room and bedroom - so far white with lovely dark teal accents - got a quick and rather simple make-over: off-white/light tan for the walls, white trim, black window casings to up the industrial feel of the ugly 80s aluminum windows we are not yet going to replace, wood and wicker and touches of vintage brass.

On Pinterest - the mother lode of all things inspiration - I discovered a lovely pin utilizing a screen door to separate rooms and LOVED it so we'll be doing that for our bathroom (possibly adding opaque plexiglass for privacy in and on the 'loo).

Dressing Room:

dressing room by littleoldhouse on polyvore.com

To-Do:
- paint walls off-white/tan
- lay dark cork floor
- re-upholster existing bedroom chair with linen
- add rug
- add light fixture (love those gilded accents; maybe I can create the look on a natural shade?)
- add wicker hamper
- install screen door to bathroom

Master Bedroom:

Bedroom Take 2 by littleoldhouse on polyvore.com

To-Do:
- paint walls above batten and board off-white/tan
- re-upholster headboard in linen/burlap
- new curtains (have idea - will diy)
- add rug
- find bigger, brassier lamps for night stands
- get a tripod lamp

Evolution of a Moodboard

Yesterday, as I was adding a second coat of white paint to the baseboards and door molding, my mind started to wander.

It does that all the time when I'm painting trim and lately I have had the greatest ideas during those seemingly endless sessions of painting things white. Most of them revolve around painting things any other color than white.

Right now, our masterbathroom is - in its unfinished state - a room of rather stark contrasts: black vanity and white vessel sink, black tiles and white tiles, black window frames and white walls. It sure could use some softening up (nevermind, that I still don't know how to tie those three adjoining rooms - bathroom, dressing room and bedroom) together without letting go of our beautiful dark teal wall color in our bedroom. Oh well, one step at a time.

Once Little Man was in bed, I decided to dig up the good ol' Polyvore account to dabble with a mood board. I'm all about visuals, and even though I tend to have a decent idea of how things will look together, nothing beat 'seeing' it.

So, here's the old mood board, thrown together more than a year and a half ago (Gasp! It's been -that long? Good gracious, time does fly!)

[Master Bath - Old Mood Board]

Back then, I had a thing for black penny tile which we passed on in favor of a more budget-friendly vintage black and white tile since our bathroom is a whopping 220sqft. We -did- diy our vanity from an old desk, decided on one larger vessel sink instead of two, I found a lovely vintage mirror and the wainscoting is still on the list of things to tackle. I liked the stencil and was having visions of some really funky wallpaper effect but now, now I'm not so sure anymore. The stark, clean, uncluttered room has somewhat grown on me, but yet ... I crave some soft undertones.

Polyvore to the rescue!

I know some people like to use other programs (even Windows Paint), but Polyvore and I, we're tight. Pinterest helped me find some inspiration for vintage-style bathrooms and thanks to Polyvore I'd tweaked my old mood board in no time.

Wanna see?

[Master Bath Mood Board- Improved]

We loooove our shag rug in our livingroom, so after trying several rugs - with patterns and without - I settled on a soft ivory shag rug. Thanks to a coupon code, this 3x5 squishy squooshy ivory softness for $44.00 (and free shipping!) from Rugs USA will make an appearance soon. I picked up on the sporadic use of gilded items in vintage style bathrooms and decided to give our mirror a virtual make-over trying it on in gold. Guess I'll break out the gold leaf this weekend 'cause I'm really REALLY loving it!

I have had a wall earmarked for a fireplace ever since the inception of the bathroom, so that just got added. Yes, there will be bubble baths within direct line of sight of a crackling fire. Hmm-mmm-mm ....!

And I'll also need an upholstered bench with curvy legs to help soften the look further so I'll keep my eyes open on craigslist or on thriftstore trips.

The bathroom will continue to read calm and clean, but with some really understated elegance (I'm the gal with dirty, naked feet digging in the yard, y'know, I don't really do 'elegance') and a little softer around the edges.

Peeking into the future

Since I'm chatting with our contractors via facebook plotting and planning a 2012 project, I thought I might as well post here a little doodad I threw together using Paint.

Quick and easy - that's how I like'em!

Behold! I present unto thee a future vision of The Ugly Duckling !

This vision includes replacing the current 1980s wrought-iron railing with a sturdier and historically more accurate wooden railing which will be safer and optically more pleasing, possibly a new fence with gentle swoops to both soften all and provide contrast to all the straight lines of our house and finally, the original door back in its original place by the porch steps.

This rendition does not include a faux transom window above the door (faux because our ceilings are dropped and would interfere with an actual transom). Ours got removed, most likely when the door was moved, but fortunately both houses to the left still have theirs and since the Ugly Duckling is an exact copy of one of the houses and almost 99% copy of the other, we know what its original transom would have looked like and are able to shamelessly copy them.

So, there you have it: our vision for what the Ugly Duckling should look like (plus a new coat of paint and maybe some landscaping) by the end of 2012. What do you think?

Coming in 2012: plans for the new year

While first preparing for and then relaxing over the holidays, we had plenty of time to muse and plot and plan about the projects we would like to tackle here at our darling Ugly Duckling over the next couple of months.

After wrapping up some trim paint jobs inside our home, we've decided to dedicate 2012 first and formost to the exterior of our little old house.

[Ugly Duckling in oil]

- Replace-A-Rail
Soon, the rusty iron railing will be a thing of the past. Plans to replace the non-original wrought iron porch railing with a more historically-appropriate wooden railing are already underway.

- Picket Fence Fun
We are planning to add a fence to our front yard. It'll be part of our entire exterior make-over with special focus on ramping up our curb appeal (which is non-existent right now)

- Upfront Landscaping
Our front yard is a barren wasteland. I've been collecting ideas online and I see the beginnings of a plan. Of course, we're challenged by a small budget and a northern exposure. There are also some plans for neat features in the back yard as well for an all-around over haul of the ol' gal.

- It's Raining Paint - Hallelujah!
Time's up - we need to paint the exterior of the house. There will be buckets and buckets of paint in our future.

There will also be some window restoration, maybe some storm windows, screens, window boxes and bees in this little old house's future.

Are you in for the ride?