Day 526: Modified Cabinets

We modified the upper cabinets around the mounted above the stove and it turned out GREAT!

Shannon will have to do the write-up on just exactly HOW he worked his magic on this one, but I wanted to post photos since it's our most recent project.

Now they just need a little bondo, and some paint! 

Day 519: Fun with chalkboard paint

Wasn't feeling these guys.

holiday messages from our friends!

Not long after we closed on the house, we were driving through Morningside, and someone had put out two lovely frames, framing two awful prints, for trash collection. They're huge gilded frames, and we couldn't let them meet their fate, so we scooped them up and vowed to put them to good use. Nearly two years later, we have indeed put them to good use.

<< Exhibit A: One of the LOVELY prints. The other involves angels and cherubs. Same crackled aging effect. Same gigantic faces. I'm sure we have a pic somewhere.

So, what fate did these lovelies meet you ask? Well, you know my love for chalkboard paint. One is now a lovely chalkboard for messages, lists, etc. in our kitchen. I taped it off and painted right over the plastic print.

The other holds a print of Van Gogh's Irises - one of my faves. We just had a piece of glass cut to size and popped in a print we'd been waiting to frame. Perfection!

And while we're on the subject of chalkboard paint, while I had it out I also brought one of my pins to life (don't you just love pinterest?). I've got tons of wine bottles just waiting for craft projects, and this one was super easy. I just painted stripes of chalkboard paint onto a few to label their contents - in this case, water at our holiday party!

so easy, so fun!

It's like I'm in the Getty. every. day.

What pins have you brought to life?

Day 513: It's the holiday season

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Day 479: Friends and Family Flair

Looks about right!

I *think* I've finally gotten my family & friends photo wall like I like it!

I went a little crazy with the hammer and nails Friday afternoon to get some things up I'd been putting off. This is one of them. I had an arrangement up, but have been playing around with it for months. Swapping out frames and prints, and adding a few here and there (note: my 'W' finally made it up, along with a photo from our anniversary vacay that came in just in time). What do you think?

Day 434: Deck stairs are done!

The handyman with his handywork

Shannon has been working every spare minute, in between work and daily life, not to mention trips for work and fun, to get the deck finished. Now he's in the homestretch! All that's left are the railings for the stairs. And not a minute too soon. Fall is on the way!!!

Day 431: Cooking out

We put the nearly finished deck to good use this Labor Day weekend by cooking out! So much fun. It's going to be a *great* space.

Day 407: Let there be wind and light

This post is a little out of order because we put new fans up right before July 4th weekend.  Mary really liked the blade design on these and they were on sale at the big blue store.  We actually bought two of them, one for each down stairs bedroom.  They are Hunter 60" Regalia New Bronze Ceiling Fans which concerned me a little because 60" is typically used in bigger rooms.  Our two bedrooms are roughly 10ft by 10ft and 10ft by 11ft so I thought the scale might be a little off or over power the room but now that they are up I think Mary would agree that they both look really nice.  They also really move the air around well in both rooms so that's a nice bonus seeing as they are fans and not just ceiling decorations!   

Day 400: More Deck

Well it has been a while.  A while since I (Shannon) made an entry in the blog.  Mary has been reminding me to do it but it's hard for me to make it a priority.  I tend to be bouncing from one task to the next project then back to chip away at one started months ago.  Writing the details of actual work being done just doesn't make it very high up on my mental list of things to do.  Plus my explanations and thought process probably aren't that interesting since my engineering personality can some times be heavy on the detail, if your not into house renovations or agonizing over decisions.

Currently I've been working on the back deck.  I cleaned and stained the deck portion about a month ago now then stalled a bit.  The past week about got 95% of the railing is up and just lacking a small portion that is the short length of rail at the "landing" at the top of the stairs.  Thanks to Nicky and some online reading the railing installation went pretty well.  If you remember, the back porch was left as just 2x4s and screen walls sans roof for a while. :|   I had intentions of trying to cobble some railing together out of the remnants and the ever growing pile of scrap wood but my neighbor made a good point in passing when I told him my plan.  He said "well you don't want anyone leaning against your "railing" and having them fall off the porch."  This is a pretty obvious statement but after that I had images of friends coming over and hanging out on the back porch and falling through my "recycled" railing.  That sealed it for me, I read up on deck railing code and made a material shopping list.  Off to the big blue store.

Wood is not completely stable but this was my first time working with pressure treated (PT) lumber and I had read about warping and twisting being a nuisance when building with PT lumber.  Warping and twisting is because when the lumber is milled/processed/treated it is still extremely "green" and/or wet.  I searched through the racks of lumber culling out the better boards until I thought I had everything I needed.    Just putting up the railing I've had to make two more trips to the store  :|  but I guess that is the case most of the time.  A project can never be done with just one trip to the store ;) somebody told me it is like the law of physics there is no way around it, I'm begining to be a believer.  Next task on the back deck will be rebuilding the stairs, they are definitely on their last, last leg!  

Shannon

Day 395: Fun with power tools

Work on the back deck continues, and we're using the big tools now! It's a SCORCHER in Atlanta this weekend, but that never stopped Shannon!

Day 392: Friends with Benefits?

We started work on the deck this week, and Nicky was kind enough to help out after work 2 nights this week, which really helped us out. Thanks Nicky! The man is a machine! This is our first true building project, even if it is just a deck. It's a work-in-progress, just like everything else around here. We're learning as we go!
But it's really coming along so far.

Day 389: Under the Sea

I spied these sweet hooks at the Inman Park Festival and had every intention of circling back to this booth to make a purchase, but we were hot and tired by the end of it and I completely forgot. Lucky for me, the same guy was at the Festival on Ponce today so I snatched up my faves! Aren't they adorable? And they were just $4 a pop. Love 'em! They'll fit perfectly on the sun porch, don't you think?

Day 388: Exterior Paint Done

Lookin' good!

We've gotten much wiser about which jobs to hire out for and which to tackle ourselves, wouldn't you agree? ;)

After taking a stab at scraping paint on all the windows and trim, Shannon quickly decided it would be much quicker to hire painters who could knock it out in a few days. And did they ever! Some of the windows were in rough shape, so they gave them the needed repairs, prepped everything and got it all painted in 3 days.

The house is really starting to look great! Our neighbors on Oakdale were kind enough to share their trim color (which we love), and it was one we were already considering, so that was easy! (BM Dove White OC-17, jic you were wondering - not too yellow but still a nice creamy 'off' white. Love it.)

Day 384: Trimwork & Windows

We're having the exterior trim and all the windows repaired and painted this week! Yippeeee! More photos and the full deets to come soon. Here's a sneak preview in the meantime.

Day 369: Chair Cushions

Voila!

Mom was here this weekend and was kind enough to bring along a sewing machine and her crafting expertise! After some re-assurance of my selected swatches, we went to Forsyth Fabrics to purchase the patterns I'd settled on for the sun porch cushions, rocking chair and pillow covers for the couch. (I'm a little behind on my spring spruce-up, clearly;)

Then it was go-time! Mom got me all set up on the machine (I needed a refresher on threading the bobbin and other such skills since it's been a good five years since I touched a sewing machine - yikes!), and we got right to work. First up were the cushion covers for the wicker chairs on the sun porch. We just eyeballed it, and everything turned out just fine. We finished both covers in about 2 hours (would have been less but again, I needed the lesson). Whew! Don't they look great?

Next up are the pillow covers for the couch. Those are my favorite fabric, so should be really fun.

I should have enough remnants for an additional pillow out of each fabric, but want to come up with something way fun for those. Thoughts?

Day 366: The Year in Review

For your viewing pleasure, a  6 minute review of where we've been the past year!




Youtube removed the soundtrack. Grrr. For full effect, mute the cheesy music they replaced mine with and open this and have playing in background ;)

Day 365: Happy House-iversary!

One year ago today, we bought our very own home, celebrated for about an hour, immediately changed into work clothes - and the transformation began!

We celebrated tonight with a champagne picnic on the sun porch, complete with a slide show of how far we've come set to my genius playlist of songs with the word 'home' in them.

It's overwhelming sometimes, but seeing how much we've accomplished in the past year was truly inspiring and made us feel so much better! Now we're motivated to push through for another year.... and another, and another! ;)







Here are a few highlights from our little celebration :)

Day 364: Staining Back Deck

Shannon completely disassembled the screened walls of the previously enclosed back deck a couple weekends ago, and now that the rain has finally stopped, he had a chance to put the first coat of cover stain on tonight. It looks better already!

We're going with grey for the base and white for the trim and railings. Just when I learned about all the different whites - I had to brush up on my greys pretty quickly to pick just the right one. There are so many options! Even with outdoor stains... wowie.

Can't wait till we have another outdoor space to enjoy! :)

Day 359: A Look Back

Next Thursday we'll celebrate one year of home ownership! We can scarcely believe it's been almost a year since we sat in our attorney's office signing our lives away on a hope and a dream ;) We've certainly come a long way since then, but we still have a long way to go.

It was a whirlwind process between Shannon's initial look, his second and third looks and finally taking me out with our agents there for emotional support to gauge my level of terror, and then finally - our inspection and final walk-through. Looking back now, I wonder how sane we were during everything ;)

We're looking forward to celebrating our achievements over the past year, and getting motivated to push through with more progress in the coming year (and the many years that follow - Rome wasn't built in a  day, right? ;)

We've started getting together before and after photos and hope to have some better ones soon.

But here's a doozie for today - what we saw when we walked in on June 7 for our home inspection. We can laugh about it now, but it was intimidating to say the least!

Living Room (Before)

Living Room Today

Day 358: History Buff

So I may have gone a little crazy with all my history posts of late, but I've managed to tie everything up nice and neat on a new tab (see above) so it's accessible going forward as our posts start to revert back to our projects and progress.

Speaking of history, there's also a new tab for OUR history in the house, featuring before and after photos of each room we've made progress in. We still need to take some new 'after' photos, but it, like everything else, is a work in progress.

Check 'em out, and enjoy!

Day 354: More History of our 'Hood

Making no effort to hide my inner history geek, the posts continue. I found this great timeline, written by Gail King in the 80s for the DHCA. It has some great points, including when the Ponce trolley and bridge were built, the eccentricities of Asa Candler, and more. Enjoy!

A History of Druid Hills Community By Gail King
For the Druid Hills Civic Association

 The gently rolling countryside is dotted with white dogwoods and redbuds in bloom.  

Mountain laurel promises to blossom along the creeks and streams and the sweet smell of banana shrub hangs about in the warm spring air.

The virgin hardwood forests, filled with oaks, beech, sycamores, poplars, hickory, hollies, and sourwood are beginning to show signs of new life.

     The time is 1800.  The place is an area that is home to the Middle Creek Indians, a place that 100 years later would be known as “Druid Hills.”

     The Indians were forced away when the white settlers came.  Their wigwams were replaced with log cabins, and their moccasin-worn paths became roads for horse-pulled wagons. In 1821 this land was ceded to the Georgia government by the Indians.  It was surveyed into land lots of 202 ½ acres, and by lottery, Georgia citizens could draw for these land lots.  In 1825 Nancy Cosby drew the first land lot from this area.  It was bought in 1851 for $910 and sold in 1863 to John Gerdine Johnson for $5,925.  Johnson eventually acquired most of the land bordered by streets now known as Ponce de Leon, Briarcliff, North Decatur, and Lullwater.  Once they were old Indian paths.  After Johnson’s death, his widow and son sold all the land, except ten acres around the homeplace (still on Oakdale Road) to Joel Hurt’s Kirkwood Land Company in 1890 for $63,000.

     Hurt had founded the East Atlanta Land Company which had designed Inman Park in 1887.  In 1890 he chartered the Kirkwood Land Company and began to acquire tracts of land that would later become Druid Hills.  He bought land from the Paden family (Druid Hills Golf Club area), the Harrison family (Fernbank area), and several others until, by 1893, he had assembled over 1,400 acres for his dream of a suburban park-like residential area.

     In this same year, 189,0 Hurt invited Frederick Law Olmsted to visit the Druid Hills site and discuss the possibility of designing the property.  Olmsted was interested in designing a major residential suburb in the South that would be the “ideal residential park” which would provide “healthful living in a country setting, yet not far from the city,” and he felt this site would be ideal.

     Letters filed in the Library of Congress indicate Frederick Law Olmsted and the Olmsted Brothers completed preliminary plans in 1892 for the development of the 1482 acres of Druid Hills.  Olmsted Sr. made numerous trips to Atlanta between 1890 and 1894 to talk with Joel Hurt about these designs.  In 1893 Olmsted submitted a preliminary general plan for Druid Hills including roads, lakes and building sites.  Perhaps the most important feature of the plan was the gently curving Ponce de Leon with its graceful string of parks.  Adjacent to the Ponce de Leon Boulevard he included a trolley line. Olmsted and his sons continued to work on these designs for Druid Hills, but the depression in 1893 forced Joel Hurt to temporarily abandon his project of 18 years.

     In 1895, Olmsted Sr. retired, and his sons took over the firm.  In 1896 The Atlanta Constitution printed an East Atlanta Land Company real estate map which showed Olmsted’s detailed plans for Druid Hills. In 1903 Olmsted died and young John Olmsted, who had made a trip to Druid Hills the year before, continued developing the 1893 plans.
     In 1903, the name “Druid Hills” was actually given to this new development by the Olmsted firm, and many of the streets were named there.
     In 1905 the Golf Club was planned.
     In 1907 the Kirkwood Land Company began developing Druid Hills.  Ponce de Leon was graded, its string of parks landscaped and building lots in the western section of Druid Hills laid out.

     May 19, 1908, The Atlanta Journal reported “Joel Hurt property, Druid Hills, sold for $500,000, the largest sale ever recorded here,” to the Druid Hills Company.
     Asa G. Chandler, Coca Cola millionaire, Forrest and George Adair, Realtors, and Preston Arkwright, Ga. Railway and Power executive, major stockholders, can be credited with the development of Ponce de Leon and the residential area of Druid Hills as envisioned by Joel Hurt and designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
     In June, a charter for the “Druid Hills” Corporation was granted by DeKalb Superior Court. 
     In 1912 the Druid Hills Golf Club was formed.
     The trolley line was built adjacent to Ponce de Leon in 1913, ending at Clifton Road.
     Between 1908 and 1935 the Druid Hills Company made a showplace of Olmsted’s trademarks: residential areas laid out in park-like settings, wide scenic parkways, smaller roadways following the gently rolling contours of the land and a profusion of native and exotic plantings.  Druid Hills became the home of many of Atlanta’s wealthy leaders.
     The first home was built in 1909, at the northeast corner of Briarcliff and Ponce, a huge brick structure on four and a half acres, by John S. Candler, brother of Asa G. Candler.
     In 1915 Asa Candler gave Emory 75 acres and $500,000 to begin development.

     In 1917, a bridge was built over Ponce at Lullwater, making it easier to get to Decatur during periods of heavy rain.
     Magnificent homes, designed by leading architects of the time Philip Shutze, Neel Reid and Walter Downing, were being built on large land lots, using the finest materials and craftsmen available.
     Asa Candler, Jr., built an impressive home on 42 acres on Briarcliff, now the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Center.  It included a golf course, two swimming pools (one open to the public for 25 a person), and a private zoo, which was home to six elephants (among them, one pair named Coca and Cola and another pair named Refreshing and Delicious), a Bengal tiger, four lions, a black leopard, a gorilla and numerous baboons.
     Some neighbors charged in a law suit that they “lived in fear” of the odiferous and hazardous collection.

 In a case that went to the Georgia Supreme Court, one woman on Briarcliff sued Candler and was awarded $25,000, after she opened her car door to find a baboon sitting in the driver’s seat, where upon the baboon filched her purse and in the struggle the woman fell and broke her leg!

     After a succession of hair-raising events, Candler gave most of the animals to the Grant Park Zoo.

     WALTER CANDLER, third son of Asa G. Candler, built Lullwater Farms on 185 acres on Clifton Road.  It boasted a 25 acre lake, tennis courts, swimming pool, stables, hunting lodge and a half-mile private race tract.   Candler sold Lullwater Farms to Emory in 1958.  The manor house became home to Emory’s President and 20 acres became an outdoor biology lab for Emory.  A large portion was sold to the federal government where the VA Hospital now stands.

     In 1924, the Emory Village had its beginnings with the building of a service station.  The area north of North Decatur Road and west of Emory, Lullwater Subdivision, was developed on land lots of 75 to 100 feet.

   In the Spring of 1933, Mae West was in court in Atlanta fighting for permission to show her latest film, “She Done Him Wrong,” at the Paramount, but way out Ponce de Leon Atlantans by the thousands were flocking to Druid Hills to see the flowering dogwoods on the grounds of the splendid estates.

     Olmsted, the man who created Central Park in New York, had created a garden paradise in Atlanta that had become the place to live.

     Emory University had expanded by 15 acres thanks to another gift from Candler.

     AT THIS TIME, late 30’s and early 40’s, Druid Hills had its own water system (piped from a spring near what is now DeKalb Tennis Center), school district (Emory had set up a school for children of faculty and staff that became Druid Hills School) and fire hall and police station (located near the Kroger Store in the Village).  After World War II all these services became part of the DeKalb County system.

(3/29/84  DeKalb News/Era)

Day 353: Historic Photos, Oakdale Rd.

Jackpot. I've got more photos, people. Courtesy of Georgia's Virtual Vault.

Antoinette Johnson, 1915.

Johnson Home and Barn, ca. 1910.

Beekeeping. Dan W. Johnson, Jr. and his son Dan, ca. 1918.

Johnson Family Barn, ca. 1915

Johnson Kindergarten House, designed by Walter Dowing and located on Oakdale Road (between Ponce de Leon and the By Way). ca. 1917

Students in playground at Antoinette Johnson Kindergarten,
located at 1097 Oakdale Road, ca. 1961

ca. 1918. Rabbit box. Dan William Johnson and Jean Johnson.

Elsie W. Johnson in WWII Victory Garden,
located 1097 Oakdale Road, ca. 1942

Day 352: Photos of our street's Namesake

I am so excited. Thanks to the wonders of the interwebs, I have found old photos of W. Vilenah Medlock Johnson, our road's namesake, and her mother -

W. Vilenah Medlock in mourning dress, ca. 1905

Vilenah A. Mason and her husband,
William P. Medlock, August 28, 1861.

Day 351: History Lesson, Part II

Confession: I am officially obsessed with the genealogy of our homestead's early settlers.

It just so happens the author of the book I mentioned in my previous post is literally a product of the marriage of two of the famous settlers of Atlanta, the Johnsons and the Medlocks.

Check out this great excerpt from a genealogy site, written by Ms. Matthews:

The John Williams Medlock plantation in Atlanta was on what later became Ponce de Leon Ave. and reached as far as the present site of Sears - Roebuck. Their old home was on what is now Boulevard at the intersection of St. Charles Ave. The family burying ground was near the corner of St. Charles. There those who died were buried, but when Atlanta began to make streets and building lots of the land, the graves were later moved to Decatur cemetery.

The famous Ponce de Leon springs was on the Medlock property, and it was very popular for friends to gather there on frequent occasions "to take the waters". Many would drive from Gwinnett to see their old neighbors and friends, and to enjoy the spring.

During the War Between the States all five of the sons of John Williams Medlock and four sons - in - law served in the Confederate Army. Thomas died as a result of the war. William Parks was wounded in both hands, the bullet remaining in his left hand until his death.

Written for Volume II of The History of Gwinnett County from information found in the Federal censuses, county records, cemetery and Bible records, and reminiscences of Medlock descendants, by a granddaughter of William Parks Medlock, Antoinette Medlock Johnson (Mrs. Wm. Collins Matthews).

Day 350: History Lesson

Our sweet neighbor Margaret was kind enough to loan us her copy of a book she'd told us about that's no longer in print, written by one of the first residents of Oakdale Road (our main road here in the 'hood). Since we're the only side street, we're included too :) The author of the book, Ms. Antoinette Johnson Matthews (whose oldest son just recently passed away in November, but lived just down the street from us) was the daughter of Daniel Johnson who named our street after his wife, and settled the Druid Hills area in the late 1800s.

There's a photo in the book of our house, taken in the late 60s (the book was published in 1971). It sure hasn't changed much! ;)

Day 349: Sunroom Almost After

I returned home this afternoon, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a fabulous sunroom, mostly done and ready for me to fill with wonderful things! You'll forgive me for not rhyming, but I'm super excited to share a few pics of the (almost) finished product. We still have some final things to finish - painting touch-up here and there, as well as painting one more door and window, plus painting and installing the baseboards, re-covering the chair cushions etc., etc. Doesn't it looks great? Riley's loving it already.

Day 343: Easel Makeover

Before

After!

We were driving down the street and saw someone was trashing this perfectly good easel. We couldn't let that happen! Immediately, I thought of turning it into a chalkboard. It's still a functional easel, but now it can serve double duty!

I just cleaned it up, put on a couple coats of chalkboard paint, and voila! There you go.

I can't wait to use it for all kinds of things, welcoming guests, wishing happy holidays, etc. etc. Hurrah for crafting!

PS - If anyone wants the rest of my chalkboard paint, let me know - it's yours :)

Day 342: Lowe's trip

Lowe's trips have gotten less frequent, but we did make a run tonight - on a weeknight, even! Ceiling fans were on sale, and this is what excites us now ;) Ceiling fans. Check out Shannon cruising in style with 'wings' of trim! Nice.

Day 341: Sunroom During

Here's Shannon painting the ceiling of the sunroom this weekend - it's a lot brighter than we thought it would be, but we're adjusting to the shock :) This is the same color we painted the coffee table for the sunroom. Wowie, what a difference natural sunlight makes!

Day 340: Sunroom Before

Here's a before shot of the sunroom with our hodge podge of furniture and cleaned-up windows, but walls and ceiling badly in need of paint! After shots coming soon - still need to paint the trim and doors!!

Day 339: Swatches (again)

We went to Forsyth Fabrics after brunch today since we were in the 'hood, and picked up a few swatches for our seat cushions on the wicker chairs for the sunroom, and the rocking chair that needs to be reupholstered. That place is THE best. We are so in love with the color of our revamped coffee table, we used it as the inspiration as we pulled samples.

Of course, by now we've learned paint chips can't be trusted - everything looks different once you throw it down on the actual painted piece. Here's what we came up with. I'm loving the tones in the middle row, and the busy paisley in the top left. We're feeling the bottom row for the rocking chair, but the right two look a bit dark now. We'll see!

Day 337: Potting Bench Assembled!

It was killing me that my beautiful potting bench was still sitting in the box not assembled so tonight we pulled it out and assembled while catching up on The Voice. It was a pretty quick and easy assembly, though Shannon did have to make a few quick adjustments here and there. Here's a pic of the finished product - doesn't it look great?

And yes, that's my Bobby Cobb official competition penny can on the bottom shelf. I'm pretty proud of that one! ;)

Day 336: Patio Furniture, Repainted

Lookin' good!