Basement Workshop Stone Repointing: Part 5, Foundation Wall Top
Welcome back to another installment of our Basement Workshop Stone Repointing series. This is part 5 because I really know how to milk a series for all it is worth. Today, we’re talking about the tops of foundation walls. An old house’s stone foundation wall is usually at least 18 inches thick. Besides the fact that this wall is supporting the weight of the house, there are also multiple beams sitting on top of the foundation wall. These may include the sill plate, floor joists, and door and window headers. From the outside of the house, the top of your foundation wall is not visible. Or, if it is, there’s…
DIY Wood Pedestal With Mini Egg Trim
Did you know mini wood eggs for Easter are a thing? Dare I say, the greatest thing? Well, you do now! Today’s project, a DIY Wood Pedestal With Mini Egg Trim, was a thrifted find that I made over for Easter, using mini wood eggs for a festive trim detail. Click here to jump to the supply list. Click here to jump to the project directions. There was nothing wrong with the wood pedestal when I spotted it on the ubiquitous dusty thrift store shelf, especially not for the price. It was $6. But I had a makeover idea hatching in my brain, and I couldn’t rest until I knew…
Happy List: #427
Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am delighted to have you here. This week on the blog, as a nod to the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, I shared horseshoe decor ideas for your home that aren’t western-themed. I also shared the floor joist problem we’re having with our basement repointing project. Hello, can of worms. I wish I didn’t know you. Once again, thank you for being here. It makes my day to connect with you and hear what’s going on in your life. If you want to reach out, please comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also direct message me on Instagram…
Basement Workshop Stone Repointing: Part 4, Floor Joists
Welcome back to our Basement Workshop Stone Repointing series. This is part 4, where I tell you how our floor joists have taken a starring role in this melodrama. Anatomy of an Old House Way back in the 1780s, when this house was built. It was a humble one-room structure with a sleeping loft. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know this room as our dining room with the big fireplace. The sleeping loft is now our office. This humble house, of course, had a stone foundation, which is the basement workshop that we are repointing now. We don’t know where this basement area was accessed,…
7 Lucky Horseshoe Decor Ideas for Your Home
St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, which means symbols of good luck are top-of-mind right now. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take all the good luck I can muster these days, so I’ve rounded up 7 lucky horseshoe decor ideas for your home. This isn’t a new theme for me. I decorated a good luck horseshoe ten years ago that I still love and hang in our house. You can get the easy directions for that here. Here are the 7 lucky horseshoe decor ideas for your home. You can buy these, of course, but some of them would be easy enough to replicate on your own! My…
Happy List: #426
Hi! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m thrilled to see you here. This week on the blog, I answered the most frequently asked questions about lime mortar that I get from social media. Hyper-specific blog posts are my specialty, so don’t feel bad if this one wasn’t for you. I’m sure I’ll eventually get to something that’s right up your alley. I also shared the progress we’ve made on our basement workshop repointing project. There’s something about reaching the halfway point that makes you think you can make it to the end. Of course, we also save the hard parts for the end of the project, so there’s that,…
Basement Workshop Stone Repointing: Part 3, Halfway Done
Welcome back to our Basement Workshop Stone Repointing series. This is the third installment of this series. Part 1 and Part 2 are rock-solid bangers, so don’t miss out on that good time. Today, I’m happy to celebrate being halfway done with this project. *and the crowd goes wild* I was unhelpfully thinking the other day that we would have been done already if we had just put our lives on hold and devoted several solid days to the project instead of a few hours after dinner a few nights a week. That’s the kind of toxic thinking a DIYer doesn’t need to indulge. The project will get done when…
Lime Mortar FAQs for Stone Foundations
You’re a homeowner with an old house and a stone foundation, and you realize that the stone foundation needs to be repointed. Now what? We’ve been in your shoes. We are DIYers who were skeptical of the ‘advice’ we were getting and went on a mission to figure out the best way to repoint and repair our stone foundation. Whether you are hiring a mason or planning to DIY it, here’s what we learned that will help you get started on your repointing project. Scroll through this blog post or use the table of contents to jump to the questions you want answered. Table of Contents What is lime mortar…
Happy List: #425
Hello, hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am absolutely thrilled to see you here. This week on the blog, I shared the vintage crate that I turned into a spring wreath. I love reimagining new uses for old things. It’s a great creative exercise. I also received happy mail from a friend, and that led me down a rabbit hole of looking for cards that look like art and should be framed. That’s just how my brain follows the path of inspiration! It truly makes my day to connect with you. I work alone, except on snow days. It snowed here this week. It’s fun to talk to…
10 Greeting Cards You’ll Frame Because They Are So Pretty
Have you ever received a greeting card that was so pretty that you needed to frame it? The very thought of throwing it away or shoving it in a drawer just felt wrong. That has happened to me. Out of the blue last week, I received a postcard from a friend. A friend I’ve made because of this blog. (How lucky am I? The luckiest.) Her love language is making cards and sending cards and postcards to her friends and family. How great is that? Receiving her postcard got me thinking, “How is my stock of cards looking?” I usually keep generic cards on hand that will work for a…
