Back at It! RIver House Fixer Upper

Yep, it has been a while since we have worked on the house.  Fact is...we were burned out.  The house was a huge makeover project and the captain and I worked every day on it at the beginning.  But after months of working long days at our regular jobs and then working into the night and every other waking moment on the house...well we just said enough for now.  That was several months ago.  Time flies!

This past week, the captain started working on the exterior back of the house.  This is the way it has looked since the new window was added last spring (2017).  It is past time to replace the siding.  This is a older home and of course, they no longer carry the size boards we needed to match the siding on the house.  We had to get 1 x 8" pine siding and take off 1/4 inch along the length of each board to match the siding already on the house.  But such are the pleasures of working with a older house!!

The windows on the left were added to that side of the house last year.  We had a hard time finding anything that would come close to the size of the windows on the right.  Not exact match but close as we could get without having a custom window made.  Close enough for me anyway.  

Once the captain got the siding up, I went to work priming the new boards.  Hopefully, if the weather cooperates, I will be able to paint the back by next week. 

Our plan is to add a deck or patio on the back of the house.  We have gone back and forth...with me thinking a deck would be nicer, but the captain thinking the patio is more practical.  Our A/C - heating unit is situated on the left side of the house with access to the crawl space being under the left window.  Putting a deck along the back of the house would make it very hard to get under the house for any kind of maintenance.  But that is something we will tackle in the spring.  For now...time to get back to work.

Until next time...

Enjoy!

Oriental NC

A couple of weeks ago, the captain decided it was time to untie Sun Daze from the dock and head somewhere.  Since we only had the weekend, we decided to make the trip to Oriental.  If we leave early am, we can usually be at the Oriental Marina there by 1 or 2 pm.  So that's what we did.  Left around 6am on Saturday and headed out of the Pungo River on the ICW.

I enjoyed my morning coffee while watching the sun peek over the horizon.  To me, this is the most wonderful time of day on the water... quiet, peaceful and such a joy.

The winds were very light, so no sailing.  Had to motor all the way, but that's okay.  We headed out of the Pungo, towards the Pamlico Sound and into the Pamlico River.  Then followed the ICW and entered Goose Creek.

Here we are passing Hobucken Coast Guard Station and the small fleet of shrimp boats docked there. 

Next was the Bay River, and then onto the Neuse River.   

Oriental is situated on the Neuse, and is known as the "Sailing Capital of NC". 

It's a small community with lots of charm, and laid back feel.  We pulled into Oriental Marina around 1:30pm.  It was a beautiful but hot! day, so after Sun Daze was secured, we headed over to The Bean (coffee/ice cream shop) for mango ice cream!!

We had dinner at the Toucan Bar and Grill, which is to the left of the shrimp boats in the pic above.  Enjoyed grouper and tuna, delicious!  After a walk around the town, we headed back to Sun Daze.  

This was a quick trip, so before sunrise the next day, we left the dock to head back home.  There was a lightning storm in the distance, and try as I might, I just could not capture the light show Mother Nature was providing for us.

I was using my tablet to take pictures (forgot my camera!), so only got one shot that captured the lightning.  

Even though the town is small, there are several huge shrimp boats here, and they were getting ready to head out as well. 

Once again, even with the early morning storms, the water was calm, so no sailing heading back home, but look at that stillness...absolutely beautiful.

This trip was short and sweet, with two goals.  One was relaxation, and the other...see what else we need to do on Sun Daze. We wanted to test out the boat for any snags, and Sun Daze performed wonderfully.  Only a few minor things are needed before it is time to take off again.  It was good to be back on her after all these months.  A beautiful relaxing weekend!  Can't wait until the next trip!

Until next time...

Enjoy!

diy Day

The weather here has been less than optimal for a long while now.  Cloudy, humid, rainy, basically yucky.  Having a few days off, I really wanted to get back to work on the outside of our house, but can't due to yucky weather.  So, I have declared today a diy day.

I got up early, and with my cup of coffee headed upstairs.  I have a bunch of cheap thrift store frames, so decided to convert them into chalkboards today.

Here's one I found a while back, has a solid wood frame, and it is a decent size.  I took the picture out of the frame and gave the frame a good cleaning.

I painted the frame with ivory chalk paint.  I used Waverly chalk paint, just because I had some left over from another project. 

It took 2 coats of paint.  While it was drying, I headed outside to cut the chalkboard to fit the frame.  I had some chalkboard left over from a sheet that I got for my kitchen chalkboard back in the winter. Since the weather is crappy today...I don't have pics of this step.  My camera would not have liked it outside.

Here's a picture of my kitchen chalkboard that I made out of a beautiful frame I had from years ago.

This was my Valentine's Day board.   It now looks like this.

Back inside with the cut piece of chalkboard...and all that's left to do is to insert the board into the frame.  (I did season the board first though.) 

And here it is.  This one is for my dear friend who requested I make one for her.

While I was in the mood for working with frames...I made 2 more.  One I painted Robin's Egg Blue, and the other I just black-washed over the gold.  

But this one is for my dragonfly friend.

Here you go, girlfriend.  Hope you enjoy it!

Until next time, ENJOY!