Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Closet

Zachary's latest project has been outfitting our master bedroom closet. We have always wanted a walk in closet, and in this house we had an easy solution for moving the bedroom closet across the room to make one.

He didn't use any plans for the closet design, instead tried to come up with storage solutions that fit the space best.

A suitable place for our backpack and bag collection for camping and hiking instead of piled under the bed or tripped over elsewhere.

This dowel idea turned out to be a real space saver for hanging pants, besides on hangers. My favorite idea of Zachary's.

2 Racks for hangers including space for long items. He also designed storage around the top for items, great for luggage, sleeping bags, etc.

The shoe wall. 3 rows fit all of our shoes, but we added a 4th thinking other people have more shoes than us for future owners. We haven't decided what to do with the left over space under the rack, either more shoe shelves, normal shelves or just let it be. Snow boots maybe?

The pocket door that leads into the bedroom, from the bathroom.

I love Zachary's woodworking magic. :-)

Of course during the project, we were reminded of the movie Overboard with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. In the beginning of the movie, she hires him to build her a ridiculous closet on her yacht. He builds the perfect closet for her, but yet she still gets angry at him for not building it out of the right wood and throws him overboard.

Good news is, I didn't throw Zachary overboard for his closet. :-) 

Lamps

I bought 4 identical lamps last winter from a rummage sale and recently remembered I had them piled up in the garage awaiting inspiration. I picked a home for 2 of them on the bedroom nightstands, but they needed a little freshening up first.

Blue spray paint and new shades later, we have new lamps. I have been digging these mini redo projects lately, and I have a couple more in mind for the house.

Zachary has been plugging away at the custom master bedroom closet and it is turning out nicely. I was going to do a mid-progress post on it, but it is going to be done soon enough to share. It is past the construction phase and now is in the staining/finishing stage. We are looking forward to having hanging clothes in the bedroom again.

Level 2 Tiling

Zachary has been upgrading his tiling skills this past week, moving on to bathroom & closet flooring. It is fast becoming his favorite new skill. That is a good thing, since there is more tiling ahead in the shower and bathroom walls.

We did decide on paint color in the bathroom and closet. The bath color is looking a little too limey in this picture, but its more of a cheerful celery green. We intend on tiling up the walls partway in the bathroom.

The walk-thru closet is a wheat-y tan color.

Zachary had an idea for a simple mosaic border around the bathroom and the pathway through the closet. I admit, I was skeptical at first of the added challenge of a border on his first tile floor, but again he surprised me.

The added mosaic touch to the floor makes it look rich, without actually adding cost.

Up next in here is framing out the cabinets and shelving in the bathroom and closet, and after that, more tiling adventures in the shower and walls.

Torreya

Saturday we drove north to Bristol, Fl to visit Torreya State Park. It is a unique part of Florida, that is home to a hilly region in a relatively flat state. It is also home to a rare species of the Torreya tree that only grows on the bluffs of the Apalachicola River. The historical house that sits in the park, The Gregory House, was holding a history day, with re-enactors and music.

The Gregory House

                                                 

Backyard of the House, that overlooks the river

View from the bluff overlooking the river

Reading hiking forums online, they rated the park excellent for the varied terrain and sights. We decided to try one of the 7 mile loops around the park. The first part of the trail had a lot of historical markers, showing old confederate gun emplacements and  powder magazines. The emplacements did not see action during the civil war, as the North did not try to come up the Apalachicola River.

Zachary was walking in front of me when he nearly got a face-full from this spider.

Zachary wanted to be sure we captured the scale of the size of this thing.

I told Zachary this would make a good profile picture for him...

Or night terrors, whichever.

It really was a gorgeous hike, the terrain seem to change with every bend of the trail, up and down ridges and ravines all the way. I couldn't stop taking pictures along the way of course.