Progress on the Kitchen Shelves

 My plants are waiting to get back into the kitchen window's light.

 My husband, working late into the night to get this project done.

Primed and dressed in the first coat of paint, early morning.  We're almost done with this phase of the kitchen!

Kitchen Update and Chair Repair

 Here's the kitchen with bead board on the cabinet backs.  My husband is outlining the bead board with quarter-round, and it looks very finished.  He's also adding 1" strips on the fronts of the shelves to make them appear thicker and more finished.  Once he's done with that, it'll be time to prime.

In other news, I found this chair on the side of the road just before the baby was born.  It had all the springs and burlap bindings hanging out of the bottom, and the seat was sunken-in.

 Here's a peek at my repair job.  I know it's probably going to rub some of you the wrong way that I used duct tape, but the burlap was so old it was tearing apart in my hands.  And frankly, I believe if people back in the day when this was made had duct tape, they would have used it too.  So there.

And here's the bottom of the chair with the black netting replaced.  Repair complete!

Now to try some fabric spray paint to brighten her up!

Small Changes in the House

 After a visit to my friends' beautifully and carefully updated home, I realized there was beauty in what we already had because it was original to our 1950 home.  We had planned to knock out doorways to make them larger, knock out part of a wall to make a peninsula, and so much more.  But until we have the money to make such huge changes, why not use what we already have - sand paper and paint - to update what we have and celebrate it?  I've been itching for these last 5+ months to do something, ANYTHING to this old home!  So I took off the cabinets last Sunday.  Then we discovered this hole in the top right cabinet:

It was behind some warped, water-damaged cardboard lining the top of the cabinet. The roof has been recently replaced, so the water-damage shouldn't continue, and this hole will be repaired.  I moved all our dishes out so the husband could spray insecticide up there, and what do you know? No bugs the last two days! Glory!

 Here's a project I've been hoping to get done for the kitchen - a blackboard menu.  The frame was free from a neighbor's yard sale leftovers, and Jason cut a piece of melamine to fit.  I primed it and painted it with my friend's left-over black board paint (thanks, Rae!).

Jason repaired a giant hole in the bathroom wall behind the mirror/medicine cabinet that was WAY too big for that unit.  Then he hung this mirror (I think it was $10 or $15 at a yard sale) - which has a lovely frame and is more my ideal size for this space. It feels SO GOOD to have some small things improved!  Baby steps!

Seed Starting for Summer

 How's that for alliteration?

I had an idea for starting seeds efficiently - I would fill a large flat tray with potting soil and just cover each seed grouping with a labeled glass container, then transplant the starts that germinated to Dixie cups (cheap, somewhat compost-able containers).  Well, it turns out that's the most efficient way to breed gnats.

So today, whether germinated or no, all seeds were transplanted to labeled Dixie cups.  We have several types of heirloom tomatoes and peppers, herbs, and squashes (many gifts from Paige at Love Sown). With the weather we've been having here in East Texas, you'd think it was spring already!

Tiny Sprouts and Squirrel Hate

 Lettuces

 Broccoli

We've got quite an assortment here in our spring garden: garlic, onions, spinach, mesculun lettuces, Swiss chard, leeks, kale, carrots, peas and beets.  Our slightly modified version of the Square Foot Gardening techniques for soil preparation have really paid off - everything is looking quite healthy in our single 8x12' raised bed.  All vegetables have been started from seed except for the onions, and were planted just before Christmas.  The oak leaves are proving difficult to keep off the starts, and I've sworn to kill all the squirrels as soon as I can get my hands on a pellet gun.