Preparing for Spring

Though you wouldn't know it from today's forecast (forties with a chance of rain and snow), spring has technically arrived.  Nick has been hard at work planning this year's garden, and he's decided to try three raised beds of 4' x 8' each, chock full of various greens and veggies.

In preparation for the growing season, we removed the cover from the single raised bed that we currently have, and tore out the remaining vegetation.  The only exception was the carrots, which despite (or perhaps because of?) our benign neglect, seem to be growing pretty well.  We decided to leave them and we'll see how they do.

 

Nick hard at work.

Go carrots, go!

Westley supervising.

Next up was a trip to our local garden store to pick up potting soil, a seedling tray, and some seeds.  A number of the plants we are hoping to grow need to be started indoors.  The only place we can do that (read: the only place safe from our naughty kitties) is the guest room.  Et voila!

 

We've got a few more seeds to purchase (beets, kale and chard, pickling cucumbers, zucchini), and we are definitely going to need another tray.  I am excited to find out whether the seeds that I carefully saved from last summer's Crossroads Farm tomatoes will grow - they will be delicious if they do.

Staying In

At home sick today, so not much to report.  The midweek "snowquester", as it was called, brought somewhere between 6-8" inches of snow to our house, a wet heavy snow that bent the crepe myrtle double for a few hours.  Poor Nick was bent double shoveling it, too!  Power flickered but miraculously did not go out, despite heavy winds and thick snow on power lines.

I am trying to rest my body but my brain keeps racing through all of the many projects to accomplish on the house; not restful but exciting!  We have decided to use the leftover 3/4 gallon on Hollingsworth Green paint from the guest bedroom on the hall bathroom.  The color looks different in a small room lit solely with artificial light than it does in a mid-sized bedroom with two windows, but it is still a very nice color.  I hope it will soften the bathroom, as I feel it is a bit too white at the moment.  And although a matte finish is not considered ideal for a bathroom, the shower is rarely used and the overhead fan ought to keep it from becoming too damp a space.  I have not decided on a coordinating color; I keep wavering between gray, purple or a pale blue.  We'll see!

New Projects

Spring is around the corner, although this week's upcoming winter storm suggests it may be a corner two or three blocks away at least.  Nonetheless, since it's still too cold and frozen out to move to outdoor projects, we're working on some new indoor ones.

I joked at the end of last week's post that in lieu of buying a bed at Ikea, Nick might build one, but it is no longer a laughing matter: the building of a bedframe for the guest room has officially commenced!  He's using plans posted on a terrific website belonging to Ana White, an Alaskan homemaker (not a carpenter) who builds all sorts of gorgeous furniture that looks much more expensive than it is, and then puts up the building plans.  Other people also post plans to her site, and Nick was particularly struck by a design from Whitney at Shanty Chic that mimics a Pottery Barn platform bed:

 

Isn't it nifty?  The headboard is a bit much, but our version will not be nearly as tall.  Nick's going to make the bed first and the headboard later, since it isn't strictly necessary.  We took a trip to Home Depot on Thursday and bought some pine lumber, and today Nick finally got a chance to use the awesome Kreg Jig his parents gave him for Christmas!  It creates pocket holes for the screws, so that they can't be seen.  He's already planning a two-tone wood stain finish.  This is going to look gorgeous!

Starting lumber

The infamous Kreg Jig

 

Nick is glad to be back at his workbench building things
instead of behind his desk studying.

 

Pocket holes!  Cool, no?

That is the major project in-the-works, and he hopes to have it finished by April.  I, in the meantime, am back to dreaming about turning my kitchen pantry and laundry doors into chalkboard doors.  I have found the chalkboard vinyl that I want, but decided that before spending the money on the roll of vinyl, it was worth spending a couple of bucks (literally, $2) on some black construction paper to make sure that the overall look of chalkboard (ie. a swath of black) would look okay in the kitchen.  Behold, my high-tech test run!

Yup - looks good!  I like it.  But now I know it'll look good so I have no concerns about proceeding with the project.  It's going to have to be an April project, but I can plan it in the meantime.  The left door will have a weekly menu planner and a shopping list, while the right door will have a calendar and a to-do-list.  I plan to leave the bottom quarter to third of each blank so that I (or visitors) can doodle on it...because you know that if there are chalk ink markers and a washable surface, there is going to be doodling.  I will use a permanent paint marker to make the outline of the calendar, so that it is not wiped away when redoing the rest.  The calendar is going to be the hardest part, for sure, but I think it's doable. 

That's about it around here...other than the delicious, multi-seed, herbed giant crackers we made this morning, and the delicious granola I am currently baking.  Smells like maple syrup in here!