Etsy Shop - Finally Open

I FINALLY opened my Etsy shop.  I don't have a lot of inventory and I'm working on better photography but it's a long-awaited start.  Visit me at www.etsy.com/shop/OliveCoast.

Moroccan Tile Wall Treatment

I love this pattern and fell in love with a wallpaper that is WAY out of my budget range so I thought I'd experiment and recreate the pattern with a template in Photoshop, trace it a billion times onto the wall with chalk pencil, and then hand paint it in.  I'm pretty happy with it so far.  It really transforms a large and boring beige wall in our family room.

...and, in the process of moving the furniture out of the way so I could paint, I've decided on a new furniture layout for the family room too!  Steve better hurry and get the outdoor shower plumbing finished in the boathouse wall so we can get back to work with finishing the boathouse.  Since the boathouse has been on hold, I've been dreaming up all sorts of new projects!  More to come...

Boathouse Progress

It's been awhile.  We are currently on hold waiting for the outdoor shower plumbing to be installed in the wall before we can close it all up and finalize the painting.  But, since it's been awhile, I thought I would post some progress pictures.

Check out the Antiguan Sky ceiling...

And the white exterior with metal roofing...  I just divided the ornamental grasses yesterday and planted them so they are looking a little floppy.  Hopefully the one on the left will eventually help to disguise the air unit popping through the wall.  I'm still debating between hula girl shutters or blue heron shutters.  And, as you can see, the shower (which will be to the right of the boathouse) is still not under way.

Banjo Clock Make-Over

I finally fixed the glass in our 'Willard' banjo clock that was broken more than 6 years ago.  The original glass was royal blue and gold painted glass. Since I couldn't replicate the painted effect, I went with a quadrafoil clear glass for the middle section and a vertical ribbed glass for the bottom section.  While I was at it, I put a coat of paint on to freshen it up and give it a place in our brown and white dining area.  I like the finished effect and I really hope the clock was not an original ;).

Boathouse - Electrical and Lighting

I found my light fixtures and am now working out the details of the lighting and electrical plan.

I'm very pleased with the light fixtures.  They look nautical enough without being too over-the-top screaming boat theme.  And I found both at local box stores for under $30 per fixture (perfect lighting budget for a boat house).

Three of these will hang over the bar... (they look like brass in the picture but are actually brushed silver)

The garage bead board wall will be highlighted with track spot lights and we will have some sort of under counter lighting behind the bar.  Then the rest of the interior will be lamp light.

...and here are my exterior fixtures...They remind me of the lights you often see on the long fishing piers in the Carolinas.

They look eerily similar to these...sold at Barn Light Electric for $79.

The exterior lights will encircle the perimeter of the addition (2 on the back side and 1 each on the sides).  I love the fact that they provide subtle down light only, so having four of them on the sides of the addition won't be overpowering or blind our neighbors but will be enough to illuminate the way from the shower to the back garage door at night.  

Boathouse - Windows and Air Conditioner

The windows and air conditioner are in.  Thank goodness.  The heat is brutal.  Since nothing has been insulated and there's only a tarp covering the door opening, it's still pretty hot even with the air conditioner running but it's at least tolerable now and it's helping the paint dry.  I still have one more coat of paint to put on the rafters and then the blue on the ceiling.

Oh, my beautiful and inexpensive windows. Love them!

I'll have to figure out landscaping to conceal the air unit.

Sure wish the grapevine was on the other side.

Tomorrow E and Dad will work on framing the garage wall to prepare it for bead board and then the interior finishing is on hold until my electrician gets everything wired.  And the exterior is on hold until we get a break in the heat.

A Second Heron Design

Since a neighbor purchased my first heron and I would like The Blue Door to have one to sell, I created another one - this time experimenting with the silhouette to make it a little more realistic and less stylized than the first.

Blue Ceiling?

I'm debating a blue ceiling for the boat house - which, of course, would mean cutting in again but the results could be spectacular...

Photos courtesy of Kathleen Hay

Since I've selected a beige indoor-outdoor berber carpet and white walls, the blue would add a fresh punch of color.  The bar is mahogany and teak wood, the tables are Parsons white IKEA and the chairs are wood with black canvas directors chairs.

The blue could be really spunky if I can motivate myself to carefully paint the flat ceiling surface in between the 2 x 4's.  And pray I wouldn't need 2 coats!


Is it worth it?

Boathouse Update

Progress resumed on the boat house yesterday since the kids are now in camp for the next two weeks.  I've been priming the open framing for two days.  I started with the sprayer but, between technical difficulties and the HOT protective layers involved, I reverted back to old fashioned roller and brush.  That's A LOT of cutting in!  One coat of paint better do the trick because I don't have the patience for two more times around all of those 2 x 4's!  Yesterday was worse than today though - working with only the ventilation from the door was very sauna-like until S cut some window holes for me last night to provide more air flow today.  How convenient would that outdoor shower have been the past two days!

Wall on left will be white beadboard when complete.

The windows and door provide lots of light

With all of the white paint it's starting to have that crisp but rustic boathouse feel I was after.  

Stay tuned for more progress this week.  E returns to help tomorrow!

Wood Art Panels - Downward Dog

It's been awhile since my last post.  A trip to the beach and a new gig as a daycare provider stopped progress on the boathouse but I've made some headway with peddling my wares.  I've got two local retailers, one is definitely interested and the other I meet with next week to determine interest, in both my stained glass pendants and my wood wall art.  I also identified a retailer at the beach that seems like the right venue but I still need to make contact with them.

Here's my latest design...

Seriously, I may be able to get paid for doing this?  Fun!

Boat House Progress

End of day Saturday progress shots...

Hoping to have siding up and windows set before leaving for the beach this week.

Boathouse Progress

The roof is almost up.  It would be all the way up by now if it weren't for a snap decision to put an addition on our addition. ;)

It was HOT yesterday and, since most of our work was on the roof, we took a 1/2 day.  After my dedicated workers left, I taped out the perimeter of bar on the floor to determine where everything was going to be located so I could verify my window locations for framing the next day.

The space seemed so small.  I called in an emergency consult, and BW concurred so I requested another 4' be added to the width of the space.  My guys, EJ and AJ, were very patient with the request.  But for not much more in material costs, I will now have much more room inside to play with.

Framed roof - before the 4' addition

Framed roof - before the 4' addition

Framed roof - before the 4' addition

 Doesn't it look small?  Wait 'til tomorrow's progress pics.  The size is much more generous now.

Thanks for reading.  Stay tuned for more progress.

Boathouse Construction Starts Tomorrow!

I can't wait to get started in the morning.  I should probably be sleeping so I can keep up with Eric and Dad tomorrow but I've been researching and redesigning up to the last minute.

The Second Chance casement window find has elevated the project from a half enclosed, half screened, rustic shed into a more polished, fully enclosed version of my original vision and it's throwing me for a loop.  Also, the siding and roofing choices have changed several times for various reasons.  I'm just hoping it all comes together as a fun, hang-out space.

I don't want to ignore the fact that deconstruction happened on Friday.  Dad worked hard and I returned from swim team practice to a story of electrical arcing and flashes.  Apparently, the outlet in the old space was still live which Dad discovered while removing the metal wire staples.  After shutting down the circuit marked for the outlet, Dad almost got zapped while cutting the wire to the outlet.  Good thing we own mostly rubber handled tools!  Apparently, the previous home-owner was a real do-it-yourselfer and he tied the outlet into an unanticipated circuit.  Scary thing is...none of the circuits tripped either time!  I'd say a certain electrician has some work to do to figure this one out!

Going...

Gone!

Gone!

My Dad's the best!  He doesn't hesitate to live life on the edge helping his daughter with an improvement project.

P.S.  It looks so open and clean without that dilapidated old structure that I almost wish we weren't putting anything up in it's place.  Yikes!  But we need the boat storage and I can't wait for my first outdoor shower in my own yard  - so there's no stopping now!!!

Updated Piggy

I added a clock to the little pig.  I actually like him both ways but the pig by himself was a little small and lonely and seemed like he needed a purpose.

BEFORE

AFTER

Score!

I scored some awesome vinyl casement windows at Second Chance today.  6 casement windows of various sizes for the bar shed for only $88.  It must be my new haircut (ala Donna) that inspired Tony to give me 75% off.  Either that or he felt sorry for me and thought I could use the savings to get a professional haircut.

They are in great shape and, because they don't need to be perfectly weather-tight, I felt comfortable using them in their recycled state.

The windows change the plan slightly.  Instead of screening one side, it will be completely enclosed with casement windows on all sides.  I'll need to get creative with the window configuration because of the various window sizes (2 square windows, 1 horizontal transom, 2 horizontal awning, and 1 large double casement) and the pitch of the shallow roof but I'm pretty sure I can make it work.  Heck, for $88, it was worth a try - right?

Some Revised and Some New Wood Panels

I decided that the duck's neck and feet looked funky so I fixed him...

And then I added some more fins and tweaked the body of the seahorse....

And then the rest are new...

Shower Door and a few more Pallet Panels

I finished a few more pallet panels.

potential shower door panel

I would like to sand the 4' x 5' white duck panel down a little more to reveal more of the teal and white paint under the citron.  And I'm going to see if I can frame this panel out so we can use it as the door for our outdoor shower.  Some of the gaps between the boards are a little wide but a few strategically placed towel hooks with towels on them should do the trick.

The Boathouse and Shower Begin

We took a small step toward starting our backyard project today.  The boxwood bushes came out so we can determine the design and positioning of the shower and what type of stump grinder we will need to get rid of the boxwood roots and stumps.

BEFORE boxwood removal

AFTER boxwood removal

Not that it looks great but it looks better already.  We just need to brace the grapevine to get it off of the existing shed before we start demo. of the shed.  I hope the grapevine and two blueberry bushes make it through the construction.

AFTER boxwood removal

The pressure is off.  It is NOT going to be difficult to improve upon this.  Anything is bound to be better!  Stay tuned....

Pallet Progress

Remember the pallets stacked near the firewood?  I dove into a pallet project today because my dedicated husband came home from work last night and made quick work of dismantling a few more pallets for me so the pressure was on to produce something worthy of calling in for backup.

As a test, I started off by making a small 15"w x 14"h pallet "canvas" with scrap wood to see how it would take the paint and to see how to best approach freshening up the wood without completely covering the weathered charm.

Here's my funky rooster.  I decided to hang him above the stove because, as luck would have it, the size was perfect for the spot which I have been trying to fill for awhile now.

I was encouraged with the result.  Next up is a 4'w x 5'h duck panel for the new bar area.  I plan to use some color on the duck and, this time, the duck silhouette will be white with a colored background.

Barn Girls

I visited The Barn and The Barn Girls on Friday.  It was a gorgeous sunshine-filled day and I roamed for awhile.  I've been trying to fit in a few fun outings just for myself before Jackie graduates from preschool and the rest of the Summer weather is filled with pool-time and other 5-year-old activities (which, for the record, I enjoy as much - if not more - than my solo outings).

I can't believe I didn't take more pictures of all of the cool stuff at The Barn this past weekend but I was so wrapped up in taking it all in that I only whipped my camera out a few times.  One day, I'll also get a picture of that cool Barn sign!  Here are a few things I saw there.

I purchased a Pepsi crate to go with our Coke bottle
we dug up in our old yard in Ellicott City.

I told Betsy about The Barn and she went later that same day
and got an old screen with iron detailing.

Close up of iron detail.

Cool square galvanized tray.  Perfect for an upholstered ottoman.

Tin topped table cast iron table.

Tin detail.  I must get a better camera that adjusts better to different lighting conditions!

I met Cari for the first time at The Barn, talked to Gail about pendant lighting options for above the boat bar, and talked to Pam for awhile too (I hope to continue my discussion with Pam about how to get closer to becoming a Barn Girl, myself).

Fun or hoky?

Get it?  "Ball" lights?

I left with a wooden Pepsi crate and without my "Blossom" glass pendant necklace.  Turns out, Cari had a thing for the stained glass pendant necklace I was wearing that day and I sold it to her right off my neck.  She contacted me afterward with another order for some "Winter Surfs" and possibly a few more to sell in her Fall show in Southern MD.  

I hope to entice The Barn Girls with a few other projects I have up my sleeve too.  


~ Donna