My New Best Friend

Let me introduce you to the newest member of the family...Sampson!  For awhile I've been talking to the fella about wanting a dog and to make a long story short he was out one day and found this little guy who was in need of a new home.  

Sampson is quite the people loving little guy and so, he works out perfectly coming to work with me everyday, as I run a program for elderly individuals who have a form of dementia and need memory support.  He is the perfect therapy dog, not only for my clients but also for my hardworking staff and myself.  Everyone absolutely adores him.  He sits on laps, knows how to avoid walkers and wheelchairs, calms anxieties, snuggles in beds, entertains, is patient, triggers good memories, is a quiet presence, gives kisses, and in general creates smiles.  He gives LOVE and is LOVED.

He's been adjusting really well to all seven of our cats.  Not an easy task for a new member of the family that's not of the cat species.  He is turning into a mama's boy and is my constant companion.  I have bestowed upon him his new nickname Samspoon as his favorite past time is cuddling in bed.

Not only am I lucky enough to be able to bring my dog to work with me everyday, but there is also a great walking trail two feet from my building that's dog friendly.  So, Sampson and I get to hit the walking path daily for a bit of mid-day exercise.

I can't tell you how happy I am to have a dog in my life again.  But of course not just any dog, Sampson is really one of a kind and I'm so lucky to have him.

See ya soon!
~MaryDeluxe & Samspoon

Wrapping Up The Summer and Moving Into Fall Projects

Once again a season has flown by a bit to fast for me. I LOVE Spring/Summer and it's probably the time of year when I am the busiest. I also LOVE projects and get lots of pleasure in creating and surrounding myself in a space that makes me happy. (Funny that I don't feel that way about my office at work, that space is pretty much walls with a door, comfy chairs and a desk.) So, this Summer was spent checking projects off the to do list.

 Here's what got accomplished around the homestead this Spring and Summer:

• Chicken Coop and Landscape 
• Fish Pond and Landscape 
• Move the existing Veggie Garden and create a bigger one 
• Landscape front of Bungalow 
• Paint back porch on Bungalow 
• Paint outside of the 1957 Liberty Mobile Home

I've already posted about our chicken coop we built and about the new placement of the veggie garden. So, lets take a look at some of our other completed projects.

We have been working on landscaping the main house, the bungalow for awhile now and this summer we added a stone path to connect with an existing cement stairs, stone edging around the flower beds we put in last year, and new flower beds.

Last Summer we painted the front porch and added the wooden swing.  We also did a lot of perennial planting around the front porch last year.  You can see a nice before shot of the house below to see where we started in March of 2015.  I was so happy to see those shrubs go!

I like having a water feature where I live, there's just something about the sound of running water that I find very calming and relaxing.  We got out the heavy equipment and got to work building a rather large fish pond!  I located the pond in an area of the garden I've been working on this summer.  I will expand on the landscape around the pond on the opposite side next summer.

Our last big Summer project that wrapped up this week was the painting of the vintage 1957 mobile home.  The reason we moved this project up on our to do list is because we have decided that we will be using the mobile home to open our own vintage shop in Spring of 2017!  I am super excited!! This winter we plan on renovating the inside of the mobile home.

We decided to go with the turquoise/white/black color scheme instead of the original red and white one. We thought it would be neat to buff the aluminum shiny but quickly realized we just didn't have the time or energy to put into doing it so, white was our second option.  I still think it turned out great!

I went ahead  and added the black pin stripping line and created the V on the back of the trailer.  It actually turned out better than I thought it would.  It's a real eye catcher as you're driving down the road!  Here's a before and after look at what we've done below.

As you can see, we removed a lot of shrubs from the trailer this Spring and once again I was happy to see them go.  I will spend some time in early spring 2017 working out the landscaping and perhaps a tree removal will even take place?  See how I'm just adding to my to do list!  I love it!

By now you must realize that we have not one house, but actually three houses here on the property to maintain and renovate.  We are currently living in the little apartment/cottage behind the main house attached to the garage...here.  We are still renovating the bungalow, though the progress has been slow lately, and plan on living there eventually.  The trailer will become our shop and the cottage apartment will become anybody's guess right now??  I'm sure we will figure something out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time

XOXO

~MaryDeluxe

Summer Fun...A Quick Update

Having a blast enjoying my Summer!  Hope you all are doing the same!

Learned how to drive the 32 Roadster!

 
Hung out at Retrofest with BlackKatKollectibles and Jen of J & J Vintage!


Growing lots of potatoes...and landscaping the property!
Also going to lots of auctions and hoarding lots of goodies..like these awesome barkcloth curtains!



Stay Cool!

~MaryDeluxe

The Making of the Coop DeVille

In the beginning, I had a plot of land and a design idea. The plan was to build using as much salvaged materials as possible and to spend as little money as possible. Mission accomplished!

Since I was planning on moving my garden to a new spot, I decided that the old garden spot would be the perfect place for the new chicken coop.  I bought my nesting boxes the year prior at an estate auction.  The cinder blocks, plywood, 4x4s and 2x4s were all left over from other projects or gotten for free from the fella's work.

We did have to buy 2x4's for the chicken run but we bought them as surplus lumber from a local builder.  The run posts were the only items we actually had to buy from a big box store.  The metal roofing was also bought from a local surplus building supply business.  The front porch wood was all free and from a skid on a shipping box.

As you can tell from the pictures, we've been working on our Coop DeVille for some time now.  We haven't been consistent with our project,as my boyfriend travels at times for his work, but I'm guessing we have about 80 to 100 hours in our project.

The chicken coop siding is aluminum sheeting off a late 1940's mobile home that we salvaged for free and pieced back together.  We also salvaged the windows and door from the same old mobile home.  I did buy a can of paint from our local hardware store.  The black chicken wire used in the run was also purchased from a local company that sells commercial farm equipment.  

And of course all my plants were purchased at the annual local greenhouse parking lot end of season sale.  I've been going to this sale for years and always save big money on plants.  I had to create some new flower beds for the chicken coop and worked off of the existing plants and shrubs.  Then of course we added the landscaping stone to help define the flower gardens and tie the coop and garden together.

My boyfriend made me the window box planter and then added the vintage license plates from his collection.  I love it.  I also really love the cool front porch he built!

We still have a few areas to finish up yet but in general I'm calling this project a mission accomplished and for under $1,000 too!  I absolutely love having chickens running around again and the fella is into them too.  Thanks to my super handy fella for all his hard work to make my chicken coop dreams come true!

Thanks for stopping by!

MaryDeluxe

It's Been Awhile

Here's what I've been up to the last 6 months! A new place, a new job, new town but same ol' me! With a new place comes lots of new projects and decorating!  Been having lots of fun settling in to my boyfriend's 680 sq ft. apartment. The best part is, we both have a love for mid-century vintage, and since we both have been collecting for a long time, we've got lots of fun things to choose from to decorate!   I'll be sharing some of our projects in future posts! Until then, enjoy the eye candy!

See ya soon!

MaryDeluxe