Snow Day...

We haven't had a real snow storm since October 30, 2011 around these parts.  Yes, its true.  To live in New England and not experience snow all winter long is unheard of, but you wont hear many complaining about it.  Yesterday the weather was in the high 50's....sun shining, and warm.  Today we woke to a blanket of white covering the ground.  The kids have a 90 minute delay...which of course delays my whole morning, but I can't complain.  It sure is pretty out there.

Barn Board Shelves...DIY

This was another DIY project that we did for Mason's room.  We literally took old barn wood that was laying out by the barn...mounted it onto corner brackets (be careful to keep the bracket straight with the back edge of the board) and then onto the wall.  I did stain the wood prior to putting it on the walls because I saw some sign of bug abuse, which I'm convinced was old...but better safe than sorry.  So we got three beautiful and unique shelves for his room... at about $2.50 per shelf.  It cost only what i paid for the corner brackets at Tractor Supply.

What you can't tell from the picture is the natural rough edge on the shelves.  Its really gorgeous!

Updates 3/13/12:  I finally gave up looking for the missing cords for the camera and purchased new ones (cheaper than buying a new camera).  Here are a few pics of the shelves with greater clarity then the phone photos were giving.

The photo shows that we did nothing to improve the edge of the wood and used it "as is"

Fun with Pallets....DIY Pallet Headboard

As part of Mason's bedroom makeover we opted to go for a pallet headboard.  We found several ideas online, but in the end went with our own lazy man's idea.

Mason particularly enjoyed getting the chance to use his father's Sawzall to saw through the nails that hold a pallet together.

I think both Mason and I were shocked by how stubborn a pallet can be when it comes to taking them apart... making the Sawzall a necessity.

I absolutely trust my 15 year old with this handyman's special tool though, so all is good.

I must add... although we haven't had much of a winter here in New England (at least in Connecticut) this winter... we chose the coldest day to get out there and take this pallet apart.  Our hands were frozen by the time we were done.

This is the end result. We did opt to white wash it just so it wasn't so BROWN looking.  Although I really think it would've looked fine either way.  But it was his choice and he chose whitewash. 

I still need to get his bed a simple metal bed frame to lift it off the floor.  When we moved we left his bed in the house for the new owners...it weighed a few hundred pounds and was not a simple piece to move.  Saved us some back trouble and the kids who moved into our house were happy to have a "new" bed! 

To make a long story short... we took apart about 2 pallet... making sure to clean them of dirty but not character.  We mounted two pieces of wood directly onto the wall behind his bed at our desired height and proceeded to nail the whitewashed pallet wood onto these woods... checking level on the side as we went!

End result is perfect for the room he was going for! It was free and he loves it, double bonus!

Mason's room... DIY style

Have you met Mason?  This is my oldest son at 15.  Probably the most resourceful and responsible teenager you will ever meet.  He's been forced to share a room with his little brother since the day Garrick was born (that's 10 long years for Mason).   When it came time to move Mason claimed the big room and refused to "share"...despite the need while we work to finish the 4th bedroom for Abi (you can meet her later on if you haven't already) .

Regardless.... I felt that Mason does so much for the family he certainly earned the right to have his own room "little brother free" and I vowed to make his new room truly his own!  Something he's really never had.  :(

Mason's Room before

My new fascination with Pinterest opened up doors to many cost saving ideas for creating Mason's room and lucky for me...this is a kid who respects the value of a dollar and was more than on board with many of my ideas! YAHOOOO
Read on to find some of the innovative ways we created shelving and a headboard out of things we found laying around our new house....

Old blog meet new.....

Previous to our move i had created a blog...which i can now refer to as "the old blog".  I had to stop using that blog because I couldn't help but feel that it was cursed.  I am a superstitious person, and in the time i had that blog I had one baby squirrel disappear,  a chicken's butt fall out, another chicken maimed by my loving dogs, who then subsequently kill three more one rainy day when i forgot to put them in the house before i left for work (this coming from the same girl who swore her dogs would never harm a feather on her chickens).  It may have been this event alone that caused me to give up. 

But with every end there is a new beginning...  If you are interested in viewing the old blog you can certainly do so: http://theruralchicken.blogspot.com/ .  As for me... I'm going to stay away in hopes that no more animals will be lost due to its existence!

Buying a Dream

What began in 2009 as idol chatter of me talking my husbands ear off about the "good investment" has become reality.  On January 6th, 2012, after many trials and tribulations, we were able to move into what we consider to be our dream home ~ the house we will live in forever.  The home is a circa 1750's farmhouse in Terryville, Connecticut (population 9,875) set on 7 acres.  We are so excited to turn this PINK (yes pink) two story 3 bedroom house into our home one board, one room, one project at a time.

Follow our journey as we test the waters and figure out how to live as part time "farmers" in this very unconventional time and turn our new OLD house into a home, filled with love, laughter, and of course cats and dogs!