ANOTHER MAGNOLIA MOMENT

As on numerous other ocassions......Livin' the life Magnolia

SERENITY

    The intent when creating and outfitting my studio, be it here on Warren Road or over on Hawthorne Avenue, has been to establish a space which evokes both creativity and serenity for me.

Warren Road studio

Organized chaos at Warren Road .... Aunt Carlie's Craft Camp in session

   My studio is an ever changing space as new projects begin and end and, on occasion, go on and on as has my infamous unfinished painting "Road Trip".

Recycled porch ceiling as bench front

  As my studio here on Hawthorne takes shape,  my thoughts have been 'bring in the light', 'retain the character and charm of this old house', 'maximize work space and storage', and 'keep it comfortable and creative'.
                                                                   

A glimpse through a skylite 

Two weeks ago I took a trip to a local gallery with my studio's side-lights.  I worked to clean them up back in January and decided I wanted to replace the broken and missing glass with colored glass.

Three original panes of hammered glass remain

What Beth and Jeanie at Laurel Gallery helped me come up with is perfect.....for me.

Once this is all painted and installed,  a sunny afternoon in my studio will surely put a smile on my face as light moves through the colored glass.

WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY, AGAIN

Even while we were at the beach this past weekend, things got done over at Hawthorne Ave.

Among other things that got done.....

3rd floor quarter round windows got trimmed out

The same thing happened  when we went for a week last June!

TAH-DAH !

    The balustrade is finished and, while there is yet more to do to complete this restoration/renovation, I am so pleased with the results.  Try to look past the boarded up windows, the plastic hanging off the 3rd story, the muddy drive and the dumpster to see 

what I see.  

BEFORE on  2-27-11




AFTER on 5-22-12

* See the complete project links here.

OUTSIDE MISS MAGNOLIA'S ROOM

Today, outside Miss Magnolia's bedroom window...

BUILDING THE BALUSTRADE, PART 5

    As I write this post, the balustrade is complete.  (In fact, we finished it 5 days ago.)  It has been a long involved carpentry project which was more time consuming than originally anticipated.  In my opinion, it is the single most impressive project we've undertaken.  Check it out in it's entirety in these earlier posts (building posts,  in preparation, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 ) .

Gathering installation tools

Centering the first baluster

Leveling the first baluster 

Gotta love the nail gun

12 down , 228 to go

A portion of the balustrade as seen through my bedroom window

A block is used as a spacer in order to level and insure equal distance between each baluster

Another block at the top lines up the balusters 

The power driver and brute strength are some of our best tools

Each top rail (part of a 3-part assembly) is cut to size

A curved portion of the post is removed for a custom and snug fit

The cap from the original post is incorporated into the final post on the north side of the house

Balusters, rails, trim are all attached and ready for the painters to caulk
and give the new balustrade its final coat of paint.

Satisfaction for a job well done.

* A photo of the completed balustrade to be revealed at a later post.

HERE COMES THE FLOORING

    When we removed the vinyl in the kitchen, the floor beneath was the original wood but damaged and rotten.  The flooring has just recently been replaced with new growth heart pine

Kitchen floor

Butler's pantry

The 1/2 bath too had rot beneath the floorboards.

1/2 bath BEFORE

We tore out the flooring and replaced joists and wall studs.  We installed the subflooring and now...

1/2 bath AFTER

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

    At my home on Warren Road my pink roses are in full bloom this time of year, every year.  Whenever they bloom I think of motherhood, both mine and my mother's.  My first child was born many years ago on May 1st and Mother's Day, of course is always in the beginning of May.  This year when I look at these pink roses reflecting upon motherhood, I think "Where will I plant pink roses on Hawthorne Avenue?"

    As I mentioned previously we have had someone working on the yard.  Today my backyard has been cleared, graded and is now a blank slate.

Back yard as seen from the second floor deck

My backyard is quite sunny.  I must figure out where I will plant pink roses.  I will be transplanting many plants from Warren Rd. to Hawthorne Ave.  Among those plants will be one my son gave me several years ago for Mother's Day.  I look at it in bloom this time of year and smile.

Gaillardia

I adore being a mother and I love my own mother more than I can say....I think she knows how much...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

XOXOXO   Carlie

  

BALUSTRADE PART 4

The bottom rails are installed and are a perfect fit. 

A MAN'S HOME IS HIS CASTLE

     A landscaper has been working the past 2 days to excavate the bamboo from the backyard and to lay drainpipe running from each downspout in order to take rainfall away from the foundation.  We had a major rainfall yesterday filling the ditches with water.  The landscaper now must wait a day for things to dry up a bit before he can proceed. 

Digging a ditch for the drainage pipe

The back yard after the excavation of bamboo roots

While this house on Hawthorne Avenue is not yet our home, we are working diligently to that end.

See if you can follow this logic.....

Some castles are surrounded by moats.

If there is a moat, it might be surrounding a castle.

There is a moat surrounding my Hawthorne House.

My house on Hawthorne Avenue might be a castle.

The ditch on the south side of the house after a big rainfall

Our castle-to-be

BUILDING THE BALUSTRADE, PART 3

  As I mentioned before, this is not just a weekend project.   

A total of 240 turned balusters must be cut to exact specifications.

A portion of the primed balusters await milling

3/8 of an inch comes off the top end

Taping off the bottom end getting an angle cut helps prevent splintering

Each bottom end runs through the table saw twice at a 12.5 degree angle.

Like soldiers all in a row

Short end squares

Long ends with 12.5 degree pitch

     Leftover ends must have some use in this world.  Any ideas?????    'Aunt Carlie's Craft Camp' and 'Art Camp for Boys'  campers will surely come up with some uses.  Until then I will store them in the eaves of the studio space.  After all, cedar fends off moths.

What a mess we made in Billye's room!

BUILDING THE BALUSTRADE PART 2

    The task of building this balustrade is not just a weekend project.  It is made up of  many stages.  After last weekends' work we were ready to cut the rails to size and mock up a sample section of the railing.

The bottom rails we put together last weekend were purposely longer than required

We measured and cut each bottom rail to size

Propping a section of rail on a 2x4 at each end gives us a visual of how it will look.

Cut to size rails are laid out and marked for location

Half of the 250 balusters, primed and
ready to be cut to size

A sample  section of the railing

On to milling the 250 primed balusters!