September Is Here

Things around here have been a bit slow on the project progress. It seems we've been gone for nearly every weekend lately, leaving little time to actually accomplish anything. Not to mention is is now September, which means football and hunting are now upon us. We did however manage to get all four walls up and the door lockable on the shed. This means our dining room is back!! Everything is cleared out and beginning to find its home in the shed, though getting it organized is the beginning of a whole other project.

{orange door makes its return!}

{door trim}

Between the loaning of tools, knowledge and physical labor, tons of people have helped us with this shed. But we decided we couldn't bum everything forever so we finally made a purchase: A chop saw. And it has already been removed from the box and put to good use by BOTH of us! (Though mostly Travis) We spent this morning working trim for the orange door, which has officially made its return.

{chopsaw}

Our yard hasn't seen much love lately since it is mostly a staging location for shed work. The tomato plants are absolutely huge but we haven't gotten one tomato. The eggplants have been producing but I think they have about seen their days. Three green oranges are still hanging on. To make up for the lack of production, out of nowhere came a bulb popping out along the fenceline. Hurricane Lily/September Lily/Spider Lily (Lycoris radiata just for you Jeff) made its first appearance earlier this week and are known for staying underground all year until September. Right on time.

{September Lily}

I have a few Anthropologie home purchases to post later and I promise it won't take me 2 weeks!

Progress

It's funny, when people ask me what I did last weekend, and the weekend before, and every night after work, it's the same response: "We worked on the shed". It has gotten to the point where they are often responding, "STILL?". Trust me, I know it's been a while, but I don't quite think people realize the scale of this so-called shed. This is no six foot tall throw your shovels and broom in shed. This a 400 square foot home for tools, boats, trailers and everything else that is lingering in the house. It's a beast. All that is to say, it's not done yet folks. We're getting there, but you can't rush perfection.

 {window - BEFORE}

The roof went on fairly quickly after the structure got built - we couldn't leave that tin just sitting around burning up our lawn. The walls however, took a bit more time. Initially we had planned to reuse the tin that was on the original shed. After a bit of further consideration we opted for some shiny new tin instead. We might as well make this look as shiny and new as it really is! While much of the work on the shed only had room for me as the assistant, I did find one project to call my own - the window. The old cypress one from the neighbor is in need of some sprucing up, and with a little work with our brand new sander, it's on its way to looking as shiny and new as the shed. 

{back wall - DONE}

Getting these 10 foot tall panels of tin lined up perfectly top and bottom was a challenge, but so far it's looking great. Before we got all the walls up one of the bigger projects was running power to the shed so we could get rid of the orange extension cord running across our yard. With some amazing help from Dennis and Jeanne (Thank you guys!!!) we now have power! Actually seeing every step of the process, from digging the trench for the conduit, to connecting the wires to the light, then finally flipping the switch (and it actually working) was very exciting.

{Power!!}

We've got a bit more wall that needs to go up, but we'll save those pictures for the final unveiling so everyone can get the full effect. Just wait... it may not be only an orange door that returns! All we can say is these ladies approve:

{Gumbo, Pot Pie, and Cosmo enjoying the shed}

A Good Old Fashioned Barn Raising

Okay. It's been a while, I know. But trust me, the long wait was all for good reason. We took on our biggest project yet, the shed - and let's start out by saying this NEVER could have happened without the help of Mitch, Christine, Nick and Abby, along with Momma Moore, Han and Big. Of course we went and picked one of the hottest weekends of the year, with temperatures well over 100 degrees, which really goes to show you just how awesome they really are. Travis and I really can't tell you enough, THANK YOU!!

So, here it is, in just a few quick pictures:

{shed: before} 

For obvious reasons the shed had to go. It is amazing to me it was still standing, being that half the beams were not much more than powder from years of being used as termite food. Add in that it had become a home for wood bees, roaches and probably a few other things I would rather not know about. And so, in an attempt to fix all those problems, in sort of just.... fell. 

{shed: mid-fall} 

All the tin was removed, that may be used on the exterior when we are finally complete. Old timbers hauled off, and it is time to start fresh. 

{shed: gone - the boy's shirts follow}

{Shed: beginning to form}

Day one ended with the framing of two walls and the beginning of the rafters. Not surprisingly the boys did nearly all of the grunt work. BUT, I was still the first to shed blood as I whacked apart the bamboo taking over behind the shed. That stuff is rough.... A few beers and it was an early night to say the least. 

{Day 2: Ready for the metal walls and roof}

The new structure is almost exactly the same, except for a new (old) cypress window that came from the neighbor across the street. Our next purchase may very well be the fan you see above, quite possibly the only way we all survived the heat. 

{shed: front view - future double door entry}

Thanks to Mitch's impeccable construction knowledge, this shed won't be going anywhere. Designed to meet and beat the highest standards and regulations, this shed comes complete with all the nuts, bolts and hurricane straps to make it likely a safer place to be in a hurricane than the house. Roof tin will be going up this week and the walls will hopefully make it up by the end of the weekend. Then we can move the fertilizer, paint, and power tools out of the dining room and into their permanent home!! 

Special thanks to Bayou Moore's for their contributions! Boppy and Reggie - your gift card made the header above where the large double doors will be going possible!

Stay posted: we'll keep posting pictures of the progress. 

And again, a million thanks to you guys for coming down and making this thing come together. We'll be there for any help your place needs!

A Bit of Press!

We made the newspaper!! The Advocate, the newspaper for Baton Rouge, periodically features articles on historic neighborhoods throughout the city and discusses their culture, community, and why they are so successful. Today's front page of the People section featured 'Spanish Town Thriving' with Travis and me on the front cover painting our orange door!  View the article with all of Mr. Moore's quotes, and be sure to check out the multimedia link to the left with all the pictures.


     "Moore, a landscape architect planner, is even getting married a block outside the neighborhood, at St. Joseph Cathedral. “We live, work and play downtown,” he said.

      "Moore loves the fact that he can walk or ride his bicycle to his downtown office. “We share a symbiotic  relationship with the state buildings and downtown,” he said. “I made a lifestyle choice not to sit in traffic 30 to 40 minutes a day.”

He has an edible garden and is raising chickens in his backyard.

“We trade with our neighbor — cucumbers for blackberries,” Moore said. “That’s the way a neighborhood should interact. Spanish Town is not some cookie-cutter development that tears up some tract of land. We’re investing in a home some 90 years old that has a lot of work to do. That’s right for the environment and the lifestyle that comes with it.”

 It does a wonderful job of explaining why we all love Spanish Town so much. Thanks to our neighbor and Advocate photographer Liz for coming by to take the pictures!

{Spanish Town residents! Photo by Liz Condo from the Advocate!}

In other news, we are loving everybody commenting on the blog and interacting with us as we document our projects. The other day we received two surprises in the mail: chalk and eraser for our chalkboard from Deb and Dwain, and a giftcard for Home Depot from Boppy and Reggie. THANK YOU!! We are preparing for our next big project and that card will surely come in handy! 

{We love the chalk!!}

Tropical Depression Bonnie passed over us last night. Our emptied rain tank gained 150 gallons and the thunder and lighting shook the house a bit in the early morning hours I'm told, but all in all it was fairly uneventful being that I was snoring away. Not that I want some huge storm, but hey, for someone that is used to earthquakes, these storms are new territory and kind of exciting. Maybe next time it could come by during they day so I could see it??

Project Dreams

Major improvements both inside and out have taken a bit of a back seat this past week to cooking, cleaning, and well...life. It has however, given us a chance to ponder the living room, the arrangement of all the pieces of furniture that have been accumulated, and how we can fit a dining table in there, thus beginning new projects.

We all know I have a thing for chairs, and at some point I will get my hands on the ones sitting in the kitchen area. Maybe something a little like this I stumbled up on Design Sponge:

{cute!}

Mary passed along some backyard projects from Sunset that were exactly what we had been talking about. SOMEDAY when we are done rebuilding the shed, putting on a new roof, and planting our edible front yard we'll start to think about the deck we are going to construct off the back door. It will most definitely include this shower, built off of our rain tank for an au-natural shower, in more ways than one....

{rainwater shower}

And if the whole front yard being transformed into our personal produce stand isn't quite enough, lets include these modern wall planters to add some space and spruce up that shed we will have finished. 

{old rusty orange siding: like}

But for now we'll leave those on our inspiration board, we've got sinks to unclog and mosquitoes to kill.