So, the bad news is we had a leak in our kitchen. The worse news is that once we started talking to roofers about re-doing our roof, which is cedar shingle, we learned that cedar has a 20% tariff on it right now that makes this bad timing for an already extremely expensive proposition. The even worse news than that is that after having the roofer replace only part of the cedar roof (in hopes that the politicians come to their senses and the price goes back down so we can finish the rest later at a sane cost), we still have a (reduced) leak, and the culprit looks like (drumroll) plumbing. Oh, the joys of homeownership! Come along with me on this journey …

We have a lot of stone on our property, and there’s been so much deferred maintenance by previous folks regarding its condition.

After one leak became two, and two leaks became two large leaks, it became clear that our guesthouse roof was in need of some serious overhaul. We patched it. We patched it again. No dice. We called in the professionals, and it was clear it was time to peel off the who-knows-how-old orange asphalt shingles, replace the woodpecker-damaged rake boards and some rotting cedar siding, and install a new roof. So the question became what kind of roof we wanted …

I know that design and lifestyle blogs are for featuring pretty things, and easy DIYs, and nice, finished images of aspirational rooms, but today, I continue my (apparent) series from Monday on vintage regrets and mistakes. I found this bed (now nicely finished and in my son’s room) for $25. Yes, the wood was damaged in places but I’ve read enough internet to know that “Painting is an easy and cheap way to refresh old furniture!” And now I’m here to tell you that anyone who tells you this is BUILDING A HOUSE OF LIES.

As promised in my post about some of my favorite recent vintage finds, here are (some of my many) vintage purchases that I regret. Writing this hilariously revealed to me SO MANY of my personality flaws. Overconfidence in abilities to do everything by myself? YES. Glossing over important details because I want pretty thing? CHECK. Buying something because it is cheap, even though I don’t need it / it will cost a lot of money to fix? YUH-HUH. Trolling auction sites while having a glass of wine? YUP (maybe not a personality flaw, but friends, don’t drink and internet – it never ends well, and for me, it ends with useless furniture). Now, you’re probably thinking, that photo up there doesn’t look TOO bad. Nice turned legs, cute little brass detail on the keyholes. Looks like a sweet addition to an antique house. WELL, YOU WOULD BE WRONG …

So, it’s a bit embarrassing to share a lot of these photos.  There’s a lot of good about having eight acres, but there is also a lot of work!  This year we’ve experienced an absolute explosion of weeds and grasses.  In part this is because it was so darn hot for the month of August that I wasn’t in the garden weeding as frequently, but mainly it is because serious weed prevention hasn’t been done in a couple years, and the landscape fabric and mulch laid down years ago has finally ceded to nature … Therefore, we have a number of landscaping projects we’re looking to do late in the Fall and in the Spring.

As you may have noticed in my post about restoring the front of the house … we finally chose a new color for our front (and side) doors!

This summer we addressed the first of a number of real issues with our house – the siding on the front.