House Projects: Social Distancing Edition

I am NOT complaining one bit about having to stay home and spend some quality family time. It’s like this quarantine was made for me. Sure things get a little heated and cray but that happens in the regular anyways, so this isn’t much different.  What I’m especially loving is that Thomas gets to be home with us so he gets to help me with the kids and I can get some projects done with his help!!!



I'm an enneagram 3 and that means I like to do things and cross them off my list.  I never make much headway because I'm always adding things to the list 🙈, but that is just the way I like it.  I have found this characteristic to be extremely helpful during this time because it is keeping my mind occupied and creating a sense of "normalcy".

So, what exactly have we been doing around here the past 5 weeks? So much!

Remember in January when I switched our great room around and back to “normal” and I painted the fireplace wall white?  I absolutely love having the tv mounted on the wall and more open space in the house. 

Well my first project was to paint the rest of our main living area white. I painted the whole living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the entryway, and the hallway. I cannot get over how much lighter and brighter it is in here! Why didn’t I do it years ago? 

I still want to do some sort of wall treatment in the entryway. I love the look of shiplap...but am I too late for that? Is that design still on trend?

Next up...

We caved and got chickens 🙈 only 3 hens this time. They’re supposed to lay blue/green eggs and we cannot wait for them! Ellie got to name them:  Dusty (the Grey one), Pocahontas (the Golden one), and Pepper (the Black one) and she has claimed Pepper to be her chicken. Since we converted the old Chicken Coop into the Playhouse (which is still a work in progress) we needed a new home for the girls.  I’ve done a lot of thinking this past year and really want to allow my chickens to forage more and be more “free range”. So we sectioned off a generous sized area from the Goat Paddock for the chickens using some fencing we saved when we opened up our backyard last summer. Then I got to work building a new Chicken Coop. Basically it’s just a place for them to roost, sleep, get out of the rain, and eat, so it didn’t need to be too big. I drew up all the plans and built the whole thing out of repurposed wood from my scrap pile that I’ve been collecting over the years. I’ll do a more detailed step-by-step post on it in the future but I absolutely love it and am so proud that I built it by myself. Thomas did help me lift it up, rip a couple boards for the flooring, and he attached the roofing. 

I let the kids help me paint it 😬, and we moved the girls in last week and it’s so so good! I love all the space and I love how cute The Coop is!

Next, we built a fence at The Grey Cottage...took a lot longer than we anticipated and we still have to paint it. 

And finally...I’m building a Greenhouse! I’ve wanted one since we got married and started growing our own food and now 11 years later I’m finally getting one!! 🥳🥳 it’s not quite how I’ve envisioned it over the years but I loved how The Coop turned out with repurposing our scrap wood pile, I decided to go with it again for The Greenhouse and I am LOVING it!

What projects have you been working on while we’re stuck at home and not allowed to leave?

XOxo,

Ashley