Beaming with Pride

Anyone who knows me can't be too surprised that I ended up in an Irish cottage with a purple door and a white picket fence.  Those people will also not be surprised at our latest addition -

WE'VE GOT BEAMS! LOTS OF BEAMS!

Sitting Room

Sitting Room

Sitting Room

Hallway

Hallway

Kitchen

Kitchen

Our builder extraordinaire, Anthony, made quick work of this project! I stained the beams the day before he and his assistant did the installation.

Re-Booting My System

Well friends, a lot of time has passed since my last post. A LOT.  Looking back on 2017, I only posted 6 times.  There was plenty going on, but nothing I felt like writing about, except for those 6 posts. So now I'm ready to fill in the gaps and get back to blogging!

As you may have read, my 90 year old Mom came to live with us from Texas at the first of the year, and she sadly passed on a couple of months later.  We all loved the time we had together, though not long enough.  She was an absolute joy, and not a day goes by without missing her terribly.

My husband Seamus was my rock after Mom was gone.  Luckily, he was home and with me every day for the first few months since his work is seasonal.  I threw myself into several different projects around the cottage and garden. That helped a great deal. I did this -

Gravel in place of grass = less mowing!

And this -

I LOVE this rocking bench.

And planted these - 

But somewhere along the way, something happened.  My hubby started his tours and I was alone a lot. And then, the big, beautiful spruce tree behind the cottage died and had to be removed. I know that doesn't sound like a tragedy, but  after that, I just couldn't find the joy in the things that usually bring me joy.  

I stopped crafting. I stopped painting furniture. I stopped walking in the forest. I started binge-watching telly.  Oh, and binge eating junk food.  You know, REALLY productive stuff!! LOL

And if that weren't bad enough, Mother Nature brought us the first-ever hurricane to Ireland in the form of Ophelia.  And this was the result -

I thought I cried when we lost the ONE tree - In total, it was over a dozen large trees, including the huge cypress that came down on top of our new shed. The insurance examiner was quick enough to come out and assess the damage, but due to the widespread damage across Ireland, getting our site cleared took a couple of months. When the clearing was done, this is what we were left with -

And here are a few of the Before and Afters -

BEFORE

AFTER

 

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

                                 

                             

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

It breaks my heart to see the AFTERS, but it's important to remember how it was before so it can hopefully be again. I am determined to plant more TREES, and lots of them!!!

Once the trees were taken away and the shed was rebuilt, both my hubby and I suddenly got the home improvement bug again - FINALLY!!!

So, at long last, I'm happy to say that new projects have sprung up at Moonlight Cottage! Stay tuned, because I have plenty to show you in my upcoming posts. I try not to leave you hanging too long this time!

Getting Stoned

With all the time, effort, planning and money that has gone into our renovation, there's been one important area that has been sadly lacking - the outside of the house. Other than painting the door purple, we've done nothing to improve the look of the facade, as was pointed out to us by a passer-by one day. He asked how the renovation was going. My hubby said, "we want everything to be just right, so we've put a lot of money into fixing it up."  To which the man replied, "Really???? WHERE???"

Ouch. After that we got serious about choosing paint colours to freshen up the masonry. That in itself was a challenge. What goes with purple? We considered a lighter,fresher shade of yellow or light green. Then it hit us like a ton of rocks - stone cladding!

We've been blessed with the most talented builder around, and this is what they did for us (thank you Anthony O'Neill and crew!) -

Just a reminder  of the "before" -

During -

And here's a bit of the detail-

Of course, we now need to paint the window surround and sills, and that ugly yellow chimney! I'll post more after we paint, but this is what I consider to be the biggest bang for the buck so far!

The Great Outdoors Part 2

We've done some sprucing up around the outside of the cottage, and things in the garden are beginning to bud and bloom.  Here's some of the latest pics -

Freshly mown grass and trimmed back shrubs for a new start!
 

Pansies are always show cheerful, don't you think?

This will soon be a popular location for breakfast or a nice cup of tea.

Tea for two - won't you join me?

Here's a bonus - These lovely bluebells were residents of the cottage long before we were!

So graceful are their blooms...

And they are growing everywhere!

Like here...

...and here.

We've even cleaned up that "ugly" area!

And in front of the wall is ready for grass and flowers, another project!


Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more blooming pics.