Green Christmas!

After a week of letting our christmas tree set in the corner of my office/sitting room, Ed and I finally decorated our tree!!!  This year we took advantage of the Home Depot christmas light trade in.  Using the rebate from turning in our energy sucking incandescent christmas lights (to be recycled of course), we got new energy-efficient LED christmas lights for only $3 a box!  I find it super cool that I can feel less guilty about the energy used to bolster my christmas spirit, since LEDs use 80% less energy than traditional lights.  Also, the initial cost was so low that we should recoup it in no time.  Just a word of warning, I'm not certain if it just the brand that we purchased, but the LED lights we got project target shapes on nearby surfaces (like the ceiling and floor).

I am the type of person who always forgets to turn the christmas lights off when I go to bed, plus I hate having to crawl under the tree to plug the lights in.  So, this year I hooked the christmas tree lights into a timer, and set it so they come on and off when its dark outside and we are awake (both in the morning and night).  I LOVE coming home and seeing our christmas tree lit up in the window.

Compost bin

 

It's only been a few months, but we finally got around to building out compost bin!  No more food scraps in the trash, and lots of good soil for our garden that we hope to get started next year. 

We used this design.  It took a bit to get it together:

Ed had cut and put together the frame during the week:

From Compost Bin

We spent this morning putting the wire in the frames:

From Compost Bin

From Compost Bin

And then putting the sides together:

From Compost Bin

And then, it was done!

From Compost Bin

Memorial Outdoor Makeover Day 2: Shed

It's almost done!  It only took all day today to prime and paint, but it is looking great!  Ed just has to fix the hole in the roof and it will be like a new shed! 

In 1.5 days we went from:

From shed makeover

to this:

From shed makeover

Although we are exhausted, I feel super accomplished!

For more pictures visit our album: Shed Makeover

Memorial Outdoor Makeover Day 1:Shed

In preparation for applying for a home equity line of credit to get a head start on some of our bigger projects, Ed and I are spending our memorial day working doing some outside makeover.  While Ed put up the missing pieces of siding and mowed the lawn, I started tackling the biggest task: The shed.  When we bought the shed it looked totally delapidated and about to fall down, complete with a hole in the roof.  The hole we believe was from a large branch from our willow tree that came down during the big ice storm a few years ago.

Our shed before:

From shed makeover

It's hard to tell from that photo, but the east side of the shed was coated in lichens:

From shed makeover

So, saturday I spent the afternoon preparing the shed for the makeover by spraying the entire shed with a 10% bleach solution (using a garden sprayer), and weed whacking around it.  Additionally, I started the process of reclaiming our shed from the wildlife: I chased out a garter snake and knocked down close to 20 wasp/hornet nests (after spraying them with wasp/hornet spray).

From shed makeover

Today was paint prep day.  We borrowed Ed's dad's pressure washer and I went at the shed.  It took several hours, but under all the lichen and the grime was some good wood!

From shed makeover

What seems to be a reoccurring theme in the beginnings of this renovation is: It's amazing what a difference just cleaning something will do!  Something that we once thought wasn't going to be salvagable, just turned out to be a diamond in the rough.  Hopefully the paint job tomorrow will bring out a little more sparkle.

Before:

From shed makeover

During powerwashing:

From shed makeover

After powerwashing:

From shed makeover

For more photos of the shed makeover, please visit my picasaweb album:  Shed Makover

P.S. After finishing the shed I used the powerwasher on the cement stairs and the asphalt walkway in the front of the house which were covered in grime and lichen.  Once you get into it, powerwashing is FUN!

Let me introduce you to our home

From Hubbardston House-Before

This is our lovely house in "downtown Hubbardston." It looks great from the 
street doesn't it?  


Why don't you step inside...

From Hubbardston House-Before

From Hubbardston House-Before

From Hubbardston House-Before

From Hubbardston House-Before

What would possess someone to purchase a house that looked like that? Partially, I feel 
sorry for old houses that were so obviously grand once-upon-a-time and have fallen into 
disrepair. I just wish I could reach out and restore them all... alas (and I'm certain my  
husband says thankfully)... we could only rescue this house.  Also, my parents have 
either built or renovated every house that I've lived in, and through them I've learned to 
look at houses and see not what's there, but what it could be.

Our goal is to restore the house to it's greek revival grandeaur and update it into as green of 
a house as possible.

The current house stats:

Built: 1880

Architecture Style: Greek Revival

Electrical: knob and tube; with some 220 service

Heating: Steam

Square Footage: 1,728

Beds: 3

Baths: 1

Lot size: 34,848 sq ft (almost 1 acre)

Purchase price: $80,000

Zestimate: $178,000

For more before pictures please visit my picasaweb album