There is a close up picture of that little corner just as you enter the door. We have a (lowers voice to a whisper, looking about for Andrew) log bench to go under the window so that people can sit down and take off their boots or shoes. On the right side of the picture, that bit of wall? We've got 3 hooks with ceramic 'knobs' that match the cupboard doors (dumb luck, really. I bought the hooks years ago because they were on sale, long before I ever knew we were buying the cupboards.) I have a handcrafted basket with leather handles to slide under the right side of the bench, which is where hats and scarves and mittens will get dropped. I just found the perfect boot tray, long and narrow that will fit under the bench to hold wet or snowy boots. It sounds silly, but I'm excited to put that little corner together. But, we have to wait for the cement to dry, and then we need to grout the tile.
(And really, Andrew, it is a very nice bench, smooth and sanded and polyurethaned.)
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So, that was today, and we were pleased.
When we were done, Tim suggested taking a quick run to Happs, our discount Amish grocery. I went there with the intention of picking up another couple vacuum sealed bags of coffee for the freezer. Much to my surprise, their coffee had doubled in price. But...like I said, I didn't actually need more. It's just that every time that we are there, I grab a couple bags. Today, however, no bags were grabbed.
They had quite a collection of unexpected items. Believe it or not, they had wasabi paste. I bought 4 tubes at 29 cents apiece. You might remember that I spent nearly $6 not long ago when I bought it from Wegman's. I was shocked to pieces to find a box containing 4 packages of Nori sheets. Each package contained 50 sheets. Priced at $3.19, it was in my cart in a heartbeat. We found quite a bit of stuff. Pet food at good prices. Comes in handy for feeding ferals. I picked up some pouch packs of vegetarian meals for a friend. They even had 7 grain bread of an expensive brand that we normally never buy. We went out with a full cart.
Another thing? I placed an order today. A black berry bush. A raspberry bush. A blueberry bush.
Late Edit for Ceci who wondered at the log bench:
The bench looks similar to this. Ours is up on the third floor right now, where it has been waiting patiently to make itself useful for many years.
I like the tile and can't wait to see your finished corner. Anyone that's ever tried to keep floors clean when it's snowy or muddy outside would love the boot tray and bench and basket. I used to keep a swiffer wet mop handy, too. Great haul at the Amish grocery!
ReplyDeleteOn truly horrible days, I suppose that we'd use the basement entrance and take off our boots there, but when you have company, they usually don't trek up from the basement. They just come in the front door.
DeleteI'm hoping for a picture of the log bench? I must be missing something on this issue - sounds much better than my practice of balancing on one foot and then the other to take off outdoor boots and shoes!.
ReplyDeleteCeci
Our Andrew is a man of refinement and high rise living in a big city. He couldn't quite wrap his head around the idea of a log bench. Now that he has seen one, of course, he has a wild desire to have one in his own ultramodern apartment.
DeleteThat will be a very useful corner!!
ReplyDeleteWhen you are planning a small living space, it is important to make good use of all the space available. I actually think we've done a good job at that.
DeleteI need to look at what I have in Scotland and re-plan it...
DeleteI enjoy little projects like that. The kitchen is next! I've got the general lay out, but with a little tweaking, it will be perfect.
DeleteFruit bushes in your garden will delight for years to come.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a goal of mine to maximize our food production from our little 10 acres. It is exciting to see it happening, a little bit at a time.
DeleteI envy you your log bench and boot repository. I'd really like a boot room, but that's not going to happen.
ReplyDeleteIt really is pretty much a requirement for country living. Especially in the spring.
DeleteThat's a cool bench! I like it!
ReplyDeleteI am fond of it. We bought it and used it during the last time that we lived in the woods. It never 'fit' in this house, and we have a mirrored hall tree with hooks and a lift up seat for mittens and the like. Now we have the opposite problem. We have a nice hall tree that doesn't 'fit' the house we are building. Bring on the log bench!
DeleteWell, given your climate and the need to take off boots, and without a mudroom, a word of a place I learnt I learnt from you, I suppose such a bench to sit is necessary, and probably nicer than any Ikea offering. By the time anyone reaches my apartment, their boots have been cleaned off, so I have no need for one.
ReplyDeleteUnderstood. (But secretly, your heart desires a log bench and a mudroom, doesn't it?) Ah, Andrew. You do make me laugh!
DeleteI se that the orange chicken shit has backed down on tariffs for the time being but so much damage has been done. Canadians have not backed down on refusing to buy American and are selling their second homes in Florida. The only thing poopie pants has done has been to make Canadians stand together against the enemy, him.
ReplyDeleteI love your entryway, wish I had more room for a bench and the tiles will look great. Your log bench will fit in so well with what you have done so far. Gigi
Well, he has not backed down on China, and China has retaliated.
DeleteOf course they have. I would like to not have to look at what the dummy is doing but it is affecting so many countries and we must keep ourselves informed. Gigi
DeleteWe have tried this before. It did not work in 1930. It is not going to work a hundred years later, either.
DeleteWhen people sit on that bench, perhaps we can say that they are logging on.
ReplyDeleteTreemendous! I just knew you wood be the one to come up with a clever pun for this.
DeleteI would love a boot room but our flagstoned front porch has to serve instead. We have a wooden box with a hinged lid out there that we can sit on to take off muddy boots and our boots and garden shoes get dropped inside. An outdoor boot room!
ReplyDeleteFor high mud situations, we do have the basement. We can go in that door and strip off muddy clothes or footwear. There is an added advantage that we can rinse our boots off down there.
DeleteThank you for the bench picture - quite attractive and rustic looking, I recall something similar on the covered porch of a vacation cabin we rented. I'm definitely on Team Bench.
ReplyDeletececi
It is just a practical thing that we really do need. We're not as good at standing on one foot and hopping around as we used to be.
DeleteYour new home is coming together so nicely, Debby.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see lots of lawsuits are being filed and many groups are speaking up and acting to stop the current president and his minions.
I think this is the beginning. We will see a great deal of taxpayer money being handed over to lawyers. We will be in a gridlock, unable to progress or get anything accomplished for the arguing.
DeleteA lot of good things in this post. That makes me happy---you are getting on with life in spite of the uproar in DC. It's really the healthiest way to be right now. Keep going but keeping aware, that's my motto for these times.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who has spent a great deal of his life living off grid all over the United States. He's a very intelligent person who reads and studies. There is a serenity about him that I greatly admire, and I believe that it is because after all this time of living as an outlier, sort of, it has allowed him to see himself as separate from what is happening around him. That is what I am trying to do. What is happening is awful. I can only keep an eye on things and look for the people who will need help during the hard times. I can make myself as self reliant as possible. I need to encourage and to share, and to be kind during unkind times. I also need to speak up each and every time I have a chance.
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful floor, and bench. I like hooks for hanging up coats, rather than a closet with a door, much easier to access.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned a blackberry bush, which made me look up blackberry bushes for the Edmonton area, and there is one which will survive here. My husband loves blackberries, so I'll buy a couple of bushes this spring. We have haskap, raspberry, and saskatoon bushes in our small yard, along with an apple tree. Blackberries will make a nice addition.
Good luck. These are my three berry bushes. I plan to dig some runners from established plants too. The blackberry bushes are going to be used along the boundary line of a very territorial neighbor. It will settle his mind that we are not setting foot on his property as well as giving him snack opportunities.
DeleteHow do you prevent your Blackberry bushes from taking over? Or are these a type that aren’t invasive?
DeleteSome excellent planning going on there, and some great buys at the discount Amish grocery too. Good choice of fruit bushes - I am sure they will thrive.
ReplyDeleteOh I hope so Jennie. I planted raspberries a while back, and they took right off. I was so excited. Over one night, a deer came through and nibbled them all to death. I will cage these berries and try, try again.
ReplyDeleteVery nice. Snow is not something that we ever have to consider here - although we really should have an outside shower for sand and salt. Ah well, we do have an older model iRobot (called Kryton) who cleans up for us in that regard.
ReplyDeleteI think those robot vacuums are neat. It would be neat to have one for each floor of this house. When we get to the new house it should be small enough that it should not be an issue.
DeleteThe entryway looks great, good choice on the tile. I'm with Pixie on coat hooks, we have a row of them in the laundry room just inside the door from the garage in the Spokane house, works for coats, hats, scarves, whatever one wants to hang on them. As far as dealing with this horror show we're seeing unfold, I agree that we have to keep doing what we've been doing for each other, we must in order to keep our sanity. I'm gonna write to Hakeem as well, and Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. My WA House member is a Repub, Spokane County is fairly red, alas.............
ReplyDeleteOur man, John Fetterman, for all of his talk has turned out to be quite a disappointment to me. He had a one on one at Mar-a-lago, and he came back criticizing Democrats for having opinions, as near as I could see it. I think that he has been, like so many others, hypnotized by his proximity to power.
DeleteYou are missing only an elderberry bush to have the most perfect fruit bush collection.
ReplyDeleteI love how you have been slowly collecting the things you will use in this house. The house you've been planning for all these years. The house that you and Tim are building.
ReplyDeleteI love your drop zone. It's nice to have a place to sit down and get the wet, snowy shoes off. We enter the house through the garage, so if it's really bad out we take the shoes off on the top step and carry then in to the laundry room which fortunately is sheet vinyl and easy to dry. That is very pretty tile.
ReplyDelete