Let there be light!

I'll venture to say that installing a new front door has been the most dramatic change that we've made to the house outside of remodeling the kitchen! I've been dying for a new door since the day we moved in. All of you have seen how dark the paneling is in our house, and the front door was no help in letting more light in...only kept the house in its cave-like appearance. We decided on a paneled door for it's classic looks and great light flow. Brooke worked hard this weekend in getting it just right. We know with an old house it's not going to be level or straight. And, the door installation was no exception!

The old front door.

Old door from the inside.

Brooke tearing out the old trim.

Trim down!

R.I.P., old door!

New door in!

Brooke staining the door---Special Walnut is the stain color.

And stain finished---at least on the front. Now just some polyurethene and new trim!

Plants! YEA!

We made it to the nursery this weekend and hauled home a trailer load of plants! We worked most of the day on Saturday and part of the day on Sunday getting everything in and set up. Kim at the Signal Mountain Nursery helped draw out a great plan for us---we needed plants for a fairly shady yard and a few things that my black thumb couldn't kill! I've listed the plants that we installed below. I love the green look and I think once they start growing and become established, they'll be great. We bought some river rocks to outline the beds and then bought some flagstone to create steps back to the "nook" between the house and carport where we have the hose. Eventually we might put up a trellis in that area. Next project is installing the new front door (hopefully it'll arrive this weekend), painting the posts, and painting the exterior of the house!

Brooke starts digging!
The finished product on the left side of the stairs.

And on the right side---before we planted.

Flagstone steps---back in that shady corner are the autumn ferns.

And both beds finished!

Piers Japonica Compacta
Autumn Fern
Coral Bell (I believe the color is called starburst!?)
Coral Bell in Pinot Noir
Lenten Rose

On the way to being a lamp...

So, I found 2 green ceramic "bamboo" vases at TJ Maxx a few weeks ago. I thought they'd work well on either side of our mantel. I took them to Let Us Light Your World in Chattanooga to have them made into lamps. I think they turned out really well, now I just have to find the perfect shade. The hard part is that the mantel isn't very deep so I'll have to get some sort of drum shade. I'm on the hunt!

Brooke's Friends

Some of Brooke's animal friends decided to visit this week. Here's a couple of pictures of Grady the Groundhog. We've realized that he's eating mulberries from our mulberry tree in the backyard. Quite tasty, apparently!


And yes, this really is what you think---a BLACK WIDOW SPIDER! UGH! Brooke found it right outside of our side door. He squished it immediately after taking this picture, but I've sure had my eyes out this week for any of her lost babies!