Sneak Peek Friday - on Thursday

It's been a while since we had a Sneak Peek Friday, so I'm throwin' one at ya on a Thursday - only because I haven't posted since Sunday - and I didn't want to wait until Friday! 

In my defense, I've been busy (and *head-achy*). We've had another CRAZY WEIRD meltdown, and we've lost about 11" of snow depth in the last 6 days.

2-16-2017

2-22-2017

Yes, the meltdown has us slushbound again and we haven't left the driveway for a week, so it's nutty that I've been too busy to write. OK, we did leave the driveway on Tuesday to help our buddies, Marty & Donna, celebrate Marty's birthday. We waded through the slush on our driveway, and Marty & Donna picked us up at the road! Since Marty was the last one of the four of us to have a birthday since they moved to the Keweenaw last April - and since it's now become our tradition to celebrate our birthdays at The Hut (restaurant) together - we couldn't miss that special meal! The best news is that we're in for probable double digits of snow accumulation in the next couple of days, so we should be able to get out and about with no problem on Sunday.

I've been working on some Easter projects. . .

and some other unnamed projects. . .

and we had a cool critter sighting in the backyard on Sunday!

Can you name the critter? 

Remember, these were just sneak peeks. You'll see details of these projects and a much better photo of that critter in upcoming posts!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday - Master Bath

I've had a challenging migraine week, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking today. Our master bath has an air jet tub, a large shower with a seat, a double vanity and a big linen closet. These photos show some of the details.

More pine. . .

and more barn wood.

Robe hooks near the shower.

More hammered black hinges - but larger than those on the vanity in the powder room.

Cool drawer pulls on the vanity.

Two hand towel hooks - one for each sink.

Tile & tub decor.

I'm lovin' the linen closet - all trimmed out since the last time you saw it.

Standing in the doorway - looking to the left. The shower is behind the door.

Standing in the doorway - looking to the right.

Look for the full reveal of the master bath on Tuesday.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday - Powder Room

We've had a busy week, and our birds have been just as busy. In fact, they've been very active and quarrelsome at the bird feeder. Steve decided to help them get along better by putting out 2 more feeders this afternoon. So far, those new feeders have been claimed by the purple finches, goldfinches and chickadees. We saw a report of a hummingbird spotted down in the Lake Linden area, so we thought we would also set out a feeder for them. We picked up 2 more smaller feeders last month, so I used one of those. I only filled it halfway as a test to see if we could attract any hummers in the next few days. Then. . . Bam! This little dude showed up.

Not my best shot, but I wasn't expecting him so soon. We'll wait until we see more action at this feeder before we put out more. We're fully armed with a total of 4 feeders now, so we're hoping our place will be a hummingbird haven again this year.

Now, on to our sneak peek. We're in the main floor powder room (1/2 bath) today. Since we haven't been in here lately, I'll give you some up close and personal peeks at some of the details. We'll start out with wall decor.

Look at the detail on the frame of the mirror over the sink. You can tell it's not a mass-produced item. Nope, it's old and handmade. 

Of course, the fact that it's handmade also made it challenging to hang. The peak at the top of the mirror isn't exactly centered which means the peak isn't exactly centered under the light fixture either. I think we can refer to that as perfectly imperfect. 

Here's our Pfister pump-style faucet in rustic bronze. . .

and our vanity light by Kichler.

The powder room has another vanity made by Steve out of our old barn wood. Since no one is taking a bath in this room, I just wanted a simple 2-door vanity to hold extra hand towels and T.P. We couldn't find the hinges we wanted in the finish we wanted, so we purchased some simple metal hinges and spray painted them with Rust-Oleum in hammered black.

We had some bronze knobs left over from the kitchen cabinets, so we painted those in hammered black, too. All that painting of cabinet hardware was done to match this little butterfly wing nut we found at True Value Hardware in Houghton - to hold the 2 doors closed.

I just love the texture of this old wood.

No more peeking today. I'll be back on Monday with the full reveal of the powder room.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek Friday - Guest Bath

I'm giving you a peek at the upstairs guest bath today, but I'm not doing the full reveal until Monday. You'll just have to come back then if you want to see it.

When working on the finishing details of a new home, it's often the little things that get delayed the longest. Steve built all 3 of our bathroom vanities out of barn wood we brought with us from Saginaw. We've been using all 3 vanities for quite some time - even though they've been waiting patiently for their doors to be completed. Well, Steve has now crossed those off the to-do list.

Unfortunately, the door on the vanity in the guest bath had a little bitty problem. You see, Steve made a design decision - on his own - without consulting the designer-in-chief. Do you see the placement of the knob on the vanity door?

Say it with me now - using your best Scooby Doo voice: Ruh-roh!

That knob was too low to make my eyes happy. I would have preferred it to be near the top of the door. Wood putty was never going to plug a hole in this old barn wood well enough to please my eyes, so a compromise solution was needed. We ditched the knob and purchased a new handle requiring 2 screws. The bottom screw would go into the hole already drilled. Of course, I had to modify the handle a bit by adding some twine to it. In my world, twine is bling.

The designer-in-chief liked this much better.

See what I mean?

All in all, I think it was a happy accident. My eyes are happy, and Mr. Perfect-For-Me is still almost perfect.

I'll show you the rest of the vanity and the full reveal of this upstairs guest bath on Monday.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sneak Peek of Sneak Peeks

OK, time to post something to let you know we're alive and well in the Keweenaw. We've had a busy first part of the week, and I'm working on a post for tomorrow of a simple recent makeover project. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of 3 upcoming Sneak Peek Fridays. 

Hint: They're all bathroom related.

3 different bathrooms are represented in those photos. First up this Friday: Upstairs guest bath. 

I know, I know - I'm such a tease.

All is well in the Keweenaw. 

Sneak Peek Friday - No Jumping!

We added something new upstairs this week.

I gave you this peek into Guest Room 2 from the loft two weeks ago.

Here's how it looks now.

Can you see what we added?

Yes, a mattress! We were at Walmart on Wednesday and couldn't pass up this bargain. It was a full-size 6" mattress in a box. 

Since this is a guest room, we figured we could get by with an inexpensive mattress. I had been researching these mattresses on the Internet and had planned to have one shipped to our home. When we saw this in the store, we decided to go ahead and get it right away.

My grandma's black iron bed is perfectly suited for a 6" mattress, as the original mattresses for these beds would not have been as thick as most of today's mattresses. This bed sits pretty high even without a mattress. 

We both tested the mattress yesterday and found it to be quite comfortable. 

Since most of our guests will be adults and the other guest room has a queen bed with a firmer mattress, this room will usually be used by teens and younger children. Plus, there's a twin-size bed in the loveseat in this room, so kids can even double up in here.

By the way, do you know why iron beds became so popular in the 1800's and early 1900's? Termites couldn't eat the iron and rodents couldn't climb the iron posts! Yikes! Unless you were wealthy, you usually didn't use a dust ruffle with your iron bed - as that would give rodents easy access.

Don't worry about the blankets getting pulled to one side and touching the floor during the night, though. We don't have rodents in our home!

No more peeking - and - no jumping on the bed!

All is well in the Keweenaw.