There's a Chicken Coop in Our Future

I have 25 day-old chicks on order from a hatchery.  They'll be delivered sometime during the 2nd week of April (That's only 2 weeks away...Yikes!).  While they'll be living in brooders in the garage for several weeks, I still feel behind schedule on the coop construction.
We've decided to use the frame of the "greenhouse" (or should we say "outdoor room-size oven"?) as the coop framing.  We'll be removing everything from the greenhouse, inside & out.

The greenhouse frame will be moved to a new base to be built in the back corner of this area.
I took this photo last Friday afternoon and by the evening, the swing set was completely disassembled and on Sunday, the brush pile was removed, so there is progress being made.

The pigeon coop will be moved into this area as well.  It'll be modified into the rabbit hutch for Buster and will also become part of the fencing for the chicken yard.  This area is about 24 x 30, will contain the 8 x 10 chicken coop and 4 x 8 rabbit hutch.  The perimeter will be completely fenced in & topped with wire for the chicken yard.  I'm planning to free-range the chickens as much as possible, at least for a little while in the evenings before roosting time, otherwise they'll be in their own yard.
I'll be posting updates as we work on the coop & chicken yard project so stay tuned.

And these timbers......They were tossed down in this low area by the previous owners.  There seems to be at least 8 of them, not all the same size, but looks like most are 4x6, maybe.  They are perfectly aged and I can't wait to use them somewhere.  I'm thinking maybe for flowerbed edging or possibly incorporate them around the chicken yard to help deter digging critters.
Stay tuned, hoping to have another update in about a week.

Meet Buster the Flemish Giant

Buster the Flemish Giant 4.5 weeks old

This past Saturday, we took a little field trip out to a farm in another small town to pick up our new furry family member.  He's a 4 week old Flemish Giant rabbit.  He's the cutest, softest little guy we've seen in a while.

Although he's small now, he'll grow to be 15-20 pounds as an adult.  Flemish Giants have a gentle, sweet disposition and make great family pets.

For now he's a house bunny with a decent sized cage and is able to come out to play when the cats are preoccupied with napping.  The cats, as well as Charlie (the mini dachshund), are very curious of him and would like to snack on him.  Phillip & Koa don't seem to care much either way about him. For Buster's safety, he'll eventually live outside near the pigeon & chickens and will be out of harms way from the cats & Charlie.

While Buster will be kept as a pet, we are thinking of adding other breeds to raise for meat rabbits, possibly next year.  They'll have a separate rabbitry when we do take the plunge into that.

I'll post more pictures as Buster grows into a handsome giant.

Laundry Room Organization & Decor

Our main project this past January was to get the laundry room organized.  We had already painted when we moved in a year and a half ago, so that chore was out of the way.  The walls and ceiling are green, the ceiling darker than the walls.
Valspar colors: Grassland - ceiling,  Willow Wind - walls,  Du Jour - shelves

The laundry room is fairly small (5' 8" x 5' 6" ) so once the washer & dryer are in place, the only way to go for organizing is up the wall behind them.

We opted for open shelving rather than cabinets.  I wanted a little wall space for decorating and wooden crates look nice and are functional for storing items out of view.

The shelves are 15 inches deep and allow plenty of space for the wooden crates (from Michael's craft stores), books, an old bird cage and a few other decor items.

The water hyacinth baskets & the tall narrow Elfa organizer (in photo above this photo) are from The Container Store.  The baskets store a few frequently used small items and the organizer drawers hold larger items.

I've been collecting bird themed items for a few years, hoping someday I'd have a green & yellow bird laundry room.  One of my sisters found these bird prints at a local thrift store.
They are 12x12 prints on canvas.

Besides the shelves, crates, baskets, fabric for valance, curtain rod & the Elfa organizer, I didn't really spend any money on this project.
My grandmother made the yoyo doilies years ago.  The large yellow bird is a coin bank from Target (bought a few years ago on clearance).  The vintage "Wash Day" sign is a reproduction found in a local thrift shop (on clearance).  The old "Magic White" bleach bottle was found in another local thrift shop.  I've had the bird cage forever as well as the old clothes pins in the jars and the candle sticks.

The bird print valance I made for the window.  Vintage Ball jars hold pocket change.  An old brown bottle from a thrift store and a miniature garden topiary/trellis.

Lowe's didn't have the bird curtain rod in cream any longer so I bought the rubbed bronze one and spray painted it.

I dry brushed the crates with extra paint from the shelves.

So simple and it didn't take very long!

This is an old twin size headboard turned sideways with the legs cut off.  I thought it was interesting and was a steal at $2.50 at a local thrift store....and I didn't even need to paint it!  I'm looking for small prints or small birds to hang in the "empty" side.

These little bird drawer pulls (bought on Etsy a few years ago, but I believe I've seen some recently) will be mounted to a board that will run along the underside of the top shelf against the wall.  I'll post a photo when we finally get that finished.  Hoping that'll be completed in the next couple of weeks!

And of course.....I had to include a photo of our supervisors.  They are never far when there's a project happening.

Hope you enjoyed that little tour of the laundry room decor/ organizing project!

I'm Still Here!!

Sooo.....I've taken a little vacation from the blog!  Can you believe we're mid-way through March and I haven't posted since last November?!  I've thought about it a lot, even taken photos, but then I just don't sit still long enough to do anything after that.  With Spring just around the corner, I have lots planned and it's time to get back to work outside, in the garden, building a chicken coop, etc and I plan to document it all here.  Stay tuned....I'm aiming for 2 posts each week for the time being.