New Leaf  Handmade Goods

Though it feels like I've lived on my yard for a long time, it's really only been just over 3 years.  We bought a dirt-cheap, falling-apart old house and got it moved onto our yard of rolling hills and pasture in 2007.  Thankfully (for me, since I have NO experience or knowledge about house renovations), my husband is quite the handy sort and has turned our once decrepit house into a cozy and lovely home.  Below is our house, before and now (take a guess which is which):

We lived in the basement for about six months while Charles worked on the upstairs.  The main floor was pretty much all finished when we moved up in the spring of 2008, but there is still a lot to do (including the entire basement) and we've have been slowly working away at the place.  Over the past few weeks (in between colds and the flu and other issues), Charles has been giving the porch a major do-over: gip-rock instead of wood panelling, new flooring, and my FAVOURITE part -custom built boot shelves and coat hooks! The small rickety wooden shelf that housed about 3 sets of shoes had me dreaming of massive amounts of shelves for baskets and shoes and boots... Charles designed the spaces, built them and installed them all to my utter and complete joy.  I still want to add a big mirror over the small dresser in the corner, and make padded seats for the benches, but that'll take a bit of time yet.  As it is right now though is fantastic -I'm really excited to not have a big messy tub of shoes in my closet anymore.
-Maria