How to Keep an Art Journal

I have several journals. I have prayer journals, planner journals, idea journals, and paste books, but my favorite journals are art journals.

You will usually see me talking about altered book journals, which I make from discarded books -- these are great for mixed media projects.

Our New Beach House Cats

We adopted two cats this summer. I was scrolling through our local Nextdoor forum, and noticed that someone was looking for a home for their cats, as they were soon to be moving. I was a little shocked, at first, after all, who leaves their cats when they move? When I clicked on the posting, I understood.

Syd and Leo each weigh over five hundred pounds. They are not easy to move. The owners had moved them several times, but they were getting older, and it was time to find the cats a new family. I called them and made an appointment to meet the cats in their Seattle courtyard.

Working on the Beach House Path

It's been quite a while since I posted any beach house updates. We continue to plug along with projects, but we try to balance work weekends with resting weekends and entertaining weekends.

Each year we improve the beach path a little bit more. When we first bought the house, the path was only inches wide, and full of holes and random hidden driftwood logs to trip us up. I think I spent as much time face down in the dune grass, as I did walking down the path!

Best Ever Smoked Salmon Fillets!

I don't do a lot of recipes on House Revivals, but every now and then, something turns out so amazingly well, I just have to share!

My husband and I love to fire up the smoker on the weekends we spend at the beach house. We often hit the grocery store when we pull into our little beach town and grab something that we think will taste great smoked, but won't require watching the smoker all day long. Salmon fillets are perfect for this, because they don't need to sit in a brine or dry pack for very long, and they usually cook pretty fast.

While my husband usually mans the smoker, I usually choose the preparation method. I've experimented with dry packed salt and brown sugar, for a sweeter product, but this time I wanted something a bit more savory and less sweet.

To start, you will want one large salmon fillet, cut into about four pieces.  Next, pour about a half cup of hot water into a measuring cup. Now, add salt to the measuring cup until the level reaches three-quarters of a cup. Put this mixture into a glass dish (a baking dish works best), and add a couple quarts of cold water (enough to cover your fillets).  Add a generous amount of garlic powder or minced garlic (I added about a tablespoon of powdered and a tablespoon of minced), and add two or three tablespoons of sugar (or less). Experiment with seasonings you may like, such as onion, cumin, cilantro, or paprika. Add a generous amount of pepper, if desired. Mix everything together and add the salmon to the dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or two.

Heat your smoker to 225 degrees before adding the salmon.  If you'd like a "candied" crust, sprinkle the tops of the fillets with brown sugar right before putting in the smoker.

When the salmon reaches 140 degrees, it is done. Smokers vary, but in our electric smoker, a one inch fillet usually reaches 140 degrees within an hour.

While you're waiting for your salmon to brine, you might want to try this recipe for the Best Bloody Mary Ever!

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This Beach House is Getting Curb Appeal

Our beach house renovation is starting to move forward again!

Last year we renovated the last of a half-dozen decks.

Because this deck is ocean facing and subject to harsh elements, we bit the bullet and had custom stainless steel hangers and stainless screws installed.

DIY Rope Lampshades

New lampshades can cost a fortune, so whenever we can update the ones we already own, I'm all for it. Here is a DIY rope lampshade project I actually did last year, but in the craziness of life, it never quite made it onto the blog.

Our old house was a Queen Anne bungalow, and not all of the furnishings and accessories work in our contemporary rustic beach house.

Cool Stuff You Find When You Clean Out the Attic

Cleaning out the attic, as it turns out, is kind of fun. You find all this awesome stuff you forgot you had! You get all the happy brain chemicals you might get from shopping, without any of the remorse you get from spending money and bringing home more stuff. It's a win win!

It's kind of hard to go wrong! When I left off last week, we'd just spent one weekend unboxing and getting rid of stuff, and two weekends building and placing shelves and caulking all the places where the wind came in.

Getting Shelves In the Studio Attic!

We've been hard at work on the Attic of Shame. My husband and I spent an entire weekend assembling shelves, then we did it again last weekend.

For each shelving unit, I had to go into the attic and clear the space for that unit, so all the heavy things were lifted and moved from the taller side of the room to the short side of the room, a bit at a time. Then, when it was time to put up shelves on the short side of the room, all the heavy things were moved back to the taller side of the room.

Adventures in Cleaning out the Attic and Creating a Studio

This post is about my attic of shame. Most people have a closet of shame, or a drawer of shame, but I have an entire attic of shame. Plus some closets and drawers.

When we finally moved our boxes out of storage and into our beach house THREE years ago, we were in a huge hurry and still doing major remodel work, so all of the things that we didn't know what to do with, and didn't want to deal with, got shoved into a tiny attic space adjacent to the sleeping loft. Along with all the random stuff, all my studio supplies got shoved into the attic as well.

And there it sat. For THREE years! Sometimes, in frenzied bursts of creative energy, I would tear into some boxes to find a certain supply I was sure I had. Sometimes I found what I was looking for, but mostly not. We had THE WORST movers, and nothing was properly labeled. The attic was a huge mess that made me want to cry. On top of that, since we must spend the work week in the city, and only get to go to our beach house on weekends, we found ourselves not wanting to spend precious beach time hanging out in an attic. Basically, when faced with a choice between a bonfire and an unboxing session, we tended to choose the bonfire. Which is great. Except when you choose the bonfire for THREE years.

Well, my Word of the Year is Intention, and one of the ways I want to be intentional is to spend more time at the beach creating. I had a long talk with my husband about "going down to the sea" intentionally to create for several days out of each month. Not too many days. My husband and I love each other, and like to be together, so I won't be deserting him; but I can often work from the beach house as easily as from the city condo.

So, I have been cleaning out the attic. Believe it or not, the pictures here were taken AFTER I spent a Saturday unboxing and getting rid of stuff!  The attic is going to become a "studio-attic". Of course, it also happens to be the only windowless room in the entire house, and contains only one light bulb and one outlet. But mostly, it contains NO VIEW. So, while this space will house studio storage, machines, and a large worktable for bigger projects, smaller projects will still be carried to the dining table, or my drafting table, where there is a view of crashing surf. Because, you just don't go down to the sea to hang out all day in an attic.

The first time we saw the beach house, I knew the loft above the living room would be a perfect studio. It was one of the reasons I chose this house (plus, there was the VIEW).  Sigh... Changing job commitments have changed the way we use the house. Now, we use the house for business entertaining about one weekend in four, and the loft has to function as a secondary seating area for games and socializing. I have a small drafting table against that far wall, next to the door, but my dreams for a huge loft studio have been dashed. Le sigh....

Okay, seriously, folks, don't feel sorry for me. I'm a pragmatist, and I understand the house has to earn it's keep. Plus, I still get an ENTIRE ATTIC! Which is more than I've ever had before. And did I mention that this attic is at the beach? After three years (four since we bought the house and started renovations), I'm still pinching myself.

As I was unboxing all that STUFF, that first Saturday, I realized my actions would be futile until I actually had a place to put everything, so I stopped working and curled up in front of the fireplace with my husband and put "buy lots of cheap pine shelving" on my mental to do list. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I went every Fred Meyer within thirty miles of our condo buying ALL THE SHELVES. The sixty inch high units are perfect for the "tall" side of the attic, and the thirty inch high units are perfect for the "short" side.

Do you have a dedicated studio? I could lose myself in Pinterest pictures of gorgeous studios. Mine won't be beautiful right away -- I will feel like I've won the lottery just to have it functional for now! Beauty will come in time.

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to subscribe to House Revivals, so you won't miss any of the fun projects we have planned. Please "like" and subscribe to us on Facebook, so you won't miss any of the stuff that happens between blog posts.., like this cow picture. Who doesn't love a great cow picture?

To find out how we met and  fell in love with our beach house, read this post.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Why I Bought an Artificial Christmas Tree

Last weekend I took advantage of the 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby and bought an artificial Christmas tree.  I think I'm going to love it!

This tree is for the beach house, and I chose one that is pre-lit, with pine cones and berries and a tiny dusting of snow. Before you think, "that's not very beachy", I should mention that this is the Pacific Northwest, where pine cones and beach and sea and salt spray and snow live together in the most unsettlingly lovely way.

Growing up, we always used an artificial tree -- until we lost most of our possessions in a house fire. The next year, we had a real tree, covered in homemade decorations that our mom made with us kids (all our family ornaments had been lost in the fire). It was lovely to my child's eye. The next year, my father was in a terrible accident and was unable to work for many months. We lived in the Phoenix area, so you couldn't just go out and cut down a tree. We had little extra money for a tree that year, so my creative mother gathered up some tumbleweeds and we formed those into a Christmas tree! True story. I adored that tree! We put the homemade ornaments on our tumbleweed tree and and strung lots of popcorn garland and had a happy Christmas.

image source

The next year my mom found an artificial tree at the Salvation Army store, and that is what we used for the rest of my years at home. When I got married and started my own little family, I vowed to always buy a real tree -- until we realized that our oldest son had severe allergies and could not be in the same house with a real tree. Sad, but true. Apparently all sorts of allergens can hitchhike into your home via a real tree. That year, I went to Ace Hardware for their 50% off Christmas trees sale, and that was the Christmas tree our kiddos grew up with.... until our dog got old.

For some reason, when our dog started getting old (he lived to be seventeen), he decided it was okay to pee on our tree. Seriously. The artificial tree had to be thrown away. By this time, allergy boy had grown up and moved out, so we went back to using a real tree for a while.

The problem with that has been that we live in two places these days. During the week, we are in a city crash pad, for work. On weekends, we go home to our beach house. We can't put up a real tree at our house until the last possible moment, since we aren't around to keep it watered. This has been super stressful for me, as it meant I would be madly trimming the tree a day or two before Christmas, all while prepping the house for guests, wrapping gifts, and cooking. Something had to give. I wanted to get an artificial tree, but my husband resisted. My husband loves tradition, and we have a new after Christmas tradition of having a Christmas tree bonfire on the beach. Okay, it's not that he loves tradition -- he just loves having a really big beach fire. Christmas tree fires burn high and hot and it is frighteningly beautiful.

image source

He finally capitulated when we made plans for our daughter and little granddaughter to come out for a visit in early December.

(Summer Rose's parents won't let anyone share photos of her on social media, so I drew her for you!)

We've told little Summer we would have a Christmas party for her, and for a Christmas party you must have a Christmas tree, right?  If we put up a real tree in our beach house in early December, we would need to replace it before Christmas because it would dry out too much to be safe, since we're not there to water it during the week.

I was really impressed with the artificial trees available this year! I think Summer Rose will like our tree, with it's red berries and pine cones. I have some bird's nest ornaments that I will be sure to place at her eye level!  It's funny how having a grandchild changes your entire perspective. You start to see things "close up" again, and remember that the world is full of wonder and sweetness.

tree images via Hobby Lobby website

My husband has said he still reserves the right to buy a real tree, in addition to the "fake" one, and that's okay. Beach bonfires are lots of fun, after all.

Renovating a Beach House: The Deck Edition

It's been a long time coming. We purchased this beach house nearly four years ago, and are FINALLY wrapping up the last deck renovation!  Actually, other than some landscape work, this deck is the last really big project.

During most of June and part of July, our contractors stayed at the house and rebuilt our dilapidated old deck.  This was supposed to be a rot replacement project, but as we got deeper and deeper into it, we realized every single board needed replaced!  Apparently, the only thing holding this deck up was hope.

Every one of our joist hangers also needed replacing!  The ocean climate is hard on structures.  After looking at our existing deck, and the decks of some of our neighbors, we knew we did not want to use galvanized metal hangers-- it is simply no match for our damp salt air.  Our next door neighbor's deck is only three years old, and they already have major rust and corrosion issues.

We decided to have stainless steel hangers fabricated.  It added to the cost and to the timeline, but it will be well worth it in the long run.  Our contractors also special ordered stainless steel deck screws.  Again, this added to the cost, but in the long run it will be worth it.

The contractors just wrapped up the work and are in the clean-up stage.  We asked them to set aside plenty of non-pressure treated, non-painted wood for our beach bonfires.  We already burned quite a bit on the Fourth of July, but there is plenty left!

These pictures were taken on our last visit -- it will be a few more days before we can get away from the city to see the finished product.  I'm pretty excited about it!  It's going to be uh-maze-ing to sit out there in the morning and just chill with a cup of tea -- or a bloody mary....

We had the contractors build a gate at the top to keep pets and toddlers from wandering off, too. We love to have friends and family out, and kids and pets are always invited!

I'll try to get more pictures of the finished deck up soon!  

Remember When We Put Lipstick on a Pig?

That ugly, ugly wall was my line in the sand.  Phase one of the renovations was NOT going past that wall -- we had a new baby in the house, and we were just. done. with the disruptions of contractors everywhere. Usually they waited until at least eight o'clock to start working, but occasionally, we awakened to find the tile setter had let himself in at dawn. That's not creepy, right? Of course, he wasn't necessarily working. He was usually sitting on the edge of the tub texting... good times.

I needed to set some boundaries, and this crazy ugly wall was the first boundary.  The thing about an ugly wall is this -- it will still be there later, but tiny newborn grandbabies grow up. We threw some paint on that awful wall, and called it a day.

Reclaimed Wood Projects

We are trying to decide on a new dining table for the beach house. While we've been making do with a big oval Queen Anne table, from our old Queen Anne bungalow, it doesn't really "fit" in a contemporary rustic beach house. Don't worry,  we won't throw it into a landfill -- we will donate it to a local charity shop when we replace it. We are considering having something custom made from reclaimed wood.

 Do you just love all the gorgeous things folks are making from reclaimed wood?

How We Care for our Natural Flagstone Floors

I've talked about our natural flagstone floors at the beach house a few times. Recently I shared a little about how our nephew patched them, and why we chose not to rip them out and replace them.

When we originally bought our beach house, the flagstone floors were pretty dirty.  Actually, they were filthy.

Decorating with Re-Purposed Vintage Lockers

My husband has several banks of old gym lockers in our garage. He bought them at a building supply salvage yard a few years ago to use for tool storage.  They're not working out.  His tools are all the wrong sizes and nothing is fitting quite right. He's offered them to me for the beach house!

At first, I really wanted the lockers for my beach house loft studio.........., but somehow the studio got bumped for an office/ secondary family room..... sigh...., and my studio stuff is still boxed up in an attic room. (which may be turning into another bunk room.... sigh...)...  I think I may still want the lockers, though.

Tips for Finding the Perfect Vintage Stove

We've decided to go all electric at the beach house.

Our propane stove is gorgeous, and we plan to keep it, but it will go to another property we own.  For the beach house, we want to make things really simple, thus going all-electric. Plus, our climate is really hard on propane tanks and valves.

Our Flagstone Floors

It's been a while since I talked about the floors at our beach house.  Some of you may remember that we bought a beach house about three years ago that was full of rot and mold and rat poo.  Because, everybody wants those things, right? I know you're going to be feeling jealous when you see this picture, but don't hate me, okay?  Not everybody can have all this....

It had been a foreclosure that sat empty, then someone had tried to renovate and flip it, but had only gotten as far as taking a sledge hammer to much of the drywall.  Rats had moved in. Moisture was taking it's toll. This house was a big mess. At the time, I thought the floors were kind of terrible, too.

What to Expect from a Home Energy Audit

I recently shared why we decided to get an energy audit for our beach house.   We LOVE our beach house, and being able to share it with our family and our friends, but the west side of the house was cold, not energy efficient, and cost a fortune to heat.  We knew we needed to do something, but we wanted to make sure we made the best use of resources to make improvements.  Sooooo, we had an energy audit done.

This is what you can expect if you are planning to have an energy audit done for your house.

The Three Best Reasons to Have an Energy Audit Done on Your Home

Earlier this year we had an energy audit done on our beach house.  This was pretty much the coolest thing ever!

If you have never had this done, I would encourage you to look into it!   We had three reasons for doing the audit:

Stripping at the Beach This Weekend!

Uhhhmmmm, that would be wallpaper stripping.
 
Can you see all the grasscloth wallpaper in this place?  It is in all of the public spaces of the beach house.  And it needs to come down.  It is badly damaged and fraying from cats' and dogs' claws. 

It is also thirty years old, so all of the thread fibers woven through the grass have rotted, which makes it just a mess to strip! 

I have the entryway about half-way stripped, and the dining area about a quarter of the way done.  Now it's time to finish it up.  It is truly a dreadful job, and it makes me sneeze!

At least I will have this great view, to remind me how truly blessed I am.