i wasn't feeling terribly ambitious on saturday. L and i were just hanging out around the house, i was trying to lay out in the back yard but the sun wasn't really being cooperative. we were checking out my exciting new basement configuration, when L started to examine the collection of odd ceramic vases and figurines that were left from the previous owner. Looking at one of them, L said, "this would be fun to spray paint" - and this is the result.

the wire basket is something i had picked up at a thrift store with the intention of painting. i had seen one in yellow in Dwell and i wanted one. I didn't have yellow spray paint on hand though. Maybe next weekend.

Weekend getaway!

In between refinishing hardwood floors and stressing over which new appliances to buy, Kris and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. We got married at beautiful Tuckahoe Plantation in Richmond in June 2006. So, as a surprise getaway, Kris planned a night away. We had been wanting to explore the Eastern Shore, so we left Richmond really early on sat morning and headed east!

Our first stop was Cape Charles.....very quaint little town, nice downtown shops and water views. We stopped for an ice coffee and looked around for a bit....but had to get on the road and head to our first stop, Chatham Vineyards.

The vineyard was off the main road a few miles, but it was a beautiful drive to Franktown. We had a tasting, bought a bottle and headed to our next destination....Onancock. Kris got us the "Maine" room since he knows I miss the north! The Inn was great, nice old house, the people were wonderful, and I was very pleased with his choice. We settled in and took a walk around the town, it has a really nice little downtown core, even a little stop at a thrift store to get some shopping in.

After we explored Onancock we decided to take a drive to Chincoteague Island and see if we could see the wild ponies that inhabit the island. This was a really fun looking vacation spot and a beautiful drive through the island to the Assateague State Park and beaches. We will definitely come back here one day! The beaches looked nice, and there seemed to be lots to do, antique shops, restaurants, an old theatre, cafes and of course a vacation staple....putt putt!

Then we headed to our final destination for the tour of the Eastern Shore, a wine festival at Bloxom Winery.

The festival was a great idea for our evening. There was a fun band playing, we tried a few wines, we packed a picnic and enjoyed our favorite anniversary treat, strawberries and blue cheese while relaxing in our new camping chairs!

stairway to heaven

When we moved into our house last year we were thrilled to have a basement, but the means to get there were a bit scary. We had a small door off the front hall next to the kitchen that lead to a very narrow wooden open stair and on the other side of it (that's right you had to step over the stair) was our "pantry". So Kris and I started demolition of these dangerous stairs in hopes of some new, safer more stylish ones. After I drew up my plan for the best way to reconfigure the stair, we needed the help of some professionals. Our friends Ryan and Bert of New Earth spent a few days at our house. First was to demo the rest of the pantry area and remove the floor boards (which we saved to relay as part of the extended kitchen project) and open up the space under the existing first floor stair, for the head room of the new basement stair.

After the guys did all the demo (which they saved as much to re use as could be) the new stair construction began. After Bert and Ryan would leave for the day, Kris and I would demo the next stage of the project, so this was when we made the opening for the new stair next to the existing one. We removed the lath and plaster and the guys cut our the studs and headed off the opening the next day. They completed construction of the stairs on the third day working at the house. And they were beautiful!In between the guys completing the stairs and me painting and finishing them, Kris' father came for a visit and helped us (built for us) a new stud wall along the left side of the stair. Now we have a new wall that gave 5 more feet to the kitchen and encloses the basement stairs. Then I painted the risers a glossy taupe (for cleaning) and stained the treads to match the existing hardwood floors.

progression of garden

I am very lucky to have a mother of many talents, one of which is biodynamic gardening. I am also lucky to have a husband with a horticulture degree and muscles....together the three of us have done some fun stuff in the garden this year!

Kris and I had decided this past winter that we wanted to tear out some of the stuff that was in the backyard when we bought the house. Last fall we did an entire remodel of the yard, broke up extra concrete and removed it, and tore up brick paths that lead to no where. Then we tilled in the grass, releveled the yard to drain properly and re seeded the small amount of grass that we had. We built up our beds on both sides of our skinny long city yard and used the bricks we had to create edges on the beds. We also wanted to build a raised vegetable garden to keep the dogs away and also have it been a boundry to the patio and a nice feature in the yard.

Once we finished all that, my mom came down from NJ in March and sowed seeds with me that I nurtured until she came back in May and we planted. We went to SB Cox, our local salvage yard, and bought 7 terracotta chimney inserts and used them to bring a little height to the gardens. We planted tomatoes in them that have climbed higher than our fences with beans growing in between them.

a salute to my pups!

I found these bandanas the other day and I thought..... perfect for the pups. Not that they would enjoy them, they would have them off in nano seconds...but I would get a kick out it. Who knew they would be such hams and pose for me?

This is Bishop on the left, he is 8 months old and pit bull boxer mix. He is the sweetest, most gentle giant in the world and has been a great addition to our family. The blonde one is Sonny who is a pit bull sheppard mix....she was our first dog, about a year older than Bishop....still quite a pup. She gets quite jealous of the newer addition....but the hours of playtime make up for having to share us with him.

We adopted both of them from the Richmond City Animal Control. We went in a little weary of adopting a pit bull, but when you go to the Richmond City shelter, that's what they've got! And now we love them, and were thrilled when we found Bishop as a puppy there also. It's a great place to adopt and save a dog, especially ones that get a bad wrap.

where the artifacts are...

We haven't been very good about updating our newest adventure....our etsy shop. We both have collected so many great things, and love to go discover thrift stores and estate sales on Saturday mornings (sometimes Fridays at lunch :o), that we decided to make room for new purchases by sharing the old.

This is my favorite purchase from our last adventure out......

This fondue pot was in the box, wrapped up and came with a great recipe book with fun ideas and I love the graphics!

Byrd House Market

yesterday afternoon i finally made it to the Byrd House Market in Oregon Hill.
I got a call from my friend V as i was leaving work and she said she was only a few blocks away. So, i grabbed her and we headed over to Idlewood Ave. We met up with L who had already been busy shopping, and had purchased some yummy balm and scoped out the best tomatoes.
We picked up zucchini, squash, more tomatoes, the most delicious herbed goat cheese, flowers, and a carton of red potatoes - enough goods to make a lovely light summer dinner which L and i shared with a nice bottle of white wine from my house warming party.
We wanted to be outside so we chilled on the new back steps Pat built for me while Bond munched on grass.
I can't wait to go back next week!

house progress

We bought our first house about a year and a half ago and have done a few minor changes since then, but to catch up on our progress here is our most recent project……


So about three months ago Kris and I decided to test what was under our black and white checkered vinyl kitchen floor. I didn't mind the look of our kitchen, other than it being kind of mini and not having any drawers, I like my original wood cabinets and the formica countertop.....but I really didn't like the floors. So, we did some investigating and this is what we undercovered.










Underneath the black and white vinyl was red and white checkered linoleum tiles. These things took us (Kris) a few days to chip away at, which exposed this black tar.....also known as cutback adhesive. We tried tons of adhesive removers, all unfortunately pretty harsh since the safer methods we heard about just weren't cutting it. After about a month of working on small sections each night after work and living with plastic on our floors we got as much of it up as we could. We were also simultaneously demo-ing our existing basement stairs and pantry, having new ones built by our green builder friends at New Earth and creating a 5 ft opening between our kitchen and pantry.










After as much of the cutback was off as we could handle and the “new” floor was in place….it was time to rent the floor sander. I believe we needed a drum sander for this amount of adhesive, but the man at Home Depot suggested an orbit sander, called U-Sand-It. It took driving back, buying lots more sand paper and extending our contract from 4 hours to 24 hours…..but eventually we got it to a point we were happy with.












Some of the black markers from the adhesive….or possibly water damage (who knows, the floor is 90 years old) didn’t come off, but hey, if we wanted a new looking floor we could have bought one! Next was time to finish it off!

We used an oil based semi gloss polyurethane because that is what is on the rest of the floors and we have liked it so far. The first coat, by recommendation of my dad, we cut with half paint thinner. It made it easy to get used to applying the finish with the wool mop head that Home Depot suggested, and then we progressively used less paint thinner in each coat until the fourth and final coat was all polyurethane. This is how is looked before drying….it is not this shiny at all anymore and we love it!

introduction

hi!

We are M and C, two friends and co workers living and working in Richmond, Virginia. The flamingo artifacts blog is going to be our spot to post stories of our new homes, vintage store finds, artistic endeavors and many adventures. We both love old buildings, modern design, 3 o'clock coffee breaks, lunchtime thrifting and cocktails on the veranda. (i.e. one of our slightly shabby porches)

C just bought a lovely 1920's Bellevue bungalow gem.

M and her husband have embarked on a long list of renovations to their recently purchased Museum District rowhouse.

so keep checking in to see what we are up to!