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Small Wonders

The refrain we keep repeating as we continue the work of  reviving our Akron almost mansion is "one step at a time". In this context one step could mean anything from one purchase, to one phone call, one project, one payment, one trip to the hardware store, one meeting with a contractor, one online order, one decision, or even one well-deserved break. The point being, this work isn't so much a big project, as it is a thousand little ones. It's the accumulation small efforts, applied consistently with the goal of mostly just keeping things moving forward...one small step at a time.

So today, we'll celebrate some small steps and small wonders along the way.

A pink toilet is pictured with a pink sink and in a bathroom tiled with vintage pink tiles.

The pink Kohler toilet has a assumed it's rightful position next to the pink sink in the pink powder room. I mentioned previously that this was clearly a 1950s remodel. As you can see, it's an aesthetic that we've wholly embraced. With this new addition, our fab bathroom is now on pace to be the first room done! A good cleaning, some minor tile repair, wallpaper and paint, and we'll be set!

A bed of newly planted shrubs, bushes, perennials and a tree.

There's A LOT of yard and a lot of places to plant on this property. That means that landscaping is literally being done one bed at a time. This is bed number two and contains an assortment of (hopefully) deer resistant flora. We're still learning by trial and error what the deer will and won't eat, and so far this bed has been largely unscathed. Fingers crossed.

A flat roof above a garage is covered with leaf litter and a variety of small saplings.

Nature is healing and a small forest is growing on our garage roof.

I shared a little bit about the roof on the main house. With that project now complete, it's time to turn our attention to the garage roof. The attached garage is at the back of the house and the roof looks out over the back yard. The roof has a short wall around it, and is accessible through an exterior door on the second floor. All of which is to say it has the potential to be an amazing outdoor space once the debris is cleared and the roof is repaired. We hope this work will be done this week, and will look forward enjoying what is sure to be a special part of the house.

A woman is in a front yard is pictured from a second floor balcony. 

Tutti looks small in this picture because she's standing in the front yard and I'm standing on the front porch roof/fake balcony. This picture was taken during Step One of our railing planter project. That's the part where we make sure we got the right size planter and that it could be centered properly. 

A railing planter hang on a wrought iron railing over a colonnaded front porch.

Narrator: It was the right size planter. It was centered properly, and it looks awesome!

Now, one could argue that a railing planter is a premature adornment on a house that has no functional heating system, no appliances, no kitchen, and only minimal plumbing.

Perhaps that's true, but I'd argue the opposite. A railing planter is exactly what a house in that condition needs. In this context, a modest planter serves a symbol of hope. It's aspirational; facing the morning sun and pointing the direction this project is going, one step at a time.    









 



 


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