I’m back from Wisconsin! (I kind of wish I wasn’t! I have a whole lot of tiling and repair work ahead of me, and it was SO nice up there.)
We go up most summers and spend time at the family lake house. The kids love it, we love it, and the puppy loved it! Lots of dog friends, lots of deer and fox poop to find, and an accidental swim in the lake. A pretty great start to summer.
This week flew by! We were in Wisconsin for a while and got back a few days ago. We had fun! The kids swam in the lake all day! Boat rides! Family time! I was bitten by a tick! (OK, that last one was not one of the fun parts.)
Randomness, ahoy!
I’m just about done with a recap of my sister’s bridal shower and I thought I’d have it up yesterday, but it will go up on Monday instead. I’m meeting with her tomorrow to learn how her bustle works, which is a funny thing to type.
On guinea pig watch: I think we’ve got one girl and two boy babies but I could be completely wrong. I’ll take them to the exotic animals vet to double check, but they said it’s too early for them to tell right now.
I’m going to repaint August’s room — I’ve officially decided. That green has no joy in it.
Still thinking and thinking about the kitchen. I’ll be taking photos and drawing up measurements soon, and I’m looking to find someone for a consultation. (Any suggestions?) I have an idea of what I want to do, but I would love a shoot for the moon option too. I suspect it is way beyond the scope of what we could do right now to open up the walls, reconfigure things, add access to the yard, new cabinetry, flooring, blah blah blah… but it would be nice to explore the idea with an experienced kitchen designer.
The Elkhorn Antique Flea Market is this Sunday! I’m thinking of going bright and early. Anyone else going?
The vintage yardstick transformation into DIY wainscoting is complete! The family lake house bathroom is looking pretty dang fantastic.
There is no natural lighting in the bathroom, and you have to get inside and close the door to take pictures, but here’s what the light fixture actually looks like when it isn’t on. You can also see that the wall color isn’t quite as warm as it appears under incandescent lighting in the other photos.
Here’s the bathroom in context.
And here are a few other details around the room. The squirrel switches things up seasonally.
The yardsticks vary in age and were picked up over many years at flea markets and antique shops. Some of the oldest have 3-digit phone numbers, and many have the old letters and numbers format. Also, apparently furniture and funeral service was a thing? There are three yardsticks offering this darling combination, all from different providers. The one below notes ambulance service, too. One-stop-shopping!
Tree stump sink!
Done. So happy to be able to help Brandon’s mom by doing this project.
Last night, I started a fun DIY project at the lake house. If you have a very good memory and have been reading here since 2010, you may remember this post, in which I wrote about my mother-in-law’s idea for wainscoting made from vintage yardsticks. (Go read it! I’ll wait.) Seeing as how I’m up here for 3 weeks and this project falls squarely in my skill set, I’m taking it on.
Here’s what the bathroom (powder room, really) looked like before.
Here’s the view from outside the room.
The yardsticks are going up today!
We went to Perennial Antiques last Saturday, per this suggestion. (Thank you, Tina!) It’s an antique shop about halfway between Rhinelander and Minocqua, in Northern Wisconsin, and only open Thursday through Saturday, Memorial Day weekend through early October.
The owner, Mary, has a good thing going, and I think she knows it. Expect gorgeous finds, but don’t expect extreme bargains. Brandon and I were both in love with a huge work table (4’x7′, maple top, double-sided, generous sized drawers), but besides it being ridiculously heavy and difficult to transport, it was more than we could spend. It was fairly priced, but it was a price I would expect back home in Chicago. (It’s pictured below, with a blue pot of flowers on top.)
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As we are temporarily without a home, we will be spending the next few weeks up in northern Wisconsin. One of Brandon’s sisters promised a new route up to the family lake house that would cut the travel time from six hours down to five, so we tried it. We drove past Milwaukee instead of Madison, and we managed to leave late enough in the afternoon to hit rush hour as we did so. Awesome! The trip took six and a half hours.
This greeted us though, so it’s worth it.
The kids held up all right, though Eleanor’s a bit gun-shy now about driving now. It’s a 20-minute drive (at least) to get into town, and she complains that it takes soooo loooooooonnng.
Brandon’s whole family is up here. There are ten of us sleeping in the lake house, and five more family members in a cabin further down on the same lake. That’s eight adults and seven kids. Plus a total of four dogs between us all. My uncle and his two cousins are also, coincidentally, nearby. As are seven additional members of Brandon’s family (aunt, uncle, cousins). We don’t really come from large families, but everyone seems to be up here at once. The north woods are where it’s at!
It’s been awhile, but I feel like I should watch this.
Eleanor and August are sharing a bedroom here, and they’ve been enjoying it. They’re read their bedtime stories together, and after Brandon and I say goodnight and shut the door, they talk to each other for a little while. Last night, Eleanor told me what she and her brother talk about before bed.
“All the things we know about and do, and all the things we don’t know about. And we tell knock-knock jokes, and play games, and after we play our games we say good night and go to sleep.”
Kids are the best. This is going to be a really special summer.