10 Lessons Learned from the House on a Hill

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Britt

To Hell with linoleum.
Daffodils look like weeds for 54 weeks out of the year
Stenciling walls is cool in theory, but a massive time suck. Especially when you paint over it in the end.
Everything can be made prettier with pillows.
A fresh coat of paint can make all the difference.
Meanwhile, wallpaper is overrated.
Do not invest heavily in carpet or rugs, it is inevitable that red wine will be spilled on them.
When in doubt, go light and bright rather than dark and dramatic.
Furniture decisions are hard.
Completing a vision we’ve had for 3 years… one of the most satisfying accomplishments of our lives.

Photography Friday: Around the Barn

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Britt

Before taking Foster to his Fosterparent, I had the husband snag a few photos of us together. It’s less common that I be in front of the camera, so I really appreciated being able to have a couple non-show photos of my Fosterpants and I.

To keep with the sentimental tone, here are some more homey images from right before Foster’s last trip, to the hospital in Tryon to have surgery.

And a few pics of other friends around the farm…

Happy Friday all!

Let’s Discuss: Equestrian Fantasy

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Britt

When I was younger, I started an equestrian bucket list. Thanks to movies like The Black Stallion, and Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken, I had gradiose dreams of galloping wildly through and into water.

Now, I’m fairly sure diving horses is one of the cruelest things I’ve ever heard of, and even if it weren’t, you couldn’t pay me to try this. After all, these drops into water are exciting enough:

Fine, fine, I’ll share it again.

In High School I got to live out my dream of galloping down a beach. It probably wasn’t quite as beautiful and dramatic as younger-Britt imagined, since Mac was still a stallion and being an absolute brat, so I had to separate him from the group. When I could finally return, we cantered back a half mile stretch, which was fun and thrilling, but the cool factor was marred by constant stallion screaming. Oh well- I suppose these things never turn out quite as we expect!

These days, I think my dreams are at once smaller and yet still grandiose. My fantasy is to have that perfect ride around a Training level XC course, and have one of those fist pumping moments of joy as we cross the finish line.

I’m sure it’s a long way off, but one can dream, right?

What’s your equestrian fantasy? Have you lived it? What’s next on your horsey bucket list?

Gaining insights from losing the bridle

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Britt

Even though Foster isn’t with me at the moment, I thought it might be fun to share some of the things I learned from our last rides.

On a night when the cold temperatures kept the other boarders away, we had another nice quiet evening in which to test those bridleless skills again. Since I’m nowhere near as brave as Carly, so I opted to keep my saddle and again warmed up with the bridle, since who could say if our first ride was a fluke!

Carly of Poor Woman Showing, way more of a badass than myself

When things seems to be going just as swimmingly as the time before, I slipped the bridle off and played around a little more.

I wanted to see if I could do lateral movements without using rein aids, and in general these exercises were fairly revealing.

First, it became quickly obvious to me that Foster wants to continue to lean on the left shoulder. Considering the weak front right fetlock and right stifle issues, this really isn’t all that surprising in itself. I suppose what was nice to note was that the leaning isn’t also in part due to my less-coordinated left side, since there was obviously no rein for me to flail around.

I was also surprised that I had more control of the shoulders (bar a bit of leaning) than I thought I would have with no reins. Granted, I am still using the neck strap as a “blocking” aid for the shoulders when need be. So we practiced leg yields and some other transitions, as seen in the video below.

Since this ride I’ve also introduced riding in the arena bridleless with other horses around, as I didn’t want to waste an opportunity to play just because others were also riding. Though I played fairly conservatively and picked my moments to try certain things, Foster continued to be a champ. I even ~~peer pressured~~ got my friend A up on him with no bridle, and she was able to walk, trot and get transitions without reins.

Overall, I’m glad I tried something new, and was able to learn from it. If Foster comes back we will continue playing around with no reins. And if not, well, here’s hoping the next horse is just as great at helping me let go.

The next house [on a hill]

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Britt

So we wrapped up last week but having our offer on a new home accepted, and I think the husband and I are still trying to pick our jaws off the floor. Of course with these situations, nothing’s over until the paperwork is signed, but we’re still pretty stoked about how things are going so far. Once it’s all said and done I’ll be sharing pics- but here’s a hint- the blog’s name won’t have to change! 😀

Foster also moved to his hopeful-permanent home on Sunday, but not before taking some photos at our barn. He seemed to remember the barn (since he lived there for 3 years) immediately, since he started playing with the cross ties and licking everyone in sight. His Fosterparent took him on a trail ride and he was a very good boy, then we turned him out in a giant field where he immediately made friends with another gelding. Foster obviously loved having someone else’s face to nibble on and play with!

So now begins the two month trial period, and hopefully the life of a trail horse will suit Foster and the 3 of us (Foster, Fosterparent and I) will be thrilled.

The House Hunting Frenzy Begins

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Britt

Because 24 hours after listing the house, we got an offer! We are officially under contract, folks!

So sorry for the sudden silence- we’re off hunting down our next home!

The House’s Big Bad Before and After Post: The Exterior Edition

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Britt

When we first bought the house on the hill, the landscaping left ~~something~~ a lot to be desired. The place had obviously been vacant for some time, and the surrounding foliage had gone wild.

The house sits on .4 acres, and all but a tiny sliver was actually usable to us. Drake would disappear in the underbrush of the backyard so often we learned to just wait for his reappearance. I don’t have a wonderful picture of the original backyard, but you can get an idea of how dark and thick it was through the windows of this shot of the sunroom:

Eventually we got in there with hand clippers and stripped all of the tiny trees and brush that we could, until we got to this point below. We then decided to take out a huge pine that would kill us in an instant were it to fall, and then the official re-landscaping began. Here are some in-progress photos of the backyard:

Another view of before and after

Now the entire backyard is grass, and we love how open and yet private it still is.

Now

Besides the grass, we also took the time to install lattice and put mulch down around the little patio, making it feel more complete and less… unloved. This is one of my favorite places to sit in cool evenings with a book and watch Drake get his zoomies out in the yard.

In the front we had a similar, if not worse disaster, given that all of the weeds and landscaping-gone-mad was firmly rooted in landscaping cloth. I kid you not, that stuff is meant to last and it is a PITA to get up. Many, many hours of sweat, blood, and tears later we turned it into a barren, but easily maintained pine-covered space.

Last, but not least, is the house itself. The original light grey and bright blue shutters screamed 90s, and since it was due for a repainting, we went with a much warmer color scheme of green and brown, with ivory trim. This was another project that took forever (even though we hired people), but it’s another one that transformed the house on a hill.

I like to think that the neighbors are so much happier after we’ve made all our changes to the exterior of the property. It was a long time in the making, but I now think that someone else could easily fall in love with the place and hopefully want to make it their own!

The House’s Big Bad Before and After Post: First Floor Edition

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Britt

So, folks, the end of an era is drawing near with this new lawn ornament:

So, now seems a good a time as ever to go through the house with a summary before and after post. Starting with the first floor, which, like the rest of the house, was a bit rough when we first saw it.

As with most foreclosures, the former residents took some angst out on the house, and so drywall patching was a must. The top “before” picture is actually post-drywall patching, but you can still see evidence of the kicked in fireplace and log carnage. Otherwise, our changes were basically paint and fixtures. This color is called Sharkey Grey, and it’s such a nice, neutral griege that we used it through much of the house.

Next up was the dining room, again just basic paint and fixtures. One thing we love so much about this house is the ample natural light- oftentimes I don’t even need to use electricity to see, which is definitely a bonus.

Oh, the kitchen. Our biggest remodel in many ways. The absolute first thing to go was the hanging light in the nook, since the thing nearly decapitated us so many times and we simply didn’t feel the need for an eat-in kitchen table. Then the husband had the unfortunate task of taking down the wallpaper below the chair rail, an insanely tedious task that probably took over 6 hours to accomplish. Then fresh paint (Garden Shed by Martha Stewart), and new appliances. Following that we replaced the torn and dingy linoleum with hardwoods to match the rest of the house. Then those disgusting gold knobs got switched out for new hardware and we saved our pennies up for granite countertops. I can tell you how thrilled I was to replace that disgusting, stained ceramic sink! Finally, many, many man hours later, we finished painting the cabinets (White Duck by Sherwin Williams) and tada! Kitchen reno complete.

New paint, toilet, chrome fixtures, and black vanity

This one was also a total gut job (albeit much harder to photograph). We had to use two different professionals to take down the Mary Poppin’s carpet bag wallpaper, since the first one quit after 5 hours, saying he has never in his career seen wallpaper that hard to remove. The cabinet-style vanity got removed and a bit of drywall repaired, then we installed a new water-efficient toilet, vanity, and completed the bathroom with chrome hardware.

Out with the white, and in with the laminate!

Last but not least, the sunroom. The husband hated this room when we first got the house, and I understood why- more stained linoleum, dinky white fan, etc etc. When we put in hardwoods we opted to finish this room out with laminate wood, and completed the space with a funky fan and wicker furniture. Now the space is a fun and inviting outdoor living area that we definitely enjoy!

It’s fun to go back and look at how much has changed since that first walk-through 3 years ago. It’s so nice to finally say that our vision is complete, and I desperately hope some buyer will quickly fall in love with the remodel!

The Foster-Parent Plan

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Britt

How odd is it that I’ve had this horse for 5 years, and never thought of that pun! Missed opportunity.

The lady who actually made the joke is a sweet woman who recently lost her elderly trail partner, and has been looking for a tall, non-drafty trail riding horse that she and her husband could love on.

Enter Foster.

Since this person boards at a facility that I am very fond of, and where many of my friends still board, I’ve been inundated with feedback on just how wonderful she is and how she and her husband are great horse-owners who treat their horses like part of the family. The fact that I wanted Foster to go to this particular facility anyway, with its lush pastures and immaculate care, was also a huge plus. So we arranged a meeting where the couple could come meet Foster and she could take him for a spin.

Foster was in full fledge Foster-mode, that is, licking everything/everyone, playing with the cross ties, and in general being an absolute ham. He just loved that there were 3 people giving him undivided attention, and I let the couple see how he does his neck stretches and smiling at liberty. They seemed enchanted, but I was reserved until the first ride was over.

Foster being Foster

I hopped on Foster first, letting the reins flop and walk, trotted, and cantered him around the arena. I wanted them to see him with the most minimal of aids, since of course they aren’t interested in a fancy pants dressage horse. All good, and so she climbed aboard.

Apparently, being avid trail riders, it had been several years since she had worked in an arena. Yet she walked and trotted him around and I smiled watching Foster’s ears flick back and forth as he tried to figure out exactly what she wanted. He stretched down into the contact and happily packed her around the ring.

Foster packing around a much younger rider (13?) many years ago

She asked if she could canter him, and I said absolutely. My nerves were at a high at that point in time, since it was going so well, but Foster had been ridden for 5 minutes in the last 2 weeks, and though he’s always such an angel, I’ve never seen a novice rider canter him before. But she sat back, put leg on, and got a beautiful walk-canter transition, and proceeded to lope around the arena, giggling.

He makes me giggle sometimes too

It was in that moment that I knew this could be a great match. She thanked him over and over for being a good boy, gave him a huge neck hug, and dismounted. Over and over she exclaimed how she was shocked at how much fun riding in an arena was, and fussed and fussed over him as he was untacked. Foster officially had earned himself another fan.

We’ve been waiting in the weeks since that meeting for a spot to open up at the facility, and finally it’s happened. Foster will move there in a week and a half, and start a two-month trial period in a new career as a trail horse.

To say this experience is bittersweet to me is an understatement. I’m sad to be handing him over, devastated that the future I imagined for us is not to be. But I can’t help but think that if this arrangement works out, it will be better than any solution I could have dreamed up. We’ll see how those two months go, but for now, I’m grateful for this opportunity and for the memories with him that I will cherish forever. Always in my heart, Fosterpants.