The weather is finally warming up, and so are our moods. While we're still in the early stages of working our way through the insurance claim process to repair our damaged plumbing and heating at the new house (and still feel totally depressed and overwhelmed by both the magnitude of the project and all of the decisions we need to make in a very short period of time), we've been trying to make progress on other projects in the meantime.

We spent a large part of the day yesterday at the new house. Alex worked on the living room plaster restoration, and I researched lighting and paint options for a front porch spruce up. We've been looking for weeks for new front lights in an effort to replace the existing pair that looks a little past its prime (behind me in the photo below, taken the day we closed on the house). 

We're trying to keep our style relaxed and informal in this house, and I pulled the trigger and ordered a pair of these outdoor sconces from Lighting Plus's "urban barn" collection. 

I've also been poring over paint colors for the front door. I'd like to go with a paler version of the aqua hue on our current front door, and also use the same color to paint the adirondack chairs we plan to put in the front garden around the fire pit. 

I still want to buy sample paint to make sure it's the right choice, but Benjamin Moore's Wythe Blue is my top pick. Not only do I love the color, but I love the subtle nod to Alexandria as there's a Wythe Street in town.

While I was at it, I removed the tarnished brass house numbers. I'm going to see how they clean up with a fresh coat of spray paint. Because they're in rough shape, I figure that even if the paint starts to wear over time, it's a free project that might buy us some time before we have to invest in new numbers. I have an idea of what I'd like that works better for an early 20th century house, but I'd rather spend the money on other upgrades we're making right now.

And finally, I looked around for planters for the front porch. I'd like to have a tall planter on each side with a fern or some type of greenery in them. I found a few good options on Amazon, but think the front runner at this point is the zinc tall square planter on the left from Crate and Barrel. 

But besides all of the various decision making steps made over the weekend, I had a pretty awesome find that I'm really excited about. While I was out in the garden, Lulu and I decided to do a little exploring around our yard. 

I was thrilled to discover what looks like several areas of daffodils starting to come up where a garden of some sort was once planted. As we walked around the yard to see what else might be coming into bloom, I noticed some activity around the stump of an old tree. As I leaned in to see what was sprouting I noticed what looked like shards of glass in the dirt. 

My first thought was of worry that Lulu might cut her paw, so I reached down to pick up the glass. But I quickly realized that the piece of glass was firmly wedged into the earth and extended to more glass. After a little encouragement, I was able to pull it free and realized it was an unbroken vintage bottle! I couldn't wait to share my discovery with Alex.

In raised lettering I could can still make out, "FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS SALE OR RE-USE OF THIS BOTTLE." 

I looked into it and learned that this warning was required on alcohol containers manufactured between 1935 and 1964 to help prevent the chance people would re-use bottles for homemade moonshine and other more potent mixtures.

As a few old house nuts that has never found anything really cool and intact in our renovations (unless you include the old dead squirrel Alex found in our attic), this is super exciting! I'm so happy that the bottle has sat under the this tree undisturbed, and more impressively, unbroken for however long it's been there, at least 50 years. 

After I found the bottle I kept digging and throughout the afternoon I unearthed a small pile of broken shards and pieces of bottles, but nothing like the first find of the day. It seems someone (or a group of people) in the past had used this spot as a place they'd sit in the shade enjoying a cold one or two, or maybe a little whiskey, and perhaps would just toss their bottles when they'd finished. 

At any rate, the discovery of someone else's trash has actually gotten me a little excited. How weird is that? While we've had some serious setbacks in the house so far, this discovery of a little bit of our home's history has us excited, and looking forward to what else we might find as we move forward in our renovation.

Have you ever found any cool stuff buried in your yard or house while exploring? Makes me think of the show "If Walls Could Talk." We're still waiting on the bags of money or jewels, but for now, this bottle will have to do.