Let's Hear It For The Boy!

Yes, that's right...I made another song reference. I can't help it. What can I say? I'm a sucker for music (especially the 80's tunes)! Anywhoo, the reference is to Gregory's latest project. Normally, he is working on house projects, but since we are starting to catch up (and really all of our projects are just "wants" rather than "needs"), he decided to do a little side project on his own.

He had some old water skis that he acquired from his lake house and parents' house and has always wanted to build something with them. So, after finding some plans online, he set out to make an Adirondack chair! He did a fantastic job, and of course I had to share with everyone :). Below are the construction and final product pictures.

Mr. Safety didn't have his safety goggles, so I suppose the shades were the next best thing.

The dogs always "help" (hem - get in the way - hem) us with our projects...

Staining and polyurethaning.

Here you will find Gracin also "helping" Gregory with the staining of the boards.

And finally, the BEE-U-TI-FUL end result. I am super proud of him for making such an awesome chair!

The details...

And of course, being the (amateur) photographer that I'm trying to be, I decided to take this opportunity to make it look like a "catalogue" shoot :). It looks so much more appealing in front of our peach tree (too bad the peaches aren't ready to be picked) rather than on the porch with our dirty rug and nose printed, dirty glass door.

And of course no photoshoot is complete without pics of the pups :) and Duke was the perfect model! (Rhett didn't want to participate).

Sooo handsome :).

Well, that's all folks. It's time for me to head to bed! Come back this week because we've finished the dining room and I'll be posting pics soon! Night!

Board and Batten it up!

Good Morning Everyone! I wanted to post a little something about one of our current projects. I am IN LOVE with the "board and batten" look and we have decided that it would look fantastic in our dining room. For those of you who don't know what "board and batten" is, some of the pictures below will help.

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We've started painting and we decided to use the same colors as the kitchen (brown, green, white and cream.) I'll be sure to post the afters soon, but here are the befores:

So, the to-do list for the dining room is as follows:

1. Clear out room - done except for the large cabinet that will be painted my favorite white, Behr's Cotton Knit.

2. Paint top half of the walls - done, but still needs a second coat

3. Determine height of wall treatment and buy supplies

4. Borrow table saw and get to work :)

So, stay tuned...the afters should be up shortly!

Lazy Summer Days...will Be Spent On The Porch!

It's done! Well, almost. There are still some finishing touches to do, but for the most part it's complete.

We cannot wait to spend evenings and the weekends on this great outdoor space. It's definitely become an extension of our home and will be a great place to relax after a long day.

Here are pictures of what is looked like before...

It's a long rectangular area with brick stairs that run 99% of the length and it was pretty gross. To be honest, it was just being neglected.

Well now....it is bee-u-ti-ful! We love it and can't wait to start using it during the summer and fall! It's going to be our new hangout!

So here are the afters!

I found the patio furniture set and the pine table on craigslist and the green chairs are the ones I gave a facelift in this post. (And yes, that is Gracin in the picture)

The bench I bought at yard sale a while back for $20 bucks. I gave it a fresh coat of paint with my favorite Behr Color (Cotton Knit - Exterior Paint and Primer in one) and it looks great! The other white chair is an oldie from my apartment days and we are looking for another to match it.

Here are some of the details...again purchases from flea markets/yard sales.

And a night shot of the lone lamp (the other one isn't' plugged up) that Gregory's parents gave us...

So, there you go! Our new back porch! But I'm off to bed so tomorrow we can continue working on one of the other many projects we have going on (dining room makeover, occasional table redo, Gregory's adirondak chair, etc.)...goodnight!

It don't matter if you're black or white...

Ok, 100 points to those who notice the Michael Jackson reference in my title :).

Like I said in my previous post, we have lots of projects going on and one that I've been pretty excited about was hanging some pictures of the furbabies. With all the pictures and artwork in the house, we don't have any of the children.

So, I tried to find some good black frames with mattes and I couldn't find them anywhere without spending an arm or a leg! After going on one of my junkin' trips, I found 4 of these pictures:



Not a fan of the artwork, but they were exactly what I was looking for! They were only 5 bucks a piece and after a little sanding and spray painting and some new mattes..... (drumroll please)....

Tada:

They turned out really good and can always be changed out when a better picture comes a long :)!

Well that's all for now, but come on back...there more on the agenda :).

The Color Wheel...

One thing I figured out while owning a red brick home, is that a red front door doesn't necessarily stand out...so back when we updated the mailbox (see post here), I decided to go ahead and paint the door the same tan color.

Here is what it looked like when we bought the place back in September:

And this is what it looked like after I painted it the tan color.

But after looking at the drab color for more than a week, I decided, NOPE, tan is also not a fancy color to use with a brick house. I did some research on front door colors and there was everything from fushion to turquoise, but I finally decided on yellow. Yes, yellow. I know it seems like a pretty intense color, but it looks really good with the brick (and I think it shows my creative side :)).

So, after 4 coats of yellow (because I painted it one yellow and it looked like a pollen ballon exploded on it) I decided on this mustard-y color. I think it turned out pretty good!

Doesn't it look much better than that crummy 'ole red door? Don't get my wrong. Red doors were all the rave at the old house when our house was painted brick, but not so much this time...

Well happy Sunday everyone. We have lots of projects in the mix right now so hopefully I'll be able to update le blog later in the week. Have a wonderful day!

It's been a long time, I shouldn'ta left ya...

Yes, for all those who remember, I just made an old school Alliyah/Timbaland reference...

But anyhoo, we have moved our home improvement projects to the outdoors! This space was being neglected, but with just a little imagination, we plan on expanding out living space into an outdoor oasis.

We haven't finished quite yet, but to let you know what it looked like before, here are some pics:

I'll post some durings later, but to give you a hint, our makeover has included a saw, hammer and a good amount of "darnits" and "ugghs." All you DIYers know exactly what I'm talking about. Ya know, when you are super pumped about a project and you rush out to get the things that in your mind look oh so wonderful and then rush back only to find the measurements are right, it's not the right color, it's a bigger project than you anticipated...yep. It's an everyday struggle I suppose, but in the long run, the results are oh so worth it :).

But, in the meantime, I wanted to show you my chair(s) transformation. I got these chairs from my mom who found them on the side of the road (i think) and I absolutely loved them. So, I brought them home and took a wire brush, some sandpaper and a few cans of spray paint to 'em and they went from this...

Yuck:


To this, beautiful:
It's a little hard to see in this picture, but they turned out pretty darn good. For the step-by-step how to, see below.

Step 1: Remove all of the peeling paint with a wire brush and sandpaper.

Step 2: Once all of the peeling paint has been removed, you may then spray a layer of primer to make sure your top coat will adhere properly.

Step 3: If you chair is missing a seat (not a good thing if you actually plan on using it for sitting), bribe (or ask 12 times) your wonderful husband to stop what he is doing and draw a template for the new seat out of cardboard and cut it out of a 1/2 in to an 1 in thick plywood. Once he's done, it will look like this...

Step 5: After the chairs are primed, seated and ready for a tooshie... you may then proceed to spray your color of choice to the entire chair. I chose Valspar's Everglade Green (Lowes) because it matached the cushions we had bought.



Step 6: Once you've sprayed the chair with your new color, allow to dry completed and top with either a cushion or make your own pad! Either way, you'll have a new set of chairs that are great for either indoors or out!



Oh and I almost for got, you must be sure your truck bed looks like this while doing this project...

It's an organized mess. What can I say :).


So, like I said, we are still working on the porch, so stay tuned for the afters... and Happy Mother's Day to all the mums out there!