Front Screen Door

As much I loved the front door and my welcome sign, I also love the breeze. But look at that YUCKY motion sensor light... PUKE!

I got this screen door for FREE from craigslist about 2 months ago before we closed on our house. It is solid wood and is routed for a screen perfectly. (Some wood screen doors need a screen frame instead of a rubber spline)

But for $3 for the screen and $4 for the spline tool and $3 for the actual spline, already had the paint

$10 and hurray.  I'll be moving the house numbers once I build a window planter box.

And Walmart has these exterior fixtures for (2) for $24, what a steal.  They only came in bronze so I painted it black. LOVE it!

Stephen's Left Tackle

I am so excited to say I joined a book club to read "Becoming the Woman God Wants me to be"  You can join to at:

More Hours in Our Day Blog

I just posted my intro about being "Stephen's Left Tackle" and how it is my job, as his wife, to guard him against anything and everything that could keep him from being the Godly husband and father he is meant to be.

Can't wait til Monday, August 2nd

Farm Fresh EGGS

 

So decorating is kind of like Sudoku, if you can't figure out one part, just move onto the next and it will help  you figure out the first.

Redneck (Hubby) hates me for posting this picture but it's the only real "before" picture that I have

I found some old wood 6' by 12" in the shop that would work PERFECT.  

SO I drew out the plan on vellum and put it up to make sure it would look alright, scale - wise.

And there you have it. (Please ignore the cluttered kitchen, 3 kids, 4 years and under make your kitchen a little less than a show-piece.)

Bathroom dreams

While surfing craigslist today I came across this beauty.  How amazing would this be to be a REAL sink. 

Plumb the water right out of the wall under the mirror with something like this.

I might have to remove the beautiful pitcher below (that would look fabulous in my kitchen with sunflowers) or my children will shatter it into a million pieces.

But my oh my.  They want $100... fair price. I sent them an email to see if the mirror is tall enough for us (Me 5'10", Redneck (Hubby) 6'4")

But I am moving the sink to be on the far wall so I can move the door to where the current "left sink" is. The new sink will be right where the hanging towels are. Can't you just imagine it there? With the beadboard running all the way around, in all the vintage glory.

Hazelnut NO more

Hubby woke up this sunny Saturday and walked over to our neighbors house, Lonnie, who said he would gladly help us remove the tree with his truck.  So Lonnie, got his neighbor behind him, Rob to come help too. (I just love living in a small town).

And now it's gone.  Our front will soon be ALL lawn, not even a driveway because we have alley access for parking.   Now I just need to rebuild this deck... and then a real roof for a real porch.

Just remember where we started. YIKES. The hazelnut was there but it was winter (you can kind of see the branches. Awh, love process photos.

Country Kitchen turns BEACH?

So here we are before... dark red walls, white cabinets and trim and beige beadboard.

And here we are now. Buttercream walls, grey blue "backsplash" and white beadboard. Sorry for the poor lighting.

Over the sink window, I want to put a worn vintage sign, mostly black "FRESH EGGS" or "DAIRY" or something like that. I really want to continue the white beadboard around and use as backsplash but that's just another thing to rip out in a year when we ACTUALLY redo the kitchen.  I've seen faux beadboard wall paper. Maybe I'll look into that.

What do you think?  Needs more "COUNTRY" and less "Beach" but I think it's better. Hubby, however, like the red better. Yuck. And that is why we keep him upstairs programming web applications, not desiging the house, LOL.

I was actually considering painting the lower cabinets BLACK, now that the walls are so light and there are so many windows.

Clawfoot LOVE

Who doesn't love a classic clawfoot tub?

I know my babies certainly do.

It's so classic. 3 kids in 60" clawfoot.

Notice the rust on the bottom right of the tub... thinking of painting the underside navy blue.

And look at the wainscotting, previous owners thought they'd try to spackle over the grooves to make it smooth... ERG. What the heck? (the bathroom is on the left margin)

Anyway, I can't find any  NAVY inspiration, but I love the painted underside.

What do you think?

Kitchen HELP

These were the listing photos... obviously using a fish hook lense because it is a SMALL kitchen.

And here is the day we moved in.  (Hubby washing the windows)

It just feels so cold and I hate the tile.  But the tile and cabinets have to stay for about a year til we have $5,000 to rip out all the flooring and re-do everything.

HELP... I'm thinking of painting the red to a BUTTERCREAM Yellow.

Maybe I'll paint the tile to  look less Mediterranean, we live in Seattle afterall. I like the checkered look (above) but my tile is NOT on an angle and it may just look wierd.

Perhaps I'll paint the cabinets like this (above)

Or these? (above)

I just want a fresh kitchen, to hold me over til we can redo to achieve this.

But the RED is GONE

Any opinions?

Master Progress

This was the day we moved in.  I immediately had Stephen rip out the closet so we could shove our bed in there and have a place to sleep. Nice faux wood paneling on the window wall, huh?

So, here we are now.  These are the decorations I already had but need much re-vamping.  Not into the dark anymore. The sconces will be painted white, the lights will be painted white and the frames will be black with a pearl-y shimmer glaze over the brown  But will definitely be keeping the plaque I hand painted above the bed that says "All because two people fell in love"

Here's Luella's bed I built for her. She's only 7 months and still nurses at night. We couldn't fit our Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper next to the bed, so I built one myself.

And of course, I build Hubby's side (with accompaning iPad), that still needs some paint touch up.

So, next cheap project will be to paint it all dreamy... that's cheap... and maybe next month, when I have more money... I will actually have to build walls around the closet I built and put a door on the bathroom.

And print out the pictures of the black and white pictures of the kids sleeping to replace our wedding pictures that don't match anything.

The Exterior PROGRESS

The BEFORE.  You can see the ugly red door and metal screen door.

I found this picture on our county's web site, don't know when it was taken but before they put up the shutters and before the hazelnut grew to disgusting proportions

And a before that the assessor took. 

White Shutters

Ugly front fence

And our "now" (not "after" because it still has a  long way to go)

Fence gone

(posted for free on craigslist and they came and tore it out, post and all, save me the hassle and dump trip)

Navy Shutters and door

(Hubby ripping out the  weeds)

We are going for a much more friendly look.  Not the grumpy  old lady who the kids are afraid of when they accidentally kick the ball in the yard, LOL.

And a more close up of the front.  There will be  a white screen door, that I am yet to paint and install a new screen. Along with replacing that UGLY motion sensor.

And of course, we will be  building a roof over the completely rebuilt deck... when we have money.

Drool !!

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