Cottage Roses

Paint Fumes and Design

2009-08-08T14:12:00.004-05:00

Last evening my son had a function at church. I took him over and decided to work on the children's ministry stuff that I had to get organized for the start of the new year. I was walking into another Sunday School classroom and noticed the room had recently been redecorated. It was heading toward a tree house type theme. But the thing that was even more noticeable to me, not by sight but by smell, was the new paint. They had recently painted the room in new colors and it smelled divine. I LOVE the smell of new paint, it makes me think of freshness and new projects being accomplished. I could have stayed there much longer just sniffing to my hearts content. But I had work to do in another Sunday School class... one that unfortunately did not smell like paint.

Today, I'm supposed to be working on preparing for our first full week of homeschooling. But in the schoolroom are a bunch of magazines. Country Home, Cottage Living, Kitchens and Bath Remodeling just to name a few. With three kids keeping me busy, I rarely ever have the time to look at these. But today the littlest is taking a nap and the two oldest are with dh at football evaluations. The house is quiet... perfect for planning the school year.... or looking at decorating magazines. Hmmm.. tough call.

I'm being inspired by do-it-yourselfers who have remodeled their kitchen and done so on a budget. We did that before, so I know it can be done. But, I also know it's several months of major upheaval and work. A lot of upheaval and work! Plus, previously we just redid the cabinets (a huge job in itself). We also replaced the counters, and lighting and built a new island.

We've lived in our new house for 3 years now, and I have never felt like the kitchen worked well for me. Many friends have commented to me that it is quite big... which it is, but the flow is all wrong for me. For this new kitchen I would want to re-do all cabinets, counters and lighting, plus the ceiling (making it beadboard), and the floors. (perhaps hardwood). New appliances are a given..... but also very expensive. So, I keep walking into my kitchen and re-designing it, looking at it one way and figuring out how to make it all work and flow.

I can tell I'm getting the itch to remodel again....

It must've been the paint I smelled at church last night..... :-)

Photos

2009-05-30T12:35:00.008-05:00

As promised here are some photos of the half finished curb appeal. Below is our home, I love the black shutters and black door now. You can see the roof and all the tiles we lost... I can't wait until our new roof goes up!

Here are some photos of my new hanging baskets. I got the baskets for $6 each and the plants to go in them for $2.oo. They were distressed plants at Lowe's and I nursed them back to health. Yay me!

Finally, I had to take a picture of the bench and pillows from the other side of the porch. This is where I'd like to put a porch swing eventually. But for now... the bench works just fine!

Another Update...

2009-05-30T10:44:00.002-05:00

Okay, hopefully photos coming soon... The front porch is coming along. I need to find a little round wrought iron table for between the rocking chairs. Something that will hold drinks. I also want to find a porch swing that we can refinish. That would be awesome, and I can move the bench out under a shady tree.

We are getting our new roof in about 3 weeks, and after that we will be sanding and painting the entire front porch. That should finish our mini-curb appeal project. I have lots of photos to take of the plants etc. It really is looking nice and the roof will make all the difference!

We are also in the process of re-doing our entire swingset. Dh disassembled it, moved it over about 5 feet, and we'll be adding on. It's gonna be awesome when we are finished. Seems a project like this is a magnet for all the neighborhood kids. We have several of the boy's friends helping us to sand the old pieces we are salvaging. I'm sure they will want to stain it as well. :-)

I'm so excited for the additional space, plus making our swingset sturdy. It was quite dangerous before up on cinderblocks and swaying horribly when anyone would venture to actually swing on it! Yikes! This one will have five options for swings... two kids, two toddler swings and one two seater. Plus it will have the current big slide, and a rock wall with a rope to climb. The fort part will have a telescope and steering wheel for lots of imiganiation play. Yay! It will probably be done just in time for the heat of summer.... lol!

Picture posts will follow shortly....

Mini-Update on Curb Appeal

2009-05-10T09:10:00.004-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a little bit. We still have some finishing things to do to the front porch and yard. One thing we have to do is sand, wash and repaint the porch... especially the stairs. That is gonna take some time and decent weather to accomplish! It's been raining like crazy here... so we just have to find a good weekend to do it!

We also had 80-100 tiles blow off our roof during the last huge wind storm. So we will be getting a new roof hopefully soon. We have been blessed that insurance will paying for that.

Finally, we have to mulch all the landscaping... and for that we also need decent weather. So.... no pictures until we can find the time to get finished here. I'll leave you with a picture of our youngest little guy hanging out a few weeks ago while we were doing the shutters and door.

Rocking Chair Renovation!

2009-04-26T15:52:00.009-05:00

Last year I found these rocking chairs locally for $25 a piece. Dh drove after work and strapped them to the back of his little Audi. They are super sturdy, almost Cracker Barrel quality, but needed a LOT of TLC. The finish on them was the worst, peeling varnish and rough like they had been left in the elements for a long time. Here is what they looked like when they brought them home.

I spent many many hours sanding these... Did I mention MANY HOURS?? lol! But it was so worth it because the finish is so smooth now. Then I began the process of priming. We chose gray to start us off, since I knew our final paint color would be black. It helped to lesson the amount of coats of black paint I would need in the end.

Here they are primed with the gray color:

Finally I put two coats of gloss black paint on them. I decided to leave the rush seats the natural color and I'm SO glad that I did! They look awesome. I added some rocker cushions and pillows that I purchased at Target. They now grace our front porch and look amazing! Dh saw the last photo and was so pleased... he said it looked like they were out of a magazine. Aww... Thanks honey! Total cost was around $55 for the cushions and paint! Yay!

Working on some Curb Appeal

2009-04-19T10:10:00.015-05:00

For the past couple weekends we have been working on making the front of our home look different on a very small budget. I don't have after photos yet, because we are still not finished.... but I will post maybe in a few more weeks. Here are some before photos of the home and what we have been working on. I can't wait to finish this up, but it's gonna take a LOT of elbow grease!

Here is our home before with green shutters and a very badly peeling front door. To say that door was an eyesore when you first walked up the porch is an understatement.

You can see the peeling paint below and notice the two different finishes. Polished nickel on the door handle and polished brass on the kick plate and door knocker. I'm embarrassed to say that has been that way for almost 3 years.

Also from the heat here this inner glue like substance would leak from our windows and look like some type of sap. It was sticky and very gross looking and it coated the door under those inserts.

So on a beautiful spring day dh took the door down and decided to strip it and repaint it. The new color will be black.

Since we were changing the door color we also needed to repaint our shutters. So those came down as well for a quick coat of black paint. Here are a few shots of the porch without the lower shutters.

And here is what we found behind all those shutters.... yuck!

Here are some of the lower shutters lined up and ready to be painted. I'm definitely ready to get rid of that green color.

The cost for the paint and paint stripper was $30. So for that small amount of money we totally transformed the look of our home. But we aren't done yet. Planters, an old bench and awesome old rockers that we bought last year for $25 each need to be redone as well. Plus cushions to add some color and flowers for the planters. We're going to try to do it all for under $200. The cushions are the most costly.... we'll see how we do. I'm re-doing the rocking chairs right now, and dh just re-painted the bench. I wish we had taken a before shot of it! It looks a million times better. Tune in for a picture update on each of those projects!

Why?

2009-03-29T20:09:00.002-05:00

I just want to know why do I come up with all kinds of absolutely fabulous and "do-able" remodeling ideas for my home, when we can't do a single one because of our budget? I find that very curious. Usually I am stuck with some kind of design brain freeze, but today.... in my mind I completely redid two upstairs bedrooms relocating walls, doors, and closets, and remodeled my entire kitchen. Now what is up with that???

Too bad we are on Baby Step 2 of the Dave Ramsey Plan and paying off all our debt(except the house). We'll be starting Baby Step 3 hopefully this summer. That step involves having an Emergency fund of 3-6 months salary saved should we lose a job or something. I know I will be thankful when all this is done, and we actually have a cushion to fall back on and our debt is gone. It's just hard now. I guess I'll just draw up the ideas and keep working on them. They'll be ready for us when we have the cash in hand. :-)

Budget Cuts

2009-03-14T10:31:00.017-05:00

I posted below that I know I can do our remodelilng on a budget. However, my budget just got smaller. Way smaller......

My husband and I started reading through Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. I have read many of his concepts before, but we have never read the book together. We have never been on the same page together. So, this is a good thing.... and a bad thing. Good because I want us to be on the same page with our finances and to both be on board. The bad thing is that we are going to have to take a good look at our budget and make some cuts. The one thing we agree on is that no remodeling happens unless we have the money up front. Period. So, the bathroom that I want to re-do (even frugally) will have to wait until we have about $700 to replace all the fixtures and shower. (This should be interesting!)

So, for now I am focused on cleaning out and organizing to make our house seem more put together. We already did the garage, and while it isn't organized the way I would like with all the clutter behind closed doors, it is better. At least we aren't tripping over an obstacle course to get around everything! Plus we can park dh's car in there and work on it until we are ready to sell it......Here are before and after shots.

BEFORE

AFTER

I know it's hard to tell between the before and after pictures, but trust me.... it does look a whole lot better! And we got rid of a ton of stuff! One big contractor bag full! There is more to "go", and I eventually would like to see a work bench of some type for dh.... but for now this will be okay. The next thing is the attic. It is a war zone up there... and I want it to look spacious! I DO wish we had more storage in this house. The attic is not one of my favorite places to store things. I know it's not economical and it's why we don't do it....but a storage building that is climate controlled would be awesome! Especially for the things we save should we ever have room in another home. Plus it would be great to get rid of all the clutter!

So today is cleaning out the attic day. I hope we get a ton accomplished and that everything feels more organized, like we did after the garage transformation.

Now is the Winter of our Discontent

2009-02-22T15:59:00.004-05:00

This phrase from Shakespeare describes me to a tee lately! I don't know what it is.... but as far as my house goes... I'm in a small spell of discontent. I hate to admit that... because I know that I should be just grateful to have a house! Very true!

I'm not sure if it's having just used every last cent on our adoption, and finally having that complete that makes me want to think about home projects. Maybe it's that it is still considered winter here... and while we have been working on the yard, we can't really "Do" a whole lot yet either. It's not quite spring. I guess I should be grateful that I'm not back north where the planting always seemed to coincide with Mother's Day weekend. I'd have to wait awhile for that. At least March is right around the corner, and we can begin attacking some spring projects soon. One more month or so.......

I guess it's that feeling of inactivity... or knowing how many BIG projects this house needs, and knowing we don't have the money to do them. For instance, the siding needs to be replaced, and really so does the roof. The front porch needs to be sanded and repainted and the wood steps need to be tended to. What I'd really like to do is make them brick and the porch concrete, but that too is out of the budget. The garage doors need to be replaced and so does the front door! I would love to fence the yard, but as you know that is way too much money. I also would love to add onto this house, but again.... not now. Sigh... and that is just the outside of the house, I won't even go into the inside. See what I mean? Winter of Discontent. (Notice the word "winter")

My IRL friend posted here about Spring Fever on her blog, and how she is having trouble getting organized. She like me is great at having many ideas but not so good on imlementing them. Too many distractions......Maybe that is part of the problem for me too. With bringing the new little one into our home, I can't seem to get organized at all! Some of the systems that worked for us then, don't work now that we have a little one in the house. So, I have to create new ones.... but like I said I can't seem to catch up. And I consider myself a fairly organized person..... hmmmm.... I'm not sure what is up? If you've made it this far in my jumbled post... thank you.... but you really have too much time on your hands.... LOL! :-)

Pop on over to this post over at the Nester's place.... it really REALLY hit home to me. It's written way better than what I have posted here... but it addresses the discontent that I was rambling on about. Despite our lack of finances, I can still make our home beautiful. I can still remodel frugally. I KNOW I CAN! I can make the home that I have now, be the best that it can be for our family and the memories we will make here. So, I decided to see what things we can do outside that will beautify the house. Things we can do ourselves, that will really make a huge difference. I'll post those things in my next post, because the baby just woke up, and I need to get running!

Weekend Warrior

2009-02-14T08:43:00.003-05:00

Today we begin another work weekend around our house. It's raining, so we'll primarily focus on the garage. I haven't been able to park in it for quite some time. Quite frankly you need to clear a path just to walk through it! So, the garage will be the focus today.

And about my fence.... I'm completely bummed out. Dh talked to a subcontractor at work, and guess what the estimate is for the fence? $19,000!!! Yeah, that's pretty much out of the picture. Dh called me and said, "Guess who won't be putting a fence in this year???" "Us....." :-( Oh well!

Gotta get moving on my day... I have bills to pay and checkbooks to balance and taxes to file as well!

Spring Fever...

2009-02-07T09:32:00.007-05:00

Yes, I have spring fever and it's a little early it seems! I seem to go in stages of home remodeling... mainly because of finances, although sometimes it's because I'm just uninspired.

The last 7 months have been b-u-s-y.... but not on our home renovations. Nope we've added a little one to our family, and we are finally beginning to settle in. Add to that it's starting to feel like spring here in the south, and that typically gets me antsy to start some kind of project or other.

My mind goes in a bunch of directions when I think what we would like to work on. We've been prepping for the spring by cutting back our beautiful shrub roses, and all the rest of the landscaping. This weekend we'll be working on pruning the crape myrtles We opt for natural pruning not "crape murder" like so many like to do. Plus, I'll be taking clippers to the lyriope and cutting it way back for the spring. This year I'd like to have all the landscaped edged weeks before the mulch goes down. I like prepping it now little by little so we can enjoy the spring weather when it hits.

Jumping towards the top of my list this year is a fence. I so badly want to fence our yard! We have a large side yard that I'm always talking about how bad the grass is... or rather the dirt patches. Well not only is that a part of it's problem.... but it is also a magnet for dogs all over the neighborhood. I am so sick of people letting their dogs out and having them use our yard as some sort of a field or something. It's gross and we have kids playing out there all the time. Back north we used to have a dog, and we would have to do the dog poop pick up in our yard. Now we don't have a dog and I am ticked that I have to go and clean that up! Last week a dog marked it's spot on the slide to our swingset. Uh-huh.... seriously. (I'm sure he's not the only one who's done that...) Like I want my new little son sliding down that now. So you can see why a fence has jumped up the priority list.

I've been wanting to get a fence for awhile now and in my head I have a simple landscape design for around it... creating privacy for the side yard that it's never had before. My dh is going to talk to a fencing company that he knows through work so that they can give us an idea of the cost. etc. I'm not sure when we'll be able to afford it... but I'm hoping in a few months.

Also about that swingset, that is actually a priority higher than the fence! We actually will be rebuilding and fixing it ourselves. The fort part is good, but the rest of it is off of cinder blocks, so dh is going to actually get the swing set in the ground to stablilize it. A new swing beam with pressure treated wood, and a new A frame for the sides. We are planning on sanding and restaining the entire older part and staining the new build-on to match. Plus we'll be leveling the ground around the swingset and adding mulch or some sort of ground cover for the kids. Anyone recommend a good ground cover for a swingset? I'm not crazy about sand at all.... The swingset will be a project for the next couple of weeks.... right after the landscaping! That is a must for spring.... I see hours of pushing our little one on the swingset in my future!

Finally as my thoughts gravitate to the outside, they naturally go to the garden that I've always wanted to try to plant. I would SO love to try it this year! (Maybe after the fence goes in.) Can anyone recommend any good beginning gardening books? I have NO CLUE how to do this.. or even what I'd be doing. When I say beginner I really mean beginner!

Those are my thoughts as spring hits... I have a ton of ideas ruminating in my mind about the inside of our house... but realistically we'll be focusing on the outside for now. :-)

Dreaming

2008-07-11T19:50:00.002-05:00

I do some of my best dreaming while riding the lawn mower.... Nope, I'm not sleeping, just day dreaming. I don't know what it is about the lawn mower. Maybe it's the fact that I can see the entire house, yard and landscaping. Whatever causes it, I enjoy it immensely!

Today as I was mowing the lawn, I looked at the swing set we will replace, and the neighbor's trees hanging low onto our yard. (We should have had our friends cut those before the new neighbors moved in). I notice the beautiful green of the Leyland cypress trees and how pretty the crape myrtle is set against that back drop. I dream of planting Leyland cypress all along the property line of the new neighbors fence, giving us a sound buffer, and a privacy screen. (Not to mention saving the wiffle balls and tennis balls from heading over their fence, never to be seen again).

Today I dreamt of a lush green grass with no weeds, and no bare spots whatsoever. The kind of grass that our neighborhood minor league baseball team would enjoy playing on! I dreamt of a swing set rebuilt with a beautiful stain finish setting slightly closer to the house, so it doesn't interfere with the aforementioned baseball games.

I notice the the back deck/patio and I dream of adding a set of stairs so that access to the swing set is quick and easy. In my daydream there are lots of flowerpots with an array of gorgeous colors accenting and softening the hardscape.

I ponder if we can do all this by ourselves, plan and plant our huge bare landscape.... or do we need to call a landscaper to get a design. Well, then maybe the landscaper could plant the beds too.... And then somehow in my musings dollar signs start interfering. $$$ $$$ I try to get back to my previous thoughts hoping the mowers rhythmic sounds will take me back.... but the dollar signs and landscaping company won't go away. I begin to doubt we could do it without such services. And I remember that we are saving every penny for an international adoption. No, landscaping is not exactly in the budget this year... or next year for that matter.

My mowing is done and as I look around, nothing has changed.... but it sure was a nice daydream! :-)

Simply Beautiful!

2008-07-11T12:35:00.004-05:00

This is the view from my patio deck. Gorgeous isn't it! I guess some things nature just handles on it's own, and I don't even need to work at it! I wish all things were that simple.

Yard Update

2008-07-02T23:59:00.002-05:00

The van is still clean... shocking! The yard still looks the same. But we have a plan! Next week, we will begin operation overseed. Unfortunately our yard is at least 60% bermuda, 20% fescue and about 20% bare dirt spots. With all of that bermuda that continues to spread, it makes no sense whatsoever to try to kill it all off and plant fescue. Since the bermuda has been spreading each year, dh and I decided we are just going to work with what we have. And ya know... that sounds just like us. We are constantly utilizing things we have, or re-finishing things to give them a new life. We both don't want to be slaves to yard work each year either, so hopefully this will also be low maintenance.

While I really don't care a whole lot for bermuda grass... it is hearty for when the kids play, and it does tolerate our southern heat well. When it goes dormant in the winter, we just may overseed with a rye grass, like they do on golf courses, so that we can have somewhat green grass all year. :-)

So, that's the plan for next week sometime. Lots of overseeding and filling in bare spots with bermuda seeds. Hopefully it will take well!

Our Yard

2008-06-28T13:39:00.006-05:00

After giving my van a very good detailing today and washing the windows both inside and out... we began to focus on the outside of our home. There are so many projects to keep up with...it can seem never-ending.

Though like any other thing in life, I'm learning it's about a little self discipline. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think that self discipline is the answer for everything... but it's something that I am learning...personally. And as I am learning it in one area of my life, it spills over into other areas.....

For instance our yard, which I have posted in the past is just daggone awful. The bare spots are worse than last year, and we cancelled our lawn service to save money....so I think the weeds may get worse. We have a neighbor who has a beautiful lawn. It isn't because his land is better than ours...it's the same earth, for the most part. The difference is that he tends to his yard. He takes the time to work on those weeds and to fertilize it in the spring and fall. He waters it, and overseeds it. Sure it sounds like a lot of work, but it's sustained over a long period of time. He isn't out there every weekend working on that yard.... he's enjoying it. Because he has put in the time, in small increments, to tend to his lawn.

Our yard isn't going to change overnight. Not hardly. There isn't a quick fix, it's going to take some effort, and consistency on our part. Not all at once, but little by little it will improve, if we make the time to tend to it. Just like those others areas of my life. :-)

Organizing Closets

2008-06-22T15:37:00.007-05:00

First, I have to say I am kicking myself that I forgot to take a before picture of our master bedroom closet. Dh and I already moved all the junk out, and rearranged the clothes. Even if I took a picture now, it still wouldn't reflect on how bad the closet actually looked.

Having said, that I will show an after shot. When we bought our house the people utilized closet maid organizers. I am not a real fan of this product in general. I really don't care for the metal and the slotted shelves are just waiting for things to fall through the cracks. But as you know we are a frugal family, and had no intention of completely ripping out the material that already was available...just for brand new. We are all about utilizing what we have, and making it work for us.

So, dh went to Lowe's today and got a few more items and accessories that would help organize the closet to suit our needs. One thing we needed was a shoe organizer. Actually dh purchased two of these. Very helpful, as our shoes are here, there and everywhere.... and we don't even have a lot of shoes!

The tie racks we already had, but we purchased some additional shelving and pegs for hats etc. Here is a finished photo showing how organized it is! I just sooo appreciate when things are put together. We will begin working on clearing out the two guest closets this week. I hope to remember before and after photos of those!

Projects, Projects, Projects

2008-06-21T11:49:00.002-05:00

When you own a home, the projects can seem never ending. Seriously. Even when you have it organized, something is always changing...or breaking etc etc.

Today dh and I are working on cleaning up the house. Our garage is on the mend from many yard sales we had this spring. I should hopefully be able to park there soon!

Next we will tackle the guest bedroom and those closets, as well as our own master closet. There are so many things to store, and with the humid weather here, I don't like to store them in the attic. So, this afternoon I will be working on cleaning out the guest closets to make room for clothes for our expanding family.

Lots to get done..and the hours are passing more quickly than I would like! I think I'll post before and after shots of the guest closets and master closet.

Our Playroom...

2008-06-05T10:32:00.002-05:00

Yikes! Never leave the playroom cleaning up to the kids for months at a time! Seriously, sometimes it is easier to just not look. lol! But yesterday I decided to check on how they had cleaned it up. Oh my word! I really couldn't believe it! I pulled out tons of toys from under the couch and chair! The closet was unbelievable. So yesterday for over 3 hours we worked on re-organanizing our playroom. Things went into the correct bins, and puzzles were put back together in their correct boxes. What a nightmare!

I would really love to put a small table and chairs up there to keep puzzles and games off the floor.... but I'll have to wait on that one. I have an idea in mind, I just have to find the replacement for my kitchen table first! :-)

We are away this weekend, but next weekend we are starting on some projects that just need to get accomplished here at the home. I can't wait! Finally some progress!!

A matter of perspective.....

2008-05-26T09:55:00.005-05:00

The only bad part about starting house projects is seeing all that really needs to be done. Not a problem if you are a Rockefeller, or a Hilton or Tiger Woods, or anyone of the very wealthy. Unfortunately I am not. And so the projects that I see that need to be done, are expensive. There in lies one of the problems, we lack the financial resources to do any one of the projects, and we don't want to go into debt to do them.

We could really use a new front door. Ours is peeling and looking very shoddy. I'm sure dh could sand it and completely re-do it, but that would take an awful lot of work. But, because we are frugal.... and pretty much re-use whatever we can.... that's what we'll do. Then onto the decks that I just mentioned in the last post. We had a deck up north where we used to live. A huge deck! It was built much better than our current one. Plus, we stained it. These decks have been painted. And they are peeling up in areas. It doesn't look pretty that's for sure. So, that too is going to require a lot of work to re-do the decks, and I'm not sure how we will handle that. Probably a lot of sanding. ugh!

I already mentioned our garage door that is falling apart. And our roof needs to be re-done in a few years as well. That grass in our side yard is soooo not looking good! I mow it each week, and we really really need to re-seed it! We need to fix our playset too... (Oh I could show you a picture of this!) Currently we really don't want the kids using it, as it is unstable. So that will require a big fix as well. A new huge swing beam with A-frame supports cemented into the ground to stabilize it. We will be sanding the fort that is attached and re-staining the whole thing as well.

Have I mentioned I would love to put a fence around our yard to keep stray dogs out, and to have a safe place for my new little ones to play? Or that our central air is one the fritz? How about the windows that were the cheapest ones the previous owners could buy, that have no screens at all? We need to add screens to all the windows!! What a project!

All these projects require time and money. We do have some time.... but certainly not the funds. Even a few hundred to fix the swing set area is not "doable"right now. So, I'm just going to have to choose to look at each of these things is a different light.

We have a porch, and though it is peeling paint in areas, it is clean and bright and inviting. It provides shade on a sunny day and is a roof over our heads. And speaking of the roof that will need to be replaced. Well, it is providing shelter without leaks which is more than can be said of millions around the globe. And the yard and swingset, well I have a yard where my kids can play in safety, not on or near a busy street, or quite frankly no place at all. And my central air does work some of the time. To help cool me off when I come in from washing my deck.

It's all how I look at it... and while those other things still jump out at me, and compete for my attention and focus... I'm going to choose to look at the blessings right now.

There, I already feel a lot better. :)

Weekend Projects

2008-05-26T09:45:00.002-05:00

It's a little late to say "Spring Cleaning" as it's almost summer here. But there are projects that need to be done, even if we missed spring. And quite frankly, now is the time to do them,as pollen season is almost over. (Tree pollen). Last year I made the mistake of deck washing our front porch and back deck at the end of April. Before any of the tree pollen became really bad. I had clean and bright white decks, only to turn a dingy yellow color a few weeks later.

This year, our two decks look absolutely terrible. The front porch is covered in pollen, and the back deck is just dirty. (And covered in yellow pollen). So, today after looking at both closely,I decided it was time to deck wash them. I started out on the front porch because it's covered, and it's smaller. I'm sweating and exhausted from just that project! The porch looks better though, and I feel like it will look a lot more inviting when guests come to visit.

It complements the pink cottage roses so well now. And speaking of those roses, we really cut them back by about 1/2 this February. You wouldn't know it though.... those bushes have just grown and grown. They are blooming profusely right now,and give my house a very cheery feel from the outside! we'llbe mulching finally today after almost 2 years of not mulching. That should give the front the finished look that we want.

Clutter,Clutter, Everywhere

2008-05-24T21:34:00.003-05:00

Those who know me know that I really can't stand clutter. It's weird, and hard to describe. I feel less organized for sure, when everything is all over the place, and things are piled up in areas all around my house. I also can describe the feeling as frazzled. It certainly is not a calm or peaceful feeling as I rush from pile to pile, searching for what I need at the moment.

There is a show that I have occasionally caught on cable called Clean Sweep. The premise is a design team and host go into someone's house to help them declutter it (ie:get rid of junk) and organize it to make it a less cluttered, moreorderly, and peaceful living space.

The people they select for the show really must be heavy pack rats. Because just looking at their home I have to wonder....do people really live like that? Did they go in and make it a whole lot messier for the show? The stuff is abundant and overflowing everywhere.... So the homeowners have to go through all their stuff and have a yard sale to make money for the renovations to make their house more organized and less cluttered.

The before and afters are just amazing. Their homes go from piles and piles of junk, to clean,clear, tranquil retreats. Just looking at the makeover makes me feel better, and I don't even live there! I wonder to myself if the homeowner's will keep it up.... or will they fall back into their old packrat ways.

So,what does this show have to do with me? Well we just finished up our third yard sale to raise money for our adoption. We had a ton of stuff donated to us from our Sunday school class. From this month of having a house full of yard sale items .... well my house is a bit cluttered. There is literally not one room that gives me that peaceful easy feeling. No, not one. So, it's time to work on getting rid of the clutter and getting the house back to normal. I am recommending to myself to start one room at a time. If I have just one room that is my little sanctuary, while I work on the rest of the house, I'll feel better.

So, it's a Clean Sweep at my house! Time to clean up and clear out!

The Remodeling Itch...

2008-05-17T20:58:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure how many people can relate to this, but it has been quite some time since we have remodeled and I am getting the itch to begin again.

Last night I needed to buy some spray paint to paint some picture frames. I stopped at Lowe's to pick up the spray paint. As I was walking into the store, I realized that it was well over 6 months since I had been in there. 6 months!! And I love that store!

We have been diligently saving money for a two-fold purpose. One is to get out of debt, and the other is to save for our adoption. Anyone who is focused solely on that, will concur that there is just nothing that can go towards home remodeling. Especially when that remodeling is not a "necessity".

So, I'm thinking of projects that I can do that are very cost effective. One of those is taking the jerseys that are hanging over my boys dressers, and changing the name on the backs of each one to reflect each boys name. Then I will hang them on dowel rods over each bed.

The second project in my head that would cost next to nothing is finally using the fabric I bought to make door panels for our french doors in the living room. The blanket that has been hanging there for the past two years has got to go! lol!

Both of these require sewing.... a task that I have never been taught and that while dh can do.... he loathes. So, we'll see if we can manage it, and if he can teach me. Patience Patience patience.....

Finishing Touches....

2008-05-04T22:56:00.010-05:00

It takes me forever to get all the finishing touches done in our house. I am not good at this detail work.... and much prefer the broad sweeping strokes of a remodel. I'm finally getting around to finishing up the boys bedroom... :-)

I got a lamp for free that someone was giving to Goodwill. It is perfect for between my boys beds. I may eventually change the lamp shade.... But for now it is fine. Then I have had these pictures laying against a wall in the bedroom for a year. Dh and I finally decided where to hang them, and they are now on the wall!! Those two things make a huge difference. The room just feels more put together. Now all I have to do is get a shelf for trophies, a peg board for ball caps, a new frame for a great old poster we were given and a hamper for dirty clothes. I feel like the boys room is really just about COMPLETE. It only took a year! lol!

Working on another room

2007-12-30T16:38:00.000-05:00

Well, I know we said we were going to take a break from remodeling...BUT... we somehow found ourselves starting again, :-) You see, I got a recumbent exercise bike for Christmas and the kids got a Wii. So, we have a bonus room and another room off of that called the "red room". It was a very deep red...and,... notice I said "was".... We had to rearrange things so that we could create a room for all the exercise equipment. This isn't my ideal use of the two spaces, but we are going to have the kids in the main bonus room with their video games etc and the small room will be where we exercise. It's just gotta be that way so we can keep any future little ones away from the treadmill etc. It used to be that they would use the big room for playing and they would have the "red" room that had a sofa in it for gaming.

So, Dh is painting that room right now with high hide primer. But, I forgot to take a before picture!! So, sorry... we decided pretty quick to paint it before everything got back in there. Besides that my camera is old (my dad's old camera) and it is not picking up colors properly. I am seriously considering purchasing a new digital camera soon...I can't stand that it does that! I'm already color challenged, I don't need my camera to be too! We had a Canon Powershot, and it was great ....but it must've gotten dropped too many times! I'm going to have to do some research...any suggestions?

Not much going on....

2007-12-13T22:27:00.000-05:00

I've been posting to my other blog a bit more, as we are taking a break from the remodeling through the new year. So, for those of you that wonder where I am, you can check there... :-) I'm sure I'll be back here with some remodeling details in a few weeks.

New Computer is somewhat connected....

2007-12-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

Well, it's here and I'm typing on it, but I guess I'm just going to have to get used to it. It's a lap top which is great, but everything is not hooked up as it should be or back to normal. I'm supposed to have a docking station to hook into so that I can use the keyboard and our regular monitor. For some reason that isn't working. Then I have no idea but my cable internet service is not working either....again no idea why. I have to call t hem. Finally, I really wanted to be able to print from anywhere in my house to my printer, but we need a special USB connector for that as my printer is not wireless compatible or something. Then too my outlook is not up and running, and so my email isn't working like it should. I guess it will all come together eventually....give it a few more days.

On the house front, nothing much new is going on. We are still in the process of decorating for Christmas. I was away visiting my sister for 4 days, so we've been putting things up slowly but surely since our return. The trees are up....we have 3. Two artificial that cost me $10 together, and one real one in the living room. The lights around our house have been up since the weekend after Thanksgiving. They look pretty. I really should take a picture of both of them and our real tree. We have one scrawny artificial type tree in the kids room, and we still need to decorate it with all the ornaments that are sentimental to me. Some the kids made, and some I made, when I was a kid.

No new projects until the New Year. But I will be baking lots and lots of Christmas cookies in the coming days to send off to dh's work and to give to various neighbors and church folks. I'll see how my computer is working in the next few days and try to post pictures soon!

My computer....RIP

2007-12-01T00:14:00.000-05:00

Yep, my computer died this past week. I'm currently sans cpu tower, and am borrowing my husband's laptop in the evenings. Not having a computer, I've noticed two things.... One, how much I miss my own system, keyboard etc. Not having a computer during the day is a bummer. Just doing simple things like checking the weather, or email, or Christmas shopping, I'm unable to do...and I miss that! The second thing is I'm amazed by how much work I can get accomplished around this house, when I don't have that computer around! :-)

Thanksgiving went great! It really was a wonderful time, and the preparations came together well in the end. I will say that my sister's first words when she saw the bathroom cabinets were "they're not too light". I had emailed her photos of them, and she said it is definitely my camera that is causing the color to be off. So I was glad to hear that! lol! Right now are taking we are break from the renovation scene, since we had to pay for a new computer. But I have small goals for January.

One thing that I am not great at, is finishing touches. I like to see the big picture, and plan and design, but the little details (curtains, lamps, wall pictures etc) well I don't enjoy all of that. So, lots of times that never gets done. I still don't have a lamp for my kids bookcase, even though it's been several months since we completed their room. Plus they have a hug wall (two actually) that are blank. So my goal for January is to finish off several of the rooms we remodeled. The boys bedroom, as well as the bathroom, and the living room. We have hung a blanket up on our atrium door windows for the last year and a 1/2 in the living room for privacy. I'm definitely going to finish that off! I have the fabric for curtain panels....so I have to get it done! (Did I mention that I don't sew!) I'll be getting ready to teach myself soon....

A repairman mentioned how much he liked our house today. And it really gave me pause to think. You know... so do I. I love this house, and no matter how much certain things bother me about it.... we have been blessed with this house. I am so very thankful for it, and as I walked around in it today, I felt quite comfortable, almost cozy, in this space that has become our home.

Preparing for Company....

2007-11-17T21:58:00.001-05:00

Before I post about our prepping for company, I have to just comment on my last post about our cabinets. I took pictures, but this is the deal... I like them in person, but in the pictures I don't. Isn't that weird? My sister is coming into town next week, so I will ask her what she thinks. I emailed her a photo that I took, and I explained to her that they really didn't look that white to the naked eye. She said it might be the camera. Hmmmm....I'm not sure. So, the jury is still out about the bathroom. But it's as done as it can be for now, since company is coming in two days.

Now onto the company....I have been cleaning up a storm. The entire upstairs is ready for guests....all except the steam cleaning of the carpets. Downstairs we just have to mop and steam clean as well....and then we are close to done. Dh painted the guest bedroom this evening a very neutral color. He actually mixed two colors together that we had left. I loved the color surprisingly! It's going to look beautiful with the simple blankets I have and the antique steamer trunk and the rocking chair. I think I'm going to want to stay in that room, it's so soothing. :-) I've got to remember the two paint colors in case we want to use that color again. So 3 of 22 paint cans are now empty in the garage. (Primer, and the two mixed colors). yeah! A few are old colors from the previous owners. As we repaint each room, I am going to get rid of those too.

I would post pictures of the bathroom, but I'm not ready to do so yet, until it's all complete. Tomorrow I'll pull the guest room together and post before and after photos of the room. I'm off to clean a bit more and wrap a few presents for my son's birthday tomorrow. What a busy week it's been!!

Cabinets are finished!

2007-11-14T21:26:00.000-05:00

The cabinets are finished and I absolutely love them. Such a good thing! The creamy color paint has definitely softened the look, and the hardware looks quite good. I even like the mirror painted a creamy color, although I am still debating on antiquing it. I won't decide that until after the flooring goes in. All in all, I'm very pleased!

I also cleaned out the guest bedroom somewhat and moved one piece of furniture. Goodness what a difference that made! I have an old antique trunk, with the wood slats on the sides. It's really cool looking, and I had it at the end of the guest bed. I moved it next to an antique mission rocker and it changed the whole feel of the room. Amazing what moving one simple piece of furniture will do..... it instantly opened up the room, and made it feel much larger. Plus moving the trunk, made that furniture item a cool focal point in the room. So, dh will prime the bbright green walls tomorrow evening, and a nice neutral color will go on the walls. Yeah!

I have done a thorough cleaning on two rooms so far, and have 2 more to do upstairs tomorrow. Ceiling fans, and plantation blinds are being cleaned of lots of dust. I already changed the air filter, so hopefully everyone will be breathing better in the house soon! :-) I used to kid about dust being a protectant for my furniture.... but after today....ewww... I'm setting up a weekly dusting schedule!

Finally, tonight I tried out a meatball recipe. Just regular old homemade meatballs that you can add to spaghetti. They were delicious, so I'll be making them for when my family comes into town. As Rachel Ray would say... "Yummo"! We had the meatballs this evening on sub rolls...and the rolls weren't so good, (kind of dry). So I told the boys and dh that next time I will try to make my own sub rolls in my new (to me) breadmaker. They have got to be better than what we had from the grocery store! (And no I have not used my breadmaker as of yet..... but maybe after Thanksgiving!)

I'll try to update with some cabinet pictures soon, as well as before shots of our bright green guest room ......

2007-11-12T23:19:00.000-05:00

I can't even think of a title to this post....I'm just updating to say we are holding off on the flooring until after Christmas. We could not find anything we loved at Home Depot or Lowes, and we aren't willing to settle. So I was talking to dh this evening that perhaps after Christmas we could find what we want at a certain flooring company....and then get hardwood put it in our homeschool room. Our dining room and foyer have a beautiful wide plank cherry hardwood floor, and the homeschool room is directly across from it. The carpet in there has seen better days, and is stained in several areas. I eventually would like to put hardwood in the entire downstairs, kitchen and all. But we can't afford it now, and if I want to remodel the kitchen, (which I desperately do one day!), then laying hardwood now would be a waste of money. So, dh actually agreed to look into getting hardwood in that room and a vinyl in the bathroom. But all after Christmas. Yeah!

Onto those cabinets, well they didn't get painted today. But I did purchase all the hardware for them, and the clear matte acrylic that goes on top as a protectant. Once the cabinets are finally back up there, I'm going to focus completely on preparing for company next week. There is just too much to do, and not a lot of time left to do it! Add one child's birthday into the mix this weekend...and my schedule and my hands are full! Ack! I'll let you know how it all turns out....

Still working on the bathroom....

2007-11-12T00:34:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe it's been 10 days since I posted anything. I'm almost over the cold, but it's going around our family again. I gave it to one of my children, so I'm really hoping it doesn't get passed to the next and on to us again. I need to stay healthy for Thanksgiving!

As for the bathroom renovations. Well..... they are still going, and I'm as picky as ever. I did decide that the bathroom vanity will stay creamy white. I like the color the best, and I find it very soothing with the countertop and new sink fixtures. Very soothing. I put the final coat of paint on tomorrow, and then we seal it with clear matte acrylic spray. They should be back on the cabinet with the new cabinet fixtures on Monday evening. Yeah!

The mirror... well, I changed the black detailing to a mahogany color, and that has softened the look. I also painted it a creamy white. I am not sure yet if I will antique it or not. I'm waiting until all the rest of the pieces fall into place.

Flooring. What? Flooring? I was just talking out loud about the flooring, and how it needs to be warmed up in the room. Dh said to go get some peel and stick vinyl tiles to put in the bathroom. So, I picked what I liked and brought them home. It's a bit darker and I felt like it grounded the whole room so much better.... however the peel and stick is just not gonna do it for me. I know he says it's easier for him to lay, but in my research this evening, I've found that it is not the best thing to lay in bathrooms because of the moisture. Plus this just looks somewhat cheap without any grout lines or anything. I'm really not loving it, so it will go back to Home depot and I'll look to order a sheet of the linoleum that I want. It won't get done in time for Thanksgiving, but that's okay.... it can wait until after. Luckily what we have is in good shape, so people can use the bathroom. I guess this gives him time to prime and paint the guest room. Then I'll be thinking of lot's of warm, cozy accesories to add to the rooms. All from my own closets....(I hope!)

Not much going on here...

2007-11-01T21:25:00.001-05:00

Sad to say, not muchis going on here. Both dh and I came down with big old colds...that we caught from the kids. Actually, the kids had it first, and then I got it about a week later, and now I gave it to dh. I've had it for several days, but dh will probably be over it quicker than me. He always seems to kick those colds faster than me! Anyway, I've gone through a whole box of Puffs tissues, and while they are thr ones with lotion in them, my poor nose is as red as Rudolph. :( Hopefully, I'll feel better in a few days.

I do plan on finishing the mirror this weekend, and hopefully if dh is better, we can finish the bathroom. We have to at least try to paint one more room before Thanksgiving. (Guest room, bright lime green...not a very soothing color for our guests to stay in!). Hopefully, we'll be done with the bathroom, and then onto the guest room. Whatever neutral color we have (and we have a lot!) will go on that wall. You know...I think I need to count paint cans we havein the garage..... seriously. I'll update this weekend!

My funny mom....

2007-10-30T21:18:00.000-05:00

Let me preface this post with "I love my Mom"! She can be funny, sensitive, opinionated, and tough as nails. She follows my blog and I aways get an honest opinion of what she thinks.... so I was on the phone with her this evening lamenting of my decorating woes, and asking her if she would go look at my pictures and tell me her opinion.

So this is how the conversation went....

Me: So what do you think of the mirror?
Mom: Well, I like the blue on the mirror!.....
Me: Mom.... that's the painter's tape.
Mom: Oh. (chuckle)Well I think it brings out the blue in the shower curtain.
Me: Mom, the blue painter's tape is not staying.
Mom: Well, you asked me my opinion and I gave it to you...I like the blue and on the counter too.

She was chuckling with me when she realized it was painter's tape.... lol!

Anyway, the mirror is painted again. It is on the first stage of 2 more stages that need to happen. I painted it creamy white and will antique it with a chocolate glaze. It will give it an aged look and I know it will dull the white and make the whole thing less bright. Dh said he liked it, but he said he's liked everything so far. LOL! But he did say, of the three colors the mirror has been, this one is the best...

I am waiting for a decision about the cabinet base, until the mirror is done. I'm thinking it needs to go back to creamy. Hopefully the mirror will be done tomorrow, and I'll be able to finish the entire bathroom this weekend. That is my goal. On an positive note, I did find all the cabinet hardware for the doors and drawers at Lowes. It's a great match to all the other fixtures.

Time to finish my last coat of paint and call it a night!

Cabinet Colors....

2007-10-29T23:33:00.000-05:00

Oh the saga continues. Really....I think I have some issues. lol! I mentioned to dh that there is a program called photoshop, where you can take a picture of the room, and then change things and paint colors etc to see how it would look, before you actually begin to remodel. I said, it may actually save us some money. He said that wouldn't be a bad idea.....

This is the deal. In my last post I mentioned that I couldn't wait to see what the cabinets would look like painted a creamy white color. So this weekend, that's what I did, I painted all the cabinets and the base as well. I really liked them! But my biggest concern was that, with the mirror and this other rack I have, everything would be too light, and a bit too feminine. Several people made the suggestion to paint the cabinets red, to bring out the red in the shower curtain. I really liked that idea, but I just couldn't picture it, and me liking it, for long. I don't know.... probably brings back images of my cutesy country phase 10 years ago. I know the red wouldn't be cutesy country, but I can't seem to get past that in my mind.

Anyway, I also want the bathroom to be soothing. So.... here is what I did now. (I should have taken pictures of the creamy cabinets, as you may not believe me on this one). In my mind I have an image of what I am thinking about. My friend Michelle will know what I am talking about, as she does this also. But finding what I am looking for is another matter all together. So, in my mind is a paint color for the cabinets. It's a very muted khaki with a hint of green in it. Very muted. Unfortunately, I bought a sample one that is a darker color. It's actually called desert storm....so I guess it's like army khaki. (I know, you may be saying about now...."What is she thinking!?!?") Heaven only knows.... I can just sort of picture in my mind what I was thinking.... but it isn't coming out that way. I painted only 2 cabinet drawers, and I'll check them out tomorrow in the light. I think it's a little too dark.

So.... As I'm painting them, dh is watching TV. He loves the color and says it's very soothing. This is not a word dh uses very often, so I'm encouraged by it. Maybe I selected a pretty good color. The test will be when I put them next to that counter top. So, when the paint is dry, dh takes the cabinet drawer upstairs to put back in place. Afraid to look myself, I see him standing in the doorway just looking at the color. "Is it bad?", I ask. "No, the color is great!", dh responds enthusiastically. I step around and check it out. "I don't like it.", were the words out of my mouth. To which dh replied, "Get the program, no matter what the cost, get the program". lol! I busted out laughing. When he headed to bed, you could hear him muttering slowly under his breath, "Get the program, get the program", with a big grin on his face. LOL! Funny man.

So, I think I'm next going to work on the mirror. Let's see how many times I can paint that! :-)

2007-10-26T00:50:00.000-05:00

Dh and I decided that we will be painting the cabinets a creamy color to see how it looks.... we may also paint and antique the mirror as well....but we started with the cabinets. I was not going to even attempt this until Monday, but curiosity got the better of me, and so I did. The cabinets now have the first coat of creamy white on them. I'm going to finish them tomorrow morning. Then we wait and see what we think.....

I'd say we'd have it all done by Sunday, but we have the craziest, busiest weekend ahead of us. And very little of it involves working on the house. We attended a birthday party this evening, then football and a sea or orange and white, for a very rowdy conference game on Saturday night. Finally, church and friends over all day Sunday. Whew! I hope I'm up for it!

Remodeling the bathroom will have to wait until Monday....and so will our blog.....

Have a great weekend!

Picture Update.....

2007-10-24T22:17:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm going to post some pictures of my current disaster now. I guess I'll first post the items I like, and then go on to the stuff I messed up.

These are the light fixtures. I love the brushed nickel and the white globes. I also love the shape of the metal. I'm happy with that. (you can just see in this picture the top of the mirror frame, and how the bronze in no way matches the satin nickel.)

This the the satin nickel faucet from SE Salvage. It does have a hint of yellow undertones, that is for sure.... but the mirror behind it is bronze and so a lot of that is reflected in the metal. It does not look this brassy in real life. I figured they are far enough away from the light fixtures that, while not an exact match, are close enough.

Here is a shot of the three of them and the shower curtain. The bronze does however warm up the space and brings out the colors of the shower curtain nicely. But you can also see the white cabinets and they are too white in my opinion.

Finally a photo of the mirror re-done in a silver finish. Please remember that I didn't put the antiquing glaze on this to tone it down, so it does look very silvery..... If you notice this picture vs the one above.... the colors in the shower curtain, are just blah.... (this photo). I think the silver doesn't go with anything in the room.... It isn't the direction I wanted to go, but somehow I found myself there.

Basically, my opinion as I look at the room, is that it needs warmth...in natural wood tones. I know I said, light and airy, but it isn't yurning out so well.... :-) So, those are the photos so far. I was talking to dh this evening...and he was so surprised that I didn't like the bathroom. He isn't upset, actually he recognized that I'm more upset by my mistake than he was. He is totally willing to re-do the bathroom cabinets. That means stripping them, and then staining them a mahogany color. I think the plan is to attempt a mahogany faux finish on the mirror. I think that will help and with the mahogany base, I can use brushed nickel hardware.

I had one other idea as I look at these pictures, to possibly salvage all the work. I suppose I could paint the cabinets more of a cream color and paint the mirror the same. It's a bit more feminine than I would like, but it is cottage airy. The thought I have as I look at this, is the shower curtain is cottage like and the mirror is not. But how do you marry the two?

If anyone has any other thoughts...or links on faux finishing to look like mahogany, please pass them along. I did find a link recently on houseblogs on how to strip paint. It was a great little tutorial that someone showed on stripping an old door using a heat gun. So, I'm going to try to find that one in the multitude of blogs.

I guess I feel better. On one blog I read recently, someone talked about using photoshop to see how your room would look before you do anything. That's obviously a tool I need. Even now to see how it would look with dark cabinets and mirror vs light. I'm so thankful for my dh. No matter what happens in my design faux pas.... he is totally willing to go back and get it the way I want it. Why I always have to learn lessons the hard way, I'll never know.....

Frustrated.....!!!

2007-10-24T18:23:00.000-05:00

Good grief, I am so frustrated today! It is just not coming together....and I know I haven't posted a picture yet, but it looks awful. Here is the deal. Yes, the faucets and light fixtures are up, and they look quite good. Yes, I have mentioned that before. I do like the satin nickel finish. I think the oil rubbed bronze would look better, but I am not willing to change out everything all over the house. I'm just not really willing to do that, or put out that expense. We have a lot of light fixtures that are the brushed nickel, and I just don't want to swap it all out. Having said that here are the problems I have.... and I may get brave enough to post a picture.

1. The cabinets are too white. The vanity top is some bisque color and it would be set off the best with oil rubbed bronze. But as I mentioned before I'm not willing to do that across the whole house. Sooo.... the problem is that the cabinets seem to be just suspended in air. Nothing is grounding anything or complementing the warmth of the shower curtain. What exactly does that mean for me? Well it could mean that I have to stain the cabinets mahogony, or try to faux replicate that with paint. I'm not too thrilled with doing that, based on my reason #2 below.

2. I applied my faux finish to the mirror last evening. I knew it was too shiny and knew I would need to antique it with a black antiquing glaze. But even so, dh took it up to the bathroom, so I could get an idea of how much to do. It looks awful! Really, I do mean awful! (Dh thought it looked great, bless his heart.) It is such a cool color ( as in not warm), that once again, it look completely out of place in the bathroom. It's like the only thing with warm tones in there is the shower curtain. I have no idea what I was thinking....
Editing to add: I just pulled photos of the mirror off my camera so I could look at it on the larger computer monitor. It really is not a good paint job. At all.....

So, I have a few options: One will definitely be painting the mirror to a different color. If nothing else is done that will be done! I think it would have been easy to change or remodel a bathroom if I could just pick a vanity, and pick a vanity top, change the shower, and re-do the floor etc. Pick exactly what I need, cost not really being an issue. But this is what we try to do, mainly based on necessity.... we remodel on a shoestring budget. We will re-use pieces of furniture, or cabinets or whatever, but trying to make it look good can be really frustrating. (Which is where I am now). So, I have no idea what I'm going to do. This is when I wish I had a friend who could come over and tell me.... oh you definitely need to go this way with it...or that way.... sigh sigh sigh. I am so feeling the time crunch on this one.....

Another Progress report....

2007-10-22T22:01:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I continued painting some of the cabinet drawers and doors. Then dh put them back onto the vanity base to see how I would like it. The faucets look really great...and they make our tired old 1980 something vanity top look new again. It shines up really well! The light fixtures fit the space well. So, I had dh also rest the mirror on top of the vanity top against the wall. UGH. It's throwing me off completely. It's almost a oil rubbed bronze finish... but not that dark. So, the one way I was considering taking the bathroom, the mirror is reminding me of that design idea. I have satin nickel and oil rubbed bronze together...and it's throwing off the cabinets base completely. I'm sooo not liking the white. I think it's the cabinet doors, they just look old and 80's and the paint isn't helping because of the shape of the doors. (Kind of a cathedral panel). Maybe it's the white paint, being too white.... but I think I need a little rich color in there....

Next step to pull the room together, is to get the paint tomorrow and begin painting the huge mirror frame. I'm planning on getting a silver base, with a pewter glaze and some black glaze to give it an aged look. (But not too aged). I'm just going to wing it and see what happens..... but I have to get started on it ASAP, as I can't tell what direction to go with the cabinet base until I figure that out. Oh.... and that base, I am so tempted to strip all the paint I just did and stain it. Yikes! Sssshhhh..... Don't tell dh.... I don't think he'll like it very much! And to be truthful, neither will I! Who knew re-doing a bathroom would be so difficult!

Progress Update...

2007-10-20T20:23:00.000-05:00

Well, the light fixtures are up and I like them a lot.... They aren't pottery barn, as far as price goes, but they are updated and they didn't cost us an arm and a leg. We did buy the faucets at SE Salvage. They were 1/2 the price of the faucets elsewhere....so we couldn't justify spending more. So, dh is installing those as I type. We found a mirror as well at Southeastern Salvage. It is 76" long by 36" wide. A huge mirror! Unfortunately it is not in the right finish that I need, so I will be getting some paint and glaze out to begin to make it look different.

The cabinets.... um... yes, the cabinets.... hmmmm. Well, I haven't exactly gotten to those yet. Sigh. Soon I hope. I think I did realize that the white color is too white on the cabinets, now that I have everything else going on in there. So, I'm going to hold off a little bit more and see what I think. :-)

I'll try to post a picture of the mirror sitting on top of the vanity, leaning against the wall. Just so you get a picture of the finish it is, and how it just doesn't work with brushed nickel. But one thing dh and I noticed immediately is that it opened up the whole space... making it feel so much bigger. That bathroom is narrow, so the mirror did the trick.

Okay, back to work, cleaning the kitchen......um I mean painting the cabinets....

Weekend Plans...

2007-10-20T08:48:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe the weekend is here already! Seems like I was just posting last weekend's house plans to my blog.... or even the weekend before. Time moves so quickly...

The men in my family went camping last evening, so I am without a car. Dh's car broke down on Thursday evening and is in the shop. We are not sure when it will be back to us, so I will most likely be without a vehicle for part of next week.... or I'll be getting up at O' dark thirty, to take him into work. UGH! Anyway, enough about car troubles.... when the gentlemen return today, we will be heading to Southeastern Salvage to get a mirror. I found a mirror that I like, it's certainly large enough to fit the space and is decorative. However, the finish is not quite what I was looking for. I could search out what I want, but I'll have to pay dearly for it, as most large mirrors are really expensive. I found this one for $89. When you see the size you will be amazed. So, now I have to work on painting the frame of the mirror to look more like a satin nickel finish. I found some silver metallic glaze at Lowe's and some pewter as well for the darker spots on the mirror. Its going to a difficult process, as I have never done something like this before, and I can't find the instructions I need online. I've antiqued our furniture before and gave it a new life....but this is totally different! I'll have to see the mirror up on the wall first. Maybe I'll paint it a mahogany color. I have decided to go with the brushed nickel fixtures, as I agree with Michelle, that they will have more longevity.

I found a brushed nickel faucet at Southeastern Salvage, but it had yellow undertones, and no matter how I looked at it, or in what light....it still showed. So, I'll also be hitting Lowes, Home depot, and a lighting store to find the faucets, and to look for some lighting. Who knows though the price was the best at SE Salvage....so I may just get the faucets (yellow tinted and all), if I can't afford anything else.

The cabinets are still not finished! Yikes! That's my job and I am dropping the ball! This weekend, I really plan on finishing them.... .....really, I do....... :-) Dh will be changing out the baseboard in the bathroom, to match the boys bedroom. (The wide stuff) He still needs to fix the window trim, but I can live with that for awhile. We just really want to make that bathroom usable once again......

That's the plan for the weekend. It's going to be a busy one again!

Bathroom in Progress.

2007-10-14T14:14:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos of the remodeling progress so far:

This is the paint color , next to the shower curtain. There is only one light in the bathroom at the moment, and so the picture is dark and not very good. The color is actually, more of a beige yellow.

This is cabinet central... where I paint the cabinets in the evenings. So obviously we entertain no one since it's set up in our living room.

Here are some almost finished cabinet drawers. One more coat of paint and then the clear enamel sealer. We use Krylon's clear satin spray seal on our cabinets. We did this in our home in PA, and the cabinet never chipped, and wiped down beautifully.

Here is the cabinet base with two drawers painted as well. I really have to see everything in to see if the color is going to work or not.

Finally, I had to take a picture of just a sink, so I had a before picture for when we change out the faucets.

Speaking of faucets, and then going on to light fixtures and cabinet hardware. I am at a crossroads as far as design, and I'm not sure which way to go. I really like the look of the oil rubbed bronze that is more or an antique look. I think it would set off the bathroom beautifully. It's very rich in color. But if I did it in the bathroom, then we are talking door handles, hinges and then wanting to have continuity in the whole house. So, I am really debating between the polished nickel and the oil rubbed bronze. Here are two pictures of each so you can see what I'm talking about. Part of me wonders if the darker color will have as much longevity as the brushed nickel..... anyway, it's definitely going to take some thinking on my part. Especially with the mirror (which I haven't found yet).

Drum Roll Please.....

2007-10-13T22:27:00.000-05:00

I found a color! Woohoo! It's on the walls and so far I love it. It's called Sand 2 by Laura Ashley. Lighter than the shower curtain, so it should stand out nicely.... and I think it is dark enough to set off the white cabinets. Funny story.... as dh was heading out to pick up the paint, he drove by and stopped to chat with our neighbor.

Neighbor: Where ya headed?
DH: To pick up some paint.
Neighbor: Didn't you just get some?
DH: Oh yeah, we have a plethora of paint samples in the garage and on the wall right now. But this is "the" color....so I'm headed out to get "the" can of paint.
Neighbor: I have a label maker.

LOL! I don't know whether he wanted to offer to label all our paint cans, or if he was suggesting to my dh to put "the" color label on one of the cans we owned. But I cracked up when I heard it.

As far as the cabinets... I painted the first coat this evening, and will look to see if the color is okay. I may need to go with a slightly darker shade of white. I'll try to post progress pictures tomorrow.

Paint Central....

2007-10-13T09:07:00.000-05:00

I finished priming the cabinets with the help of dh last evening. Boy I am glad that's done! I found a whole gallon of delicate white paint that we bought for another project, but the color wasn't right. So, I'm going to try it here and see if I like the color on the cabinets. But that is for later today. Last evening dh also put two other colors on the wall. (Two that we own.... our bedroom/bathroom color and Belle Grove Buff, which we used to paint our living room). I am leaning toward Bell Grove, as it is more of a taupe with tints of yellow in it....and it is very neutral and lighter than the shower curtain. I told dh this morning that I am "almost positive" that the color will be Belle Grove Buff....and then he said, "Yeah, but with you that's "absolutely uncertain."" LOL! I complimented him on his use of an oxymoron to match my own.... :-)

I'm off to hunt for many things today. A mirror would be almost first on the list....as well as cabinet fixtures and scouting out faucets and lighting. I'm also on the lookout for some nice shelves..

Update: Well, I don't think I like the Belle Grove Color after all... I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think it works. Go figure. So, a stop at Lowe's today to look for some more paint colors. This time with the shower curtain, and my entire list with me....measuring tape and all!

2007-10-12T08:41:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wish I had the easy button! I got this one for dh for his birthday to take to work. It's still here...so I'm thinking I need to use it....

Why would I be displaying the easy button??? One word, and most of you know it.... PAINT. Yes, I went to check on the paint color samples dh put on the walls. I don't like any of them. (Naturally). Back to the drawing board....

An update....pre-weekend....

2007-10-11T21:07:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update before the weekend..... I am almost done priming the cabinets, but it is taking a long time! I really do not know how I had the patience for 22 of them previously. Just 3 drawers and 4 doors are killing me as it is...

Dh has put the final high hide primer on the walls. It definitely helped with a lot of the blue/gray under color. Now he has the auditions samples on the wall and as soon as they are dry I'll go up and try to select a color. (Oh please let it be easy!)

Goals for the weekend:

1. Finish priming and begin painting all the cabinets.
2. Pick and paint color that will look good, and paint it on the wall.
3. Stick with said paint color! LOL!
4. Try to locate a mirror that will work for the room.

Those are our remodeling goals, but I'm sure we have some regular house stuff to attend to as well! We did really well last weekend. A lot depends on me and the cabinets, so I hope I get with it!

I'll update with photos tomorrow....

Parking in the garage....

2007-10-10T12:11:00.000-05:00

Remember I mentioned that we cleared out some stuff this past weekend? I am now able to park inside my garage for the first time since we moved here, a year and a half ago. What a nice feeling! I did end up getting the car washed at a car wash. The inside is still quite a mess, but I'll get to that eventually. (Maybe this weekend). My mom and dad have a golf ball hanging above their respective sides of the garage, so they know how far to pull in so they can close the garage doors, and not hit the wall in front of them. Well, I had my dh make me one with a tennis ball. Now I too know exactly how far to pull into our garage. I love it!

Anyway, here are some photos of the parking side of the garage and my tennis ball device.

It's the little things that make me happy.... :-)

Sometimes you win...sometimes you lose....

2007-10-09T22:15:00.001-05:00

Tonight was one of those losing nights.... when you are all excited to go shopping, you have been anticipating it, you know what your looking for, or at least have a plan.... and then nothing goes your way. You forget your list, or you forget *something* you need, or you end up finding nothing that works. Perhaps it's the very outfit you want, but the store is out of every size but 2. Or it's a weekend anticipating yard sales, only to find nothing. Or a trip to the grocery store, and your list and coupons are sitting on the kitchen counter.

Well this evening I went out by myself to begin shopping for the bathroom. (Scouting, pricing and getting paint samples). So, 1/2 way to Hobby Lobby to look at the mirrors (which are 50% off by the way), I realize that I forgot the shower curtain at home. So, now I don't have it to pull colors out for the walls. Bummer. It's so much easier when you remember the fabric. I found a mirror that I actually liked at Hobby Lobby, but it was a little too small for our bathroom. Ugh. The vanity is really long, and so if I'm going to put one large mirror, it's going to have to be really long. The one at HL was not long enough. How do I know? Well, unfortunately the small tape measure that I carry in my purse for shopping trips like this, was also left at home. I called dh to get the measurements and I had just measured our dining room mirror, so I could eyeball it and see it wasn't long enough. Bummer. So, then I got to thinking about 2 rectangular mirrors, or two oval mirrors instead of one mirror.

After Hobby Lobby is was about 7:20, so I decided to head down to Southeastern Salvage to look at their mirrors and see if I could doctor one up. Plus I wanted to price lighting fixtures and faucets and see if I liked any of them. Well I get there and there are a ton of people (employees in the parking lot). I'm not sure what is going on, but they are milling around by the entrance. (My first thought is strike line, but then I didn't think it looked that bad, and I saw no signs). :-) So, I park and get out only to be informed that they are closed and are actually having a store meeting. Sigh. It was 7:30 and apparently they close everyday during the week at 7pm. *sigh*

So, after that I went to Home Goods, to look at their mirrors... (nothing I liked). And then headed to Lowes to look at paint samples. I picked a ton to take home and hold up to the curtain and the wall. My Belle Grove Buff that I painted the living room, was a close contender, just a little light. Dh liked Churchill Hotel Wheat, and I am almost positive that we still have a Lowe's audition of that one, as it was also in the running for the living room walls. Shoot we have a ton of paint samples I bet. I think I even have the white color that we'll do the cabinets and trim in. But I digress...

So, I check out the paint, go and look at (of all things), garage doors. (Like that is even a reality). And then on to check out the lighting and faucets. To which I decided that I need to finish painting everything first and then go look for all three (mirror, lighting, faucets), when I know more of what I am looking for. (Finish, size, shape etc) So, that was my evening. Came home late to watch the Biggest Loser. And now I'm wiped out, so I'm going to bed. Perhaps I'll dream about the bathroom, and some ideas will come to me!

Painting, Parking and other things....

2007-10-07T20:56:00.000-05:00

****If anyone can tell me why my typing starts out spaced one way and after I load pictures ends up getting crammed to single space, please let me know.... I am a perfectionist in regards to layout, and that frustrated me!*****

I am very excited.... I can now officially park in the garage! Yeah!! It has been cleared out of things and dh moved lots of stuff around. I'm so thrilled to finally park there, that I feel like going to the car wash and getting my car cleaned, just for the occasion! I never go through the car wash... we just don't bother because it just gets dirty anyway. But I think tomorrow I just may clean out the inside of the car and then head out to the car wash and get the whole thing sparkling clean!

Dh has the primer done on the walls and I have 1/2 the cabinets primed. So, I'll have lots more to do with that as the week progresses. I have been thinking about what direction I am going in the bathroom. It's funny, but today I had a thought that I'm not exactly the type that pre plans every aspect of a room, and then goes and finds all the stuff.... nope, it kind of develops naturally as a sort of process...kind of like an artist painting a canvas. That is how I design the rooms in my house.

Anyway, I had an idea, and then I sat down and started second guessing that idea. (Not good when you have already painted!). I am second guessing whether I should have painted those cabinets, or instead should I have stained them a dark walnut. I think the dark walnut would certainly be richer, but in that small and narrow bathroom, I think it would make it appear smaller. So, I think I'm okay with the creamy white cabinets. I'm probably going to pull a pale buttery yellow out of the shower curtain and then use some sage accents and even a few red accents. There are so many colors to chose from in that curtain, but the feel I'd like to give the bathroom is airy casual cottage feel.

Here is the sink faucet that I like from pottery barn that is $349. Not happening! (I like the color in that photo, but maybe a little darker). As to the faucet....I'll try to find one to mimic this as best as I can. I'm still stuck on mirrors and lighting too. The mirrors that are up there now, are too small for the space. (Or I might update and re-use them). I really like this long mirror from pottery barn with the sconces. Just don't like the finish on the sconces. Well let me clarify, I love the look, but it isn't what I'm going for in an airy cottage feel.... lol! Anyway, here are the photos. The sink faucets I will look for in a satin finish.... and perhaps same for the light fixtures. I may also do two larger oval mirrors with a double sconce on top of each one, or a single sconce on each side. So many decisions!

Love this faucet!

Like this mirror, but the wall color is too yellow for me.

Saturday's Accomplishments....

2007-10-06T20:50:00.000-05:00

This is my final post for the day.... I am tired! This getting up at 7am is something I am so not used to!

I did not get to priming the cabinets today with a good bonding primer. Unfortunately I forgot how long and tedious it is to sand those things! (How could I forget)... and yet it's been 3 years since I painted my kitchen cabinets back in PA. I guess just like childbirth, time dulls the memory of the pain. lol!

So, all the cabinet fronts and drawer fronts are sanded well, and wiped down. They are just waiting on the primer, which I will try to do this coming week. Dh is finishing the first coat of grey primer on the bathroom walls. I'm sure it looks different! He'll put a coat of white primer on the walls Monday evening. Then I guess it will be time for me to pick another paint color. Oh joy... .

I was looking at a beautiful faucet fixture at Potterybarn.com. Beautiful, but expensive. As in $349, and we would need two for a double sink. So, I'm on a hunt to try to find one as similar as I can for much less money. I won't be getting the faucets or light fixtures until we can afford it. Maybe a few more weeks......

Oh and the stuff will be out of the garage tomorrow! Someone is coming to pick it up, so I may be able to park in there on Monday! yeah! That's my weekend....

Photos.....

2007-10-06T13:11:00.000-05:00

Okay, the cable has been upgraded, so that is out of the way.... saved actually $20/month and now we have a ton of channels coming to us....my beloved HGTV and the Food Network included. I can't wait! Yeah! I'll have to tell my dad tonight that he inspired me to get that done.

Here are some before photos of the bathroom. I am planning on starting to prime those cabinets in a little bit.... notice the bright blue! the last photo is of the shower curtain I picked a year and 1/2 ago. I am planning on pulling colors from that. Oh yes... light fixtures.....!!!

Accomplishments so far.....

2007-10-06T10:35:00.000-05:00

I was up at 7:00am this morning....the boys woke me upand I could not fall back asleep. So, I thought I might as well get started on cleaning out our homeschool room, filing lots of paperwork, and then updating and balancing the checkbook. It took me all morning to go through magazines to pitch, all the school work so far this year (2 months worth) and all the mail (bills/junk etc). I even wiped the entire desk and computer down! I have a full garbage bag that I used for filing junk as well! I still have a little paperwork to go through, but I am much more organized.

On a side note, we are thinking of going totally digital here through our cable company. My mom and dad just did this in Florida, and if they can do it, I guess we can too. It does save us about $17.00 a month to get cable/internet and phone all together....not a huge amount, but every little bit helps. So, I may add that to the list of calling about this weekend.

As to the bathroom and garage. Well, we have to wait on the garage as the stuff that someone was going to pick up and take out, is still there. So, we can't move things around until that happens. But the bathroom is ready to be taped and primed. As soon as I'm done with the paperowrk for today, I'm going to prime the cabinets... yeah! I can't wait. I did take before pictures, as soon as I upload them you can see the bright blue color that has been the bathroom! I'm glad it's going!

I hope to post another update this evening with photos!

Weekend Plans...

2007-10-05T10:02:00.000-05:00

Oh I've got big ol' weekend plans for our house... lol! My parents were supposed to come in this weekend on their way down south. Their trip was delayed for several reasons, and so instead of driving 8 hours out of their way from my sister's house, they will head directly to Florida. I'm not bummed, as I know I'll see them again in a month for Thanksgiving.

What does this mean for this weekend? Well, since I won't be entertaining guests...it means house projects. Also, it just hit me that I have a month and a half until everyone descends upon my house for Thanksgiving. I'm soooo not ready! There were so many things I envisioned having done before this event... but time and monetary resources have kept us from it.

So here are the grand plans for the weekend:

Clean out the garage- We'll be moving things around a lot to create space so at least I can park in the garage! That would be nice...and then maybe my car would stay clean!

Prime the bathroom walls- The bright blue color on the walls has got to go! (I have to remember to take before pictures of that bathroom!)

Begin priming the bathroom cabinets- I am going to update my kids bathroom cabinets with paint. Creamy white to be exact. This should do wonders for making the space look bigger... (and the wall color will help a lot too).

I will have to wait on the sink fixtures, light fixtures bathroom accessories, and mirrors. Those will cost money, and we are trying to get out of debt completely...so those will have to wait. But those are also simple to install and when the time comes will really make the bathroom look great. I have a shower curtain that I bought when we first moved in. It has all the colors that I want to draw into the bathroom. I'll take a picture of it as well so you can see the general direction I am going.

That's the weekend plan! Pretty ambitious isn't it? Yep.....We'll see how we do!

A lush green lawn...

2007-09-29T22:02:00.001-05:00

Well, not only did I de-clutter the bedroom, but I mowed the majority of the lawn today as well. Dust was kicking up everywhere and it made it difficult to see and breath at the front part of our dirt pile... uh, I mean lawn. :0

But this is what I noticed, and I am very happy to see it. Our bermuda grass is spreading. Now let me start by saying that I have not been a fan of bermuda grass my whole life. I'm used to tall fescue grass up north. Actually our neighbors in PA had bermuda grass and I remember a patch that found it's way into our yard and grew every year bigger and bigger. To be fair there lawn was like a carpet in the summer...very beautiful. But the thing I don't care for about bermuda is how it turns brown during the winter when it becomes dormant.

Having said all that... I have to add that I am pleased the bermuda is spreading. It spread considerably throughout the whole year. I guess what I'm thinking now, is that I'll take any grass (even bermuda) over the large dirt patches that I call my yard now. The back half of the yard is mostly bermuda, and it's a dream to mow. (I'm sure it's nice to run on too). So, I keep hoping that it continues to spread next year even farther. We may even help it out by overseeding in the spring. And as to that brown dormant color, well I read that I can overseed with rye every fall, and it will green up beautifully and then die in the spring when the bermuda comes out of dormancy. (I'm not sure if I'm even going to head there...but it's an option). Right now, I'll just hope the bermuda continues to spread. Who knows...my goal of a lush lawn in 2 years may just transpire without much work at all!

Bedroom decluttered....

2007-09-29T21:56:00.000-05:00

I did it! Today was the day we decluttered the bedroom! I'm sorry, but there are no pictures. :( But, I will tell you that the huge box of clothes is now at the thrift store. A huge laundry basket piled with junk has been emptied. And lots of piles of stuff has been cleared out of the room. Dh took two mirrors up to the attic to store until we are ready to use them. The only problem is, with all that stuff gone, I have a big empty wall with one small dresser on it. I can see a need to build some shelves or rearrange furniture or something. So this week, I may end up rearranging furniture in our bedroom, or designing a built in entertainment center. lol! Poor dh... :-)

Mission Unaccomplished.....

2007-09-23T19:43:00.000-05:00

Well, not entirely.... the wood pile is gone and an ugly tree is also gone from our yard. yeah! But as to the bedroom decluttering.... well let's just say nothing's changed. lol! If I took pictures as requested, the before would be the same as the after! Perhaps I should do that! :-) I did update our checkbook and balance our account. So the weekend wasn't completely wasted. I guess I can do a little this week to help out the old bedroom.

On another note, even though it is officially autumn here, you would never know it! The heat is ridiculous! It isn't even cool in the mornings anymore. (Or I just might get up early to experience it!) :-) So, here's hoping that the temperature drops and the weather begins to feel more like fall. It's my favorite season, and I'd sure like to enjoy it!

Change of Plans...

2007-09-20T22:48:00.001-05:00

Well, I don't think this weekend we'll be painting quite yet. I decided to do something that costs even less money.... and that is to de-clutter our bedroom. I'm reminded of an email that flylady sends out saying, are there things that have migrated to your bedroom that don't belong there? Well, we have quite a few things that have migrated....some that have never been unpacked. We have a box of clothes overflowing in the corner when you first enter, that have needed to go to Goodwill for quite some time. Just getting that box out of there will help the eyesore. :-)

So, instead of beginning the kids bathroom, I'm planning on de-cluttering the bedroom, and rearranging the closet. It's not exactly a "fun" project, and no I'm not looking forward to doing it....but I guess I'll feel better when it's done. And then "next weekend" we can begin painting!

More thoughts and ideas

2007-09-18T21:34:00.000-05:00

Well, I am deciding what to work on next here at our house. I have a general direction of where to go.... both bathrooms. I have ideas mapped out in my head, so we'll see how frugally I can complete them. I believe in a week or so we will be starting with the boys bathroom and painting over the bright blue walls. We already have the primer, and dh says we'll just have to use a paint we already have. So, I guess I'll have to do that until we can afford the color I want. We also have the paint to paint the bathroom cabinets. It's funny because I have no idea why I have this paint.... I "know" it's from a wrong paint selection I made a few months ago. So, I have a gallon of creamy white paint to paint the cabinets with. I think I'll stop there and see how it goes. Perhaps this weekend I'll post before pictures of the bathroom with the wall color and fixtures.

Also this weekend we'll be clearing the side yard of some old wood, and a dead tree. It looks to be a busy one!

Unexpected Surprises....

2007-09-09T13:57:00.000-05:00

I guess remodeling can be like that sometimes, an unexpected surprise. Perhaps not exactly what you were planning on working on, but all of a sudden something needs your attention.....you know those breakdowns that are so unplanned....ours just happens to be a big one.... the garage doors. UGH! They are wooden and are falling apart. I'm not sure if the people who lived here before us never used them, or if it's just time for them to "go", but it's gotta happen. They are literally cracked and splitting apart at the seams. It's a safety issue and a water damage issue, and it has to be remedied.

Yes, part of me is quite excited about the possibility of new garage doors.... (if I don't look at the price). Both dh and I decided that we want nice doors as this is an investment in our home long term. If we ever sell, they will be a feature. And NO wood! We need durability at this house! lol! So, we unexpectedly agreed completely on a set of garage doors. In style, and windows, and everything. yeah! Now we just have to replace them...and the sooner the better. Here are the pictures of the old garage door, where it is falling apart. You can see in the second picture the water damage. The third picture shows where it is coming apart at the seams. (Dh thought I hit it with the car originally, to which I gave an emphatic "no"!)

We would like to get carriage doors for the garage. Here is a picture of what they might look like. (Not my house) I can't really find a photo of exactly what we are hoping to get. The windows are similar, but the hardware is a different shape wrought iron and has an extra plate at the bottom. The panels are slightly different as well.... but you get the idea. I guess this will have to do for now, and then I'll post photos after they are done.

***EDIT*** I'm just editing to say that I showed dh my blog entry for the day and he was laughing. I asked him, "What are you laughing at?" His response: "Safety issue, it's not a safety issue". Um... I know it doesn't look that bad, but when you raise the garage door the entire panels are splitting/pulling apart from the weight. So, I asked dh when he thought we would be getting those new garage doors we picked out. His response: "When we can afford them." So...what if they fall apart, then what. His response: Well if they fall apart, then we'll get the new garage doors, but I highly doubt they will fall apart". My response: (said very jokingly) "You never know...when you leave for work tomorrow I may start kicking in the garage door." lol! So, who knows when the garage doors will be coming? I will have to start using the front door though. ;-)

Brainstorming....

2007-07-14T14:29:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned previously, I sprained my ankle... so I am doing very little around here at all. Simple tasks, like sweeping the floor, and putting laundry away seem giant-like to me. I do them, and then I need to sit and rest my foot for awhile.... but while having lots of time to sit and elevate the ankle....I have been thinking and thinking about renovations.

I can tell I am getting somewhere when the creative juices start flowing.... and that "stuck" feeling goes away. The "stuck" feeling is not being sure exactly what direction to go in design wise. When my creativity becomes "unstuck", it's a great thing! lol! So, I haven't been thinking about the inside of my house, nope I've been pondering the outside. We have a larger farmhouse style home, and while the front is nicely landscaped (it was done by the previous owners), the side and back of the house have almost nothing done to them. Just that weedy grass with tons of bare dirt patches. ;-) And I wouldn't call that landscaped. But because of the size of the area to work with, it always seems overwhelming to me. I can't even begin to figure out what to do, or what to plant, or where to plant it, or how to get privacy, etc. etc. etc.

A few days ago a good friend, called me on my birthday. We had lots of fun catching up and it was good to laugh with her again! She was my neighbor in Pennsylvania, and we would pop over to visit each other's homes from time to time to look at our flower beds, or talk container plants or just hangout together. I told her of my gardening woes, that I had not a single container plant on my deck (which is not like me). And I mentioned to her in our conversation how good she was at working in little sections of her yard. She didn't need to have the entire thing done, but she worked a little here and a little there. Kind of like "putzing around the garden" as we say in PA. Anyway, I was thinking about that conversation today and some brainstorming began to take affect!

One thing dh and I know for sure is that we will be majorly cutting back those cottage roses this year. They are too large, and are not blooming as well. We'll do it in February, and hopefully we won't kill them, but we plan on pruning about 1/2 of each plant! I also plan on planting some begonias in the front to add color in different areas. While I liked the pansies that we planted, they really wilt in hot weather, and begonias are hardy right through fall!

I thought about the back of our house, as my mind looked at what the eye visualizes. You can see right under the deck, and I think I can remedy that with some lattice and some raised flower beds or maybe some climbing clematis. Also in front of a row of tall leyland cypress I would like to plant something else that would bring color to a row of green, and soften the line of the privacy hedge. There are also still a few areas that need privacy, so I think I would like to plant a few more evergreen in a corner of our property, and another leyland cypress.

I'm still pondering and dreaming... but breaking it down into manageable sections of our yard helped me to get "unstuck" and create the beginnings of a plan! So I have my flower and landscaping books out, and I'm just having a marvelous time brainstorming today!

Just a little break...

2007-07-07T08:31:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been awhile since I posted anything here. About 3 weeks actually.... It will probably be a little while until I'm ready to post another update on our house. DH and I are in the process of adopting internationally, and right now all the funds that we have are going to that. So, we are taking a break from the house remodeling. We have some expensive items coming up like new faucets, lighting fixtures and bathroom hardware....plus we'd like to fix the window trim mold in the other parts of our house that we have finished. (Like the living room, and homeschool room). But it will have to wait a few months.

Besides that I sprained my ankle badly, and I don't really have it in me yet to begin a remodel. I could be painting the bathroom cabinets, but not quite yet. :-)

So, hopefully in a few weeks we'll be ready to begin a new project. See you then!

Getting Organized

2007-06-17T08:06:00.000-05:00

I know this blog is mainly about remodeling....but I guess I consider organization of the home part of our remodeling. :-) And goodness knows we have organized around here since we moved in. I talked a little about how we re-did 3 closets since we moved in. No one can really notice that remodeling, as it is behind closed doors. But, it has made such a difference in where and how we store things. My boys bedroom closets is one example.

Anyway, this weekend I decided to tackle all the loose paper around our schoolroom/library, and if you homeschool, you know how this paper can accumulate! I sorted through, filed and threw out so much stuff! I re-registered with my Church related school for next year and updated my attendance and grades. I even have notebooks set up for next years filing of paperwork, etc for each boy. It took about 2 hours of uninterrupted work, but it's accomplished and I feel so much better! It was such a job to tackle!

From there I began to pull curriculum that was from previous grades, to box up and wait to be used in the future. I also pulled curriculum to sell at a future used curriculum sale. I threw out completed workbooks, that I was saving for who knows what! My dh said, "Throw them out!" So, out they went. I created quite a bit of room on all my bookshelves through this process, and I was able to shelf our curriculum for next year.... Yeah! And now I have room for the two boxes of curriculum that are coming soon!

Finally, I moved on to another paper mess. We are in the process of adopting internationally, and I had all the paperwork in various places...file folders and piles in and around my desk. It wasn't very organized and I don't think anyone other than me could locate a single document if they needed it. And while we had 3 ring binders for housing this stuff, we were not using them..... So, I tackled this project as well. Every important paper is stored in clear sheet protectors. It looks so much better, and I was able to empty two huge file folders! Now, all the documents are in their place, and should we need to pull them for something, it's easily found. I love the feeling being organized gives me! (Yes, I know I'm probably weird...) :-)

We have an art closet in our homeschool room as well. It has 3 doors. One is for my curriculum manipulatives, like games, flashcards, etc. The other two are for craft supplies. They are a Mess!! The boys pull out art supplies and crafts to do any number of projects whenever they feel like it. And while I LOVE their spontaneity and creativity, the disaster they leave behind isn't much fun. Thankfully they are old enough to put their crafts away, but they kind of put it in any old place they can find. So, from time to time I have to clean that out as well. It's been a LONG time since I did that. I'm waiting to get up the energy.... lol!

Anyway, aside from the art closet the room looks much better....I have a friend, who has on her blog... "Tackle it Tuesday." That's what I felt like this weekend... even though it wasn't a Tuesday.... I sure did tackle a lot!

Finally! Pictures of $10 Bookcase

2007-06-12T23:42:00.000-05:00

I was away for a few days...so I am finally able to post some pictures of the bookcase, and some cute things I found at Hobby Lobby, to decorate it with! I went into Hobby Lobby as one of my last stops last Wednesday evening. It was about 20 minutes before they closed. I came across some awesome accents for my boys room. Very unique, vintage with a scrapbook kind of a feel. So, I picked them up not even caring what they cost. (I can do this impulse thing, it isn't often, but when I see something I love, and it isn't real expensive, then I'll probably get it). Anyway, it wasn't until I got home that I noticed that every single item I bought was 50% off! WOW!!! It's funny because when the cashier told me the price I momentarily thought, that wasn't bad....but because they were closing I was in a hurry to get out of there. So...another great deal!

Here are a few photos of the bookcase and the accents I put on them. The space in the middle of the top of the bookcase is left for some lamp that I have yet to find. I decided since I found all this cool sport accent stuff, that I will not do the lamp in a sport motif.... too much.....and will just get it in a solid color to go along with the quilts. Doesn't the finish on the bookcase come awfully close to the finish on the headboard? That is hard to find...

Here are some closeups of the sports balls and picture frames. My kids photos are not in there yet....and it will probably take me several months to get that done.... lol!

This one is my favorite baseball photo frame. Now if I could just snap a picture of my son diving to catch the ball like that! Maybe I could leave it in there and we could pretend it was him!! :o)

One final picture of the grouping and the bookcase. I want to add some books and of course the lamp...but I am happy with it for now. This room has become one of my favorite rooms in our house. I love to walk by in the morning and just admire our handiwork. (I know I'm probably weird). :o)

We also replaced the ceiling fan with one from our downstairs family room. It works so well up there. the only thing that is a problem is when it is one a high speed it rocks rather badly. It is definitely a balance issue and so we will have to research how to solve that problem. It did this even in the family room (though not to the degree). Here is a photo of the fan (before and after).

Now doesn't that look better?

The final things for the room to finish it off... are pictures for the walls. I have a few, and I have some baseball jerseys to hang if I like the look.... I guess I'll get to those last finishes when I feel like it. Pulling the finishing touches together is not my forte, and so it rarely gets done. I am proud I was able to pull together what I did, and if those pictures go up, I'll be really impressed!

Our next project that we are anticipating starting in a few weeks is the boys bathroom. It's currently painted a bright dark aqua blue and the cabinets are just a very worn oak. The light fixtures are round globes from the 80's and the sink faucets are also 80's. There is a linoleum in the bathroom that I don't care for, but I have seen dh replace linoleum before and it did not go well. So this one I may have to leave alone and just cover it up. I'm planning on painting the boys cabinets creamy white, which will be a lot of work. So, come along on the next project starting soon!

Nightstand/Bookcase!

2007-06-03T19:50:00.000-05:00

I had just posted to the ladies in my homeschool support group that I went yard saleing this weekend and it was a total bust.... not a nightstand or bookcase to be found. I went to a TON too! So, I intended to stop at the antique mall on Sunday afternoon and see what I could find. I had been visiting the antique mall, about 2x a week for the last 3 weeks. So, I wasn't optimistic. It's a large store with lots of vendors, and I typically start out walking the entire thing, row by row, right to left. As I am going I am looking at prices for things that I don't necessarily love. You know things, I could re-do to make work... $125, $85, $75 and one $65. I wanted to pay around $40 for a nightstand or bookcase. So, as I am walking around the store I am talking to the Lord.. "Lord, I will be patient as long as you want. You know I don't want to spend a lot of money on this, and I don't really want to settle on something I don't like and pay more for it. I've been checking every week.... here, goodwill, thrift stores..... please help me to find a nightstand or bookcase."

I was heading around to the very last row, at the back of the store. And there was a booth that was almost completely empty. The dealer of that booth had everything 50% off for 2 weeks, and he must not have been renewing his contract. Now everything was gone, except for the three bookcases he displayed things on! Two were not real wood, and were a little small, but one was just about perfect.... it looked to be the same finish wood as the boys beds and dressers (red/brown maple/very hard to find). It was just a little wider in depth than a bookcase, and had several layered shelves that I could use to display things on. It was high enough to still place a lamp on top, and just wide enough to fit nicely between the two beds. Really I couldn't ask for more....not even the price. $10.00!! I took the post it note and walked right up to the front, thinking as I was walking and looking at furniture still... "Jackie, what are you still looking for?? That piece is so obviously yours". :o) So, I'm thanking the Lord for His provision! I never get tired of seeing how He works in the big things and small....

P.S. When I gather some things to put on the bookcase, I'll snap a picture!

The room is finished for now.... :o)

2007-05-27T19:10:00.000-05:00

Well, the boys are back in their room. The finishing touches are not there yet, and I have no nightstand, but their beds and dressers are back in, and it looks nice with the wall color. Special thanks to Susan for her help with both the spot on the comforter and the link for the carpet patch. Dh did the patch and it worked very well! Saved us much money, and he now knows for future reference how to do that.... :o)

Here are a few photos of the room...before and after. I wish I had pictures on the walls etc, but you get the idea of what it might look like.

Just a few pictures....

2007-05-22T20:08:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures of the closets...before and after....

These are the old closets before dh moved them over... Also notice the old thinner baseboard.

These are the new closets painted white with the new wall color. The baseboard is about 3 inches thicker as well. (Notice the carpet patch is not done yet...) :o)

Here are photos of the windows. I can't get a good after shot... the lighting wouldn't cooperate. I'll try to get a better picture this weekend. I thought I had a before shot of the whole window, but I don't.

Anyway, I guess the thing that strikes me about the new trim is that it looks more custom made than the old. Notice how the window apron (under the sill) comes out to meet the side trim. Dh did a good job!

Here is what we have left to do: install the carpet patch, replace the ceiling fan. Thanks to Susan for the hydrogen peroxide info. That small blood stain is almost all out of the quilt. It is hardly noticeable. It must have really been set in because it took me 4 hours with a small Q-tip just soaking on the spot to get it to where you would hardly notice it. Now I'll know for future reference what to do, so I can get the stain out as soon as I see it!

I still haven't found the nightstand. I even went to a local thrift shop. I've been checking ebay frequently too. Craigs list as well. I'm sure I'll find the right one at the right price eventually. :o) Once the room is put back together this Saturday, I'll take finished photos. I may not have everything I want on the walls yet, but the main work will be done, just the decorating finishes will be left. But, I finally feel like another room in the house is "ours" and not the previous owners. Yeah! (I redid an office into a homeschool room when we first moved in, and that one is definitely "ours" as well as our family room.)

That having been said, I am already excited about the next project. It's not big at all... and it's all outside. Dh needs to fix a few things that have not worked or have been broken recently due to our landscaping. Our lamppost has never worked, the power supply to it must have been cut prior to our purchasing the house. So dh is going to run electric back out to it, and we will be sprucing that thing up. Right now it has a very small lamp on it that is tilted when it was accidently hit by the mower. It's looking quite sad. I'm glad we'll be replacing it, as it was never quite to scale for the post/mailbox. Dh is going to trim some bushes back and generally shape up the landscape. I'm going to be potting flowers in lots of planters that I have. I never got them out last year, so I will be working on some hanging baskets and deck planters for the front porch and back deck. The back of our house could certainly use some color. I'll be sure to take before pictures of that as well. :-)

I'll leave you with one beautiful photo of our raised flower garden that we had before we moved. I wish I had raised beds like that here too, they are so easy to work with!

"Closing in on it".....

2007-05-20T20:34:00.000-05:00

That's dh's saying and it is so true for our boys room! Almost all the painting is done. Dh and I found a trim for around the windows that we liked, and it is up and painted and looks GREAT! We both used the word to describe it..."It makes the window look more substantial". I think that the trim looks so good, it's like a piece of art in the room. I will not be putting up any curtains, as it is too pretty to cover. The window has plantation blinds, so privacy will not be an issue.

Dh still needs to patch the carpet, and we decided we will be replacing the ceiling fan. I found one at Lowe's that I like...and it has more of an antique feel to it. I'm not sure if I mentioned why I decided to replace the fan, instead of painting it. The main reason is that it sounds quite sick at a low speed. I turned the fan on one evening and switched it to low...when I heard the sound, I thought, "why am I going to waste my time repainting a fan that isn't even quiet?" So, we will be replacing it this week. And I'll be on the hunt for a nightstand/bookcase for the room. Dh still needs to build some type of shelves/cubbies/trophy case for each boy. But we'll do that after they are back in the room. I also found an old baseball glove of dh's when he was a kid, and I think I might display it on the wall with a baseball and old bat. Very cool vintage.

I hope that dh will be done with the final trim painting, so I can post pictures sometime tomorrow. (At least of the window and closets). I'm excited to show off this new window moulding. lol! It's the little things isn't it?

Door trim, window trim and quilts...

2007-05-15T22:40:00.000-05:00

Today I ran to Lowe's after the ballgame to get some wood trim for the boys bedroom. Now remember, I wanted that cottage trim so badly..., however when dh put it up around all the doors and window, I just didn't like it. It looked like someone had tacked scrap pieces of wood around. It also didn't compliment the crown moulding very well. SO, I decided that we will just use the trim that was originally around the doors. I don't mind it too terribly, and it will save us much money in the long run, as we won't have to replace it throughout the house. The window trim will be a different trim, and that is proving to be a tougher decision. It was the window trim that dh and I have never really liked, so we will be redoing this (once I find what I like). I may have to post pictures of each trim, so that I can get opinions.

I promised dh that I would make a decision by the weekend, so that he can finish the room. He just wants to "get it done", as he said to me yesterday. I completely understand, I want that room finished too. Feels like we've been working on it forever. I can't wait to be able to pull the finished room together, even if I don't have a nightstand yet. And speaking of finished rooms, I have two quilts for the boys beds....I have had them on a rocking chair in the spare bedroom that the boys currently occupy. When I grabbed a quilt to check colors in the room etc, I noticed a small drop of blood right in the center. It's pretty small, about the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil. I'm sure it's from one of the many scrapes they get playing football, or biking, skateboarding whatever... It's right in the middle, of a cream swatch of the fabric. Any suggestions for getting blood out without ruining, fading or bleaching the colors? It's got some red quilt squares and I wouldn't want the red to run and turn the quilt pink. It would have to be right smack in the middle of the quilt, which lays right in the middle of the bed, so you'd be sure to notice it. And even if you didn't notice it..... I would notice it. So, I have to try to get it out. Any ideas?

Still working.....

2007-05-13T12:06:00.000-05:00

I haven't had an update to post in a couple of days.... we've actually been focused on the outside of our house lately. Trimming back the cottage roses, and weeding around the pansies and daylilies. The liriope is doing okay, but I probably should have trimmed it back again after that April cold snap. The crape myrtles are also slowly coming back with new growth. We still need to mulch everywhere...so many projects so little time. ;-)

My friend Jeannie asked what our next project is after the boys room. Well, I've been thinking about that. We have some maintenance issues to deal with concerning our landscaping. So we will have to handle some outside things first, but then I was considering renovating the boys bathroom. This should be a good before and after. The wall color is bright blue, and the cabinets are a worn oak, that have seen better days. I was originally thinking of painting the cabinets creamy white, but then I saw some painted black, and I thought it looked rather sharp. I may paint mine black and the boys the white. Dh says we need to hold off on our bathroom, as replacing the fixtures will be expensive. We will start the boys bathroom, and I plan on pricing some fixtures I saw at Southeastern Salvage. Hopefully I'll find a great deal!

We are still working on the trim around the boys room. Dh has cut it all, and it is primed. He has it on the wall (tacked up) so I could take a look at it... I'm not sure I love it. That's not a very good first reaction if you remember from my previous post. It's really simple, and while I do like that, our house just doesn't lend itself to that much of an era change. I think we will try to add a little more detailed trim on top of each header. I saw some doors and window trim in an old Home magazine I have (from 2004), and we may try to mimick it. What am I doing with a Home magazine from 2004? I pretty much save all home decorating and remodeling magazines.... unless they are way out of style. I have some from 2001 still. :-) I found some vintage suitcases a few years ago that are the perfect storage spot for my magazines.

I've also been on the hunt for some type of night table or small bookcase to place between my children's beds. I haven't found what I am looking for yet though. I know I could find it at a new furniture store, but I refuse to pay a high price for it. I went today to a furniture outlet and saw a very simple one with a price tag of $175! Yikes!! I'm on the hunt for something around $40 or less. Where we used to live, they had an awesome furniture consignment store, and I would always find stuff for the house there. Maybe I'll find some furniture items at a yard sale.....I plan on making this a regular activity soon!

As promised updated pics....

2007-05-07T09:44:00.000-05:00

Well, I can't say that I'm feeling a lot better.... but maybe a little. My stomach seems to be gurgling less, and I managed to eat two pieces of toast and 12 oz of Gatorade. I truly hope by tomorrow I will feel more like myself. I did manage to take pictures of the boys room...and what we have done so far. There is no trim on any doors or windows yet, and the baseboard trim, (which I love), is just cut. We still need to paint it and install it.

Here is the first shot of the closets, shelves and all. It's hard to see, but above the top dowel rod of clothes are two more additional shelves that run the width of the closet. These will come in handy for storage. Of course I had to take a picture of the closets now, as their is no guarantee that it will look this neat when I turn it over to the boys!

These photos are of each side of the closet, and the last photo is of the bins I was talking about.

They can be labeled, and should hold all of the boys treasures that are currently being stored in the bottom drawers of their dressers.

We'll have some space cleared out now for clothes, which... surprise, surprise.... is what a dresser should hold!

A bin for all

stuffed animals...

The photo to the right is a pretty good picture of the color of the room. It will look great with the cottage trim around the doors and windows. Dh also replaced all the switch plates and outlets with white to go with the white trim.... Can't wait until I can pull the whole room together!

Finally- a color I love!

2007-05-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

Yes, it is true I found a paint color for the boys room. But I'll get to that in a minute. Let me rewind just a day or so. Dh and I had a date night and had a lovely dinner out by ourselves. After dinner, I wasn't feeling quite right, but we ventured on anyway. We planned on going antiquing afterward, but the antique center was closed. So we headed to return the bins I mentioned in the previous post. Now, I have to tell you, I'm at this point not feeling very well. Not a good thing for date night and the start of our weekend. We pick up the boys and head home and I head to bed. I wake up Saturday, nauseous and not feeling real well. It's some kind of stomach virus. Gurgling stomach the works. I am not hungry, although I tried to eat a little toast etc late in the day. So it's now Sunday late afternoon, I've been in bed all weekend long with a stomach bug, and my stomach is still literally gurgling as I type. So not fun!

That being said, how could I possibly have picked a paint color? Because I have an awesome dh! He went down to get every beige brown color strip of Benjamin Moore at our local hardware store. He brought them up to our room and we each picked the ones we liked. He told me I need to go with a darker color, so I listened to him. We narrowed it down to two colors. He then drove back to the hardware store, got samples and came home to paint them on the walls. We each liked a different color, so we called the boys in and they chose the one they liked the best. (Mine) :0 Within the 1/2 hour dh was back down at the hardware store picking up a gallon and while I slept he painted the room. (He is a great man!)

Late Saturday evening, I went in to check the color with the quilt I bought for the beds. I heard something fall, but didn't pay too much attention.... when I went to leave not a few minutes later... a whole quart of white paint had fallen and spilled onto the middle of the carpeted floor!!!! Sick or not, I ran downstairs to get dh to do something. He was not his normal optimistic self, which did not bode well for the carpet. His immediate response was, "We'll have to replace the carpet." What?!?!? The carpet I was going to patch to save us a whole lot of money? Nu uh, not if I have anything to say about it. So, dh cleaned all of the top spill off with a paint spatula, and the he told me to go get the steam cleaner with warm water. I did and we went to work. I went online to to find out how to get large paint spills out of a carpet. We were doing everything we could, except we should steam the whole room, so there wouldn't be a light spot. So, we had to move everything out of the room (tons of all his tools, it looked like the garage). When that was complete, I told dh to go watch his movie, I'll finish the room.... he had done enough for the day as it was. We left the fan on and the windows open and you can not tell that a whole quart of white paint spilled on the carpet at all! Dh gave me a great compliment on how well I did cleaning it up. ( I was steam cleaning for over an hour). ;o)

So, now everything is out of the room, the carpet is clean, the closets are done, the paint is on the wall....and we are "closing in on it", as dh likes to say. Not a bad accomplishment for a totally sick weekend. I promise I will take pictures as soon as I feel better.

New growth....

2007-05-04T09:43:00.000-05:00

Just a little update, I still have not ventured to look for a paint color. Not quite ready to do that yet..... :o) However, the closets are almost together. Dh is putting the final coat on the shelves this evening, and then he will spray them with a clear enamel protectant tomorrow. The dowel rods are up and I actually have clothes on them. (yes, I'm a happy camper!) This evening, dh and I will be exchanging some bins that will go on the closet shelves, and tomorrow evening our closets should be d-o-n-e done. Yeah!

We still have the paint color to select and the trim to do. Perhaps we'll find a color this evening. I'm not as rushed to move the kids back into that room, as I want to take my time and get it right. Today we plan to go look a night table...at an antique center nearby. The boys enjoy to go there and check out all the old stuff. I love that they are developing an interest in old things and history. I hope to post updated photos when the paint color is finalized.

Finally, I have some good news! (Small really in the scheme of things, but good none the less).... our crape myrtles that I was so concerned about after that cold snap...are finally showing new growth! What a joy to see that every time I drive by! Unfortunately the lace leaf dwarf maple, has begun to look even more pitiful than the picture I posted a few weeks ago. So, I'll be reading up on what to do to help that little tree out. Overall, while we don't have the splendid spring we were originally on track for.... it won't be a total loss either. Our daylilies have begun to bloom (those hardy things), and I think the cottage roses will soon boast some new blooms as well. I'll take some pictures in a few weeks when they really flower out!

UGH...The paint saga continues.....

2007-04-29T21:23:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to blog one thing tonight.... I'm so discouraged. The paint I chose for the walls is the wrong color. I'm quite frustrated with myself, not only for the work it took to paint it...but the money I spent. The color is too red...it has a red/pink undertone. It was just a square and you would think I would remember my lesson about that from my kitchen cabinets. UGH! If there is a square(paint chip) and there is no "family of paint colors with it", always always always ask for the color tints that make up that paint chip. So I am back to square one, and the white I chose for the trim was also too bright.... (dayglo white).

I'm just going to let it sit for a few days and come back to this room when I have a clearer head, and perspective. Let this be a lesson for friends, I am not good at picking paint!

Slow and Steady.....

2007-04-28T16:43:00.000-05:00

I have to remind myself....slow and steady wins the race. Not like we are trying to win a race or anything. It's just I forget when we are remodeling, that it affects almost every part of the house. I don't know why this is...but when things are in different locations, different rooms, thrown anywhere, I become more overwhelmed. I know people who have remodeled know what I am talking about. It's like you have one room in the house that is tidy, for me it's our homeschool room. It's good for me to visit this room often for my own sanity. Almost every other room becomes a holding place for either remodeling stuff, or a temporary holding place for the things that will go in the remodeled room. Ack!

Good news, we returned some things that we did not need for the room. Some bins that I bought for the shelves were not the correct color (too red). I bought some smaller bins for the kiddos to store their treasures and keepsakes. It will be a good thing! I bought the paint (Antique by Waverly) and also the white trim paint for all the trim work and the closet. We begin painting this evening, and will hopefully be done with the closet tonight. Perhaps Monday I can begin to hang clothes and set up shelves. Dh and I still need to purchase all the trim from Home depot. I guess the trim work will be a project for next weekend. We are replacing the window sill as well. Our windows originally had no trim at all. We think the previous owner added this pre-made trim, and as you can see from the pictures it doesn't meet the window sill. That sticking out bit is in every room, and it's gonna go.

This has been one of the biggest projects for us,(in our new home) and we aren't through yet! After we get the trim up, dh will be making wall cubbies w/hooks to house their sports trophies and their ballcaps. I was hoping to get to some yard sales today to search for a night stand or book shelf in wood to place between the twin beds. And, I have to re-do their ceiling fan. I'm still not sure if I am going to paint it and buy new blades, or just find one on sale somewhere. It's almost easier to do the latter, but if the cost is significantly different, then I'll be painting it.... Here's a photo:

Progress....

2007-04-26T23:50:00.000-05:00

The shelves are up in the closet! Woohoo! This is big stuff, and it has been quite a lot of work for dh. We have to prime and paint them white next, so they won't stick out like a sore thumb, when you look in the closet. But they are built, and dh is quite pleased with himself. (As well he should be). I think it helps that he is an engineer and he actually likes to draw to scale, figure out measurements on paper, then mark the wall or wood and measure 3-4 more times and then cut...etc. That would drive me crazy, I have no patience for that kind of detail work. So, I am definitely grateful for his talent in this area.

DH is hoping to have the closet done and the dowel rods up by this weekend. I sure am hoping too, because NOW the clothes are not just in that temporary closet. Since that is a mess, and packed full, the kiddos have begun to use the air hockey table as the place for all clothes that won't fit in the closet. (Now I really don't like to go in that playroom!) Oh how hopeful I am to be able to hang their clothes back up into their closets this weekend.

I have a humorous story to share about my paint selection. As you know I sent dh to the store with the two samples of paint that I liked so we could "audition" them. Those went up on the wall a week ago, and I thought they were a bit dark and they were also very close in color. This evening I took one of the quilts that will go in the room, and went to try to find another paint to audition. I found two that I thought might work. One I felt was pretty close, (Antique by Waverly) and the other I thought, might be dark...but I wanted to see it on the wall anyway...(Khaki by Waverly). So I put the antique on the wall and I ask dh what he thinks. He says, "it looks.... it looks really close to the other colors you have on the wall." Good grief I think.... these ladies are not going to believe that I picked another color so close to the other two! So, as I'm closing up the small paint can, and placing it on the shelf next to the others, I take a look at all my colors so far. Yes, there is Hotel wheat......I remember that one well...and what's this one?..... Antique by Waverly....oh yes, that's what I just put on the wall.... and what's this one...I forget what I picked....? Ummm..... Antique by Waverly? What? I picked the same color twice? LOL! No wonder the color looked so close. I had no idea that I picked the same audition tonight that I had dh get a sample of last week. Can you guess which one we are leaning toward? I guess the one I liked enough to pick twice! Anyway, here are some pictures for you of the closet with shelves and the 3 paint samples. Which one do you like?

Here is a good look at the three colors. One is hotel wheat, one is khaki and one is antique....can you tell which is which? Note the Mountain Dew, dh's favorite drink.

The picture to the right shows a piece of our new wide baseboard molding.

Here is the closet, the wood sticks out like a sore thumb to me when I look at this. But it will all blend nicely, when it is painted. Also the frame and closet doors are not up. The shelves will hardly stick out at all once those pieces are up. Right now they look out of proportion to the closet, but they'll look better when the doors are up. I sure hope I can post a picture of a finished closet soon!

A quiet rain....

2007-04-24T10:58:00.000-05:00

What a lovely day. About mid-morning the already grey skies began to quietly rain. Not your hard, wind swept storm that blows in and out quickly. No this was a gentle rain, that all the plants and grass outside desperately needed. It's the kind that sinks into the ground, leaving very little for run off. This is the kind of rain, that I like to listen to.... perhaps open a window to my bedroom, or sit on my front porch and watch the birds search for worms that have made their way up to the surface. Everything seems to slow down here when it rains....and I find that I like it. I have a moment of quiet as the kiddos are at their Tuesday activity. I think I'll take a moment, sip some coffee and watch the rain. These days don't come around too often for me...and I'd like to enjoy it.

Paint- A love/hate relationship.

2007-04-21T21:15:00.000-05:00

(I use that title tongue in cheek, as I guess re-reading my post, I really do have that kind of relationship with paint. lol!)

The walls have been primed! Yippee! I have both colors "auditioned" on the wall. Do you think they work? Really.... given my track record... that would be a "NO". I wonder if I am just no good at picking paint. I know I've been called color sensitive .... but you would think I would be so sensitive that I would be able to "see with my eyes" what paint chip color would work, instead of having to audition thousands! (Okay, thousands is a slight exaggeration, perhaps 5....but still!!) I think the color I chose for the walls is too dark. I actually chose two colors, and when I put them up, they look almost identical. LOL! I thought... good grief why did I bother. lol! So, I'm headed back to Lowe's tomorrow to look at some more color chips. Something in like a light brown sugar color would be great.

We selected our baseboard height. Dh brought home a sample and I absolutely love it. Now that is a good thing, because when I remodel, I can have three reactions, "love it", "can't stand it", and "unsure of it" (which is my most dreaded). The fact that I love the baseboard is great. I don't usually waver at all when I give that reaction. It's when I have an "unsure of it" reaction, that dh knows it's gonna probably change. We looked for window and door trim today, but not seeing what we needed, dh said he might have to build it himself. (I didn't even have to tell him). He really does like to build things. :-)

So while dh and I were painting the walls in the kids room, and I said, "I love the smell of paint, it's intoxicating." Dh said, "Yes, the smell of paint means progress". LOL! Oh how true, and he hit the nail right on the head. I guess dh is right, it signals progress on our remodeling. But it also brings a sense of comfort to me, as I think about all the wonderful memories we have made renovating our home.

Spring Flowers....

2007-04-20T22:34:00.000-05:00

I miss the flowers that we would normally see about now in this part of the country. After that record setting cold snap here a few weeks ago, everything out in my yard is dead or dying. The poor azaleas are brown, and we'll have to cut back the bushes to save them. The weeping cherry was flowering a beautiful pink before the weather turned. The liriope has turned brown, but it may be coming back to life, as it's quite hard to kill that stuff. My cottage roses are even affected and while they aren't too bad, if I don't see some blooms open in the next week or so, I'm going to prune them as well. The laceleaf maple that was vibrant red is now orange brown, and wilted. I've driven around the neighborhood and all of these miniature trees look like this. But the saddest sight to see has to be my 4 crape myrtle trees. The were pushing forth light green foliage and looking healthy and fresh in the springtime. Now their leaves are shriveled up and brown, hanging limply from twigs that seem to also be drying out. I'm concerned about them, and not sure if I should cut them back, or leave them be. I've read advice to wait a few weeks and new growth should begin to show. I guess I'll wait a couple more weeks and see what happens....so sad. The only thing that looks bright and vibrant in my front yard are my yellow and purple pansies. They didn't seem to be bothered by the cold at all. They stand out amongst all the dreary damaged plants as if cheerfully saying, "We may be small, but that cold didn't bother us a bit!" Notice the sad looking laceleaf maple behind them.

So, I guess this spring is done as far as blooming, and it will be a season of waiting and watching to see what recovers. Since I missed a prolonged bloom time, it has gotten me thinking about container plants. I need a good shot of colorful blooms, so I'm posting some pretty petal pictures for you. I also have a great website that has helped me with my container planting. It shows you a picture of the planted flower container, and then shows you a diagram of each plant and where to plant it. I still use this to get ideas on how to make an outdoor planting arrangement look good. :-)

http://www.fernlea.com/samples/containers/container1.htm

Aren't these flowers gorgeous? I love the old buckets they are arranged in.

Those would look lovely in a few rooms in my house.

The blue and white flowers in the window box are stunning! Can you tell what types of flowers I prefer? All these are beautiful, makes me want to hang some window boxes... eventually.

I think the yellow flowers are coreopsis, or some sort of daisy. I'm not sure and my big book of flowers is not with me at the moment to lo0k them up.

Drywall, Trim, and Closets.... an update.

2007-04-18T10:56:00.000-05:00

Well, it's official I have a full fledged cold. UGH! Nothing special to report on the remodeling front. DH is continuing to mud the drywall in the room, and even said we would be ready to paint by the weekend. Shocker! Sure hope the color looks right. We have to prime the walls first, as the color is a darker blue. I haven't even tested my auditions yet. We also plan on replacing the trim, room by room in the house, as we can afford it. Since this room is already disassembled, dh plans of taking off the baseboard molding, and door and window trim before he paints this weekend. I have to go to Lowe's or Home Depot to check out the trim again. I may even have to find a lumber store. Perhaps they have specialty trims that you don't readily find at the big home improvement centers. (I think he may actually have to build the trim for the windows and doors....but I'm not going to share that with him until I know for sure.) Eek! Here's a picture of the new closet position drywalled. Just waiting for the last few coats of mud...and then primer.

One thing you will find as you read about our remodeling......I design it and dh builds it. Can I tell you how blessed I am that this man likes to remodel, and basically will try to build whatever I design? He is truly gifted in getting things done, and while I may have the vision, it is he who helps me bring it to fruition.

So, speaking of design, I have also begun to design the boys closets. I had a brainstorm take hold yesterday... there is a small wall space between the closets. On the inside I am going to have dh build shelves, which I will have made to measure for those canvas fabric bins. This will hold some of their toys animals etc. Then next to the shelves we will double hang dowels rods for their clothes. It will be good to utilize all the closet space we have, leaving very little as wasted space.

It's funny because of all the remodeling we have done since we moved into this house, we remodeled 3 closets this far! You can't really see our progress, as it is all behind closed doors. But this is what I think.... for me, it's gotta be an organized, workable space. This is especially true for closets. I don't know why, but if your closet is workable, then most of your stuff around your house will go to a proper place and the whole house will feel less cluttered. I can't stand to open a closet and have everything be falling out all over the place. I guess I'm a little weird... Currently their clothes are being hung in one closet in the playroom. Their clothes are stuffed in tight, with hangers sticking out all over the place! I somehow have grown into this more organized person over the years, and that closet in there is killing me! I don't even want to look at it! So, the faster the new closets get up and running the better for my sanity! LOL! Here's a photo of the temporary closet! Yikes!

Weeds in the Garden.....

2007-04-17T16:07:00.000-05:00

They know, they just know where to grow, how to dupe you, and how to camouflage themselves among the perfectly respectable plants, they just know, and therefore, I've concluded weeds must have brains. ~Dianne Benson, Dirt, 1994

Weeds, weeds weeds.... I probably would not have noticed them, had it not been for baseball season. As I have mentioned in previous posts, it's baseball season, and those of you who have kids who play ball, know how often we find ourselves at the field. My boys are in different leagues, and so are on two teams with quite different schedules. Last week we found ourselves at the ballpark every night of the week, but one. As I drove on our street last night, I noticed nicely manicured lawns, and then I got to my house. The grass would soon be up to the kids knees! I'm sure the neighbors have kept their kids home, because you never know what could be lurking in that grass. :-) So, you could actually tell our family plays baseball, and we've been away from home for many nights.

I called dh today, and was commenting on the grass. He is supposed to go and have a practice session with the kids, like we don't get enough baseball.... So, I mention the grass, and since we are done with work/school for the day, I ask if he can walk me through how to operate the mower. Ever so enthusiastically, because he knows this in the end will help him, dh explains each step to starting and running the mower. So, I hang up with him and get her started, pop her into 3rd and away I go. (Not sure if I should have started in 1st and slid her into 3rd... but I'll ask later). As I'm mowing our large side yard, where the kids play baseball and football, I am noticing how bad it looks. (I guess I don't see it from the road, or I try not to look). Bare patches everywhere, and weeds galore. I don't even know what all the dumb weeds are called, but I know two...onion and clover. I'm just mowing around and around, going over divots of dirt and bumps of grass. We even hired a service to help us get the weeds under control. They have been out once and are due out again, but how discouraging. I read that you shouldn't even seed until fall, so am I going to have to live with it this year? I may just overseed anyway.

So, I am on a mission....to have a beautiful lush lawn in two years. I know it won't get there overnight, but I am determined to work on it! BTW- Isn't this flower bed gorgeous???? I think I would like to plant something like that around a border of my side yard.... beautiful!!

Now the rain comes!

2007-04-15T14:44:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's been raining off and on all day and cold! This is some serious fireplace weather today. Too bad we won't be around long enough to sit in front of one. Oh well, its supposed to get up into the 60's this week, so I look forward to that. I indeed woke up with the same nasty sore throat, which I attribute to this cold front we have had. I sure hope I feel better soon!

The room continues to be in demolition mode, only far worse. Just about every tool of dh's is in there. Both of my boys decided to bring up their own tool boxes as well, so add that to the mix. They decided they wanted to build a doghouse out of scrap pieces of drywall, and wood etc. We don't have a dog mind you, but it's for if we ever get one. :-) So lots of mess, and dh should be mudding the drywall he hung. He's planning on fixing a huge section of poorly plastered wall (courtesy of the previous owner). I took a picture of that, so when he fixes it, I'll post both.

I also selected two paint colors at Lowes today and dh is bringing home the little auditions samples. If you haven't heard of auditions it is a great idea at Lowes. Basically it's a little can of the paint you are thinking about, and you can "audition" it onto your walls and see if it works in your room, and with your furnishings. I seem to go through several small auditions until I find the right color for a room. Picking paint is not my forte. I just am so color sensitive, and if the undertones in a color are off, then it won't work for me. A lot of people tell me they can't see that... sometimes I wish that were me, it would make selecting paint easier! I picked my first color pretty quickly, so I am optimistic....but you never know until you see it on the wall and in a room. (Or at least I don't) LOL!

I'll post more after we have painted the room, or when he has the closet door back up. And a big thank you to Susan for sending the HGTV website with instructions on how to plug in a piece of carpet. DH, doesn't know it yet, but that's what we're gonna do. It's free and the piece is almost big enough. I think it will work just fine. So thanks again!

Where is the Rain????

2007-04-14T09:16:00.000-05:00

I am so bummed! I can't even believe it. It is not raining! Come on, it said 100% chance! How often do you see that? Unbelievable! So dh just left for ds2's ball game, and I am home with a sore throat from freezing at several of his previous games. The room is in demolition mode. Unfortunately it looks like it will stay there for some time. BTW- I really do seem to set unrealistic goals, which annoys dh to no end. Me: I was hoping to get the entire bedroom done this weekend. DH: You're crazy. Of course this sparked a seemingly never ending debate on realistic and unrealistic remodeling goals. Ay yi yi... no wonder we haven't remodeled in awhile. :)

Here are some photos of the closet area pre-demolition. As you can see the right hand closet has a large heating/cooling duct that takes up half the space. You'd think the builders would have thought of that when they framed everything. Anyway....the closets were just not working, hard to organize, and not user friendly. So dh has taken out the closet doors, molding and framework. He cut into the drywall to the left, shortening the distance between the closet doors. he will then move the framework over, drywall to cover the air duct, re-install the closet frame etc.

Here is a photo of the demolition. (See what I mean about 1/2 the closet being unusable?) The one problem that we will have is the carpet. Moving the closet door over, left a section of floor where there is no carpet. DH said, we can't just throw a piece in there, as you can't "plug" carpet. He wanted to do something with carpet and a threshhold, but I didn't like that much. We came to an agreement to put wood laminate like Pergo or something just in the closet. We'll try to get some at southeastern salvage inexpensively. Eventually I would love to put hardwood all upstairs, but dh said "no way".

Here is another photo the closet. As you can see it sits behind the bedroom door, and there is a dresser in front of it. Hopefully when dh is finished the dresser will sit in front of the drywall, and the closet door will open all the way to a fully usable closet. And one more look at that demo'ed closet. The space from the wood frame in the middle to the white wall on the right (duct) is all the space ds2 had to hang clothes.

It's Gonna Rain! Yippee!

2007-04-12T20:24:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you're wondering why in the world I would be so excited about rain. Well, you see we have had a baseball game every night this week except Wednesday. (And Wednesday's we have committments at our church). So, in looking at the weather forecast for Saturday... this is what I saw: 100% chance of RAIN! 100%! I hardly ever see the chance of rain at 100%.

So, I'm talking to dh tonight and we will be planning on what materials we need at Lowes. It's gonna be a work weekend!! I'm so excited! I'll post those "before" pictures of the boys room, maybe tomorrow. (Once I take them of course). We haven't had time for a work on the house weekend in quite some time. So this is gonna be fun! :-) I'll post tomorrow what we plan to accomplish, after we have had time to discuss it. I'm the optomist in this situation and my list is a mile long, where dh is the realist and knocks the thing down to what he feels can actually get done. It's usually not a lot. LOL! Oh well, it's nice to dream isn't it?

Before and After.... or just After....

2007-04-10T22:21:00.000-05:00

I just love before and after shots. A picture is worth a thousand words and the comparison between a before and after speaks volumes! Sometimes you just can't believe what something used to look like, and explaining it with words doesn't begin to capture it like a picture would.

The reason I am so big on before shots is because a few years ago in our old home we completely redid our basement laundry area. It was an awful room. All concrete cinder block walls, a worn concrete floor, no ceiling just steel beams, a very old brown furnace, an oil drum (the house was heated by oil), and one hanging light bulb in the middle of the room. That is it..... we jokingly referred to it as the interrogation room. (Too many spy movies). Anyway, we completely re-did that room, and I never took a before picture. I'm kicking myself as the difference was so stark it was unbelievable! I think I may have one photo of dh framing in a wall, but that is it. But I'm going to post these after pictures for you anyway. :-) They are a little dark, as there was no natural light at all, except for one tiny basement window.

The floor we painted taupe and cream in a checkerboard pattern. Dh was doing a demolition and was given a perfectly good and clean drop ceiling. So he installed that with recessed lighting. The piece of furniture is actually an old dresser that I bought from a thrift shop for $10. We got rid of the drawers that didn't work, and put in heavy plywood. The furniture tacked fabric around the base. Inside we stored all our childrens board games. The mirror I also got at a thrift store for $5. The three tall cabinets in the back are from Ikea. The fronts were wood, and I painted them in a creamy color and then antiqued them with a brown glaze.

The picture to the right is of the laundry area. The cabinet above the laundry we bought at Lowes. It was just a plain flat front laundry cabinet. We re-did it with a bead board to give it more of a cottage feel. We also drilled holes for a dowel rod to hang fabric so we could hide the washer hoses. The bench was a find on ebay for $40. The frames I found at Michael's on clearance, and I had my boys (age 3 and 4 at the time) draw pictures of our family so I could frame them. We still have those as precious memories.

The picture to the left is of a magnetic board we made. Dh was working with a sheet metal subcontractor and he gave him a large scrap of metal they were going to pitch. We painted it the same color as the walls. Dh painted the frame the same taupe color as the floor, and then hung it. A few months before we had to have the magnetic strip replaced all around our refrigerator. The repairman asked me if I wanted to keep the magnetic piece. I had no idea what I would do with that, but I kept it. Sure glad I did! I cut it into small pieces and painted it cream. Voila! Magnets to hang the boys artwork and no thumb tacks for them to step on or get poked with. We had to leave almost all of my laundry room behind when we moved....what a bummer.

So now you see why I wish I had a before picture? Just picture a room with all concrete and cinder block, no ceiling, and one bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Bleck! :-) Lesson learned: I'll be sure to get my camera out before we start any new renovations.

So many ideas...so little time!

2007-04-04T21:40:00.000-05:00

I have so many ideas floating around in my head for our home.... there is never time to "do" anything though! For instance after seeing one woman's awesome remodeling in a cottage style, I knew I wanted to start focusing on more detail oriented stuff. I have not liked our molding from the moment we moved into our house, and dh hasn't either...though he could live with it. (He could live with anything, if you ask me). Anyway, today I mentioned to dh that I wanted us to replace all the trim around the doors and windows. His response to me.....

"I'll show you how to use the miter saw..." Ha! Very funny. :-) So I found out that the cottage look I want to add to the windows and doors doesn't even require a miter cut...Cool that should be easier!

Anyway, I was thinking to myself that our current home is definitely not a fixer upper as our first home was. It's pretty decent and liveable, but I am desiring to make it more "mine". Do you know what I mean? This home has all the paint decor etc from the previous owner, and I like it, but I just want some more of me in there. Sometimes I still feel like I'm living in her house, and we've been here almost a year. So the renovations will be starting just as soon as baseball season is over. And for those of you who have kids in baseball, you know what I am talking about!

Back to my musings on our non-fixer upper. Well it led me to go back and find pictures of our old house, and post some of them on here. Our old house was a 70's style decor that was dark and awful. Here is a photo of the kitchen cabinets from when we first bought it.

The face fronts had a crisscross pattern routed into them with a diamond in the middle in a peach color. In the middle of the diamond were these awful brass knockers. The backsplash was that hard linoleum like stuff in a peachy yellow. The peninsula was hand built by the previous owner with scraps of leftover wood. It was the worst construction!

This is a photo of our kitchen right before we sold the house. Had we stayed, hardwood floors were definitely going in there. But since we were moving, we left it as it was. The new owner put hardwood in anyway....which I was happy about!

The wall color is called Toasted Almond by American traditions at Lowes. (I think it's American Traditions) The color on the cabinets is called creamy by Sherwin Williams. That color took forever for me to find. I had those cabinets painted (22 of them!) and when I was done the color I had chosen was a bit too yellow. I tried to work with it, but dh knows me, and said "Jackie, you are not going to be happy until you re-paint those". I chose the Creamy color after looking and debating a LONG time. We filled the routing on the cabinets with a hard expoxy, and then put a skim coat of mud on them, to smooth them out. It was the most economical way to get flat front cabinets without buying new. (Which we couldn't afford). Instead of applying a varnish to seal them (they would yellow), we sprayed them with an acrylic clear coat spray and they wiped down beautifully! DH built the island and we bought that laminate top to match what we already had, again because of cost.

I still love to look at that kitchen!

A New Journey

2007-04-03T23:29:00.000-05:00

Well, I have finally taken the plunge and decided to start blogging. I have several friends who blog about many different subjects.... but I came across a blog recently all about remodeling. It's one of my passions, and I knew it would be the central theme of a new blogging endeavor. I love cottage decorating, as it can often be done on a shoestring budget, utilizing yard sales, flea markets and antique shops! I love cottage roses and our house has several large knockout shrub rose bushes flanking the front porch. Their simple beauty is what I love, and I hope to remodel the inside of our home with that same lovely charm.