A Shout Out to my Husband

My husband. Where do I begin. This man is like no one else I have ever met.  He is an amazing father.  With our children he is a teacher, encourager, expert, and explorer of all things slithery, creepy, crawly, furred and feathered.  For this I am thankful!  Without him my kids wouldn't know how to catch crawdads, identify dangerous snakes (you mean they aren't ALL dangerous??), hit a whiffle ball, or love and care for furry animals of all types (who knew guinea pigs would be good pets for little kids).  And, somehow, he can magically get fussy babies to stop crying by holding their feet (seriously, it worked like a charm on our babies so we've randomly tested the theory on our friends' fussy little ones with 100% success).

I could go on and on about the enrichment he provides for the kids. But the kids aren't the only ones benefitting from his genuine love of life. I had NO idea what I signed up for when I said "I do."  I couldn't have predicted that he would teach me to use power tools, drive lawn mowers, pull trailers, demolish and rebuild bathrooms, edit video, and change my brake pads (let's hope I don't have to put that last one to practice).  He also pushes me to test my limits and pursue my dreams. He's the swift kick in the butt I need when I'm losing sight of my goals. And let's be honest, sometimes he just flat out drives me crazy.  I'm sure the feeling is mutual.  

So when he started showing me pictures of hand-crafted teardrop trailers I thought to myself, "here we go again."  Then he got his hands on an old busted up camper.  Next thing I know, we are hauling the camper home and he is disassembling it on our driveway.  I used to worry what the neighbors must be thinking...  Now they just come over and ask. A nice lady from down the street stopped on her morning walk to inquire and was very optimistic that it will turn out great.  Whew.  I still can't quite wrap my head around how it's all going to come together, but I am confident that Ryan has thought of every last detail and can visualize the entire blueprint in his mind.  I'll have a better understanding of it all as it comes together.  

You can read more about the trailer project on Ryan's blog: http://ryanvanzant.blogspot.com/2013/09/trailer-project.html

Enjoy this beautiful Saturday!

 

Brick Patio; We're Getting Closer!

After many many hours sweating in the sun and near 100 degree temps, the bricks are almost complete!  Wahoo!!  It took about two and half hours to power wash the whole thing. 

We have a couple different brick varieties. 

We still need to break more bricks to fill some little spaces along the edge and fill the cracks with sand and mortar. Almost there...

"New" Kitchen Chairs

Yesterday I took the kids to a couple of garage sales.  I rarely shop at garage sales, mainly because I hate driving all over town looking for them, but on Friday night Ryan saw an ad online for a sale with a ton of furniture.  They called it a furniture painter's dream, and they weren't kidding.  I went early hoping to find kitchen chairs.  I think I would have brought a lot more furniture home had I been able to fit it in my SUV!

I got four matching chairs for $50!!

They are very solid and in great shape.  When we got home we started wiping them down to get rid of the cob webs and grass clippings.  They looked clean until I realized that what I thought was stain was actually grimy build up.  Surprising since the fabric is clean and stain free on all four chairs.  So I busted out a bucket of warm soapy water and enlisted the kids to help.  Sorry the lighting is so bad in my pictures!  My iPhone's finest. 

The "new" chairs match the table amazingly well.  Ryan thinks I should touch up the stain on the chairs since they match so well.  I'm thinking more along the lines of painting them and recovering the seats. I've been pinning lots of fun ideas. I would love to be brave enough to paint them all red.  But that might be too bold. Maybe just some bright and cheery red fabric instead?  Any suggestions?

Have you noticed a theme on the blog lately?  We've been doing a lot of projects with recycled or reclaimed materials. I used to prefer everything be shiny and new, but as I've developed more confidence in my DIY skills I've realized I can create some pretty amazing things from left-over or left-behind materials. I've pushed myself to take more design risks (purple shutters I'm talking to you) and not stress over making sure every little thing matches.  I find myself surrounded by unique pieces that inspire me and make this house my home.  Not to mention the good feeling that comes from helping out the environment by reducing our contribution to the landfill.  That's pretty awesome, too. :)

A Ton of Bricks

About a month ago I posted pictures of my little patio update here.  Since then we've been hard at work making even more changes.  Remember how I posted a picture of the red brick pavers we were thinking about?

Well, we jumped in with both feet.  We were able to strike up a deal with the owner of these bricks.  A really, really good deal.  Maybe it had something to do with this...

Yup, that's the pile of bricks being taken over by the land.  We are unsure of the details of the history of these bricks, but judging from the wear (and concrete stuck to some) we know they've been used before.  Even better.  :)  So we dug, dug, dug and loaded up the truck about 5 times over the course of a couple weeks. 

One truck load...

Three truck loads...

We layered fine gravel on the concrete slab patio for the first phase of bricks.  In order to expand the patio out into the yard (and to meet up with the sidewalk that stops suddenly in the back of the house) we dug out a large area of grass.  Luckily we have had so much rain recently that the ground has been softer than usual.  Regardless, digging grass makes for sore feet....

Luckily we had a very enthusiastic helper.

The digging is finally done.  Hopefully we'll make more progress leveling and laying bricks tomorrow!

The Places We've Lived Map

I love revamping something old to make something new.  Old, weathered barn wood is one of my favorite materials to make interesting pieces for around the house!  I used old barn slats to make a US map for my living room. 

Here are the wood slats in all their rough and weathered glory.

We took the slats and cut them so they were all close to the same length without being perfect.  I made sure not to cut off some of the broken ends.  I think they add character!  Then I arranged them on the driveway, alternating the rough ends.

I cut two boards to size to hold the whole thing together.

I carefully slipped the support boards under the slats and then used old nails found in the garage to nail the boards in place.

I used a projector and chalk to outline the United States centered on the boards.

I chose Minwax stain in ebony to create a nice contrast.  Before staining I scored my chalk line with a razor to prevent the stain from running.  The old wood soaked the stain right up.

With acrylic craft paint I painted a red heart where we call home.  Then I used silver paint to mark all of the cities we've lived in.  The silver marks look so much like nail heads that I'll probably go back and paint over them with another color.

Barn Wood Map

And here it is hanging in my living room!  I'm so happy with how it looks!

I have a couple boards left and a fun idea for them!  Check back later to see what else I have up my sleeve!

Board and Batten Shutter Reveal!

My new shutters are finished and hung!  Painting them purple (Valspar's "Royal Plum") was a big risk, but I really like the way they look.  They add some personality to our house.  Even though this was a relatively small project, it feels good to cross it off the to-do list!

Re-purposed Wood Shutters

When we ripped out the walls and ceiling in our sun room our yard and trailer quickly filled with debris.  I hated thinking about contributing so much to a landfill so we salvaged what we could.  The ceiling slats were piled high waiting for a new purpose.  It didn't take long for Ryan to come up with an idea!  Board and batten shutters!

For a long time I've been wanting to hang shutters on all of the windows on the front of our house.  But shutters fell to the bottom of the list with the other cosmetic, non-necessity items.  Our focus has been on functionality and repairs.  And then suddenly we had a large pile of 1x4's just waiting for inspiration!  

I'm proud to say that I did the majority of this project on my own. My husband helped assemble the last two shutters so I could finish painting something else (he'll do anything to get out of painting).

First, I pulled out all of the staples, nails, and screws.  Then I measured the height of my windows and cut three slats to the correct length for each shutter (6 slats per window).  I used a scrap sliver of wood, broken into four pieces, as spacers between the slats.  Then I measured across the three spaced slats for my cross support and cut two more slats.  Wood glue and finishing nails secured the pieces together. 

After all the shutters were finally assembled (did I mention this was a side project during out sun room renovation?) I primed them all.  I intended to fill all the nail holes and sand them down, but it was getting late and my husband convinced no one would be able to tell the difference from the road anyway.  Sold.  Primer it is.

I originally thought I would paint the shutters a dark gray.  I really liked one of the paint samples we considered for the new siding on the back of our house.  I looked at tons of pictures online trying to find a color with a little more excitement when Ryan suggested plum.  Plum?  Really?  Our front door is stained a deep red.  Would plum shutters look good with a red door?  In all honesty, he's usually right about these kinds of things.  He has a good eye.  So we went to Lowes and bought a quart of Valspar Ultra Paint + Primer in Royal Plum.  (Had I known the only Valspar paint available in a quart size is the Ultra Paint + Primer I wouldn't have primed first.)  We rushed home and I painted two of the shutters to test it out.  The paint brushed on like a dream.  Smooth and the perfect consistency.  I let them dry overnight before holding them up to the brick to see how they look. 

I have to say, I'm pleased with the results.  My husband was right.  (But don't tell him I admitted it.)  Hopefully this weekend I can give these two another coat of plum and paint the other six.  And maybe I'll weed the flower garden so I can take a nice picture after we hang them....