Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Happy Hump Day!

Picture by Matt Dion

Sunset from our beautiful city.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Before & After Attempted

I had all intentions of sharing our before and afters of the interior. However it seems I have 'Home Project ADD' and have very few (possibly no) projects actually completed. 
So I will share the current status of the following...

the front yard...
Before
After
Project:  kill weeds and grow real/healthy grass
The Kitchen...
Before (please pardon the mess)



After


Projects:  paint cabinets, trim and ceiling, microwave and all appliances (yes I have been living without a microwave for almost a year now), and subway tile back splash.

Living Room
no before pics other than the painting pics from yesterdays post, but here is the current condition
Project:  knock down wall with 2 shelves on the other side of the wall is the dining room

So now it is time to get busy and focused (key word).  I'm going to start with finishing the front yard and then hopefully my daddy will take down our wall (hint hint).

Monday, May 17, 2010

Just Another Monday

Where did the weekend go?  Quiet Friday night at home.  Saturday cleaning and then went to my aunt's to see the condo makeover.  My mama and her friend have been purging and redecorating my aunt's condo for the past 6 weeks or so and I went over for the big reveal and dinner.  It was quite a transformation I wish I had some before and after shots.  Hopefully I can track some down to share.  I had big plans for yard work on Sunday, but instead I was struck by the stomach bug and spent the day in bed.  One of my few readers mentioned that I still do not have any photos of the inside of our home so I will start by sharing our painting episode...

The first of the year Mr. surprised me and painted our bedroom while I was out of town.  Well in painting our bedroom, Chocolate Souffle by Ralph Lauren, he noticed how discolored the trim and ceilings had become over time. So he started to paint the ceiling and trim too! Caulk White by Ralph. This became quite a project and it was delayed a few weeks. When we restarted the project we found that Home Depot was in the process of discontinuing Ralph paint and replacing it with Martha Stewart (not a big fan). I'm a bit upset about this as I LOVE Ralph's colors. We once again delayed as we made several attempts to find the paint and had to resort to matching the paint. Several trips to Home Depot later we found ourselves with a paint sprayer. Once we figure out how it worked, approximately 3 hours later, it was quite handy.  Here are a few pics of the process...


Please note that a paint sprayer does bit save time. 


First you have to tape and drape everything.  You are not suppose to use indoors but we (I) don't like to read directions and/or follow them.  We closed off each room as we sprayed and opened the windows, which worked perfectly fine as you see 3 months later and we are all still alive.  After doing all of this it takes about the same amount of time as it would have taken to roll, but a lot less painstaking rolling labor.



The Wagner Paint Sprayer equipment. I thought Mr. might throw it out the window before we even started. As you can see I was a lot of help...not.

I realize I have yet to show some after shots but I promise they are coming soon.  Stay tuned.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Happy Weekend!



I've been thinking about porch hammocks a lot lately...

Images from Country Living and rentwigwam.com

We might have a back porch hammock in the near future.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

What We've Been Up To



Sorry for the hiatus we have been very busy. 

My little sis and her bf were in town this past weekend and we stayed moving.  They arrived last Thursday evening and we went to Mr.'s restaurant for dinner with the whole family.  Friday night my Sis, Aunt, Mama, and I went to our church's annual Mother-Daughter Banquet, which benefited Breast Cancer Foundation and featured a jewelery silent auction.  Then we went out in downtown Marietta.  It has been so great being able to walk to all of the shops, bars, and restaurants at the Square.  Saturday went went to the Hawks playoff game, BIG mistake, it was so terrible.  Sunday, Mother's Day, my little Brother worked as a bus boy a Mr.'s restaurant, sis and the bf went to Six Flags, and I hung out with mama and Daddy. 





Whew! And if that wasn't enough Mr. finished the flower bed and I finished instructing my Daddy on constructing our new headboard...




minus the clovers the azaleas are beautiful right now

This is the Pottery Barn Mason Headboard I showed my Daddy that I wanted:

And this is the maple headboard he made:
Photos taken on my phone sorry for the poor quality, but didn't he do a great job!

Hopefully this weekend I can get some cleaning and organization back in our lives.


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Fast Project!

So I have been wanting to get our front flower bed filled for several weeks and we have finally broken ground.  However I've put us on a timeline (very short) and we have encountered a problem Houston.  This is the flower bed between our circle driveway and the sidewalk and approximately 2 inches under the clay there is a layer of concrete. 



Oops. 
So Mr. is working feverishly to get the job done by axing away the concrete, filling with new dirt, and these pretty flowers.

Verbena 'Homestead Purple'

Goldsturm Black Eyed Susan's
Photo from EasytoGrowBulbs.com

Fragrant Angel Coneflower
Photo Courtesy of Garden Splendor

Thanks Honey, you're the best!  With any luck I will be sharing final photos by the end of the week!