Thursday, April 11, 2013

~ Catching Up & Slowing Down~

I don't post at all anymore and that is probably because I have other things I like doing too. I do miss the writing a bit but I'm content with doing this at a snails pace for now. I'm exhausted from the amount of projects I have undertaken. Tonight, I'm resting up a bit then I'll hit it hard on the weekend.  A list of projects lately...

1.The biggest DIY attention monster has been the new curtains I made for the main living room and dining room. 8 panels! Taking the old ones that had been up for over 30 years was more daunting(and dirty! so much dust!) than anything! I had been putting this project off until we put down the wood floors but..I found these rods at Lowes on clearance for... $4.00 a rod! They were originally 56.00 and the end pieces were a bronze color. I spray painted them black because we aren't "bronze" people?(what is that? i dont know. but it makes me feel like we would want statues or a fountain in our foyer). Then my big sweet delicious idea for the curtains... I found canvas drop cloths at Lowes for a little over $10.00 for a 6x9. I cut them straight up the middle to make two panels. I love how they look like a raw silk/linen blend..i know my imagination is fabulous right? I originally wanted to do this as a temporary solution until we get paint on the walls and a real color scheme going but I'm super happy with them and I ended up doing all four windows for around $15.00 a piece total and that is including the rods. And yes.. that is one for a table cloth too;) I may dip dye them in Navy or Gray later on.
2. Front Door.. Oh gawd. the door. it has been a debate for over a year. I say yellow he says green. I say green he says blue. Etc. you get it. We aren't totally happy with the color.. I wanted more of a ocean greenish feel and it turned out more blue(so I think he likes it more?) It's called Beachhouse and we of course live in a brick ranch in West Virginia. Eh. If you have a suggestion I'd love to hear it. Brick is hard to color match with.
3. Antique Floating Mirror... picked this up for $3.00 at a local shop.  Lots of sweat and wall scuffing. It is in the entry way forever and will stay there until it falls off the wall. Do not ever buy a frameless mirror!
4. Little Trunk Coffee Table. I sanded this, then sanded this some more. One of the handles was broken so I used the single one on the front to give it some bling. The color is called Mermaid Splash? i think.
5. Other projects not seen: the frame wall, the end tables, an exciting thing I'm making for the porch, 4 bobcat scoops of mulch for landscaping(done. thank god), kitchen curtains, the extended herb garden(done too!), the veggie garden around the barn, scraping the rest of the ugly adhesive off the porch, and SOOO much more to do.



This last pic is of our cat, Ron Swanson(orange) and a poor sick kitty(Mr. Binx) that got dumped on Saturday while we were doing mulch. As you can see they are big fans of the mulch job. Mr. Binx, after making himself cozy , has since disappeared with no signs of returning. Moe and Ron are devastated. Our lil orange cat loved having a buddy and keeps looking for him:( 

~ On a more positive note..The weather has been great so we have been doing a lot of yardwork and hiking etc. Moe and I have already had a nice bout of poison ivy and I pulled a tick off my scalp today. Bleh. With almost an acre of property that has become very overgrown and had no serious updating.. we are bound to have another busy summer...but I love it. We plan on burning a nice bonfire this weekend and I'll be drinking some wine to celebrate all this hard work. What projects have kept you busy?