Some more fence Decor

Okay so have I told you that I am in love with 1x4's.  They have endless possibilities, they are inexpensive and so easy to work with.  I have been back and forward to Rona numerous times getting 2 or 3 at a time.  They yard guys are starting to look at me funny, lol.  

I have been building this fantastic wall on the back of my fence, my plan is to fill two panels with some kind of  art.  It really has started to make the space feel like a cozy backyard and a whole lot more personal.  This week I made these boxes by simply cutting some 1x4's to my desired length and then tacking them together with a nail gun.  Give them a quick paint job and finished.  The painting actually took longer than building them.

 I had these terracotta pots stashed under my deck for the past year, they were originally painted blue and white, so I added a splash of green color to the top and once dry I sanded them a bit to give them a worn look. 

This weekend we are packing up the trailer and heading out for my annual family camping trip, we are looking forward to a weekend away.   I love long weekends. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

Easy Stepping Stones

This is such a fun and easy Garden Project, you can change it up with different words or pictures.  I found myself a variety of skinny flat rocks than added a couple of coats of paint to the tops.  

I added vinyl to the tops of the rocks but you could also use a stencil or hand draw something on. 

For this one I found a rock that had a larger bottom on it but still had the flat surface so it could stand up on its own, then again added a coat of the blue paint and some vinyl lettering to the top. 

This would also be a great project to do with the kids and see what they can create.  I know my kids have spent many hours painting rocks.

Theater Room Inspiration

I am currently trying to decorate our theater room one bit at a time.  I have a vision of what I want the final product to be but just need to get it done.  We have built a fabulous built in entertainment unit that I so desperately want to share.  Although it still needs to be finished off with crown molding and trim  so I will wait until that is done.  I am trying to make this my husbands man cave but with a little bit of feminine twist too it.

Courtesy of Buckets Of Burlap

I just love mixing barn wood with modern touches, so I have a plan for a feature wall in the basement using barn wood.

The great debate in my house is a coffee table for downstairs I want something really cool like this trunk

Source: 1.bp.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Or Maybe a table like this one.

Courtesy of Frugal Farmhouse Design

I also ordered this fantastic fabric off of etsy from hbfabric.  This will be for the curtains I am going to make. 

Isn't it pretty

I still need to order some more fabric for the pillows on the couch, I am just unsure what color I want to go with.   I am leaning towards red or yellow.  I also need to find a fantastic area rug and some more accessories to fill up the entertainment unit. 

Front Porch Finished Product

To finish off the front porch update I figured it was time for a little staining. 

 After awhile that nice new pressure treated wood started to look dull and dingy.  My husband has said many times he doesn't like it when people stain pressure treated wood but it looks horrible.

Makai helping me get the space prepped for the stain

This was probably the most sad what fountain I have seen in awhile.  It hasn't actually seen water for at least 3 years and that is for two reasons, first the kids would play in it and empty out the water. The second reason is that that pump just stopped working, probably something to do with the kids emptying the water, lol. So I decided to bring it back to life and re-purpose it, so I made it into a planter.

Before ~ Not so pretty

After ~ Ah so much better

Finally the finished product

There is finally some life in the front porch

Front Porch Makeover #3 ~ Planter Boxes

This was another one of those "Honey I have an idea" moments.  I wanted to build something that would house my ugly plastic planters so I could have them on the deck.  I came up with this design using some 1x4's, 2x2's  and some leftover cedar planks.    

I am by no means a builder but I thought I would give it a try.  My first task was to build the box and then come up with the rest of it later, I figured if I had something to put it in the rest would come to me later lol.  Once this was done I had to come up with an idea of how the legs would work and how to make this sturdy enough to not tip over.  

I painted them with a nice bright blue and then gave them a white wash paint effect. 

Each Planter box cost me $12.00, so not to shabby for a cute little item.

Front Porch Makeover #2 ~ Bistro Table Redo

When I originally painted this Chair and Table this fantastic copper color I thought it looked great but it just ended up blending into the deck and not really standing out at all.  I stood in the spray paint aisle for some time trying to decide on what color I should paint it.  I went home and contemplated and then I asked my husband for his opinion.  So as a joke he says paint it pink.  

 So I actually listened to what he said for once, perhaps because I knew he was just saying it so I would stop asking him.  I used a watermelon Color for the Table and Blue for the chairs.  He was a little shocked when he saw it actually painted pink, lol.

I made these cute colorful pillows to put on them, and I couldn't be happier with the finished look.  It is so girly and bright. 

Front Porch Makeover #1

When we built our house 5 years ago the one thing I loved was the front porch on it, I think it just adds that extra space that you can decorate and make a statement with.  Well the only statement it has had in that time was neglect.  It was definitely time for a little bit of a makeover.  

 Okay so yes I forgot to take a before picture of the door color, so I searched through my pictures and this was the best I could come up with.  But hey you get the idea and  you get to see my little cuties too. 

I gave the front door a fresh coat of dark grey paint I had sitting in my basement.

Then I added this fantastic vinyl Welcome sign to the front door. I also decided that the wreath was nice for Easter but had to be changed out for the summer season.  So as I have shown before I created this Summer Love Wreath.

I have much more planned for this makeover so stay tuned. 

Kitchen Table Makeover

I was lucky enough to be given this table by a good friend of mine.  She thought I could use it for a craft table or something for out in the garage.  I don't think so, this is too nice to just stick in a corner.  I just love how the wood goes in all the different directions it just adds a little  more character to it.  I decided to go outside of my comfort zone a little bit and stain it, I have tried in the past with staining and usually end up having my husband finish the project or fix my mistakes. 

Yeap the before is not so pretty but I could see her potential.  Look at that fantastic pattern on top.

The after, it turned out pretty darn good.  There are a few flaws but I won't point them out, lol. 

The friend that gave me this table is moving away to what seems like a million miles away, in Australia.  I am glad that I will have this and everyday I see it I will remember her and what an incredible friend she has been to me.  

Feature and Fun at the Lake

Thank you to Sew Woodsy for featuring my Playhouse Creation. So please stop by and check it out.

We are very fortunate that we live in a town with a lake, sometimes when the traffic is busier and the tourists come in droves we complain but how could life get any better than this...

Such a good day, spending time at the lake.  It took the kids awhile to feel confident that there little toes would not be bitten by fish but once they felt confident enough they had a blast.

Theater Room Art & Fun Times at Calaway Park

Sorry for no posts in the past few days but it has been a really busy week.  We have just been having to much fun, but I managed to find some time to create something.  A couple of months ago I had come across a piece of art work at home sense and I thought no way am I paying $50.00 for that I will just make it.  

 I am trying really hard to make the space very manly with a little touch of feminine in it.  So I have created this  license plate art.  He was content on just having the license plates but I wanted to add the wording on top.  I starting by doing some searching online to find pictures of license plates and decoupaged them to a board I had made out of mdf and attatched it to a 1x4 board.  I used the rest of the 1x4 to cut out the square blocks. I am pretty sure these blocks were painted about 4 different colors before I decided on this one.  I finished it off with sanding the edges and stenciling the letters on.

I made sure to put on a Wyoming license plate in honor of a good friend who is from there. 

Kitchen Chair Redo

Awhile back I went on a hunt at Etsy to find fantastic fabric to recover my kitchen chairs.  I found the perfect fabric and had this fantastic idea that if I just spray it with scotch guard it would keep it fairly clean, and then I came back to reality.  Come on I have three boys probably the messiest kids on earth, not even scotch guard could protect a pretty fabric.  So how do you still get the look you want and have it kid proof.  After careful consideration I yes me, I went to the dark side and I purchased clear vinyl.  Or as I have told the kids, they have reduced me to use "Grandma Plastic" LOL. 

 Here is the before of the chair, it came with this ugly grey fabric on it.

Yeap see they are the messiest kids.  Paint, food, you name it they will spill it. 

Love this fabric, even with the plastic on top

I am still deciding if I want to paint the frame of the chair white, maybe I will have to live with it for awhile.