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Come & Knock on my Door

28 May

Can you hear that?

Listen really hard… hear it?

That faint clucking noise is the sound of smug satisfaction in Joules-town. It’s like Funky Town, but with more failing arms and karate kicks.

Yeah, that’s right – I finished another house project!

One of the first things I added to my house list over a year ago was to paint our outdated evergreen colored door (apparently the previous owners really liked green). The door is a really nice one from Pella, so I really didn’t want to replace it… but the color was just so BORING. And early 1990′s.

old door 2

The door was green EVERYWHERE too – both inside and outside. Oh yeah, AND the inside surrounding trim. Blegh. Just the trim around the door though… the rest of the entrance has white trim. My husband said it best when he assumed they must have been thinking, “Holy crap this door is ugly, maybe we should paint the trim the same color so it blends in more?”

old door 1

With my mission to bring our door into 2013, I grabbed a bunch of fun colored swatches from Home Depot and we taped them up and stared at them for a couple of days…

swatches 1

Then we narrowed them down and stared a little more…

swatches 2

We wanted something that went well with the rest of our house and also worked well with the existing glass door. Finally, we picked a winner (Clover by Behr) and bought a quart of paint. And then… nothing. Life got busy and it sat in the coat closet for a few weeks.

This past holiday weekend was the perfect time for me to get my painting groove on and I finally had a chance to give the door a quick sanding (just the outside because it looked like there was a herd of bugs stuck in the old paint) and throw on my first coat. And yes, the first coat always looks horrible and you run around all confused wondering why you made such a terrible, terrible mistake…

coat 1

Then my second and third coat.

coat 3

Oooh, check out that fresh white trim! Here are some more saucy poses…

new door -1

new door 2

I LOVE the finished door. My husband tentatively liked it but said that it’s totally growing on him. So he’ll probably be joining me in giving it long lingering glances as I pass by it throughout the day. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the hardware, so I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for something fabulous next time we stop by the ol’ HD.

How was your holiday weekend? Did you finally finish a project that has been waiting in the wings (or hall closet) for ages? Do you walk past your front door and give it sexy bedroom eyes?

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Feeling Blue… Navy Blue

6 May

Even though the pollen was fighting me this weekend, I still had the urge for a quick and fun little outside painting party.

When we moved into our house last year, we found that the previous owners had left us two old outdoor chairs. They were a faded hunter green color and had some nasty old cushions on them that were moldy and had probably served as a romantic place for some gross spiders to do the nasty.

I decided to paint them a happy yellow color, throw on some new cushions and call it a day.

entrance - before 2

I was okay with it until a month or so ago when I started thinking that my “happy yellow color” looked more like a “come into my Mexican fiesta” color. There was just something about the combo of the color and the cushions that was rubbing me the wrong way. Maybe it was just a little too LOOK AT ME on the front porch?

entrance - before 1

This weekend I grabbed some Rust-oleum outdoor paint in Glossy Navy Blue and went to work. I ended up using part of a can (with a cheap brush that I didn’t mind throwing out afterwards) and a little more than one can of the spray paint version of the same color. I painted the first coat on, followed by an extra coat on the flat areas like the top and armrests. Then, after letting it dry, I sprayed on another coat so I could get in all the crevices.

entrance - after 2

It took me less than two hours and I really like the new look! I also added a couple solar lanterns that were on sale at Target (they charge during the day and then flicker at night) and kept my cute little yellow bird for some color.

entrance - after 1

Oh yeah, and if you’re wondering what’s happening on the other side of the porch… it’s this guy!

entrance - after 4

So there you go, the first stage of my front porch project. I’m also planning to paint my front door (inside and outside) but I ran out of time this weekend.

How about you, did you work on any fun projects over the weekend? What do you think of my sultry blue chairs – do you like them better or did you prefer my fiesta chairs?

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2 Changes in 2 Bathrooms

30 Apr

I got a bug up my butt over the weekend* and decided to make a couple changes around the house.

Actually, one of the changes was quite spur of the moment and the other one was a long time coming.

Change #1: My new Robot Friend
robot 2I stopped by one of my favorite kiddie consignment/specialty stuff shops (it’s called Greenberries) to see if they had any outdoor toys and saw something that I didn’t even know I needed.

Until I saw it. And then my breath caught in my throat and I realized that I simply HAD to buy it. In fact, my life would not be complete without it.

And that is how I became the owner of this amazing 3D Robot art crafted by Paul Ocepek at Modern Moose. I love it so much and after visiting his website I pretty much want one of everything. Or maybe just this, this and this.

And this.

And this for Katie at Words for Worms.

robot 1

I’m not even kidding when I say I literally walked into the house, set Jack in his playpen and hung the robot on the wall within about 5 minutes. THAT is how excited I was to see him in his new home.

My robot buddy fits in perfectly in the hall bathroom, which is also Jack’s bathroom. I really wanted the room to be FUN without looking like a kid’s bathroom threw up all over the place. So I’m super happy with a little bit of whimsy in the striped shower curtain and fun artwork. Once Jack gets a little bigger, I’ll add in a fun colored step-stool and the bathroom will be complete!

Change #2: Master Bathroom Upgrade
IMG_1953The crappy builder-grade faucet that lived in our master bathroom leaked out the side whenever you used the cold water. Yeah, nothing makes me more annoyed than something that doesn’t really do it’s ONE JOB well!

Our long term plan for the room is to rip it down to the studs and start anew, however we don’t have the moola to throw in that project right this second.

Instead, we found a nice faucet in an oil rubbed bronze finish that goes really well with our current sink. So until we save up enough to have our total dream bathroom, we’ll be content with a faucet that looks pretty AND doesn’t get my makeup wet in the morning.

IMG_1954

There you go, my two quick updates from this past weekend. I still have a ton more on my list, including painting my front door, installing hardwood flooring and repainting some outdoor chairs. I don’t have an unlimited amount of money or time though, so nothing is happening very quickly!

How about you, working on anything fun?

Do you have a random term you use that is vaguely gross sounding?

 

*Wait, is that a thing? I mean, is that a term that people say? Because I‘ve been saying it for a while and I just realized how kind of gross it is. Maybe I should say I got a bee in my bonnet. I’m pretty sure THAT is a thing…

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Here a chair, there a chair… everywhere a chair!

12 Feb

I have a fun little DIY project that cost me less than $100, took about an hour and has put a smile on my face for a couple days. Oh yeah, and it was SUPER easy.  Interested?

It all started because we’re having family over this coming weekend for Jack’s very exciting FIRST birthday. No, I’m not going all crazy with pinterest-inspired decorations and food. I’m keeping it easy (and keeping my stress level’s down) by having an easy menu of pizza, salad and cake. Yum, right?

For decorations I did a cute little Valentine’s Day garland in our den and bought a package of party decorations that I may use in the kitchen. Oh, and I got a 1st Birthday hat for Jack, because it is so darn adorable I couldn’t resist.

What I DIDN’T have was enough seating for our guests.

Even with just our close family (not including a sister-in-law’s family and my two sisters who are unable to come), we’re expecting 15 people. Our kitchen table fits 8 people when it’s expanded… so unless we’re going to take turns sitting I had to figure out some extra seating.

I have a nice wooden folding table and chairs set from World Market (purchased probably 10 years ago) that I can use for 2 or 3 people. Probably the kids since the chairs are made for mini butts and not full size grown-ass men. So, that helped but didn’t totally solve my problem.

I checked Target, Home Depot, Costco and Amazon before I settled on this folding table and chairs set from Walmart for just $56.83. A FIVE piece set for less than $60 is the way to my heart and a total steal!

So cheap!
So functional!
So… boring.
It was REALLY boring.
OH SO VERY boring.

So, I snazzed it up with my Easy Peasy Folding Chair Makeover:

IMG_1615

Oh look, so functional but so BLAH!

IMG_1616

First, you remove the seat from the chair with the help of a handy, dandy screwdriver.

IMG_1617

Decide which direction you’d like the fabric to go and cut it so there is a couple inches left on each side of your seat.

IMG_1618

Normally I would use my staple gun to secure the fabric to the seat. However, these seats are pretty thin and I didn’t want a butt full of staples every time I sat down. Bring on the duct tape! Pull the fabric nice and tight and tape it down on each side.

IMG_1619

Finish with one more application of duct tape to make sure everything stays where it is AND make it look a little prettier in case someone checks out the underside of your chair.

IMG_1625

Attached the seat back to the chair and you’re done! Super quick and how freaking cute is that chair?!

IMG_1621

Oh wait, you don’t want cute? How about ROMANTIC — check out these babies in front of a roaring fire with a pretty vase of flowers. BaZING!

IMG_1626

These bad boys are even sassy folded up and stored out of the way. I think I’m in looooove!

Here’s my cost breakdown:

Folding table and chairs set: $56.83
Fabric from Joann’s with a 40% discount: $5.99
Duct tape: $3.37
Total: $66.19!

Tell me, have you been DIYing any fun projects at your house this month? If you blogged about it, you are invited to share the links in the comments below (since I invited you, you totally won’t be a BlogHole).

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