before and during:progress on the front porch railing

i've mentioned several times before that the outside of our house is light, light, light. the stonework, masonry, roof, front door, windows, garage door, gutters, and front porch railing are all varying shades of white or beige. the only spot of contrast is our black mailbox by the front door.

in an attempt to bring in more dark elements, i am slowly...sloooo-oo-ooo-wly...painting the front porch railing from white to black. i get about two spindles done at a time before lil' archer tries touching it, we get into a wrestling match while i try to prevent then inevitable, then i give up.

here's the rusty before...

houston, we have polka squares

guess what FINALLY came in???

YAY!

before and during:backyard jungle

what's the backyard jungle?

THIS.

THIS.

would you like to see the in-progress results of fish and his parents' hard labor?

recovering recovered dinette chairs

fish and i have had this dinette set since we first moved in together. we've found space for it in about half of the places we've lived. it's spent the rest of its time in storage.

i left the seats as they came -- a neutral solid beige color -- until we moved into a loft, at which point i recovered them in a turquoise geometric print. after the loft, the dinette set went back into storage and didn't come out again until we bought this house. 

as much as i love the seat fabric...

it just isn't jiving with my VISION  for our new home.

so i decided to recover the recovered chairs.

painting the black mailbox...black

the outside of our house needs A LOT of work, which is extremely intimidating to me. i know interesting architectural details and beautiful landscaping when i see it...but i haven't the first clue what to do with our house or how to go about achieving it.

fish and his parents have done SO MUCH yardwork:  moving bushes, planting new flowers, mowing, weed-whacking, grassing up bald spots, removing a one-hundred-pound-plus water pump, digging up wild garlic patches ((our yard REEKS))...

i've been helping when i can -- sure, i can hold that garbage bag while you rake ten tons of sticks into it! -- but truthfully...any improvements to the outside of our house is completely thanks to my hardworking hubby and his amazingly talented and generous parents!

i finally took my first tiny step in contributing to the outside appearance of our property by painting the mailbox.

blooming peonies!

i spy some lovelies growing in the middle of our backyard jungle! 

a message on the stairs

<<< psst! you can see a full list of my diy projects here! >>>

i put a nice little uplifting message on the top riser of our stairway going upstairs...

...turning the corner in the stairwell...

adventures in painting:dark taupe to light taupe

i like the color the previous owner painted the living room -- it's a grayish taupey neutral. unfortunately, i couldn't find the paint can in the basement so i have no clue what it is.

after removing the gigantic curtain rod ((that was holding the heavy, heavy drapes)) and spackling in nail holes...and from the walls being just plain dirty...we REALLY needed to paint.

off to home depot i went!

i really think they're starting to hate me there.

the living room is open to the workspace ((bright a$$ yellow)) and can be seen from the sunroom ((peachy pink)) -- so i wanted to stay fairly neutral.

i ended up choosing behr wheat bread:

oOoOoOoOoOoOohhh!

i LOVE it!

picture frames from goodwill

what was the fate of the loooong curtain rod and very-nice-quality-but-not-my-taste drapes that we took down in the living room? i dropped them off at goodwill of course!

...and i may have browsed around while i was there.

i may have walked out with a small collection of frames.

the little things:clean/dirty dishwasher magnet

<<< psst! you can see a full list of my diy projects here! >>>

here's something i did a while ago --

a clean/dirty dishwasher magnet featuring happy and grumpy lil' archers!

our first craigslist purchase

did i mention we finally bought an suv for me? i LOVE it!...and fish is such a MASTER BARGAINER that we got it for below dealer invoice!!

I KNOW.

it's crazy.

crazy awesome.

...but the main reason i'm so excited is because i now have a vehicle to haul stuff home in. you know, from garage sales, thrift shops, curbsides, craigslist ads...

i found this wood credenza listed on craigslist for $80 and, taking a cue from fish, i was able to talk them down to ONLY $70!
   ...i know: impressive, right??
            * please note sarcasm *

the kitchen is nearly complete...MUAHAHAHAH!

fish is a bonafide ^ROCKSTAR^ and installed ALL the kitchen cabinet knobs and handles less than 24 hours after we received them.

AND THEY LOOK AWESOME.

fabric remnants on clearancebecome a throw pillow

<<< psst! you can see a full list of my diy projects here! >>>

i stopped at joann fabrics the other day to buy a crate with my 40% off coupon...and saw these remnants on sale for half off:

the print is not something i thought i would be drawn to -- but it's so bright and cheery in person! it pulls in peachy-coral tones from the sunroom and golden yellow tones from the dining-room-turned-workspace, which is right next to the sunroom.

another use for sticky notes

(( p.s. the new knobs are going in!! ))

aaaahhhh...i love our bed!

after a weekend of painting the sunroom dresser, doing yardwork ((all of which was done by fish and his parents)), and playing with lil' archer in his new sandbox...

...it sure was nice waking up fully rested from our first night's sleep in the new bedroom...on our new foam mattress...which is sitting in the new bedframe that fish built!

three coats of behr {yellow gold}

i did three coats of behr {yellow gold} -- it's REALLY YELLOW. i like it a lot, but i wish i had gotten matte paint instead of eggshell. there's a slight sheen and i think it would be much better completely flat.

i'm still waiting for the polka square stencil to arrive...i can't decide if i should do white, metallic gold, or a light shade of yellow polka squares.

hmm...

the bedframe is DONE

psst! don't forget to enter the felix doolittle giveaway...
we're a small blog: few will enter, YOU may win!
...and fish did a SPECTACULAR job!

*** you can see all of his projects here! ***

hi lil' archer!

dress up a switchplate with washi tape

<<< psst! you can see a full list of my diy projects here! >>>

~ happy mother's day!! ~

this quick and easy project turns your light switch from boring to beautiful in less than ten minutes. i simply removed the switchplate from the wall, applied strips of gold-dotted washi tape horizontally across the surface, then mounted the plate back on the wall. easy-peasy!

(( psst! see detailed instructions on how to fancy up your own switchplates here! ))

the feet are on the bed

...and the slats are being nailed in as i write this.

fish just worked a week of nights and has been up since 5p yesterday evening.
   ...but he's still working like a champ to get our bed finished!

((( psst! see the finished bed here! })))

baking pan becomes rainboot tray

<<< psst! you can see a full list of my diy projects here! >>>

choosing kitchen knobs and pulls

the previous owners of our house completely gutted and remodeled the kitchen
   ...but never added hardware for some reason.

sad, naked cabinets...

it went on our to-do list, but lived somewhere very far down the list since it didn't seem to be that imperative that we have knobs.

BUT...in my quest to now concentrate on one room at a time...and to eliminate the slight irritation every time we have to pry open a cabinet with the tips of our fingers...

i ordered knobs and pulls.

just like that.

one month in our new home!i celebrated by crying.

i had what felt like a mini-breakdown while talking to my mom on the phone yesterday.
   i was just fine, telling her the things we still needed to do...

...and i suddenly felt...

extremely.

overwhelmed.

THEN the tears started.

0.02% of the master bed is complete!

the master bed legs have been stained and polyurethaned!

((( psst! see the finished bed here! )))

salvaged drawer!

lil' archer and i went on a walk this evening and came across a pile of junk on someone's curb. 

sitting pristinely atop the pile of junk...was this beautiful old drawer!

isn't it GORGEOUS?????

trashcan makeover

<<< psst! you can see a full list of my diy projects here! >>>

the only problem with fancying up our trashcan

   ...is that now i don't want to throw any trash in it.

insane in the membrane?

i may have just done something crazy.

it's either insanely awesome...or completely wack-a-doodle.

it all started this morning...lil' archer and i went to home depot to pick out the yellow paint for the dining-room-turned-workspace. 

i took one look at {gold buff} and thought:

yep, that's camel. 

washi tapegeometric door design

<<< psst! you can see a full list of my diy projects here! >>>

i am in love with washi tape. 

   there's SO MANY THINGS you can do with it.

...like decorating the door to lil' archer's room!

faux milk glass FAIL

<<< psst! you can see a list of my successful diy projects here! >>>

it was all going so promising...

a glass votive holder and a small glass plant tray were to undergo a 

<<< FANTASTIC TRANSFORMATION >>>

...to become faux milk glass.

observe.

grand plan:using stencils to replicate wallpaper

remember this farrow&ball wallpaper i'm in love with?

...the one i sadly can't afford?

farrow&ball polka square

the design is so simple.

i immediately thought about replicating the pattern with paint and a wall stencil.

DIY:giant ruler growth chart!

<<< psst! you can see a full list of my diy projects here! >>>

see our giant ruler growth chart featured on disney's spoonful.com! 

[SNAPSHOT]
time : minutes...hours
difficulty : ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
hazards : headache from stain fumes, frustration at inability to draw straight line
would i do it again? : yes!

OUT with the heavy, heavy drapes!

when we decided to buy this home, i naturally started thinking about all the changes we'd make...and i knew we would be taking down the heavy, heavy drapes and funky shades hung in the living room windows as soon as possible.

progress on the master bed

the master bed frame is nearly complete!

fish is doing a SPECTACULAR job on his first major woodworking project!!

painted brick doorstop

<<< psst! you can see a full list of my diy projects here! >>>

i love this old brick fish was able to snag 

from a demolition site near our last apartment.

sadder face.

the gray stain isn't going to work for the bed -- drat!
   however, the ebony stain came out pretty nice, so we may do that now.

but, since i STILL love the idea of gray stain and now we have a whole can of it...i thought, why not stain the sunroom dresser gray? perfect!

sad face.

last night, i told fish i would love to hang this wallpaper in our dining-room-turned-workspace-area...
   ...and he said okay!

farrow&ball polka square

WOOHOO!

i just LOVE the color and the simple pattern.

find joy in the journey