SNEAK PEEK - METAL CHAIRS

Having these chairs and table painted white has been on my wishlist for a while, so I was absolutely delighted that I was going to get that wish this weekend.

BEFORE

AFTER

1.  I'm thankful my husband chose this project for my Mother's Day present.
2.  White paint makes me so happy!
3.  I can't stop smiling when I look outside at them.

WOVEN QUILTING

My father signed us both up for a quilting class as one of my Christmas presents.  Yes, for those of you who don't know my father, he's a quilter - and a very good one.  We've been taking quilting classes together since 2011 and I love it.

I had never heard of woven quilting, so when we went to get our fabric and I saw the samples, I got excited - it is really cool.

It was an all day class at The Purple Frog in Jefferson.  Although we were there all day, it seemed like only a few hours.  We were sewing like crazy and it was really fun seeing it all come together.

My dad is making a table runner.  He chose really fun fabric with hot air balloons, colorful circles and orange batik.

I made a pillow.  I wanted manly colors and for it to look tribal without using tribal fabric.  My inspiration was our Fiji trip many moons ago.

I'm thrilled with the results.  I told my man clan this is a 'no touch' pillow and they looked at me like I was crazy.  It took me 10 hours to make it and it's beautiful.  It is for my hands only.  They can look with their eyes, not their hands.  Ha!  We'll see how long that lasts!

SOME PEOPLE PAINT THE TOWN RED, I PAINT MY GARDEN BOXES

The other day I decided I wanted a pop of color in the garden. I come up with projects like this when I am procrastinating on doing other, more important, things.  Projects with quick gratification makes my soul happy, and it needed a little happiness, so I decided procrastination was full speed ahead and painting moved to the top of the to-do list.

BEFORE - BORING

AFTER - RAVISHING RED

I decided to show you how horrible my garden is this year. It's absolutely pitiful, with a capital P.
Want to know how many carrots grew? Three. That's right. Three.
Lettuce - zip
Broccoli - nada
Cucumbers - zero
Zucchini - I don't think I need to tell you.

I do have 6 tomato plants with lots of flowers and a few green tomatoes, so that's good.  I've never grown potatoes before and the middle box has those growing.  I'm anxious to harvest those in the fall.

If your garden has a plethora of veggie goodness and you just don't know what to do with it all, you know who you can call because my garden is giving me squat this season.  On the bright side, I have enough carrots for a side dish.

SNEAK PEEK - BEDROOM 1

We've been talking for over a year about re-doing the room for the older boys. Talking is over.

We got to work Friday night and hopefully it will be completed by next weekend.

One of the first things on the to-do list was the ceiling. With all we have planned to do, getting a new bedroom fan wasn't in the budget, so we took the one that was in the room and painted it.

BEFORE - kiddie rainbow

AFTER - sophisticated silver

Here it is with the other sneak peek - the newly painted dark grey ceiling. We love it!

PAPER PIECING

My dad and I took a quilting class today at The Purple Frog - paper piecing. It's really fun, but man, is it time consuming. It took us seven hours to do one square but it only felt like one hour.My dad made this seam ripper for me. I love it! Best one I've ever had.
Tada, here's our seven hour Ohio star square.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE BEFORE AND AFTER?

I love it. It is the same color as my front door. The shed will be painted the same color as our house trim. It will be an unfinished project for awhile because we have a lot going on.
I was too excited to wait for the door, and that however, will not be on the unfinished project list.

PICNIC TABLE TRANSFORMATION

Our neighbor gave us his old picnic table that has seen better days. Purple isn't our color, so I painted it Krylon Red Pepper.

The picnic table still shows it's 'better days' scars, but the $15.00 transformation is incredible and will look great under the dogwood tree I have yet to purchase.

THE LADIES LOVE HIM

I had a quilting day with my father this weekend, at Purple Frog Quilt Shop, where we took a class to learn how to make a star log cabin quilt.He is a very good quilter and the quilting ladies love him. Who knew there would be a day that I would learn to quilt with my daddy. I'm so glad I am; it's really fun.

PS - The ladies may have invited him to go on a weekend quilting retreat.

WE ARE WORKING ON A

project. It's not fun yet, but it will be.I can't wait to show you.

CLASS IS OVER

but I'm still working on my project. I might have some unpicking to do.

MY FATHER ASKED ME TO

take a class with him - a three day quilting class. Seriously, how cool is that? Of course I said "yes!"
Today was our first class and we are having so much fun!

Here he is ironing like a pro with our quilting classmates.

My mom made us these cool pin cushions filled with crushed walnut shells to keep our pins sharp. Who knew?

PS - Mom, your pin cushions are a hit with the class.

BATHROOM UPDATES ON A BUDGET

We used Textile Grey on the walls and Brilliant White on the ceiling and molding. We had white paint left over from the baseboard project, so paint was 24.95. It would have been less, but I wasn't thinking and got a gallon.

The tub we took out was 28" wide and was replaced with a 30" wide. We would have loved to go wider and WAY deeper, but the super deep ones start at 32" and the tub space we had to work with couldn't go wider than 30".

We saved and purchased our tub last summer at 40% off. It's one that feels like cast iron but it isn't. The great thing about this tub is that it is insulated and keeps the bath water super warm for a long time. It also has a slanted back for a relaxing soak.

The new shower curtain was 26.99 and we installed our curved shower rod that we already had.
Larry changed out the plumbing so we wouldn't get scalded when someone flushes the toilet while you're showering. We got the new faucet/shower (and all the inside necessities) at 40% off.

We were thrilled to find subway tile at Lowes for .23 a tile. We tiled the surround up to the ceiling for 113.46.

Our floor was on sale for 1.58 a tile and was completed for 56.88.

A big expense was the behind the scene items needed to complete the projects: hardie backer, cement board, thin set, grout, sealer, caulk, etc... The 'etc..' came to just over 300.

Left on the bathroom TO-DO list:

-repaint the existing vanity brilliant white - cost .00

-paint and install baseboards - cost .00

-purchase and install new hardware

-make a new counter top (if this turns out like I hope, it will be rad!)

-purchase and install new sink

-purchase and install new sink faucet

-purchase a new bathroom door

When all the projects are complete, we will have transformed the bathroom, sub-floor to ceiling, for well under 1500.00

HANGING BEDS

via the bumper crop

I know some boys that would love to have a room inspired by this. Genius!

I REALLY WANT TO FIND TIME TO SEW

Especially this purse when the pattern comes out.

via theboytrifecta

It made me swoon.

FAMILY RULES

Loving this sign
and this one too.

Both from Signs of Vintage.

OUR GARAGE DOORS

are receiving an update with the same Gila Privacy Frosted Window Film treatment that we used for our laundry room window.....I'm thrilled with how this simple procedure is making such a huge impact.
Still on the wish list are the stainless steel garage doors .....

HOUSE PAINTING

while being serenaded by a garage paint drum band is the best!
1!,2!, 3!,4!, bang, bangity, bang, bang!!
Painting our house was a family affair full of laughter, hard work, sibling bickering, sweat and sunburns....

We should be done this week with the trim and frosting the garage door glass.

We have also brought soil in for the front yard and have started adding few flowers.

We are really happy with how it's turning out.

Here's a sneak peek of our progress...

Drive by next weekend and we should be finished with this project and onto another.

We're having so much fun....

PREPPING....

I'm so excited for our humble abode to get a new coat of paint....

AN OUTDOOR SHOWER

has been added to the wish list for the house.....

via here

via here

via here

My favorite is the last one with the galvanized wall but we would for sure need an enclosure added.

Aren't these great?!

MY MAN CLAN PRACTICALLY

knows Napoleon Dynamite by heart.
I flipped when I saw this room....Is it genius or what?!

PS - we heart John Heder....

PPS - "Tina, come eat your ham!", "Gosh!", "My lips hurt real bad!", "Lucky!", "Come on, give me some of your tots".

PPPS - Now I think I need to watch it again...